Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 18.djvu/153

 P A I P A I 137 systems. Intermixed with the coarse unceremonious ridicule of what he considered superstition and bad faith are many passages of earnest and even lofty eloquence in favour of a pure morality founded on natural religion, fully justifying the bishop of Llandaff s saying : &quot; There is a philosophical sublimity in some of your ideas when speaking of the Creator of the universe.&quot; The work in short a second part was published after his release represents the deism of the 18th century, in the hands of a rough, ready, passionate controversialist. Paine remained in France till 1802, and then returned to America, occupy ing the rest of his turbulent active life with financial questions and mechanical inventions. He died in 1809. PAINT. See PIGMENT. PAINTING. A general examination of the place of painting among the FINE ARTS will be found under that heading. The main SCHOOLS OF PAINTING (q.v.) will form the subject of a separate article. For the history of the art, see also ARCHEOLOGY (CLASSICAL) and the notices of individual painters. The present article is limited to a few practical notes on the methods of painting in oil and water colour, other methods being dealt with under the headings ENAMEL, ENCAUSTIC PAINTING, FRESCO, and TEMPERA. Painting- Room. The painting-room or atelier should be of sufficient dimensions to allow the artist space to retire from his work, if it is on a scale large enough to require viewing from a distance. For large decorative paintings the room must be spacious. The size and altitude of the window is of great importance. If the opening is con tracted, the light and shade on the model will be broad and intense, and the colouring sombre, especially in the shadows. If abundance of light is admitted, the tendency will be more towards brightness and purity. Painters generally prefer a window with a northern or eastern aspect. The painting-room has a great influence in determining not only the effects in the works of individual artists, but the characteristics of whole schools. Leonardo da Vinci was among the first to show partiality to indoor effects and deep shadows. Correggio, the artists of the Bolognese school, Caravaggio, Spagnoletto, and other Neapolitan and Spanish painters followed: the Dutch painter Rembrandt perhaps carried these extreme contrasts of light and shade to the greatest length. The effects thus obtained are, however, more or less artificial, and very unlike the ordinary aspect of the open daylight face of nature. Painters, unless there happens to be some special reason to the contrary, usually work with the light to the left to prevent the shadow cast from the brush falling inwards. Some artists who seek to represent open air effects paint from their models in glass-houses, specially constructed for the purpose. The practice has much to recommend it, the diffused light enabling them to approximate more nearly to the truth of nature. Implement* used in Painting. The easel is a frame, or rest, which supports the picture during its progress. Easels are of various kinds: the triangular, supplied with pegs for the adjustment of the height of the work ; the square, or rack easel, which is much more convenient ; and the French studio easel, having a screw at the back and worked by a handle in the front, by which arrange ment pictures of considerable size and weight can be raised or lowered or inclined forward with great ease. There is also a variety of light portable easels used for out-door sketching. The/w&tfte is the board on which the colours are arranged to paint from it is usually either of . an oval or oblong square form, of light-coloured wood, and, to avoid inconvenience being felt from its weight, it should be thin and well balanced on the thumb. It ousjht to be kept clean and the colour never allowed to dry on it. The palette-knife has a pliable blade, and is used for arranging the colours on the palette, mixing tints, &c. With some painters it not unfrequently takes the place of the brush in the application of colour. The larger kinds of brushes are made of hog-hair. They are either round or flat, but the latter are generally preferred, though for some purposes round ones are found to be useful. Brushes are also made of sable ; these should have the property of coming to a fine point when required. Brushes of badger s hair are used for &quot;softening &quot; or &quot;sweetening,&quot; that is, blending the colours by sweeping lightly to and fro over them while freshly laid (a practice to be avoided as much as possible). Brushes should be carefully washed after use, either in spirits of turpentine or with soap and tepid water, dried, and the hairs laid smooth with the finger and thumb. A brush in which the colour has been allowed to dry is difficult to clean, and is much injured, if not rendered entirely useless, by such negligence. Not a little depends on the good condition in which the brushes are kept. The mahl-stick is used to steady the hand while painting details. It is held in the left hand, and the end of the stick, properly wadded, rests on the canvas. It should be light and firm. The old painters never used the mahl-stick when working on large pictures, and many artfets dispense with it altogether. Rubens mentions being obliged to have recourse to one in his old age. The dais or throne is a platform varying from a foot to 18 inches in height. Portrait painters, and artists who generally stand while at work, find it desirable to have the sitter or model nearly on a level with the eye. A mirror hung in a convenient place in the painting-room will be found of great use. It enables the artist to detect faults in drawing to which he might otherwise be blinded from too long gazing at his work. The picture is seen in the mirror reflected in reverse, and errors consequently appear greater than they really are. The lay-fiyure, a wooden or stuffed doll, usually life-size, is very service able in painting elaborate dresses and draperies. The best kinds are so constructed that they can be made to assume and retain any posture. Fra Bartolommeo first brought the lay-figure into use. Materials used in Painting. These consist of canvases, prepared panels and mill-boards, oils, varnishes, and colours. 1. Canvas is the material now generally used. It is kept in rolls of various width and of three qualities plain cloth, Roman, and ticken. It is prepared with two kinds of grounds the hard or oil ground, and the absorbent ground. The ground is generally of a light colour ; many artists prefer pure white. The grounds employed by the first oil painters were identical with those of tempera ; the surface of the panel was prepared with two or three coats of size, a layer of coarse gesso was then applied, and on this at least eight layers of a finer description were spread, and the surface carefully scraped till it became smooth and white. In the Italian school of a later period, the grounds were generally composed of pipe-clay mixed with chalk. It is generally acknowledged that white grounds are in every way preferable, although it matters little whether the brightness reside in the ground or is reproduced at a subsequent stage by painting with a solid body of opaque colour over a dark ground. Velazquez and other Spanish painters used canvases prepared with a red earthy ground. The intention of priming the ground is to prevent the very rapid absorption of colours. Canvas prepared with the object of partially abstracting the oil from the first layers of colour is called &quot; absorbent.&quot; For small cabinet pictures panels of well-seasoned mahogany are used ; mill-boards, academy boards, and oil paper are serviceable for sketching from nature. XVIII. 1 8