REV. DR. EGAN ON FRESCO PAINTING.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXXVI, Issue 11200, 21 October 1899, Page 1 (Supplement)

REV. DR. EGAN ON FRESCO PAINTING.

THE ARTISTS OF THE FIFTH CENTURY.

At the unveiling of a fresco painting of the Transfiguration at the Church of St. John the Baptist, Pamell, the Rev. Dr. Egan made the following remarks.; —

From 1 the dawn of Christianity in the West, and especially during the so-called Dark Ages, the Church was the sole repository of the Arts and Sciences. Jn the beginning of the fifteenth century and during the following centuries she stood supreme as the promoter and cultivator of the srt of painting in all its branches. In fact, it was by means of art that she spread the knowledge of God's Word, and gradually civilised the barbarous and superstitious nations over which she rules. The fifteenth century, or, as it is called in the language of art, quaterocento, witnessed the rise of the religious school vof painting, and was the glorious era of the great monastic painters, of which school Fra Angelico and his followers stand forth as brilliant examples. We date from this period the magnificent fresco or wall painting in Italy, examples of which we find in Venice, Florence, and Rome, in which latter city those of the Vatican and Capella Sistina stand foremost. Fresco or wall painting is the most ancient form of the pictorial school. These paintings, as a rule, are so vast that it would be impossible for a single individual to complete them. Hence the great masters had around them a staff of educated and trained artists, who faithfully followed the instructions, and worked under the very eye of the master himself. The process of fresco painting was as follows. The subject was depicted on the wet mortar which was set by the plasterer, who, each day, deposited as much ground work as the master and his pupils required. The master first drew a small sketch, which he afterwards enlarged to the required size; it was then attached to the wall, but both wall and painting being damp, the latter appeared very sombre for some days after, until, the process of drying being completed, the colours came out in their pristine beauty. Once this process had taken place, the'master could make no alteration. The massive proportions of'these paintings entailed the necessity of rapid and simple work, and to this simplicity is due their beauty of form and colour, the arrangement of light and shade, and the grand and simple pose and expression of the figures. Now, the work of these frescoes was divided between masters and pupils, the duty of the master being to make the sketch, mix the colours, and paint the pronfcr.ent features on the wail, whilst the details and the great bulk of the work were done by the pupils, and by this means they acquired a practical and perfect knowledge of tlieir art. Thus, Alessandro Botticelli, one of the greatest masters of fresco painting in the fifteenth century, and whose works adorn so many of the great Italian churches, had many disciples. Raphael also had a number of pupils, hence we find in the galleries of Rome and Paris many of his original drawings, which were very often nothing more than sketches, whilst the fullycompleted pictures, as depicted by him on the walls of the Vatican, were finished by his pupils, who were often artists of no mean repute. In Rrphael and Michael Angelo we find the best specimens of the fresco art. The Vatican Gallery, by Raphael, and "The Last Judgment," by Michael Angelo, stand without an equal. The grandeur of conception and beauty of execution of these pictures place them on an eminence all their own. In fine, these magnificent productions of the old masters in all their glorious freshness, simplicity, and beauty remain to-day the wonder, the glory, and the envy of the artistic world. Fresco painting was quite an art in itself. Its aim was to make us forget the place and its surroundings, and to fill the mind with religious thought. The colours employed were different from those used in ordinary painting, being stronger, brighter, more vivid, and striking. In ordinary oil painting the picture was a finished work, complete in itself, and intended for all places and situations. Not sc with fresco painting. These pictures belonged to the building, to the architect!' re, to the place, and were composed and painted in colours warranted by the place, and as the effect of the picture depended on its distance from the spectator, on the arrangement of light and shade, and so on, the colours used were always simple, bright, and grand. Fresco painting is not free, as is the art of oil painting. The colours are restricted by the location. Its object was to suit art to a certain place, a certain light, a certain distance, and by making the background— is to say, the building or beautiful, as far as art could do so, cause us to utterly forget the place, and fill our souls with ideas of beauty, glory, joy, or sadness..