398965 the Secret of the Old Masters

8/14/2019 398965 the Secret of the Old Masters

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THE SECRET OF THE OLD MASTERS


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THE SECRET OF THE OLD MASTERSBy

ALBERT ABENDSCHEIN

D.

APPLETON AND COMPANY NEW YORK

1909


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COPYRIGHT,D.

1906,

BY

APPLETON AND COMPANY

PuWshed November,

1906


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PEEFACEINthis little

book I have undertaken to lay

before the reader the fruits of the labor oftwenty-five years.

As

soon as I could under-

stand and appreciate the splendors of the

Grand Masters of painting,form a determinationcal principles, methods,

I

had begun to

to discover the techni-

and material that en-

abled the

Masters to produce their work.I

Years ago,

never had any real satisfaction

when

I did paint a fairly

because I felt instinctively that

good study head, it was in no

sense related to the technic of the Masters.

Therefore, the search for the Masters' technic

became for me an all-absorbingthe exclusion ofall else.

life

workin

to


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This

life

work was

more or

ways.

less

an injury andtheother

loss toit

me

many

On

hand

had many

v


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PREFACEcompensating pleasures.self in theI

had said

to

my-

beginning:

"

If I can only paint

one head with the Old Masters' technic Ishall be satisfied."it

Had

I

known how longbut as the

would take me

to solve the problem, I cerit,

tainly

would not have attempted

years passed I felt less like givingI

up thanI pro-

might have at the beginning.

As

ceeded on

that

my waylost

in the search I

met many

had


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themselves,

or fallen

by the

wayside.public

the

I feel

now

that I ought to

make

my

theories

and conclusions, so that

younger and stronger enthusiast mayfuller

makebetterin

use

of

my

discovery

ofwill

the

" Masters' Venetian Secrets."

He

be

armed

to fight his battles,

hard enough

any event withoutside.


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this lifelong technical

thorn in his

The Old Masters' technic always has been I think enveloped in mystery andconfusion.I

have brought some order out of the con-

fusion and considerable light to bear

uponthe

the mystery.

I

do not presume to

vi

tell


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PREFACEreader

how he

shall paint, but I

am

glad to be

able with

some show of authority, as I rest

to

somewhat spent by the wayside, to point out him in which direction the Mastershavegone over the horizon.this

Should anything in

book bring success, lighten labor, make

more beautiful, certain, and permanent, then I shall not have labored in vain.results

A. A.

Vll


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CONTENTS

I.

INTRODUCTION: Decay of paintings, artist blamable for decay Technical copies ofthe Masters1

II.

THE MYSTERY: Varnish painting Varnish and wax or encaustic painting Resinsor

gums

and benzinIII.

Copal Turpentine, spike Petroleum Oil.

oil,

.

.18

THE THREEgrounds canvas

Oil alone as the

OILS: Oil and resin or magilp medium? Canvas or

Modern canvas

Absorbent36

IV.

ABSORBENT GROUND VERSUS NONABSORBENT: Varnish grounds The pure whiteground with theveil or stain

...

.

5767

V.VI.

TEMPERA

THE "VENETIAN SECRET": "DEAD COLOR," or FIRST PAINTINO FOR FLESH77


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VII.VIII.

THREE COLORS:TITIAN'S

Titian

90

PRINCIPLES UNCHANGED: Paul 102 Veronese Rubens and Van Dyck.

ix


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CONTENTSCHAPTERPAGE

IX.

THE METHODnolds

INVISIBLE: Sir Joshua Rey-

Turner

Etty

.

.

.

.117

.134151

X.XI.XII.XIII.

THE TRUE MEDIUM OR VEHICLE

.

THE EVIDENCESUMMARY: Colors

......colors.

162

DURABLE COLORS: Testingwhite palettesion

.177

XIV.

RETOUCHING AND FINAL VARNISH: TheGeneral notesConclu.

190


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THE SECRET OF THE OLD MASTERSCHAPTERI

INTRODUCTION

Old Master's technic, " in his book the Graphic Arts," edition of " It iswonderful that 1886, Hamerton says:

to the

IN reference

known, but it is the more wonderful since eyewitnesses have positivelyso little should be

attempted to give an account of the Venetian

methods and stopped short before their tale was fully told, and that neither frominability nor unwillingness to tellall,

but simply

because they did not foresee whatcare to

we should

thatall

know about, or else took it for granted we should be inevitably acquainted withthat belonged to the common practiceHamerton thus

1

of the time."

confesses his


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THE SECRET OF THE OLD MASTERSlack of knowledge on a subject that formed

the greater part of his book.cates the general knowledge

It further indi-

England and on thetime.

among artists in Continent up to that

In January, 1891, the following little despairing note came to a New York paper

from

Paris, the greatest productive center of

paintings in the world:

" The members of

the French Society of Artists are pondering

upon a proposed abandonment of oil colors and brushes in favor of some morepermanent

mediumsterity.

of preserving their works for pos-

Detaille,

Vibert,

Bouguereau, Robert Fleury, Saint-Pierre form a committee of

investigation.

One

expert, Gabriel Deneux,

proposes a system of encaustic painting by

which hot irons would be used instead ofbrushes.

The work, after being branded The conservative

in-

stead of painted, would have to be treatedchemically.painters,


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howbe

ever, hope that some improvement

may

attained in the mixture of colors in which

2


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manynic.

of the greatest living painters, has been

dissatisfied

with modern methods of techargues,

He

as

I

have

heard

other

great painters argue, that the art of painting

has been

lost; that

while the artistic instinct

and the

intellect of the painter are just asis

great and keen as ever, he

no longer in possession of the same means as the Old Masters.

He

does not prepare his canvas in the same

3


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THE SECRET OF THE OLD MASTERSway, nor build up his pictures as they did. He knows well enough what he is aimingat, but not how to attain the end by methods

which are

at once solid, masterly,

and

lasting.dissec-

A

profound study, a minute technical tion, as it were, of the greatest worksLouvre, have revealed secrets to

at the

X

which have

made him the pioneer of the most brilliant modern retreat to the ideals ofpainting pursued by such giants as Rubens, Velasquez, and

Franz Hals.'

.

.

.

of the Old Mastersleur. . .

The actual painting is that ... a thin jus de cou' '

over an elaborately developed

'

grisaille.

But Rubens has merely guidedis

X

's

brush.

There


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no slavish imitation in the youngThesequotations

French master's work."

can give but a faint hint of the number of men who have knocked on the door of the

Old Masters' painting roomto their technical secrets.

to be admitted

turies there have been a

Through the cenfew admitted, hardly

more than a dozen perhaps. And so every earnest art student, if the Old Masters'great4


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INTRODUCTIONwork has anytimeis

influence on

him whatever,

in

confronted with the problems purely

of technic, apart from the problems of drawing,

painting,

and composition.colors, logical

The

selec-

tion

and use of

methods, me-

diums, varnishes, and grounds to paint on remain perplexing questions even toeminentartists,

as

we have

seen.

Considering the

enormous amount of painting done it is amazing that so little is known on thissubject. Drawing, painting, and composition are, in

moderntries,

times, freely taught in

many

coun-

but I have never heard of the real tech-

nic of oil painting being taught anywhere.


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Every student andand however he

artist picks

up

his knowl-

edge about the technic of his art wherevercan.Itis

mostly chance,

guesswork, a friendly hint and some experience that finally weds him to somemanner ofpainting, some favored colors,

and some

fav-

ored canvas.

It is only within a

few yearsdis-

that the quality and durability of colors has

become generally questioned, and some

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THE SECRET OP THE OLD MASTERScrimination in their use become evident onthe part of artists.Still, this

discrimination

has not advanced

much beyond

the accept-

ance of the ochres and the rejection of aniline

knowing enough not to use them when they know them to be such.colors,artists

most

Every new and loudly heralded make of material is hopefully taken up and tried,andas sadly laidfeeling

away

again, while the

same old

of If

uncertainty

mains.

any

artists

and perplexity rehave hit upon what

they considered the real and only technic,they have, like Sir Joshua Reynolds, kept it I once asked a friend in carefullysecret.

Munich, who hadin painting,

many

years of experiencevehicle he usedpalette,oil,


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what medium or

to dilute the colorssaid,

on the " balsam copaiba, spiketell

and helittle

with a

wax melted" don't

in," adding the usual injunction,

anyone." I thought at the time the injunction showed a narrow spirit I hadheardit

before,

and have often

since,

butit

when

I found

by

my own6

experience that


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INTRODUCTIONtook a great deal of time and study to inventuseful and beneficent things, I became some-

what reconciled

to the idea.

The one

distressing thing about

my

search

for the true technic of oil painting was, that

even with an exhaustive amount of experi-

menting and with notebooks, it was impossible to come to any positive conclusion

withoutthe

necessaryif

lapse

of

considerable

time.

And

the reader will have the patience to

hope to prove to him beyond the shadow of a doubt that the conclusions I havearrived at arethe only logical ones, and that the principlesof the

follow

me through

this little book, I

process

described

are those of theothers!I


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" Grand Old Masters " and no

am

very well aware that many more or less eminent men have in the last three and ahalfcenturies sought for

and claimedprocess;

to

have

dis-

covered

this

precious

that

many

theories other than the ones herein contained

have been advanced by able artists. Their theories have been for a time, to agreat ex2

7


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THE SECRET OP THE OLD MASTERStent,

accepted,

but in no case have

such

theories

been sustained by

any conclusive

evidence, proof, or facts that could be ac-

cepted by any logical mind.

The

theories

were

all

more or

less built

up on dogmaticand an attempt It would bepainted

assertions.

Some

inspiration like the petroseized,

leum theory would be

made

to

fit it

in with practice.

asserted

that

the

Venetians


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with

petroleum,

because a vague tradition says

Correggio once

great

madein

a varnish of

it!

The

difficulties

the search lay

in the

strange fact that an artist

may have found

a part of the principles governing the truetechnic,

he had proved

and yet not know it positively until and by elimination disit,

proved all theories that came in conflict with This in course of time evennecessitated it.going over the same ground, and

many

times

experimenting around a circle back to the starting point, and in my case hascovered aperiod of twenty-five years.

Many

times I

was " stuck/'

to use one of

Thomas A. Ed-


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8


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INTRODUCTIONison's expressions, not

knowing which way

to

turn to go forward, feeling that the labor of

years was thrown away.

Then

I

would try

to dismiss the whole subject

from

my mind

new

for a short time, to find at the end that a

path was revealed that led to

final success.

so baffling, like looking for

The very simplicity of the problem made it an elephant where

a mouse should have been expected.

One

of

the great stumbling-blocks to a quick solutionof the problem

was the well-nigh universallyartists that oil in a pictureit

known

fact

among

darkens and yellowsstruction.

to the verge of de-

No


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one seemed to be able or will-

ing to give any help or advice.

Some

years

ago

I heard one

prominent

artist

say that

"

experimenting was dangerous."

His work

painted at that time has since reached the

dark yellow, and some the brown, stage, all Other its former charm havingvanished. capable artists when questioned, revealed onthis subject the ignorance

and innocence of

children.

I

even knew of a French painter,9


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THE SECRET OP THE OLD MASTERS" Prix de Rome " pupil painting a But picture with colors mixed with vaseline itdid not take him long to discover how unwisea former!

this was, for his

work never

dried,

and had to

be repainted.

And

of other painters using

equally silly material, there are many.

ists

Chem-

have been appealed to from time to time, but, excepting in regard to a few colors,havenot been able to help us out.

The cause ofwere not

this

was not far

to seek, since they

artists;

and could not know or understand our wantsbut, on the other hand, theto solve theartists did not

seem

problem either. Without going into the history oflet

oil

paint-

ing here,

us ask,


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What

is

the logical course

to follow in establishing true oil-painting principles ?

It is obvious that the best

and

oldest

we knowject

painting must be the subof our investigations and should guide us,of inoil

and that

best

must have stood the

test of time,

not of fifty or one hundred years, but of centuries;

the older the better, provided the tech-

nic is also combined with excellent

drawing

10


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INTRODUCTIONandfine coloring.

Therefore, as

we

look back

in the

dim

past, the works of the

Grand Old

Masters

Titian,

Rubens, Van Dyck, Reynoldssource to whichedge.this

Paul Veronese, Velasquez, must be thetravel to gain knowl-

we must

There are a few others who belong to

ferred topose.

grand company, but only those will be rewho will best serve our present pur-

Now we mustmen during

bear in mind that mosttheir lives

of those

had two or

more ways of painting,

a fact apparent even to

the unprofessional eye of the art historians.

Even the Masters hadof evolution.


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to

go through a periodis

We

must choose that which

This means that

of undoubted authenticity and has necessarily

stood the test of time.

it

was interesting andescaped theheap, and,attic,

attractive

enough

to have

museumtest

cellar,

or scrap

last

and most important reason forof atmospheric

our purpose, stood thechangeslight

place to place,

and darkness, removal from revarnishings, etc.; and furproving that atits

ther, its very existence

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THE SECRET OP THE OLD MASTERSbirth eachstitution.

work had a sound physical conoil

The causes of decay ofvery numerous.

Decayof

paintings are

Many

are foredoomed to early

decay before they leave the artist 's easel,because, although the artist

may have

not have

Paintings

been a great

artist,

he

may

been an equally great craftsman, and exer-

wisdom and care necessary for the production of great and lasting work. Somecised the

modern painters havemethod as being

affected to despise

any

discrimination in the selection of materials andinartistic

and beneath them.

And when artists

do seek for light on technical

matters, they soon find, as did Sir Joshua

Reynolds, that there


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is

no one who can teach

them, and so they go a short and uncertain distance in what seems an endless anduncertain path of experimenting.

They soon

sat-

isfy themselves with one or two formulas that

seem to workto

well,

and with that they are apt

remain content, and keep on producing paintings attractive enough at the time they

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INTRODUCTIONleave the easel, but soon becoming uninterest-

and forming part of that great procession down and out. goinging,'' ''

Some

of the causes of decay in paintings forartist

which theArtist

can be blamed

are, first,

an

unsound canvas ground, one improperlymade.

Blamabler

On'

such a canvas the greatestis

ecay

g enjus

s

W0rk

bound soon

to yellow,

blacken, crack or peel off from the ground and

from the threads.

Without mentioning a pooris in-

quality of linen, the principal cause of the

ground peeling from the linen threadsthe linen.

ferior glue or improper application thereof to


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Upon

decomposition this causes the

peeling off of the

ground, exposing the threads.

Next the ground itself, the surface the artist puts his work on, may lack everyessential ofpermanence or even oflogical use.

(On

this

subject of grounds I will have more to saylater.)

The Old Masters werebut

in this, not only

logical,

scientific as well,

nothing being

left

to

chance or haphazard.

order were instinctive,

Method and " and the phrase any

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THE SECRET OP THE OLD MASTERSold thing

good enough to paint on, so freheard from modern artists, would to quentlyis

''

them have been aground beingthe paintingto

species of artistic heresy, a

them

fully as important as

itself,

not merely from the view

point of permanence, but as a factor in the

completed picture.

This was particularly the

case with Rubens, the greatest of all technicalpainters,

and

his equally great pupil,

Van

Dyck.

When wefield.

leave the ground to consider

causes of decay or deterioration,

we

enter a

boundless

Let

me enumeratefirst


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just a few.

First, insufficient

drying of

sketches or

paintings,

and the same for second or any succeeding paintings. I will show later how im-

portant this appeared to the Masters. Second,

absurd mediums, vehicles, or combinations in which there could be no chemicalunion; unclean, stale paints,

wax, adulterations, dryers,all

magilps,

etc.,

were

a fruitful cause of deteall

rioration.

The commonest ofis

causes of deof two, three,

terioration

a

medium made up

and even four or more

different materials,


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INTRODUCTIONwhere one of themis

sure to destroy the effect

intended, in time, and if the other two or three

should in themselves carry no injurious consequences, their combinationis

sure to bring

about

final

destruction.

And

furthermore,

the immediate effect with such combinationsis

rather attractive, and so such pernicious

concoctionsists,

make

lifelong slaves of

some

art-

and they never get out of the habit of using them. During a period of more thantwenty-five years I have experimented with

very

many

of them, and

it

would not serve

any good purposenearlyall cases

to go over


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them

all here.

Suffice it to say that the artist is to

blame in

for the darkening, excessive

yellowing, cracking, peeling, and premature

decay of his painting.of them, but

Owners of

fine

oil

paintings, as a rule, take tolerably good care

when they beginandto have

to

darken they

are apt to go to the restorer, or even the

framemaker

(!),

them clean the

painting, which means a kick down the hill for bad ones, and a start downward forgood ones

15


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that

may have

only a

little

ordinary grime onartists

them through

neglect.

There are few

who prepare their own canvas and grind their own colors. The paints and canvasordinarily used are at the present time made by largefirms,

and soldbut

as other merchandise.

This

is

a very convenient proceeding for the modernartist,it

produces bad pictures in most

instances.

The Old Masters had the knowledge, experience, and wisdom to produce great work,TechnicalCopies of1

considered from every standpoint, andis

it

necessary in establishing, or rather

reestablishing, a

their work.

Many

sound system to study great artists have studied


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the Old Masters for technical guidance, and

have done so by making copies, reproducing, not the aspect alone, but the methodand the

"

handling," ground or surface on which the

is

work

produced, and character of material

throughout.

Tintoretto and Paul Veronese,

Thus Velasquez himself copied and it is wellas

known

that

Rubens and Van Dyck, as well16


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INTRODUCTIONSir Joshua Reynolds

and many other great

and

lesser artists,

have made

many

copies of

Titian's paintings tian Masters.

and of others of the Vene-

done that

it

Much of this work was so well now passes for the work of theand sometimes theIn modern

painter of the original,originalis

regarded as the copy, as happened

to Holbein's

Dresden Madonna.is

times a copy

condemned without a hearwas equally well paintwas done

ing; in the old days a copy was appreciated

with the original,ed.

if it

There

is

no doubt that when the above-

namedinit


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artists copied a picture it

to study

and analyze everything there wasdrawing, color, technic,

composition,

ground, method, and probably medium.

We

know

these

copies were

sometimes

highly

prized by the artists themselves.

17


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CHAPTER

II

THE MYSTERYIN copying afine

Old Master in a good

state of preservation

we

strike at the outset

mysterious obstacles if

copy by using the

we attempt to make a modern direct method of

rendering each color and tone as nearly as possible at the first touch.

By

mixing any

colors,

the true, or even approximate tone or color,is

not reproduced with equal transparency and

luminosity.

The

obstacles

seem almost insur-

mountable.teredis

One

of the first things encoun-

a transparency and wealth of color to

which our methods and material seem crude, heavy, and opaque. At once the thought

would occur that the

effect in their pictures


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is

was more the

result of time, but that

the

18


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THE MYSTERYcase only in a very small degree, so well proved

by the pictures of Rubens. Some of them in Munich are as fresh as though they hadjustbeen painted.Thisis

also the case

with the

Van Dyckstity.

in the

same

gallery.

This, then,

brings us face to face with an

unknown quanfromIf so,

Did they use

different material

that in use at the present day?

what

did they use?

The " glow and richness,"

Sir Joshua Reynolds said of Rubens' color-

"ing,it

is

that of a bunch of flowers!

" Was

produced by varnish and luscious magilp? Perhaps why not ? But where is theproof ?;

Every material fact should be susceptible of


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proof before

we can

here accept

it

as

an

axiom to build on further.nich instructor used to say,difficult,

But"

as

my Mu-

but there

is

Gentlemen, it is no witchcraft in it," and

to solve the

ment

in varnish alone as a

problem I proceeded to experimedium.

Amongtire

other experiments, I painted an en-

life-sizeis,

that

head on an absorbent ground, zinc white and size, the colors and19


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THE SECRET OP THE OLD MASTERSmedium being withouttire picture,

a

drop of

oil

in the en!

and

solely with varnish

If

any

of

VarnishPainting

my.

readers have struggled through

..

a similar problem they can afford tosmile.

The transparency obtained was but the difficulties were tremenbeautiful,dous,

and

I

have no hesitation in condemn-

ing the process as not that of the Masters, onthe ground of impracticability, thata very slow, costly, tedious,difficult process.

is

to say,

and extremelyMas-

I felt convinced the

ters could not


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have painted thus, because for

have produced as much as he did, he would have had to be reincarnatedeachtofive

man

or ten times, and even then the freedom

of their work would have been in this methodimpossible.

The next questionit

in the

be some other varnish 1

problem was, could After more experi-

Varnish and Wax, orEncauatic

menting I came to the conclusion that ft varnish whatever would have precisely

Painting

the

same

objections,

although

slightly differing in the

handling on account

20


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THE MYSTERYof more or less rapid drying, and becoming

gummy andration of

sticky.

Then

I tried the incorpore-

wax with the various varnishes to

tard the drying and allow some freedom inhandling.

"Wax with Venetian turpentine,

wax with amber, wax with mastic, wax with dammar, wax and copal, wax and balsamcopaiba, wax and oil of turpentine, and other

varnishes in like

manner

in very

many

vary-

ing proportions, and, combinations, thatis

when

possible, in cold

to say, a close

union was

obtainedheat.

whenoil

possible without resorting to

Spike

or spirits of turpentine were

used with most of the above combinations

more or


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less.

Wax

was chosen as an

inert

neutral body to retard rapid oxidation orevaporation, and on account ofits

transpar-

ency when usedquantity.It

in

a comparatively small

also

had the additional

ad-

vantage of eliminating the glassy surface ofthe varnish.

The wax

also

had the property of

giving a body to a color oritself

medium withoutcolor.

imparting any noticeable

All

21


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THE SECRET OF THE OLD MASTERSthese

combinations,

be

it

understood, wereoil

used with color without any

whatever.

In

due time I found that

if

the proportion of

wax

was large enoughable a

to retard the varnish, to en-

modicum

of deliberation in handling

as in ordinary oil painting

and give time

to

draw, color, and model with any degree ofaccuracy, the paint, although the effects were

sometimes beautiful beyond anything possible with oil color, was entirelyunsuitable for firstuse on the clean canvas and for intermediate

layers.It

would often remain

in a semi-dry

state for

days and days.


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And

with the appli-

cation of heat to force the drying, the results

were apt to be startling. Either the varnish sank down with the color, and evenshifted,

or the

wax

arose to the surface, giving

its

semi-

dull sheen,

and producing a spotty

surface.

Then again the varnish

arose to the top

and

gave a disagreeable glassy surface. It was almost impossible to proceed when bodycolors

and white were necessary, not

22

to

mention a

decidedly pronounced tendency for the paint-


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THE MYSTERYing to become quite yellow and darkerall over,

and the

fine delicate gray, violet,

and pearl

carnations to lose their original beauty in a

very short time.All this proved that the Masters did not

paint their pictures with pigment and

medium

composed solely of color substance mixed withvarnish.

Some

of the effects obtained, name-

ly, those with the Venice turpentine

and wax,

were very beautiful for

final paintings, glaz-

ings, or semi-veilings of flesh tones, such as

Sir Joshua Reynolds was so fond of producing

with the same material.but alas the effect!

was charming, or aspect would not remainIt

as painted,

and

in a comparatively short time

become yellow, darkened, cracked, and otherwise deteriorated. In the above tests Ihad

added more or

less


64/436

spirits

of

turpentine

as a diluent or solvent

and

then,

when a Evenwas

slower

evaporating one was necessary, theoil.

turpentine was replaced by spike

then the " drying " that took place on thepalette

and brush was3

so rapid that there

23


65/436

THE SECRET OF THE OLD MASTERSno such thinging with'

as free

and

deliberate paint-

its

attractions as observed in theeffects,

Masters works. Beautiful chanceof course, obtained, butif

were

an attempt was

made

to follow nature, as in a portrait, the

time required to find a correct tone, as in ordi-

nary oil painting, was necessarily increased, and the handling was also extremelydifficult.

On

its face,

the Masters

had no such

difficul-

ties to

contend with.

Combinations of resins

or varnishes with wax, mixed with colors,

without any not feasible.

oil,

were therefore condemned as

I then proceeded to


66/436

resins

make

tests

with thesein a

and wax plus thelittle oil.

colors

ground

In the actual handling of theresins

or

Gums

various

named

there

was not

much

difference, excepting in the great-

er or less elasticity or hardness

and

softness.

Venice turpentine and balsam copaiba are thesofter, while

dammar,

mastic, amber,

and

co-

pal are in a classdiffering

by themselves, though still much from each other. Speaking24


67/436


68/436

THE MYSTERYof resins from an artist's standpoint, one ofthe greatestresins in thedifficulties

in

connection with

dry

state is the total lack of

anyless

standard quality, excepting as to more or

mixture of foreign matter, the clean resins being simply selected and possiblywashed.

If,

for instance, of a given resin, say copal,

a package of selected was bought one day, it was quite likely to be very differentin itsphysical properties from a package oflectedsixse-

copal bought from the same house months later. This condition of affairs I

found could not very well be changed, since the largest buyers have the sametrouble, andhence the

"

deviltries of varnish

" have

be-

come one of the expected

The only way,it

trials of the

making

of commercial varnish for ordinary purposes.

best resin possible


69/436

seemed to me, was to get the from a reliable house andit

makeall

the varnish, and afterwards subjectit

to the required test to ascertain if

fulfilled

the artist's demands,

viz.,

transparency,

proper drying,

"

remaining

inert

" and not

25


70/436

THE SECRET OF THE OLD MASTERScontracting violently(so that the paint un-

derneath, being in time perhaps

a

trifle less

dry and in a softer state, should not be torn apart and cracked), and last, butmost important,tion.its

durability should be beyond ques-

in color Ielastic

The tendency to get yellow and change found was strongest in the more varnishes.

That tendency of all varhad cometo believe

nishes to darken, I

was

caused by the rapid filming over but slowerdrying, and especially the lack of thorough

drying

" au fond."

Ordinarily most var-

nishes will dry in a way, but only on the surface,

and sometimes the warmth of the

finger

placed for a

moment on theit is

surface will reof

veal the sticky state underneath, which,course, unless

a final varnish,

is

very bad


71/436

colors or

for any further application of

oil

varnish colors viewed from the standpoint ofdurability.

I have

further been impressed

with the fact that of the various varnishes

named, one was more valuable to the artist than the others. Mastic when first usedis

26


72/436

THE MYSTERYbeautiful, butits

when

a painting needs to have

varnish removed on account of extremeit is

yellowness and semi-opaque state,

usually

found to be mastic.

Its

propensity to getis

quickly yellow and deteriorate

undoubted.it

Before

its volatile

part evaporates entirely

appear producing opacity and discoloration. These characteristics are common also

to most other

becomes yellow, the remainder soon cohesion, and very minute cracks

loses its

markedly different degrees. remain in a good state a much longer time and thensuddenly begin to deteriorate. Venice turpentine has a still great-

varnishes, but in

Dammar

will

er measure of instability, with the

added

dis-

advantage that

when


73/436

it is

bought in the openalmost always subvitally changes its

market

it

is

in a semi-fluid state, but very

thick, slow-moving,

and

is

ject to adulteration,

which

normal character.acteristics

Amberand

has the same charis

as mastic,

somewhat toois

viscous and glassy.

Balsam copaiba27

bought

on the market in a semi-fluid

state similar to


74/436

Venice turpentine, though not quite so thick,

and

is

subject to adulterations to almost the

sameis

extent. Its propensity to become yellow even greater than mastic, and some kinds

have a strong tendency to turn yellow on exposure to strong light, which isprobably dueto the presence of acid,fault.

and

is

a very serious

Of

all

the resins that go to

make up

var-

nishes, thatOopal

known

as copal, it seems to me,

offers the best material for artists' use.

There are quite a variety of resins under thegeneral

name

of

copal,

from the

very hardest, toughest kind which has almost a metallic ring when struck in thedry state, and known as Zanzibar copal to the elastic

and


75/436

pal.ities,

at the

same time tough Sierra Leone coThere are many other kinds and qual-

and no doubt each importation varies somewhat from its predecessors. The Sierra

Leone copal of the very best kind is very scarce and much the highest in price. Itissaid

by the eminent French painter Vibert, 28

in


76/436

THE MYSTERYhis book

" La

Science de la Peinture," that

real copal does not dissolve in anything that

will not destroyit

unless great heat

is

used,

and then the very high temperature necessary destroys the copal and leaves only anordinaryresin,

of copal.

which no longer has the characteristics I have on many occasions made avarnish by placing the copal

fine copal

gum

in alcoholasit

and leaving it alone until such time would dissolve, with occasional shakingto

and placing in the sunlightthe dissolving of thecourse,

accelerateThis, of

gum

or resin.

trial of this

was a very slow progress, as in the first method it took over a year to dis-

solve and in another only three weeks, but in both cases the varnish was quiteclear, trans-

parent,

and dried very


77/436

is

well.

Theoil

essential oils of turpentine

and spike any large

are, as

well known, a prolific source

Turpentine, Spike oil,

of blackening

when used

to

extent in,

oil

and Benzin

pentine.

painting, especially the turmi M -i The spike oil is very rarely

pure.

If the freshest,

newly

rectified turpen-

29


78/436

THE SECRET OF THE OLD MASTERStine be used,

and quickly and thoroughly driedit

on the painting,en,

does not perceptibly darkis

but as soon as a part

removed from the

bottle, that which remains begins to thicken

from contact with thethenits

air in the bottle,is

and

further utility

impaired, viewed

from the standpoint of durable transparency. Benzin may be classed with these, butitevaporates too rapidly to be very useful except as a diluent for of somevarnishes.

oil,

and as a constituent

As

before stated, there has been a book

written by J. G. Vibert, the noted FrenchPetroleum

painter ("

Laits

Science de la Peinture "),especial object the introoils

having forduction intooil

painting of various


79/436

pro-

duced from petroleum. Colors were placed on public sale some years ago by amanufacturer which were ground in petroleum alone.

The

colors

ground

in petroleum alone cannot

possibly be durable, leaving aside a question

of taste as to their use from a purely artistic

standpoint of

"

handling," and action under

30


80/436

THE MYSTERYthe brush, on the palette,

and on the canvas.sure to evaporate or

The petroleum in time crawl, and sneak awayner,

is

in its well-knownto unite

manin

and what then

is

and hold

place

the particles of color?

M. Vibert's

theory holds that the color should be groundin as little oil as possible

and then diluted

on the palette with what he terms normal

resin dissolved in petroleum of a certain de-

gree of evaporation.

Now

there are in com-

merce some varnishes made of benzin, naphtha, and other volatile parts ofpetroleum in combination with resins, but these varnishes are

generally intended to be applied in one broad,

even application, and when an addition ofis

oil

made

in a cold state, do not give such goodresults, the

wearing


81/436

appearance soon becom-

ing spotty and streaked. The normal resin and petroleum of Vibert intended to beused

on the palette with the brush, every artist will admit at once is but mixed withthe color as

it

suits the eye of the artist,is

and no rule or

theory of mixing

adhered

to.

Some

colors

31


82/436

may

be applied to the canvas with no normal

resin petroleum mixture whatever, while

some

may

be applied with a very large percentIt follows

age of the Vibert mixture.that a very uneven andI

then

may

say accidental

drying takes place; the parts having most

normal mixturepression, with

(if I

may

be allowed the exto

all

due respect

M. Vibert)is

will in time be subjected to the largest per-

centage of evaporation.

If the mixture

such as to permit perfect freedom in handling or brush work, or, as he says of

similaraction on the palette, totion of evaporationis

oil itself,

the propor-

materially enhanced.


83/436

Here then we have a picture whose surface is made up of resin and oil in someparts andThe drying or hardening can proceed in anything but a normal manner the parts ofresin and oil will be more yellowoil

alone in others.

;

and

less

durable in time than the part havoil alone.

ing a small quantity ofference, however,it

This dif-

would not be

so serious if

were not a question of durability, for the

32


84/436

THE MYSTERYresin dries outif it

and

loses its cohesion, especially

has been previously dissolved in some

form of petroleum.

From my ownturpentine varnish

experience alone, a pureis

worthless, since as theit

turpentine evaporates

loses

its

elasticity,

and with the

loss of elasticity there

ensues an

increase of evaporation causedtion of the particles

by the separaand producing minuteBut,

cracks, one effect causing the other, with afinal total disintegration of the resin.

nevertheless,

turpentine

has a

far

greater

binding power than petroleum, for a poor quality of resin in a liquid

it is itself


85/436

state.

So

what can we expect from a medium whosebinderoilis

petroleum?

I will answer, if the

has been displaced to any appreciable ex!

tent, the destruction is inevitable

In a recent

New York

paper appeared the:

following significant item

" M. Vibert has

been an earnest student of the technical scientific

side of painting,

especially concerning

the question of permanency in colors.

For

33


86/436

THE SECRET OF THE OLD MASTERSyears he was the leading

member

of the com-

mission which had charge of the restoration

of art works in the national

museums

oflec-

France, and he gave a famous series oftures at the Ecole des

chemistry of colors.science of paintingis

Beaux Arts upon the His manual upon therecognized in FrenchIt

studios as an authority.

would be

sad,

indeed, should Vibert's cardinals ever losetheir gorgeousness,

and

it

may

comfort their

present owners tosidered

know

'

that the artist conat least

them good for

a century,pictures of

whereas he believed,


87/436

that

many'

the present day will fade into insignificance before they are fifty years old.'

The next step in the search for a true vehicle and medium, after the condemnation

of the

on

wax and

resins

and the

rejec-

tion of the petroleum combinations,

was

the retention of the resinous principle and the substitution of some substance totake theplace of wax.

the brush in the

The very obvious freedom of work of the Masters forced34


88/436

the conclusion that their

mediums must have

contained some substance at once soft andoily

during the handling and work; hard,

tough, and transparent after good thoroughdrying, and, aboveall,

moisture-resistingfully

and

very durable.

Though

aware of the

bad reputation of oil, I took up a series of experiments with the hope ofeffecting a combination that would neutralize its injurious character.

The

first

mixture

is

naturally

oil

with some

resin or varnish.

35


89/436

CHAPTERTHE THREE

IIIOILS

WHILE on

the subject of

oil

it

may

be

useful to note some of the constituents and

character of the

as ascertained

oils

used generally by

artists,

by the noteda general

Germanit

chemist,

Pettenkofer. Without entering into the chemical details, in

way

may

be stated

that of the three oilsoil

linseed,

poppy, and nut

linseed contains a higher percentage of

the "linolein" or real working and durable

part of thein linseed


90/436

oil.

The proportion of

''

Hnolein

''

is

eighty per cent, in

poppy

seventy-

five, in nut sixty-seven, according to Petten-

kofer.

The other twenty,

twenty-five,

and

thirty-three per cent respectively of the oil

constituent

is

a mucilaginous substance, andis

in proportion to its presence in quantity

36


91/436

THE THREE OILSdeleterious

and

injurious.

It

produces opaciIn

ty and hinders a quick drying.

my

judg-

ment the mannerfrom the seedthe seedthe rule

is

in

which thethe

oil is

expressedIf

is

important part.

pressed too hard, as seems to be

nowadays with hydraulic presses of great power, the ground linseed meal beingconstantly in direct contact with steam,it

is

not surprising that the undesirable suboil.

stances are expressed with theto

It

seemsis

me

that the old, slow Italian process


92/436

artist

the

best,

where each

made

his

own

oil

from

the seed

by a slow water process with the aid

of the sun, without steam or pressure, and

without the mixture of injurious chemicals.Thisifis

the safest kind of

oil to

employ.

But

pressure must be resorted

to, it

should not

be so excessive.

The

oil itself

varies in the

same

seed,

supposing

all


93/436

the time you havefirst pressis

the best, full-grown, ripe seed. Theings are the best.

The difference in color

the only thing to

make some37

artists

favor

poppy

oil in

preference to linseed, the poppy


94/436

THE SECRET OP THE OLD MASTERSoil

being so

much

whiter and more transpar-

ent ; but in this case things are not what they

seem, as in time the

poppy

oil

gets darker

and yellower.

In comparison to linseed anddo not think nutoil

poppy used when

oil, I

should be

either of the former can be had.lin-

The choice should always be in favor of

seed as between linseed and poppy, because

the former dries throughout better, does notincreaseits

volume to the extent that poppynext step in the search

does, and, lastly, gives a less viscous surface.

As

I said before, the

Oil

and

was naturally a mixture of resin, or varnish, and oil. The defects involved insuchmixtures, applies to


95/436

all

Resin, or

three

oils,

only

increased or diminished or less

by the greater amount of mucilaginous substances

eachseed

oil oil

contained, so I will refer only to lin-

hereafter

when

oil is

mentioned.

Oil,

when added

to a resin

and used as a medium

or vehicle with the brush on the palette, does

not combine and form one homogeneous substance for our purpose unless subjected to

38


96/436

THE THREE OILSboiling.

Then our

oil

has become also a new

kind of viscous varnish.oil in

Now youpalette,

have raw

your

colors

on the

and a varnish

to spread or dilute

them

with, but the oil in

the colorapart,

not having been boiled remainsitself.

and the varnish remains by

On

the picture the varnish dries on the surface,

and yourtests

oil,

undried, remains underneath andI have

becomes very yellow and dark.

some

of this kind, over fifteen years oldoils


97/436

where the combination was of resins and

without any coloring matter added to complicate the process of drying as dark as

that have turned

raw sienna with some asphaltumsupposing a color tender, silvery carnation, such as

it!

added!

Just think of

tone of light,

we

find in the

nude and

this

in the faces of

women,

were mixed with

medium.

What would

become of the

imagination.

color, I will leave to the reader's

These

up

of

raw

oils

were mostly made and boiled oils, and oils thicktestsoil

ened or thinned in various waysmastic, oil*

andoil


98/436

and dammar,39

oil

and amber,


99/436

THE SECRET OP THE OLD MASTERSand Venice turpentine, balsam copaiba, oil and other resins.copal, oil

and

oil

and

The above-mentioned mediums wereof turpentine, benzin,

in ad-

dition tested in conjunction with the essentialoil

and

oil

of spike,

in varying quantities.

The

possible propor-

tions of the elemental substances are almost

unlimited, as I discovered with the simple

combination of the three,

oil

of turpentine,

wax, and Venice turpentine. Of these three I had made a great many combinations,because I had good reason to believe that Sir

Joshua Reynolds had made a very extensive use of them. A mixture of balsamcopaiba,

amber varnish, linseed had been recommended

oil,

and turpentine

to

meits

at one time


100/436

it

on quite respectable authority, buttake very long to demonstratelessness,

did not

utter worth-

and the

childlike credulity

and innoconstant

cence of technical knowledge of the quite extensive circle of artists

who made

use of

it.

The

tests

were always made onmyself, whose

a pure white canvas

made by 40


101/436

THE THREE OILScomponent parts I could rely upon, and which had been previously tested as tostability andembraced every combination of any of the above-mentioned ingredients I could thinkof, but I soon learnedpurity.tests also

The

that

it

was

better to

keep the number of

substances as few as possible, so that their

character could be more easily noted,

and

anythe

characteristics increased or modified as

technical

brush

handling

demanded.real

Whendium

I thought I

had found the

me-

I generally painted a head,

and some

changed color so rapidly as to suggest that they were ashamed of themselves. Oneprofile

head of a lady turned out so well in every way that I was immensely pleased, butabout one year I suspected that the


102/436

after

study was becoming yellow, and when suspicion afterwards became a certainty I felt

very

much

depressed.

Speaking of the

yel-

lowing reminds

me

that I nearly forgot the

substance sometimes used by some artists as

a quick-drying varnish which turns a strong

41


103/436

THE SECRET OP THE OLD MASTERSyellow as soon as anything employed in painting,

and that

is

the white of egg.

it.

No more

need be said about

All the mediums thus

far mentioned were found wanting in stability.

That

is,

primarily, in not retaining their

original colorless transparency as at the time

when

first

applied,

and turning yellow was awithout taking

very common

serious fault,

any further account of blackening. The varnish having failed us, and varnishwith other ingredients, we must turn to an exOil

Alone

haustive examination of our old friend,oil

as the

alone

;

that

is,

without any other


104/436

It is quite

substance whatever added.generallyyellows.

knownIt

that oil alone darkens

and

needed no very extensive

tests to

makealone.

that a certainty, nevertheless, I underoils

took a series of experiments with theTests

made of

oil

as

supplied by

the large manufacturers of artists' materials

showed that no matter how thebeen extracted and purified,it

oil

may have

became yellow

and dark.

I

then procured the very best

42


105/436

THE THRBH OILSrawlinseed oil to beit

had

in

New YorkI

City,

and purified

with a method

had

hit

upon

while in Italy, namely, the freezing process.

An

earthen vessel with a cover was nearly

filled,

with the

winter, invals,oil.

and placed outdoors in some sheltered place, and at interoil,

when snow

fell,

snow was added

to the

This caused the fats to separate from the

oil

and sink

to the

bottom of the


106/436

vessel, fats

that in the

first

place should, in a large measoil.

ure, not have been pressed out with the

The

oil,

of course,it

is

decanted for use, and I

have found

and very limpid. It seems very probable the same results could beto be clear

obtained with broken ice in a quicker way,

but I have not tried

it.

But

alas

!

even these

precautions did not prevent theting yellow and dark.

oil

from

get-

The same

results

were

obtained

when


107/436

the

oil

was purified by water

and

agitation, in both cases bleaching in the

sun not preventing the oil from yellowing and darkening. I tried boiling it moreor less,thickeningit

in the

sun with

litharge, or red

43


108/436

THE SECRET OF THE OLD MASTERSlead,

and

also thickening it in the

sun without

any substance added. Manganesed oil had All these tests gave more the same effect.or less the same results, a complete failureto maintain a pure, colorless transparency.

Whatto

then are we to paint with, you will say.it

That I purpose to show you

was revealedsearch,

me

in the various stages of

my

and

the process of reasoning that led to the final indisputable triumphant result.

In the

first place,

a canvas or panel should

be grounded absolutely white, not only because

we have proof

that the great technical

Masters, and particularly Rubens, used a pure white ground, but because a pure

white ground is an absolute necessity to

counteract the effects of time, and to give a

painting that subdued quality of light which

can be obtained in no other

way and;


109/436

further,

it

any other color of ground, in proportion as deviates from pure white, is apositive injury to the painting placed upon it. Whetherthe paintis

thick or thin, if proper method

44


110/436

THE THREE OILSand material has been employed, the paintshould and will become transparent, and,anything, the effect more luminous.if

French

restorers of the early part of the nineteenth

century have stated that while the work of

Frenchmen

like

Claude Lorraine, Blanchard,lived

and worked in Italy was technically constructed on the same principles as the workof the Italian Masters,

there was a great difference in body.also said that the

and others who have

French

artists'

They work had aground

lightness

and

delicacy, that the canvas

was toothe

thin,

that

this

combination made

work

lose its original

beauty more surely

and that there were very few Lorraines that had not had the need of a reas timepassed,


111/436

storer's attention.

The French and

Italian

have privately stated that of all pictures, those apparently done with theMasters' methods were the most difficult to rerestorers

store,

and that

to

match a tone

finely

on a

Lorraine always required a

itself.

little

study byitis

From

this

it

would seem that

45


112/436

THE SECRET OF THE OLD MASTERSwise for durability to have as a foundation

on as thickly primed a canvas as can be made, but not so thick that it will crackorto paint

not stand rolling, and also have the under

paintings rather heavy, like Titian but, on the;

other hand,

if

there

is

a heavy, pure whitefirst

ground, like Eubens invariably used, the

and subsequent paintings may be comparatively thin and still be absolutelydurable, like his work that has come down to us.Turner's landscapes and marines have, according tofirst first

my

personal observation, a heavy

ground or prime, and a rather heavy

painting, and I think his

work

is

durable,

but ignorant owners, curators, and restorersare helping to give histation.

work a bad repu-

The canvas supplied to artists by the modern manufacturer is no exception to theconditions that govern the manufacture

ModernCanvas

and

sale of all other artists' materials.


113/436

The conditions of the commercialartists' materials are

side ofartists'

mainly due to the

46


114/436

THE THREE OILSignorance of such things.

The

dealers, I

am

convinced, would gladly supply what was needed, if there was a consistent demand.

They often undertake, with greata great injury to theartists.

labor,

to

supply stuff of no real value to anybody and

They

also,

I

am

sure,

are trying to get their supply of

material of as fine and durable a standard

as possible,

but primarily from a business

standpoint.

They very

justly say

it

is

not

their business to teach the artists

what

to use,

or


115/436

enforce technical morality

among them.if

They would have an impossible tasktried.

they

TheyI

are in business to supply whatsell

ever they canerate fraudto sell

at a profit.

The onlyas

delib-

have noticed was the temptationthe best

some inferior substanceis

genuine madder, this fraudsince the

really serious,

tubes

are quite small,

and

it

is

very annoying to make a test of each tube,but, ifis it is

not done, the color in the picture

liable to disappear.

supplied by manufacturers

The canvas generally is far from white,


116/436

47


117/436

THE SECRET OF THE OLD MASTERSand onlyin very rare cases does it even ap-

proach white, and if you ask the dealer he will tell you he will always sell moreof that

low in key and generally of a gray tone, one reason for that being that unless an

artist is familiar with the pure white ground

which

is

and knows how

to handle

it, it is

very trying

also necessi-

to the eyes until covered,

and

tates a thicker paint treatment to cover the

in fact, causes an annoyance instead of an agreeable inducement to color. Onebeing

white

great colorist I

knew habitually used

a rather

dark, yellowish canvas, and covered that with " veil " of bone brown or black avery thin " siccatif de Courtrai." So a beautiful and

study head he had given

me

has been grad-

ually disappearing in dense blackness, and apicture of his in a public gallery has lost all

beauty of color, and is also being overwhelmed with the rising tide of black,preits

sumably from the same causes. An artist rarely asks a dealer what are thecomponentparts of the ground of this canvas


118/436

in fact, I

48


119/436

THE THBEEnever heard of a case

OILSif

and

he did ask, he

would get no satisfactory answer, for the dealThe artist invariably exers do notknow.amines the texture and tone of color; beyondthat the price, only, interests him; butif

he

were told this canvashis precious

is

the very worst stuff

be startled.

work could be put on, he would To obtain the medium-yellowish,commonestoils

buff-colored canvas the

and

not alone impure white lead are used, butchalk or whiting, honey, wax, yolk of egg,glues,

coloring

substances,

clays,

ochres,

earths, etc., to get the desired

low tone, toto reduce the

prevent cracking, and, abovecost of labor

all,

and material.


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Now

such a canits

vas has at the outset no luminosity of

own, in time becomes brownish yellow, and can never lend any light and life to a

painting placed onit;

the dull, gray kind

is

inju-

rious for the same reason.

If Rubens

had placed one of

his paintings

on a

dull, gray ground, such as is commonly used to-day, its color would never have re-

49


121/436

THE SECRET OF THE OLD MASTERStainedItits original brightness and harmony. would have become dull and somber in

time.

Speaking of harmony reminds

a well-knownartist

me

of

how

European harmony from the very beautiful pastel heads he had a happy faculty ofdoing on gray cardboard grounds.

lost

the

The gray was a very

fine tone,

neither dead nor heavy, and the pastels were

mostly vignettes of beautiful women's heads,

but the light acting on the acids in the card-

board changed the

fine

gray tone and substi-

tuted a buff yellow of a darker shade, so that

where he had allowed the gray tone to appear in the flesh the change had destroyedall theoriginal beautyit

was!it

I

and harmony, and a great pity have used white cardboard and

found

subject to even more change to yel-


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low, excepting only

when

the surface was

first

thickly covered so as to prevent light from

penetrating.

Generally speaking,

if

any changeis

is

taking

place in any painting,

it

quite sure to be

toward yellow, brown, and darkness, and in

50


123/436

THE THREE OILSfact a real

"yellow peril

"

faces the artistit.

unless he knows

how

to avoid

Leaving aside the lack of luminosity in the commercial canvas at the outset, intime it grows rapidly darker and more yellow fromthe cheap materials composing fortunately nearly allit,

and unit.

modern

artists use

Most painters,brings,since

alas

!

care not

what to-morrow

most of them have troubles

enough for the present without looking formore.

The impure

oils

and other

deleterious

ingredients

make;


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the canvas keep better for

the dealers

it

remains more pliable, can berolls for

kept better in smallis

a longer time, and

thus more convenient for transportation.for the ground itself remaining firmly and

As

permanently attached to the linen threads,that depends

used,

upon the quality of the glueupon theIn such aIf,itself.

how

well applied, and also

ingredients of the ground

case, time only can decide the question.

however, an artistself, as

made51

the whole canvas him-

the Old Masters or their apprentices


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THE SECRET OF THE OLD MASTERSdid, he

would know very

well,

without regard

to time.

There are various kinds of absorbent canvasor grounds, and consequently notAbsorbent Canvasall neces-

sarily exactly alike in their action

and

resuits.

The probable cause of the use

of absorbent ground dates back beyondthe tempera days of painting

muchIts

in vogue

before the discovery, or rather more extendeduse, of oil for picture painting.

adoption

mayit

also

have been brought about because

wasoil

so

much more

quickly made.

To make

ground properly demanded much more persistent attention and labor, extending over

an


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considerablechalk,

time.

An"

ordinary

absorbent

whiting,

or

gesso

"

ground couldin

be

well

made throughout

twenty- four

hours, but an oil ground well made required an indefinite number of weeks inwinter, and

not

less

than three or four weeks in good In short,

clear,

sunshiny weather in summer.

the difference between the periods requisitefor the drying of

oil

and glue water 52

respec-


127/436

THE THREEtively.

OILS

This

may have

caused the extended

use of the absorbent ground.

The

essential

difference in material construction

was that

one had glue or casein dissolved in water asa binder for the chalk, whiting, zinc white,

and which could dry well in a warm room in twenty- four hours or less; the otherhadetc.,

a binder, and white lead or zinc white as the luminous body, and did not dry welloil as

" au fond " for a long time if applied the least bit thickly, and the surfaceneeded, aftereach layer or coat was thoroughly dried, to be

laboriously scraped or rubbed down.

Of

this

manipulation the earliest authentic referenceI could find was in a letter of Albrecht Diirer's to

a friend in Niirnberg, dated Venice,6,

January

1506, a time

when

Titian was

twenty-nine years of age, and his contempo-

rary in that


128/436

little city.

Diirer's artistic

and

social position in

Venice at that time was apublicly

good one.

He was

commended byin-

Giovanni Bellini tocluding the Doge

many53

of the nobility

and the patriarch Aquilija


129/436

THE SECRET OP THE OLD MASTERScalled on him.

The paragraphI

in the letter

follows as nearly as I can translate the oldstyle

German: "

have to paint a panel for

the Germans, for which they will give

me

one hundred and ten gulden Rhenish, with

hardly

five

gulden expenses.

I will get the

whitening and scraping done in eight days,then I will immediately begin to paint, andifit

God

wills, a

month

after Easter I will haveDiirer,it

standing on the altar."

seems, did

not have an apprentice, like his contemporaries,

but that

may

be accounted for because

he was not able to speak Italian fluently.

" En passant," here


130/436

is

where,

if

an

artist

made

his

own canvas ground,

as he should, or

at least supervised its construction, the old

Venetian system of art apprenticeship camein very

"

handily."

AnIt

absorbent ground does not necessarilyits

have whiting or chalk for

white constituent.

may

have zinc white or white lead or

barium sulphate, but with the manufacturing of large quantities of canvas on themodern54


131/436

THE THREE OILSplan, the question of costis

naturally in favor

of whiting.

This question of cost applies even

moreis

to oil grounds.

"When a canvas ground

made

ofis

oil

and the white or body con-

stituent

in whole or part

made up

of whit-

ing, there is reason to believe that the alkali

in the whiting acts

on the

oil

and destroys

it

;

hence the change in tone and color.such canvasis

At

first

more


132/436

salable on account ofoil

the discoloration produced by mixing

and

whiting; when made thicker, this substance " " in this is commonly called country.

putty About the year 1800, in Paris, the first transfer of paintings on wood wasmade tocanvas,

and was undertaken on the ordersgreat Napoleon.

of the

One was

that

of

" Madonna Raphael'sto be

del Fuligno," supposed

now in the Vatican at Rome. Hacquin, who undertook the transfer, was supervised bya commission, and they have asserted in theirreport that the ground on which

ed was a white glue ground.

was paintThe same comit

missioners had in charge the transportation5

55


133/436

THE SECRET OP THE OLD MASTERSfrom Italy''

to Paris of Titian's large picture

" The Martyrdomcan,

also for the

of St. Peter the DominiIt

purpose of a restoration.

was shipped on board the frigate Favorite, and before it reached Marseilles aviolentstorm was the cause of a severe soaking to thealready damaged picture.''

The wet wood

lost all

be-

gan

to swell

and the glue groundis

hold."

Hacquin made the transferthis it

to canvas.

Fromlayer of

seems there

plenty of evidence that

at least the

glue, evenentirely.

wood was covered with athe ground

if

was not a glue ground

56


134/436


135/436

CHAPTER IVABSORBENT GROUND VERSUS NONABSORBENT

THEsimple

subject of absorbent groundaffair,

is

not a

the bad reputation of

oil to yel-

low and darken having doubtless caused many modern artists to cling to this strawof absorbent ground.I said straw, but barbed wire

would be a better term.ably thought thathideits

The painters proboil to

if

they could get the

ostrich,is

head in the absorbent ground, like the it would not be seen or found out. Itoil is

a fallacy to suppose that the

harmless;

if it

has become absorbed in the ground on theit

contrary,coloration

is

then a source of future disItis

and darkening.


136/436

a serious

mistake, because as the ground

is

constructed

on the theory that thethereis

oil is to

be absorbed,oil

necessarily a large part of the

im-

57


137/436

THE SECRET OP THE OLD MASTERSmediately absorbed from the paint asapplied,it

is

which instantly hampers the free movement of the brush and brings about a

confined technicin fact,

no technic at

all,

but

an opaque, dull mess.

Some

painters, to over-

come

this difficulty, then use

more

oil

or other

vehicle, or, as I

have seen some

artists do,

apply on the absorbent surface, before any paint whatever is used, a covering ofpure oilalone,

and on

this fresh oily surface begin to

paint.

It is obvious that

such a methodoil

in-

creases the


138/436

quantity of

present

in

the

ground and in the painting in such condition and situation as will surely bringabout yellowing, blackness, and a dead, heavy aspect.

no logic in the use of an absorbent ground; the thing is an absurdOn the otherhand, there are two other ity.in this

Used

way

there

is

ways, or rather one, with a variation, and thatis

to cover the white absorbent

thin

layer of quick-drying,

ground with a " " varcopal

nish, thus

making

it

practically a

" varnishis

ground," which, when well hardened, 58

a


139/436

ABSORBENT GROUNDmuchbetter surface to

VS.

NONABSORBENTThis var-

work upon.

nish can be applied thick enough to have a gloss (a matter of taste), or stillthin enoughto leave, after drying, a tendency to absorb.

If

made sufficientlyit

thick and strong and prop-

erly dried,

will prevent the oil

from beingis

absorbed.

But, you will say, what

the good

of having an absorbent ground that does not

absorb

?

Why,

this

:

in the first place

you haveits

a white ground more quickly made, althoughthe varnish will takeness

away much


140/436

of

white-

and purity, but you have

still

a luminousit

ground without the certainty thatoil

will turn

a yellow or brown from the presence of thein the veryit

foundation, and the assur-

ance that

will retain its tone or

key of

light.

Another wayis

to treat the absorbent

size,

groundand, in

to

apply a layer of glue orits

proportion to

quality, covering the sur-

face so the oil cannot enter the ground, andso

making

it

convenient to paint upon, andoil


141/436

making an increase ofsary.

or

medium

unneces-

This latter device

may

be in a measure

59


142/436

THE SECRET OF THE OLD MASTERSincorporated into the original ground

when

makingit is

it,

that

is,

increasing the proportion of

glue or casein; but if not

made

exactly right

apt to cause the ground to crack fromPersonally, I prefer

the slightest jar or blow.

the copal varnish covering to the glue.subject recalls

This

one of Sir Joshua Reynolds 'sto chalk, or

grounds:nese)

memoranda in reference " Zuccarelli

"gesso,"

says that Paulo (Vero*'

and Tintoretto painted on a

gessI

ground.

He

does not think Titian did.all


143/436

am

firmly convinced they

did."

Zuccarelli

was a contemporary of his and painted land" " scapes, and Reynolds was using gessogrounds at that time.after began using aconstituted,

But Reynolds soon

ground very differently

and

this brings us to a separateoil

and

distinct

ground, as different fromas oil

and white lead

and white lead

is

from

glue and zinc white

a resinous or varnish

ground.

Reynoldscolor

sought

the

transparency

and

charm of the Masters60

in every possible


144/436


145/436

ABSORBENT GROUNDway, and among

VS.

NONABSORBENTdevices he

many

strange

made

use of the varnish ground.diaries

nolds 's private

In Reywe find two memo-

Grounds

randa about varnish grounds, one in reference to a portrait of himself, whichreads, after a brief note of the colors

"used,

the cloth varnished

first

with copal

var. white

andit

word

blue,

The blue, on a raw cloth." seems, was afterwards struckOther technical memo-

through with a pen.this one

randa of his referred to gray grounds, but was white, and, most important, it

was

madeall

of


146/436

his

copallife

varnish

and

white.

Nearlyget

he had been trying tooil,

along without

and that extended

even to the ground.refers to atine

Another memorandum

ground made of Venice turpenand wax. I have painted on quite a

variety of varnish grounds, andthese

among themturpentine

twois

kinds.

The

Venice

and waxasit

a very poor example of ground,

detaches itself very easily from the

threads of the cloth.

As soon61

as the turpen-


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148/436

THE SECRET OF THE OLD MASTERStine dries it has a tendency to crumble into a

powder, not to mention

its

strong tendency

.

to get a very exasperating yellow.is

The copalconcerned,

better, asit

far as

398965 the Secret of the Old Masters

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