FRESCO, in painting, an Italian word, now universally adopted, signifying paint ings performed on the walls of palaces and churches. There cannot be a doubt, that this was the original method, in which all large subjects were done, kn.
mediatelrafter the, discovery of the at of expressing forms and substances, by the judicious disposition -of different co loured earths diluted with water. Sava ges found in a complete state of nature, who knew nothing more than her imme diate dictates, have been found covered with colours, collected, and used on their persons by instinct ; and some have even demonstrated genius in working the beautiful mantles and helmets formed of feathers of the most vivid tints : one step more would have produced painting on walls, but it was reserved for the ancient Grecians to enlighten and benefit the world by the superior talents they had received and cultivated ; it would be vain to enter into an investigation when their attempts arrived to that state of compa rative perfection, which produced the delineation of figures on plaster or simi lar composition ; we must, therefore, be satisfied with describing some still ex tant, of very great antiquity, and men tioning the modern method of using the colours.
It may reasonably be supposed, that the first pictures painted in this way were ex tremely rude, and probably did not con sist of more than two colours, a light one for the ground, and a dark for the outlines ; for blending the tints must have been the result of experience, and some degree of freedom. This supposition may be illustrated by referring to the valuable vases brought from Herculaneum, by the late Sir William Hamilton, and now de posited in the British Museum ; those, and the paintings found in the same city, were in all probability the performances of Italians, but as the art was then evi dently in its infancy, the Greeks might not have excelled their imitators ; indeed painting must have been considered by that ingenious people as an art inferior to that of sculpture, which accounts for the superior excellence, and earlier improve ments, in the latter.
The appendix to the Abbe Barthele my's travels in Italy contains several cu rious remarks on Herculaneum, by Count Caylus and others, and du Theil ; the latter supposes that the destruction of this city happened in the year 471. Cay lus, on treating upon the ancient paint ings discovered, observes, " As to their designing, it is dry, and hardly ever ex ceeds the idea of a fine statue. The composition is in general cold, for the same reason that the design is dry. In fact, a figure is not grouped, though it be placed with others; and statues in tended at first to stand alone, will, with difficulty, enter into composition without some alteration; though the Diana in the Thesus, and the woman with wings in the Telephus, are more contrasted, and have an air of motion.
"The general taste of the composition is remarkable, not only for its resem blance to statues, as I have observed be fore, but to has reliefs also. It is clear that the authors had them present to their imagination, and that they had made on their minds a very lively im pression.
"The demi-tints are of an olive grey, or of a yellowish or reddish cast, and the shades of red, mixed with black. The draperies, in general, are made with little plaits, formed of light and flexible stuffs, after the style of Roman sculpture."
The picture of Telephus is, however, an exception, and seems to lead the author to think, that the artist who performed this piece was superior to those who ex ecuted the others.
In the aggregate there are no groupes, harmony, or dare obscuro. Each figure stands, as it were, independent, with its own light and shade only, neither receiv ing reflected light from the next, nor casting shade on it; nor are the shades broken, but done with the same colour as the half tints, and have merely less white ; this peculiarity arose from their deficiency in the science of perspective, which reduced the artist to the necessity of making the graduation of distance by the faintness of his colours. "For the rest," adds the Count, " the pictures are done with ease, the touch is bold, and the pencil handled freely, the colouring being sometimes laid on in patches, and ometimes softened down ; in a word, the xecution is light, and in the same style early as we paint the decorations of our eatres, the whole indicating a great ractice in the artists." ? Thus much is considered necessary, • order to spew that the adoption of any colours in Fresco paintings took I lace subsequent to 471 ; like all other !arts, it must have been improved by de grees, and it cannot be doubted, that the great masters, whose labours still adorn the numerous churches and palaces in Italy, contributed largely to its perfec tion, though it is well known that many of their best works have suffered from damps, which it is presumed will pre vent their stability wherever it prevails. This circumstance has operated to so great a degree in St. Peter's at Rome, that most of the old pictures have been replaced by others in Mosaic. See MO SAIC.
The same cause has prevented the fre quent use of Fresco painting in England, except in mansions where a dry air is constantly preserved ; the necessity of this precaution is demonstrated at pre sent in the dome of St. Paul's. The manner of performing this description of painting is, to work while the plaster is wet which covers the wall to be deco rated; consequently, in the execution of large subjects, the process of plastering must immediately precede the brush of the artist, and only in the proportion he works, that the colours may incorporate with the composition, and that it may not absorb the water which dilutes them, and prevent the free touches intended for effect.
Vitruvius, who calls Fresco painting udo tectorio, gives an accurate account of the extreme care which the ancients thought necessary in preparing the stuc coes for the colours, and it must be ad mitted they succeeded admirably, when we consider how very perfect the re mains of their productions now are, after undergoing the sulphurous inhumation of ashes, caused by the eruption of Vesuvi us, one thousand three hundred and thirty-seven years past. The moderns, however, conceive that their lime and sand is preferable, The design intended for a wall should be drawn on paper, or any substance from whence it may be transferred to the wet plaster; the mode of proceeding must afterwards be similar to that practised in painting upon canvas. The colours should be earths, exclusively, diluted with water sufficiently to make them flow freely, but not to decompose the plaster and mix its surface with them ; long soft haired brushes should therefore be preferred.