CASPAR DE, a painter, was born at Antwerp in 1853, and was a disciple of Raphael Coxius, the son of the same Coxius who had studied under Raphael; but he soon showed such proof of genius, and of an elevated capacity, that he far surpassed his master. Of all his contemporaries, he was accounted to approach nearest to Van Dyck, not only in history, but in portrait. He principally painted religious subjects, and was continually at work. Although he lived to a great age, yet his temperance and constant regularity preserved to him the full use of all his faculties; and to the last month of his life his pencil retained the same force and freedom which it possessed in his youth.
CRAYON is a sort of soft pencil made of any kind of coloured substance used for drawing in what is called pastil. It is a name which may also with propriety be applied to primitive substances or chalks.
CRAYON Painting. This method of painting, or more properly drawing, with coloured substances or chalks in a dry form, was first practised by the French painters in the time of Louis XIV., and then, and for some considerable time subsequently, was much in use in the painting of portraits. But the liability of crayon pictures to injuries by exposure to the light and the decomposition of their colours, with the consequent defect of their original lustre, and by their proneness to collect damp and dust, has rendered this art less in reputation than it was half a century ago. At the present time we are not aware of any artist of reputation in this country who practises it. The American naturalist Audubon has lately shown, however, by his drawings of ornithological subjects, that crayons, together with a judicious admixture of water-colour paints and black-lead hatchings, are admirably adapted for giving the peculiar appearance to the feathers and the brilliant lustre of the beautiful birds of his native forests. But unless it be this accomplished foreigner, we do not know of any other individual who has made much use of these means for the production of works of art. But we would not on this account be warranted in omitting to detail a few particulars as to the management of the art of crayon painting.
Crayon paper is of a peculiar quality, and is manufactured with colour in its fabric. It is well known, and may be had in all the stationers' shops. It should be pasted upon linen or cotton cloth stretched tight upon a wooden frame in the same manner as canvass to be painted upon. When completely dry, the outline of the object is first to be drawn, afterwards the shadows laid in with the crayons in a broad manner, and then the colours of the draperies and the tints added.
It is not the proper place here to enumerate the various modes of mixing colours so as to produce certain tints or shades. This will be detailed at length under the article Painting; and it is by practice alone that any approximation to excellence can be attained in this as in every department of art. All we think requisite to mention is that too many mixtures of various crayons are carefully to be avoided, as they tend greatly to injure the brilliancy of the colours.
Crayons are to be procured in sets; but if prepared, care must be taken not to admit any of the white leads into the composition of the various tints of which the sets are made up. The white should be prepared chalk, or zinc white, or any other white substance not liable to deterioration by age or exposure to the light. All the pigments made use of in painting, properly ground up with water, and reduced to the necessary tints by the proper admixtures with one another, or with whitening prepared in the manner afterwards explained, may be used for making the Crayon pencils or crayons, and which are applied to the surface of the paper in the same way as chalks, and these may be blended into one another with the finger, or left pure, just as occasion requires.
Generally speaking, to keep the colours and shades broad and clear of each other, is the practice to be preferred here, as well as in oil painting. Too much tinting and blending at first will be sure to produce heaviness and want of brilliancy in the end. Therefore, the purer the tints are laid in at the beginning, the better will be the result; for if the nostrils or the lips, for example, be done with pure carmine at the commencement, it will be easy to tone them down with other shading colours, and thus produce and preserve the greater clearness.
After the whole subject is laid in in a broad manner with carmine, black, and white, and with such colours as the draperies or back-ground may be composed of, but without attention to minutiae, or, as the process is termed by artists, after the picture is "dead coloured," the whole must be softened and blended together with the finger, or with an instrument called a stump, which is a piece of chamois leather rolled up in a cylindrical form, and shaped to a point.
In performing this process, care must be taken not to mix the colours improperly, and on this account the finger or stump should be wiped often on a towel; and care must be taken not to soften and rub in the tints too much or too often, which will deteriorate that richness of effect which the dry pigments produce when the crayons are laid on in a rough manner.
When the picture is thus laid in with the dead colour, it will have the appearance of being composed (if the subject be a portrait) of three colours, carmine, black, and white, which is the best preparation for the reception of the tints of which the painting should consist when finished. The back-ground and the hair should next be completed, or nearly so, as the chalk dust in the progress of painting these would otherwise injure the face and the lighter parts.
In every case the highest lights are to be left out till the last. In painting over the forehead for the last time, begin the highest light with the faintest vermilion tint, in the same place where the faint carmine was first laid, keeping it broad in the same manner. In the next shade which succeeds the highest lights some light-blue colours must be worked in, intermixing them with richer tints of vermilion, softening them carefully together, and at the same time adding some warmer yellow colours very sparingly. Strong verditer tints intermixed with greens will be serviceable in the shadow at the roots of the hair, and in other places where necessary; and cool-coloured crayons composed of black and white should succeed these, and blend with the hair.
In finishing the cheeks, or any other parts where pure colour obtains, this should be amongst the last of the touches; and it should be done with lakes and bright vermilion intermixed with a little orange-coloured crayon, all with great delicacy, and sweetened and softened with the finger cautiously, to avoid producing that heaviness incident to over much mixing of the one colour with the other, as the beauty and excellence of crayon painting consists in one colour showing itself through, or rather between the other.
When a very smart touch is required to be made, such as the spark of light on the eye, or the light on the point of the nose, a small piece of the crayon should be chipped off, and the touch effected with the fragmented angle.
Dropery. Dark blue, purple, black, pink, and all shades of red draperies, should be first laid in slightly with carmine, which, in the end, will produce much more brilliant colours than can be done by any other mode. Over this preparation should be laid the middle tint, which is the medium colour between the light and dark shades, and which should extend over the spaces occupied by the lights and middle tints. The shadows should be kept clear of all these lighter mixtures from the commencement, as they will have most clearness if not allowed to partake of them, and the whole are to be softened together with the finger in the manner already described, and the highest lights superinduced upon the middle tints at the last.
Reflected lights should partake, of course, of the colour of the reflecting medium, whatever it may happen to be composed of.
Materials. The excellence of crayons consists in a great measure in their softness. To obviate the tendency of crayon pictures to change their colour, great pains and care should be used in preparing the whiting with which the shades of the colours are made up. This should be done as follows: Take a vessel of water, put the whiting into it, and mix them well together. Let this stand for half a minute, then pour off the top into another vessel, and throw the gritty sediment away; let what is prepared rest about a minute, and then pour it off as before, which will purify the whiting, and render it smooth and free of gritty particles. When this is done, let the whiting settle, and then pour the water off, after which lay it upon a plate of stucco to dry, and it will answer either for pure white or for mixing up with all the other colours; and the whiting thus purified maybe used to mix with all the colours, either while in the wet or dry state. The crayons are made by rolling them out into convenient lengths upon a marble slab, or piece of plate glass, while the paste is in a wet state.
Reps.—It is rather difficult to procure either good carmine or good lake. Good carmine is inclined to the vermillion tint, and good lake to the carmine tint. The carmine crayons are prepared in the following manner:
1. Carmine. As their texture is inclinable to hardness, instead of grinding and rolling them, take a sufficient quantity of carmine, lay it upon the grinding-stone, mix it by means of a levitating knife with spirit of wine till it becomes smooth and even. The stucco stone being ready, lay the colour upon it to absorb the spirit; but be careful that it is laid on in a proper state for painting. If it is levigated too thin, the crayons will be too flat; and if too thick, it will occasion a waste of colour, by their adhering to the pallet-knife; but practice will render the proper degree of consistency familiar. The simple colour being prepared, the next step is to compose the different tints by a mixture with whiting; and the proportion to be observed, consisting of twenty gradations to one, may be clearly understood by the following directions: Take some of the simple colour and levigate it with spirit of wine, adding about one part of washed whiting to three parts of carmine, of which, when properly incorporated, make two parcels. The next gradation should be composed of equal quantities of carmine and whiting, of which four crayons may be made. The third composition should have one fourth carmine and three fourths whiting; of this make six crayons, which will be a good proportion for the rest. The last tint should be made of whiting, very faintly tinged with carmine, of which make about eight crayons, which will complete the above-mentioned proportion. As these compound tints are levigated, they are to be laid immediately upon the stucco, that the moisture may be absorbed to the proper degree of dryness for forming into crayons, which may be known by its losing the greater part of its adhesive quality when taken into the hand; if the consistence is found to be right, it may be then laid upon the glass, which, having no pores, will prevent the moisture from being carried off before it is convenient to form it into crayons; otherwise the crayons would be full of cracks and very brittle, which will be a great inconvenience when they are used in painting.
2. Lake. This is a colour very apt to be hard; to prevent which the following particulars must be observed: Take about half the quantity of lake intended for the crayons, and grind it very fine with spirit of wine; let it dry, and then pulverize it, which is easily done if the lake is good; then take the other half, and grind it with spirits, after which mix it with the pulverized lake, and lay it out directly in crayons on the stucco. This colour will not bear rolling. The simple colour being thus prepared, proceed with the compound crayons as before directed, and in the same degrees of gradation as the carmine tints.
3a. Vermilion. The best is inclined to the carmine tint. Nothing more is required to prepare this colour than to mix it on the stone with soft water or spirits, after which it may be rolled into crayons. The different tints are produced by a mixture of the simple colour with whiting, according to the proportion already given.
Blues.—1. Prussian blue is a colour very apt to bind, and is rendered soft with more difficulty than carmine and lake. The same method of preparation is to be followed with this as is directed with respect to lake, only it is necessary to grind a larger quantity of the pure colour, as it is chiefly used for painting draperies. The different tints may be made according to necessity, or the fancy of the painter.
2. Blue verditer is a colour naturally gritty, and therefore it is necessary to wash it well. Its particles are so coarse as to require some binding matter to unite them; otherwise the crayons will never adhere here together. To accomplish this, take a quantity sufficient to form two or three crayons, to which add a piece of slaked plaster of Paris about the size of a pea; mix these well together, and form the crayons upon the stucco. This blue is extremely brilliant, and will be of great use in heightening draperies, &c. The tints must be formed with whiting as directed in the former instances, and are highly serviceable for painting flesh, particularly to produce those pearly tints so beautiful in crayon pictures. It is not necessary to mix the compounds with spirits, as clear water will be sufficient.
Greens.—Brilliant greens are produced with great difficulty. We usually take yellow ochre, and after grinding it with spirits, mix it with the powder of Prussian blue, then temper it with a knife, and lay the crayons on the stucco, without rolling them. Instead of this some use king's yellow mixed with Prussian blue, and others brown ochre and Prussian blue. The crayons made of the two last may be rolled. Various tints may be produced by these colours, according to fancy or necessity; some partaking more of the blue, and others of the yellow. Of late many beautiful greens have been invented, such as olympian, emerald, and mineral greens, all which may be used in this art if mixed properly.
Yellows.—1. King's yellow is the most useful and the most brilliant, levigated with spirits of wine, to compose the different tints as before directed.
2. Yellow ochre, and Naples yellow ground with spirits, will make useful crayons.
3. Orange is produced with king's yellow and vermilion ground together with spirits, and the tints formed as in other cases; but no great quantity of them is required.
Browns.—1. Cullen's earth is a fine dark brown. After six or eight of the simple crayons are prepared, several rich compound tints may be produced from it by a mixture with carmine in various degrees. Black, carmine, and this colour, mixed together, make useful tints for painting hair; several gradations may be produced from each of these by a mixture with whiting. Roman or brown ochre is an excellent colour, either simple or compound with carmine. Whiting tinged in several degrees with either of these, will prove very serviceable in painting.
2. Umber may be treated in just the same manner, only it is necessary to levigate it with spirit of wine.
Purples.—Prussian blue ground with spirits and mixed with pulverized lake, will produce a good purple. Carmine thus mixed with Prussian blue will produce a purple something different from the former. Various tints may be made from either of these compounds by a mixture with whiting.
Black.—1. Lamp-black is the only black that can be used with safety, as all others are subject to mildew; but as good lamp-black is very scarce, the student will perhaps find it most expedient to make it himself. The process is as follows: Provide a tin cone, fix it over a lamp at such a height that the flame may just reach the cone for the soot to gather within it. When a sufficient quantity is collected, take it out, and burn all the grease from it in a crucible. It must then be ground with spirits, and laid on the chalk to absorb the moisture. Various gray tints may be formed from this by a mixture with whiting, as mentioned in former instances.
2. Vermilion mixed with carmine. This is a composition of great use, and tints made from it with whiting will be found to be very serviceable.
3. Carmine and black is another good compound, of which five or six gradations may be made, some partaking more of the black, and others having the carmine most predominant, besides several tints by a mixture with whiting.
4. Vermilion and black is also a very useful compound, from which several different tints may be made.
5. Prussian blue and black is another good compound, which will be found of singular service in painting draperies.
It is impossible to lay down rules for forming every tint necessary in composing a set of crayons, there being many accidental compositions, entirely dependent on fancy and opinion. The student should make it a rule to preserve the leavings of his colours; for of these he may form various tints, which will occasionally be useful.
Of Rolling the Crayons, and disposing them for painting.
The different compositions of colours must be cut into a proper magnitude, after they are prepared, in order to be rolled into pastils, for the convenience of using them. Each crayon should be formed in the left hand with the ball of the right, first formed cylindrically, and then tapering at each end. If the composition is too dry, dip the finger in water; if too wet, the composition must be laid upon the stucco again to absorb more of the moisture. The crayons should be rolled as quick as possible; and when finished, laid upon the stucco again, to absorb all remaining moisture. After the gradation of tints from one colour is formed, the stone should be well scraped and cleansed with water before it is used for another colour.
When the set of crayons is completed according to the rules prescribed, they should be arranged in classes for the convenience of painting with them. Some thin drawers, divided into a number of partitions, is the most convenient method of disposing them properly. The crayons should be deposited according to the several gradations of light. The bottom of the partitions must be covered with bran, as a bed for the colours; because it not only preserves them clean, but prevents their breaking.
The box made use of when the student paints should be about a foot square, with nine partitions. In the upper corner on the left hand, supposing the box to be in the lap when he paints, let him place the black and gray crayons, those being the most seldom used; in the second partition the blues; in the third the greens and browns; in the first partition on the left hand of the second row the carmines, lakes, vermilions, and all deep reds; the yellows and orange in the middle, and the pearly tints next; and as these last are of a very delicate nature, they must be kept very clean, that the gradations of colour may be easily distinguished. In the lower row let the first partition contain a piece of fine linen rag to wipe the crayons with while they are using; let the second contain all the pure lake and vermilion tints; and the other partition may include those tints which, from their complex nature, cannot be classed with any of the former. (a.e.o.)