In 1499,
Leonardo da Vinci finished one of his best paintings - The Last Supper. It was
not painted on the canvas, but directly on the wall of one of the Milanese
monasteries. The artist worked on the painting for three years and created a
great work of art. But
the unexpected happened: dampness destroyed the picture soon.
 |
| The Last Supper by Leonardo da Vinci |
Paints began to
crack and crumble along with pieces of plaster. The French king Francis I, in
order to somehow save the picture, ordered to break off the part of the wall
painted with paints, transport it to Paris and put it in a dry room. But it was
too late: only the top of the picture remained untouched, and even that one
became dim and obscure, everything else was already destroyed ...
Munich professor
Johann Fuchs wondered: can glass help pictures painted with dyes, can it convey
its longevity to them? In 1818, Fuchs founded in his laboratory glass of sand and soda, without any admixture of lime. It turned out like ordinary glass:
solid, shiny, transparent. But when Fuchs lowered a piece of this glass into
hot water, after a while the glass simply melted in the water: it turned out to
be a thick gray liquid, glass water, or liquid glass.
 |
| Car, Covered with Liquid Glass |
The liquid glass
was very sticky and viscous. If, for example, you mix chalk powder with it,
then the powder will turn into a very strong chalk stone. If the tree is poured
with liquid glass, it will soon be covered with a thin, glassy, durable film,
as if petrified.
And here is what
Fuchs suggested: before painting a picture on the wall, it is necessary to
lubricate the plaster with liquid glass, this will make it very durable. Then
it is necessary to put a coat on the wall, also mixed with liquid glass. Then,
when the picture is painted and the dyes dry, they must again be sprayed with
liquid glass mixed with some other substances. Such a picture is not afraid of
dampness, nor heat, nor cold. It will not collapse under the action of time:
glass gave it its longevity.
Margaret
Thursday, August 15, 2019
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