truction of the
picture. The utter loss of many of Reynolds' noblest works has been
caused by the lavish use of this pigment. What the pigment actually was
in older times is left by Mr. Eastlake undecided:--

* * *

"A rich brown, which, whether an earth or mineral alone, or a substance
of the kind enriched by the addition of a transparent yellow or orange,
is not an unimportant element of the glowing coloring which is
remarkable in examples of the school. Such a color, by artificial
combinations at least, is easily supplied; and it is repeated, that, in
general, the materials now in use are quite as good as those which the
Flemish masters had at their command."--_Ib._ p. 488.

* * *

At p. 446 it is also asserted that the peculiar glow of the brown of
Rubens is hardly to be accounted for by any accidental variety in the
Cassel earths, but was obtained by the mixture of a transparent yellow.
Evidence, however, exists of asphaltum having been used in Flemish
pictures, and with safety, even though prepared in the modern manner:--

* * *

"It is not ground" (says De Mayerne), "but a drying oil is prepared with
litharge, and the pulverized asphaltum mixed with this oil is placed in
a glass vessel, suspended by a thread [in a water bath]. Thus exposed to
the fire it melts like butter; when it begins to boil it is instantly
removed. It is an excellent color for shadows, and may be glazed like
lake; it lasts well."--_Ib._ p. 463.

* * *

128. The great advantage of this primary laying in of the darks in brown
was the obtaining an unity of shadow throughout the picture, which
rendered variety of hue, where it occurred, an instantly accepted
evidence of light. It mattered not how vigorous or how deep in tone the
masses of local color might be, the eye could not confound them with
true shadow; it everywhere distinguished the transparent browns as
indicative of gloom, and became acutely sensible of the presence and
preciousness of light wherever local tints rose out of their depths. But
however superior this method may be to the arbitrary use of polychrome
shadows, utterly unrelated to the lights, which has been admitted in
modern works; and however beautiful or brilliant its results might be
in the hands of colorists as faithful as Van Eyck, or as inventive as
Rubens; the principle on which it is based becomes dangerous whenever,
in assuming tha