CHAP. 27.—THE USE MADE OF CHRYSOCOLLA IN PAINTING.
When chrysocolla has been thus dyed, painters call it “orobitis,” and distinguish two kinds of it, the cleansed927 orobitis,928 which is kept for making lomentum,929 and the liquid, the balls being dissolved for use by evaporation.930 Both these kinds are prepared in Cyprus,931 but the most esteemed is that made in Armenia, the next best being that of Macedonia: it is Spain, however, that produces the most. The great point of its excellence consists in its producing exactly the tint of corn when in a state of the freshest verdure.932 Before now, we have seen, at the spectacles exhibited by the Emperor Nero, the arena of the Circus entirely sanded with chrysocolla, when the prince himself, clad in a dress of the same colour, was about to exhibit as a charioteer.933
The unlearned multitude of artisans distinguish three kinds of chrysocolla; the rough chrysocolla, which is valued at seven denarii per pound; the middling, worth five denarii; and the bruised, also known as the “herbaceous” chrysocolla, worth three denarii per pound. Before laying on the sanded934 chrysocolla, they underlay coats of atramentum935 and parætonium,936 substances which make it hold, and impart a softness to the colours. The parætonium, as it is naturally very unctuous, and, from its smoothness, extremely tenacious, is laid on first, and is then covered with a coat of atramentum, lest the parætonium, from its extreme whiteness, should impart a paleness to the chrysocolla. The kind known as “lutea,” derives its name, it is thought, from the plant called “lutum;” which itself is often pounded with cæruleum937 instead of real chrysocolla, and used for painting, making a very inferior kind of green and extremely deceptive.938