Page:An Elementary History of Art.djvu/339

 Materials. 309 Chapel in Gloucester Cathedral ; it was also employed by Sir Frederick Leighton in his mural painting of the Art* of War in the South Kensington Museum, which was completed early in 1880, and by Mr. Madox Brown in his decoration of the Town-hall of Manchester with scenes from the history of that city. The frescoes which he has already executed are : The Romans building a fort at Mancenion ; The Baptism in York of Edivin, King of Northnmbria and Deira ; The Expulsion of the Danes from, Manchester. ' As this spirit-fresco process is comparatively a modern invention, it may not be uninteresting to give it a few moments' consideration. The following short description is taken from an account of it written by the inventor himself. The advantages claimed for it are five-fold — durability, power to resist external damp and changes of temperature, luminous effect, a dead surface, and freedom from all chemical action on colours. It will also stand being washed with soap and water, as Mr. Madox Brown, it is said, proved by so cleaning a trial picture which he painted before beginning his work in the Manchester Town-hall. The surface to be painted on should be perfectly dry and porous, e. g. a good common stucco. The medium is composed of Elemi resin, pure white wax, oil of spike lavender, and the finest preparation of artist's copal ; and with these, when incorporated by heat, must be mixed the colours in dry powder. If mixed on a slab, as for oil colours, and placed in tubes, they will last for years. The surface to be painted on is prepared with two washes of the medium diluted with one and a half its bulk of turpentine, and finally with two coats of a solution composed of equal quantities of pure white-lead and of