MERIMEE'S ART OF PAINTING IN OIL AND FRESCO.*

M. Merimee's work was originally published in France, under the sanction of the Academy of Fine Arts, after being examined by a commission from the Royal Institute, who reported that great advantages must result to the art of painting from its publication: it is now translated at the suggestion of several distinguished members of the English Academy (to the President and Members of which it is dedicated), and therefore comes before the public with high recommendations. It will be supposed that a work on art must possess no small degree of intrinsic merit with which these institutions would allow their names to be connected, and that such is really the case, will be judged from the following extracts from the Report of the Examiners :-

"The precepts which the author has collected, extended, and developed, with the judicious advice he has offered, are not so much intended to teach this art, as to lay before the artist the proper materials for painting, and how to make pictures durable.

"The great object of the author appears to be, that of bringing to light the primitive processes of painting; for this purpose he has consulted the earlier works on this art, and has examined with the greatest care many of those pictures which have most successfully resisted the effects of time and exposure; and he is decidedly of opinion, that these works owe their preservation to particular modes of combining, in a liquid state, resinous substances; by the use of which the colours were defended from the

* Art of Painting in Oil and Fresco, &c., transJated from the French of M. de Merimee; by W. B. Sarsfield Taylor, London, Whittaker & Co. pp. 372.

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action of causes that have injured or destroyed pictures of much more modern dates.

"A considerable part of the work relates to the preparation of colours, and belongs properly to what may be termed the chemistry of painting; and we can bear ample testimony to the extensive and accurate knowledge of M. Merimee, who it is evident has selected with judgment from amongst a heap of preparations and receipts, those which he found approach nearest to the simplicity of nature; for it is a remarkable fact, that the most permanent class of colours are those which have been the slowest of creation in nature's laboratory."

These extracts from the Report show the scope of the original. In most of the books already in existence on this subject, the various hints of practical nature are scattered among a mass of theoretical writing, often exceedingly fanciful, and more calculated to confuse the mind with its capricious refinements, than to place simple and true principles before the studious enquirer; and through all this the perplexed tyro must grope his way-more likely to miss than to find what would guide him in his efforts. In this book, which is essentially practical, we have all this knowledge selected and arranged in a more lucid manner by far, than has ever been even approximated to; and although we think that there is a want of that clearness which would be of the greatest utility to the student, but is a style of writing seldom attained by those who, fully acquainted with a subject, try to impart it to others to whom it is altogether new-still the work must afford to the artist great advantages not hitherto within his reach.

An instance of the fault just alluded to, is found in the following ex

tract:

"That the brightness of colours is greatly augmented by varnish, is allowed by all painters, but it is found that this advantage is only gained at the expense of the solidity of the colouring, which fades in time; for to its injudicious use is attributed the cracks that appear often in pictures, and which sooner or later occasions their destruction."

The author, in the part put in italics, seems to contradict his own opinion; and this sentence is calculated to confuse-it requires an attentive notice of other passages to ascertain the intended meaning. Subsequently we find :

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"Several manufacturers of varnish, wishing to realize a great profit, do not put in a proportion of mastic sufficient to render it brilliant; they often substitute the strong oil of turpentine, which is much cheaper, and produces for the instant a similar effect, but varnish prepared in this way soon loses its transparency, it dries only on the upper part, a portion of it penetrating under the surface of the colours softens them, and the picture is soon covered with cracks; these accidents happen whenever a couch of colour not dry underneath, is covered by one of a thin consistency, completely dry; the soft portion dilates itself when the temperature is raised to a certain height, and the upper surface, not having the power to resist or to follow the expansion of that underneath, becomes soon cracked on the surface, the moment it is exposed to any ordinary heat.

"That the proper use of varnish is not the cause of the picture becoming cracked, is proved by the vast number of varnished paintings that remain without any alteration, and also our coaches, and the numerous objects in japanned work, which are exposed to every sort of temperature.'

It appears accordingly, from the author's investigation, very evident that the cause of cracks and discolouration in paintings, arises from bad varnish, or an improper manner of its application; it becomes, therefore, highly necessary that the artist should be able to test this vehicle, and ascertain its goodness before he can be sure of the durability of his work. The cupidity of those manufacturers to whose fraud much of the ill effects which have resulted are to be attributed, cannot be too severely reprobated, as tending to retard the advancement and injure the stability of the highly delightful and useful art of painting. We are aware that eminent artists of the present day are opposed to the practice of using varnish in painting, founding their opinion on the injurious consequences previously described, but Mr. Merimee has clearly shown that this is to be traced to the bad quality of the material, and that from its proper employment we should attain the much desired durability of ancient paintings.

Much important information may be found on the subject of the groundsscarcely of inferior consequence to the vehicle, in effecting permanency. The following mode of preparing a cement is interesting, and might be useful for many

purposes:

Theophilus (one of the oldest writers on the subject) informs us, that the planks or boards of which the panels were composed, were prepared by a tool used by vatmakers, probably the rabet plane; these planks were then cemented at their edges, by a glue made from cheese; the manner of making which he describes, and he assures us that thus united, neither moisture nor dryness could separate the joints. This remarkable fact has been verified by experience, which clearly shows the superiority of this method of glueing. It is done in the following manner:

"Take some fresh cheese made with rich creamy milk, triturate and wash it in warm water, until all the soluble part is carried off by the water, this may be operated in a sieve or linen cloth, through which the cheese is afterwards pressed to get rid of the water, when quite drained it crumbles like stale bread, it is then dried upon unsized paper, and in that state will keep fresh a very long time.

"This material, which is caseum mixed with a small proportion of butter, is not soluble in water, except by the addition of quick lime; but by triturating this mixture, it becomes transformed into a very viscous sort of cream, which can be diluted with water to the consistency required for the work. It dries quickly, and when quite dry it cannot again be dissolved; therefore, no more should be prepared than can be immediately used.

"To prove the fact, some prepared boards have been exposed to the alternations of rain and sunshine for some weeks; one portion was jointed with the ordinary glue, and the other with the glue of cheese. The firstmentioned gave way in the joints after the rain and sun had acted upon them; but the latter remained quite firm and undisturbed."

The latter part of Mr. Taylor's book is occupied by a sketch of the progress of the Fine Arts in England. We agree with Mr. Taylor in the opinion that British artists are fully equal to any in the power of producing works of the highest class-but that the circumstances of the age have not afforded opportunities or encouragement for the exercise of these talents, to such an extent, for instance, as when painting was employed as an auxiliary to foster religious feeling in the Roman Catholic countries; though, by the way, we are sure tenfold encouragement is here given to the really useful exercise of this art in ministering to the every-day happiness of domestic life. Pleading the British artists' cause, the author says:

"The last seventy years* may rightly be considered the age of the British school, and for that limited space of time there is no other school can show greater, or perhaps so great an improvement. In Italy, with its fine climate, and enormous public encouragement, as well as private patronage, it required full two centuries and a halft to bring these arts up to their meridian splendour.

On this head we would just hint, that British artists have had the advantage of appropriating to themselves and forming their minds upon the beautiful works of antiquity, which have been handed down to them and which are still unsurpassed; and a parallelcan not be fair in which this point is left out of view.

We regret that a work of so much utility should have any signs of want of care in the getting up; a prominent one is in the front-where the representation of the chromatic scale is erroneously coloured; it ought to graduate from the centre to the circumference. Notwithstanding these imperfections, the work is one of the most useful of its kind; and the professor as well as the tyro will gain from an attentive study of it, great benefit.

RECENT AMERICAN PATENTS. (Selected from the Franklin Journal for March.) IMPROVEMENT IN THE MANUFACTURE OF GUNPOWDER, Richard J. L. Witty, Lowell, Massachusetts.-My discovery (says the Patentee) consists in using a material capable of yielding a large quantity of carburetted hydrogen, or inflammable gas, namely, bituminous coal. The coal is to be highly comminuted with certain proportions of sulphur and nitrate of potash. These three substances are taken in a powdered state, and then mixed together; but, since these ingredients vary in quality, or otherwise, they will require their definite proportions to be adapted to each other. Here follows a formula which I have used, and found to answer well, viz. :

26 lbs. or parts.

Bituminous coal,
Nitrate of potash, 156
Sulphur,
331

And in order to make the gunpowder, the above ingredients are to be intimately mixed together, as must be the case in preparing gunpowder from any materials, and then the combination may undergo the same pro

Since the foundation of the Royal Academy. +Cimaline commenced about 1260, Da Vinci and Raffaell both died 1520,

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cess as is at present practised with common gunpowder, viz., in the pressing, graining, glazing, and drying.

What I claim as my discovery is the making use of bituminous coal, instead of charcoal, to form gunpowder with the other ingredients at present used, viz., sulphur and nitre, and for the use of these two last named ingredients I do not claim any exclusive right.

Remarks by the Editor.-We very much doubt the improvement of gunpowder by the substitution of bituminous coal for charcoal, in its composition; the production of carburetted hydrogen, spoken of by the patentee, will rather be a production of carbonic acid and watery vapour, these being the ultimate products of the combustion of the bitumen. We are very apprehensive, however, that the decomposition of the bitumen, and the combination of its constituents with oxygen, will not be equally rapid with the combination of charcoal and oxygen; this, it is true, must be decided by experiment, and should the fact be such as we apprehend, the explosion will take place without the perfect decomposition of the bitumen, the powder will be injured in quality and it will render the piece more foul than powder of the ordinary composition, which, indeed, when well made, does not require to be improved, as, if more powerful, the arms in which it must be used must necessarily be increased in weight.

MODE OF PRINTING CERTAIN COLOURS UPON CALICO OR OTHER FABRICS, Bennet Woodcroft, of Great Britain.-After describing the mode of procedure adopted by the patentee, he says:

Now whereas I do not claim, as my invention, either the printing machine, or the particular construction or material of the dress to be used by the said operatives. But whereas I do claim as my invention the enclosing calico or other fabric intended to be printed, along with the printing apparatus, whatever it may be, and the material to be printed upon them, in a chamber, case, or compartment, filled with an artificial atmosphere, deprived of, or devoid of, free oxygen, such as atmospheric air, deprived of its oxygen, as hereinbefore described, or any other suitable artificial atmosphere, and there printing the said calico or other fabrics, with a solution of deoxydized indigo when required to produce a blue colour, or with a solution of deoxydized indigo and other suitable materials as are usually used in combination with indigo, when required to produce other colours, and subsequently exposing the said calico and other fabrics, so printed as aforesaid, to the action of the atmospheric air, in order to imbibe the neces

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sary quantity of oxygen therefrom to produce and fix the colours required."

An air-tight room is to be made of sheet iron, and this is to be furnished with an atmosphere of nitrogen; this is accomplished by means of a large air pump, which pumps the water out of the room, passes it through tubes into purifiers filled with a solution of sulphuret of lime, which deprives it of its oxygen, when it passes again into the room through tubes leading from the purifiers; and this operation is continued until no sensible quantity of oxygen remains in it. The entrance into the room is through a tank filled with water, which forms a water lute, by a partition dipping a little way below the surface of the fluid. This serves also to allow fresh air to be forced in by atmospheric pressure, as the volume is decreased by the absorption of the oxygen. The workmen have dresses of India rubber cloth, similar to diving dresses, and air is supplied to them by bellows and tubes, as in diving apparatus.

MACHINE FOR PARING, CORING, AND DIVIDING APPLES, Robert W. Mitchell, Ohio. This, we believe is the fourth patent obtained for the same purpose; in that before us the apple is to be placed on a fork at the end of a shaft, or mandrel, turned by a crank, whilst the paring knife, furnished with a guard, is held in the right hand, and passed from end to end over the apple; this is then pushed towards the shaft which is furnished with knives that cut it into quarters-a centre tubular knife removing the

core.

APPARATUS FOR OBTAINING A HIGH DEGREE OF VELOCITY ON RAILROADS, Jacob Nollner, Washington. This is one of those strange conceits which sometimes insinuate themselves into the minds of intelligent men, although it would be difficult for a looker on to find the avenue by which it could obtain an entrance; indeed it might well be supposed that every avenue leading into such minds would be so well guarded by the watchful sentinel, good common sense, as effectually to repel such interlopers. The plan proposed is neither practical or practicable, nor did the inventor himself really think it so, but determined to place it upon record, under an impression that it might suggest or lead to something useful, SO mote it be."

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Let a railroad be made, perfectly level and straight, and solid as the everlasting hills; let a car twenty miles long be placed on this, and be drawn by any adequate power; let another car, say of ten miles in length, be placed on this first car at its rear end, and let this also have an adequate independent motive power applied to it. Now let the two

cars set off together at the rate of twenty miles an hour; the upper car will, in this case, travel over the ground at the rate of forty miles an hour, twenty being due to the motion of the lower car, and twenty to its own motion. In the model at the patent office, there are four or five such cars, or moveable railroads, stratum superstructum. The following is the claim :-

"What I claim is the placing of two or more moveable railways, platforms, or articles capable of progressive motion, one above the other, so that each may be drawn along by an independent power applied to it, and, like itself, sustained upon the railroad, platform, mounted railway, or other article upon which it is to move; and this I claim, whatever form or arrangement the same may be made to assume, whilst the principle of action is the same with that herein exemplified."

FIRE ENGINE PUMP, Joseph Newman, Baltimore. This is a device for converting the common street pump into a fire engine, by adding a forcing apparatus at its top, furnished with an air vessel, and other appendages. When thus used, the ordinary spout is to be stopped, and a hose or branch pipe applied to the forcing apparatus. The claim is to "the combination of the common pump prepared as described, with the cylinder, piston, valves, or air chamber of the ordinary hydraulic or fire engine, which combination produces a twofold instrument, viz. a self supplying fire engine, and a culinary, or common pump."

There is no novelty in the foregoing idea. The late Mr. Dearborn, of Boston, proposed a similar thing more than forty years ago, of which engravings are to be found in our own, and in foreign journals. The thing, however, cannot possibly answer a good purpose when appended to the ordinary pump, as the power requisite to raise the water from a well, and to force it to the required height, cannot be applied to such a pump; and, if it could, but few such pumps would bear it. Whatever of ingenuity there may be in such a combination, will not be accompanied by a corresponding degree of utility.

IMPROVEMENT IN THE STEAM ENGINE, Seth Graham, Massachusetts.-This is a bad contrivance, with little novelty, and no utility. A revolving cylinder having a groove around it, such as would be produced by making a section of the cylinder at an angle of forty-five degrees with its axis, and then separating the two parts to a proper distance, to form a groove of suitable width. This groove is to admit a pin on the cross-head, furnished with a friction 1oller, and is thus to become a substitute for the crank. A shaft is to pass through the cylinder, is to

run on proper bearings, and to have a flywheel at one end; the steam cylinder, and appendages generally, resemble those of ordinary engines. In some places, where substitutes are admitted in the militia, a poor creature is allowed to take the place of an able bodied man; the substitute in this engine appears to us to belong to the same system.

IMPROVEMENT IN THE ART OF DYEING, Patrick Magennis, Paterson, New Jersey."The nature of my improvement consists in performing the operation of dyeing by one process, which is effected in the following

manner :

"The cloth, or other material to be dyed, is taken, without any previous preparation, and passed through the vessel, or box, containing the colouring matter, and from thence, immediately passed between heavy rollers, or squeezers, whereby the colouring matter is effectually forced into the cloth, or other material.

"It is then dried; and being so dried it is passed through the vessel, or bag, containing the proper mordant, and from thence again immediately passed between heavy rollers, or squeezers, whereby the mordant is also effectually forced into the cloth, or other material, which is then dried, and the process of dyeing is finished.

"The colouring matter and mordants to be used in this process are the same as those commonly used by dyers, except that in this process they are more highly concentrated, and the degree of concentration depends upon the shade of the colour required. The rollers, or squeezers, and colour boxes commonly used by dyers, may be used for this process. But what I claim as my discovery and invention, and desire to secure by letters patent, is the manner of applying the colouring matter and mordants in a concentrated state, to the dry cloth, or other material to be dyed, by passing the same between rollers."

IMPROVEMENT IN RAILROAD CARS, CARRIAGES, OR TRUCKS, &c., Joseph Harrison, Philadelphia.-The main object of this improvement is to obtain a more equal bearing upon the rails of the wheels of railroad carriages, than has been hitherto attained. The opposite ends of a spring are to bear upon two sliding boxes, in two plummer blocks, which boxes receive the ends of the two axles of the carriage wheels. The spring is of the usual construction, but mounted so as to vibrate on its centre, allowing the two wheels on each side to adapt themselves to the inequalities of the road, without altering the relationship of the action of the spring. Several variations in the mode of arrangement for carrying out the same

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principle, are described and represented by the patentee.

"In truck frames which turn on a centre, for the purpose of adapting the wheels to the curvature of a road, the patentee has, in order to render the system of the equalization of the pressure of the wheels upon the rails perfect, so constructed the frames of such trucks as that their sides shall not necessarily continue in the same plane, but be allowed to vibrate vertically to such extent as may be requisite to enable them to adapt themselves, and the wheels which they sustain, to any horizontal inequality in the rails upon which they are to run, as this cannot be effected by the limited action of springs.'

In this latter arrangement the wooden sides of the truck frame are connected by transverse and diagonal bars of iron, which work on pins, allowing of the requisite vertical motion in the sides. whilst they are braced perfectly so as to prevent their racking laterally. The claims are as follows:

"What I claim as my invention in the within described modes of constructing cars, carriages, or trucks, to run upon railroads, is the constructing of the springs and their appendages, so that said springs may vibrate upon their centres, for the purpose, and substantially in the manner, set forth. I also claim the carrying out of the same principle, by means of a vibrating beam, or any analogous contrivance, connected and arranged so as to produce the same effect. I also claim the use of a truck frame which may be employed with cars and locomotive carriages of all kinds, to run upon railroads when trucks are required; said truck frame being constructed in such a way as that two parallel sides thereof may be allowed to play, in the manner and for the purpose set forth, whether the same be put together in the method herein made known, or in any other by which the same end is attained, on the same principle."