ENCAUSTIC PAINTING (Gr. encaustiite, infired, or fixed by fire), a manner of paint ing practiced by the ancients. As the name implied that fire was used in the execution, some have been led to suppose that E. P. was the same as enamel painting; but notices by Pliny and other writers show clearly that it was a species of painting in which the chief ingredient used for uniting and fixing the colors was wax dissolved by heat. Various attempts have been made in modern times to revive it. About the middle of last century, count Caylus and M. Bachelier, and in 1792, Miss Greenland, made various experiments with this view. The count laid the result of his experiments before the academies of painting and of sciences in Paris; and the ingenious lady was rewarded with a gold pallet by the society for the encouragement of arts in London; but the success of these efforts seems to have been but temporary. E. P. was, however, some years ago again taken up in Germany under the patronage of the late king of Bavaria, who had a number of important works executed in this way. The colors are
ground, and laid on with a vehicle composed principally of wax. Miss Greenland dis solved gum-arable in water, afterwards adding gum-mastic, which was dissolved by stirring and boiling, and when the mixture had reached the boiling-point, she put in the wax. After painting the picture, she passed a thin coating of melted wax over it with a hard brush, and then drew over the surface an iron—for ironing linen—mode rately heated. After the picture cooled, it was rubbed with a fine linen cloth. The German method is somewhat similar, but some other ingredients are used; among these, potash with the wax; and in place of an iron being passed over the surface, the wax is brought to the surface by a vessel containing fire being held at a little distance from the picture. E. P. is not likely to come into general use, for neither in imparting brilliancy to the colors, facility for execution, nor durability, is it to be compared with oil-painting.