Art’s beauty is skin deep
QUESTION Lucian Freud used to smuggle into Britain the pigment Cremnitz White, which he used for his nude paintings. Why was it banned?
Flake White or Cremnitz White is a paint made by grinding lead carbonate in linseed, walnut or safflower oil. It’s not banned in Britain, but since 1992 can be used only for restoration work. leadbased paints are toxic and most artists use titanium versions.
Flake White was made by the Dutch Stack Process, which created a flaky coating of lead carbonate out of decomposed dung and urine on lead coils buried under straw. The lead that built up over time was scraped off the coils by hand.
The flakes were crushed by the artist into oil to their desired consistency. Flake White’s irregular particle size offered greater light refraction and a luminescent quality beloved of artists from Titian to lucian Freud, who used it to create the skin tones in his nude paintings.
The term Cremnitz White is a misnomer. Though there is a place called kremnitz in Slovenia, the lead carbonate was, in fact, manufactured in galena (a lead ore) mines near krems in austria, hence its alternative name kremsweiss (krems White).
as noted by the report of the U.S. Consulate General, edmund Jussen, in Vienna in 1887: ‘Cremnitz weiss, or white, is an appellation unknown to the trade here and doubtless originated in the similarity of the two names of krems and Cremnitz (or kremnitz) . . . I am informed by austrian dealers that no white lead whatever is manufactured there.’
Modern Flake White is produced by an electrolytic process. Instead of the traditional flakes, it results in pigment deposited as a fine precipitate. Many artists feel this has fundamentally altered the quality of the material.
Marianne Wishaw, Falmouth, Cornwall.
QUESTION What was the incorporeal being experienced by Sir Ernest Shackleton in South Georgia?
DUrInG ernest Shackleton’s antarctic expedition in 1914-16, his ship endurance was trapped in ice. a team of three were forced to make a gruelling journey across mountain ranges and glaciers to the whaling station in Stromness Bay.
Shackleton wrote in South, his 1919 record of the journey: ‘I know that during that long and racking march of 36 hours over the unnamed mountains and glaciers, it seemed to me often that we were four, not three.’
Inspired by Shackleton’s account, the poet T. S. eliot featured the concept in his poem, The Waste land. Shackleton’s fourth became a third: ‘Who is the third who walks always beside you? When I count, there are only you and I together But when I look ahead up the white road There is always another one walking beside you Gliding wrapt in a brown mantle, hooded I do not know whether a man or a woman But who is that on the other side of you?’
The Third Man Factor describes the phenomenon where people experiencing a near-death experience feel a benevolent presence beside them that encourages them to make a final effort to survive.
The effect has been described by hundreds of people in dangerous jobs including rescue workers, the military, climbers and explorers. It’s sometimes linked to the concept of a guardian angel.
Its precise cause is unknown. Some psychologists believe it’s an example of bicameralism. This is the idea that the brain’s halves function inter-dependently, with the left hemisphere controlling analytical thought and the right brain being more creative.
The idea is that under extreme stress, the usually dominant left hemisphere loses some hold over the mind and imaginative thinking takes over. another theory is that when someone is under extreme stress, a biochemical is released in the body that conjures up the Third Man as a coping mechanism.
author John G. Geiger documented more than 100 instances of the phenomenon for his book The Third Man Factor: Surviving The Impossible. The book begins with the harrowing story of stockbroker ron DiFrancesco.
On September 11, 2001, overcome by smoke in a stairwell of the World Trade Centre’s south tower, he lay down on the ground to await his death.
However, he sensed a physical presence who ordered him: ‘Get up!’ DiFrancesco headed for the stairwell and felt ordered again to power through the flames.
He raced down to the plaza shortly before the tower collapsed. DiFrancesco was one of only four people to escape from above the 81st floor.
another well- known example was pioneering aviator Charles lindbergh. During his first solo, non- stop transatlantic flight in 1927, he was struggling to stay awake.
He became aware of vague forms aboard his plane, the Spirit of St louis, which offered him reassurance and discussed navigational problems, keeping him awake. He landed in Paris just under 34 hours after take-off.
William Homes, St Andrews, Fife.
QUESTION What was Jerry Seinfeld’s special way of dealing with cold callers?
In THe Pitch, the 43rd episode of TV show Seinfeld, which was first broadcast in 1992, Jerry is asked to come up with a new sitcom.
It’s best remembered for a scene where he outwits a cold caller by saying: ‘Sorry, can’t talk now, but give me your home number and I’ll call you back later.’
The cold caller says he can’t do that. Seinfeld says: ‘That’s because you don’t like being called at home, right? Well, now you know how I feel.’
I’ve tried that line on a cold caller, but it fell flat because the studio laughter that greets Jerry’s quip isn’t available at home.
Graham Maxwell, Ilkley, W. Yorks.
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