Note 32 — FRESCO-PAINTING.

This is obviously a misconception. Lanzi, alluding to the picture, says, “Had Leonardo desired to follow the practice of his age in painting in distemper, the art at this time would have been in possession of this treasure. But being always fond of attempting new methods, he painted this masterpiece upon a peculiar ground, formed of distilled oils, which was the reason that it gradually detached itself from the wall,” &c. And a later authority, Kugler, thus writes: “The determination of Leonardo to execute the work in oil-colours instead of fresco, in order to have the power of finishing the minutest details in so great an undertaking, appears to have been unfortunate.” Distemper differs from fresco in that it is painted on a dry, and not a damp, wall; but in both the vehicle used is of an aqueous, and not an oily, nature.—[Ed.]