Читать книгу A Manual of Mending and Repairing; With Diagrams онлайн

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When it was finished, I filled in all the broken edges and other cavities with the plaster-paste, which set even harder than the terra-cotta. The outer colour of the vase was of reddish rusty black. I painted the whole over with a corresponding colour; that is to say, I rubbed it in by thumb, which is very different from mere painting. By cementing and rubbing I so restored the whole that the repair was hardly perceptible. This process is carried to great perfection in Italy with broken Etruscan ware.

I may here remark as regards rubbing in oil or water colours, that it is little known or practised, but it is of great value in restoration when we wish to produce certain curious antique-looking effects. I once knew in Rome an artist who had bought for a trifle an old carved baule or chest. By rubbing in with care on it Naples yellow and brown shades, and subsequent friction, he had made it look strangely like old ivory. Mere painting, however skilfully performed, would not have given it its antique ivory look. The same artist had purchased one or two common, large, yellowish terra-cotta wine-jars. He drew on them classical figures, cut out the outlines a little with chisel and file, and smoothing the figures with sandpaper, also ivoried the whole by rubbing in colour. This was but a few hours’ work, yet the effect was startling. What had cost but a few francs would have sold for hundreds. I should add that with the aid of fine retouching flexible varnish this process could be very much facilitated. Any one who can draw or paint at all can try this experiment on any old piece of wood-carving, or on a common yellow coarse earthenware. Smooth the latter first with sandpaper, then rub in the colours. The same is applicable to old carving in marble.