Abstract
The study of several French, British and Italian art treatises, articles, essays, and correspondences (mainly from the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries) leads to the analysis of the art of pastel as an example of the relation between scientific knowledge and artistic practice. The importance of following strictly specific recipes, as for the fixative methods as well, reveals not only the presence of a pragmatic purpose, but also aesthetic motives that could be connected to the development of the pastel practice in eighteenth-century Europe.
Highlights
Nel 1709, in occasione della lettura del suo Traité de la pratique de la peinture davanti all’assemblea dell’Académie Royale des Sciences,1 Philippe de la Hire (1640-1718) non manca di citare brevemente l’arte del pastello: Il y a encore une espece de dessein qui represente les couleurs naturelles, mais seulement avec des craiö ns de couleur qu’on appelle Pastels
The importance of following strictly specific recipes, as for the fixative methods as well, reveals the presence of a pragmatic purpose, and aesthetic motives that could be connected to the development of the pastel practice in eighteenth-century Europe
The Collours most difficulte to worke in kinde, is Crimson, which is made of Lake, and that is a light and hard Colloure; Insteade of that yow must use India Lake, or Rosett, observing ever to mix white Cerouse with all your other Collours or Shadowes whatsoever. [...] Tempering your Greenes with white, Pinke, Bise
Summary
La versione del 1628 di Miniatura, or the art of limning sembra essere uno dei primi trattati a elencare diversi ingredienti utili alla preparazione dei pastelli. Quest’ultimo si sofferma in particolare sulla durezza dei singoli pigmenti aggiungendo che con l’ocra, la terra d’ombra bruciata, lo stil de grain o la cocciniglia, si potevano produrre direttamente dei pastelli, mentre gli altri elementi sono o troppo duri (Cherrystone black e Ivory black) o troppo soffici (India Red, Flake white, nerofumo etc.) e necessitano quindi di ulteriori componenti per poter essere lavorati, come d’altronde le polveri di vermiglio, ultramarino, ossido di piombo e orpimento.. 10 Se la prima edizione del Poligraphice datata al 1672 dona una breve ricetta per la composizione dei cosiddetti «Pastils [...] of several Colours», la quinta edizione introduce ricette per pastelli di diversi colori, Salmon 1685, cap.
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