as a fine art, the making of pictures with color and brush. A picture made with a point, as of pen or pencil, charcoal, pastel, or crayon, is, by way of distinction, called a drawing. Paintings are of two sorts, those in water colors, and those in oil. In the former the colors are mixed in water. Where the colors are opaque and conceal the surface entirely, the work is sometimes called distemper or fresco. This style of painting is much used for mural painting, that is to say, paintings on walls and ceilings. It is laid on the fresh, wet plaster and dries with it. It cannot be retouched. In drying, a film of carbonate of lime forms over the fresco and protects it. If it is desired to amend a painting of this sort, the plaster must be removed and a fresh surface prepared. Such a painting must be done with dispatch before the wall can dry. The great paintings on the ceiling and walls of the Italian churches are in fresco. Michelangelo's wonderful paintings in the Sistine chapel are frescoes. Water colors are used much in painting flowers. The most delicate and natural tints are produced by this method. One of the greatest water-color collections of flowers in the world is displayed in Kew botanical gardens. It represents the life work of a Miss North and includes the pictures of thousands of rare and beautiful flowers. The materials needed for water-color work are simple. White paper and a box of water colors are easily obtained. Formerly an artist ground and mixed his own colors, but they are now supplied in small cakes in tiny pans ready for use. The best brush is made of sable's hair. The bristles are so carefully arranged that the brush tapers gradually from a shoulder to a point consisting of a single hair. Such a brush costs four or five dollars, but it takes the place of many inexpensive ones, and may be used to make the finest line or to produce a broad blotch of color. Oil paintings are the most durable and are considered the most expressive of all pictures. The texture, that is to say the material, of which drapery, a face, or surroundings are composed, may be best expressed in oil. An oil painting seems more real than any other kind of picture. The great artists have ever endeavored to leave their best work in oil. Fragments of work done by the Greeks before the birth of Christ are said to be in existence. The earliest paintings were made on slabs of slate and of other stone, panels of wood, and plates of copper. Dark woods, like mahogany, are best for the purpose; but wood is apt to warp. Colors are apt to peel up and scale off when a metal or stone foundation is used. The best foundation is a square of strong, heavy linen cloth called a canvas. It is stretched on a frame. To avoid the possibility of wrinkles in the canvas, this frame is made usually in such a way that a flat key may be driven into each corner to enlarge it slightly and take up the slack. Paints unite with canvas more perfectly than with any other material; and the canvas, being saturated with paint, is not subject to ordinary decay or destruction by old age. Artists' colors or pigment are composed of various earths, minerals, and vegetable and animal substances. They are ground with care and put up in tubes. When at work the artist places his framed canvas on an easel, or he may fasten it, especially if large, to a wall. In his left hand he holds a thin, oval piece of wood called a palette, thrusting his left thumb through a hole made for the purpose. On the upper edge of this palette he squeezes but a few drops of several colors, especially white, blue, red, yellow, brown, and black. From combinations of these he is able to obtain almost any shade or tint. For tools he uses a variety of brushes. A paint knife with a flat blade is sometimes called into play to lay color, and even the human thumb is not to be despised. In using the brush, most artists rest the arm on a slender rod. One end of this painter's stick rests on the easel or frame, the other is held in the left hand. For some notion of the celebrated and almost priceless oil paintings of the world, the reader is referred to the articles on RAPHAEL, MURILLO, VANDYKE, RUBENS, MILLET, REMBRANDT, and BONHEUR. Italy has led the world in this art. Nearly every old world city has its picture gallery--those of Florence, Rome, Dresden, London, and Paris are entitled to first mention. Paris is now the center of modern interest. The most instructive collections in the United States may be seen at New York, Washington, and Boston.