The method of painting followed out in the spirit-fresco system, as far as the manipulation of the colours is concerned, is almost precisely the same as that of the lime or buon-fresco process, the exception being, that the over-paintings and retouchings may be executed at any time, weeks, months, or even years, after any previous painting of the same parts; but as the preparation of the wall is of course somewhat different, and the medium is altogether so, a short description of the method or system may be of interest to students.

Spirit-fresco painting is a method or process invented by Mr. Gambier Parry of Gloucester, and which he adopted when painting his mural decorations in St. Andrew’s Chapel in Gloucester Cathedral, and in Highnam church. The process was adopted by the late Lord Leighton for the wall paintings of “The Arts of Peace,” and “War,” in the Victoria and Albert Museum, and, many years previous to the painting of these works, for the fresco painted by him in Lyndhurst church in the New Forest. Some of the frescos in the Manchester Town Hall, by Ford Madox Brown, are painted in this process, and some of the paintings by various modern artists which decorate the interior of the Royal Exchange are executed in the spirit-fresco medium on coarse canvas, and afterwards fastened to the wall.

Although we cannot claim for spirit-fresco that peculiar quality of monumental dignity, nor the undoubted luminosity or power of reflecting light that is characteristic of buon-fresco paintings, still, if the entire system is carefully carried out, from the preparation of the wall down to the finished painting, the work should be as lasting and as permanent as any other kind of wall painting.

For instance, the spirit-fresco executed by Lord Leighton in Lyndhurst church, forty-four years ago, had still retained its brilliancy of colour and was in a perfectly sound condition three years ago, when the writer last saw it. In the winter season water from the condensed moisture constantly runs down the surface of this fresco, but does not seem to injure it. No amount of damp or wet on the surface will injure spirit-fresco paintings, as the colours are practically locked up in wax, upon which water has little or no injurious effect, but if the wall is damp at the back, or water gets in by accident, the plaster ground behind becomes soft and friable, and the coloured surface is soon destroyed. Damp behind the surface is the greatest enemy to this kind of fresco,

and consequently the inner surface of an outside wall should not be chosen for an important work in this process.

As the writer had the honour of assisting Lord Leighton in the execution of the “Arts of Peace” and “War” frescos in the Victoria and Albert Museum, and also prepared both walls before the paintings were executed, he is therefore enabled to give a brief description, as outlined below, of the whole method of procedure, both as to the preparation of the walls and the method of painting adopted, which will serve to explain the system of spirit-fresco painting.

It may be mentioned that the walls were prepared in strict accordance with Mr. Gambier Parry’s method and directions. Mr. Parry inspected this part of the work, and declared that the whole preparation had been done to his satisfaction.

First of all the rough brick surface of the wall had a coating of plaster, consisting of a mixture of lime and river sand, exactly of the same proportions, and laid on in the same thickness as that of the first plaster coating in buon-fresco. After this had remained for two years, a second coating, again similar in composition and in thickness to that used in the last-named process, was applied. This plaster coating was finished off with a rectangular wooden trowel, and, in the case of the wall on which the “Arts of War” fresco was painted, it was left with a fairly rough surface. The wall surface of the “Arts of Peace” fresco was, on the contrary, brought to a much smoother face, as it was the desire of Lord Leighton to have a smooth surface for the latter painting, for working on the rough surface of the former fresco was, as he remarked, “like painting on a gravel walk.”

When the coating of plaster, which was rather more than half-an-inch in thickness, had remained for about eight months, in order that it might get thoroughly dry, the wall was saturated with two coats of the “wall wash,” this being made from the medium in which the spirit-fresco colours are ground, mixed with one and a half of its bulk of turpentine. The spirit-fresco medium is a mixture of pure white wax, gum elemi, oil of spike, and artists’ copal; the proportions of each are given at end of this chapter. After the second coating of the wall wash had dried in, a day being allowed for this, a coating made of dry white lead, and half its quantity of gilders’ whitening, thinned out with wall wash, was applied as thickly as it could be conveniently used. A little yellow ochre was added to this mixture in order to obtain a creamy white ground, which enables the artist to see by contrast the pure white lights that may be used in the painting, as the work proceeds.

The “Arts of War” fresco ground was treated with one coating only of this last mixture, which accounted for its extremely rough texture, while the “Arts of Peace” wall surface had three coatings, as

the nature of the subject was thought to demand a smoother surface.

The wall wash, preparation coats, and the colours used in the painting, being all mixed or diluted with the same medium, and the spike oil, used in the artist’s dipper, having the effect of opening up the ground coating, allows the colours to unite with, or melt into, the ground, the latter being extremely porous, so that when finished and dry the work forms a continuous body from the surface right into the plaster. In this continuity of body spirit-fresco resembles closely that of the buon-fresco.

The process admits of repainting and retouching as often as may be necessary, though it is best, for the sake of gaining a desired luminous effect, to paint frankly with a full brush, laying on the colour in an impasto, and where depth of tone or transparency is desired these effects are best obtained by washing in thinly or glazing the shadows, using the colours and the spike oil medium, as in water-colour painting. The method of work is really, in the execution, a mixture of the techniques of oil and water-colour painting. One of its great advantages is the practically unlimited range of colours allowed on the palette, and another is that the artist can take up his work at any time, or stage, neither of which obtains in buon-fresco.

It may be of interest to describe the method of carrying out the painting of the work in connection with the South Kensington frescos. The original designs were painted carefully in brown monochrome, in light and shade, and were enlarged as fine outlines on a canvas to the exact size of the wall space; from these enlargements tracings were made on tracing cloth, and these tracings were pricked through and pounced on to the wall with powdered charcoal, this impression being intensified by going over it with a lead pencil. A small coloured sketch in the case of each fresco was prepared in oil colour, which was fairly closely copied in the colouring of the larger work. For convenience, the monochrome cartoons in each case were photographed to full scale, in sections, and the light and shade was faithfully copied from these photographs, so that in the execution of the painting on the wall there should be no hesitation, nor any experimenting in colour.

The first piece of work done on the wall was one of the largest and most prominent figures, and was painted as far as possible in direct and full colour. The nature of the medium, however, does not always lend itself to the finishing of the work straight off in one painting; this is the case especially in the flesh tints, or in any elaborate drapery modelling. The method usually adopted was to lay in the tints with a full brush and solid colour, carrying the modelling as far as possible in the first painting. Too much working over the same part is liable to bring up the wax, and to cause the work to dry unpleasantly glossy. When there is a danger of this occurring it is better to leave off and take up the part again after

allowing a day or so for drying. When any part required a second or third painting, which usually happens, it was found best to begin by moistening the whole of it over with a very thin transparent tint of the local colour, using plenty of spike oil; this has the effect of opening up the wall surface by causing a slight melting of the paint underneath. The painting was then carried to a completer stage of finish by reinforcing the higher lights and deeper shadows. The process lends itself to the accomplishment of almost any degree of finish by the use of subsequent washes of thin colour in the shadows. It is better, as a matter of technique, in any kind of fresco painting to always employ the brush strokes in the direction of the lines of the form, and not across it, as is often done in oil painting; one reason for this is that the work can be accomplished more directly and rapidly, and another is that the drawing of the forms is better expressed.

It may be noticed that there is a marked difference in the technique of the painting of the two frescos in the museum. The “Arts of War,” painted first, is treated broadly, and the colour throughout used rather thickly, while in the “Arts of Peace” a thinner method of treatment in the use of the colour is apparent, and the modelling in the latter, especially in the heads and nudes, is carried to a higher degree of finish, without any loss of breadth, by means of small brush strokes, or “hatching.” This method of work is of special value in fresco painting, and was adopted to a very great extent by the Italian frescanti of the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries. Michael Angelo painted, or at least finished his frescos in the Sistine Chapel in hatched lines; Lord Leighton had satisfied himself on this point by a close examination of the Sistine frescos when he copied the figure of Adam from the “Creation of Man,” which is painted in one of the ceiling panels of the chapel. The broader method of treatment, as seen in the technique of the “Arts of War” fresco, is the more popular, but Lord Leighton preferred the technique of his later work, the “Arts of Peace.”

The following are the constituents of the medium in which the spirit fresco-colours are ground, according to Gambier Parry:—

The colours in a dry powder are ground up in this medium, and put into tubes for use. Spike oil to be used freely in the dipper, when painting.