Builder’s Dictionary 1734/I
The Builder’s Dictionary: Or, Gentleman and Architect’s Companion. Explaining not only the Terms of Art In all the several Parts of Architecture, But also containing the Theory and Practice Of the Various Branches thereof, requisite to be known by Masons, Carpenters, Joiners, Bricklayers, Plaisterers, Painters, Glaziers, Smith, Turners, Carvers, Statuaries, Plumbers, &c. I, London [Arthur Bettersworh – Charles Hitch – Stephen Austen] 1734.
Carton, Cartoon
CARTON, CARTOON, a Design in & Painting, made on strong Paper, to be afterwards calked through, and transferred on the fresh Plaister of a Wall, to be painted in Fresco.
Designing
DESIGNING is the Art of delineating or drawing the Appearance of natural Objects by Lines on a Plane.
Distance
DISTANCE is properly the shortest Line between two Points.
Line of Distance, in Perspective, is a Right Line drawn from the Eye to the principal Point.
Point of Distance, in Perspective, is a Point in the Horizontal Line, at such Distance from the principal Point, as is that of the Eye from the same.
Disposition
DISPOSITION of Pictures and Paintings; the Manner how and where Gentlemen, &c. who are possessed of several Sorts of them, should place them in their Houses, &c.
I. Antique Works, or Grotesco, may become a Wall, and the Borders and Friezes of other Works; but if there be any Draughts in Figures of Men and Women to the Life on the Wall, they will be best of Black and White, or of one Colour heightened: If they be naked, let them be as large as the Place will afford: If of Marble Columns, Aqueducts, Arches, Ruins, and Cataracts, let them be bold, high, and of large Proportion.
II. Let the best Pieces be placed to be seen with single Lights; for so the Shadows fall naturally, being always barred to answer one Light; and the more under or below the Light, the better, especially in Men’s Faces, and large Pieces.
III. Let the Porch or Entrance into the House be set out with rustick Figures, and Things rural.
IV. Let the Hall be adorn’d with Shepherds, Peasants, Neat-Herds, with Milk-Maids, Flocks of Sheep, and the like, in their respective Places, and with proper Attendants; as also Fowls, Fish, and the like:
V. Let the Stair-Case be set off with some admirable Monument or Building, either new or ruinous, to be seen and observed at a View passing up; and let the Ceiling over the Top-Stair be with Figures fore-shortened, looking down out of the Clouds, with Garlands, and Cornucopia’s.
VI. Let Landskips, Hunting, Fishing, Fowling, Histories, and Antiquities, be put in the Great Chamber.
VII. Let the Pictures of the King, Prince, &c. or their Coats of Arms, be placed in the Dining-Room, forbearing to put any other Pictures of the Life, as not being worthy to be their Companions, unless at the lower End, two or three of the chief Nobility, as Attendants on their Royal Persons; for want of which, you may place some few of the nearest Blood.
VIII. In the inward, or with-drawing Chambers, put other Draughts of the Life, of Persons of Honour, intimate, or special Friends, or Acquaintance; or of Artists only.
IX. In Banquetting-Rooms, place chearful and merry Paintings, as of Bacchus, Centaurs, Satyrs, Syrens, and the like, forbearing all obscene Pictures.
X. Histories, grave Stories, and the best Works become Galleries, where any one may walk, and exercise their Senses in viewing, examining, delighting, judging, and censuring.
XI. Place Castles, Churches, or some fair Buildings in Summer-Houses, and Stone-Walks. In Terrasses, put Bocage, and wild Works. Upon Chimney-Pieces, only Landskips; for they chiefly adorn.
XII. Place your own, your Wife and Childrens Pictures, in your Bed-Chambers, as only becoming the most private Room, and your Modesty; least (says our Author,) if your Wife be a Beauty, some wanton Guest should gaze on’t too long, and commend the Work for her sake.
XIII. In hanging Pictures, if they hang high above Reach, let them bend somewhat forward at the Top; because, otherwise, it is observed, that the visual Beams of your Eye which extend to the Top of the Picture, appear further off than those of the Foot.
Distemper
DISTEMPER, in Painting, is the Working up of Colours with something else besides bare Water, or Oil; as if the Colours are mixed with Size, Whites of Eggs, or any such proper glutinous or unctuous Substance, and not with Oil, then the Painting is said to be done in Distemper, as the admirable Cartoons at Hampton-Court are.
Distinct Base
DISTINCT BASE, in Opticks, is that Distance from the Pole of a convex Glass, in which Objects beheld through it appear distinct, and well defined, and is what is otherwise called the Focus.
Distribution
DISTRIBUTION, in Architecture, as the Distribution of the Plan, is the dividing and dispensing the several Parts and Pieces, which compose the Plan of a Building.
Distribution of Ornaments, is an equal orderly placing of the Ornaments in any Member of Architecture.
Draught, Draft
DRAUGHT, DRAFT, in Architecture, is the Figure of an intended Building described on Paper; in which is laid down, by Scale and Compasses, the several Divisions and Partitions of the Apartments, Rooms, Doors, Passages, Conveniencies, &c. in their due Proportion to the whole Building.
It is customary, and also exceedingly convenient for any Person, before he begins to erect a Building, to have Designs or Draughts drawn upon Paper or Vellum, wherein the Ichnography or Ground-Plot of every Floor or Story is delineated or represented, as also the Form or Fashion of each Front, with the Windows, Doors, Ornaments, &c. in an Orthography, or Upright.
Sometimes the several Fronts, &c. are taken and represented in the same Draught, to shew the Effect of the whole Building, which is called a Scenography or Perspective.
But this not being easily understood, except by those who understand the Rules of Perspective, therefore it will be more intelligible to the several Workmen, to have a Draught of each Front, in a particular Paper by itself; and also a Draught of the Ichnography or Ground Plot of each Floor or Story, in a Paper by itself; because oftentimes the Contrivance and Conveniencies of one Story differ from those of another, either as to the Largeness of the Chimneys or Divisions of the Rooms, some being larger in one Story than another, &c.
All which Things being well considered and drawn on Paper before the Building is begun, these Draughts will be a great Guide to the Workmen, and save them a great deal of Time in contriving their Work; and, besides, there will be no need of Alterations, or pulling the Building to Pieces after’tis begun; which, besides the Hinderance of the Procedure, makes the Building lame and deficient; nothing being so well done, when’tis put up, and pull’d down, and set up again, as if it were done at first.
To draw any Object in its
Out-Lines as exact as the Life,
or Nature.
Take a Sheet of the thinnest, or whitest brown Paper, and brush it over with Oil of Turpentine, which will immediately render it transparent and then put the Paper to dry in the Air; when it is dry, strain it upon a Frame, and fix it against any Object you design to draw, as an House, &c. then just before it place a Piece of Wood with a Hole in it, fit for one Eye to look through; and as you meet any Outlines of the Object you desire upon the transparent Paper, trace them over with a Pencil, so will you be sure you cannot err; for there will be nothing but just Proportion, and a true Representation of Nature.
To make this still of more Elegancy, observe the Tracing of your Draughts, where the Shades are, and mark them with your Pencil; for all the Art in the World can never dispose the Shades so regularly, as one may touch by this Method: But the Shades must be done quickly after the Outlines are drawn, and not at different Times, because every Instant the Sun changes them.
In this too, observe, that in certain Objects, you will have fainter, stronger, and yet more dark Shades; and in your Remarks of them, take such Memorandums, as may direct you how to finish them, with Indian Ink, or other Colour, when you fit down to compleat your Work.
The best Way is to prepare three Shells or Gallipots of Indian Ink mixed with common Water, before you attempt to trace out your Object, viz. one of a very faint Black, the next of a middling Black, and the other of an intense Black: Number them 1, 2, 3, from the lightest to the darkest; and as you make your Observation on the Shades of your Object, mark upon your Draught the same Numbers, as they happen to appear; so that afterwards you may finish with Certainty.
Again, it is necessary in the drawing of any Thing after this Manner, to observe that the Lines on the shady Side should be thinner, in Proportion to the Light that falls upon them.
As for Example: In the darkest Part a Line may be of that Thickness, in the next Part somewhat thinner, and in the other thus; unless in Things of a great Distance hardly to be understood, or so faint as hardly to be perceived thus; a mere Shadow, as it were.
Some have been guilty of a great Fault, though they have taken the Outlines very exact, by making all their Lines of an equal Thickness.
If an Object be represented at a great Distance, as half a Mile, or two Miles off, and the Drawing be as strong in that Part of the Picture, as if it was next the Eye, or not ten or twenty Feet from the Draughts-Man, it would not appear pleasant or natural to the Eye.
A Man must not be express’d with Buttons on his Coat at a Mile’s, &c. Distance, no more than they must be omitted in a Person so near the Eye, as ten or twenty Feet: Though this has inadvertently been done by some that passed for great Men: Nor a Capital, &c. with Carvings and Mouldings, &c.
And the Shades, in those distant Appearances, must be in Proportion to the Strength of the Objects as they appear to us, i. e. imperfect.
Three or four well-directed Touches of the Pencil on the shady Side; will represent a Figure at the Distance we can discern it, as lively as some Hundreds will near the Eye.
The transparent Paper, before mention’d, is also of another Use; for if it be laid upon any Picture or Print, all the Lines may be seen through it; and then you may draw or copy it with the greatest Pleasure.
You will then, if the Pictures be done by a good Master, see which Lines are strong, and which tender or soft, and imitate them.
There is yet another Way to take Views and Landskips, which some prefer to the transparent Paper, that is, either with white, or black Tiffany or Lawn strained upon a Frame, and used in the same Manner as the Paper, excepting that the Black Lead Pencil is used to the Paper, on the Tiffany and the Lawn, Charcoal, finely pointed, and very soft, is used; but on the black Tiffany white Chalk of the tenderest Sort.
How to bring these Drawings
to Use, and to copy from Prints,
Paintings, &c.
If you draw upon transparent Paper, to take a Drawing from it regularly, get a Piece of Paper of the same Size, and rub on one Side of it some Powder of Black Lead, till it is well and equally black’d, and so well rubb’d, that a Touch of a Finger will hardly be tinged with it.
Then take the Drawing you have made, or Print, and lay the black’d Paper under it, with the black’d Side downwards, upon a Piece of white Paper, and pin the three together, in two or three Places; take then a Pin or Needle a little blunt at the Point, and trace it over the Outlines of your Picture, which, with a little Pressing, will direct the black Paper to impress the undermost white Paper, so as to receive every Stroke you draw.
When this is done, you must with a Black Lead Pencil, correct what Errors you find, and slightly clean the Draught new made, with some Crumbs of stale Bread.
Black Lead Pencils, that are tolerably good, are difficult to be got; if we find a good Piece of Lead in the Beginning, when it has been used an Inch or two, the rest generally proves hard, gritty, and full of Knots.
‘Tis a great Pleasure to a Draughts-Man to work with a good Pencil, and as great a Plague to work with a bad one.
As for Draughts drawn on Tiffany, or Lawn, lay them only on one Paper, i. e. that which is drawn with Charcoal, on white Paper, and that drawn with Chalk on black or blue Paper; then giving each of them a Knock or two with an Hammer, the Charcoal, or the Chalk, will fall through them upon the Paper directly in the Lines they were drawn, and give you the true Representation of the Object you drew from the Life: Upon the black Paper, you will see it in white Lines; and on the white in black.
Then you are to strengthen these Shadows of Drawings with your Black Lead Pencil, or Chalk, or Red Oker, on the Sheets of Paper where they have made their Marks, otherwise the Lines will be easily rubb’d out.
But you must take care that this Amendment be made suddenly, for these tender Draughts will soon vanish, if Care be not taken to strengthen them immediately. Begin first at the Bottom of the Drawing, that you may not rub out the faint Lines by strengthening the upper Part.
Another Method, is to take a thin Piece of Paper, and hold it against a Glass Window, especially at such a one as is sash’d; for the Interruptions of the Lead, in the smaller glaz’d Windows, will hinder Part of the Prospect: The Point is to draw what you see from the Glass, and then the Black Lead Pencil is to be used as before directed.
There is still another Way, which may be more easy to the Hand or Arm of a Person not accustomed to drawing upon Paper or Lawn placed upright; which is, by the Use of a portable Camera Obscura: Though to help the first one may hold a Baguette, or such a Stick, in the Left Hand, as the Oil-Painters do to rest the Right Hand upon; or have some other Rest made for the Right Hand, as may be screw’d up and down at one’s Pleasure.
But there is this Difference still by drawing a Piece of Perspective, or View on a transparent Paper or Lawn, placed upright against any Object, that such a Piece will take in more of the View or Object, and from a greater Distance than the portable Camera Obscura will.
However, as the portable Camera will at first be most easy to the Arm of the Beginner, by reason that the Objects appear upon an Horizontal Plane, such as a Table, the Hand will have a more proper Rest, and more readily follow the Lines represented on the Plane with Exactness.
Indeed, such a portable Camera is of some Expence; and such as can afford it, may have them of any Price, from 30 s. to 5 l. apiece, as they please, of Mr. John Fowler Mathematical Instrument Maker, in Swithen’s-Alley, near the Royal Exchange.
What will make the Differences in the Prices, will be the Largeness of the Sizes of the Glasses which lie horizontally, and receive the Objects which we are to trace out with the Pencil. The smaller of these Glasses may be perhaps four Inches square, and the larger fifteen Inches.
On such Glasses, you will have the exact Representation (smaller or larger, according to the Bigness of the Machines) of the Objects they are pointed or directed to, each one adorn’d with the natural Colours agreeable to the Point of Distance, stronger near the Eye, and gradually declining, as the Objects are more remote from it: The Shades of the several Colours are in this Way express’d in a very lively Manner.
A few Lessons, with good Consideration, will be of good Information, not only to a young Beginner, but to a Master of the Pencil.
But still to advance the Knowledge and Use of this portable Camera, I suppose, that instead of the Glasses, which receive the Objects spoken of, there should be placed Frames of transparent Paper, to receive the Objects that are to be taken, upon which the Pencil may still be used with greater Freedom.
A Dozen or two may be had with each Camera; or one Frame will serve for as many Papers as you please to strain upon it, if a Person has Patience to paste them on.
There is also another Way of drawing Objects in the Camera Obscura Way; which is by making a Room as dark as may be, only leaving an Hole in one of the Window-Shutters, as low as possible, to receive an Ox-Eye Glass, as it is called; which is sold at the Mathematical Instrument Makers.
This turns in a Socket, so as to direct every Object, within a certain Reach, to a Sheet of Paper; so that you may draw them in great Perfection; but they all appear revers’d, or the wrong End downwards: However, they are in as exact Proportion and Beauty as those represented in the former.
In this Case, however, ‘tis not more difficult to draw, or rather copy the several Things that are seen upright on the Frames of transparent Paper, Lawn, or Tiffany; for to trace Lines, will be done as easily one Way as the other.
And though the Objects falling on the Sheet of Paper, will, while they are drawing, be reversed, ‘tis but turning the Sheet of Paper upside-down when they are done, and the Drawing will be right to the Eye.
When this is shewn by Way of Curiosity, to those who are unacquainted with the Reasons why the Images represented on a Sheet of Paper appear upside-down, it would not have so desirable an Effect, as if they should be viewed in their natural Situation: But to obviate this Difficulty, let the Sheet of Paper, which is to receive the Objects, be placed against the Back of a Chair, and let them look on the several Objects represented on the Paper over the Back of the Chair, and it will set them upright to the Eye.
This Way of bringing them to rights, is thought on but by very few, tho’ at the first Proof every one will wonder that he did not find it sooner.
Thus far is shewn how one may copy either a Print, Drawing, or Piece of Painting; or even make an exact Representation from the Life.
But I shall yet add, concerning the taking off of Prints or Drawings, a Method or two, which are easy or diverting, not before mentioned.
The one is, prick with a Pin any Out-Lines of a Print or Drawing you have a mind to copy, and then lay the said Paper on a Sheet of Paper; then take a Powder Puff, or a Tuft of Cotton, and dip it now and then in Charcoal Dust, or red Chalk Dust, and beat it over the prick’d Lines through the Picture, renewing it with Dust by frequent dipping; and then you will have full Directions marked on your Cloth or Paper, sufficient to finish a just Drawing.
Another Way there is to make an Impression from the Print or Picture, which shall give a just Copy of it. This is of great Use when we would carry every Stroke of the Engraver along with it.
It will indeed fully the Print, though not very much, if it be done with Care: Which may be perform’d in a few Minutes Time, when the Drawing of it with every Stroke the Engraver has made, would cost you whole Hours, nay, Days.
To do this, take some Soap, either of the white or green Sort; mix this with Water, till near the Consistence of a Gelly; wet the Paper you would have to receive the Impression from it with a wet Spunge, then lay it on the Print, and cover all with two or three Pieces of dry Paper, and rub it very hard all over with any Thing that is very smooth and pollish’d; and the wetted Paper will have the reverse of the Print you rubbed it upon, with every distinct Line in the Original, if it has been equally rubbed.
To take a Drawing with fix’d Ink.
Take a thin Sheet of Paper, and rub it all over with fresh Butter, as equally as possibly; then dry it well by the Fire, and rub the buttered Side with Carmine, till ‘tis all equally coloured; or else rub it over with Lamp-Black, or with Black-Lead Powder, or with blue Bice finely ground; take Care in the rubbing on any of these, that the Colour will not come off by a very slight Touch of the Finger, and it will be fit for your Work.
When you have chosen a Print or Design that you would copy, lay the coloured Side of your buttered Paper upon a Piece of clean Paper, and your Print upon the buttered Paper; and then with fine Pin or Needle, blunted a very little at the Point, trace the Out-Lines of your Drawing carefully, and you will have a good Copy of it upon your white Paper, which may be touch’d up afterwards with Crayons of the like Colour.
Short Rules for Drawing in Perspective.
Many are deterred from applying themselves to Drawing, by the Apprehension of the Time it will take up to render themselves Masters of Perspective, and from being frightened at the Difficulties they conceive are in the Study; particularly imagining, that one must be first well grounded in the mathematical Sciences; but for the Encouragement of such Persons, I shall lay down in the following Lessons how to lay any Plan in Perspective, and raise Pillars or Buildings, according to their proper Distances.
LESSON I.
Of the Plan.
Suppose we have a square Piece of Pavement, as in Fig. I. consisting of 25 Pieces of Marble, each a Foot square, it must be measured exactly, and laid regular down upon Paper. You may likewise, for your better Observation, mark every other Stone or Marble black, which will better inform you how every particular Square will appear when we have a true perspective View of them; or else you may number one, and when the following Lesson is done, number those in the perspective Plan with the same Figures as are marked on the first Plan.
LESSON II.
Of laying Figure I. in Perspective.
It is to be understood in Perspective, that there are two Points to be considered; the first we call the Point of Sight, that is, which relates to every Thing in our View from the Place where we stand: And it matters little where we stand to take our View; for the Perspective will still be true, according to the Appearance of the Plan to our Eye, if we stand at a Corner, or in the Middle, or at any Point. The Method I shall prescribe presently, will lay our Plan justly before us as it will appear.
The other Point is called the Point of Distance, because it governs the Distances and Proportions of every Thing we can truly fee of the Plan, in whatever Position we happen to be.
At A you see the Plan of Fig. I. This is divided into Squares, as mentioned in that Figure; the three at the Bottom marked B C D in both a the Plan A, marked 1, 2, 3, 4, are those which are marked in Perspective with the same Numbers.
Now to lay your Plan in Perspective, fix your Point of Sight, as you observe in the Figure, or more or less to the Right or Left, as you think proper; then draw the Line K K parallel to, and at what Distance you will from the Line L L; then raise a Line on each Side from L to K, to form the Figure you see as a Frame to you Picture; then draw a Line from the Corner of K, which is the Point of Distance to L, and this Line will regulate your Work. Then draw Lines from the Squares of your Plan to the Point of Sight, as exactly as possible; and where-ever your Line of Distance cuts those Lines, which are drawn from the Square of your Plan to the Point of Sight, that marks where your Square in Perspective ought to be; then draw Lines parallel to the Line L L, where the Line of Distance cuts, and that will give you a true Figure of every Square. So Din the perspective Plan, answers to D in the measured Plan, and 1, 2, 3, 4, answers to the others in the same.
When you have done this, the next Rule you are to know, is how to raise Pillars, Trees, Houses, or any other Bodies, according to their respective Heights, at different Distances and Proportion on the Plan you have laid down.
How to raise Pillars, or any
Bodies of a certain Proportion in
Perspective. See Fig. III.
You have now your Plan measured out in Perspective into Squares of a Foot; one of these Squares in this Lesson serves for the Base or Bottom of a Pillar a Foot thick.
This Figure III, is exactly of the same Dimensions of the Plan laid in Perspective at Fig. II.
First mark the Line L K in equal Proportions, by the same Scale of the ground Plan, Fig. II. as a, b, c, d, which are so many Feet in Height; and they standing on the Base of the first Figure, are Uprights not in Perspective: Then draw a Line parallel with L 1, from Number 4, which gives you the Front of the Body you are to raise; if it is to be only three Feet high, draw a Line cross from Number 4. and that determines the Height, which you will then find to be a Foot wide, and three Feet high by Measure: Then from the Top of the Line 4, draw a Line with a Black-Lead Pencil to the Point of Sight; and raise another Line from 3 parallel to the Line 4, till it touches the penciled Line passing from 5 to the Point of Sight; which gives you the Side Appearance of the Column or Body, as you will see it from the Place where you stand, [the Line from Point 3 should be drawn with a Pen, because it is to remain;] then with a Pencil draw a Line from C to the Point of Sight, which will determine the other Line, to make the Shape on the Top of the Column: And then raise a Line parallel with L 1, with a Pencil from the Point, till it touches the Line from C to the Point of Sight; then draw a parallel Line to C 5, at 6, 7, and you will have the Square at the Top of the Pillar or Column, as you can observe it from the Place where you stand, which is supposed to be at A. [You must remember, that the Line drawn from 2 to 6, is only an imaginary Line, to be rubbed out; for it cannot be seen from the Place where you stand, and therefore must not appear in the Drawing; but you should not leave it out, because it shews you where to regulate the Top of the Column, and teaches you to place your Column upon its Base with Certainty.]
By this Means you may see Front, and one Side of your Column: And the Line from 1 to 2 must also be rubbed out, because it can’t be seen.
Then finish your Column only with the Lines
| From 1 to C | From C to 5 |
| From 4 to 5 | From 6 to 7, and |
| From 3 to 7 | From 1 to 4. |
And it will be drawn without any Imperfection, and appear as follows in Fig. IV.
When this is done, you may place another Column on any one of the Squares erected in the same manner, observing to fling your Shades all on one Side, and then you cannot err: But especially mind where the dotted Lines are in Fig. III.
Draught Compasses
DRAUGHT COMPASSES are Compasses with several moveable Points, to draw fine Draughts in Architecture.
Fresco1
FRESCO, a Method of Painting, or rather Plastering on Walls to endure the Weather, and representing Birds, Beasts, Herbs, Fruits, &c. in Relief.
It is performed on fresh Plaster, or on a Wall laid with Mortar, not yet dry, and with Water Colours. This Sort of Painting has a great Ad[v]antage by its incorporating with the Mortar, and drying along with it, it is rendered extreme durable, and never fails or falls but along with it.
Of the Method of this Painting: To make the Compost or Plaster of old rubbish Stones, and mix it with well-burnt Flint (or Lime) and Water; but wash out the Saltness of the Lime, by often pouring the Water, and putting fresh to it. This should not be done in moist Weather, because that has a great Influence on the Walls.
And in order to render the Plaister the more durable, they strike into the Joints of the Brick or Stone Wall Stumps of Horse Nails, at about six Inches Distance, to prevent the Plaister from peeling off.
With this Plaister the Wall is first to be plaistered a good Thickness, and left for some Time to dry; and the Design and Colours being first ready prepared.
This Painting is chiefly performed on Walls and Vaults newly plaistered with Lime and Sand; but the Plaister is only to be laid in Proportion as the Painting goes on, no more being to be done at once than the Painter can dispatch in a Day, while it is dry [sic!].
Before the Painting is begun, there is usually a Cartoon or Design made on Paper, to be calk’d and transferred to the Wall, about half an Hour after the Plaister has been laid on.
The Colour being prepared and mingled, the Wall is to be plaistered over again a second Time about the Thickness of Half-a-Crown, but only so much as you intend presently to Work upon; and while it is wet, you must work the Colours therein, which will mix and incorporate with the Plaister, so as never to wash out.
The Painting must be, for the Work to come out in all its Beauty, wrought quick, and with a free Hand; for there can be no Alteration after the first Painting, and therefore make your Colour high enough at first; you may deepen, but not easily heighten.
Nor must they ever be retouch’d dry, with Colours mix’d up with the White of an Egg, or Size or Gum, as some Workmen do, by reason such Colours grow blackish; nor do any preserve themselves, but such as were laid on hastily at first.
In this Painting all the compound and artificial Colours, and almost all the Minerals are set aside, and scarce any Thing used but Earths; which are capable of preserving their Colour, defending it from the burning of the Lime, and resisting its Salt, which Vitruvius calls its Bitterness.
The Colours used are White made of Lime slack’d long ago, and white Marble Dust; Oker, both red and yellow, Violet Red, Verditer, Lapis Lazuli, Smalt, Earth, black Spanish Brown, Spanish White, &c. All which are only ground and work’d up with Water; and most of them grow brighter and brighter as the Fresco dries.
The Brushes and Pencils for this Work must be long and soft, or else they will rake and raze the Painting: The Colours must be full, and flowing from the Brush; the Design perfect in the Image or Paper Copy; for in this Work you cannot alter or add upon any Colour.
This Sort of Painting has a great Advantage, by its incorporating with the Mortar, and drying along with it, is rendered extreamly durable, and never fails nor falls but along with it.
The Antients painted on Stuck; And it is worthy Observation in Vitruvius, what infinite Care they took in making the Incrustation or Plaistering of their Buildings, to render them beautiful and lasting: Though the modern Painters find a Plaister made of Lime and Sand preferrable to Stuck, both because it does not dry too hastily, and as being a little brownish, it is fitter to lay Colours on, than a Ground so white as Stuck.
This Kind of Painting was the antient Grecian Way of Painting, and since much used by the Romans.
Plutarch informs us, that Aratas, the great Commander under Ptolemy King of Egypt, (in a Compliment to the Emperor’s Affections that Way,) forbore to sack a wealthy City, merely for the Excellency of the Fresco Painting upon the Walls of the Houses.
There have been several whole Towns of this Work in Germany, excellently well done, but now ruin’d by Wars.
At Rome there are three Chambers (in the Popes Palace) of Fresco, done by Raphael Urbin, and Julio Romano, (his Disciple) who finished his Master’s Work, which is yet called Raphael’s Design.
There are other Places done by Andrea del Sexto [sic!] and Michael Angelo, and some other Artists.
There is an excellent Fresco Work at Fountainbleau in France. It is the continued Travels of Ulysses, in sixty Pieces, done by Bollmneo [sic!] Martin Rouse, a Florentine, and others.