Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1906-11-01
A LOST FRESC0 ART.
It Has Been Discovered by Max
Friederang.
FOUND AMONG OLD RECORDS
While He Was Working in the
Vatican.
MICHAEL Angeles SECRET
Believed to Be Now in His Possession
and Frescoes Can Now Be
Restored.

| mural decoration. One sample of the work
has already been presented to the Corcoran
| Art Gallery after being subjected to tests
| that would have destroyed an ordinary
fresco The artist in question Is Max
| Friederang Of New York, German by
| birth. but for fourteen years a citizen or
| the United States. He has worked over
| the most Of the world. and picked up the
| lost trick of the ancients while working on
! the restoration of the Vatican frescoes
| under Pope Leo XIII. He has done quite
I an amount Of the same sort of work since
| his return to the United States. some OF
| 1t being outside work on The Bucklngham
| building at Waterbury. Conn. for Mckim.
| Mead & White of New York. piece OF
| work that has stood In all sorts OF weather
| for three years. II is the only piece OF out
| side frescoing in the United States. Some
J of his other pieces Of work in the same
medium are the Church Of st. Theresa IN
| Brooklyn and the mammoth fresco in the
| grotto Of Our Lady of Lourdes Church Ia
| the same city. He has now received some
| commissions for the same sort OF work In
| Washington and will commence on them
in few weeks.
Interest in the Discovery.
| The interest in the discovery, or rather
the rediscovery lies In the fact that it In
! creases the possibility of mural decoration
| immensely and makes pictures that WILL
| stand both weather and time and will be
| bright and new when the magnificent paint-
| ings In the interior OF the Congressional
Library have faded and dropped from the
| canvas backing on which some of the most
| beautiful of them are painted
| But for the layman.> who knows little
| about the technique of painting or frescoing
I the most interest In the neW-oid process
! Is In the story OF its rediscovery. To I'M
| derstand it. however. 1T is necessary TO IN
| derstand something Of he methods by
| which modern frescoes are made They
rxYof nil OF q
| one knows. and the process Is tedious in
| the extreme. Only a limited range Of col
ors can be used. because the lime in the
plaster will destroy many of the 'colors.
and even a slight change in temperature
/! or moisture will change the tints while
! they are being worked and turn out some
thing entirely different from what the art
soEle "A nd the Dhastersin fhe art few: note
the long unfinished Brumidi frescoes
around the rotunda of the Capitol. part
l'of Which already Is aakiag and, scaling
Two of the finest freseo. workers of re-
cent times were PiIotti and sKauioach. who
| were great artists and wonderful mural
| coloring of the ancients and derived its
| strength entirely from the mastery draw
| ing. They knew the limitation of fresco-
| ing as 1t Is practiced by the moderns and
| Invented the process Of stereochromy.
which has been used with such success in
| the finest picture in the Capltol-that of
by the colors are painted on and the sur
face covered with a spray of silicate solu-
ton. making practically transparent
glass covering for the painting. But 1t Is
uncertain in it's results, and 1t Is not per-
haps more than once in fifty times that
such a work as Westward Ho" is pro-
duced and stands the test of time.
A Romance in Itself.
The story of the recovery OF the old art
in the Vatican Is romance In itself 1t
| happened that during the life of Leo XIII
an effort was made to restore some of the
! Vatican frescoes. including the famous
sistine Chapel. The work at first was not
success. Friederang and number Of
other artists were employed. But 1t was
found that they not only could not match
many Of the old colors in modern fresco
| work. but that 1t was a case of hit or
miss. A little change In the weather would
throw color all out even II they did catch
it. The work was slow and there was
more scratching out and patching than
there was actual progress. Pope Leo saw
| lists as to It's progress. and finally he was
so discouraged and disguised that he told
them they had better drop 1t altogether
rather than make bad worse with modern
restorations that stood out on the old pic
lures like patches on a Jacket.
| At this point Mr.. Friederang had Sc
rious talk with him. the gist OF which was
about this:
There is one thing certain. your holi-
ness. and that Is that Michael Angelo did
not use the same process that we do. There
are walls and walls of the Vatican covered
by him and other artists, which. working
at the speed that modern fresco work IS
done. could not be finished in the span Of
| a single mans life He was great artist,
were employed here, but Michael Angelo
was no wizard. He had a process that is
| Is different from modern work. and II you
want to touch his pictures you will have
| to use his process"
This was easy enough to say, but the
| pope asked how the process was to be
covered. The artist replied that IL there
| was any place on earth where there would
, be record of 1t. that place was In the
| library Of the Vatican The pope asked
what assistance he wanted to carry on the
knew ancient Italian as well as they knew
modern. and who could talk German as
| well. The pope was not over enthusiastic
as to the work. but he furnished the two
| men required from the college of the
propaganda and throwing open the huge
| library to the search. awaited results
The Lost Found
Within three weeks the lost had been
found. But more curious still. the search
| ers discovered that just about 400 years
before Michael Angelo had been in pre-
cisely the same trouble as themselves The
great coionnade was then being constructed
and the decorations Of the interior Of st.
refers were going FORWARD. All or the
columns used in tho colonnade were old
| work dug out of the coliseum and other
places where the work of the old Romans
was obtainable- But the colors Of Michael
Angeles day were not the colors OF the
| ancient Romans. the Greeks and the
| Byzantines There was something lacking
| and none Of the artists knew what 1t was.
| Raphael, Leonardo da Vinci and Tintoretti
| were all on the work and they tried in vain
| to get the colors and the tones they wanted
| into the frescoes.
| Finally one day in digging into the Coli
| scum for building material the workmen
broke into crypt that had been the
! studio Of some forgotten artist. Here there
| were colors, brushes and all the tools of
the trade. but most of all. there were great
| jars ranged against the. wall, ancient
amphorae higher than mans head and
sealed with wax. One of them was opened
and contained jelly-Iike substance that
| was Immediately pounced upon by all of
| the artists as lime juice putty. the same
| that they were using as a medium for
| mixing their colors in frescoing.
Some of 1t was taken to the interior of
| st. Peters and tried on the walls. The
result was like magic Not only were the
colors brought out brighter. but the work