The Ten Books on Architecture, 7.10.4

Vitruvius  Parallel editions

‹‹‹ Vitr. 7.10.3 | Table of Contents | Vitr. 7.11.1 ›››

Gwilt translation

4A black colour, not less pleasing, is made by drying and burning lees of wine in a furnace, and grinding the result with size. Indeed, this makes a very agreeable black. The better the wine whose lees are used, the better will be the black colour; which will, in such case, approach the colour of indigo.

Morgan translation

4Again, if the lees of wine are dried and roasted in an oven, and then ground up with size and applied to a wall, the result will be a colour even more delightful than ordinary black; and the better the wine of which it is made, the better imitation it will give, not only of the colour of ordinary black, but even of that of India ink.