chapter four

is one of the most interesting in the whole treatise, and the descriptions are in the main clear and consistent. Illustrations have been introduced here from the article on the subject in the French _Encyclopédie_ of the eighteenth century, where is an account of the processes used in 1699 for casting in one piece Girardon’s colossal equestrian statue of Louis XIV for the Place Vendôme in Paris. A chapter on die-sinking for medals is followed by one on modelled plaster work, for this material is dealt with in all the three sections of the Introduction; while sculpture in wood forms the subject of the concluding chapter, in which there is a curious notice of an otherwise unknown French artist, who executed at Florence a statue of S. Rocco which may still be seen in the church of the Annunziata. In various places of this ‘Introduction’ to Sculpture questions of general aesthetic interest are brought forward, and some of these are discussed in the commentary at its close.

Of the three ‘Introductions’ that on Painting is the longest and deals with the greatest variety of topics. After a preliminary chapter in which Vasari shows that he regards the art with the eyes of a Florentine frescoist, he gives a practical account of different methods of executing drawings and cartoons, and of transferring the lines of the cartoon to the fresh plaster of the wall, on which the fresco painter is to work. A chapter on colouring in mural pictures leads on to the account of the fresco process. As Vasari was in this an expert, his description and appreciation of the process form one of the most valuable parts of the treatise. He is enthusiastic in his praise of the method, which he calls the most masterly and most beautiful of all, on account of its directness and rapidity. Tempera painting on panel or on dry plaster is next discussed, and then follows a notice of oil painting on panel or canvas. The statement here made by Vasari that oil painting was invented by van Eyck is the earliest enunciation of a dogma that has given rise in recent times to a large amount of controversial writing. He goes on next to treat of the right method of mural painting in the oil medium, and in this last connection Vasari gives us the recipe he had finally adopted after years of experiment, and employed for preparing walls for the application of oil paint in the Palazzo Vecchio at Florence. The use of oil paint on a ground of slate or other kinds of stone furnishes matter for another chapter.

With