The Marble-workers\ manual: designed for the use of marble-workers, builders, and owners of houses

Front matter

THE

MARBLE-WORKERS' MANUAL.

DESIGNED FOR THE USE OF

Preface

The art of the Marble worker may be classed among those employments possessing the most interest and variety. It demands of its votary the knowledge of design, that of public and private monuments, and of the natural history of Marbles. It demands, also, taste and patience, withput which the sculptor will be a bungler, instead of an artist. The cotemporary of civilization, his hand is found in the works of every century. The more greatness has belonged to nations, the more occasions had the artist to celebrate it ; and if the monuments of Greece and Rome had not been pillaged by the invasions of the barbarians, their sculptures would have borne witness to the flourishing state of the arts upon those two principal points of the globe.

Less ambitious at present, as great fortunes are rare, the artist must employ himself upon the ordinary wants of private life ; and if a few public monuments still demand his chisel, these are but exceptional, and in large cities. This is a misfortune, yet it is not without its compensations. These large fortunes, by their infinite subdivision, have given rise to that middle class, who, on their part, take delight in what they call conveniences, and demand of the Marble worker chimney-pieces, tables, vases, tombs, and funereal monuments, panehngs, pavements more or less iv

FREFACE.

decorated with stone and Marble, and even fountains, flag and curbstones, frontings for the outside of warehouses, and counters, slabs and fixtures for interiors. In this respect the Marble workers of our times differ from those who only devoted themselves to churches and palaces. It is, therefore, important to place within the reach of skillful workmen the information and models which they need, and which are here extracted from the best authorities, in order to encourage and stimulate good taste.

The Manual of the Marble worker has been long demanded. It has also been needed by those proprietors who themselves desire to superintend works for which they do not choose to employ an architect. They will find in this manual all the information necessary to instruct them. We have probably invented nothing, but we have endeavored to make the most complete possible analysis of the treatises upon ancient and modern Marble working, which until now have only been found in folios so costly and bulky, that it was very difficult to consult, and almost impossible to possess them.

Our little volume, on the contrary, presenting a clear and precise text, and free from all the scientific phrases which perplex the subject, will be in the possession of every person who seeks information respecting the art of Marble working. It will be understood ; it will excite comparative ideas ; it will draw forth essays ; it will attract attention to this art ; and our object will be gained if it restores to the ateliers of the Marble workers some of the emulation which they seem to have lost.

It is divided into five parts.

The first treats of Marbles in general, of their qualities beauties, and defects.

PI? EFACE.

V

The second treats of the use, cutting, and polishing of the different Marbles which are in commerce.

The third describes the processes designed to facilitate and perfect the labor of the workman.

The fourth part is devoted to plated Marbles, stuccos, mosaic paintings, and terraces — the whole being the practical experience of the most skillful Marble workers.

The fifth part comprises new processes, secrets, recipes,

*

an essay on the manufacture of toy marbles, and various other matters pertaining to the art.

We have also endeavored to enlighten the workmen respecting their true interests, and to warn them against the mistaken principles which sometimes mislead them, by pointing out the right course, and inspiring in them, as well as in us, that love of truth and commercial integrity, without which no industrial establishment will ever gain the confidence of the public or secure honorable profits.

Table Of Contents

PAGE.

Alabaster 17

Appendix — Concerning American Marbles 243

Section Second. Diffef Ent Varieties Of Marble

Marble, according to most authorities, is an extremely hard species of rock, bearing the name of the country in which are the quarries where it is obtained ; sometimes, also, of the mountains from whence it is taken ; as the Yosgean and Pyrenean Marbles.-^ Marble is antique or modern.

The antique Marbles comprise those of which the quarries have been exhausted, and which are only known to us through the works of the ancients.

The modern Marbles are those which we now use, and the quarries of which are still in existence. It is generally used for casings or inlaying ; rarely in the block on account of its high price, unless for vases, statues, columns and other works of this" kind. Many fine examples exist of interior and exterior decoration.

Although the varieties of Marble are infinite, they are reduced to two species, the veined and the Breccian, the latter being simply a mass of small stones firmly knit together in such a manner that, when bro ken, they form angles, whence their name.

THE MARBLE WORKERS' MANUAL.

OF THE ANTIQUE MARBLES.

§ 13. The antique Marble, the quarries of which were in Greece, and from which were the beautiful statues still existing in Italy, is absolutely unknown at present. In its stead we use that of Carrara.

The Lapis is regarded as the finest of the antique Marbles. It is of a deep blue color, stained with a clearer sky blue, and intermixed with veins of gold. On account of its rarity, 'this was only used for inlaying; several specimens of it in Mosaic may still be seen in slabs in castles.

§14. Porphyry passes for the hardest of the antique Marbles, and, after the Lapis, one of the finest ; it was formerly brought from Numidia in Africa, for which reason it was called by the ancients the Numidian Lapis. It is red, green, and grey. The red porphyry is very hard, of a deep red color, approaching wine lees, and studded with small white spots. It is very susceptible of polish. The largest specimen of it in France is the laver of king Dagobert. The finest is that of the deepest red, with the whitest and smallest spots. The green porphyry, which is much rarer, has the same hardness. It is mixed with small green spots and grey points. A few slabs and vases of it still exist. The grey porphyry is spotted with black, and is much softer.

The Serpentine, thus called by the ancients from

OF ALABASTER.

the resemblance of its color to that of the serpent was formerly obtained from the Egyptian quarries. This Marble possesses much of the hardness of porphyry. Its color is of a greenish brown, mixed with a few square and round pale green spots and yellow veins. Its rarity cjfused it only to be used in Mosaic.

OF ALABASTER.

§ 1 5. Alabaster is a species of Marble either white and transparent, or variegated with several colors, and is taken from the Alps and the Pyrenees. It is very soft when first taken from the quarry, but hardens much on exposure to the air. There are several varieties— the white, the variegated, the montahuto, the violet, and the roquebrue. The white alabaster is used for vases, statues, and other objects of a medium size. The variegated is divided into three kinds : the Oriental, the Floral, and the Agate. There are two varieties of the Oriental ; the first in the form of an Agate, the second mixed with red, blue, yellow, and white veins. The Floral alabaster is of two kinds : one spotted with various colors resembling flowers, whence its name — the other, veined like the Agate cold and transparent. The Agate alabaster is similar to the Oriental, but has paler colors. The alabaster of Montahuto is very soft, yet harder than the German Agate, which it strongly resembles. — The ground is brown, traversed by grey veins, somewhat in the style of geographical charts.

THE MARBLE WORKERS' MANUAL.

OF GRANITE.

§ 16. Granite, thus called because marked with small dots formed of several grains of condensed gravel, is very hard, and takes polish badly. It is evident that no other Marble was used by the ancients in large quantities, since most of the edifices of Kome, even to the dwellings of private citizens, were decorated with it. Doubtless this Marble was abundant, from the numerous shafts of columns which even now serve as boundaries in every quarter of the city. There are many varieties ; the Italian, the Egyptian, and that of Dauphiny — the green, and the violet. The Egyptian granite, known as the Thebalcum marmor, and taken from the Desert of Thebaid, has a dirty white ground, mixed with small grey and greenish spots, and is almost as hard as porphyry. The granite of Dauphiny, found on the banks of the Rhone, near the mouth of the Iser, is very ancient, as appears from some columns which are in Provence. The green granite is a kind of Serpentine, or antique green, mixed with little green and white spots ; several columns of this kind of marble are to be seen at Rome. The violet granite, brought from the Egyptian quarries, is dotted with small spots of white and violet. — The most of the antique obelisks of Rome are of this Marble, such as that of Saint Peter of the Yat-

OF OR, A NIT E.

ican, Saint 'John of Latran, the People's Gate, and others.

§ 17. The Marble of Jasper is of a greenish color, with small red spots. There is another antique jasper, which is black and white, with small spots. This is very rare.

The green antique Marble is also very rare. Its color is a mixture of grass and dark green, with spots of different form and size.

The black and white Marbles, the quarries of which are lost, are made up of slabs of the purest white and the deepest black.

The little antique Marble is of this last variety, but more covered with small veins, resembling the Barbangon Marble.

§18. The Brocatello Marble was formerly found near Adrianople. Its color is a mixture of grey, red, light, yellow, and dove tints.

The African Marble is spotted with reddish brown, mingled with veins of a dirty white and flesh color, with a few threads of a deep green.

The black antique Marble was of two kinds ; one called marm'or lucu/lum, brought from Greece, was very soft. It was of this Marble that Marcus Scaurus caused the columns, thirty-eight feet in height, with which his palace was decorated, to be sculptured.

The yellow Marble has two varieties. One, called Sienna yellow, is of a yellowish dove color, without

THE MARBLE WORKERS' MANUAL.

veins, and very rare, and was only used for Mosaic work in panels ; the other, called golden, and yellower than the first, is that to which Pausanius gave the name of marmor croceum^ because of its saffron color. It was found near Macedonia.

§ 19. The Lumachella marble, thus called because it is a mixture of white, grey, and black spots, in the form of snail-shaped .shells, is very rare, the quarries being lost.

Section Third. Of Modern Marbles

§ 20. The white Marble which is now taken from Carrara, near the shores of Genoa, is hard and very white, and is suitable for bas-reliefs and other works of sculpture. Blocks of any size can be obtained ; hard crystals are also found there.

That Marble of Carrara termed Yirgin Marble is white, and is taken from the Pyrenees, on the side of Bayonne. It is finer grained than the last, glitters like a species of salt, and resembles the white antique Marble from which the Grecian statues were made, but is softer, not as fine, and is apt to grow yellow and to spot. This kind is used in sculpture.

The modern black Marble is pure and spotless, like the antique, and is much harder.

OF MODERN MARBLES.

The Dinan Marble, which is obtained near the city of that name, in the country of Liege, is very abundant, and of a pure and fine black. It is used for monuments, and especially for pavements.

The Marble of Namur is also very abundant, and as black as that of Dinan, but not as perfect. It has a slight bluish tinge, and is traversed by a few greyish veins. In Holland a great traffic is made of its tiles.

The Marble of Thee, which is found in the country of Liege, is entirely black, soft, and easily worked, and is susceptible of a higher polish than those of Namur and Dinan. It is, therefore, especially suitable for monumental use.

The white-veined Marble which comes from Carrara, is of a deep blue on a white ground, mixed with grey spots and small veins. This Marble is apt to spot and grow yellow ; it is used for pedestals and entablatures.

The Marble of Margoire, which is brought from Milan, is very hard, and quite abundant. Its color is a blue ground, mixed with brown veins of the color of iron. A part of the dome of Milan is built of it.

The black and white Marble which is taken from the abbey of Leff, near Dinan, has a deep black ground with very white veins.

The Barbanqon Marble, found in the country of Hainaut, is black, veined with white and is abundant.

THE MARBLE WORKERS' MANUAL.

The shafts of the six composite columns of the canopy of Vol de Grace are of this Marble.

The Givet Marble is procured near Charlemont, on the frontiers of the Luxembourg. It is black, veined with white, but more sparsely than that of Barbanqon.

The Portor Marble is taken from the foot of the Alps, in the suburbs of Carrara. There are two varieties of it ; the finest has a deep black ground mingled with spots and golden yellow veins ; the other, with whitish veins, is less esteemed.

The Marble of Saint Maximin is a species of Portor, the yellow and black being more vivid.

The modern Serpentine Marble comes from Germany, and is more used for vases and similar ornaments than for works of architecture.

§ 21. The modern Green Marble is of two kinds ; one, improperly called Egyptian Green, is found near Carrara, on the coast of Genoa. Its color is deep green, with a few white and flaxen grey spots ; the other, which is called Sea Green, is of a brighter green, and veined.

The parti-colored Marble resembles the antique jasper ; the finest is that which resembles it the most closely.

§ 22. The modern Lumachello Marble comes from Italy, and strongly resembles the antique, but the spots are not as distinctly marked.

OF MOD EE N MARBLES.

The Brema Marble, also found in Italy, has a yellow ground mixed with white spots.

The Peacock-eye Marble is also brought from Italy, and is mixed with white, bluish, and red spots, somewhat resembling the sort of eyes in the feathers of the peacock, whence its name.

The Serena Marble is mixed with large spots, and grey, yellow, and reddish veins.

The Peach-blossom Marble, which is found in Italy, has white, red, and a few yellow spots.

The Marble di Vescovi, or Bishop's Marble, also found in Italy, has greenish veins, crossed by white bands — long, round, and transparent.

§ 23. The Brocatello Marble, called Spanish Brocatello, which is taken from an antique quarry of Tortosa, in Andalusia, is very rare. Its color is a mixture of yellow, red, grey, pale and dove tints.

The Boulogne Marble is a kind of Brocatello which is found in Picardy, but with larger spots, mixed with a few red threads.

The Champagne Marble, resembling the Brocatello, is mixed with blue in round spots, like the eyes of a partridge ; it is sometimes found shaded with white and pale yellow tints.

^ 24. The Marble of Saint Baume is brought from that part of Provence, and is of a red and white ground, mixed with yellow, and similar to the Brocatello.

The Marble of Tray, found in the neighborhood of

THE MARBLE WORKERS' MANUAL.

the preceding, closely resembles it. It has a yellow ish ground, slightly spotted with red, and shaded with grey and white.

§ 25. The Languedoc Marble has two varieties. One kind, found near the city of Cosne, in Languedoc, is very abundant. It has a dirty, vermilion-red ground, intermixed with large veins and white spots. It is used for decorations of court-yards, peristyles, archways, &c.

The Griotte Marble, so called from its resemblance to griottes, or cherries, is also taken from near Cosne, and has a deep red ground, mingled with dirty white.

§ 26. The Marble called Blcuturquin, comes from the coast of Genoa. It is of a blue ground, mixed with dirty white ; it is apt to grow yellow, and it spots easily ; but the casings, consoles, and hearths which are made of it are so generally used, that it has long been in vogue, and its price sustained, despite the defects of which we have spoken.

§ 27. The Serancolin was obtained from a spot called the Golden Valley, near Serancolin. It is of a blood color, mixed with grey, yellow, and some transparent spots, like the agate ; the finest is very rare, the quarry being exhausted. A few specimens of it still exist in ancient castles.

§ 28. The Campan is taken from quarries near Tarbes ; there are white, red, green, and dove-color varieties, veined and spotted. The Green Campan is

OF MODERN MARBLES.

of a bright green, mixed only with white, and is very common. It is used for casings, tables, hearths, etc.

The Signan Marble is of a greenish brown, with red, or flesh-colored and grey spots, and a few green threads ; it resembles the green Campan.

The Marble of Savoy, brought from that country, h&s a red ground mixed with several other colors which seem to be cemented.

The Gauchenet Marble, procured near Dinan, is of a red-white ground, spotted, and mixed with a few white veins.

The' Marble of Leff, an abbey near Dinan, is of a pale red, with large stains and a few white veins. The capital of the chancel behind the canopy of the Val~ de- Grace, at Paris, is of this Marble.

§ 29. The Marble of Ranee, from the country of Hainaut, is very abundant. It has a dirty red ground, spotted, with blue and white veins. The principal specimens of it in Paris are the six Corinthian columns of the high altar in the Church of the Sorbonne.

§ 30. The Bourbon Marble, brought from that province, is of a bluish grey and dirty red, with veins of dirty yellow. It is generally used in compartments of pavements of saloons, vestibules, peristyles, etc.

§ 31. The Sicilian Marble is of two kinds, the ancient and the modern. The first is of a reddish brown, white and clove, with square and long spots, resembling striped taffeta; its colors are very vivid.

THE MARBLE WORKERS' MANUAL.

The Swiss Marble has a slate blue ground mixed with whitish tints.

OF MARBLES AND MODERN BRECCIAS.

§ 32. The White Breccia is a mixture of brown, grey and violet with large white spots.

The black, or Little Breccia, is of a grey or brown ground, mixed with black spots and little white dots, which produce but little effect.

The Golden Breccia is a mixture of yellow and white stains.

The Coraline Breccia has a few stains of a coral color.

The Violet, or modern Italian Breccia, has a reddish brown ground, with long violet veins or spots, mixed with white.

This Marble is beautiful in decorations of summerhouses, but if care is not taken of it, it loses its brilliant colors, and turns yellow. It is easily spotted by grease, wax, paint, oil, etc.

The dove-colored Breccia is a mixture of white, violet, and light spots, with large dove-colored stains This is the Marble used for boudoirs.

The Marble of the Pyrenees has a brown ground, mixed with grey, and several other colors.

The rough Breccia — so called because it contains all the colors of the other Breccias — is a mixture of red, grey, blue, white, and black spots.

OF THE COLORING OF MARBLES.

The Verona Breccia is intermingled with blue, pale red, and crimson.

The Sauveterre Breccia is a mixture of black, grey, and yellow spots.

The Saravezzian Breccia has a brown and violet ground, mixed with large white and dove spots.

The little Saravezzian Breccia is called thus, only because its spots are smaller than the preceding.

ON THE COLORING OF MARBLES-

§33. By an easy process, different colors are given to Marbles. Colors extracted from vegetables, such as saffron, Brazilian wood, cochineal, litmus, dragon's blood, etc., when joined with a suitable dissolvent, as spirits of wine, urine mixed with quick lime and soda, oils, etc., stain the Marble, and penetrate it quite deeply ; but to give it stronger, more durable and penetrating colors, metallic acidulous solutions are necessary, such as aqua- for tis, spirits of salts, etc.

Artificial marble can also be made. This process is commenced by making a foundation of plaster, tempered with glue water. This foundation is covered about half an inch in thickness wTith the following composition :

Take foliated and transparent plaster-stone, calcine it by fire, and reduce it to a very fine powder, dilute it with strong glue-water, and add red or yellow ochre, 01 whatever other color maybe wished. The coloring

THE MABBLE WORKERS' MANUAL.

should not be wholly mixed with the composition when veined Marble is desired. After this composition has been applied, and is perfectly dry, polish it by first rubbing it with fine sand, and afterwards with pumice, or tripoli stone, and finish by rubbing finally with oil.

§34. No particular description has ever been given of the fine Marbles of the Vosges mountains. There are two ' varieties ; the granite with red tints, and the Marbles, black, grey, and shaded with dove and rose colors. The black has a few dirty white stains; its black has a reddish cast, which somewhat detracts from its beauty. The red is striped in straight lines upon a dove ground ; the grey is almost a Breccia with points, or little brown, grey, or russet shell work. These varieties are easily worked, which fact has caused the establishment of several workshops at Epinal, where a large number jf tables, slabs for bureaus and secretaries, etc., are fabricated, and many smaller articles are made by the prisoners, who are thus relieved, by occupation } from the dangers of idleness.

OF THE DEFECTS OF MARBLE.

§35. Marble, like stone, has faults which will cause its rejection by the merchant who is a judge of it. They are as follows :

Stubborn Marble is that which, on account of its excessive hardness, is very difficult to work, and is apt

OF MARBLE ACCORDING TO ITS WORKMANSHIP. 33 to fly off in splinters. This is the case with most hard Marbles.

Crumbly Marble is of the nature of sandstone, and when worked, cannot retain its sharp arris ; the white Grecian Marble, that of the Pyrenees, and several others, are of this nature.

The Terraced Marble has soft spots in it called terraces, which it is often necessary to fill up with mastic. The Marble of Languedoc and Hon, and many of the Breccias, are examples of this class.

The Stringy Marble is crossed by flaws ; as that of Saint Baume, Serancolin, Ranee, and almost all colored Marbles.

The camlet Marble is that which, retaining the same color after polishing, appears tabbied ; as that of Namur and some others.

OF MARBLE ACCORDING TO ITS WORKMANSHIP.

§ 36. Rough Marble is that which, having been taken from the quarry in specimen blocks, or for block works, remains unworked.

Bough hewn Marble is that which is cut in the yard with the saw, or simply squared with the mallet, according to the design of the vase, statue, profile, or other work of this kind.

Outlined Marble is that which, having received a few subordinate strokes for architecture or sculpture, is worked with the double point for one and the chisel for the other.

THE MARBLE WORKERS' MANUAL.

Pierced Marble is worked with the edge of the mallet to detach the front from the back part on the outside of works of a rustic order.

Polished Marble is that which, having been rubbed first with sandstone and the beater, and afterwards with pumice stone, is polished by hand with a linen cushion and emery dust for colored, and the powder of calcined tin for white Marbles, the emery being apt to redden them. In Italy a piece of lead is used instead of linen, which is better, and imparts a finer and more durable polish to the Marble ; however, this costs much more time and pains.

Soiled, tarnished, or stained Marble can be repolished in the same manner. Spots of oil, especially upon white Marble, cannot be effaced, as they penetrate it.

Lump Marble is rubbed with shave grass or the skin of the sea-dog, to give a polished surface to the subordinate parts of sculpture or architecture.

Finished Marble is that which, having received all necessary work from the hand of the artisan, is ready for its place.

§ 37. Artificial Marble is manufactured from a composition of gypsum resembling stucco, in which different colors are mixed in imitation of Marble. This composition is tolerably hard, and takes polish, but is apt to chip off. Other artificial Marbles are also made by means of corrosive tinctures upon white Marble, which penetrates the surface about one-third of an

OF MARBLE ACCORDING TO ITS WORKMANSHIP. 35

inch ; in this manner any kind of ornamental figures can he made, and the appearance of the most minutely carved foliation given to the Marble.

§ 38. Counterfeit Marble is painting which imi tates the colors, veins, and chance beauties of Marbles, and to which is given, by means of a varnish, an appearance of polish on wood or stone.

§ 39. We do not know how to better conclude these remarks than bv an extract from M. Huot, who has reduced the Marble question to those which are practically best known in commerce, wThich is, after all, the point most interesting to Artists and Merchants.

Mineralogists, he says, divide Marbles into two great classes ; the calcaires, saccharoides, that is, those which break like su^ar, and are most suitable to statnary; and the calcaires sublamellaires, which, from the fineness of their grain, are particularly suited to the decoration of buildings.

These are separated into two groups, the antique and the modern.

The following are the principal varieties : — The Red Antique was taken from the Egyptian quarries, situated between the Nile and the lied Sea. The chain of Taygetus, in Laconia, also furnished it, but of an inferior quality.

The Black Antique, or Lucullus Marble, is remarkable for its intensity of color. It is supposed to have been brought from Greece. Quarries of this Marble

MARBLE WORKERS' MANUAL.

were also found near Spa, but they have long been abandoned.

The Green Antique is a Breccia, composed of fragments of serpentine and saceharoide Marbles, joined together with a calcareous cement. This was used in Thessalonica and Macedon.

The Yellow Antique was also found in Macedonia. It was from this Marble that the columns, composed of a single piece, which decorate the interior of the Pantheon, were made.

The Violet Antique Breccia, or Aleppian Breccia, was probably taken from Carrara, where some of it is still found. It is of various colors, and contains angular fragments of white and lilac limestone, joined with a violet cement.

The A frican Antique Breccia, composed of grey, red, and violet fragments, joined by a black, calcareous paste, is not less variegated than the preceding. This Marble produces a beautiful effect.

§ 40. Asia, Africa, America, Oceanica, Sweden, Norway, and Germany possess Marble quarries which, although less known than those of Italy and Greece, are neither inferior or less beautiful. But only in Italy can be found the Sienna Yellow, the Florence Green, the Prato, the Bergamo, the Suza, and the Lumachella of Abruzzi, or the Statuary of Carrara from the Genoese coasts, or the superb Bleuturquin, or Bardiglio, also taken from the suburbs of Carrara ;

OF MARBLE ACCORDING TO ITS WORKMANSHIP. 37 or the Black Portor, furrowed with numerous* veins of a reddish yellow.

§ 41. Spain alone can rival Italy in Marbles. Iler Marbles of Molina are considered as fine grained as those of Carrara. The provinces of Granada and Cordova possess those which equal them in purity. The Grey of Toledo, the Black of La Mancha, and of Biscay, the Black, veined with White, of Murviedro, the Violet of Catalonia, theltMof Seville and of Molina, the Green of Granada, the Red of Santiago, the red Lumachellas of Granada and Cordova, and the Spanish Brocatellos with yellow cement, form a collection of mineral riches, which only need skillful workmen to embellish both public and private edifices with all the splendor, and prodigality of decorations of the artists of Greece and Home.

§ 42. England also possesses fine quarries, which might rival those of the continent. The expense of transportation hinders the introduction of the English Marbles into France. They are seldom seen there except in museums.

§ 43. Belgium has considerable commerce in Marbles, especially in the kind called JDrap Mortu* aire, on which the white shells stand out distinctly from the black ground. It also has well known Marbles which are in great demand among workmen since the introduction of railways has facilitated their transport. Among these is the Granitel, a species of black Lumachella, interspersed with fragments of