and light spots, and the interspersion of thin light veins. Dove marbles are used to heighten the effect of white-veined or statuary marble in sepulchral monuments, etc. The imitation in painting is mostly required for chimney-pieces or common dark work, for which it is very appropriate.
The ground for this marble is a light grey formed with black and white, mixed to the tint required; the sprinklings on the ground are done with a very dark tint formed of the same colors. The large spots are black, laid upon the sprinklings while wet with a sable pencil. The white spots and the veining may also be painted while the dark sprinkling is wet, as they will then blend with it and have a more natural effect than it would if they were painted when the dark sprinkling had become dry.
The process and colors are the same if the work is required in distemper, but as it is so easily and quickly performed in oil it is seldom that distemper color for so dark and common a marble can be used with advantage.
Dove Marble. For the ground of this marble two or three coats of good lead-color should be laid, and these should each be nicely smoothed with glass paper. The color used for marbling is the same as the ground, but thinned with turpentine. In order that the work may be satisfactorily blended whilst wet, only a small portion must be taken in hand, the whole being executed piece by piece until complete. The marbling color having been rubbed over a certain portion, small specks representing fossil remains are to be formed in it with a whitish tint, and these must be blended into the color, but not so much as to lose their distinctions. Veins of various sizes are then to be put in with the thinned ground color, using a small sash tool, distributing them with taste, and interspersing them with very fine veins. The color is then to be made lighter by the addition of white lead, and with a feather dipped in this color the broader veins are to be passed over, thus forming numerous
