Historical Painting Techniques, Materials, and Studio Practice

F(gure 8. Illfrared rriflectograph of the hal1dwritten notatioll under the paint layer il1 the upper right
corner of The Miracle of the Sacred Fire, Church of the Holy Sepulchre at Jerusalem, at the
HalVard University Art Museums. Inscriptions such as this one are frequel1tly fo und in paintillgs by
HUllt, either on the reverse of the supports, 011 bare spandrels, or ul1derneath the pail1t layers. Image
provided by the author.

I am obliged to wait long Jor the drying oj the paint I put on to Jorm a

Jr esh ground, and while patience is being exercised as a necessity it seems

but a little virtuous to summon hope to help me over the completing oj the

parts where the ground has finally become workably [sic] even and dry.

Indeed, Hunt complains here that the underpaint layer is wet, rather than

seeking to exploit its freshness as part of his technique.

This reevaluation of the Pre-Raphaelite technique is consistent with the re­

sults of analyses carried out on cross sections taken from various paintings by

Hunt, which indicate the blending of paint layers wet-into-wet, a common

technique throughout the history of painting, rather than the swirling of paint

layers into wet primings (21). This clarification not only places Hunt's

achievements in a far more plausible technical frame, but also emphasizes, as

he did throughout his career, his connection with and indebtedness to the

Katz 163