Part 3

It is pertinent to say a word about Flake White, because practically all of the Whites used by the Flemish, Dutch, Italian and English Masters was Flake White, and there is no white pigment that is equal to it in what is known as hiding power. Two coats of Flake White thinly applied are equal to four coats of Zinc White in hiding power, so it is quite appropriate that where a painter wants a permanent White, which shall have a solid body and hiding power, there is absolutely no objection to using Flake White, provided it be coated over with Zinc White after it is perfectly dry. Or, if Flake White can be kept free from noxious gases, after it is applied, and then cleaned off with pure Spirits of Turpentine and varnished, with either Mastic or Damar, it is even permanent against noxious gases, because these varnishes prevent gases from attacking Flake White. The same may be said of Chrome Green, Prussian Blue and Chrome Yellow, which are all likely to be affected by sulphur gases, and should these turn Yellow or Brown, they can be cleaned and restored to their pristine condition, if washed with a weak solution of soap and water and afterwards lightly rubbed with ordinary Peroxide of Hydrogen. The effect of the use of Peroxide of Hydrogen and soap water is to oxidize the color which has been affected by sulphur gases. I am not giving any special formula for this work, because each case must be separately treated, and the painter must work out the case for himself. The Chrome Yellows and Chrome Greens are exceedingly permanent to light when used alone and properly varnished. Prussian Blue has so many beautiful characteristics as a pigment and is so permanent to light that if used alone, or even when used with Zinc White to produce a sky blue, it has considerable merit. Gainsborough was probably the first great painter to use Prussian Blue, and I have seen some of his paintings in which the drapery and dresses were a beautiful green, which was due to the yellowing of the varnish, which, when mingled with the Blue, produced Green; and I have also seen the varnish removed and then the Blue came back with all its original intensity.

BEESWAX AND OTHER WAXES

Wax of any kind, as a painting medium, should not be used under any circumstances. In order to produce Matte effects, there are on sale reliable varnishes which dry perfectly flat and which contain no wax of any kind, but which are made of Copal, Damar or Mastic, and to which about ten per cent. of a material known as Palmitate of Aluminum, or Stearate of Aluminum, has been added. These two materials are known as flatting materials and do not remelt after they are dissolved in Varnish.

I recall a very excellent Dutch painting in which beeswax had been used as a Medium and which was brought over to America and placed in the house of a collector. The following Summer was one of the hottest Summers which New York had ever experienced, and on re-opening the house in the Fall, the eyes in the portrait of this picture had melted and run down over the cheeks.

One often hears the remark that the Egyptian portraits painted in the First and Second Centuries and done with wax are still as perfect as the day they were painted. I have examined some of these paintings and find that they were not done with wax at all, but done with a hard resin of a high melting point.

So every painter who wants to paint permanent pictures should stick strictly to simple vehicles and pigments and not have anything to do with wax whatever.

SUMMARY

A few simple rules, together with the simple Palette would insure paintings that are absolutely permanent. Haste in finishing a picture often produces bad results. It is said of the great French artist Henner that he often had as many as forty or fifty pictures in his studio in the process of painting. He would lay in the foundation and then place the picture face to the wall to dry. It was weeks before he got back to the first picture again, when he would start outlining the figures. It was weeks again before he came back to the beginning and finished his pictures--in the meantime, of course, each succeeding coat having had time to dry through and through. And this, more than anything else, is the principal reason why his paintings are in such perfect condition to-day. I cite him as a man who had the instinct to paint with simple colors; and, although he was a prolific user of Madder Lake, he always used it as a glaze over the ordinary ground. Most of his smaller pictures were painted on Academy-Board or Composition-Board, and I have no doubt that his pictures will retain their pristine condition for centuries.

On the other hand, we have such a great painter as Josef Israels, who paid little or no attention to the materials which he used, with the result that many of his pictures are badly cracked and have darkened considerably in the shadows.

Once a painter is familiar with the colors which are permanent, he or she can proceed unconsciously without any technical interference and produce results which will stay.

There is a decided inclination at the present time towards impasto painting, in which colors are piled up to the thickness sometimes of a centimeter, and a plastic effect is sought by this means. This is a dangerous proceeding, excepting in the hands of one who has a distinct knowledge of how colors dry. Lamp Black and Graphite, for instance, will take many years to dry thoroughly hard. Zinc White, Raw Umber, Burnt Umber, Sienna, Indian Red and Red Lead or Orange Mineral will dry hard and brittle, with the ultimate danger of falling off the canvass. Then again, the pigments I have just mentioned, like Lamp Black, and which take years to harden, will crack any hard drying pigment which is placed over them, because in drying, the slow drying colors wrinkle and contract, and a hard drying color placed over them, not having sufficient elasticity will be torn asunder, and a small crack, which may widen into a fissure, will take place. The whole idea of permanent painting, then, simmers itself down to one of sense and judgment. No one has ever seen a Water Color painting which is cracked. This is due entirely to the fact that the pigment is so thin that it cannot crack. Linseed Oil, when exposed to the air for several years, changes into what is known as fat oil. This is a thick, ropey, pale material of the consistency of honey, and when used too freely dries with a film similar to that of a withered apple. Placed in a warm place, instead of baking, it shrivels up and wrinkles.

Blakelock and Ryder poured thick coats of varnish over their pictures when the paint was insufficiently dry, with the result that many of their paintings to-day show cracks and fissures, due to this practice. Blakelock used a very heavy-bodied Linseed Oil, which was so viscous that it flowed down in many places and formed “curtains,” and teardrops.

Blakelock painted with fat oil, and many of his pictures show this wrinkling effect, and as no varnish is added to fat oil, the chances are it will remain absolutely permanent, if used thinly or sparingly.

MADDER LAKE AND HARRISON RED

Both of these colors are aniline colors and therefore artificial. There is some Madder Lake on the market which is made from the Madder Root but it does not differ from the artificial in the slightest degree and both the natural and the artificial are absolutely permanent under normal conditions. The artificial is sometimes sold under the name alizarine.

Madder Lake is transparent when used as a glaze and it can be mixed with a number of pigments with which it does not interact, but it must not be mixed with the iron pigments that contain water, and these are principally all the Ochres and Siennas, but as a glaze it may go over any color without being decomposed. It has a record for permanency of several hundred years and is at least of essential importance in portrait painting.

Harrison Red is rather a complex aniline color, exceedingly brilliant, but it has some defects which the painter should know. In the first place it bleeds very slightly, that is to say, if Zinc White or Flake White is painted over pure Harrison Red, the Zinc or Flake will turn a pinkish brown, which is due to the fact that the linseed oil, or other drying oil will absorb part of the dye out of Harrison Red. The painter, therefore, in using Harrison Red must be careful of this defect. Harrison Red must not be mixed with an iron color like Ochre, Sienna, or Raw Umber, otherwise its brilliancy is slightly marred. It is similar in many respects to Deep Vermilion, excepting that it is many times stronger than Vermilion. It can be reduced with Permanent White (Blanc Fixe) without materially lessening its brilliancy.

LAKES TO BE AVOIDED

It seems a great pity that colors like Carmine, Scarlet Lake, Geranium Lake, and dozens of other brilliant lakes of that type, should be sold to painters. The three that I have mentioned will disappear when exposed to the summer sunlight for three or four months, and the painter who says he cannot get along without Carmine is simply painting for the present and losing sight of the future.

In closing this chapter I must express the thought that the time is not far off when every tube color will be labelled as to its composition and as to its permanency for without such a guide, the painter is liable to make serious failures.

PAINTING THE NEXT DAY

Many painters find that in taking up partly painted canvases and attempting to continue their work, that fresh paint does not adhere to the paint recently applied. This defect is well recognized among house painters and piano and cabinet varnishers, and therefore it becomes necessary to roughen the surface, so that the new coat of paint will adhere. There are some mediums on the market for this purpose, but with a little care no medium is needed other than pure water; and I have heard the statement that by rubbing the surface of a painting with a stiff brush that has been dipped in water and allowing that surface to dry thoroughly, new paint will take over the old as if by magic. There is no magic in it whatever. All that happens is that there is so much dust and foreign matter in the air that it settles on every surface to a considerable extent within twenty-four hours. When this is mixed with water, the dust acts as an abrasive, and consequently the surface is scarified minutely and the pigment takes hold. The only care necessary to exercise is that when using plain water on any painting sufficient time must be given so that it dries out thoroughly, before new paint is applied.

TRUE NAPLES YELLOW

Many Artists feel that they get results with True Naples Yellow that they cannot get with anything else. There are a variety of shades of Naples Yellow on the market, running from a pale straw color to rather a deep Ochre; but, the True Naples Yellow, such as Rembrandt used on the cloak in the painting of Homer, now hanging in the Mauritzhuis, has all the freshness to-day that it evidently had when it was painted. The dark outlines of this cloak are painted with Ochre, which, of course, is a permanent color.

I could cite many examples of prominent painters who felt that Naples Yellow was essential to their palette. There is a picture in the Frick Collection by Turner--a view of the harbor of Dieppe; a full sun is standing high in the skies. The upper half of the sun painted with light Naples Yellow has been smoothed out with a steel knife, and this particular part is Gray, whereas the lower half is a light yellowish White, where it evidently had not been touched by the knife.

Naples Yellow imitation, which is made by mixing Litharge, pale Cadmium and White, also shows a black or very dark streak when touched with a steel knife. It is, therefore, best to avoid any steel coming in contact with this pigment.

By itself, genuine Naples Yellow is exceedingly permanent to light, and when used alone and varnished, is not affected by gases of any kind. As evidence of this, it is practically unchanged in all old paintings, with the exception of, perhaps, the Seventeenth Century pictures, and older productions show a slight deepening, which may have been caused by the action of gases where the pigment was unprotected. In Constable’s pictures of his later periods, he evidently used Naples Yellow unmixed, and apparently put it on with the aid of a knife. These pictures of Constable’s only show a very slight deepening.

NEW WHITES

Within the past year White Pigments have made their appearance upon the market which bid fair to replace both Zinc and Lead Whites. All these new whites, which appear to be precipitated mixtures of Permanent White (Blanc Fixe) and Titanium,[17] have nearly double the hiding power of Flake White, but what is of greater importance is that they are not affected by any ordinary chemicals and gases and are light-proof and sulphur-proof.

From the experiments made by the author it would appear that a White of this nature is absolutely safe to use, can be mixed with any other pigment without interaction, and while it dries slowly it does not dry with the brittleness of Zinc although when Zinc White is mixed with a heavy bodied Linseed Oil it does not become brittle.

Another new White is Lithopone, which is a Zinc Barium compound that was discovered about twenty-five years ago. When this white was first exploited prophecies were made that it would soon replace Flake White, White Lead, and Zinc White, and that it was the most remarkable White that could possibly be made. As a matter of fact it has never replaced anything because it has a pernicious habit of turning dark in the bright sunlight and turning white again in the dark, but within the last few years light-proof Lithopone has been manufactured and its principal use is for foundation whites and for interior flat wall decoration. It is a pigment that should never be used for landscape or portrait painting but may very safely be used for ground work.

_AMBER VARNISH_

Many painters believe that, owing to the fact that Amber is the hardest resin there is, the varnish made from it should retain its gloss the longest, and be just as free from cracking and bloom as the natural resin itself.

An examination of several of the amber varnishes on the market reveals the fact that there probably is no such varnish made. Although Amber can be fused and melted, it takes such a high heat that even the lightest gum Amber becomes exceedingly dark and then it must be diluted with so much oil that there is very little gum Amber in the varnish itself. Most of the Amber Varnishes on the market are Copal Varnishes that contain little or no Amber at all.

It is very wise for the painter to keep away from materials of this type; and, if a hard drying varnish is desired, any good Copal Varnish will answer the purpose, although for varnishing pictures, it must be continually borne in mind that a simple varnish like Damar, Mastic or Sandarac should be used; for only those simple varnishes can be easily removed without destroying the painting itself.

_BLOOM_

It is not the intention of the author to go into any dissertation of the cause of bloom; for every varnish blooms more or less. In fact, all polished surfaces, whether they are varnished or not, show condensation, and surface deposits which are the equivalent of bloom.

Take for example, a mirror in your home; or a window glass; or a varnished piece of furniture. Unless these are continually wiped clean they will show a surface deposit, which is one type of bloom.

In paintings, bloom is the result of a variety of causes. Sometimes it is due to moisture which deposits. At other times it is due to the action of sulphur gases on the chemical compounds in varnish; and one of the most general causes is a surface deposit to which dust and foreign matter adheres. Some varnishes, like Mastic, bloom notoriously; and, if Mastic is to be used, it always should be mixed with ten per cent. of Spike Oil and five per cent. of heavy-bodied Linseed Oil. This, in a large measure, prevents the flatting and blooming of Mastic Varnish.

Damar Varnish, at times, shows the same defect, but not to such a great extent as Mastic, and Sandarac, the latter being an alcohol soluble varnish, which shows it least of all, has the defect of cracking very readily, particularly a year after it is applied.

Bloom can be removed in many ways: _First_, by gently rubbing with a silk handkerchief, which removes the surface deposit and polishes the underlying film of varnish; _second_, by taking heavy bodied Linseed Oil, diluting with half Turpentine, and applying that with gentle rubbing, which at once polishes the surface and removes superficial adherent bodies; _third_, by the use of any good, thin machine oil, such as is sold in this country under the name of “3 In 1.” A few drops of this may be applied on a linen handkerchief and gently rubbed, but then it must be wiped completely clean, because it is a non-drying oil, and dust and dirt stick to it with greater ease than they do to a drying oil.

Bloom also occurs in damp atmospheres, even on a painting which is not varnished. This is due to a certain physical--chemical cause, in which even dried Linseed Oil will absorb a certain amount of moisture. To overcome this, the painting should be placed in the warm sun, wiped clean, and then revarnished with a very thin varnish of either Mastic or Damar.

_REPAINTING_

Many painters and restorers are uncertain as to what materials to use for retouching and repainting. Some use Tempera colors; and, after they are dry, they varnish the entire picture, and the results are usually very good. With this exception, the Tempera colors do not change, whereas the surrounding oil painting yellows and darkens in undue proportion to the new color applied.

The best method to pursue is to use dry pigments, which should be rubbed, or mulled on a glass plate with a muller, and mixed with dilute Damar Varnish. The chances are that a mixture of this type will dry in fifteen or twenty minutes, and the color can be matched up with the surrounding painting very exactly. In filling up cracks, flakes and holes in paintings, this method is really the best, because it insures matching, quick drying and very little decomposition.

_RESTORATION AND CLEANING OF PAINTINGS_

The greatest possible care in the selection of a cleansing material must be exercised, and it is always wise to take the painting out of the frame and try the effects of various mediums in one corner, in order to determine whether it is safe to clean the painting or not.

The first requisite is to wipe off the painting with a rag that has been soaked in boiling water and then wrung out, in order to remove superficial adherent dust and dirt. If the painting is cracked, it is necessary to be exceedingly careful not to let any moisture get through the cracks, for it might soften up the glue underneath, in which case, large flakes may possibly curl from the canvas. After having cleansed the surface with water or, if necessary, with any good neutral soap water, such as Ivory Soap, Fairy Soap; or, better still, any shaving soap, an experiment should be made in a corner of the painting, to see if it has been executed with a drying oil, like Linseed Oil, or Poppy Oil.

The great danger in the cleaning of paintings lies in the fact that if a painter has used varnish as a medium mixed with his tube colors, nearly all solvents will attack such a painting, and the greatest trouble will result, because the paint itself will come off the surface. So, after having established--let us say, for instance--that the painting is a Linseed Oil painting, the following methods are perfectly safe:

Mixtures of equal parts of No. 1 Denatured Alcohol, Turpentine and Water, thoroughly shaken up, may now be applied with a very stiff bristle brush. This will remove the varnish without disturbing the film underneath.

Another good method to use is to take a soft tooth brush, dip it in Turpentine and gently rub the surface; and, if the varnish is of the single solvent type, like Mastic or Damar, it will come off perfectly clean without dissolving the Linoxin (dry Linseed Oil film).

The latest method is the use of Isopropyl alcohol, known commercially as Petrohol, which will dissolve most of the varnishes without dissolving the dry Linseed Oil film. Isopropyl alcohol can be diluted with Turpentine, Benzine or Kerosene, and when so diluted, can be copiously used.

The other method to be recommended is the use of a material called Cumene, or Cumol, which has the great advantage of dissolving varnishes without dissolving the Linoxin, provided, of course, it is used with a little common sense. It must be understood that the surface of the painting is a very delicate film, and in the restoration of a painting all that is necessary is to dissolve the superficial layer of old yellowed varnish and adherent dirt, and nothing else.

The author has made a series of modifications of Cumene, such as one third Cumene, one third Kerosene and one third Denatured Alcohol, which has the advantage of slowing down the action to such an extent that in case there is the slightest indication of decomposition of the painting itself, the solvent can be wiped off with a dry cloth or a cloth soaked in Kerosene, and the dissolving action will be stopped immediately.

The foregoing description is just the introduction to the various methods employed, and is _not_ intended for novices or those unskilled in the art. At all events, great care must be exercised.

The author superintended the cleansing and restoration of fifteen paintings, some of them very large in size, which had not been cleaned or restored in many years, and some of these were in shockingly bad condition.

The Isopropyl Alcohol and Turpentine methods were employed without the slightest defect, and the varnish in every case came off perfectly clean, and when the pictures were revarnished, they were restored to their pristine condition. If it is desirable to give the picture a patine of age after it has been renovated, it is not a very difficult thing to do, if a slight tinge of a permanent Brown or Yellow Lake is added to the varnish; but, under no circumstances, must any bituminous or asphaltic compound be used for this purpose.

_FRAMING_

Our tastes change with our culture. After the Civil War, when the first large crop of millionaires was made, all ornamentation, whether in picture frames, furniture or wall decorations, assumed a garish and bizarre effect. Gold and brilliant colors were used liberally, and to this day, many pictures are so badly framed that the effect of the picture itself is lost.

Many painters have only one exhibition frame, in which they show their paintings to prospective buyers and others, and some painters will not sell a painting without a frame, believing that they know best the kind of a frame best suited for the painting. We are rapidly changing our views on this subject, fortunately, and we are going back to what the Dutch and Flemish did three centuries ago, of having dark frames with a little gold or silver insert. It must be obvious to everyone that a somber painting in a six or eight inch glaringly brilliant yellow gold frame, destroys the value of the painting, for the eye, at all times, lights on the brilliant frame first.