Important Improvement in Fresco Painting.

The Manufacturer and Builder 12, 1872

The objection against wall paper and ordinary water-color fresco painting is the instability of the colors, and the fact that they are not water-proof, and thus so easily damaged. In this respect the most expensive fresco is not better than the cheap wall paper, and it was. therefore with great satisfaction that we received recently from Newark a sample of Mr. Kemmer's all fresco painting, which is put on the walls like ordinary wall paper. It consists of a prepared sheet of muslin, on which several coats of the oil fresco paint are placed, and it is therefore greatly superior to the ordinary method of fresco painting. The use of scaffolding, expensive and cumbrous, in one's apartments for weeks at a stretch is avoided. The decorations can be designed according to order, executed in the shop, brought to the house, and put in place; and instead of the whole building being in confusion for weeks at a time, three or four days will suffice to complete the job. Moreover, better work can be done; the artist is not obliged to labor lying on his back or twisting his head into awkward and painful positions — often in the worst of lights.

Interior decoration is carried on principally during the summer months. Necessarily work is plentiful, skilled workmen are difficult to obtain, and expenses are proportionately great. Using this process, the labor can be done during the cold weather, when the best of artists are out of employment, and can be had at low wages.

Such a wall or ceiling may be washed like ordinary paint with soap and water, a proceeding which is im-possible with common fresco work. The film, though thin, is elastic, and does not crack with the wall, unless very large openings appear, which are generally few and susceptible of easy repair. The most elaborate designs can be prepared for any sized apartments.

The work, when finished, has all the appearance of, and in fact is, elaborate frescoing in oil, and besides being more durable and less expensive, it is equally artistic, and far more readily accomplished.

There are several other additional advantages, of which we will only mention a few. It will not peel off, as other ordinary fresco painting does no often, while the colors are very permanent, the gilding is not done with bronze powder or Dutch leaf, but with pure gold leaf, which, as well known, will retain its brilliancy, and may be washed with soap and water when put on with oil preparations, as is here the case.