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Excerpt from The Art of Fresco Painting: As Practised by the Old Italian and Spanish Masters, With a Preliminary Inquiry Into the Nature of the Colours Used in Presco Painting, With Observations and Notes The revival of the art of Fresco Painting in the nineteenth century, will be an epoch in the fine arts, and, will probably, be the means of forming a great school of painting in this country, and lead to the improvement of the sister arts of sculpture and architecture. The moment it was determined to decorate the new Houses of Parliament with fresco paintings, it became important to ascertain the mode adopted by the great masters of the Italian and Spanish schools. To accomplish this desirable object, it became necessary to recur to the old treatises on the subject, especially those written in the Italian and Spanish languages. This inquiry was fortunately undertaken by a gentleman fully competent to the task. The result was presented to the public in the valuable reports of the commissioners on the fine arts. The path of inquiry was well traced out in these reports, and the subject coinciding with my own pursuits and inclinations, I was induced to pursue the inquiry, from the persuasion, that the introduction of the art into this country, would be the means of founding a great English school of painting. Independent of other considerations, there appear to me to be certain analogies between Italy, during the period the fine arts flourished in that country, and England at the present time, which strengthens this persuasion. The same wealth and splendour of our nobles and merchants, the same commercial prosperity, and, above all, the same spirit of inquiry, which characterised Italy at the period I have mentioned, is applicable to England at the present moment. The advantage is on the side of England. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com T