we find a description of the affinity of like materials that could well be the
antecedent of this nineteenth-century practice (7).The widespread addition of varnish to the oil painting medium was itself
fo stered by the belief that this was the method used by the old masters to
achieve the particular translucent quality observed in their paint (8).Seeing the past through present-day lenses
David Lowenthal, in his book The Past Is a Foreign Country, wrote (9):However faithfully we preserve, however authentically we restore, however
deeply we immerse ourselves in bygone times, life back then was based on
ways oj being and believing incommensurable with our own. We ca nnot
help but view and celebrate it through present day lenses.Just as we can enhance our understanding of artists' practices by learning
more about the implicit assumptions they made based on the beliefs common
to their era, we must be especially careful not to impose our own assumptions
on the past. For example, the identification of fu gitive colors in a nineteenth
century painting could lead to the conclusion that the artist knowingly opted
fo r fu gitive colors. Because information regarding which pigments were un
stable was widely available at this time, the presence of these colors in a
painter's work must mean that the painter did not "care" if the colors would
fa de. But this is not necessarily true; in fact, the painter may well have con
scientiously purchased stable colors, but may have been unknowingly supplied
with substituted materials by the colormen.
A thorough study of the literature, combined with scientific analyses of paint
samples, revealed that in the nineteenth century the name of a color did not
always offer a reliable indication of composition. Naples yellow is a good case
in point. Traditionally a lead-antimony compound, by the late nineteenth
century Naples yellow was reported to have been substituted with more re
liable coloring agents: lead white and cadmium yellow. But the sample labeled
Naples yellow in a Winsor & Newton oil-sample book actually consisted of
lead white, red lake, and yellow lake. Since nineteenth-century lake colors
were not particularly stable to light, this particular Naples yellow would be
unlikely to retain its hue indefinitely (10).Documentary research also indicates that media analysis sampling that is re
stricted to one color area cannot be assumed to apply to the whole painting.
Early instruction books, in which the artists were still instructed in grinding
their own paint, indicate that the paint medium would be changed according
to the character of the pigment used. Because of its initial yellow color and
because it was believed to afte r-yellow the most, linseed oil was generally
recommended fo r dark colors, and the less-colored poppy and nut oils were
reserved fo r light colors. There were exceptions, however. Lake colors dried
slowly; therefore, linseed oil-the fastest of the three to dry-was recom
mended fo r use with these "light" colors (11). Drying oil in combination
with copal varnish was recommended as the medium fo r Kings yellow or
orpiment (12). Many other pigments received individual treatment and ad
mixtures with varnish (13).As we have seen, the choice of oil depended not only on the pigment used,
but also on the season. Oils treated either by boiling alone or in conjunction
with metallic compounds (driers) to hasten their drying time were sometimes
recommended fo r the winter months only, when damp, cold weather length
ened drying time. Conversely, painters were warned that such treated oils
would "in summer ... dry so soon as to be troublesome" (14). Since the
essential nature of oil paint had not changed by the early nineteenth century,
it is not surprising to find this kind of advice appearing in print much earlier.
In 1693 Marshall Smith recommended, "If in the hottest weather your great
est Dryers dry too fast, as White, Umber, &c and so grow too stiff to work
with, you may prevent it by mixing a little Sallat Oyle with Colours" (15).Carlyle 3