Colors from Du Fresnoy's De Arte Graphica

Du Fresnoy writes about colors that appear on the palette of Roger de Piles' translation of De Arte Graphica:

Red Oker is one of the most heavy Colours.

Yellow Oker is not so heavy, because 'tis clearer.

And the Masticot is very light, because it is a very clear yellow, and very near to white.

Ultramarine, or Azure, is very light and a very sweet Colour.

Vermillion is wholly opposite to Ultramarine.

Lake is a middle Colour betwixt Ultramarine and Vermillion, yet it is rather more sweet than harsh.

Brown-Red is one of the most earthy and most sensible Colours.

Pinck is in its Nature an indifferent Colour, (that is) very susceptible of the other Colours by the mixture: if you mix Brown-red with it, you will make it a very earthy Colour; but on the contrary, if you join it with White or Blue, you shall have one of the most faint and tender Colours.

Terre verte (or green Earth) is light, 'tis a mean betwixt Yellow Oker and Ultramarine.

Umbre is very sensible and earthy; there is nothing but pure Black which can dispute with it.

Of all Blacks, that is the most earthy, which is most remote from Blue. According to the Principle which we have establish'd of White and Black, you will make every one of these Colours before nam'd more earthy and more heavy, the more Black you mingle with them; and they will be lighter, the more White you join with them.

The descriptions here are ambiguous, such as the use of the word 'sensible.' How is vermilion 'wholly opposite' of ultramarine? What is meant by 'heavy'? Does it mean high tinting strength? Perhaps great covering power?

The text is made clearer through Roger de Piles' commentaries on Du Fresnoy's original treatise, when we read, for example, remark 361:

Let two contrary Extremities never touch each other, &c. The Sense of seeing has this in common with all the rest of the Senses, that it abhors the contrary Extremities. And in the same manner as our Hands, when they are very cold, feel a grievous Pain, when on the sudden we hold them near the Fire ; so the Eyes which find an extreme White, next to an extreme Black, or a fair cool Azure next to a hot Vermillion, cannot behold these Extremities without Pain, though they are always attracted by the Glareing of two contraries.

This Rule obliges us to know those Colours which have a Friendship with each other, and those which are incompatible ; which we may easily discover in mixing together those Colours of which we would make and if by this Mixture, they make a gracious and sweet Colour, which is pleasing to the Sight, 'tis a Sign that there is an Union and a Sympathy betwixt them : but if on the contrary, that Colour which is produc'd by the mixture of the two, be harsh to the Sight, we are to conclude, that there is a Contrariety and Antipathy betwixt thefe two Colours. Green (for Example) is a pleasing Colour, which may come from a Blue and a Yellow mix'd together ; and by consequence Blue and Yellow are two Colours which sympathize : and on the contrary, the Mixture of Blue with Vermillion produces a sharp, harsh, and unpleasant Colour ; conclude then that Blue and Vermillion are of a contrary Nature. And the same may be said of other Colours, of which you may make the Experiment, and clear that Matter once for all. (see the Conclusion of the 332d Remark, where I have taken Occasion to speak of the Force and Quality of every Capital Colour.) Yet you may neglect this Precept, when your Piece consists but of one or two Figures, and when amongst a great Number you would make some one Figure more remarkable than the rest.

Source
Charles-Alphonse Du Fresnoy, John Dryden, Richard Graham, Charles Jarvis, Roger de Piles, Alexander Pope. The Art of Painting. Translated by John Dryden. Contributors: Bernard Lintott, William Taylor, Isabelle Kittson Brown, Francis Bacon Library. Published by and printed for Bernard Lintott, 1716, p. 180.

The text is a translation of Dufresnoy's De Arte Graphica written in Latin with additional text by other authors and translated by John Dryden.

Charles-Alphonse Du Fresnoy, born in 1611 in Paris, died in 1665, was painter, an art critic and a French poet. He was a student of Simon Vouet and a friend of Pierre Mignard with whom he visited Italy.

Pink -- A Pseudo Lake Pigment?

Harley holds the views that the use of the English word pink referred to a pseudo-lake pigment, differentiating it from lake pigments, for which the English word lake described. In some of the treatises cited in my earlier post, they describe depositing the dye on alum (aluminum sulfate postash) or chalk (calcium carbonate). This is different from the process used to make lake pigments where the dye is precipitated on freshly made aluminum hydroxide. Interestingly, aluminum hydroxide is made by dissolving alum or aluminum sulfate in water and then precipitating it in a chemical reaction with an alkali, such as soda ash (sodium carbonate) or pearl ash (potassium carbonate), by adding this alkali dissolved in water to the first solution. Aluminum hydroxide precipitates from the solution as a powder, gel or horny mass, depending upon the temperature and pH of the solutions. This procedure is quite different from that outlined in the treatises for making Dutch pink.

Tingry describes the process in detail that is similar to other writers:

Pour into this mixture [the previously prepared solution of dye--Ed.] warm, and at different times, a solution of two pounds of the sulphate of alumine (alum) in five pounds of water : a slight effervescence will take place ; and the sulphate being decomposed, the alumine, which is precipitated, will seize on the colouring part. The liquor must then be filtered through a piece of close linen, and the paste which remains on the cloth, when divided into square pieces, is exposed on boards to dry. This is brown Dutch pink, because the clay in it is pure. The intensity of the colour shows the quality of this pink, which is superior to that of the other compositions.

There is no mention of any alkali in his instructions that would form aluminum hydroxide, which is the method for making lake pigments.

References
R.D. Harley. Artists' Pigments c. 1600-1835. Archetype Publications, 1982. pp. 107-114.

Pierre François Tingry. The Painter and Varnisher’s Guide: Or, A Treatise, Both in Theory and Practice, on the Art of Making and Applying Varnishes, on the Different Kinds of Painting; and on the Method of Preparing Colours Both Simple and Compound. Printed for G. Kearsley, J. Taylor, 1804. pp. 366.

The Yellow Pigment Called Pink

We may never know for a certain why the English word pink was once used as a noun to describe a yellow pigment. However, we may arrive at some conclusions to make it clearer.

That the English word pink did not represent the raw material providing the coloring matter is clear from manuscripts on painting. Norgate had a recipe for making it from Genestella tinctoria, a variety of broom and additional recipes in one of the copies of Norgate's treatise include the remark that 'callsind eg shels and whitt Roses makes rare pinck that never starves.'

It did not represent the hue yellow, because it is always accompanied with a qualifying adjective, many of which describe its hue. Yellow, green and light pink are 17th century variations, whereas the names brown, rose, Dutch and English pink were used somewhat later.

The common feature of all the pigments described by those names is that all were obtain from a dye that was precipitated onto chalk or alum.

When Pink was a Yellow Color

At one time in history, the English word pink referred to a yellow color. There is no satisfactory explanation as to why the word pink meant a yellow color. There is speculation, owing to its greenish yellow tone, that it is derived from the German word pinkeln translated in a dictionary of 1798 as ‘to piss, to make water.’

The color most often known as Dutch pink was ‘a yellow lake prepared from Persian berries or from quercitron and used chiefly as an artist’s pigment,’ according to Webster’s Third New International Dictionary, under the definition of Dutch pink. This color was ‘a light yellow that is greener and slightly darker than jasmine and greener and stronger than average maize or popcorn—called also English pink, Italian pink, madder yellow, stil de grain, yellow madder.’

When we review the literature on Dutch pink, we find that it is a lake pigment made from various organic sources, the most often mentioned is Rhamnus or buckthorn berries. These pigments also contained other yellow dyes, such as fustic, turmeric, weld, dyers’ broom and dyer’s oak. Chemically, the colorants of all these yellow dyes are types of aromatic molecules known as flavonoids. The various yellow dyes all have a very similar appearance and were probably used indiscriminately by color makers and artists.

Note what Robert Dossie in Handmaid to the Arts wrote about Dutch pink:

Of Dutch pink.
Dutch pink is a pigment formed of chalk, coloured with the tinging particles of French berries or other vegetables. It is principally used for coarser purposes in water ; not bearing well to be worked in oil : nor can it be depended upon with regard to its standing so as to be fit for paintings of any consequence.

There are a variety of methods of preparing Dutch pink : but the following is very cheap and easy ; and makes a most beautiful pigment.

" Take of French berries one pound, and
" of turmeric root powdered four ounces ; boil
" them in a gallon of water two hours ; and
" then strain off the tincture through flannel,
" and boil it again with an ounce of alum till
" it be evaporated to one quart. Prepare in
" the mean time four pounds of chalk, by
" washing it over, and afterwards drying it :
" and mix the chalk with the tincture, by
" grinding them together : and then lay out the
" Dutch pink thus made to dry on boards."

Dutch pink is sometimes prepared in the same manner with starch and white lead.

The goodness of Dutch pink consists in its being of a full gold coloured yellow, and very bright.

Of English pink.
English pink is only a lighter and coarser kind of Dutch pink.

Of light pink.
Light pink is of two kinds, the one the same with the Dutch pink, only with greatly less colour : the other the same with the brown pink ; that is, transparent in oil, but with less colour.

The first kind like the Dutch pink is only fit for using in water ; and there, likewise, only in paintings where the holding of the colour is not of great consequence.

The other is by some used in oil paintings in the same manner as brown pink : its transparency making it have a good effect in shades for some purposes ; but it is not a judicious practice : for all these colours formed of vegetables are very uncertain with respect to their standing; and the native earths or prepared okers properly managed will answer equally the same ends.

The preparation of the (first kind of light pink may be in the same manner as that of the Dutch pink ; only diminishing the proportion of the French hernes and turmeric to one half.

The light pink may be prepared in the following manner.

" Take of French berries one pound. Boil
" them with a gallon of water for an hour : and
" then strain them off; and add two pounds of
" pearl-ashes, dissolved and purified by filter
" -ing through paper. Precipitate with alum
" dissolved in water, by adding the solution
" gradually, so long as any ebullition shall
" appear to be raised in the mixture. When
" the sediment has thoroughly subsided, pour
" off the water from it ; and warn it with
" several renewed quantities of water, pro-
" ceeding as has been before directed in the
" case of lake, &c. ; and then drain off the
" remaining fluid in a filter with a paper
" covered with a linen cloth ; and lastly dry
" it on boards in small square pieces."

It may be likewise prepared from fustic wood, yellow sanders, and several other vegetable substances, which afford copiously a yellow tinge.

The goodness of light pink lies principally in its brightness and transparency : and, when designed for the shops, care mould be taken that it do not fatten in the oil; which will happen, if the salts be not thoroughly washed out of it.

Robert Dossie. The Handmaid to the Arts, 1758. pp. 94-6.

Tingry describes the preparation and uses of different types of Dutch pink in the late 18th century:

Dutch pinks.
Dutch pinks are much used in house-painting, &c. and in painting in distemper and in oil. They are seldom employed by artists who paint pictures, because they prefer yellows obtained from metallic substances, as being more durable.

The Dutch pinks are composed of earthy parts charged with the colouring matter or colouring fecula of certain plants. The basis of that of the first quality is clay. Sometimes this base is marly (a mixture of clay and chalk), and in certain cases it is carbonate of lime (chalk). The last-mentioned composition of Dutch pinks is inferior to the other two. It is much better suited to painting in distemper than to oil painting.

Dutch pink from woad.
Woad is a plant common in France and in Spain. When cultivated it is superior for dyeing to the uncultivated kind. The use of its colouring part is not confined to dyeing ; it is extended also to painting, under the denomination of Dutch pink.

To make Dutch pink, boil the stems of woad in alum water, and then mix the liquor with clay, marl, or chalk, which will become charged with the colour of the decoction. When the earthy matter has acquired consistence by evaporation, form it into small cakes, and expose them to dry. It is under this form that the Dutch pinks are sold in the colour shops.

Another kind of Dutch pink.
This kind of Dutch pink is made with an aluminous decoction of woad mixed with chalk, which becomes charged with the colouring part of the plant. The use of chalk renders this kind of pink inferior to all those the base of which is of an argillaceous earth, or a very argillaceous marl. These compositions would, perhaps, acquire some additional qualities were the clay, marl, or chalk mixed with a second, and even a third decoction of the plant.

Dutch pink from yellow berries.
The small buckthorn produces fruit, which when collected green are called graine d' Avignon, or yellow berries. They have been distinguished by the name of graine d' Avignon, because the plant which furnishes them grows in great abundance in the neighbourhood of that city.

These seeds, when bailed in alum water, form a Dutch pink superior to the former. A certain quantity of clay or marl is mixed with the decoction, by which means the colouring part of the berries unites with the earthy matter, and communicates to it a beautiful yellow colour.

These yellow berries are much used in dyeing, and even in cotton printing, which occasions a great consumption of yellows.

The colouring part of Dutch pinks is darker according as the earthy substance employed is less mixed with carbonate of lime (calcareous earth or chalk). Clay contributes to the durability of the colour. In consequence of this principle, a Dutch pink resulting from the decomposition of sulphate of alumine might be substituted for the mixtures here described.

Brownish yellow Dutch pink by the decomposition of sulphate of alumine (alum).
Boil for about an hour in twelve pounds of water a pound of yellow berries, half a pound of the shavings of the wood of the barberry shrub, and a pound of wood ashes. Then strain the decoction through a piece of linen cloth.

Pour into this mixture warm, and at different times, a solution of two pounds of the sulphate of alumine (alum) in five pounds of water : a slight effervescence will take place ; and the sulphate being decomposed, the alumine, which is precipitated, will seize on the colouring part. The liquor must then be filtered through a piece of close linen, and the paste which remains on the cloth, when divided into square pieces, is exposed on boards to dry. This is brown Dutch pink, because the clay in it is pure. The intensity of the colour shows the quality of this pink, which is superior to that of the other compositions.

Dutch pink with Spanish white, or with ceruse, preferable for oil painting.
By substituting for clay a substance which presents a mixture of that earth and metallic oxide, the result will be Dutch pink, superior, no doubt, to any of those the composition of which has been already given.

The ceruse is ground on porphyry with water, and a then separated from the porphyry with a wooden spatula. In this state it is fit for use ; but it will be proper to let it lose its humidity.

Boil separately a pound of yellow berries and three ounces of the sulphate of alumine (alum) in twelve pounds of water, which must be reduced to four pounds. Strain the decoction through a piece of linen, and squeeze it strongly. Then mix up with it two pounds of ceruse and a pound of pulverized Spanish white. Evaporate the mixture till the mass acquire the consistence of a paste ; and having formed it it into small cakes, dry them in the shade.

When these cakes are dry, reduce them to powder, and mix them with a new decoction of yellow berries. By repeating this process a third time, you will obtain a Dutch pink so much charged with colouring matter that it will be brown.

In general, the decoctions must be warm when they are mixed with the earth. They ought not to be long kept, as their colour is speedily altered by the fermentation. Care must be taken also to use a wooden spatula for stirring the mixture.

Dutch pinks are employed in distemper and in oil. They are however said, and with some foundation, not to be durable. The colouring part in them is the less fixed as the earthy substance combined with it contains less chalk. Those, therefore, who wish to select the best, must prefer those which produce the least effervescence with acids. In this point of view I have examined several of the English pinks, which occasioned very little effervescence.

When only one decoction of woad or of yellow berries is employed to colour a given quantity of earth, the Dutch pink resulting from it is of a bright-yellow colour, and is easily mixed for use. When the colouring part of several decoctions is absorbed, the composition becomes brown, and is mixed with more difficulty, especially if the paste be argillaceous ; for it is the property of this earth to unite with oily and resinous parts, to adhere strongly to them, and to incorporate with them. In the latter case, the artist must not be satisfied with mixing the colour : it ought to be ground ; an operation which is equally proper for every kind of Dutch pink, and even the softest, when destined for oil painting.

Pierre François Tingry. The Painter and Varnisher’s Guide: Or, A Treatise, Both in Theory and Practice, on the Art of Making and Applying Varnishes, on the Different Kinds of Painting; and on the Method of Preparing Colours Both Simple and Compound. Printed for G. Kearsley, J. Taylor, 1804. pp. 363–7.

Field lists Dutch pink as a yellow lake and provides a clue as to why it was called pink, writing that it was prepared in the same 'manner of rose pink, from which they borrow their name.':

DUTCH PINK, ENGLISH and ITALIAN PINKS, are sufficiently absurd names of yellow colours prepared by impregnating whitening, &c. with vegetal yellow tinctures, in the manner of rose pink, from which they borrow their name.

They are bright yellow colours, extensively used in distemper and for paper-staining, and other ordinary purposes ; but are little deserving attention in the higher walks of art, being in every respect inferior even to the yellow lakes, except the best kinds of English and Italian pinks, which are, in fact, yellow lakes, and richer in colour than the pigments generally called yellow lake.

The pigment called Stil, or Stil de grain, is a similar preparation, and a very fugitive yellow, the darker kind of which is called brown-pink.

George Field. Chromatography; Or, A Treatise on Colours and Pigments: And of Their Powers in Painting. London, Tilt and Bogue, 1841. p. 159.

ITALIAN PINK, Also called English and Dutch Pink, is an absurd name for a stronger and richer kind of yellow lake, warmer in tint and more powerful than the...

George Field. Chromatography; Or, A Treatise on Colours and Pigments: And of Their Powers in Painting, revised by T.W. Salter, 1869. p. 100.

Bersch provides details about the manufacture of Dutch pink in his volume:

Dutch Pink. — Several species of buckthorn (Rhamnus) contain a yellow colouring matter— xanthorhamnin — which is obtained pure by extracting the yellow berries with hot alcohol. On cooling, the impure colouring matter separates ; by repeated recrystallisation from alcohol it is obtained in the form of crystalline needles, which are soluble in water and alcohol.

The yellow lake known as Dutch pink is prepared from yellow (Persian) berries, by boiling the crushed berries with water and mixing the extract with a solution of alum. The lake is then precipitated by the addition of powdered chalk. As a rule, 500 parts of water are used to 100 parts of berries, 20 parts of alum are added to the decoction, and the mixture poured upon 75 parts of finely powdered chalk. The liquid is decanted off, the residue filtered, washed and dried. Commercial Dutch pink is made from a mixture of the decoctions of yellow berries, quercitron bark and turmeric, to which the alum solution is added, and then chalk. The precipitate is made into conical lumps, which are sold as Dutch pink, and used for ordinary painting and for colouring leather.

Josef Bersch. The Manufacture of Mineral and Lake Pigments: Containing Directions for the Manufacture of All Artificial Artists' and Painters' Colours, Enamel Colours, Soot and Metallic Pigments. Translated by Arthur Columbine Wright. London: Scott, Greenwood, 1901. pp. 348-9.
In one of the latest references to its manufacture, Maire describes its use in distemper painting, but the name is still 'one of the conundrums that must be passed around to some one else for a satisfactory explanation.'

DUTCH PINK
Character and Preparation
Dutch pink has many synonyms, i.e., yellow lake, Italian lake, quercitron lake, brown lake, yellow madder, and a host of others under which it is known in various sections, especially in England, where it is unknown under the American cognomen of Dutch pink. As under this name only is this pigment listed in pigment catalogues in the United States, and as this is recognized by all color makers in their price lists, the name is used here in preference to any of the synonyms. Why it should be called a pink (?) when it is not a pink, but a yellow, is one of the conundrums that must be passed around to some one else for a satisfactory explanation.

Dutch pink is of vegetable origin, and it can be and has been prepared from various sources, but it is now chiefly derived from quercitron, a product extracted from oak bark. Our black and red oaks contain the greatest percentage of it, although it can be obtained from the bark of white oak also.

A decoction of the bark is made by boiling, and the quercitron is precipitated by pouring into it while hot a solution of alum and dilute ammonia.

A richer-toned pigment is produced by using dilute boiling sulphuric acid instead of water in extracting it either from the ground bark or alburnum.

In former days much of the Dutch pink was obtained from various species of buckthorn and of the Rhamus family of shrubs.

Properties and Uses
It is possible that the variety of names under which Dutch pink is known may have been given to the various extracts at some time or other to note some slight variation of tone in them. This is more than doubtful, as it is next to impossible to ever find any two lots of it that are just alike in this respect. It is useless to keep up a confusing nomenclature, and all lakes of the same extraction should be classed together and known by one name only. When an Englishman calls for any of the above-named lakes, the dealer will be perfectly safe in giving him Dutch pink instead of them.

Dutch pink has but little permanency when used in distemper for wall coloring, and yet, strange to say, that is the purpose for which it is mostly used. Why that is so is one of the unsolvable mysteries.

Its use in the United States is confined to a few sections where the traditions of its usage have been handed down and inherited without the worth of the legacy having been investigated.

In oil it is a bad drier, and while it is more permanent in that vehicle than in distemper, — because of the preserving influence exerted upon it by the linseed oil, — it is insufficiently so, and there is no need of one taking unnecessary risks by using it. As a glazing color it is all right while it lasts, and it is used for that purpose in some carriage shops.

Frederick Maire. Modern Pigments and Their Vehicles: Their Properties and Uses Considered Mainly from the Practical Side, and how to Make Tints from Them. J. Wiley & Sons, 1907. pp. 90-2.

The Palette of Goya

Besides an artist's personal notes or treatises on painting of the period, the systematic arrangement of separate colors and mixtures on the palette, which the painter prepared before he began his work, can be used to study the artist's painting procedures. Such palettes can be found in portraits or self-portraits where the palette is held in the hand with the rows of colors and tints clearly visible.

One such portrait is the portrait of Goya with his palette, painted in 1827, by Vicente López y Potaña (1772-1850) shown at right.

Goya used nine separate colors and arranged them on the palette with the white on nearest the thumbhole and the blacks on the opposite side.

Besides the white and blacks, there are only earth colors. We see the nine colors arranged along the outer edge of the palette as follows: Flake white, yellow ocher, brown ocher, light red, burnt Sienna, and four blacks. As on most 18th century palettes, vermilion is placed separately near white, as is described in de Piles' palette.1

It seems that Goya used no scaled palette or row of tints at the center of the palette. We observe a flesh tint, the blacks and a greenish and brownish tint that can be obtained by mixing the yellowish or reddish flesh tint with the black. An unusual feature of this palette is the great quantities of blacks (four) and the apparent absence of umbers. The abundant use of black for the groundwork of his paintings gives his pictures a definite character. There is no blue or green on Goya's palette.2 Earth colors can be very brilliant and of high tinting strength: yellow ochre looks almost like Naples yellow, light red like vermilion, burnt Sienna like Crimson lake, and green earth (when used) like viridian.

F. Schmid identifies the different blacks as bone black, lamp black, ivory black and peach black. He admits this description of blacks, which in the painting have a warm or cold quality, is arbitrary and guess-work based on comparison with contemporary treatises where the blacks are described in words. For example, de Piles (1684) recommends two blacks in the row of the pigments, namely bone black and lamp black. Wyrsch (1732-1798) in his posthumously published treatise (1838) mentions three blacks, i.e. bone black, ivory black, and peach black.

Diagram based on F. Schmid: 1. Flake white 2. Yellow ocher 3. Brown ocher 4. Light red 5. Burnt Sienna 6-9. Blacks a. Vermilion b. Spot of black c. Light yellowish flesh tint (yellow ocher and flake white) d. Greenish middle tint e. Thin blacks f. Burnt Siena and three brushes in hand.

Notes
1. The position of vermilion on palettes of the 17th century is described in the palette recommended by Roger de Piles in his painting treatise, Les Premiers Elémens de Peinture Pratique, Paris, 1684. See also Arthur Pope, The Language of Drawing and Painting, Cambridge, Mass., 1949, p. 130; W. G. Constable, The Painter's Workshop, London, 1954, pp. 122-123. De Pile's palette is reproduced in F. Schmid, The Practice of Painting, London, 1948, figs. 26 & 27.

2. The palette described by de Piles does not contain blue, but, of course, it was a palette primarily set for flesh tones. Blue was used in special circumstances, such painting a dress, draperies or sky in landscapes. In this case, a separate palette was usually set up for those passages. Many French 18th century artists (Nattier Vien, Duplessis, Drouais) did not place blue or green on their palettes. Also on the palette of John Trumbull, who was trained in England and France, we find no blue and green (see Theodore Sizer, The Works of Colonel John Trumbull, New Haven, 1950, pp. 101-105).

References
W. G. Constable. The Painter's Workshop, London, 1954, pp. 122-123.

Roger de Piles. Les Premiers Elémens de Peinture Pratique, Paris, 1684. Jombert's edition 1767.

Arthur Pope. The Language of Drawing and Painting. Cambridge, Mass., 1949, p. 130.

F. Schmid. The Practice of Painting. London, 1948, figs. 26 & 27.

F. Schmid. "Some Observations on Artists' Palettes." The Art Bulletin, Vol. 40, No. 4 (Dec., 1958), pp. 334-336.

Painters' Palette

"The painters of the Middle Ages and of the Renaissance used carefully set palettes and definite tone-relations. This is proved by the recurrence, again and again, of exactly the same tonalities and effects. Modern painters have, as a rule, avoided the use of set-palettes and tone-systems; preferring to depend on visual feeling or native genius. In so doing they have made a very great mistake, and some of them are now fully aware of this."

This quote is from Denman Waldo Ross, The Painter's Palette: A Theory of Tone Relations, an Instrument of Expression, Houghton Mifflin company, 1919.

For some years I have been studying the palettes of medieval and Renaissance painters and with many of the same pigments available to me have started to reproduce their palettes, many of which are depicted in portraits and self-portraits and described in painting treatises. This work has been leading me to more clearly see the tonal and color arrangements in the work of the old masters, which I will be publishing on the Natural Pigments web site in the upcoming months.

Adrian Van Ostade--A Painter in His Studio

From the The Works of Eminent Masters in Painting, Sculpture, Architecture and Decorative Art, Published by J. Cassell, 1854


This is an engraving based on the painting of the same name. It is of interest because it shows in detail the studio of a 17th century Flemish artist.

Fresco Plastering in Santa Rosa, California

Last night I drove to an orthodox church in Santa Rosa, California to observe the plastering technique of an orthodox monk, Father Moses. I arrived at the Saint Seraphim of Sarov Church at about 7:00 p.m. to find Father Moses already on the scaffold applying the first painting layer (intonaco) on a column in the southwest transept. Nearby at ground level, Father Patrick was mixing pigments and organizing his materials for the next day's painting session.

Every time we meet, we swap information about fresco painting techniques, plastering procedures and materials. I brought samples of marble sand so that they could conduct tests. They have been using fine sand in the intonaco layers, but we are both interested in testing marble as first recommended in literature by Vitruvius and Pliny.

At right is an example of one of the column frescos in the church of Seraphim of Sarov, Santa Rosa, California.

I ascended the scaffolding to get a closer look at Father Moses' work. The mortar was prepared in July and was quite stiff and rather dry. It nearly crumbled when picked up and did not adhere well to the hawk or the trowels. Father Moses recognized that it was stiffer and dryer than previous mortars he had prepared, but Father Patrick felt this was better.

He applied the first of two painting layers, which was about 3/16" to 1/4" thick, by scraping a small amount of the mortar from the hawk with a finishing trowel and pressing it on to the wall with upward strokes. Working in rows from left to right and bottom to top, he applied it with as much pressure he could muster with one hand. After completing several rows, we smoothed it with the finishing trowel without polishing it.

The area to be plastered was about three feet wide by six feet tall, not including the area that wrapped around the rounded corner of the column. Father Moses applied plaster to the face of the column up to about a half inch from the joint along the left side and, on the right side, out to the edge of the corner. I floated the layer with a small wood float. The layer was firm and proved difficult to float except with much strength, so I held the float in two hands.

Father Moses next applied mortar to the corner using a corner trowel and on the left side up to the joint. I floated the remaining areas and we climbed off the scaffolding at about 10:00 p.m. The pace was not hurried as we worked and had a lively discussion about fresco painting.

After a meal in the parish dining hall, we returned to the church at midnight to apply the second painting layer. The first layer was solid but you could feel the moisture in the plaster. We knocked up a new batch of mortar that was prepared in August. It was softer and wetter than the first mortar that was applied earlier in the evening. Father Moses proceeded in the same manner as in the first layer, but applying a thinner coat, about 1/8" to 3/16" thick. I applied a portion of the mortar over the face of the column and then worked on filling and smoothing the joint. Father Moses finished applying the mortar on the column and around the corner. The plaster was softer than the first, but the layer was firm to the touch although it could be dented. In each layer, the plaster extended about 6" from the area to be painted. This would later be trimmed and cut away.

Father Moses (left) and Father Patrick (right) working on a column fresco.

We finished at about 3:00 a.m. this morning. I went to my car for some sleep; it is an hour and half drive back to Willits and I had to be back in the office at about 8:00 a.m. Father Moses remained in the church to check on the progress of the plaster. He polished the surface with a finishing trowel within the hour and again at about 5:00 a.m. Father Patrick would soon be awake to begin painting.