cessful, and the
representation of cupboards, the doors of which are partly open, showing
objects of different kinds on the shelves, which are often rendered with
the most extraordinary realism, when the means adopted are
considered.[3] This realism was much assisted by Fra Giovanni da
Verona's discovery of acid solutions and stains for treating the wood,
so as to get more variety of colour, and by the practice of scorching
portions of the pieces of which the subject was composed, thus
suggesting roundness by means of shading. It was a common practice to
increase the decorative effect by means of gilding and paint, thus
obtaining a brilliancy of colour at the expense of unity of effect
sometimes, one may think, if one may judge from the panels in the stalls
at the Certosa of Pavia--though perhaps it is scarcely fair to take them
as examples of the effect of the older work since they have been
restored in modern times. At the best period it was used almost entirely
for church furniture and the furnishings of public edifices, in Italy at
least, and many of the ranges of stalls still occupy their original
positions.

[Illustration: Plate 52.--_Panel from the Victoria and Albert Museum._

_To face page 106._]

The principal woods used in the work of the best period were pear,
walnut, and maple, though pine and cypress also appear. Ebony was
imitated with a tincture of gall apples, green was obtained with
verdigris, and red with cochineal. Sublimate of mercury, arsenical acid,
and sulphuric acid were also used to affect the colour of the wood. This
treatment lessened its lasting power, and often caused its decay through
the attacks of worms. The scorching was done with molten lead, or in
very dark places with a soldering-iron. It is now done with hot sand.
The following technical description is taken from a German book of
1669--"Wood-workers paint with quite thin little bits of wood, which
are coloured in different ways, and the same are put together after
the form of the design in hollowed-out panels, fastened with glue and
polished with an iron on the surface so that they may become quite
smooth. They paint at the present time in this manner tables and jewel
chests or trays, and all in the highest artistic manner. Also separate
pictures are put together, which copy the works of the most celebrated
masters. First, they take small, very thin pieces of pear or lime dyed
through with different colour-stuffs, which are prepa