Page:Vasari - Lives of the Most Excellent Painters, Sculptors, and Architects, volume 3.djvu/79

Rh and good favour of the Cardinal conducted him thither. Then Stagio, of whom we have made mention above, having separated himself from the company of Domenico, received Guglielmo into his house, and the latter, for his first work in Arezzo, painted a picture of Santa Lucia, in the chapel of the Albergotti family, which is in the Episcopal Church of that city. The subject of this work is the above mentioned Saint, who is depicted together with San Silvestro, and both are so beautifully done, that they may truly be said to present the appearance, not of mere figures in coloured and transparent glass, but of most animated and life-like beings, fully equal at the very least to what we find accomplished in the most admired and excellent of paintings. Of the works of Guglielmo it is further to be remarked, that in addition to his masterly method of treating the carnations, they exhibit other peculiarities, among these was that which I will now describe. It was his frequent custom to scale or grind away the glass in certain places, when, having removed the outer surface, he would afterwards colour that part with another hue; on red glass for example, thus scaled, he would impose a yellow colour, or would lay white or green on a blue glass, which is an exceedingly difficult and remarkable operation in that branch of art. By this process, the real or first colour is that which alone appears on the one side, whether it be red, blue, or green, while the other, which has about the thickness of the blade of a knife, or something more, remains white. There are many who from not having great practice or facility in the handling, do not use a point of iron for scaling the glass, because they fear to break the panes; but instead of this, and for the greater security, these artists avail themselves of a small copper wheel, to which an iron is affixed, and with which they gradually excoriate the glass by means of emery, until they leave at length nothing but the white surface of the glass, which by this method is obtained in much purity. If to the glass thus left white, the artist should then desire to impart a yellow colour, immediately before he places it in the fire for the burning, he lays on it a coat of