Note 214 — Chapter VII · (XXI.)

‘Terre da campane,’ ‘bell earths.’ There seem to be two possible meanings for the phrase. It may refer to the material used for the moulds in bell casting, or to the clay from which are made the little terra-cotta bells by which children in Italy set great store on the occasion of the mid-summer festival. This last is improbable.

Baldinucci, Vocabolario del Disegno, sub voce ‘Nero di Terra di Campana,’ says that this is a colour made out of a certain scale that forms on moulds for casting bells or cannon, and that it is good with oil, but does not stand in fresco. Lomazzo also mentions the pigment.