Good examples of frescoes from the early middle ages where preliminary painting may be observed is in Pisa. Here there is a the presents many sinopi or sinopia. (forgive my spelling)These early frescoes used a pigment that came from Asia Minor, modern say Syria. It is known for its deep, earthy red. Most of the paintings on the arriccio are done using this pigment. It was also (I believe a high iron or ferric oxide content)to make hard conte-like crayons used in so many Renaissance drawings.The terra verde would be the most prominent color used in the earliest stages of painting a figure on boun fresco. With time constraints on working on the final layer or velo, the artist would work quickly to establish middle values, using the terre verde. A brush loaded mostly with pigment would be connect transferred outlines and essential form lines; the heavier pigment would look almost black. Mars black could have been used to add as a tint, but rarely as a sole pigment. Layers of terre verde can get pretty dark. For the lighter areas of flesh tone or areas illuminated by light, the lime surface would act as your white, similar as in water color. A diluted amount of paint acts more like a wash and transitions nicely from areas of middle value.
Fresco artists from the middle ages and Renaissance handle the outlines of figures two ways. Some hide or blend the lines carefully with the figure, while other display it pronounced and use it to define shadow and to create a more sculptured form.
The best example of Verdaccio applied in oil painting I feel can be seen Leonardo's unfinished nativity in the Uffizi Museum. To find one recipe for a pigment or standard practices in developing flesh tone in figures will fall into a variety of artists' preferences. The palette of colors for a scene often determine what is used underneath. Is it going to be a dramatic illumination of figures by a light source at night where many reds, yellows, and near dark pigments are used or a scene with ample light where dark, middle, and light values on the skin will be modeled?
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