by distance with "the aid of the air interposed between the eye and the object,
using different distances," or by the application of a varnish "which is why
we cover paintings with a varnish that blunts that brightness and sharp edge
[qui emousse cette pointe brillante et cette vivacite] which at times appears too
strongly or unevenly in freshly painted works; and this varnish gives them
more strength and softness [douceur]. ... We use all these different methods
to give painted objects that relief, that roundness that they require in order
to resemble what one is imitating" (5).
Marco Boschini, the Venetian art theorist who in 1660 published his poem
on the art of painting, "La Carta del Navigar Pitoresco," had a low opinion
of the glossy varnishes which he says "foreigners" used: "They make such a
commotion about it, that it would seem that gloss is the only beauty, and
varnish the apogee of art" (6). Later in the poem, he makes the distinction
that is central to artistic theory and to seventeenth-century Italian artists in
Venice as well as Rome. Comparing the aforementioned "foreigners," Bos
chini praises the Venetian painter fo r imitating the effects of gloss (in armour
and mirrors) in paint, rather than resorting to the use of varnish to produce
this effect physically on the painting's surface, writing, "Ii ha fa tti straluser co'i
colori" (he has made them gleam with his paints).As Boschini wrote, "diligent painting can be copied," but not what he termed
the colpi di dottrina (which rather defies translation). It is the element of skill
that is paramount, rather than the materials.A high-gloss varnish may have been a requirement of northern seventeenth
century artists, at least according to Boschini, but this paper investigates the
role played by varnish in Italian paintings of the same period, both those
requiring "close scrutiny" and those "made to be seen from afar," as Horace
discussed, distinguishing these two kinds of fu ndamentally different paintings,
when pleading fo r flexibility in the judgment of poetry, saying that it should
be judged like painting which exhibits not only a detailed style that requires
close scrutiny, but also a broad impressionistic style that will not please unless
viewed from a distance (7).Interesting information on the use of varnish in seventeenth-century Italian
painting can be gained from the highly illuminating lecture entitled "II Lus
trato" delivered on 29 December 1691 by Filippo Baldinucci to his colleagues
at the Accademia della Crusca in Florence. He dealt with the subject of
varnish in contemporary painting as opposed to its use in ancient times and
in the fo urteenth century (8):VVhat we are told oj the practices oj painters in antiquity leads us to believe
that they did not use oil as their medium; what we are told oj the practice
oj Apelles always re mains with me, that is, that he found a certain dark
color [9], or maybe a varnish, which no one was able to imitate. This
varnish he applied to his works after he had finished them, and with such
a skill that the bright colors did not offend the eye and appeared from afar
as through a glass (a nd please take note of this detail). Harsh colors acquired
through it an element of austerity, oj saturation. This is precisely what our
painters in the fourteenth ce ntury did, bifore the discovery of oil as a
medium; that is, they applied a varnish to their panels, which was of a
composition that gave their languished paintings a certain depth and added
strength, and by dimming the overpowering highlights, brought the whole
closer to natural appearances. And then if you hear it told that modern
painters sometimes also use a varnish on their oil paintings, I reply that
such practice (which is confined to a few painters) is not to make up a
deficiency in oil painting-that is, to bring depth to the dark colors, and
render the highlights softer and less garish-things of which oil painting
has no need, but rather to remedy an accidental mishap. This can occur
because oj the imprimatura, the paint mixture which one applies to the
canvases or panels, or because oj a difect of the canvases or panels them
selves. They attract the oil liquid so strongly, almost stealing it fr om theGlanville 13