Yale Universitv Library

39002059304486

YALE UNIVERSITY
ART AND ARCHITECTURE
LIBRARY

ORIGINAL TREATISES,

DATING FROM THE XHth TO XVIIIih CENTURIES

ARTS OF PAINTING,

OIL, MINIATURE, MOSAIC, AND ON GLASS ; OF GILDING, DYEING, AND THE
PREPARATION OF COLOURS AND ARTIFICIAL GEMS;
PRECEDED BY A GENERAL INTRODUCTION ; WITH TRANSLATIONS, PREFACES. AND NOTES.

BY

MRS. MEEEIFIELD,
HONORART MEMBER OF THE ACADEMY OP FINE ARTS AT BOLOGNA. TRANSLATOR OF
THE TREATISE ON FAINTING OF CENNINO CENNINI, AND AUTHORESS OF
'THE ART OF FRESCO-PAINTING.'

IN TWO VOLUMES. — VOL. I.

LONDON:
JOHN MURRAY, ALBEMARLE STREET.
1849. c

London : Printed by W.li.iam Clowes * Sons. Stamford Street.

TO
THE RIGHT HONOURABLE
SIR ROBERT PEEL, BART.,
THESE TREATISES,
COLLECTED UNDER HIS AUSPICES,
ARE GRATEFULLY AND RESPECTFULLY DEDICATED BY
THE EDITOR.

PREFACE.

In the autumn of 1845 I was honoured by Her
Majesty's Government with a commission to proceed
to the North of Italy, for the purpose of collecting
MSS. relative to the technical part of painting, with
a view principally of ascertaining the processes and
methods of oil-painting adopted by the Italians. I was
also instructed generally to endeavour to procure tradi
tional and practical information on this subject from
other sources.
I succeeded in obtaining copies of the MSS. con
tained in the following volumes. On my return to this
country, Sir Kobert Peel was pleased to entrust me
with the publication of the MSS., and to intimate that
a part of the expenses of publication would be defrayed
by Government.
I need not say how highly I was gratified by this
distinction, for an occupation more congenial to my
inclinations could scarcely have been suggested ; and I
accepted the offer without, perhaps, properly consider
ing the magnitude of the undertaking, and my own
incapacity. The following work, in which I have endeavoured to
supply by diligence what I have wanted in ability, is
the result of my labours.

PREFACE.

In preparing the MSS. for publication, I have
adopted, as nearly as possible, a chronological arrange
ment, considering it was best adapted to show the
progress of the art, and the technical methods in
use from the twelfth or thirteenth to the eighteenth
centuries. The early MSS., although they do not treat of oil-
painting, properly so called, are useful in showing the
state of the art of painting at the period when they
were written, and the importance attached to the pre
paration and purification of colours. In an antiquarian
and historical point of view these MSS. are also highly
interesting. Some of the most valuable facts to be col
lected from them are mentioned in the preliminary
observations prefixed to each treatise. With a view of
rendering the MSS. more generally useful, I have pre
fixed to them a brief sketch ofthe history and technical
processes of the different kinds of painting and other
arts, which are alluded to in the MSS.
Among the various recipes, many of which may be
traced to a very early period, it will not occasion sur
prise that some should be found which partake of the
barbarism of the times when they were written. Ab
surd, and perhaps useless, as a few of these may be
considered, except as forming part of the History
of Art, it has been thought advisable to publish the
whole of the MSS. in order to satisfy the reader that
nothing important has been omitted. The ortho
graphy of the originals has been always scrupulously
followed; and no emendations have been permitted
except in one or two instances which are mentioned in
the notes.

PREFACE. TH
Much information relative to oil-painting was com
municated to me orally by several eminent Italian
artists during my tour. This information, which I
endeavoured to preserve by committing the substance
of their communications immediately to writing, is now
published in the original form, with such explanatory
notes as appeared necessary to make them intelligible.
It also occurred to me that the statements made in
these memoranda would require other confirmation
than the oral testimony of living persons, who, although
possessing much valuable knowledge acquired by their
practice and researches, and much information derived
from tradition and the study of works on art, are yet
unknown to the reader, and their statements are fre
quently contradictory. It, therefore, appeared to me,
that it would be important to examine and compare the
statements of the Italian professors with the treatises
contained in these volumes, and with many of the best
English and foreign works connected with the fine arts,
in order to ascertain how far the statements and prac
tice of these artists were supported in their view of the
practice of the old masters ; inasmuch as, in these
points where they did coincide, it might fairly be con-
eluded that the practice of the old masters was correctly
stated by these modern professors. I have accordingly
made this examination by comparing these statements
with the most esteemed works on this subject. The
more important points connected with this examination
I communicated to Sir Eobert Peel in October, 1846.
They are now more fully stated, with additions and
corrections, in the following work. I have referred to
the authorities from which I have framed my opinions,

Vlii PREFACE.
and from which the reader will be enabled to judge of
the correctness of my conclusions.
In arranging this brief account of the methods and
materials adopted in oil-painting in Italy,- it is to be
observed, that it has not been my intention to give a
complete history of all the processes employed in this
art, and of the practice of the different schools, but
merely to give such a general outline as will render the
oral and documentary evidence and information con
tained in these volumes and now scattered through so
many pages, available to the reader. The only varia
tions from the original memoranda which I have per
mitted myself to make consist in some necessary verbal
corrections, and in some omissions of statements and
opinions, which, on inquiry, could not be satisfactorily
substantiated. I have also considered it unnecessary
to mention the names of the professors who favoured
me with the communications, although I was careful
to ascertain that they were considered by competent
judges eminent in their profession.
Although no exertion has been wanting on my part
to make the work as useful as possible by a dispas
sionate and unprejudiced inquiry into the former pro
cesses of oil-painting, it may yet be feared that many
errors have crept in, or been overlooked, and tlat
many links in the chain of evidence as well as in the
technical processes are still wanting. As I haye been
particular in stating my authorities, the .ormer may be
corrected by reference to the workb indicated the
latter will be supplied by Mr. Eastlake's promised
volume on the Technical Processes of the Italian
Painters.

PREFACE. IX
I cannot dismiss the subject of oil-painting without
acknowledging the great assistance I have derived
from Mr. Eastlake's recent and very valuable work,
1 Materials for a History of Oil-Painting ;' and I take
this opportunity of expressing my sincere thanks to
him for the important assistance and encouragement he
has so kindly and readily afforded me during the pro
gress ofthe work.
To the Earl of Ellesmere I beg also to offer my
very grateful acknowledgments for the loan of many
valuable books, without which it would have been im
possible for me to have completed the work.
To Sir Thomas Phillipps I am also indebted for
a copy of an interesting work of the middle ages, en
titled 'Mappse Clavicula,' which I have found very
useful. To my highly-esteemed friend, Mr. Seymour, of
Dorset Gardens, Brighton, my acknowledgments are
also especially due for loans of books, and valuable
references to others, which his extensive reading quali
fied him to give. To Mr. Charles Carpenter, of the
Brighton Bench of Magistrates, I am indebted for
similar assistance
I beg also to thank Mr. Robert Hendrie, junior,
whose recent edition of Theophilus has been of great
assistance to me; Mr. Borrer, of Henfield, Sussex;
and Mr. Albert Way, Secretary of the Archaeological
Institute, for their ready attention to my applications.
Mr. Hermann Schweitzer, of Brighton, the eminent
analytical chemist, has also afforded me much valuable
professional assistance, which I feel great pleasure in
acknowledging.

PREFACE.

By means of the introductions with which I was
favoured by Sir Henry Ellis and Sig. Panizzi, of the
British Museum ; by M. Champollion-Figeac, of the
Bibliotheque Boyale, at Paris ; and the Cav. Gazzera,
of the Library of the University at Turin, I obtained
access to the public libraries of many of the principal
cities of the North of Italy, and to some private
libraries: especially those of the King of Sardinia ; the
Marquis Trivulzio, and Conte Pompeo Litta, of Milan,
author of the ' History of the Noble Families of Italy ;'
Conte Francesco de' Lazara, of Padua, the nephew and
heir of the Cav. Lazara, whose valuable collection of
MSS. and works on art is so frequently mentioned by
Lanzi; of Sig. Giuseppe Riva, of the Monte Berici;
near Vicenza, author of several works of antiquarian
interest; ofthe Canon Ramelli, of Rovigo; of Sig. M.
A. Gualandi, of Bologna, editor of an interesting series
of original documents and letters of painters ; of Pro
fessor Longhena and Sig. Vallardi, of Milan : to all of
whom I beg to express my obligations for the facilities
afforded me.*

* My acknowledgments and thanks are also due to many eminent in
literature, science, and art on the Continent. I regret to omit the names
of any of them, and among others named in these volumes, I feel gratified
in expressing my obligations to M. le Comte Charles de l'Escalopier, and M.
Delaroche, of Paris ; the Cav. Promis, of the Private Library of the King of
Sardinia, and Conte Galiteris, of Turin ; Conte Giberto Borromeo, and the
Cav. Rossi, of the Brera Library, Dr. Zardetti, of the Cabinet of Medals,
Drs. Capelli and Vallardi, of Milan ; Conte Lochis, President of the Ac
idemia Carrara, Conte Pietro Moroni, Sig. Salvioni ofthe Public Library
e.nd Sig. Arrigoni, of Bergamo ; Conte Luigi Lechi, of Brescia ; Conte
Orti Manara, and Conte Jacomo Mosconi (known to the literary world as
the translator of some of the works of Sir Walter Scott), of Verona ¦ the
Ab. Furlanetto, the Ab. Barbaran of the Library of the Seminario the Ab
Roncetti of the University Library, and Prof. Poli of the University of

PREFACE. Xl
In preparing the following treatises for publication,
I have been greatly assisted by my sons, Charles and
Frederic, who translated the whole of the MSS.
In conclusion I would observe, that the work has
been begun and finished under the pressure of great
domestic anxiety and ill health, which sometimes ren
dered it scarcely possible to give that attention which
so arduous a task required. Under these circumstances
I have to request the indulgence of the reader for any
oversights and mis-translations which may be found in
the work. These ' errors will, however, be less impor
tant, inasmuch as the translations are accompanied by
the original text, and any mistakes in the former may
be corrected by reference to the latter. The fatigue
of comparing the translations with works in MS. so
numerous and so long, can only be appreciated by those
who have been engaged in similar undertakings.
The labour, however, has been far from irksome : on
the contrary, it has been pursued from beginning to
end with intense interest ; and from the consolation and
stimulus I have derived from the pursuit, in many a
Padua ; the Baron Galvagna, President of the Academy of Fine Arts at
Venice; Sig. Gio. O'Kelly Edwards, son of Sig. Pietro Edwards, who
restored the public pictures at Venice ; Mr. Rawdon Brown, the Ab.
Cadorin, the biographer of Titian ; the Ab. Valentinelli, of the Marciana
Library ; Dr. Vincenzo Lazari, editor of a recent edition of the ' Travels of
Marco Polo;' Sig. Cigogna, author ofthe valuable work entitled ' Iscrizioni
Venetiane ; ' Signori Felice Schiavone, Tagliapietra, and Quarena, of
Venice ; Dr. Devit, of the Public Library of Rovigo ; the Ab. Antonelli,
ofthe Ducal Library, and Sig. N. Cittadella, of Ferrara; Sig. Vegetti, of
the Library of the University of Bologna ; Sig. Gaetano Giordini, Inspec
tor of the Pinacoteca, and Sig. Masini, Secretary ofthe Academy of Fine
Arts at Bologna ; the Cav. Pezzana, of the Ducal Library, and Sig. Scara-
muscia, of Parma ; Sig. Bombardini, and Sig. Giambatista Baseggio, Pre
sident of the Athenaeum, of Bassano.

X11 PREFACE.
weary hour, I take leave of it with the regret which
one always feels on parting with an old and agreeable
companion. M. P. M.
Brighton, 6th Nov., 1848.

CONTENTS OF YOL. I.

INTRODUCTION-

CHAPTER I.

Page

On the State of Society and of the Akts dueing the
Middle Ages  xvii
CHAPTER II.
Miniatuee Painting ....... xxvi

CHAPTER III.

Mosaics Tarsia Work .

xxxvm Ivii

CHAPTER IV.
Glass —
§ 1 . Early History of Glass Painting in Italy
§ 2. Windows 
§ 3. Various Methods of Painting on Glass
§ 4. Other Uses to which Glass was applied
Note. — On Jewish Glass .

lix
lxxvilxxxi
Ixxxvii xcii

XIV

CONTENTS OF VOL. I.

CHAPTER V.
On Gilding and other Arts —
§ 1. On Gilding .
§ 2. On Auripetrum and Porporino .
§ 3. On the Use of Wax in Painting
§ 4. On Painting Statues
§ 5. On the Implements used in Painting
§ 6. On Leather, Dyed and Gilt
§ 7. On Niello ....
i
§ 8. On Dyeing ....

Page XCV
xcviii c
cii
cvii cix
cxii
cxiii

CHAPTER VI.

Painting in Oil —
Introduction  cxvi
§ 1. Opinions of Eminent Italian Artists as to the Practice
of the Old Masters  cxvii
§ 2. Colours used in Painting  cxlviii
§ 3. On Oils and Varnishes—
On Grinding and Diluting the Colours . . ccxxx
On the Purification of Oils .... ccxxxii
On Dryers and Drying Oils .... ccxxxvi
On Essential. Oils ..... ccxlv
On Resins ...... ccxlviii
On Varnishes ...... cclxi
On Varnish in Painting .... cclxxv
On Varnishing Pictures •¦ . . . . . cclxxx
§ 4. On the Preparation of the Grounds . . . cclxxxi
Methods of Painting ..... ecxciii
Note. — On MS. of Fra Fortunato of Rovigo . eccxi

CONTENTS OF VOL I. XV
MANUSCRIPTS OF JEHAN LE BEGUE— Page
Preliminary Observations ....... 1
Tabula de Vocabulis Sinonimis et Equivocis Colorum . 18
(Table of Synonymes and Words of uncertain signification.')
Alia Tabula Imperfecta et sine Inicio .... 39
(Another Table, imperfect and tvithout a beginning.)
Experimenta de Coloribus ...... 47
(Experiments on Colours.)
Manuscripts of S. Audemar —
Preliminary Observations . . . . . .112
Liber Magistri Petri de Sancto Audemaro de Coloribus
Faciendis . . . . . • . .11/
(The Book of Master Peter, of S. Audemar, on mahing
Colours.)
Manuscripts of Eraclius —
Preliminary Observations ...... 166
De Coloribus et Artibus Romanorum —
( On tlie Colours and Arts of tlie Romans) —
Lib. 1  183
Lib. II  199
Lib. Ill  205
Manuscripts of Archerius —
De Coloribus Diversis Modis Tractatur . . . 259
(A Treatise on preparing many kinds of Colours.)
De Diversis Coloribus  281
(On Colours of different kinds.)
Additional Recipes by Jehan le Begue . . .291

ERRATA.

Page 4, line 12 from bottom, for Again at Milan, read at Genoa.
16, 20 top, for Jacobo, read Jacobus.
„ 10 bottom, dele " the."
68, 12 & 18 top 1 „ . T , „
82, 5 bottom, f>r ln Janua> read "* Gen0a-
224, 17 bottom, for mixed however with oil and a little varnish,
read a little varnish being mixed with the oil. ,,

INTRODUCTION.

CHAPTER I.
ON THE STATE OF SOCIETY AND OF THE ARTS DURING
THE MIDDLE AGES.
History gives but a melancholy view of the state of
society in Europe towards the close of the dark ages.
The domestic habits and accommodations of the people
were rude in the extreme. The nobles were devoted
to the pursuit of arms, and when not actually engaged
in war their time was occupied in hunting and hawking,
of which they were passionately fond. Nor did they
disdain, in the intervals of these employments, to be
come highway-robbers, and to possess themselves by
force of the money and baggage of the travellers whom
chance threw in their way.1
Men so employed could have but little relish for the
elegancies and comforts of domestic life. Their castles
were merely a retreat from the pursuit of their enemies,
and were more suited to secure the defence and safety
of their possessions than to display their wealth and
magnificence. The walls of these edifices were lofty
and substantial, the openings for the admission of light
few and narrow, the apertures unclosed with glass ; the
interior walls, which were bare, had no decorations but
arms and the trophies of the chase. The intellectual
condition of the nobles was scarcely more advanced
i See Hallam's Middle Ages, vol. iii. p. 368.
VOL. I. b

Xviii INTRODUCTION. CCHAP- L
than their domestic arrangements ; the accomplishment
of reading was possessed by few, that of writing was
still more rare. Neither Frederic Barbarossa, John,
King of Bavaria, nor Philip the Hardy of France,
could read ; nor could Theodoric or Charlemagne
write.1 Of the barons whose names are affixed to
Magna Charta very few could write.
The domestic accommodations were in accordance
with the edifices. A passage quoted by Mr. Hallam,2
from a work written about the year 1300, shows the state
of manners in Italy during the age of Frederic Barba
rossa.3 "In those days," the author observes, "the
manners of the Italians were rude. A man and his
wife eat off the same plate. There were no wooden-
handled knives nor more than one or two drinking-cups
in a house. Candles of wax or tallow were unknown ;
a servant held a torch during supper. The clothes of
men were of leather unlined ; scarcely any gold or
silver was seen on their dress."
Such a state of society, it may be readily supposed,
afforded small scope for the development of the arts.
They were not, however, totally lost. The cloister,
while it afforded a shelter and retreat from the more
active pursuits of life, afforded also to the monks leisure
and opportunity for cherishing the arts, the technical
processes of which were preserved in their convents.
The magnificent cathedrals which were erected during the
eleventh, twelfth, and thirteenth centuries,4 not only in
i Hallam, Middle Ages, vol. iii. p. 329. 2 Ibid., p. 409.
3 Frederic Barbarossa was born a.d. 1121, ascended the throne a.d. 1152,
and died a.d. 1190.
4 In the eleventh and twelfth centuries the Basilica of St. Mark's at Venice
and the Cathedrals of Pisa and Siena, were erected ; and in the thirteenth the
Basilica of S. Francesco di Assisi, the Duomo of Florence, that of Orvieto
and the churches of S. Antonio at Padua, Sta. Maria Novella at Florence'
S. Croce, SS. Giovanni and Paulo, and the Frari at Venice, and the Campo
Santo of Pisa. In other parts of Europe, the Cathedrals of CoWne of
Beauvais, Chartres, Rheims, Amiens, Brussels, York, Salisbury, "west-
minster, Burgos, Toledo, &c, were built. See, on this subject, Marchese
Memorie dei piu insigni Pittori, &c. Domenicani, vol. i. p. 17.

chap, i.] SOCIETY AND ARTS OF THE MIDDLE AGES. xix
Italy, but in the more northern parts of Europe, gave
an additional impulse to the study of painting. It was
the delight of the monks to adorn these edifices with
painted windows of the most brilliant colours, to cover
the interior with pictures representing Scripture stories,
which were to serve for the catechism and instruction
of the common people,1 and to embellish the choral
books with the most elaborate miniatures.
It is impossible to study the history of the arts of the
middle ages without considering the immense influence
exercised over society by monastic institutions. It is
unnecessary to inquire here whether this influence was
the cause or the effect of the darkness which hung over
Europe at this period ; it is sufficient to state that it
extended over all classes of society, for the monks, who
were the legislators2 and physicians3 of that period,
and who possessed almost exclusively all the learning
of the age, were almost the only persons skilled in the
arts of sculpture, painting, and architecture. Marchese
observes, with reference to the services rendered to the
arts by the monks in Italy,4 that '-' after having taught
their ferocious conquerors the duty of forgiveness,
struggled against the pride of the powerful, and preached
the Gospel in the midst of the barbarous feudal laws,
they prepared themselves to build bridges, to embank
rivers, to construct magnificent cathedrals and abbeys,
many of which remain to record the variety of their
genius and the benefits they conferred on mankind. In
vain would the patronage of Charlemagne, of Theodo-

i An inscription formerly over the principal door of the Church of
S. Nixier de Troyes states that a certain cure had caused three windows to
be painted "for the catechism and instruction ofthe people."— L'Anglois,
Essai sur la Peinture sur Verre, p. 16.
2 Mosheim's Eccles. Hist., vol. ii. pp. 26 and 377 n.
3 See Introduction to Mr. Eastlake's ' Materials for a History of Oil
Painting.' 4 Memorie de' Pittori, &c, p. 13. b 2

XX INTRODUCTION. [CHAI'• *'
linda,1 of Theodoric, and of some of the popes have
sufficed to save the arts from total ruin, if the monks
had not, with so much affection, protected and practised
them during so many centuries. They preserved to us
the traditions transmitted to them by the Byzantines,
and bequeathed them to future ages, stamping them
with that expression and melancholy which transpires
in them in spite of the inelegance of the forms ; and
they ennobled by their profession the arts which ,their
barbarous conquerors despised."
The proof that Europe is indebted to the religious
communities for the preservation of the arts during the
dark ages, rests on the fact that the most ancient
examples of Christian art consist of the remains of
mural pictures in churches, of illuminations in sacred
books, and of vessels for the use of the church and the
altar, and on the absence of all similar decorations on
buildings and utensils devoted to secular uses during
the same period, to which may be added that many of
the early treatises on painting were the work of eccle
siastics as well as the paintings themselves. A similar
remark may be made with regard to architecture, many
of the earliest professors of which were monks.
Painting was essentially a religious occupation. The
early professors of the art believed that they had an
especial mission to make known the works and miracles
of God to the common people, who were unacquainted
with letters, "agli uomini grossi che non sanno lettere."2
Actuated by this sentiment, it is not surprising that so
many of the Italian painters should have been members
of monastic establishments. It has been observed that
the different religious orders selected some particular
branch of the art, which they practised with great suc-
i Theodolinda caused to be painted on the walls of the palace of Monza
the principal events in the history of the Lombards. See Rio, de la Podsie
Chretienne, p. 20, n.
2 See the Statutes ofthe Sienese Painters — Carteggio Inedito &c vol iL

chap, i.] SOCIETY AND ARTS OF THE MIDDLE AGES. xxi
cess in the convents of their respective orders. Thus
the Gesuati and Umiliati attached themselves to paint
ing on glass and architecture, the Olivetani to Tarsia
work, the Benedictines and Camaldolites to painting
generally, and the monks of Monte Casino to miniature
painting, while the Dominicans appear to have practised
all the various branches of the fine arts (with the ex
ception of mosaics) and to have produced artists who
excelled in each.
The various remains of the artistic skill of the monks
of the middle ages which have escaped the ravages of
time sufficiently attest their mechanical dexterity in
these arts, and the excellence of the traditionary prac
tices of which they were for some time the sole depo
sitaries. Great, however, as the technical skill of the monks
undoubtedly was at this period, their paintings were
'distinguished neither for accuracy of drawing nor for
elegance or variety of design. Until the time of
Cimabue and Giotto the Byzantine type was adhered
to with little variation in Italy, or at least in the
northern and southern parts ; but in Rome a somewhat
different style prevailed, which has been called the
Italian. The mural pictures and mosaics throughout
Lombardy presented everywhere the same lengthened *
and attenuated figures, standing on the tips of their toes
(for the painters of those days did not possess the art of
representing the feet in perspective), with ample and
flowing draperies, narrow and ill-shaped extremities,
solemn and severe aspects, and large, open, and staring
black eyes ; the outlines of the figures were hard and
black, cutting .sharply the gold back-ground, and the
expression of the features inspired awe and terror. The
same type prevailed in the districts of Southern Italy.
i The figures ofthe Byzantine school were sometimes thirteen heads in
height.

INTRODUCTION.

[chap. i.

The good taste of Cimabue introduced in the thirteenth
century a better style of art, which was much improved
by his gifted pupil Giotto ; and such was the influence
of their example that the Byzantine style was banished
from Tuscany, and wherever the works and influence
of these artists extended.
The improvement in the civil condition of the people
followed, if it did not keep pace with the advancement
of the arts. In the twelfth century there were many
influences which had been for some time silently pro
ducing a change in the manners ofthe people. Among
these may be enumerated the Crusades, which, by
making the turbulent and warlike nobles of Europe
acquainted with the arts and luxuries of the more re
fined and polished Saracens, awakened in them a taste
for dress and the elegant enjoyments of life ; the com
mercial enterprise of a few cities,1 which, in spite of
wars and tumults, succeeded in establishing an uninter
rupted intercourse with Constantinople and Palestine,
and introducing the merchandise of Asia and Africa
into the interior of Europe ;2 the settlements in Sicily,
in the kingdom of Naples, and in Spain, of the Sa
racens, who, less distracted with wars than the Eu
ropeans, had leisure to attend to the erection of palaces
and to the cultivation of the arts ; and the establish
ment of the silk and woollen manufactories,3 and the
consequent increase in the comforts and conveniences
of life. To these may be added the occasional cessation
of war, which enabled the laity to devote themselves
to the study of the arts. During this period the kind

i Venice, Amalfi, Pisa, Genoa. See Hallam, Mid. Aires vol iii nn
367, 388, 389, 390. e ' ' PP"
2 Saggio sull' Antico Commercio, sull' Arti, e sulla Marina de' Vene-
ziani, da Jacopo Filiasi, pp. 27 n., 153.
3 A silk manufactory was established at Palermo in 1148 and ' th
same century at Genoa. There were woollen manufactories in Eno-]"^ "*
the twelfth century.— Hallam, Midd. Ages, vol. iii. pp. 367, 393 g "*

chap, i.] SOCIETY AND ARTS OF THE MIDDLE AGES. xxiii
of painting most practised in Italy was mosaic, but in
the western part of Europe painting on glass appears
to have been exercised in preference to all others.
In the thirteenth century the manners of the people
were still rude and uncultivated, but towards the latter
end of this century a sensible refinement took place,
especially in Italy. In Venice there were at this period
laws in which were mentioned the tariffs regulating the
manufactories of gauzes, purple cloth, and cloth of
gold ^ this is sufficient evidence of the establishment
of manufactories of these articles and of the increased
taste for dress. At this period the commerce of Mar
seilles with the Levant was in its greatest prosperity.
Montpellier and Aries were also engaged in the same
pursuit, and at the end of this century or the beginning
of the fourteenth the first Venetian vessels arrived at
Antwerp laden with spices, drugs, and silk stuffs ; to
these were added perfumes, cotton, and colours.2
The amelioration of the manners and habits of the
people was decidedly favourable to the development of
the arts in Italy, and the influx of Greek artists, after
the taking of Constantinople by the Latins in 1204,
gave them an additional impulse, and contributed to their
revival in different parts of the country. From the
ancient mosaic on the Duomo of Spoleto, dated 1207,3
works of art, bearing the names of the artists and the
date, are of frequent occurrence in the annals of art.
Guido da Siena painted the large Madonna in S. Do-
menico at Siena in 1221 ; and the works of Giunto da
Pisa were executed during the early part of this
century. These artists were succeeded by Cimabue, to whose
influence is ascribed the revival of painting in Florence.

1 See Filiasi, Saggio, &c, p. 153.
2 Guicciardini, Belgii Descript., Amsterdam, 1613, quoted by Depping.
3 Kugler, Handbook of Painting in Italy, p. 28.

XXIV INTRODUCTION. tcHAP' I#
In the middle of this century arose the Florentine
school of mosaic painters under Andrea Tafi, who was
taught the art by the Greeks; and the family of Cos-
mati, also painters in mosaic, flourished at Rome about
the same period.
In France and England other branches of the art
were cultivated with success, especially painting on
glass ; and a taste for mural paintings appears to have
arisen in England.
The arts had also made some progress in Spain
during this century, for the corporation of the painters
and sculptors of Barcelona dates from the same period.1
The incorporation of similar societies in Italy appears
to have taken place at a later period.2
During this century the kings of England found
leisure to attend to the decoration of the interior of their
palaces. It is ascertained from records preserved at
Winchester, that there was a " painted chamber" in this
the favourite city of the kings of England, as early as
the year 1216 ; 3 and it appears also from another
document that this apartment was decorated with his
torical pictures.4 In other documents, paintings, the
subjects of which are mentioned, were ordered to be
executed in the Hall at Winchester, in the Painted
Chamber and Palace at Westminster, in the Castle of
Nottingham, and other Royal residences.5

1 A.D. 1291. Capmany, Memorias, &c, tome iii., cited by Depping,
vol. i. p. 264.
2 The statutes of the Sienese painters are dated 1 355 ; those of the
goldsmiths, 1361; of the Florentine painters in 1339. Those of Padua
were probably some years earlier. The Florentine painters were included
in the same company as the physicians and apothecaries. See Gaye Car-
teggio Inedito, vols. i. and ii. p. i.
3 Rol. Claus. 4 Hen. III., mem. 16, cited in the Archaeological
Journal for 1845, p. 69.
4 See Mr. Eastlake's ' Materials,' p. 556.
* Rol. Liberat. 17 Hen. III. mem. 6, and other documents quoted in
the Archaeological Journal for 1845, pp. 70-77 ; and in Mr. Eastlake's
' Materials for a History of Painting in Oil,' vol. i. pp. 552-56L.

chap, i.] SOCIETY AND ARTS OF THE MIDDLE AGES. xxv
The analysis of early mural pictures, and the direc
tions of Le Begue, Theophilus, and the author of the
Bolognese MS., place it beyond a doubt that the greater
part of these paintings were executed in tempera.
Many of those which are called fresco paintings, were
merely commenced in fresco and finished in distemper.1
The art of fresco-painting, properly so called, did not
arise until some time after the period of which I am
now speaking. The paintings on the walls of the
Chapel of S. Jacopo di Pistoia were ascertained by Pro
fessor Branchi to have been executed upon a ground
composed of sulphate of lime (plaster of Paris, the
gesso ofthe Italians), carbonate of lime, and a yellowish
colouring matter tempered with glue. It has also been
ascertained that many of the beautiful mural paintings
by Bernardino Luini, in the Chapel of the Monastero
Maggiore at Milan, were not painted in buon-fresco, but
on white stucco, in the ancient manner.2
It appears, from MSS. of this period, that it was
sometimes the custom in England to whitewash the
exterior of castles, and sometimes to paint them of three
colours.3 " This castel is paynted without with thre maner colours :
Eede brennand colour is above toward the fair tours,
Meyne colour is y-middes of ynde and of blewe,
Grene colour be the ground that never changes hewe."
In the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries the houses
of the English, of the middle and lower classes, con
sisted in general of a ground-floor only, divided into
two apartments, namely, a hall, into which the prin
cipal door opened, and which was the room for cooking,
eating, and receiving visitors ^ and a chamber adjoining
the hall, and opening out of it, which was the private
apartment of the females of the family and the bed-
1 See the First and Second Reports of the Commissioners of Fine Arts.
2 Milano e il suo Territorio, vol. ii. p. 254.
3 See Archaeological Journal, Part IV., Jan. 1845, p. 304.

xxvi INTRODUCTION. [chap. I.
room at night. The greater part of the houses in
London were built after this plan.1 The habitations
of the more wealthy classes differed from those of the
middle ranks only in having an upper floor, called a
soler, or solar, on which was an apartment called a
" saloon." The access to this was by a flight of stairs
on the outside of the house.2 The soler is mentioned
in the Le Begue MS., p. 88, probably with reference to
an English house, since the term occurs in the recipes
given by Theodore of Flanders to Alcherius. A differ
ent style of architecture prevailed on the Continent, for
it is related that when Henry III. visited S. Louis at
Paris, he greatly admired the houses of that city, con
sisting for the most part of many stories.3 In houses
of this description there was but little room for decora
tion ; and they appear to have been but scantily pro
vided with furniture. Even at a much later period,
neither looking-glasses nor chairs are mentioned in the
catalogue of the furniture of Contarini, the rich Vene
tian trader, who resided at St. Botolph's, in London, in
1481 ;4 or in that of a nobleman in 1572. The
Bolognese MS., however, mentions glass mirrors, in a
manner which proves that they were not uncommon in
Italy at the time that MS. was written.
In the fifteenth century the taste for decoration ex
tended, as might be supposed, to the ca'stles of the
nobility, and the apartments were decorated with his
torical paintings from the Old and New Testament.
" Ther men myzth se, ho that wolde,
Arcangeles of rede golde,
ffytly mad of o molde,
Lowynge ful lyzth ;

1 See notice of the ' Chronicle of the Mayors and Sheriffs of London
from 1188 to 1274,' in the Arch. Journ. for Sept. 1847, p. 282.
2 Illustrations of the Domestic Architecture of the Middle Ages by
Mr. Wright, Arch. Journ., Sept. 1844. ' '
3 Arch. Jour., Sept. 1847, p. 282.
4 Hallam's Middle Ages, vol. iii. p. 428.

chap, i.] SOCIETY AND ARTS OF THE MIDDLE AGES. XXVll
With the Pocalyps of Jon,
The Powles Pystoles everychon,
The paraboles of Salamon,
Paynted ful ryzth.
And the foure gospellores,
Sytting on pyllores,
Hend, herkeneth and heres,
G-yf hyt be zoure wyll.
Austyn and Gregory,
Jerome and Ambrose,
Thus the foure doctores
Lystened than tylle.
Ther was purtred in ston,
The fylesoferes everychon,
The story of Absolon,
That lykyd full ylle."1
It will be observed that in all the early MSS. pub
lished in this volume clocks are not mentioned, but the
hours of the day were reckoned from sun-rise, and
shorter periods by the time occupied in repeating Ave
Marias, Paternosters, and Misereres. From this we
may collect that, although the apartments of castles and
palaces might reckon among their articles of domestic
convenience — " An orrelegge (horloge) one hyzth
To rynge the ours at nyzth,"
they were unknown in convents, and among the mid
dle classes, at least until the later half of the fifteenth
century. 1 From a manuscript of the fifteenth century, in the Public Library at
Cambridge, quoted in the Arch. Jour., Sept. 1844.

XXV111

INTRODUCTION. tCHAP- n>

CHAPTER II.

MINIATURE PAINTING.

Having thus taken a cursory view ofthe state of society
and of the arts during the middle ages, it may not be
uninteresting to treat more particularly of those arts,
the technical processes of which are described in the
following MSS., in order to render the various practical
directions more available to the student, and more
interesting to the general reader.
It has been observed l that the rise and progress of
painting is better shown by miniatures than by large
pictures, because the altar-pieces and frescoes were fre
quently repetitions of smaller works painted in choral
books, and the parchment on which they are executed
being better preserved than pictures on walls, and less
injured by retouching, represented more exactly the types
and traditions of the early schools. Besides the minia
tures painted in books, it was also the custom to affix to
every picture a predella or gradino,2 on which the
different events of the life of the Saint represented in
the picture were portrayed in miniature ; the frames
were also ornamented with small figures, so that the
study of miniature-painting was necessary to all painters.
We turn, therefore, with increased interest to the early
history of miniature-painting, which, after the revival of
the art,3 must be sought chiefly in the archives of the
i Marchese, Memorie, &c, vol. i. lib. i. cap. xi. p. 175,
2 The step on the top of the altar was so called.
3 The school of miniature painters was very important during the eighth
and ninth centuries. Kugler mentions some interesting illuminations exe
cuted in manuscripts of this period. (See Handbook of Painting in Italy
p. 20.)

chap, n.] MINIATURE PAINTING. xxix
convents of the Benedictine, Camaldolese, and Domini
can monks, and in those of the Canons Regular. It is
impossible to imagine any employment more congenial
to the peaceful and contemplative lives of the monks, in
the intervals of their religious duties, than the pleasing
and almost luxurious occupation of illustrating the
sacred books with stories from Scripture, and of ornament
ing with elaborate miniatures the works of Virgil and a
few of the other classic authors. It is not surprising,
therefore, that this kind of painting should have found
so many followers in the cloisters.
The art of miniature painting was divided into two
branches : the professors of the first were styled
" Miniatori," or "miniature painters, or illuminators of
books ; and those of the second, " Miniatori caligrafi,"
or " pulchri scriptores." To the first class belonged the
task of painting the Scripture stories, the borders, and
the arabesques, and of laying on the gold and ornaments
ofthe MSS.
The second wrote the whole of the work, and those
initial letters generally drawn with blue or red, full of
flourishes and fanciful ornaments, in which the patience
of the writer is frequently more to be admired than his
genius. The wood-cut1 in the next page shows a writer
of the fifteenth century engaged in this occupation and
surrounded with his various implements. With the
miniatori may be classed the authors and collectors of
many ofthe MSS. now published, and others of a similar
nature. To the second class belongs Alberto Porzello,
who is mentioned in the Le Begue MS. to have been
" perfect in all kinds of writing, and to have kept a
school at Milan, where he taught the art to young men
and boys." But the two branches were frequently prac-
i Copied from the work of M. Aime Champollion-Figeac, entitled
' Louis et Charles, Dues d'Orleans, leur Influence sur les Arts, la Littera-
ture, et l'Esprit de leur Siecle, d'apres les Documents Originaux et les
Peintres des Manuscrits,' Paris, 1844.

XXX

INTRODUCTION.

[chap. ii.

A "Writer of the Fifteenth Century.
From a Manuscript in the Bibliotkeque Royale at Paris.
tised by the same person, whence the term "writing"
was also extended to painting, and the word was not
confined to miniature painting only, but was applied to
painting on glass, which was also called " writing on
glass." As to the origin of the word " miniature," it
received its name from the practice of writing the
rubrics and initial letters with minium or red lead.
The French term " illuminer" is supposed to be derived
from the custom of illuminating or heightening the
lights with gold. The term occurs in the Lucca MS.,
in the chapter " De Lazuri."
Previous to the invention of printing the art of
calligraphy was of great importance. It was the cus
tom and the pride of the large religious establishments
to have the books used in the celebration of Divine
Service exquisitely written, and adorned with minia
tures. The recent researches into the archives of the
different Italian cities have brought to light the minutes
of expenses of some of these books, which prove the

chap, ii.] MINIATURE PAINTING. xxxi
time occupied in painting them, and the large sums
paid to the artists for executing them, or for the pur
chase of the materials ; for the monks did not receive
payment for the works intended for their own convents.
The choral books of the convent of S. Marco, at
Florence, were written and painted by Fra Benedetto
del Mugello (the elder brother of Frate Angelico1),
with the assistance of the monks. The cost of these
books was 1500 ducats, and the time occupied in com
pleting them was five years.2
The choral books belonging to the cathedral of
Ferrara are thirty in number; twenty-two of which
are 26 inches long by 18 ir breadth, and the remaining
eight smaller. They were begun in the year 1477,
and completed in 1535.3 The most interesting of
these books, for the beauty of the characters, as well as
for the miniatures, were executed by Jacopo Filippo
d'Argenta, Frate Evangelista da Reggio, a Franciscan,
Andrea delle Veze, Giovanni Vendramin of Padua,
and Martino di Giorgio da Modena. The parchment
on which these books are written is in excellent pre
servation. It is worthy of remark that great part of
the parchment or vellum for these books was brought
from Germany, or, at least, was manufactured by
Germans. There is an entry in the records of the
cathedral, for the year 1477, of a sum of money paid
to M.Alberto da Lamagna for 265 skins of vellum;
of another sum, paid in 1501, for 60 skins, to Piero
Iberno, also a German ; and to Creste, another Ger
man, for 50 skins, furnished by them on account of
these books.
The magnificent choral books, thirteen in number,
which formerly belonged to the Certosa of Pavia, are
1 Called also Beato Angelico.
2 Marchese, Memorie, &c, vol. i. p. 189.
3 Documenti risguardanti i Libri Corali del Duomo di Ferrara, commu
nicated by the Ab. Antonelli, of the Public Library at Ferrara, to Sig. Gua-
landi, by whom they were published in his Memorie, &c, ser. vi. p. 153.

xxxii NTRODUCTION. [chap. ii.
now in the library of Brera, at Milan. They are of
very large size, probably three feet by two, and many
of the illuminations are very beautiful.
As a work of art, the choral books of the Monastery
degli Angeli in Florence are perhaps more remarkable
than those of Ferrara. They are twenty in number,
and were all written by one writer, and embellished by
one miniature painter. The former, Don Jacopo, was
a Camaldolese monk, of the same religious house at
Florence; and, according to Vasari,1 was not only a
most excellent person, but the best writer of initial
letters that ever lived, not only in Tuscany, but in
Europe; and he adds, that these choral books are
perhaps, as regards the writing, the finest and largest
in Italy ; Don Jacopo also wrote other books at
Rome and at Venice. The miniatures in the above-
mentioned choral books, which are all by the hand of
Don Silvestro, are not less excellent than the writing ;
and so great was the esteem in which these two monks,
D. Jacopo and D. Silvestro, were held in their con
vent, that the right hand of each was preserved in a
casket with the utmost veneration. Vasari adds that
he, who had seen these books so many times, was
astonished at the skill in design and ability with which
they were executed, at a period when the art of design
was all but lost ; for these monks flourished about the
year 1350.
The choral books of the Cathedral of Siena have
been preserved with the greatest care. They were all
attributed by Vasari to Piero di Perugia,2 but they are
known to have been painted by several artists, among
whom may be mentioned Liberale di Verona and
Ansino di Pietro, whose names are inscribed on their
paintings3 There were also fourteen magnificent
choral books in the convent of Sta- Maria del Sasso
1 Life of Don Lorenzo.
2 Life of Agnolo Gaddi. 3 Marchese, Memorie, &c., vol. i D 197

chap, n.] MINIATURE PAINTING. xxxiii
near Bibbiena, which were executed by Fra Pietro di
Tramoggiano, and which were valued at upwards of
1500 scudi. Many of the miniatures were cut out
and carried away, others were sent to Sta- Maria
Novella, at Florence ; but the books are now lost, and
the convent does not at the present time possess a
single miniature.1
The sister arts of calligraphy and miniature painting
flourished simultaneously in Italy and in the countries
north of the Alps. The celebrated monastery of St.
Gall possessed a school of painters, who were distin
guished even in the ninth century. In the tenth
century, Tutilo, a member of this community, was
equally famous as a painter, poet, musician, sculptor,
and statuary. But the best miniature painter of the
tenth century was Godemann, who was chaplain of the
Bishop of Winchester from a.d. 963 to 984, and after
wards Abbot of Thornley. His benedictional, orna
mented with thirty beautiful miniatures, is in the
possession of the Duke of Devonshire. In the eleventh
century schools of painting were formed at Hildesheim
and Paderborn ; and the art was exercised by ecclesi
astics of the highest rank.2 The reputation of the
French miniature painters had reached Italy in the
time of Dante, who alludes to the practice of the art
" Ch' alluminare e chiamato in Parigi,"
while recording the merit of Oderigi da Gubbio and
Franco Bolognese. Many artists who followed this
branch of the profession are enumerated by Alcherius in
the work of Le Begue. Some of these were natives of
Italy, others of France, and others of Flanders. The
Italian miniature painters are numerous. Among the
i Compendio Storico Critico sopra le due Immagine di Maria S. S. nella
Chiesa di Sta. Maria del Sasso, presso Bibbiena, dato in luce dal P. Vin
cenzo Fineschi, Firenze, 1792, cap. x. p. 72; cited by Marchese, vol, i.
p. 209. 2 See Rio, de la Po6sie Chretienne, p. 32-34.
VOL. I. c

XXXIV

INTRODUCTION. CCHAI>- n'

most celebrated miniatori of the fifteenth century was
Francesco dai Libri, a native of Verona, called the Old,
to distinguish him from his son Girolamo. He obtained
the appellation "dai Libri" from his employment,
which consisted in illuminating MSS. ; and, as he lived
before the discovery of the art of printing, he found
constant occupation, because those persons who paid
the expense of the writing, which was very great, were
also desirous of seeing their books ornamented with
miniatures. Francesco lived to a great age, and died
contented and happy, because, says Vasari, " in addi
tion to the peace of mind which he derived from his
own virtues, he left a son who was a better painter than
himself." This son was Girolamo dai Libri, whose
merits as a miniature painter fully equalled the sanguine
expectations of his father. Vasari is warm in his
praises. He says, " Girolamo painted flowers with such
skill, truth, and beauty, that they appeared like nature
itself; and he imitated small cameos and other engraved
stones and jewels in such a manner that it was impos
sible to make them more like, or more minute ; and
among the figures which he made on cameos and facti
tious stones, may be seen some which are not larger
than a small ant, yet all their limbs and muscles are
seen distinctly." Girolamo illuminated many books
for religious societies, and especially for the rich monas
tery of the Canons Regular of S. Salvatore, at Can-
diani, where he went to work in person, which he would
not do at any other place ; whilst at this monastery he
taught the first principles of the art to Don Giulio
Clovio, who was afterwards reputed to be the best
miniature painter of his time.1 Lanzi calls him the prince
of miniature painters. Great part of his works were
painted for sovereigns and princes, in whose libraries
they may be seen, executed with such surprising truth

i Vasari, Vita di Fra Giocondo ed Altri, vol. iii

chap, ii.] MINIATURE PAINTING. xxxv
and liveliness, that they appear rather to be reflections
in a camera obscura than works of art. Some idea of
the labour of executing these minute pictures may be
formed from the fact, that one work alone, which he
illustrated for Cardinal Farnese, with twenty-six sub
jects, occupied him during nine years. His works are
very scarce, but some may be found in the libraries of
private individuals. The Sloane Library contains a
MS. illuminated by Don Giulio Clovio.
Among the miniature painters of the order of St.
Dominic was P. Alessandro della Spina, who flourished
during the fourteenth century. Padre Alessandro
deserves the gratitude of posterity, and of all miniature
» painters especially; for to him we are indebted for
making known the invention and use of spectacles.
Indeed P. Marchese attributes the invention l of spec
tacles to Padre Alessandro, but the memorial of him
in the Chronicle of St. Katherine, at Pisa, proves that
he had seen spectacles made by one who would not
communicate the secret, before he made them himself,
and that with a cheerful and willing heart he com
municated all he knew. The notice in the Chronicle
runs thus : —
" Fra Alexander de Spina vir modestus et bonus,
quae vidit oculis facta scivit et facere. Ocularia ab alio
primo facta comunicare nolente, ipse fecit, et omnibus
comunicavit corde hilari et volente. Cantare, scribere,
miniare, et omnia scivit quae manus mechanicae valent." 2
Another monk and miniature painter of the same
order, Fra Benedetto, usually called " Bettuccio,"
deserves remembrance for his brave defence of Giro-
1 " Spectacles had been known at Haarlem since the beginning of the
14th century, and a monument in the church of Sta. Maria Maggiore, at
Florence, alludes to Salvino degli Armati, who died in 1317, as their in
ventor (inventore degli occhiali). Some accurate notices of the use of spec
tacles by old men appear to have been made in 1299 and 1305." Hum
boldt's Kosmos, vol. ii. p. 497. — Is it possible that Padre Marchese can have
overlooked the monument alluded to by the accurate and scientific Hum
boldt? 2 MemoTie de' Pittori, &c. Domenicani, vol. i. p. 177.
C 2

xxxvi INTRODUCTION. [chap, ii,
lamo Savonarola, when the latter was torn from the
shelter of his convent of S. Marco, at Florence, to
meet a cruel and painful death. Fra Pacifico Burla-
macchi, in his Life of Savonarola, relates that " Fra
Benedetto armed himself from head to foot, and joined
the party of the Piagnoni,1 to defend a life so dear to
him ; but Savonarola seeing him, desired him to lay
down his arms, adding that the professors of religion
should use spiritual weapons only. When Benedetto
saw them carrying away his beloved master to prison,
he entreated to be allowed to follow him. Then Savo
narola, turning round to him, said, ' Brother Bene
detto, I command you by your vow of obedience not to
follow me, because Brother Domenico and I must die
for the love of Christ.' At this instant he was torn
from the sight of his sons, who all wept for him. And
it was then the ninth hour of the night." 2
Fra Eustachio, another Dominican monk, was, per
haps, one of the greatest miniature painters that Italy
has produced.3 His merits, passed over by historians,
and especially by Vasari, whom gratitude should have
prompted to remember him, are recorded by his own
order. Padre Timoteo Bottonio,4 a contemporary of
Fra Eustachio, relates that when Vasari was writing the
first edition of his Lives of the Painters, he used to
come frequently to converse with this old man, who re
lated to him many interesting facts concerning the early
and illustrious artists. A Psalter, exquisitely painted by
him, still exists in the Convent of S. Marco, at Florence.
He has been styled the Porta of miniature painting.
The French miniature painters were undoubtedly
numerous, but a Vasari is still wanting to record their
merits. The beautiful choral book, painted by Daniel
d' Aubonne, in 162 1 , must not be forgotten. This volume

1 The partisans of Savonarola.
2 See Marchese, Memorie, &c, vol. i. p. 199. 3 ij,,,^ „ 202-207
4 Annale MSS., vol. ii. p. 303, ann. 1555. ' "

chap, ii.] MINIATURE PAINTING. xxxvil
is preserved in the public library at Rouen ; it is of very
large size, and the writing and illuminations are exqui
sitely beautiful. Daniel was thirty years in completing it.
Missals and livres d'heures of great beauty are so
common in all rich libraries, that it is unnecessary to
particularise any in the present work.
As a private collection, perhaps there is no single
volume of greater beauty or value than that belonging
to Mr. Rogers the poet, whose elegant and correct taste
is well known. The volume, formed at great expense,
consists of miniatures from different works and dif
ferent countries ; and it is scarcely possible to see more
exquisite specimens of the art.
The manner in which these works were executed
may be collected from the following Treatises: it is
sufficient to observe that the colours were prepared with
the greatest care, and that the vehicle was egg, gum, or
glue. D' Agincourt, however, mentions some minia
tures, the colours of which were insoluble in water;
and Dr. Dibdin,1 in describing the illuminations of a
MS. of the Codex Justinianus of the fourteenth cen
tury, states that on close examination the colours appear
to have been mixed up with a glossy material not unlike
oil. These instances appear to have been exceptions to
the general character of miniatures, the surface of which
usually does not shine. It will be observed that the shades
in miniatures were not generally painted with trans
parent colours, but that white was mixed with them.
The parchment or paper on which these MSS. were
written was usually left white ; but a purple colour was
sometimes communicated to it, by tinging it with a
decoction of oricello.2 When the tint was dry, the
letters were written on it with gold or silver. Several
MSS. of this kind are preserved in the Bibliotheque
Royale at Paris.
i Northern Tour, p. 603. 2 See Bol. MS., p. 474.

xxxviii INTRODUCTION.

[CHAP.

CHAPTER III.
MOSAICS AND TARSIA WORK.
In enumerating the arts of the middle ages, we must
not omit to mention the beautiful art of working in
mosaic, the most durable of all the methods of painting
now in existence. Domenico Ghirlandaio used to say
that it was the only painting for eternity.1 Vasari also
has a similar remark; he says, with regard to the
durability of all works composed of colours, there are
none which resist the action of the winds and waters
like mosaics.2
The art of working in mosaic was known to the
ancients. It was practised by the Byzantine Greeks,.
and appears never to have been entirely lost in Italy.
Specimens of this art may still be seen at Rome and
at Ravenna, which date from the fourth and fifth cen
turies. There were various kinds of mosaics.3 Those in
tended for the decoration of vaulted ceilings and other
elevated parts of buildings, consisted of cubes of coloured
glass, the older specimens being generally inlaid either
on a white ground, as in the Romano-Christian school,4
or on a gold ground, as in the early Christian mosaics
of the Byzantine school. The mosaics in the church of
SS. Cosmo and Damiano in the Forum at Rome
were the work of Roman artists, while the old mosaics

1 Vasari, Life of Domenico Ghirlandaio.
2 Life of Gherardo.
s For an account of the different kinds of mosaic, and of the "process.
employed at Rome, sec Transactions of the Society of Arts Part I New
Series, 1847. ''
* Rio, de la Podsie Chre'tienne, p. 41.

chap, in.] MOSAIC PAINTING. xxxix
in the Apsis l of the Basilica of S. Ambrogio, at Milan,
which are said to be not later than the ninth century ;
those in S. Lorenzo, also in Milan ; those in the Duomo
of Torcello, reputed to be of the tenth century ; and
some of the ancient mosaics in the church of S. Marco,
at Venice, which are of the eleventh century, are re
presented to be the work of Byzantine artists. Some of
the mosaics in the last-mentioned edifice are stated to
have been actually brought from the East.
It appears that there were in Italy two principal
schools of mosaic painting, established as early as the
eleventh century. One of these was formed by the
Greek artists employed on the church of S. Mark, at
Venice, from which the Florentine school afterwards
sprung ; the other subsisted in Rome, from an early
period until the thirteenth century.2 Both schools have
been praised by different authors as superior to all
others ; Vasari gives the preference to that of Venice,
while Lanzi considers that the Roman artists excelled
the Venetians. The Venetian school undoubtedly
originated in the decoration of the church of S. Mark,
which afforded for several centuries constant occupation
to the musaicisti. This church, observes Lanzi, was and
is an incomparable museum, in which, commencing
from the eleventh century, may be traced, in the mosaics
begun by the Greeks and continued by the Italians, the
gradual progress of design of every period until the
present day.
The earliest artists were undoubtedly Greeks, and
the work appears to have been continued by Greek
artists and their disciples until about 1250. From that
time until 1350, Zanetti states3 that he was unable to
find any records of the progress of the work ; but at the
"» The Apsis was also called the Tribune. It was the semicircular recess
at the east end ofthe church. 2 Lanzi, vol. i. p. 6 n.
3 Notizie de' Musaici della Chiesa Ducale di S. Marco— Zanetti, della
Pittura Vencziana, p1. 561.

xl INTRODUCTION. [CHAP- m'
last date the doge Andrea Dandolo caused the chapel
of the Baptistery to be covered with mosaics. The
fourteenth and fifteenth centuries produced many artists,
the best of whom was Michele Zamboni, who was the
first to abandon the ancient manner, and to improve
his design, by studying the works of the best painters
of his time. Many of the ancient mosaics having
perished, they were replaced by Zamboni, according to
the old design. The sixteenth century was the golden
age of mosaic painting at Venice. Among the great
names of the period may be , enumerated Vincente
Bianchini, more remarkable for his talents than his in
tegrity, and his brother Domenico, called II Rosso or
Rosetto; Alberto Zio, the priest; Marco Luciano
Rizzo ; the celebrated Francesco Zuccato, the friend of
Titian, who received his first instructions in painting
from the father of Zuccato ; Valerio Zuccato, the brother
of Francesco ; and Giovanni Visentin.
The distinctions enjoyed by the brothers Zuccati
excited the envy of the other artists, and when the
former had completed the pictures from the Apocalypse,
the quarrels among the rival painters ran so high, that
they reached the ears of the Procuratore Cassiere. A
process was instituted to discover the truth. The Zuc
cati were accused, among other things, of having added
to the effect of their mosaics by painting on certain
parts, and of having joined the squares badly ; Valerio
especially was accused of not knowing his business.
Among the most violent of the accusers was Bartoloni-
meo Bozzo, a former pupil of the Zuccati, who pointed
out some small campanili, and also some clouds in the
mosaic of the Apocalypse, which were executed with the
pencil, and not with coloured glass and stones, as they
ought to have been, according to the rules of the Pro
curator!. The Bianchini supported the accusation of
Bozzo, and an accidental circumstance gave additional
weight to the charge against the Zuccati. A mistake

chap, m,] MOSAIC PAINTING. xli
having been discovered by the latter in the word saxibus,
which formed part of the inscription, they had corrected
the error by affixing to it a small piece of painted paper ;
and when the mosaic was washed to ascertain whether
it had been painted or not, the piece of paper was sepa
rated, and the Procuratore believed accordingly that some
deception had been used. He therefore caused several
persons employed in the church to inquire into the
affair, and finally he summoned a council of the greatest
painters of that time, among whom were Titian, Paolo
Veronese, Tintoretto, and Andrea Schiavone, who de
cided that it could not be denied "that the pencil had
been used in some parts, but that when these touches had
been removed with a sponge and sand, the mosaics were not
injured by it, but were even considered to be improved."
Every one praised the design, and the skill of the artists,
and Titian, especially, defended his friends the Zuccati
with great warmth, saying that the cartoons ought to be
examined, to see whether the campanili which had been
painted were in them as well as in the mosaics ; thinking
that the degree of blame attached to these masters
depended upon this circumstance. It is doubtful who
made the cartoons; Valerio asserted that they were
made by " Messer Tiziano," and that they did not con
tain the campanili, and said that if it were necessary he
would produce them with the outlines pricked, as they
were. Titian, however, did not acknowledge that these
cartoons were his work, although he owned having made
others for the Zuccati. The trial concluded by the
Zuccati being adjudged to execute again, at their own
expense, the parts on which the pencil had been em
ployed; but this decree was never executed, and the
painted parts, particularly the small campanili, remain
to this day.1
The dispute concerning the execution of this mosaic
i Zanetti, p. 576.

xlii INTRODUCTION. tCHAP- IH*
by the Zuccati led to the examination of the other
pictures, which had been the work of their rivals; and
it was finally concluded unanimously, that the two Bian
chini and Bozzo were the best workers in mosaic, but
that Francesco Zuccato excelled them all in the know
ledge of the art, and next to him in skill was Vincente
Bianchini. The designs for the mosaics executed about this
period were by the most celebrated painters, Titian,
Tintoretto, Salviati, Sansovino, Domenico Tintoretto,
Maff'eo Verona, and others; and many of the mu-
saicisti were so little acquainted with the principles of
art, that the painters who made the designs were obliged
to colour as well as draw them, and they were then
servilely copied by the musaicisti. The Procuratori
being satisfied by the representations of the professors
of the bad consequences likely to ensue from the ig
norance of the musaicisti, new regulations were made,
the number of masters employed in St. Mark's
was reduced, and every one was required, before his
election, to give a proof of his skill. In order to de
termine the respective merits of the rival artists, a design
representing S. Jerome was made, and Francesco Zuc
cato, the two Bianchini, and Bozzo were required to
copy it in mosaic. Sansovino, Titian, and Paolo Vero
nese were the judges, and it was agreed unanimously
that Zuccato's picture was the best, Gian Antonio
Bianchini's was next, then that of Bozzo, and Domenico
Bianchini's was the last, although it was considered the
most faithful copy ofthe design.
Among the later Venetian artists may be enumerated
Gio. Antonio Marini, Lorenzo Ceccato, Luigi Gaetano,
Jacopo Pasterini, and Francesco Turessio ; these worked
from the designs of Palma Giovane, of Maffeo Verona
of Leandro Bassano, Aliense, Padovanino, and others.
The artistsof the seventeenth century were less celebrated
and their works in mosaic executed in the style of that

chap, m.] MOSAIC PAINTING. xliii
period were employed as decorations on new walls only ;
according to Zanetti,1 it was decreed in the year 1610,
that no ancient mosaic should be removed, although the
work might be Greek, and the style bad; but that
where the danger of ruin was imminent, the design
should be copied, and the picture restored exactly as it
was at first By this means a complete series of monu
ments, unique in their kind, not only in Italy, but in
all the world, has been preserved to posterity.
In the middle of the thirteenth century the fame of
the Greek artists, who were still employed on the
mosaic decorations of St. Mark's, was spread far and
wide ; it reached to Florence, where Andrea Tafi then
practised the art of painting. Andrea, ambitious of
transmitting his name to posterity, and having greater
confidence in the durability of the materials than in his
own talents, prudently determined to adopt the art of
mosaic painting ; but as the technical part of this art
was unknown in the north of Italy, he found it necessary
to go to Venice. While residing in this city, he gained
the good will of a Greek painter named Apollonio so
entirely, that he was persuaded not only to teach him
the art, but to accompany him to Florence, where, in
the middle of the thirteenth century, he executed, in
conjunction with Andrea Tafi, some mosaics in the
Tribune of the old church of S. Giovanni.2 Vasari 3
says that this work was entirely in the Greek manner,
that the design was rude and without skill, but that the
mechanical part was well executed, the pieces extremely
well joined, and the surface even.4 He adds, that the
latter part of the work is much better, or to speak more
correctly, not so bad as the portions first completed.
After this, Andrea executed in mosaic, without the
assistance of Apollonio, a figure of Christ 14 feet high,
1 Delia Pittura Veneziana, p. 570 n.
2 Now the Basilica of S. Giovanni Battista — the Battistero.
3 Vita di Andrea Tafi. 4 See also Morrona, Pisa Illustrata, vol. i. p. 254.

xliv INTRODUCTION. [chap. iii.
a work which, Vasari says, spread his fame throughout
Italy. "Andreawasreally," observes this author, "very
happy in living at a time when works of so little merit
were so much esteemed." It may be added, that he
was fortunate in forming so correct an estimate of his
own powers, as to prefer being the head of a new school
of painting in the north of Italy, to remaining in the
obscurity to which his want of skill in design appeared
to consign him. Andrea died in 1294, and his merits
were recorded in an epitaph preserved by Vasari —
" Qui giace Andrea, ch' opre leggiadre, e belle
Fece in tutta Toscana, ed ora e ito
A far vago lo Regno delle stelle."
Contemporary with Andrea was Jacopo da Turrita,1
or, as he was called in Siena, Maestro Mino,2 a Fran
ciscan friar, to whose merits Lanzi says that Vasari did
not do justice. Perhaps the latter judged from the
specimens of the works of Jacopo at Florence, which
were by no means equal to those conducted by him in
Sta. Maria Maggiore at Rome. Some writers have
believed that Fra Mino and Tafi both worked in
mosaic in the Tribune of the Duomo of Pisa, but
Prof. Ciampi has shown that this mosaic was not begun
until 1301, at which time Fra Mino and Tafi were
no longer living. The mosaic at Pisa, the subject of
which was a Maesta, was commenced by one Maestro
Francesco,3 assisted by his son Vittorio, Lapo of
Florence, Michele, Duccio, Tura, Turetto, Dato,
Tano, and others. Francesco either died or aban
doned the work the same year, and was succeeded as .
Capo Maestro by Cimabue,4 under whom worked
Bardo, Ganaccio, Upechino, and Turetto. The
S. Giovanni, on the left hand of the Saviour in the

l Vasari, Vita di Andrea Tafi. Baldinucci, Vite.
2 Morrona, Pisa Illust., vol. i. p. 247.
3 Ciampi, Notizie, &c, p. 144, and Docum. xxv. * Ibid. Doc

chap, in.] MOSAIC PAINTING. xlv
same design, is said to be the work of Cimabue, who
however left it incomplete ; and it was, together with
the figure of the Saviour, finished by Vicino, the pupil
of Gaddo Gaddi, in 1321. As this is the only work in
mosaic ascribed to Cimabue, it has been supposed by
some persons that he merely executed the design.
The repeated payments, however, to him, on account
of this work,1 in the books of the Duomo, seem to
warrant the belief that he actually worked on the
mosaic. Giotto also exercised his talents in mosaic
painting, and the celebrated mosaic called the " Nave
di Giotto," which was executed for the ancient basilica
of St. Peter at Rome, attests his eminence in this
branch of the art.3 This work, observes D' Agincourt,
" by its ingenious and picturesque composition, as well
as by a more correct design, fixes the epoch of the
revival of this kind of painting." Kugler says 3 that
the mosaic has so frequently changed its place, and thus
undergone so many restorations, that the composition
only can now be considered as belonging to Giotto.
Gaddo Gaddi was the father of Taddeo Gaddi,4 and
the grandfather of Agnolo, the master of Cennino
Cennini.5 He was the friend of Cimabue and of
Andrea Tafi; from the example of the former he
learned to improve his style of design, and from the
latter he acquired the art of working in mosaic. As
he united the mechanical skill of Andrea to a better
taste in design, it will readily be supposed that his
works were in much request. He executed, in the
semicircle over the principal door in Sta. Maria del
Fiore in Florence, the mosaic representing the Corona
tion of the Virgin, which, on the authority of Vasari,
1 Ciampi, Notizie, &c, Doc. xxvi. ; Morrona, Pisa Illust., vol. i. p.
249 n. ; and see Kugler, Handbook of Painting in Italy, p. 32.
2 Vasari, Int., cap. xxix.
a Handbook of Painting, Italian School, p. 51.
* Vasari, Vite di Gaddo, Taddeo, e Agnolo Gaddi.
5 Cennino Cennini, Trattato.

xlvi INTRODUCTION. [chap. hi.
was considered by all masters, foreign as well as native,
as the finest work of the kind which had ever been seen
in Italy. He afterwards worked at Rome and at Pisa,
and died in 1312.
The secret of working in mosaic was inherited by
Agnolo, the son of Taddeo,1 who in 1346 repaired some
of the mosaics executed by Andrea Tafi in the roof of
S. Giovanni at Florence. He fixed the cubes of glass
so firmly into the ground, with a stucco composed of
mastic2 and wax melted together, that neither the roof
nor the vaulting had received any injury from water .
from the period of its completion until the time of
Vasari. From Agnolo Gaddi the secrets of the art
were transmitted to Cennino Cennini, who, in his
Treatise on Painting, left them as an heir-loom to
posterity. That Cennini actually treated on mosaics in
his work, is related by Vasari ;3 but as this subject is not
mentioned in the MS. published by Tambroni, it was
considered that Vasari was mistaken, and that he had
spoken of the MS. without having read it. Subsequent
researches,4 however, have proved that he was right.
Besides the MS. in the Laurenziana, the Riccardiatia >
Library (at Florence) contains a more perfect copy
made in the sixteenth century, probably soon after the
year 1500, which contains many things omitted in the
Vatican MS., among which may be mentioned the arts
of working in glass and in mosaic.
It is gratifying to learn that a second edition of this
highly interesting work will probably be published at
Florence, which will contain the new passages in the
MS. of the Riccardiana, and which will be collated
with both the Florentine MSS. It has been con
jectured from the last words of the MS. of Cennini in

' Vasari, Vita di Agnolo Gaddi ; Bald., Vitadi Agnolo Gaddi.
2 Bald., Vita di Agnolo Gaddi. Vasari says " mastrice," which signifies
cement or glue.
3 Vita di Agnolo Gaddi. * Antologia — Firenze 1821

chap, m.] MOSAIC PAINTING. xlvii
the Vatican, " Finito libro referamus gratia Christi
1437 a di 31 di luglio. Ex stincarum f.,"1 that
Cennini was an inmate of the debtors' prison at
Florence called "Le Stinche," and our sympathies
were excited on behalf of the patient and religious old
man, who at an age approaching to eighty could so
abstract his mind from the adversity into which he had
fallen, as to compose his Treatise on Painting during
his confinement in a prison, and to allow no expressions
of regret or discontent to escape from his pen. The
researches, however, of Signor Benci of Florence
prove that the name of Cennini does not occur in the
•books belonging to the prison of the Stinche in the
year 1437, or in some of the later years of the four
teenth century. The addition of the above-mentioned
words has been accounted for 2 by the fact that it was
the custom to employ the prisoners for debt in copying
MSS. ; and it was conjectured that these words, so
expressive of the distaste we may suppose a person
indifferent to the art to have felt on the completion of,
to him, so irksome a task, were added by the unfor
tunate prisoner who copied the MS. afterwards placed
in the Vatican. If then the date 1437 be that of the
copy, the original MS. must be older, and perhaps may
be actually a work of the fourteenth century.
Many, if not all, of the early Florentine painters
practised this branch of the art.3 It is said 4 that
Alesso Baldovinetto spared no pains to discover the
best method of working in mosaic, and that he would
never have succeeded in this pursuit, if he had not
1 These words are wanting in the Riccardiana MS. See Antologia —
Firenze, 1821.
2 Edinburgh Review, 1847, p. 193.
3 Prof. Ciampi (Notizie, &c, p. 92) says the Musaicisti called themselves
painters, and he quotes the inscription on the mosaic by Torriti (or Turrita)
in the church of S. Giovanni Laterani at Rome :— " Jacobus Torriti pictor
hoc opus mosayeen fecit."
* Vasari, Vita di Alesso Baldovinetto.

xlviii m INTRODUCTION. [chap. hi.
accidentally met with a German who was travelling
through Florence on his way to Rome. Alesso gave
this man a lodging, and learned from him the whole
process, so that he was enabled to set to work with
confidence, and to execute some figures in mosaic in
the church of S. Giovanni. This work so increased his
reputation that he was employed in cleaning the whole
roof of the edifice, which had been covered with mosaics
by Andrea Tafi, and was then in want of repair. He
completed this work also to the satisfaction of his
employers. Alesso lived to be eighty years old, and
then feeling the infirmities of age stealing over him, he
sought a retreat for his declining years in the Hospital
of S. Paul. It is related that in order to ensure for
himself a better reception, he took with him to his
apartments in the hospital a large chest which was
thought to contain money, and in this belief the officers
of the hospital treated him with the greatest respect
and attention. But their disappointment may be
imagined when, on opening the chest, after the decease
of the aged artist, they found nothing but drawings on
paper, and a small book which taught the art of mak
ing the mosaics (pietre del musaico), the stucco, and
the method of working. At the present time we should
have considered this little book a greater treasure than
the money which was so much desired. The remarks
of Vasari on this occurrence are highly honourable to
the venerable old man ; he says, " It was no wonder
that they did not find money, for Alesso was so boun
tiful, that everything he possessed was as much at the
service of his friends as if it had been their own."
Alesso taught the art of working in mosaic to Do
menico Ghirlandaio, who executed, in conjunction with
Gherardo, some mosaics in the Duomo of Florence.1
The only artists of the early Roman school whose

' Vasari, Vite di Alesso Baldovinetto e Domenico Ghirlandaio.

chap, in.] MOSAIC PAINTING. xlix
names have "descended to posterity are the family of
Cosmati.1 Adeodati di Cosmo Cosmati worked in
Sta. Maria Maggiore in 1290, two years after the
arrival of Giotto in Rome, and probably about the time
that he was employed upon the " Navicella." Jacopo
and Giovanni Cosmati also worked in mosaic about
1299 in Rome, and in the Duomo of Orvieto. It is
said that these artists were all superior to the Greeks
employed in S. Mark's at Venice. It is certain, how
ever, that much encouragement was given at Rome to
artists from other parts of Italy, and especially to many
Florentines. This city was in fact the general ren
dezvous of all who were distinguished for more than
ordinary skill in the arts, as the place where they might
not only improve themselves in their profession by the
contemplation and study of works of art, but where
their talents might meet with encouragement and
reward. The art of working in mosaic was brought to
perfection in this city. It became in time the rival of
painting, not only by the artful combination of various
coloured stones cemented together, but by means of a
composition, by which it was possible to produce every
colour, to emulate every half tint, to represent every
gradation, every touch, as perfectly as with the pencil.2
As the building of S. Mark's at Venice called forth all
the talent of the artists of that period, so the construc
tion and decoration of S. Peter's at Rome occasioned
employment to Roman artists. Natural causes con
curred in promoting the cultivation of mosaic painting
at Rome, for the humidity of S. Peter's was found
inimical to paintings in oil, and it was considered
advisable, even in the time of Urban VIIL,3 to sub
stitute mosaics in the place of paintings in oil.
The Roman school in mosaics produced Muziani,
i Lanzi, vol. i, p. 6 n. ; Ciampi, Notizie, &c, p. 46.
2 Lanzi, vol. ii. p. 230. 3 Ibid,
VOL. I. d

1 INTRODUCTION. CCHAP- nL
Paolo Rossetti, Marcello Provenzale, Gio. Batt.
Calandra, a native of Vercelli, by whose discoveries the
mechanical part of the art was greatly improved, and
the family of Fabio, who copied in mosaic some of the
works of Guercino, Domenichino, and Carlo Maratta. ,
The earliest document known which gives an account
of any of the processes of mosaic painting, is the Lucca
MS. ; but this merely contains some recipes for colour
ing the glass of which the work was composed. These
recipes are repeated in the Mappse Clavicula. The
Bolognese MS. contains directions for making coloured
glass, and " Materia Musica ;" and the subject is alluded
to by Theophilus. The recipes for coloured glass in
the MS. of Eraclius may also relate to mosaics.
Neither of these authorities, however, describe the
stucco in which the mosaic was embedded, nor do they
speak of any cement for fastening the pieces of glass
together. The omission has, however, been supplied
by Vasari,1 who has mentioned the materials employed
for this purpose.
According to this author the stucco, which would
remain in a state fit for working for a period of from
two to four days according to the weather, was com
posed of lime, pounded brick, gum tragacanth, and
white of egg, and it was kept moist by laying wet cloths
upon' it. In the Life of Agnolo Gaddi, Vasari mentions
that the mosaics of Andrea Tafi in S. Giovanni in
Florence, having been injured by the penetration of
damp, were repaired by Agnolo, who employed stucco
made of mastrice (or mastic according to Baldinucci)
and wax, and this composition effectually answered the
purpose of excluding the damp. From the same
account it also appears that the squares were deeply
embedded in the stucco and firmly cemented together.
The repairing of these mosaics also gave the artists
employed on the work an opportunity of observing that
1 Intr., cap. xxix.

chap, hi.] MOSAIC PAINTING. li
the design had been marked out on the stucco with red
outlines, and that it had been entirely worked on the
stucco. Prof. Branchi of Pisa thus describes the ground
in which the before-mentioned mosaics in the Tribune of
the Duomo of that city were embedded : — " The cement
or bed of the beautiful mosaic of the Tribune of the
Duomo of Pisa consists of two thick strata one upon
the other. The lower stratum, which is white, tasteless,
of a texture apparently homogeneous, soluble in acids,
with liberation of carbonic acid, consisted undoubtedly
of a mixture of slaked lime and marble dust. Having
tested the weight of 2 denari (grammi 2*358) with
acetic acid, there remained only silica and yellow oxide
of iron, weighing 1| gr. (grammi 0085). The superior
stratum in which the parallelopipeds of coloured glass
were embedded, consisted of a yellowish mixture some
what hard, which acquired on lighted charcoal a colour
¦that was first grey and then blackish. The same acetic
acid, to the action of which I exposed an equal quantity
of this layer as of the lower, dissolved the lime with
slight ebullition, and left 12£ gr. (grammi 0*613) of a
substance of a dark-yellow colour, which I found was
composed of linseed oil dried, and a small portion of
turpentine, and of other resinous matter. The cement
of the mosaics of the cloisters of the Basilica of S. Paolo
without the walls at Rome was composed of slaked
lime and brickdust more or less finely pulverized. It
was of a flesh colour, unalterable by fire or by exposure
to the sea wind, and of a taste slightly saline. By
means of an analysis, sufficiently accurate for the pur
pose, I found in the same quantity, namely 2 denari,
that its constituents were nearly as follows : —
Denari. Grains. Grammi.
Carbonate of lime . . . . 1 3^ (1-350
Pulverized bricks deprived by acetic acid of their cal
careous parts . . . . . 0 1 1§ (0-572
Muriate of soda, earthy muriates, and a little calca
reous sulphate  0 8§ (0*433
d2

Iii INTRODUCTION. £CHAP- Iir'
By these results I have learned, that the grounds of the
mosaics were not always prepared in the same manner.
Chambers1 informs us, that "the composition adapted
to retain the different pieces of glass, consisted of lime,
and powder of fine bricks, with gum tragacanth and
white of egg. From the Encyclopedie we learn, that
anciently the cement of the mosaics was composed of
white of egg and water, three parts of pulverized bricks,
and one part of slaked lime, but that the materials
generally employed, and which were preferable to the
preceding, were slaked lime, pulverized marble, and
linseed oil. As this last composition does not differ
essentially from that which formed the superior layer
of the Pisan mosaics, it is evident that it was known to
the most eminent workers in mosaic of the thirteenth
century." With regard to the oil and turpentine or other resin
of which Prof. Branchi found traces in the upper
stratum of the ground, I may add that notices have been
found by Prof. Ciampi, in the records of the Duomo of
Pisa for the year 1303, of payments for oil and tur
pentine which belong to the mosaics of the Duomo.2
i Diet., Art. Mosaics, in which he mentions those of Pisa. [Note by
Branchi.] Chambers probably learned this from Vasari (Intr., cap. xxix,),
who adds travertine to the other ingredients.
2 " Docum 26  Johannes Orlandi coram me Ugolino notario
recepit a D. Burgundio operario pro pretio librarum 76 olei linseminis ab
eo, et operato  ad operam Magiestatis* que fit in Majori Ecclesia,
lib. iii. Sol. xviiii  Johannes Orlandi sua sponte dixit se habuisse a
A. Operario libras duas den. pis. pro pretio libre viginti novem trementine
operate ad operam Magiestatis." Da lib. di am. dell' an. 1301 st. pis. dell'
opera del Duomo di Pisa.
" Libras quinquaginta quatuor et solidos decern et octo den. pisanorum
minutorum pro pretio centinarum quatuor olei linseminis ad operam Ma-
* By a "Majesty" or "Maesta," is meant a representation ofthe Virgin or
Saviour enthroned. See Mr. Eastlake's ' Materials,' &c., p. j 70, n In the pre
sent case the maesta. consists of the gigantic figure of the Saviour seated on a
throne, and holding in his hand a book, on which are inscribed the words " Ego
sum Lux Mundi." On one side is the Virgin, and on the other St John ¦ these
figures also are gigantic, and the effect is said to be most grand 'and ^M,™
Morrona, Pisa Illust., vol. i. p. 247, 249, u. Murray's Guide to North Italy

chap, hi.] MOSAIC PAINTING. liii
It will be observed that wax does not occur in these
documents, neither does it appear that it was found by
Prof. Branchi in his analysis of the ground. From this
it may be inferred, that it was not used generally, but
was employed by Agnolo Gaddi merely as a hydrofuge.
Prof. Branchi analysed also some of the glass or
enamel of which the coloured cubes were composed, for
the purpose of ascertaining the metals with which they
were coloured. On this subject he has the following
observations : —
"The art of composing the glass and enamels of
various colours, by uniting them with glass liquefied by
metallic oxides, is at the present time more extensively
"and perfectly conducted than it was among the ancients.
Some chemists assert that the use of the oxide of cobalt
in colouring glass blue was known to the ancient Egyp
tians,1 but this opinion, as far as I am aware, has never
been confirmed by experience. In the observations of
the Cav. Rossi, on the vase preserved at Genoa under
the name of the 'Sacro Catino,'2 &c. (Torino, 1807),
inserted in the fifth number of the Giornale della
Societa d'lncoraggiamento delle Scienze e dell' Arte
giestatis, et aliarum figurarum que fiunt in Majori Ecclesia, ad rationem
denariorum xxviii. pro qualibet libra  Upechinus pictor pro libris
quadraginta tribus vernicis emptis ab eo ad operum Magiestatis." See also
Morrona, Pisa Illustr., vol. i. pp. 249, 250, 256.
1 M. de Brongniart (Traite des Arts Cdramiques, p. 563) says, that
having analysed some of the Egyptian blue glass, he found it to contain
silica, alkali, cobalt, and a small quantity of lime. He also says that the
Egyptian figurines are coloured blue with copper, and not with cobalt.
2 This was a vessel for a long time supposed to have been formed of a
single emerald. There is little doubt, however, that it is composed of glass.
As a work of art its value will scarcely be diminished on this account ; since
it affords evidence of the perfection to which the art of making and colour
ing glass was brought at a very early period ; for this vessel formed part of
the spoils won at the taking of Csesarea in 1101. The author of the Hand
book for North Italy observes (p. 106), "The extraordinary perfection of
the material, as well as the workmanship, must always cause it to be consi
dered as a very remarkable monument, and of remote antiquity. The colour
is beautiful, the transparency perfect, but a few air-bubbles sufficiently dis
close the substance of which it is made."

llv INTHODUCTION. £CHAP* in*
stabilita in Milano,' the following passage occurs :—
' Sig. Millin infers from the blue glass, that cobalt. was
known to the ancients ; but this was unnecessary, says
the author, because the oxide of copper, which naturally
takes a blue colour, was sufficient for this purpose.' I
have not been able to analyse the blue glass of the two
works in mosaic above mentioned, because too small
a quantity was sent me, and because my own private
occupations did not permit me to devote as much time
to these experiments as was necessary. I observed,
however, that in the Roman mosaic and in the frag
ments of the Pisan l seen by refracted light, the charac
teristics pointed out by Bergman which distinguish
glass coloured with cobalt were entirely wanting. I
observed also that the last-mentioned glass preserved,
as it should do, its own colour after being pulverized and
fused by the combined action of fire and of a small
quantity of carbonate of soda ;2 whilst that from Rome
passed to an amethystine- colour, which the Pisan glass
also acquired, although in a less degree, having been
both pulverized, mixed with carbonate of soda, and
exposed to the same degree of heat. Having treated
in the same manner the other enamels of various
colours and more or less opaque of the mosaic of Pisa,
I saw that the red passed to a blue colour ; that the
purple was changed to an amethystine colour, and that
the black became a transparent yellow glass, on the
surface of which was an alkaline stratum of a bluish

1 The blue glass of the mosaic of S. Paolo is transparent ; that of the
mosaic of Pisa is opaque, and of much greater thickness. [NoteJay Branchi.]
2 Sig. Clovet remarks on this subject, " The blue obtained from an oxide
of cobalt is the most permanent of all colours , it is equally fine at a low or
at a great heat." — Annales du Chimie, Paris, tome xxxiv. p. 222. And in
tome ii. p. 434, ofthe Dictionnaire Portatile des Arts et des Metiers, Paris,
1776, is found the following passage :— " The most permanent colours are,
the blue from cobalt, which resists without changing the greatest heat of the
fire ; then the purple from gold, certain reds prepared from iron, &c."—
[Note by Branchi.]

chap, in.] . MOSAIC PAINTING. Iv
green. Having repeated these last experiments, I
obtained from the dark green, light green, and purple
enamels, results differing from the preceding in the
gradation of colour only. From the red I afterwards
obtained a transparent glass of yellowish green colour ;
from the black, a violet or amethystine glass. These
alterations and anomalies, some of which throw light on
the nature of the blue glass of the ancients, are to be
ascribed to the greater or less degree of oxidation of
the metallic colouring matters."
It will be interesting to the practical artist to compare
the recipes for the mosaic glass and enamels in the
Bolognese MS. with these results of Prof. Branchi's
researches. In the Pisan mosaics, the red colour
appears to have been produced from copper, while in
the MS. it is produced from gold as well as from
copper. Another variation also occurs in the blue,
which in the old Pisan and Roman mosaics was pro
duced from copper, while in the Bolognese MS. it was
coloured with "azzurri ultramarini." The green of the
Pisan mosaic was produced by copper, that of the
Bolognese MS. by " crocus martis " and salgem.
The gilding of the mosaics of which the backgrounds
of the figures were composed was next examined by
Professor Branchi. On this subject he observes: —
" The gilding ofthe cubes of common glass and enamel
of these mosaics is very beautiful ; the leaf of gold is
itself defended by a vitreous varnish, which, although
not distinguishable on account of its thinness in the
Pisan mosaic, except by having a shining surface, dif
ferent from that of gold, and by the resistance it offers
to iron tools, to the action of mercury, and nitro-mu-
riatic acid, is also of such a thickness in the Roman
mosaic that even the sight of it alone is sufficient to
remove all doubt.
" Chambers,1 in speaking of the method of gilding
1 Diet., Art. Mosaics. This also is from Vasari.

lvi INTRODUCTION. [chap. hi.
glass for mosaics, does not mention this varnish.
' The pieces,' he says, ' to be gilded, are moistened
with gum-water, and the leaves of gold are applied;
they are then placed at the entrance of the furnace
until they are hot. By this means the metal remains
fixed to the glass so firmly that it cannot be detached.'
In order to varnish the gilded glass and enamels, it is
very probable that glass or crystal, easily fusible, was
reduced to an impalpable powder; that this powder
was distempered with water, or with a solution of gum,
or of borate of soda or other liquid ; that this mixture
was spread over the gilded surface, and that finally the
pieces of glass thus prepared were exposed to a degree
of heat sufficient to fuse this fine powder, which, when
fused, would form the desired varnish.1
" The gilding by fire on crystal 2 and porcelain is
much superior in beauty to that of our mosaics. The
latter, however, besides resisting the above-mentioned
reagents, appears, as it were, after the lapse of six cen
turies, without the slightest alteration, and in the same
state in which it left the hand of the artist. This ob
servation, confirmed by so many others, proves that the
old masters had the stability of their works much at
heart, and that they wished to preserve them, not only
for their own sons and grandsons, but also for posterity."
The method alluded to by Professor Branchi of mixing

1 Leon Battista Alberti recommends fixing the gold to the glass with cal
cined lead (calcinadi piombo), which he says becomes more liquid than any
kind of glass. Arch., book 6, cap. x.
- Kunckel, in the additions to the Arte Vetraria of Neri, treats at length
of gilding with greater or less permanence on glass. For gilding which
was to be fixed by fire, he recommends that the leaves of gold should be
applied with the solution of borate of soda, or the borax of commerce or
with gum and a small quantity of this salt dissolved in a proportionate quan
tity of water. By bathing that part of the crystal which is to be gilded with
a solution of nitro-muriate of gold, mixed with a sufficient quantity of sul
phuric acid, and exposing it afterwards to a sufficient degree of heat a fine
and permanent gilding is produced, according to the assertion of Struve and
Exsaquet, Giornale di Torino, torn. ii. part i. [Note by Branchi.]

chap, in.] TARSIA WORK. lvii
pulverized glass with gum- water, and spreading it over
the gold leafj and afterwards fusing the glass, appears
to have been the method followed by Theophilus : while
the process described by Count Caylus of placing the
design in gold between two plates of glass, and fixing
the surfaces together by fire, was the method which
Eraclius says was practised by the Romans, and which
he describes in Lib. I. cap. v.1
TARSIA WORK.
Another art, allied to mosaic painting, was practised
in Italy, and was called " Mosaic of wood," " Tarsia"
or " Tarsie" work, or " Tarsiatura." This consisted in
representing houses and perspective views of buildings
by inlaying pieces of wood of various colours and
shades into panels of walnut wood.
Vasari 2 says, that at first this kind of work was
executed in white and black only; but Fra Giovanni
Veronese, who practised it extensively, much improved
the art by staining the wood with various colours by
means of waters and tints boiled with penetrating oil, in
order to produce both light and shadow, with wood of
various colours, making the lights with the whitest
pieces of the spindle tree. In order to produce the
shades, it was the practice of some artists to singe the
wood by the fire ; while others used oil of sulphur and
a solution of corrosive sublimate and arsenic.
St. Audemar (No. 165) mentions that saffron was
used to stain box-wood yellow ; but he does not say to
what use the wood was put when stained.
The subjects most proper for Tarsia work are per
spective representations of buildings full of windows
and angular lines, to which force and relief are given
by means of lights and shades. Vasari speaks rather
slightingly of this art, and says that it was practised
i See pages 187, 188. 2 Int., cap. xxxi.

Iviii INTRODUCTION. £CHAP- ™*
chiefly by those persons who possessed more patience
than skill in design ; that although he had seen some
good representations of figures, fruits, and animals, yet
the work soon became dark, and was always in danger
of perishing from the worms and by fire.
Tarsia work was frequently employed in decorating
the choirs of churches, as well as the backs of the seats
and the wainscotings. It was also used in the panels
of doors. The art was cultivated to the greatest extent
in the Venetian territories, where three Olivetani monks
were particularly distinguished for their skill. The most
celebrated of these was Fra Giovanni da Verona, who
was called to Rome by Pope Julius II. to decorate the
doors and seats of the Vatican with Tarsia work, the
designs of which were made by Raffaelle. Fra Damiano
da Bergamo, a Dominican monk, attained equal cele
brity in this art. So great was his skill that Charles V.
refused to believe that the Tarsia work executed by
him in the Area of S. Domenico, at Bologna, really
consisted of pieces of wood inlaid, but he thought it
must have been the work of the pencil.1 Nor would he
be convinced of the fact until part of the stucco was
removed and a piece of the wood taken out; in re
membrance of this circumstance the work was left in
that state, and has never been repaired.
The inlaid work in wood of various kinds called
" Tunbridge ware" is a kind of mosaic, but it cannot
be compared with the Italian Tarsia work in the deli
cate gradations of colour, or the intricacy of the subject
represented. 1 Marchese, Vite de' Pittori, &c. Domenicani, vol. ii. p. 257.

chap, iv.] PAINTING ON GLASS. lix

CHAPTER IV.
GLASS.
§ 1 . Early History of Painting on Glass in Italy.
While the history of painting on glass has been studied
in France and Germany, where it has been illustrated
by the works of Le Vieil, Langlois, Thibaud, La-
steyrie, and of Fathers Martin and Cahier, its rise and
progress in Italy has been but little investigated. A
sufficient reason for this may perhaps be found in
the superiority of the glass painters of France and
Germany • over those of Italy in all the mechanical
parts of the art, as well as in the fact that all the
improvements introduced into this branch of paint
ing may be traced to the northern nations, who in
their turn are represented to have received their first
instruction from the East.2 It might be supposed
from the celebrity of the glass works at Murano, that
the Venetians would have excelled in this art, but this
has not been the case ; the art of painting on glass was
but little practised by them,3 and the glass manufac
tured at Murano was found too opaque for this pur
pose.4 Still the art was occasionally practised in Italy,
sometimes by native artists, who employed their skill
either on Venetian glass, or on glass manufactured for
the purpose by German or French artists, and some-
1 See Vasari, Int , cap. xxxii.
2 In 687 many Greek workmen went to France, for the purpose of work
ing in glass. Filiasi, Saggio sull' Antico Commercio, &c, p. 148, n.
3 The windows of churches in the Venetian territories are usually filled
with small circular panes of colourless glass, about 6 inches in diameter.
4 Vasari, Introduction, cap. xxxii.

lx INTRODUCTION. CCHAP' 1V'
times the painted glass was executed entirely by foreign
artists invited into Italy for this purpose. The designs,
however, were frequently made by the Italians, who
excelled the Germans in design and composition. The
names of but few painters on glass have descended to
posterity, and this is partly explained by the rule which
prevailed among the Flemish artists at least, of not
affixing their names to their works, or of marking them
with their monograms only. 1 The notices of the
Italian painters on glass are few and scanty, and have
never yet been published collectively. It may, there
fore, not be uninteresting to give a short account of
some of the most distinguished painters in this branch
ofthe profession.
History has not preserved the name of the artist who
executed those glass windows, considered to be the
earliest of the kind in Italy, which were painted or
stained by order of Pope Leo III. at Rome, a.d. 795 f
neither is it recorded whether they were by a Greek or
an Italian artist. That they were the work of the
latter is probable, from the existence of recipes for
coloured glass in the Lucca MS., published by Mura-
tori, which was apparently written by an Italian.
From this time until 1303 3 no certain notices of
painting on glass in Italy are found. The archives of
the House of Savoy show that at this period a sum of
money was paid to one Johanneto (Giannetto) for
painting certain windows in the Castle at Chambery.4
In the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries the art was

1 See Le Vieil, de la Peinture sur Verre, p. 33. Albert Diirer is an
exception to this rule ; he is said not only to have written his name on his
works, but to have added sometimes his portrait also.
2 Mur., Rer. Ital., torn. iii. part i. p. 196, 197.
3 At Altare, a village in the midst ofthe central range of the Ligurian
Alps, glass-works are said to have existed from time immemorial. They
are reported to have been founded by some fugitive Gauls.  Murray's Hand
book for North Italy.
* Letteradal VernazzaalP. Guglielmo della Valle. Giornale di Pisa 1794.

chap, iv.] I PAINTING ON GLASS. Ixi
much cultivated in Tuscany, especially by the Gesuati,
who worked in the Cathedrals of Florence, Arezzo, and
elsewhere. The names of a few only of these artists
have survived. The necrology of the Dominicans, in
the convent of Sta. Maria Novella in Florence, has
preserved the name of Fra Giacomo di Andrea, a
Dominican and painter on glass, who flourished during
this century. *
Fra Domenico Pollini, a native of Cagliari in Sar
dinia, lived at Pisa during the first half of the fourteenth
century. The Chronicle of the Convent of Sta. Cathe
rine of Pisa thus records his merits : " Frater Dominicus
Sardus de Pollinis Kallaritanis fuit valde gratiosus et
probus, soavissime conversationis. Cantabat bene, scri-
bebat pulcre, et fenestras vitreas operabatur optime." 2
The same Chronicle also eulogizes more copiously
Fra Michele Pina of Pisa, who is said to have been a
perfect master in painting on glass, and who painted
the large window in the church of the Dominicans at
Pistoia now destroyed, and one in the refectory of the
convent of Sta. Katherine. He died in 1340. A lay
Dominican named Andrea painted the window of the
choir in the same church of Sta. "Katherine, as appears
by his name being at the foot of it.3
The large window in the choir of the church of S.
Francesco at Pisa was painted in 1340, but the name
of the artist has not been preserved. This window was
repaired in 1585 by P. Johanne Antonio Nerucci.4
Another window in the same church was painted in
1390 by Jacopo Castelli, of Siena, as is proved by an
inscription on the glass.5 It appears from these notices
and from the records of the Duomo that a school of

1 Marchese, Vite de' Pittori, &c, Domenicani, vol. i. p. 391.
2 lb., p. 390.
3 Valtancoli, Annali Pisani, vol. i. p. 428. See Marchese, vol. ii. p. 438.
4 Ciampi, Notizie, &c, p. 116, n. Morrona, Pisalllust., vol. iii. p. 56.
5 Pisa Illust., vol. iii. p. 60.

lxii INTRODUCTION. I****- IV*
painters on glass subsisted in Pisa from the early part
of the fourteenth century until 1685, if not later.
Lunardo, M. Simone di Domenico of Florence, and
Bartolomeo da Scarperia, painted, between 1460 and
1464, the glass for the large windows which sheltered,
on the sides exposed to the north and to the marine
winds, the walls of the Campo Santo. The remains
of the iron employed in fixing the windows may
still be seen opposite the pictures of Buffalmacco and
Orgagna.' About the same time flourished at Venice one
Maestro Marco, who painted certain windows in the
church of S. Francesco at Treviso, " which were well
executed; for a certain German friar painted [the
originals of] all those works formerly in the convent
(of the Frate Minori) at Venice, and Maestro Marco
copied and sent them to Treviso." This Marco is stated
to have been living in 1335.2
In the fifteenth century the notices of painters on
glass in Italy are more numerous; among those who
flourished in the first half of this century may be named
Angioletto da Gubbio, who painted some windows in
the cathedrals of Orvieto and Siena, and the large
window in the chapel of S. Ludovico in the Basilica of
Assisi. The original designs for this window, executed
in distemper, are preserved in the collection of Conte
Francesco Ranghiasi Brancaleone in Gubbio.3
In the beginning of this century flourished a Do
minican friar named Ambruogio di Bindo, an excellent
painter on glass, whose name appears in the archives
ofthe Duomo of Siena from 1404 to 141 1.4
1 Ciampi, Notizie, &c, p. 116, n.
2 Zanetti, Nuova Raccolta delle Monete e Zecche d' Italia, vol. iv.
p. 1 51 , cited by Lanzi, vol. i. p. 1 51 , and by Mr. Eastlake, ' Materials,' &c,
p. 90, 91.
3 Memorie Storiche di Ottaviano Nelli. Da Luigi Bonfatti. Gubbio,
1843. 4 Marchese, Vitede' Pittori Domenicani, vol. ii. p. 440.

chap, iv.] PAINTING ON GLASS. " Ixiii
Fra Bartolommeo di Pietro di Vanni Accomandati
of Perugia painted a beautiful window in the church of
S. Domenico at Perugia,1 which is said to exceed in
the dimensions, in the composition, and in the beauty
of the colouring, every other painted window in Italy,
with the exception of those by Gulielmo de Marcillat
in Arezzo. On the lowest compartments of this window
there is an inscription purporting that the window was
painted by Fra Bartolommeo in 1411. It has been
doubted whether the inscription actually belonged to
the window below which it is placed, but the fact
appears to be satisfactorily proved by Marchese.2 A
contract for making a glass window in the sacristy of
the church of the Dominicans proves that Bartolommeo
was living in 1415. The dates of his birth and death
are unknown, but he was resident in his convent in
1370, and was elected superior of it in 1413.
It is much to be regretted that the annals of the
convent should have been discontinued (excepting a
few brief notices) for nearly a century, so that there
are no means of ascertaining how Fra Bartolommeo ac
quired his skill in glass-painting, or where he procured
the glass. Even twenty-five years after Bartolommeo
completed his celebrated work, the glass made in Italy
was not considered good enough for the windows of the
Duomo of Florence ; for we read that Lorenzo Ghiberti,
who delighted greatly in this kind of work, and who
had undertaken to paint some of the windows in this
cathedral, having considered how large a quantity of
glass of the finest workmanship would be required for
so great a work, and having heard of a native of Tus
cany named Francesco Dominici Livi di Gambasso,
who was then living in the city of Lubeck, and who
was considered the most eminent master of this art
then living, determined to recall him with his whole
1 Marchese, Vite de' Pittori Domenicani, vol. i. p. 393.
2 Ibid., vol. i. p. 391-402.

lxiv INTRODUCTION. [chap. iv.
family to his own country, for the benefit of which he
might exercise his profession.
This design was executed ; Livi came to Florence in
1436, and made the glass, which was all painted by
Ghiberti, with the exception of one window, which was
painted by Donatello. Baldinucci proves the truth of
these facts by an entry in the ' Libro di Deliberazione
de' Signori Operai,' b. 1436, a.c. 8,1 which he quotes in
his Life of Ghiberti, and thus disproves the assertion
of Vasari, that the glass used for this purpose was Ve
netian. In reading the history of Italian art there is nothing1
that strikes the mind more forcibly than that versatility
and universality of genius for which so many of the
medieval and cinque-cento artists were distinguished, and
by which they were enabled to attain so high a degree
of eminence in all the fine arts. At the present time,
in which division of labour is the order of the day, the
exercise of one branch of the arts is considered a suffi
cient employment for the mental powers of an artist
during his whole life. When we remember the long
period of pupilage through which the Italian artists
were accustomed to pass, it is not surprising that there
should have been artists who have succeeded in all
kinds of painting, as I have mentioned with regard to
the painters in mosaic and on glass, who frequently
excelled also in oil and fresco painting; but it does
appear astonishing that the greatest architect should
have been, as was frequently the case, not only the
greatest painter of his time, but the greatest sculptor
also. Vasari accounts for this fact by saying that
" design and invention are the father and mother of all
the arts, and not of one only." There is no doubt that
he was right, and that the great Italian masters owed

i The same document is published in the Carteggio Inedito vol ii
p. 441. '

chap, iv.] PAINTING ON GLASS. lxv
their celebrity to their mental endowments, and not
merely to their practical skill. It is said - on the au
thority of Lorenzo Ghiberti that Giotto, painter, archi
tect, and poet, sculptured some of the subjects in marble
on his own beautiful campanile at Florence. At a
later period the great Raphael changed his manner of
painting after having examined the paintings of Michael
Angelo, the greatest architect and the greatest sculptor
of his age. Francia was a goldsmith before he was a
painter. The genius of Benvenuto Cellini was as con
spicuous in the jewelled ornaments he made for the
pope as in his Perseus. The names of painters who
have possessed high mathematical attainments are
numerous. But the most remarkable man among the
moderns was undoubtedly Lionardo da Vinci, who was
at once a painter, poet, musician, mathematician, and
natural philosopher, and, as some say, architect and
statuary also, whose sagacity anticipated Bacon in de
claring that experiment should precede theory — who
had described the camera obscura before it was made
known by Porta — who wrote on the descent or attrac
tion of heavy bodies to the earth forty years before
Copernicus — whose discoveries in hydraulics preceded
by a century those of Castelli — and whose observations
"on flame and air "were made nearly three centuries
before the modern theory of combustion was promul
gated.2 Did Lionardo, when he registered these dis
coveries in characters that could only be read by
reflection in a glass, think, like Bacon, that mankind
1 Vasari, Vita di Giotto. Lorenzo Ghiberti left a MS., in which he
gives a short account of ancient and modern painters. The most interest
ing parts of this Essay have been published ,by Cicognara in his Storia di
Scultura. 2 See Amoretti, Memorie Storiche di Lionardo da Vinci, p. 135-142,
citino' Venturi, Essai sur les Ouvrages Mathematiques de Leonard da
Vinci, 1797. See also Humboldt's Kosmos, vol. ii. p. 322, 380, 389, and
Hallam's Hist, of Literature, vol. i. p. 303, and note.
VOL. I. e

Ixvi INTRODUCTION. CCHAP- lv-
were not at that period sufficiently enlightened to
profit by his researches into the arcana of nature ?
Second to Lionardo only in fame, but his equal in
talent, was Leon Batista Alberti. His genius was
universal : he was a skilful architect, an accomplished
painter, sculptor, poet, and musician, a mathematician
and inventor of optical instruments, an author of trea
tises on painting, sculpture, and architecture, and a
moral and dramatic writer.
Lorenzo Ghiberti was another of these distinguished
men. He began his career as a goldsmith, but being
more partial to the arts of design and sculpture, he
sometimes practised painting, and sometimes cast small
bronze figures, which he finished with infinite grace.
In his maturer years he seems to have occasionally
worked at all these arts. He painted an apartment for
Pandolfo Malatesta at Rimini soon after the year 1400.
In 1439 he made for Pope Eugenius a golden mitre
which weighed fifteen pounds ; the weight of the pearls
with which it was decorated was five pounds and a halfj
and which, with the other jewels, were estimated at
30,000 golden ducats. It is said that six of these
pearls were as large as filberts, and Vasari remarks
that, to judge from the design, nothing could be ima
gined more beautiful than the arrangement of the "jewels
and the variety of the figures and other ornaments.
But the capo d'opera of Ghiberti was the bronze doors
of the Baptistery at Florence, one of the finest works of
the middle ages, and which alone was sufficient to im
mortalise the name of Ghiberti. His predilection for
painting on glass has been already mentioned. Besides
the windows in the Duomo of Florence, he painted
others at Arezzo ; but in spite of his precautions to se
cure the best kind of glass, it is related that the build
ings were too much obscured by these windows, and
this was undoubtedly Vasari's reason for saying they

chap, iv.] PAINTING ON GLASS. Ixvii
were made of Venetian glass. Lorenzo taught the art
of painting on glass to Parri Spinello, who introduced
it into Arezzo.1
At Milan during this century the art was practised
less successfully. It appears from an entry in the
records ofthe Duomo, dated November 10, 1449,2 that
a dispute having arisen between Stefano da Pandino,
the painter, and the authorities on account of some
window which he had painted, his work was adjudged
to be so badly executed that the artist was obliged to
repaint great part of it at his own expense.
In the Venetian territories painting on glass was
occasionally practised at this period. In 1473 the
window of the choir in the south transept of the church
of SS. Giovanni and Paolo at Venice, and another at
Murano, were painted by Mocetto from the designs of
Vivarini.3 But the most distinguished painter on glass of the
fifteenth century in Italy was Beato Giacomo da
Ulmo, a native of Ulm, in Germany. He was born in
1406, and acquired the art of painting on glass in this
city. At the age of twenty-five he travelled to Rome,
where he spent his time and money in visiting the
sacred edifices of that city; but finding himself at
last pennyless, he became a soldier in the service of
Alphonso of Arragon, king of Naples, and fought in
the great battle in which the Genoese were victorious,
and Alphonso lost both his throne and his life. Gia
como having served four years in the army, became
disgusted with, the profession, and engaged himself as
servant to a citizen of Capua. In 1440 or 1441 he
determined to return to his native land and embrace
1 Vasari, Vita di Lorenzo Ghiberti.
2 Memorie de' Pittori, Scultori, e Architetti Milanesi, Opera MS. dell'
Abate Ant° Albuzzi, vol. i. This MS. is now in the possession of Co.
Gaetano Melzi, to whom I am indebted for the loan of it.
3 See Lanzi, vol. i. p. 152, and Murray's Hand-book for North Italy,
p. 354.
e2

Ixviii INTRODUCTION. ECHAP* IV'
once more his aged father. With this view he arrived
at Bologna, where, praying before the altar of S. Do
menico, he felt himself inspired to renounce his earthly
home, and think only of the heavenly. In the thirty-
fourth year of his age he entered his noviciate in this
monastery, where he lived for fifty years a life so holy
that he obtained the honours of canonization. His
death took place in 1491.
With the religious habit Fra Giacomo resumed his
early occupation of painting on glass. It appears from
public archives preserved in Bologna, that he painted
windows in the convent of S. Domenico in 1464 and
1465 ; in the library from 1467 until 1472 ; and the
last time his name was mentioned was in 1480, when
he was in his seventy-third year. Some painted glass
in a window of the first dormitory in this convent has
been attributed to him ; but it is considered by Bian-
coni ' and by Marchese to be much more ancient — in
deed to be the most ancient specimen of painted glass
in Bologna.
But the principal works of Fra Giacomo were in the
church of S. Petronio in Bologna.2 It is much to be
regretted that it cannot now be ascertained what glass
was painted by him, for the windows in this church '
were the work of several artists, among the best of
whom was Frate Ambrogino da Soncino, who had been
pupil of Fra Giacomo for thirty years. Besides the
glass in S. Petronio, Fra Giacomo is said to have

1 Guida di Bologna.
s The colours in the old glass in S. Petronio are extremely vivid — ruby
red, emerald green, ultramarine blue, and opaque black. The two former
are transparent, but the blue is semi-opaque, resembling in effect thin plate?
of ultramarine, rather than blue glass. I could imagine the colour was
produced by stirring the ultramarine in powder into glass, as described by
Suger when speaking of the blue glass for the abbey of S. Denys. In one
of the windows is another kind of blue, more transparent, but the colour is
neither so deep nor so pure. — This resembles the blue seen in the old
Venetian coloured glass windows.

chap, iv.] PAINTING ON GLASS. Ixix
painted several other windows in Bologna, which still
remain. It appears from an entry in the records of the con
vent that Fra Giacomo was assisted in the designs by
a certain Michele. Bianconi states ' that the designs
for some of the windows in S. Petronio were by the
great Michael Angelo Buonarroti. On considering
the dates, it will be seen that these designs by Michael
Angelo could not have been for the windows painted
by Fra Giacomo, because it does not appear that the
latter painted after 1480, when Michael Angelo had
only attained his sixth year. The reputation of Beato
Giacomo was as great in France as in Italy. He was
there called " Jacques l'Allemand." Le Vieil (p. 34)
says, "The miracles that were wrought at his tomb
caused him to be placed among the saints of his order,
and the company or guild of the master glass-makers,
painters on glass at Paris, celebrate his fete as their
second patron on the second Sunday in October."
The discovery of the art of staining glass a trans
parent yellow with silver has been by some authors
ascribed to Van Eyck, but it is attributed with greater
reason to Fra Giacomo da Ulmo. The discovery is
said to have originated in an accident. Le Vieil (p.
108) gives the following account of it: — Fra Giacomo
being one day occupied in placing his glass in the fur
nace in order to fix the colours, let fall a silver button
from one of his sleeves without perceiving it. The
button sank into the lime, which is always placed in
the furnace under the glass. The furnace being closed,
the enamels melted. The button, or at least a part of
it, was fused, and it imparted a yellow stain to the
glass which lay above it, and this yellow stain was
found to have penetrated into the substance of the
glass. i Guida di Bologna.

lxx INTRODUCTION. [chap. iv.
Fra Ambrogino da Soncino, the pupil of Giacomo,
was also an excellent painter on glass, and his works
may be seen in many churches at Bologna. He died
in 1517. He wrote the life of his master, Giacomo,
from which the biographical facts relative to the latter
have been extracted.1
Frate Anastasio, also a lay brother of the convent of
S. Domenico at Bologna, was another pupil of Fra
Giacomo. He died in 1529, having instructed in his
art a pupil who left, in a book of Memoranda concern
ing the Area of S. Domenico, begun in the year 1521,
the following affectionate and pathetic memorial of his
master : — " After him (one Fra Petronio, who held the
office of Archisti, or guardian of the Area, until 1521)
came my beloved and dear master and predecessor Frate
Anastasio, a lay brother, a devout man, a man of God,
and of our father S. Domenico. Cheerful, of middling
stature, the beauty of his mind was reflected in that of
his body ; in him I frequently seemed to behold a
cherub ; one of his hands was worth my whole body ;
he had great genius, was most skilful in painting on
glass, a disciple and imitator of the blessed Giacomo,
and during the space of eight years he most faithfully,
most fervently, and most devotedly served with the
greatest charity and integrity of life, his and our good
father S. Domenico, and by him he was richly re
warded." 2
That affectionate and lasting attachment which so
frequently subsisted between the master and the pupils,
and which is a beautiful trait in the character of the
Italian painters, could only have arisen under their
system of working together for a long period of years.
The lengthened term of the apprenticeship, frequently
extending to twelve years, and the consequent inter-

1 Marchese, vol. i. p. 40£, 410.
2 Ibid., p. 411.

chap, iv.] PAINTING ON GLASS. lxxi
change of benefits given and received by master and
pupil, frequently gave rise to a friendship as sincere as
it was affectionate, and which terminated only with the
death of one of the parties. Thus Taddeo Gaddi, the
godson and favourite pupil of Giotto, was the disciple
of the latter for twenty-four years ; Cennini was for
twelve years the pupil of Agnolo, the son of Taddeo.
Many other instances are noticed in these pages ; many
also are recorded by Vasari.
In the ' History of the Duomo of Orvieto ' * it is
stated that in 1444 a certain Fra Mariano di Viterbo,
a Dominican, offered himself to paint the windows of
the cathedral, and proposed to paint one as a specimen.
He did so, but his painting was not approved of, and
D. Gasparro di Volterra, a priest, was then invited to
paint a specimen. This also was disapproved of, and
ultimately the celebrated Benedictine monk D. Fran
cesco di Barone Brunacci was selected, who executed
the work to the satisfaction of all parties. Marchese 2
conjectures that he was a pupil of Fra Bartolommeo di
Pietro. In the Necrology of the convent of S. Domenico at
Siena, under the year 1515 is mentioned the name of
Frater Raphael Peregrini ; he is said to have been
skilful in painting on glass.3
The names of two other professors of this art, Fra
Cristophano and Fra Bernardo, have been preserved
in the archives of the Duomo of Arezzo. The contract
is dated March, 1477, and the colours were to be
" cotti alfuoco, e non messi a olio." *
A similar stipulation is contained in the contract,
dated August, 1513 (preserved in the same archives),
relative to the windows to be painted in the cathedral

1 Storia del Duomo di Orvieto, Document lxviii. p. 71.
2 Vol. i. p. 413. 3 Id. ibid.
* Carteggio Inedito d' Artisti, vol. ii. p. 446.

Ixxii INTRODUCTION. [CHAP* IV*
by Domenicho Pietro Vannis de Pechoris1 and Stagio
Fabiani Stagii ;2 and in another contract, dated April
25, 15 15,3 it was stipulated that Domenicho should
execute certain paintings on good Venetian or German
glass. The price paid for the last windows was at the
rate of fourteen "lire piccole " the square braccio.4
The execution, however, of these works was not such
as to satisfy the good people of Arezzo, and one M.
Lodovico Bellichini, a physician, and' intimate friend
of Guglielmo de Marcillat, persuaded the latter, who
was then resident at Cortona, to visit Arezzo, where
Stagio had the liberality to invite him to reside in his
house.5 The greatest of all the artists who practised painting
on glass in Italy was Guglielmo de Marcillat, whose
name is generally translated William of Marseilles.
Dr. Gaye, the editor of the ' Carteggio Inedito,' has,
however, discovered his real name and designation in
a document preserved in the archives belonging to the
Bishop of Arezzo. He is there 6 described as " Messer
Guillelmo de Piero, Franceze, Priore di S. Tibaldo, di
Sto. Michele, diocesi di Verduno" (Verdun, in
France), and he subscribes his name thus : " lo Guil
lelmo de Piero de Marcillat." From this Marchese
(vol. ii. p. 212) thinks that Marcillat was his family-
name, and Piero that of his father. He was born in
1475, and acquired the art of painting on glass in
France. In order to escape the consequence of being
concerned, with some of his friends, in the death of an
enemy, he sought refuge in a Dominican convent,
1 Carteggio Inedito d' Artisti, vol. ii. p. 446. See also Vasari, Life of
Don Bartolommeo, Abate di S. Clementi.
2 Carteggio Inedito, vol. ii. p. 446. Vasari, in the Life of Lazzaro,
calls this artist Fabiano Sassoli.
3 Carteggio Inedito, vol. ii. p. 449. i A braccio is about 23 inches.
s Vasari, Vita di Guglielmo de Marcillat, and see Marchese vol. ii.
p. 211, &c.
6 Carteggio Inedito, &c, vol. ii. p. 449.

chap, iv.] PAINTING ON GLASS. lxxiii
where he assumed the habit of the order and continued
to practise his art.
About this time Pope Julius the Second commis
sioned Bramante to introduce many windows of glass
into the palace. In reply to the inquiries made by the
latter for the most excellent among those who practised
this art, he was informed that these things were done
in a wonderful manner in France, and he was shown a
specimen by the French ambassador at the Court of
Rome, who had for the window of his study a piece
of white glass, on which was painted a figure with an
infinite number of colours fixed on the glass by the
action of fire. Bramante caused an invitation to be
sent to these French artists, offering them good emolu
ment. Claudio, a brother monk, -and excellent painter
on glass, and intimate friend of Guglielmo, persuaded
the latter to accept the offer, and the two artists set out
together for Rome, where they were employed by the
Pope to paint several windows of the palace, which are
now no longer in existence ; two only remain of those
painted in Sta. Maria del Popolo. About this time
his friend Claudio died, leaving him heir to his designs,
and the implements used in the art ; and Guglielmo
henceforward worked by himself. From Rome he
went to Cortona, where he painted the front of the
house of Cardinal Passerini, and several windows.
Leaving Cortona he went to Siena, where he painted
a window in Sta. Lucia, in the chapel of the Alber-
gotti, in the bishopric of Arezzo; "which," says Va
sari, " may truly be said to be living figures, and not
coloured or transparent glass." Some parts of these
still remain, and the parts deficient are filled up with
white glass. He also painted three windows in the
Duomo di Arezzo, as appears by the following con
tract,1 dated 31 Oct., 1519: —

Carteggio Inedito, vol. ii. p. 449.

lxxiv INTRODUCTION. [chap. iv.
" I signori operai al Vescovado ano alogato a fare
tre finestre di vetro in Vescovado a Maestro Guglielmo
di Pietro, franceze, maestro a far finestre di vetro, coie
una finestra sopra la cappella di San Francesco, una
finestra sopra la cappella di San Matio, una finestra
sopra la cappella di San Niccolo, per prezzo di lire 15
per ciascheduno braccio, cotti a fuoco, non a olio, e
debale avere finite per tutto Gugno prossimo 1520."
For each of these windows he received 180 ducats,
as appears by a record dated 31st Dec, 1520.
He also painted a window in the church of the
Dominicans, for which he would receive no recom
pense, "because," he said, "he was much indebted to
that society," alluding to the shelter and protection the
Dominicans had formerly afforded him.
Besides other windows, he painted several frescoes
which are still in good preservation ; the design and
composition of these works are good, but the colouring
is rather feeble.1
He lost his life from his too great application to
fresco painting, which he followed summer and winter;
the exhalations from the lime occasioned an illness
which carried him off in a few days, in the year 1537,
at the age of 62.2
Many practical details relative to painting on glass
are given in the Life of Guglielmo by Vasari, who
united to his other attainments a knowledge of this art.
Vasari attributes to Guglielmo de Marcillat the honour
of having carried the art of painting on glass to per
fection in Tuscany. He particularly eulogizes the
skill of Guglielmo in the arrangement of the colours,
whereby the most forcible colours were employed for
the figures in the foreground, while the darker colours
were reserved for the more distant objects. He praises
also his invention and composition, and the great skill
1 Marchese, vol. ii. p. 223.
2 Vasari, Vita de Guglielmo de Marcillat.

chap, iv.] PAINTING ON GLASS. Ixxv
with which he arranged the joinings of the lead and
iron, which he disposed in such a manner in the joints
of the figures, and the folds of the draperies, that they
were scarcely visible, and even imparted to the figures
a grace which could not be exceeded by the pencil.
Vasari mentions more than once the great dexterity of
Guglielmo in applying different colours to the same
piece of glass by grinding away the coloured surfaces,
so as to leave the white glass, to which another colour
was afterwards given ; and he informs us that the
Gesuati of Florence, by whom this art was much cul
tivated, having obtained possession of a window painted
by Guglielmo, took it to pieces in order to ascertain
how it was put together, and removed and experi
mented on many of the pieces of glass, which they
replaced by new ones.
Guglielmo left the materials belonging to the art to
Pastorino da Siena, his assistant, who had worked for
him many years.1 Pastorino painted in 1549 the
beautiful round or rose window (occhio) in the Duomo
of Siena, and others in St. Peter's at Rome. He
usually worked from the designs of Pierino del Vaga.
Maso Porro, of Cortona, who was more skilful in
joining and in burning the glass than in painting, and
Battista Borro, of Arezzo, were also pupils of Gugli
elmo de Marcillat. The latter taught the art to
Benedetto Spadari and Giorgio Vasari, the biographer
of the painters.
To these artists may be added Gondrate, who in
1574 painted a window in the Duomo of Parma, from
a design by Lattanzio Gambara.
The first glass furnace was introduced into Rimini
in 1551 by Geminiano da Modena, whose sons became
excellent painters on glass.2

1 Vasari, Life of Guglielmo ; Bald., Vite, Dec. iv. Part i. del Sec. iv.
2 Vedriani, Pittori Modenesi, p 86.

lxxvi INTRODUCTION. [chap. iv.

§ 2. On Windows.
We have been so long accustomed to see glass win
dows in our houses, that few, perhaps, except antiquaries
and archaeologists, have ever inquired whether they were
possessed by our ancestors. It may not, therefore,
be deemed uninteresting to relate briefly a few facts
relative to this subject, gleaned from history and
archaeology. There is reason to believe * that glass windows were
employed occasionally in ecclesiastical buildings during
the early centuries of the Christian era ; but the prac
tice was by no means universal, and the most ancient
glass windows mentioned to have been constructed in
Italy were those ordered by Pope Leo the Third in
the eighth century a at Rome. The windows of some
sacred edifices were closed with valves, or shutters of
stone, like those of the Duomo of Torcello3 erected in
1008. Others were filled with slabs of a transparent
kind of talc or alabaster.4 The only example now
known to exist of this kind of window is in the church
of St. Miniato at Florence, built in the commencement
of the eleventh century, under the Emperor Henry
and his wife Cunegonda. The windows, five in num
ber, are in the apsis, and are each filled with a single
slab, formed of a kind of transparent alabaster, or
marble, called bythe Italians "fengite."5 The effect
of these windows is singular. When illuminated by
the morning sun, they appear shining with a cloudy
roseate light.6

1 See Theoph., E. Ed., p. 185.
2 Coloured glass is mentioned in the Lucca MS., which is said to be of
this century.
3 The windows are now glazed, but this is thought to be a later addition.
* Vasari, Int., cap. xxxii. 5 Fantozzi, Guida di Firer.ze, p. 770.
6 Murray's Guide to North Italy, p. 583.

chap, iv.] WINDOWS. lxxvii
Bede relates that glass was brought to England, a.d.
674, by certain ecclesiastics for the purpose of deco
rating the churches then erecting in this country ; but
although makers of glass were brought to England at
the same time, the progress of the art in this country
must have been inconsiderable, since Matthew Paris
relates that, in the reign of Henry the Third, a few
churches only had glass windows. In 1135, glazed
frames, called "verrinse," were made for the windows
in the chapel and hall of Winchester, and in some of
the chambers.1 The earliest painted glass in York
Cathedral was painted about 1200. This slowness of
progress must, however,, have been the effect of want
of encouragement rather" than of want of ability, for
in 1 153 the Queen of England sent a present of a
painting on glass to the Comte de Dreux, and his
third wife, the Comtesse of Brafne, in Normandy.2
The beauty of the early English painted glass is evi
dent from the windows of Lincoln Cathedral : some of
these, which are remarkable for the brilliancy of the
colours, were executed in 1220.
In France the art must have been extensively cul
tivated. A great many churches were erected during
the eleventh century, and Le Vieil considers that the
art of painting on glass, properly so called, arose in
France about this period. In the twelfth century
Suger adorned the Abbey of St. Denys with painted
windows, and his example was followed in most of the
churches newly erected.
The use of glass windows in private houses was

1 Archaeological Journal for 1 845, p. 54.
2 Le Vieil (de la Peinture sur Verre, p. 24), quoting the Chartularium
of the Abbey, and the Index Coenobiorum Ordinis Prsemonstratensis.
According to Lavoisne, Matilda of Boulogne, wife of Stephen, died in
1152, consequently there was no Queen of England in 1153. The
window, however, might have been ordered to be painted some years
previously, and perhaps was not completed and fixed in its destined place
until 1153.

lxxviii INTRODUCTION. [CHAP- lv-
extremely limited during the middle ages. In France
it was not employed until the fourteenth century.1
At the close of this century, however, and the begin
ning of the next,2 several windows were painted for the
hotel of the Duke of Orleans in the Rue de la Poterne
lez Saints Pol, at Paris. It may be interesting to
know that the price paid for this painted glass varied
from four to eight Parisian sous the foot. In the
document which contains an account of these windows,
there is also a charge for " taking down, washing, and
replacing several panes of glass, painted and reco-
loured, in the chamber of Louis Monseigneur de
Bourbon." This makes it probable that the glass had
been fixed in the windows for some time, since it had
become necessary to wash and recolour it. It also ,
suggests the idea that these paintings were not executed
with enamel or vitrified colours, which would not have
required recolouring, but probably with pigments mixed
with egg or oil.
It appears from recent archaeological researches that
many of the royal residences in England had glazed
windows in the thirteenth century. In the twentieth
year of the reign of Henry the Third (1235-6), the
windows of the chapel and hall of Winchester, and
some of the chambers, were glazed.3 The accounts of
Rockingham Castle for the year 1279 also contain
an entry of payment " for glazing the windows, 5s."4
It is probable that the dwellings of the nobility were
furnished with glass windows in the fourteenth century,

1 Hallam's Midd. Ages, vol. iii. p. 425.
2 Between 1399 and 1429. See ' Louis et Charles, Dues d'Orleans,
leur Influence sur les Arts, la Litterature, et l'Esprit de leur Siecle, d'apres
les Documents Originaux et les Peintures des Manuscrits. Par Aimd
Champollion-Figeac (de la Bibliotheque Royale). Paris, 1844.' This
extremely interesting publication is very scarce, the work having been sup
pressed. 3 Archaeological Journal for 1845, p. 54, 74.
¦i Ibid., Jan. 1845, p. 370.

chap, iv.] WINDOWS. lxxix
since they are mentioned in a# description of the inte
rior of a castle in a MS. of the fifteenth century ' (in
the public library at Cambridge), containing the metri
cal romance of Sir Degrevant : —
" Square windows of glas
The richest that ever was,
Tho moynells (mullions) was off bras,
Made with menne handes."
Glass, however, was not in common use in England
until the reign of Henry the Eighth f but it appears
to have been employed for windows in Vienna during
the fifteenth century. iEneas Sylvius mentions that
the houses in that city had glass windows and iron
doors.3 During the middle ages, glass windows, instead of
being affixed to the buildings, were frequently fastened
into wooden frames ; they were considered as moveable
furniture, and were removed with the other effects of
families when they travelled. Upon the arrival of the
family at the mansion, the glazed frames, or verrinae,
were placed in the windows, where they remained
during the residence of the family, and on their depar
ture they were taken out and laid by carefully.4 A
passage in Vasari's Life of Guglielmo de Marcillat
proves that this custom of using moveable windows pre
vailed in France and Italy until the beginning of the
sixteenth century. Vasari says that at this period Pope
Julius the Second commissioned Bramante of Urbino
to make many glazed windows in the palace ; and while
the latter was making inquiries for persons skilled in
this art, he was shown a specimen of one belonging to
the French ambassador at the Papal court. This,
which he had used for the window of his study, con-
1 Arch. Journ., Sept. 1844.
2 Hallam's Midd. Ages, vol. iii. p. 425. s ibid.
* Northumberland Household Book, Preface, p. 16, quoted in Hallam's
Midd. Ages, vol. iii. p. 425.

lxxx INTRODUCTION. [CHAP* lv*
sisted of a piece of white glass fixed in a frame (telaro),
on which was painted a figure with an infinite variety
of colours burnt in by the action of fire.
It must not, however, be inferred, because the glasses
were moveable, that the windows of houses were destitute
of any protection from the weather. The Bolognese
MS.1 describes no less than three contrivances for ex
cluding the air, softening the light, and concealing the
inmates of the houses from the gaze of passengers in
the streets. The three methods described in this MS.
were probably for the windows of the nobility, for it is
unlikely that private individuals would incur the ex
pense of painting these substitutes for glass in the
manner described. The first substitute was thin parch
ment stretched on a frame, and afterwards painted and
varnished; tbe second consisted also of parchment,
painted as before, but instead of varnish, a coat of
linseed oil was applied to make it transparent; the
third consisted of linen, stretched on a frame, and then
painted. When dry, a coat of white of egg and gum
water was applied, ' and it was then varnished. It is
not at all improbable that some of the early trans
parent paintings executed in Germany, France, and
England, may have been intended, and used occasion
ally, instead of glass for windows.
In France, paper was much employed as a substitute
for glass in domestic architecture even at a late period.
Le Vieil 2 devotes a chapter of his work to this subject.
He says that at the close of the seventeenth century,
the persons whose business it was to fix the paper in
the windows were called "chassissiers," and the glazier
who repaired or cleaned the glazed windows on the
inside of the apartments of the palace and its de
pendences left to the chassissier the care of renewing
the double windows of paper. From this it seems

i Nos. 214, 215, 216. 2 De la Peinture sur Verre, p. 235.

chap, iv.] PAINTING ON GLASS. Ixxxi
probable that glass windows were limited to the habita
tions of the higher ranks, and that these windows were
further defended with other windows, the frames of
which were filled with paper. In Le Vieil's time these
paper windows were found only in the studios of
painters and engravers, who found them useful in
diminishing the noise from the street. The light which
passed through them was more equal, and less fatiguing
to the sight. He adds there was no place of study or
religious community, the windows of which were not
defended by double casements filled with paper : these
had also the additional recommendation of affording an
obstacle to the indiscretion and curiosity of those
within, as well as without. At Lyons they were used
constantly in the time of Le Vieil in the silk manu
factories, where they were found to yield a more
uniform light than glass. In France, the paper, after
being fixed in the windows, was made transparent by
the application of poppy oil, or mutton suet, instead of
which some persons whose olfactory nerves were more
susceptible, employed wax. Paper windows being con
stantly exposed to the rain, the sun, and the wind,
required to be renewed annually, and were conse
quently found more expensive than glass ; this perhaps
was a principal cause of their falling into disuse.
These paper windows may still be seen in many
villages in the north of Italy.
§ 3. Various Methods of Painting on Glass.
The origin of painting on glass, properly so called, is
involved in obscurity. Le Vieil, as has been before
observed, attributes it to the French in the eleventh
century. It appears certain, however, that it was
known and practised at Constantinople in the preceding
century. Perhaps the earliest historical notice yet
recorded of painting on glass, is the portrait of Con-
VOL. i. /

lxxxii INTRODUCTION. ^hap. iv.
stantine VII., which the Arab historian, Ibn Hayyan,
states was presented by the ambassadors of thatPrince
in 949 to Abdurrahman at Cordova. Ibn Hayyan
relates that the ambassadors of Constantine, son of Leo,
Lord of Constantinah the Great (Constantinople), pre
sented to the Moorish prince a letter, of which he gives
the following description: —
" It was written on sky-blue paper, and the charac
ters were of gold. Within the letter was an enclosure,
the ground of which was sky-blue like the first, but the
characters were of silver: it was likewise written in
Greek, and contained a list of the presents which the
Lord of Constantinah sent to the Khalif; on the letter
was a seal of gold of the weight of four mithkals, on
one side of which was a likeness of the Messiah, and on
the other those of King Constantine and his son. The
letter was enclosed in a bag of silver cloth, over which
was a case of gold, with a portrait of King Constantine
admirably executed on stained glass. All this was enr
closed in a case covered with cloth of silk and gold
tissue. On the first line of the Inwan or introduction
was written, 'Constantine and Romanin (Romanus),
believers in the Messiah, kings of the Greeks ;' and in
the next, 'To the great and exalted in dignity and
power, as he most deserves, the noble in descent, Ab
durrahman the khalif, who rules over the Arabs of
Andalus ; may God preserve his life ! ' " "
In the absence of all information relative to the man
ner in which this portrait was painted, conjectures must
be useless ; it is sufficient for the present purpose to

i The description of Ibn Hayyan is quoted by the Arab historian, Al
Makkari, in his History of the Mohammedan Dynasties in Spain. The
work has been translated, with critical Notes, by Pascual de Gayangos, late
Professor of Arabic in the Athenasum of Madrid. Printed for the Oriental
Translation Fund, 2 vols. 4to. 1840-43. See Blackwood's Mag., vol. 54,
p. 442, where the account of the visit of the ambassadors to Abdurrahman
is given at length.

chap, iv.] PAINTING ON GLASS. Ixxxiii
establish the fact that a portrait was actually painted on
glass at Constantinople and sent to Spain as early as the
year 949.
It is generally considered that the earliest glazed
windows were filled with stained glass,1 for it is said to
require more skill to make colourless glass than to tinge it
with some of the ordinary colours. The pieces of stained
glass of which the early windows were composed were
small, and they were arranged in a kind of mosaic
pattern. The next improvement consisted in forming
pieces of stained glass into figures, the outlines and
strong shades of which were afterwards formed with
black,2 and fixed by the heat of the furnace. This
kind of semi-painting afterwards gave place to painting
on glass, properly so called. This was executed in
various ways. The colours were sometimes diluted with
white of egg,3 and sometimes mixed with oil, and then
varnished.4 But as it was found that in both kinds of
painting, the colours were affected by the weather, a
new plan was adopted of employing vitrified colours or
enamels, which were applied to the glass with gum
water, and then fixed by burning them into the glass in
the furnace. This method of painting is described by
Eraclius and Theophilus. The invention is generally
ascribed to the Flemings or Germans. It is quite
certain that Italy was supplied with these coloured
glasses or "smalti"5 by some transalpine nation; the
Marciana MS. states that they were brought from
Germany.6 1 See Theoph., E. Ed., lib. ii. cap. xxix.
2 The black used for this purpose is described by Eraclius, Lib. ii. No.
20, Lib. iii. Nos. 8 and 49 ; the MS. ofthe Marciana, No. 325 ; Bulenge-
rus de Pictura, &c.
s See Marciana MS., p. 615.
* Ibid. See also the Paduan MS., p. 693.
5 The smalti of the modern Italians consist of pieces of glass, about ^ an
inch thick, and 6 or 8 inches in diameter.
e See the Marciana MS.,, p. 617.
/2

1 xxxiv INTRODUCTION. [chap, iw
The method of painting on glass practised by Gu
glielmo de Marcillat and his pupils has been described
by Vasari. The following is a condensed account of it.
To produce a good picture on glass, three things were
considered necessary, namely, a luminous transparency
in the glass selected, good, composition, and brilliant
colouring without confusion. Transparency was to be
secured by selecting the clearest glass, and in this
respect the French, English, and Flemish glass was
preferable to the Venetian ; for the former was very
clear, whilst the latter was dark; "and," observes
Vasari, " when clear glass is shaded, the light is not
totally lost, but appears through the shadows; but
Venetian glass, being naturally dark, and being made
still darker by the shadows, loses its transparency.,
Many persons delight in loading the colours artificially
applied upon the surface, which being exposed to the
sun and air, appear more beautiful than the natural
colours ; it is better, however, that the glass should be
light rather than dark, that it may not be rendered
opaque by the thickness of the colour."
To paint on glass it is necessary to be provided with
a cartoon, on which are drawn the outlines of the figure,
and of the folds of the drapery, which will serve as a
guide in joining the glass. The various pieces of red,
yellow, blue, and white glass are then arranged in their
places as required ; and in order to reduce each piece
to the form and size indicated by the cartoon, the
pieces are laid upon the cartoon and the outline marked
with a pencil full of white lead, and a number is affixed
to each piece in order to find its place more readily
when uniting the- various fragments. These numbers
are obliterated when the painting is finished. This.
being done, the pieces of glass must be cut according
to the form and size required; for this purpose, the
point of an emerald must be drawn along the parf to be
cut, and the division must be completed by passing a

chap, iv.] PAINTING ON GLASS. Ixxxv
pointed piece of hot iron over the outline (which is to
be first moistened with saliva), being careful not to go
too near to it. The superfluous glass is then to be
removed with the emerald,1 and the pieces of glass
reduced to the exact size and shape, by filing them with
an iron tool called " grisatoio " or " topo," until they
fit together accurately. The cartoon being laid on a
table, and the pieces of glass thus fitted and laid upon
it, the shades of the drapery must be painted with
scales of iron ground, and another sort of red rust found
in iron mines, or the hard red haematite ground, and
with this the flesh is shaded, using more or less red or
black as required.2 But in painting flesh, the glass
should be previously covered with a coat of this red,
and the drapery should be painted with the black, in
the same manner tempering the colour with gum, and
painting and shading it by degrees until it resembles
the cartoon. The painting being completed, in order
to produce the high lights, a short and thin pencil of
bristles, with which the colour is removed from the
lights, is necessary. The high lights in the beards,
hair, draperies, casements, and landscapes are to be
produced by marking them out with the handle ofthe
brush. There are, however, many difficulties in ex
ercising this art, and he who delights in it may lay
various colours on the glass ; for if it be required to
paint on a red ground a leaf or other small object,
which, after being in the furnace, should become of
another colour, the surface of the painted glass may be
ground away within the outlines of the leaf with the

1 It is evident, from the Bolognese MS., p. 495, that the diamond was
used for cutting glass long previous to the time of Vasari. It appears, how
ever, not to have been used for this purpose in France until the time of
Francis I. (if the story related by Le Vieil be true), and this will account
for the emerald being used by Guglielmo de Marcillat and his pupils.
2 In addition to the haematite, Guglielmo de Marcillat is said to have
used for the flesh, scales of copper (scaglia di rame).

lxxxvi INTRODUCTION. [chap. rr.
iron point, which removes the surface of the glass ; for
by so doing, the glass remains white, and that red
colour (composed of several mixtures), which, when
fused by heat becomes yellow, is applied to it.1 And
this may be done with all the colours, but yellow
is better when applied over white than over other
colours ; but when blue is laid on it, it becomes green
by the application of heat, because yellow and blue
mixed, make green. This yellow colour2 can be used
only on the back of the painting, because by fusing, it
would spoil and unite with that colour, which being
heated remains red on the surface, but which being
rasped away with an iron, leaves the yellow visible.
The pieces of glass being painted, they should be placed
in a muffle or coffin, on a layer of sifted ashes mixed
with burnt lime, then another layer of glass, and another
of ashes, until all the glass is disposed of; the whole is
then to be placed in the furnace, and heated gradually
by a slow^fire, until the colours are fused and become
fixed to the glass. This burning in of the colours re
quires the greatest caution, for if the heat be too great
it will • cause the glass to crack, and if insufficient it
will not fix the colours. Neither should the glass be
withdrawn, until by repeated trials it is ascertained that
the iron coffin and the ashes are red hot, and that the
colours are fused.
The windows of the Duomo of Milan were once filled
with painted glass of the greatest brilliancy ; much still
remains, but a great quantity was destroyed by the
French, who it is said, on some occasion of rejoicing,

i From this description it is apparent that the colours were "flashed"
on the colourless glass. This is said to have been the case with the red
glass which was found among the ruins of old St. Paul's in London. See
Boyle's Philosophical Essays, vol. i. p. 458.
2 In the Life of Guglielmo de Marcillat, this is said to be calcined silver.

chap, iv.] USES TO WHICH GLASS WAS APPLIED. lxxxvil
placed cannon in the piazza immediately under the
windows, which were shattered by the discharge.1
The restoration of the painted glass has however been
undertaken by the Austrian Government, and several
of the windows, including those very large ones in the
apsis, have again been filled with glass painted in the
vicinity of Milan.
The original windows were painted in the ancient
manner, in a kind of mosaic of coloured glass ; the
result was a picture of the utmost brilliancy. The
modern glass is painted with coloured " smalti " mixed
with some flux which accelerates the fusion and fixes
them firmly to the plate of glass before it melts.2
§ 4. Of the various Uses to which Glass was applied.
Another important application of glass was in the
composition of factitious gems, which appear to have
been made, not for the purpose of personal decoration,
but for adorning covers of sacred books, reliquaries,3
and pictures of the Virgin and saints. It is not, there
fore, surprising that so many recipes of this kind should
occur in MSS. belonging to convents. Bibles and
psalters were frequently bound in ivory covers, beauti
fully carved, and inlaid with artificial gems, the surfaces
of which are always smooth, from their having been
formed in moulds, and not cut. Sometimes the covers
of books were of silver, or silver-gilt ; sometimes they
were solid, and carved in relief; sometimes they con
sisted of a sort of filigree-work in silver, over crimson
velvet ; and sometimes they were covered with velvet,

1 Murray's Guide for North Italy.
2 Dizionario delle Invenzione e Scoperte nelle Arti, nelle Scienze, &c. ,
Milano, 1830. Art. Pittura.
3 A reliquary of brass gilt, set with false stones, was exhibited by Mr.
Way at the meeting ofthe Archaeological Institute at Winchester, in 1845.
It was of the 11th century, and was of French workmanship.

Ixxxviii INTRODUCTION. [chap. iv.
and strengthened and ornamented with silver or gold
studs. The application of factitious gems to pictures was
common. They are expressly mentioned by Cennini,
who describes the method of attaching them to the
pictures ; and they may be frequently seen on paint
ings executed in Italy during the middle ages. The
most remarkable picture decorated with these gems
is one by Carlo Crivelli, in the gallery of Brera,
at Milan. The picture is highly interesting, not only
on this account, but because several portions of it are
in relief. It is not less remarkable for the extreme
brilliancy of the colours, which are as bright as if just
painted. The picture is divided into three compart
ments. The centre contains the Virgin and Child ; on
the right hand are St. Peter and St. Dominic ; and on
the left St. Peter Martyr and St. Geminiano. The
surface of each compartment is slightly convex, rising
about one inch or one inch and a half in the centre
of each compartment; it is quite perfect, without a
flaw of any kind. The figures are placed on a gold
ground. St. Peter has on his head the papal crown,
the gilded ornaments of which are in high relief;
and it is set with precious stones, or rather imitations
of such. The keys are in his hand, and these are
actually modelled, the stem-part of the keys being quite
round, and merely attached by a small part of the
surface to the picture ; the other key lies on this, so
that here the relief must be at least one inch and a
half. The keys are gilded. The mantle of the Virgin
is fastened with a gold or gilt ornament, in which a
sapphire is set. The drapery of St. Geminiano is
painted to represent crimson velvet, on which is a
collar of gold, set with real or factitious pearls, some
of which having dropped off, show small holes made
in the panel to receive them.
The picture by the same artist, placed next to this in

chap, iv.] USES TO WHICH GLASS WAS APPLIED. kxxix
the same gallery, is, in some respects, a contrast to it.
The colours are as brilliant as those in the former
picture, and the ground also is of gold ; but the glories,
instead of being in relief, are indented, and the jewels,
with which the mitre is decorated, are painted, instead
of being actually affixed to the picture. The artist has
given as much transparency and brilliancy to these as
if they were actually inlaid, like those in the picture
above mentioned. The period of the birth of Crivelli
is unknown, but he was living in 1476.
Sacramental cups, both of metal and of glass, were
also frequently set with gems, real or factitious ; hence
the directions given in old MSS. for cements for gems.
*» It is certain that glass was in use in Italy for drinking-
vessels in the first half of the fifteenth century. Glass
drinking-vessels are frequently mentioned by Cennini,
who calls them by the name by which they are still
known in Italy — bicchieri. Representations of them,
of the same shape as those now in use, may be seen
in early Italian pictures of the Last Supper, and
particularly in the Cenacolo of Lionardo da Vinci.
Glass vessels were frequently embossed, or enamelled,
with the armorial bearings of their owners, some
times parcel gilt, sometimes set with jewels, and
occasionally • they, bore designs of high pretension.1
The museum of antiquities of the middle ages in the
Louvre, and in the Hotel de Cluny, at Paris, afford
many interesting specimens of glass of the middle ages,
enriched with enamels and jewels. The drinking-
vessels and flasks, executed at Murano, were particu
larly esteemed. Many beautiful specimens of the latter
are in the possession of the Marquess Trivulzio, at
Milan. It is generally considered that the art of colouring
glass was introduced from the East into Venice. The
1 Arch. Journ., Sept., 1845, p. 264.

xc INTRODUCTION. [chap.iv.-
time of its introduction is uncertain, but it is known
that as early as the commencement of the twelfth
century the manufacture of what is called crystal, and
the art of colouring glass, were carried on at Venice.1
The mirrors and other works executed in glass in this
city were, during the middle ages, the finest works of
the kind ; and the flasks and other small articles were
much sought after, not only in Europe, but also in
Asia, and even in the deserts of Africa.2 Murano
was, during four or five centuries, the seat of this
manufacture, which the Venetians knew how to vary
according to the taste of the times, and for which they
found a ready market in the countries of the East.
As long ago as 1275 there was a law mentioned in the
Chronicle of Dandolo, which prohibited the exportation,
not only of sand and the other substances used in the
fabrication of glass from Venice, but also of the frag
ments of broken glass, which other nations might melt
and fashion into new forms. It seems that there were
formerly large masses of glass, which were employed
in the factories.3 Filiasi supposes that they were
brought from Greece, where the composition of glass
had attained a certain degree of perfection. By an
ancient Venetian law masters of vessels were permitted
to import these masses of glass as ballast. Sabellino
speaks with admiration of the works executed at the
commencement of the fourteenth century in the glass
works at Murano.
It is much to be regretted that no work should be.
known to exist in which the art of making glass, as
practised at Murano, is accurately described. . All in
quiries for such a work are, however, rendered useless
by the fact that the workmen at Murano have always

1 Depping, Histoire du Commerce, &c, vol. i. p. 191.
2 Ibid., vol.ii. p. 322, n.
s Are these the masses of glass mentioned by Eraclius, p. 208 210 ?

chap, iv.] USES TO WHICH GLASS WAS APPLIED. XC1
been sworn to preserve secrecy with respect to all
technical processes.1
Much information, however, relative to this subject,
will be found scattered through the pages of Neri's
' Arte Vetraria,' and the Commentary on this work
by Dr. Merret, an Englishman. Cardanus mentions a
Venetian MS. on the manufacture of glass, which fell
into his hands. This would undoubtedly be a great
acquisition if it could be discovered. It was said to
have been written by a Venetian named Panteo.
Besides the uses already enumerated, glass was em
ployed in making beads for paternosters, a manufacture
which is still carried on to a great extent at Murano.
But the favourite material of which the beads or rosa
ries used in the middle ages were composed, appears to
have been amber.2 The scarcity and high price of
genuine amber placing it beyond the reach of the
people generally, various attempts were made to imi
tate it ; hence the numerous recipes in old MSS. for
" making amber for paternosters ;" and hence also the
adoption of the term " amber " as a synonyme for
beads, in which sense it is frequently used in the
Bolognese MS.,3 where we find directions for colouring
the composition red, green, or blue, at pleasure. This
fact is a sufficient proof of the estimation in which
amber was held during the middle ages. Genuine
amber was so highly prized that a statue of the Virgin
made of this material, and a set of altar furniture in

1 Gallipado Tallier (author of the ' Nuovo Plico d' ogni sorte di Tin-
ture,' published at Bologna without a date) observes (p. 152), that " The
red colour called ' rubino,' which, as every one knows, is made at Murano,
is composed of ' oro di zecchino,' but few are acquainted with the process of
combining the calcined gold with the liquid crystal." He adds, "The
method of calcination is, however, known to mc, but it is not lawful for me
to discover it."
2 Secreti di Don Alessio Piemontese, Part ii., p. 35. MS. of the Mar
ciana, p. 609.
a Nos. 249—254.

xcii INTRODUCTION. [chap. i%
amber, studded with jewels,1 were considered among the
treasures of the Santa Casa at Loreto. At the meet
ing of the English Archaeological Society in 1845, a
necklace of rough amber was exhibited, which was
found round the neck of a skeleton near Ely, and which
was supposed to be of the Romano-British period.8
Another art practised during the middle ages was
the manufacture of artificial pearls from the bones of
the heads of fish, from mother-of-pearl, and other sub
stances; many recipes for these occur in MSS.,3 as
well as for making large pearls out of small ones.
Beckmann treats these inventions with contempt, and
thinks it impossible to give to any pulverized calcareous
matter the hardness and lustre of real pearls. The
varnish of caseum, mixed with the milk of the fig-tree,
described in the Bolognese MS., No. 245, is certainly
curious, and perhaps may hereafter receive a trial.

NOTE ON JEWISH GLASS.
It would appear, on the authority of the third book of Eraclius (p. 245),
that lead-glass (see Eraclius, p. 217) was called Jewish glass. I have
mentioned in the note to this passage,* that a ruby-coloured glass was for
merly sold at Birmingham under the name of Jews' glass ; the coincidence
was at least curious, but facts were wanting to establish any connection
between the Jewish glass of the middle ages and the modern " Jews'
glass." It is known that the manufacture of glass was pursued extensively
by the Jews during the dark and middle ages. There were Jewish glass-
blowers at Constantinople between a.d. 531 and 565. This is proved
incidentally by the following narrative, related in the ' History of the
-Jews :'f —
" It was the custom ofthe Church to distribute the crumbs ofthe conse
crated host which might remain to children summoned for that purpose

' It contained nearly 7000 pearls, besides diamonds and rubies, and was
valued at 200,000 crowns.
2 Archaeological Journal for 1845, p. xlii.
3 See Secreti di Don Alessio, Part ii., p. 35. B0] jjg j,jos 246
,264, 320.  __^ • ., . ,
* P. 245. f Hist, ofthe Jews, vol. iii. p. 230.

«hap. iv.] JEWISH GLASS. xciii
from their schools. While Menas was Bishop of Constantinople, the child
of a Jewish glass-blower went to the church with the rest, and partook of
the sacred elements. The father, inquiring the cause of his delay, discovered
what he had done. In his fury he seized him and shut him up in the
blazing furnace. The mother went wandering about the city, wailing and
seeking her lost offspring. The third day she sat down by the door of the
workshop, still weeping, and calling on the name of her child. The child
answered from the furnace, the doors were forced open, and the child was
discovered sitting unhurt amid the red-hot ashes. His account was, that a
lady in a purple robe, of course the Blessed Virgin, had appeared, and
poured water on the coals that were immediately around him. The unna
tural father was put to death, the mother and child baptized."
Filiasi * relates, that in 687 many Greek workmen went to France for
the purpose of working in glass. It is probable that these persons practised
the art after the same methods as the Jews, and that they made the pro
cesses known in France. It appears that the Jews carried on the art in
Syria also. Benjamin of Tudela, whose ' Travels ' bear date from 1160 to
1173,. states that he found 400 Jews resident in Tyre, who were glass-
blowers. This fact certainly shows a great trade in this branch of industry,
and may be considered a confirmation of the assertion that the soda found
at Tyre was peculiarly fitted for the manufacture of glass.t The glass
works in Syria do not appear to have been confined to Tyre, for Miss
Martineau relates.^ that a glass-house still exists at Hebron. The glass
made here, however, appears to be of the most ordinary description, and it
seems that the workmen are Arabs, and not Jews.
At the beginning of the ninth century the Venetians traded with the
ports of Egypt and Syria; and when, in 1122, the King of Jerusalem
requested the Venetian navy to assist him at the siege of Tyre, the Vene
tians stipulated for the possession of a third part of the city, and the pay
ment of an annual sum of 300 besants. In the fourteenth century the
Venetians had still a colony at Tyre.§ The art of glass making, therefore,
with which the Venetians are supposed to have been acquainted as early as
the eleventh century, may have been communicated to them by the Tyrian
Jews. It appears certain that they acquired it in the East.
It was in the eleventh century that a leaden glaze was, as I have men
tioned (p. 177), first found on European pottery. The recipes in the
MS. of Eraclius prove that lead-glass was known in some parts of Europe

* Saggio sull' antico Commercio, &c, p. 148, n.
f Neri, Arte Vetraria, lib. i. cap. 1, and lib. vii. cap. 117, and Merret's notes
on these chapters. The Venetians and Genoese had both settlements at Tyre in
the 12th century.
I " Next we were conducted to a glass-house, of all odd places to see in Heb
ron. I would recommend a Newcastle one in preference, as there the glass is not
greenish and thin, and the articles made can stand upright. We thought here
as before, however, that the Arabs are expert enough at manual arts if they had
fair play with tools and materials." — Eastern Life, vol. iii. p. 64.
§ Depping, Histoire du Commerce, &c, vol. i., p. 1 53, quoting Navigero, Sto-
ria della Republ. Veneziana, 819 ; in vol. xxiii. of Murat., Script. Rer. Ital.,
and And. Dandolo, Chronic. Venet., ann 828, in vol. xii. of the same work.

xciv INTRODUCTION. [chap. iv.
at least as early as the thirteenth century ; but it appears that it was not
generally known even at a later period,* for Neri, who published his ' Arte
Vetraria' in 1612, says (lib. iv. cap. Ixi.) it was a secret known to but few
glass- workers, " Cosa nota a pochi dell' arte vetraria." Merret, the com
mentator on Neri, in a note to this passage, remarks, that it was not in use
in England on account of its want of durability. Both writers speak of tlie
extreme beauty of the colours of the factitious gems made of this kind of
glass, and Neri says "that it is the most beautiful and noble kind of glass
that is made, for real oriental jewels may be imitated with it ; which
cannot be done so well with crystal or any other kind of glass ; but if great
care is not taken, it is so extremely fusible, that it will run through the
glass-pots, and be lost among the coals used in heating the furnace."
From these facts, therefore, it is considered that there may be some reason
for ascribing the invention, or at least the introduction, of glass con
taining lead, &c, to the Jews, and at the same time of supposing that the
correct reading of the above passage in Eraclius has been given.

* A peculiar kind of Venetian glass, containing lead, was used in Italy as a
dryer for certain colours. See Mr. Eastlake's ' Materials,' &c, p. 351.

chap, v.] GILDING. xcv

CHAPTER V.
GILDING AND OTHER ARTS.
§ 1. On Gilding.
The frequent and profuse employment of gilding in
every kind of decorative work in the middle ages
cannot have escaped the observation of the most super
ficial observer. The grounds of the most ancient
mosaics were of gold, so were those of the pictures of
the Byzantine and early Italian schools. The early
Italian frescoes, as they are called, were adorned with
gold leaf; the same decoration was extended to minia
tures, and afterwards to painting in oil, and the use of
gilding in pictures was universal, until Domenico
Ghirlandaio discovered the method of imitating gold
with colours.1 The directions, therefore, of all old
MSS. on painting are diffuse and minute on this head,
and although the recipes are alike in principle, there
is some variety in the details. The grounds of the
ancient gildings were of two kinds ; one of which was
for miniatures and places not exposed to damp; the
other consisted of an oil mordant, which was employed
on walls and places exposed to humidity. As the
gilding on many old mural paintings is in a remark
able state of preservation, it becomes important to
ascertain the manner in which it was executed ; and
where there is no precise documentary evidence to
demonstrate this, it is desirable to have recourse to
chemical analysis.
Under this impression, Professor Branchi, of Pisa,
1 Vasari, Vita di Domenico Ghirlandaio.

xcvi INTRODUCTION. [CHAP- v-
analysed some portions ofthe gold ground ofthe mural
pictures by Benozzo Gozzoli and Buftalmacco in that
noble relic of the arts and genius of the middle ages,
the Campo Santo at Pisa. Professor Branchi relates
in the following words the result of his experiments on
this subject.1
" With regard to the ancient method of gilding in
Pisa, I must observe that my experiments have not
enabled me to discover any essential difference between
the gilding in Pisa and that of the picture by Taddeo
Gaddi, which is still to be seen in the suppressed
church of St. Francesco.
" The intonaco is, however, white, fine, and of a
thicker consistence. One denaro (grammi 1*779)
contained gr. 1 If (grammi 0*576) of a fine white
sand, mixed with a little argillaceous earth.
" The gilding of the fragments of a picture by
Buffalmacco in our magnificent Campo Santo, is
spread upon a layer of wax of the thickness of about
half a line. This yields to the action of the nail, is
slightly transparent, inflammable, and lighter than
water; it liquefies at a low heat, is soluble in boiling
alcohol, from which it separates on cooling in the form
of a white and bulky mass ; it gives a lustre to wood,
and being thrown upon burning charcoal, it diffuses
sensibly the odour of wax, which cannot be mistaken
for any other substance.2 It is true that in some parts
the gold is seen on both sides ; from this I conjecture
that this gilding was executed by Buffalmacco, either
to repair some part already gilded, and with which he
was not satisfied, or it was a reparation made at a
subsequent period.

1 Letteradel Prof. Branchi al Prof. Ciampi, &c, p. 18.
2 " In making the above experiments I had no indication that a fixed dry
ing oil was mixed with the wax. Among the various mordants which painters
were accustomed to use in illuminating with gold, is that which is composed
chiefly of the above-mentioned substances." [Note by Prof. Branchi.]

chap, v.] GILDING. XCVll
" The gilding of those small fragments which
were removed from one of the numerous pictures
painted by the celebrated Benozzo Gozzoli in the same
Campo Santo is in excellent preservation. The gold
being removed with a sharp instrument, discovers a
thin layer, not opaque, which may be scraped like wax,
and which, like that substance, gives a lustre to wood
on which it is rubbed. Below this appears a yellowish
tint, which penetrates into the intonaco to a small, but
not always uniform depth. When the gold leaf was
separated from the fragments by immersion in boiling
distilled water, a pellicle of wax appeared on the
surface. " The liquid being filtered, and afterwards slightly
evaporated, acquired a yellowish colour, and then
formed a pellicle which differed from the preceding,
and by complete evaporation left a small quantity of
combustible matter — so small that I could not deter
mine its nature.
" From these experiments it appears that our an
cient gilding was executed, 1st, by applying on the
smooth intonaco a kind of size, that is a liquid and
tenacious substance, soluble in water, and coloured
yellow ; 2ndly, by applying on this a thin coating of
wax ; 3rdly, and finally, by affixing on this the gold leaf.
" It should here be remarked that the gold leaves
being detached without having suffered any alteration
in consequence of the liquefaction of the wax, gave me
an opportunity of observing how much thicker they
were at that period than they are at present. From
the time of the Romans until now the art of gold-
beating has been continually progressing towards per
fection. From one ounce of this metal they were
accustomed to obtain 750 square leaves and upwards,
four fingers broad on each side,1 which is certainly
1 Pliny, lib. xxxiii. cap. 3. Modern goldbeaters now make 1200
VOL. I. g

XCV111

INTRODUCTION. [CHAP- v.

below the number of those of equal dimension which
our best goldbeaters now produce from the same quan
tity of gold. And as to the wax, which Benozzo
applied to the intonaco in order to serve as a mordant,
I shall observe that it must have been dissolved either
in a volatile or in a fixed drying oil. From its charac
ters I am inclined more towards the volatile than the
fixed oil ; but in order to form an accurate decision on
this point, it would be necessary to have at my disposal
a larger quantity of the gilding. I am induced to
believe from the experiments which I made on some
ancient pictures in 1791 for my particular friend
Signor Alessandro Morrona, the author of the cele
brated work entitled ' Pisa Illustrata,' that the first of
these oils was formerly added to the above-named
substance." '
Some estimate of the extent to which gold was used
on paintings in the fifteenth century may be formed
from the document relative to the expenses of painting
the chapel of S. Jacopo di Pistoia, which records that
7000 leaves of gold were used for this purpose.
§ 2. Auripetrum and Porporino.
When the parties for whom pictures were painted
were unable or unwilling to pay for gold (which was
always supplied by the persons who ordered the pic
tures), it was usual to substitute for it on mural paint
ings leaves of tin-foil, covered with a yellow varnish.

leaves from the same quantity. Cennino (cap. 139) complains that in his
time 145 leaves were obtained from the ducat instead of 100 ; and it appears
from Vasari, that in his time 435 leaves of gold were made from three ducats.
The size of the leaves is described by Vasari to have been the eighth of a
braccio square. Cennino does not mention their size.
i Vol. ii. p. 162. " Sig. Giov. Fabbroni has proved (Vantaggi e Metodi
della Pittura Encausta) that in encaustic paintings the ancients did not unite
the wax with mastic as Requeno asserts, nor with an alkali as Lorgna pre
tends, nor with gums and honey as Astori asserts, but with a volatile oil
like naphtha, or spirit of turpentine." [Note by Prof. Branchi.]

chap, v.] AURIPETRUM AND P0RP0RIN0. xcix
The method of applying and varnishing the tin-foil is
fully described in the MS. of S. Audemar, and many
other old works on painting. Its actual employment
on mural pictures is proved by the above-mentioned
document1 relative to the expenses of the paintings
executed in the chapel of S. Jacopo di Pistoia, in
which 37 pieces of tin are mentioned. At the time
Professor Branchi made his experiments on the gild
ing and pigments employed on these paintings, ancient
treatises on art appear to have been but little studied.
Branchi, it is true, mentions the work of Theophilus,
which had been published by Lessing and Raspe ; but
his acquaintance with it must have been superficial, or
he would have recollected that Theophilus describes2
the, leaves of tin, and the method of using them on
pictures and on books. If he had read this part of the
work, he would also have seen that the tin-foil was
varnished, and he would then have understood the
probable use of the varnish mentioned in the document,
for the employment of which he could not satisfactorily
account,3 since he says that the fragments of the gild
ing, and of the pictures which he had analysed, gave
no indication of varnish.*
In order to economize gold, the old masters had
another invention called "porporino," a composition
made of quicksilver, tin, and sulphur, which produced
a yellow metallic powder that was employed instead of
gold.5 The Bolognese MS. devotes a whole chapter to
this subject. A substance of a similar nature is now in

1 Ciampi, Notizie, &c, p. 145.
2 Lib. i. ch. 26 and 32, E. ed. The varnish for the tin leaves is fully
described in the MS. of S. Audemar, p. 163, 165.
3 The small quantity of sandarac (one pound) mentioned in the document
published by Ciampi was evidently insufficient to varnish the pictures,
which, judging from the large quantity of colours supplied, must have been
very large or very numerous.
4 Letteradi Branchi, p. 18.
5 See Cennino Cennini, Trattato, cap. 159 ; Bol. MS., cap. 6.
9*

c INTRODUCTION. [CHAP- v.
use in England, and is employed as a substitute for
gold on coloured woodcuts and chromolithographs.
§ 3. On the use of Wax in Painting.
The subject of wax-painting during the middle ages
has been so fully and ably treated by Mr. Eastiake in
his recent work,1 that but little remains to be added.
It may, however, be remarked that, in addition to
the use of wax as a mordant for gilding, in the manner
before mentioned, it was employed as a varnish for paint
ings,2 for which purpose it is supposed to have been
dissolved in an essential oil. That it was also used as
a vehicle for painting is established by the two recipes
quoted by Mr. Eastiake from the Byzantine MS., and
from that of Le Begue. The principle of these two
recipes (the solution of wax in caustic potash3) is the
same in both MSS., but the latter recipe contains
mastic in addition to glue and wax. The last-men
tioned vehicle must have resembled somewhat the
cement, or cera colla, which was in use in England
about the year 1385, and of which Mr. Hartshorne
found the following notice among the documents pre
served in Rochester Castle :4 — " For 3£ lbs. of wax
bought for cement (ad cimentum), 2 Id., at 6d. a lb.
In 2 lbs. of frankincense, 6d. In 5 lbs. of lees (coda)
and 1 lb. of pitch, 6 id." 5 It will be observed that
glue is not mentioned in the above entry. Neither
does it appear in the varnish used for painting on
glass described in the Venetian MS.6 This varnish

1 Materials, &c, chap. 6. 2 Ibid., p. 163, and n.
3 In the Le Begue MS. (p. 307) the word "flandres" has been erro
neously substituted for " cendres " — ashes, which, when boiled with water,
made a lixivium, which was rendered caustic by the addition of lime, exactly
in the manner now employed by soap-boilers.
4 See Arch. Journ., Jan. 1.845, p. 373.
5 The Marciana MS. (p. 626) has a recipe for a cement of this kind,
composed of wax, liquid varnish, and black naval pitch.
e Sloane MSS., No. 416. See Mr. Eastlake's ' Materials,' &c, p. 172, n.

chap, v.] ON THE USE OF WAX IN PAINTING. «
consisted of wax, white turpentine, and mastic, and
was of the same nature as the cement employed by
Agnolo Gaddi in repairing the mosaics in S. Giovanni
at Florence, which varied from the above in being
composed of mastic and wax only ; its object was to
exclude damp.
One of the very few medieval pictures reputed to be
painted with wax at present known to connoisseurs,
is the Martyrdom of St. Simon the Younger, by An
drea Mantegna, whose name is inscribed on the paint
ing. It is in the possession of Signor Giuseppe
Vallardi at Milan, and belonged formerly to the
Abbate Boni, of Venice.1 The picture is very perfect,
the colours bright, and the touches sharp. The darks
are laid on very thick, but the paint appears to have
run into spots or streaks, as if it had been touched with
something which had disturbed the surface. It is
said, however, that it has never been repaired, and its
authenticity is stated to be undoubted. It is evident
that the wax has been used liquid, for if the colours had
been fused by the application of heat, the sharpness and
precision of touch for which this picture, in common
with other paintings of this period, is remarkable, would
have been lost and melted down. The vehicle, what
ever it was, appeared to me to have been as manage
able as that of Van Eyck. This picture was painted
late in life by Mantegna.
The same collection also contains a modern picture,
which may with propriety be said to be in encaustic,
since the colours are melted in by the application of a
hot iron. This is a small picture of a sleeping Cupid
by Appiani, painted by way of experiment on a brick,
the surface of which was properly prepared. The
colours of this picture were dull, and the effect like
that of a fresco ; it seemed to be better adapted for
i See Catalogo del Quadri di Giuseppe Vallardi. Milano,_ 1830.

Cli

INTRODUCTION. [chap. v.

decorative effect than for cabinet pictures. The lights
were poor, and did not bear out well.
Wax painting is now practised at Parma. An
apartment of the Museo di Antichita, and another in
the public library of that city, are now being painted
with a wax vehicle, and after a process invented by an
artist of that city, which he freely and obligingly com
municated to me.
The vehicle used consists of wax and resin dis
solved in spirit of turpentine. The mixture is fluid,
and of the colour of milk. In this the colours are
ground, and are then preserved in small glasses, and
spirit of turpentine is poured upon them to preserve
them. To close these glasses conveniently, the painter
employs a cushion of leather larger than the glass, with
a button on the top for a handle, and this contrivance
effectually defends the colours from the air and dust.
All colours may be used indiscriminately, Prussian
blue, orpiment, and others which are not permanent in oil.
For the ground, the wall or ceiling is plastered in
the usual way with lime, and is not quite smooth, but
is left with a kind of grain or tooth. The painting is
executed on this ground when dry, without other pre
paration. The method is said to require some practice, as the
colours dry fast. When working, the colours are
diluted with spirit of turpentine.
This kind of painting has great brilliancy and trans
parency, and can be seen well from any point of view.
If durable, it seems well adapted for decorative pur
poses. The method has been in use for about six
years. § 4. On Painting Statues.
The practice of painting statues was common during
the middle ages.1 The proofs of this are numerous.

1 Ciampi, Notizie, &c, p. 118, 142.

chap, v.] ON PAINTING STATUES. cm
The documents recording the wax vehicle, or varnish,
called cera colla, furnished to Andrea Pisano for paint
ing and varnishing a marble statue over the principal
door in the facade of the Cathedral of Orvieto, has
been mentioned by Mr. Eastiake.1 This practice is
alluded to more than once in the MS. of Le Begue,2 and
in the Tabula Imperfecta3 is a reference to some direc
tions contained in Theophilus4 for painting round
images, " ymagines rotundas,"5 and other sculptured
articles which are not covered with leather, cloth, or
parchment. The most remarkable example, probably
now in existence, ofthe union of painting with statuary,
is in the baptistery near the Cathedral of Novara. The
building is circular, and supported by ancient columns :
the recesses between the columns contain the events of
the Passion. The figures in plastic work are as large
as life, coloured ; and in some cases the resemblance to
life is completed by the addition of real hair. The
wall behind the figures, which is painted in fresco,
serves as a background to the figures ; and the light
aerial tone of the painting contributes much to the
effect of the figures. The remarks on these groups, in
a MS. Journal, quoted by the author of the ' Hand
book for North Italy,' are so appropriate and judicious,
that I shall make no apology for introducing them here.
" They are," he says, " probably by Gaudenzio Ferrari,6
who excelled in this branch of art ; and many of the
figures are of exquisite workmanship. The two finest
groups are the Garden of Olives, and the Scourging of
our Lord, which last, without being in the least disgust
ing or painful, is most deeply affecting. One of the
1 Materials, &c, p. 170.
2 See No. 180 (p. 145), and No. 344 (p. 315). 3 P. 40.
4 Lib. i. cap. 23, E. ed. 5 The word "rotundas" is not in Theophilus.
6 Gaudenzio Ferrari was born in 1484, and died in 1550. He was one
of the principal painters of the Milanese school, and his merits, which have
been overlooked by Vasari, have been justly appreciated and warmly eulo
gized by Lomazzo and Lanzi.

civ INTRODUCTION. [chap. v.
executioners is sitting down, tired with his work ; the
Roman soldier looks on with pity; the other can no
longer look, and turns away. These representations
are so entirely at variance with our conventional rules,
that it requires a considerable degree of mental exertion
to appreciate them. The first step in this, and many
similar occasions, must be for the observer to forget all
that he has read upon the theory of the fine arts ; and
to form his opinion, as the judge tells the jury, not to
mind what they have heard out of .court, but to give
their verdict upon the evidence before them. In so
doing, you must recollect that the only valid plea by
which the introduction of images into churches is
attempted to be justified by the Romanists, is, that
they are books of instruction to the common people ;
and certainly neither mere painting, nor mere sculp
ture, can realise the events of Scripture to the mind in
a manner so vivid as this union of form and colour.
You will rarely enter this baptistery without finding
individuals employed in acts of devotion before these
scenes ; some reading appropriate selections from Scrip
ture, some engaged in prayer, but not praying to the
images, for the circumstance of their forming entire
groups prevents any one being singled out as the object
of worship ; and let us repeat, that the independent
judgment which we have ventured to advise the tra
veller to assert in Italy, will be much strengthened by
his asserting it in the baptistery of Novara." In
the Life of Andrea Verrocchio, Vasari gives a descrip
tion of some curious effigies of Lorenzo de' Medicis,
which were modelled in wax and afterwards painted in
oil. His account is as follows: — " On the occasion of
the murder of Giuliano de' Medicis, and the narrow
escape of Lorenzo his brother, who was wounded at
the same time, in the Church of Ste- Maria del Fiore,
the friends of Lorenzo ordered several effigies of him
to be made in commemoration of this- event. Among

chap, v.] ON PAINTING STATUES. CV
others, Orsini, a celebrated modeller in wax, with the
assistance and under the direction of Andrea Ver-
rocchio, modelled three images as large as life. Within
these was a kind of skeleton of wood, and split canes,
which was covered with waxed cloth, disposed in such
well-arranged folds, that it was impossible anything
could more nearly resemble the reality. The heads,
hands, and feet, which were of wax, were hollow within,
and modelled from the life, and then painted in oil,
real hair being added, and all appropriate ornaments.
" These," says Vasari, " represented not waxen effigies,
but living men, as may be seen in all three figures, one
of which is in the church of the nuns of Chiarito, in the
Via di S. Gallo. This figure is habited in the very
dress which Lorenzo wore when, wounded in the throat
and bandaged, he appeared at a window of his house,
that he might be seen by the people, who had collected
there to ascertain whether he was alive, as they wished
him to be, or dead ; and if dead, that they might
avenge him." The second figure is in the church of
the Servites, at Lucca, in the civil costume worn by the
Florentines. The third image was sent to Sta- Maria
degli Angeli, at Assisi. There were other wax figures
by Orsini in the Church of the Servites. These were
distinguished by a large O, within which was an R,
with a cross above it. They were all fine works of art,
and Vasari remarks that they have been equalled by
few. He adds that the art was practised in his time,
but whether from want of devotion, or other causes,
it was then declining.
The custom of painting figures extended also to the
colouring, with a kind of enamel, of figures and bassi
rilievi in terra cotta ; and the numerous specimens of
this kind of decoration which still remain, prove the
estimation in which this art was once held.
The most distinguished artist in this line was Luca
della Robbia, to whom many improvements in the art
are ascribed.

CV1

INTRODUCTION. [chap

In Spain the art of colouring wooden statues was
continued to a comparatively late period. Pacheco1
gives instructions for painting statues, and it appears
that he did not disdain to practise the art himself, and
that he even claimed the honour of having introduced a
better style of painting sculpture. Alonzo Cano and
Montanes are said to have frequently stipulated that
none but themselves should paint the images which they
had carved.2
The practice of painting " ymagines rotundas " was
not confined to those carved in wood ; it extended also
to stone statues, and was frequently employed on the
sepulchral effigies of kings and nobles. In this case the
dress of the sculptured figure exactly resembled that
worn by the person whom it was intended to represent.
Among the Germans and English a general custom
prevailed of painting monumental effigies. A remark
able instance of this occurs in the effigy of Henry II. of
England, at Fontevraud, in Normandy, described by
Mr. Stothard in his work entitled ' The Monumental
Effigies of Great Britain.' The beard of the figure is
painted and stippled like a miniature, to represent its
being closely shaven in the Norman fashion. The
mantle, Mr. Stothard ascertained by scraping, had
been painted several times ; it was originally of a deep
reddish chocolate.3 The Dalmatica, or tunic, was of
crimson, covered with gold stars. The boots were
green, with gold spurs, fastened by red leathers. The
gloves have jewels on the centre of the back of the
hand, a mark of royalty or high ecclesiastical rank.
The crown and the right hand are broken, but the latter
still retains the sceptre. The sword lies on the bier by

1 Tratado della Pintura, p. 402, See.
2 For additional information on this subject, see Ford's Hand-book for
Spain, p. 110.
3 Probably the deep red colour found on old frescoes, apparently pro
duced by the red haematite.

chap, v.] IMPLEMENTS USED IN PAINTING. CVll
the left side. With the exception of the position of the
sword, it will be seen that this description agrees with
the account of the burial of Henry IL, extracted by
Mr. Stothard from the History of Matthew Paris, who
says, " the king was arrayed in the royal investments,
having a golden crown on his head, and gloves on the
hands, boots wrought with gold on the feet, and spurs,
and a great ring on the finger, with the sceptre in the
hand, and girt with a sword: he lay with his face
uncovered." Mr. Stothard continues, " It therefore
appears that the tomb was literally a representation of
the deceased king, as if he still lay in state. Nor can
we, without supposing such was the custom, otherwise
account for the singular coincidence between the effigy
of King John on the lid of his coffin and his body
within it, when discovered a few years since." *
§ 5. Implements used in Painting.
The wood-cut, copied originally from a miniature of
the fifteenth century, in the Bibliotheque Royale at
Paris, appeared in the before-mentioned interesting
work of M. Aime Champollion-Figeac ; it exhibits a
female artist in the act of painting a statue of the
Virgin holding the infant Saviour. The subject is
highly interesting in another point of view, because it
shows the implements used at that period in painting.
The artist holds a pencil or brush in her right hand,
and a palette with a handle in her left, thus affording
incontestable evidence that the palette was used in
France during the fifteenth century. This is, perhaps,
the earliest notice of this implement with which we are
acquainted. The colours, mixed in shells, as described
by Alcherius and other writers, are placed on a small
bench by her side, near which are the brushes in a tray,
and a second palette, also furnished with a handle.
1 King John was buried in Worcester Cathedral.

CV111

INTRODUCTION.

[chap. v.

Another illustration of the work of M. Champollion,
copied from a miniature of the same period, represents
the atelier of a painter of the fifteenth century. He is
sitting on a folding stool, holding in his left hand a
palette, similar in its form to those represented in the
last cut. In his right hand he holds a brush, with
which he is painting a picture of the Virgin and Child,

chap, v.] LEATHER. ClX
which, from being framed, suggests the idea of being
painted on canvass. The picture is placed on an easel,
supported by three legs. In the background is a man
grinding colours, with a jar by his side. In the fore
ground is a low table, on which are shells of various
kinds holding colours, and a tray full of brushes. The
long and flowing sleeves of the painter, and the pointed
shoes of the man grinding the colours, will assist in
fixing the date of this drawing. § 6. Leather.
It has been mentioned that during the age of Frede
rick Barbarossa, the clothes of men were of leather,
unlined. There is reason, however, to believe, from
the recipes contained in the Lucca MS., and repeated
in the Mappse Clavicula, that the skins were frequently
dyed. During the dark and middle ages, the prepara
tion of leather appears to have been carried on chiefly
in the south of Europe, and in the countries inhabited
by the Saracens and Moors. The leather of Marseilles
was particularly valued at this period ; and one quarter
of the city, called "La Cuiraterie," was especially set
apart for the preparation of this article, with which the
markets of Spain and Italy were supplied. In the
twelfth, thirteenth, and fourteenth centuries, skins and
leather were also imported from Africa into Barcelona,
and the merchants of this city occupied, conjointly with
those of Marseilles, a certain quarter of the city of
Troyes, where they carried on a trade principally in
Morocco leather.1 From the ninth to the middle of
the thirteenth century, the city of Cordova, in Spain,
was celebrated for the leather called " Cordovan,"
which was manufactured there by the Moors.
The use of leather was not limited to articles of
dress, but as men, became more luxurious, the fashion
1 Depping, Histoire du Commerce, vol. i. p. 249, 263, 294.

CX INTRODUCTION. [CHAP' v-
of hanging rooms with leather, painted linen-cloth,1 or
tapestry, was introduced. The walls of apartments
were formerly left bare, and on the introduction of
leather hangings or tapestry, they were confined to that
part of the room which was immediately behind the
seats occupied by the owners of the house. These
hangings were suspended from hooks fixed in the wall,
and, like the glass windows, were removed when the
family changed their residence. Frequent examples of
these partial hangings of apartments may be seen in
miniatures and pictures of the thirteenth and fourteenth
centuries. In the fifteenth century, the hangings were
continued round the apartment, and the leather was
frequently stamped and gilt, or ornamented with tin
foil, and afterwards varnished with a yellow varnish.
Descriptions of this varnish are to be found in all
technical works relating to art, from the Lucca MS. to
the Treatise of Pacheco, inclusive.
Filiasi2 observes that " the art of gilding skins and
leather has been exercised from time immemorial in
the [Venetian] lagoon, and to such an extent was the
commerce in this merchandise carried on with Spain and
the Levant, that, one year with another, the trade in
gilt leather brought into Venice a clear profit of about
100,000 ducats and more." Apartments hung with this
stamped and gilt leather may still be seen in some of
the palaces at Venice. The Barbarigo Palace has
more than one room decorated in this manner. Leather
hangings were also in use in our own country; the
best specimens are at Nonsuch Palace, in Surrey ;
Hinchinbrook House, near Huntingdon ; Ruffor Abbey,
in Nottinghamshire ; and at Blenheim.3
Gilt leather was also applied to other purposes. It
i See Mr. Eastlake's ' Materials,' p. 97.
2 Saggio sull' Antico Commercio, sull' Arti, e sulla Marina de' Veneziani,
appended to the 7th volume of his Memorie Storiche de' Veneti, p. 153.
s See a paper on this subject in the Art Union for August, 1847.

chap, v.] LEATHER. CXl
was used for the covers of books, and for frames
of mirrors. Examples of both may be seen in the
museum in the Hotel de Cluny at Paris. Pictures
were also frequently painted on plain leather, stretched
on a panel. The circumstance is alluded to by
Eraclius. Marco Rizzi sometimes painted in tempera
on kid-skins ;* and in the Fondaco de' Tedeschi an
apartment is decorated with historical pictures by Paolo
Veronese, painted on the gilt leather for which Venice
was so famous.2
In the commencement of this Introduction full credit
has been given to the monks for the preservation of
literature and the arts ; but it must be allowed that if
•they have been the cause of the preservation of learning
during the dark ages, they have also actually destroyed
the writings of many classic authors in order to tran
scribe on the parchment on which they were written
the works of the fathers or the legends of the saints.
Some of the lost works of antiquity have been
brought to light by the labours of Cardinal Angelo
Mai and other learned men ; but alas ! the ingenious
monks had discovered another and more effectual
method of destroying the literary treasures of antiquity.
This method is revealed in the Bolognese MS.,3 where
we find a recipe " To make chamois leather with sheep
or goat-skin parchment, which has been written on I"
Who shall say how many classic works have been made
into leather waistcoats for the warriors of the middle
ages or cut into sandals for the sleek and well-fed
monks ? Who shall even say how many works were
obliterated before the destroying process was brought
to perfection, and the grand discovery made that parch
ment which had been written on would make as good
leather as that which had never been touched by a pen ?

1 Zanetti, della Pittura Veneziana, p. 442, n.
2 Ibid., p. 194. 3 Ibid., p. 375.

cxii INTRODUCTION. [CHAP- "•"¦
§ 7. Niello.
Among the arts formerly practised and now fallen into
disuse, there is perhaps none which has led to such im
portant results as the ancient nigellum or niello, for to
this we are indebted for the invention of engraving.
The art was known to the ancients and was practised
during the middle ages, as we find from the ' Mappae
Clavicula,' the MSS. of Eraclius, Theophilus, and Le
Begue, as well as from specimens of the art still existing
in different museums. These examples are extremely
rare. That the art was practised by the Byzantine Greeks
is proved by the specimens in the Pala d'Oro, which
was made at Constantinople in 976, by order of the
Doge Pietro Orseolo, for the church of S. Mark at
Venice, where it may now be seen. The material is
silver-gilt ornamented with gems and enamels. Some
of the inscriptions are in Greek and some in Latin,
but the letters are all in niello. The Pala d'Oro was
repaired in 1105, in 1209, and in 1345, but it is highly
probable that the nielli formed part of the original
design. Some fragments of it are now in England.
The Marquess Trivulzio of Milan has a collection of
about forty nielli, among which I saw a very fine
specimen by Maso Finiguerra and another by Pere-
grino, besides others highly interesting.
This art was much cultivated by the early Milanese
goldsmiths, who applied it to the decoration of arms
and armour, as well as to religious purposes.1
Benvenuto Cellini remarks 2 that the art of exe
cuting nielli was nearly forgotten at Florence in the
year 1515, when he began to learn the craft of the
goldsmith. But, he proceeds, as he was continually

1 Milano e il suo Territorio, vol. ii. p. 244.
2 Dell' Arte del Niellare, e del Modo di fare il Niello.

chap, v.] NIELLO.-DYEING. cxm
hearing from the goldsmiths of the beauty of the nielli,
and particularly of the skill of Maso Finiguerra in this
art, he applied himself with great diligence to follow
the traces of these skilful goldsmiths ; but not content
with learning to engrave on the silver only, he learned
also the mode of executing the nielli, in order to work
with more facility and certainty. Cellini has left us
the most precise description of the mode of working
nielli which is extant. It has been published with his
other works.1
The art consisted 2 in drawing the design on gold or
silver with a style and then engraving it with the burin ;
a black composition was then made of copper, lead,
silver, and sulphur, incorporated together by heat.
When cold the composition was pounded and laid on
the engraved silver plate, a little borax was sprinkled
over it, and the plate was then placed over a charcoal
fire until the composition, being dissolved, flowed into
all the lines of the design. When cold, the work was
scraped and burnished, and the niello presented the
effect of a drawing in black on gold or silver.
§ 8. Dyeing.
During the dark ages the Jews appear to have mono
polised the trade of dyeing. Benjamin of Tudela
relates that when he visited Jerusalem (between 1 160
and 1173) he found only two hundred Jews resident in
that city, who were all dyers of wool, and who had
purchased a monopoly of the trade. Beckmann 3 has
shown that the art of dyeing was principally carried on
by this people during the same period in Italy. Dye-
houses were established in the duchy of Benevento as
early as the eleventh century, and in Sicily at the com-

i The Life and Writings of Cellini were published in 3 vols. Svo. , in
1806, at Milan.
2 See Vasari, Int., cap. xxxiii. 3 Inventions, Title Indigo.
VOL. I. h

cxiv

INTRODUCTION. [chap. v-

mencement of the thirteenth. From the Jews resident
in Italy the art soon spread to the Italians, who carried
it to a greater degree of perfection than the other
nations of Europe.
In Venice there appear to have been distinct esta
blishments for dyeing in the thirteenth century,1 for
this city was then celebrated for its purple dyes. The
scarlet dyes prepared from the kermes {grand) at
Florence were particularly prized. About the year
1338 this city contained nearly two hundred of these
factories.2 In the year 1300 the art of dyeing with the
purple colour obtained from the lichen Roccella or Ori-
cello was introduced from the Levant ; but the secret
of preparing the dye was for a long period confined to a
single family, who acquired a large fortune by culti
vating this branch of industry, and who for this reason
received the name of " Ruccellai."
Previous to this period Marseilles, Aries, Montpellier,
and other parts of the South of France, were famous
for red, blue, and rose-coloured dyes. The statutes of
these cities contain regulations relative to the use of
madder, kermes, and brasil wood in dyeing.3
The date of the introduction of the art of dyeing
into England seems uncertain. Hume remarks that
" in the reign of Henry III. woollen cloth, which the
English had not then the art of dyeing, was worn by
them white, and without receiving the last hand of the
manufacturer ;" and it is certain that as late as the
year 1284 i the English were in the habit of contract
ing with the Florentine merchants for the sale of their
fleeces for a period of one year or more. Mr. Hallam s
has, however, shown that a woollen-manufactory existed
1 Filiasi, Saggio, &c, p. 153.
2 Depping, Histoire du Commerce, &c, vol. i. p. 235.
3 Ibid., vol. ii. p. 293, 300.
4 Ibid., vol. i.< p. 337, quoting Pagnini ' Della Decima e delle altre
Gravezze.' s History of the Middle Ages, vol. iii. p. 378.

chap, v.] DYEING. CXV
in England under Henry IL, which was noticed in the
regulations of Richard I., and which, by the importa
tion of woad under John, may be considered to have
been then flourishing. From the importation of woad
it may certainly be inferred that the English under
stood and practised the art of dyeing as early as the
time of John. The MS. of S. Audemar alludes to a
substance called folium,1 which was used by the English
to dye wool red or purple. The date of this MS. is
uncertain, but it is probably not later than the beginning
of the thirteenth century.
From the frequent occurrence of treatises on dyeing
in old MSS. relative to the arts, it seems probable that
., this art was formerly practised in monasteries conjointly
with painting and medicine. The older MSS., such as
that of Lucca and the ' Mappse Clavicula,' contain
recipes for dyeing skins and leather only. The Bo
lognese MS. contains a long treatise on dyeing, in
which various methods of dyeing skins and leather of
all kinds, as well as silk, thread, and woollen stuffs, are
circumstantially detailed. The Sloane MS., No. 1754,
contains also a treatise " de Tincturis," which seems to
have been written principally for the use of the monks,
the dyeing of the dresses worn by them being described
in it. These treatises are generally accompanied by
recipes for removing stains from cloth. In the intro
duction to the MSS. of Le Begue a practice is noticed 2
which prevailed in England, previous to the introduc
tion of printing with blocks, of painting linen cloth
intended for wearing-apparel with figures, flowers, and
various devices in imitation of embroidery. Recipes of
a similar kind are contained in the Sloane MS. above
mentioned, and also in the Bolognese MS.3

1 A vegetable colour employed also in painting, prepared from the juice
ofthe Croton tinctorium. 2 Page 7. s page 491. Jl 2

Cxvi INTRODUCTION. [chap. vi.

CHAPTER VI.

PAINTING IN OIL.

The fact that in Italy colours were mixed with oil in
painting long before the alleged introduction of oil
painting by Antonello da Messina, has been established
by the clearest evidence ; but the method adopted by
these early artists was rude and imperfect ; and it was
only after the middle of the fifteenth century that the
process, which had been perfected by the genius and
skill of the brothers Van Eyck, was introduced into
Italy by their pupils and followers.
In the course of years the Flemish process under
went various modifications, some ofthe old practices
were altered, and new ones introduced, until the ex
ample of Titian and Paolo Veronese occasioned a
radical change in the technical methods of the Italian
painters. After their time the new methods were
again modified and changed by succeeding painters,
until not only the original Flemish process, but those
ofthe Venetian painters, had fallen into oblivion, and
but few traces ofthe old practices remained. Some of
these have been handed down traditionally from mas
ter to pupil ; others may be collected from works on
painting. It was with a view to collect these scattered reminis
cences of art that the present work was principally
undertaken. As traditionary practices might possibly preserve
the remembrance of technical processes not recorded in
books, or at least serve to confirm those which have
been described .by writers on art, it appeared to me

chap, vi.] PRACTICE OF THE OLD MASTERS. cxvn
most desirable to learn as many of them as I could.
With this view, I applied for information to several
eminent artists and restorers of pictures in the north of
Italy. Nothing can exceed the kindness and frankness
with which they answered my inquiries, and commu
nicated all they knew respecting the old methods of
painting. On one occasion only was there the slightest
degree of reserve.
The information contained in the treatises published
in these volumes, and in other works on art, relative to
technical details, is frequently concise and incomplete,
and sometimes merely incidental. Extensive reading
is, therefore, necessary to enable one to form a just
idea of the early methods of oil-painting. As many of
the processes are described in books which are so rare
as to be scarcely accessible to the general reader, I
have endeavoured to collect from them, as well as from
the communications of Italian artists, such information
as will give the reader some slight notions of the Ita
lian practice of oil-painting.
The materials I have collected may be arranged
under the following heads: — 1st. The communications
made by foreign professors of painting. 2ndly. An
explanation of the colours used in painting, with some
account of the manner in which they are employed.
3rdly. A description of the mode of preparing oils and
varnishes, and of the resins of which the latter are
composed ; and, 4thly, A short account of the process of
painting. § 1. Opinions of eminent Italian Artists as to the Practice of
the Old Masters.
The following particulars relative to old methods of
painting were communicated to me by Signor A., an
artist who had practised many years at Milan, and is
esteemed as a skilful restorer of pictures.
The Society of Painters in the Italian States were

cxviii INTRODUCTION. [chap. vi.
governed by certain rules and regulations among them
selves, and when a young man wished to become a
painter, he was placed with one of established repu
tation, with whom he was to continue one year on trial.
If at the end of that period the master was dissatisfied
with the boy's progress, he returned him to his parents ;
if he approved of him, the boy was bound to him for
twelve years,1 the first six or seven of which were spent
in learning to grind colours, and all the other mecha
nical parts of the art, as well as in painting " Madon-
nine," which were sent to the fairs for sale, and the
proceeds helped to pay the expenses of the boy's board
and lodging. The pupil was sworn never to divulge
the secrets 2 of the art until he became a master him
self, when he was allowed to teach his own pupils, first
binding them to secrecy. Signor A. remarked that a
master could not execute large works properly unless
he had half a dozen pupils at least, and the object of
the long apprenticeship was, that the pupil might by
his services repay the master who had maintained and
taught him, for in those days pupils did not pay
apprentice fees.
He observed that Titian painted on a ground of thin
" gesso marcio," 3 taking especial care not to put too
much glue,4 and this slightly absorbent ground was
useful in getting rid of the superfluous oil. He next
stated that the two great faults of the moderns were the
use of white lead in their grounds, and the little care
they took in purifying their colours. He said that any

1 Cennini (cap. civ.) mentions a similar term of apprenticeship. He
says the first year was spent in studying drawing ; the next six in learning
to grind colours, to make glue, to prepare grounds; and to gild ; and the
remaining six years in learning to paint.
2 Compare with the Statutes of Sienese Painters, s. xiii. xl. Carteggio
Inedito, vol. ii.
3 See Zanetti, della Pittura Veneziana, p. 101.
< Strong glue would have hardened the ground and rendered it non-
absorbent. See p. 888.

chap, vi.] PRACTICE OF THE OLD MASTERS. CXiX
picture in which white lead was used in the ground
would inevitably crack within fifty years after it was
painted, and that pictures painted with- oil on a white
lead ground would moreover turn brown.1 This prac
tice, he said, was observed by Mengs, who in other
respects painted with the true method. He also said
that the colours were always ground with oil, but that
oil was not used to paint with. The colours, he said,
were of the most common description, as we read in
Lanzi and others, 2 but they were carefully purified
and washed. Signor A. told me, that when he was at
Venice he made a point of going to the Piazza San
Salvatore,3 where Titian used to purchase his colours,
to see whether there were any " speziali " 4 there still.
He found one, and inquired of him if he had any old
colours, such as were used by the old painters, and he
was shown an orange-coloured pigment, which resem
bled a colour frequently found on Venetian pictures.
Signor A. gave me an ounce or more of this colour.
He said the blue used by Titian, Correggio, Paul
Veronese, and others, was " bleu minerale," (he pro
nounced this word in the Italian manner ;) he showed
me his bottle of this blue, and told me I could pur
chase it for one soldo an ounce, for it was now used for
the most common purposes ; but that it could not be
used with oil, or in any method but his, on oil paint
ings. He said the Venetians never used ultramarine,5
which inclined too much to the violet.
As to Titian's method of painting, he said the whole
subject was painted in chiaroscuro with this same blue,
mixed with white and terra rossa, as if painting with
1 Vasari (Int., cap. xxi.) and Armenini mention that white lead was
used in the grounds.
2 Zanetti, della Pittura Veneziana, p. 100.
3 Titian is said to have purchased his colours in Rialto ; San Salvatore is
on the other side of the Canal Grande.
4 Apothecaries or druggists who sold colours.
5 There is proof that the Venetians did occasionally use ultramarine.

CXX INTRODUCTION. [chap. vr.
Indian ink; that the lights were laid on with flesh-
colour (red and white) ; the picture was then laid aside
for several months (say five or six); afterwards the
flesh-colour, consisting of terra rossa, or whatever you
please, was glazed over the flesh, and then the picture
was again laid by to dry. I think Signor A. said
the shades and half tints were then painted, and the
picture again dried. The glazing was then repeated
until the painter was satisfied with his work, setting the
picture aside between every glazing, until quite dry
and hard.1 That the picture was invariably first
painted in cold colours, and that the warm colours
were afterwards glazed upon them. That the whole
surface of the picture, when the painting was completed,
was glazed over with asphaltum ("spalto bianco, bi-
tume Hebraico "). "But," I remarked, " if asphaltum
is now used, it is almost sure to crack." He answered,
" That is because you do not know how to use it."
He added, that all Titian's pictures were glazed with it.
The effect of daylight discernible in Titian's pictures
was, he observed, produced by his studying after the
life in the public gardens and the open air, and never
in the darkened studio.2
I asked whether placing the picture in the sun made
any difference : he hesitated. I then related the passage
from the letters of Rubens,3 giving the authority ; and
he admitted this was necessary to prevent the picture
becoming yellow.4
He also said it is reported that Correggio was a
1 The subject was resumed at another interview, and is more clearly ex
plained in p. cxxiii.
2 See Zanetti, della Pittura Veneziana, p. 99.
3 See Gachet, Lettres inedites de P. P. Rubens, 1840, p. 234.
i I had been previously informed that it was the custom in Italy to place
pictures in the air, and to expose them to the heavy dew, and then to suffer
them to dry thoroughly in the sun, that this process was carried on after
every coat of paint, and that it was owing to this process that the oil of old
pictures did not become yellow. I have myself seen pictures so exposed
at Milan.

chap, vi.] PRACTICE OP THE OLD MASTERS. cxxi
pupil of Mantegna's, but that he was certain from the
manner in which his pictures were painted, that he was
a pupil of Giorgione's or Pordenone's. He said it
was more difficult to imitate Correggio than any
other painter. He spoke of his (Correggio's) St. Je
rome, at Parma, which he said was the finest picture
ever painted, and stated that Correggio had painted the
figure of St. Jerome in two days. The first day he
painted the head and half the body, passing from the
top of the shoulder to the wrist with one stroke of the
brush. The next day, he said, he began at the hips and
finished at the toes with one stroke of the brush. " This
facility," said he, "he obtained from painting in fresco."
I noticed that some of his own pictures had in places
that shrivelled look which is sometimes found on
Titian's and Palma Vecchio's pictures, which Merimee
mentions * as a proof that oil or an oleo-resinous var
nish had been used.
With regard to the darks being raised above the
surface, he said that in Correggio's St. Jerome before-
mentioned, the blue drapery was the thickness of a
five franc piece above the rest of the picture. He
showed me a copy he was painting of Correggio's Mar
riage of St. Catherine, which was unfinished and with
out the glazings. The paint seemed to be dry and
hard as he rapped it with his fingers, and did not shine,
excepting a portion of the drapery. A part of the
Virgin's red drapery was glazed ; the glazing shone like
varnish, and was higher than the lights — that is, it
stood up with an edge where it joined the lights. I
have reason to think that the vehicle used was amber
varnish. I inquired what he thought of Lionardo da
Vinci's different processes as related by Lomazzo and
others ; he said they were " niente, niente." That he
(Lionardo) was always experimenting (" soffisticare "),
i De la Peinture a. l'Huile, p. 31.

cxxii INTRODUCTION. [chap. vi.
taking up his oils with little bits of cotton, and so on,
but the oil was of little consequence ,* that when Titian
was asked about his oil, he said, " If you have good oil,
you can make a good picture ; if you have bad oil, you
can still make a good picture."
He observed, " the Englishman Laurent (Sir T.
Lawrence) thought the secret consisted in wax ; but
before his death he discovered his error." He also
observed, "some use litharge and the oxides of lead
with their oils ; but nothing can be worse for the
pictures than oxides of lead, for they will always
darken the colours." Signor A. also remarked that
the difference between the methods of Titian and
Rubens consisted in the former glazing the whole
picture, while Rubens only glazed parts. The nu
merous sketches, however, left by Rubens, and the
testimony of various writers,1 show that Rubens painted
his pictures in a different manner, Rubens beginning
his pictures with rich browns, then the silver gray
shades, then the various flesh tints ; while, according
to Signor A., Titian began with the cold colours and
finished with the warm ; each attaining transparency by
a different road.
He also observed that the old painters never used a
mahl-stick on large pictures: that Rubens mentions
being obliged to have recourse to one in his old age
and in declining health.2 He allowed that the Dutch
used them on small easel pictures ;3 and he said that
the great painters used brushes with long handles, and
stood at a great distance from their pictures ;4 that the
1 Rubens' method of colouring is described at some length by Mr. East-
lake, ' Materials,' &c, 408, 409, 483, 494—508, 516—528.
2 If I am not mistaken, this fact is related by Rubens in one of his letters.
3 Cespides mentions a mahl-stick among the implements necessary for a
painter. See Pacheco, p. 395.
* This is said to have been the case with Velasquez, and in modern
times with our own Gainsborough. Vasari recommends lhat the cartoon
should be drawn with a piece of charcoal fixed into a long cane.

chap, vi.] PRACTICE OF THE OLD MASTERS. CXXiil
practice of keeping a youth drawing for years with
a hard point (a pencil) was very injurious to his pro
gress as a painter ; that he should be taught to draw
with his brush, which was flexible and elastic at the
point, and which gives freedom and facility of execu
tion ; and that there was no practice so good to form a
painter as fresco painting. He added, if a man is not
a good painter at the age of 18 or 20, he never will be,
because he will be too timid to work with proper
boldness. Signor A. called on me again, and I inquired fur
ther respecting the method of Titian. He told me
that Titian began by painting in the flesh in chiaro
scuro with a mixed tint, formed of biadetto, biacca, and
a very little terra rossa. He then painted the lights
with flesh colour, and laid by the picture to dry.
After 5 or 6 months he glazed the flesh with terra
rossa and let it dry. He then painted in the shades
transparently (that is, without any white in the sha^
dows), using a great deal of asphaltum with them.
Signor A. then stated that Titian always represented
his subjects surrounded by daylight, and reflected upon
by surrounding objects. He ah?o said that in a blue
drapery he painted the shades with lake, and then laid
on the lights [with white]. That these colours were
laid on with great body, and when dry he took a large
brush and spread the biadetto over the whole.1 Signor
A. also told me that the beautiful green used by the
Venetian painters was an artificial pigment formed of
copper and vitriol (he said he could not describe it
1 Sig. Palmaroli (note to Marcucci, p. 230 n.) states that he succeeded
in imitating certain blue tints in draperies by Titian and Paolo Veronese,
by drawing and painting the shadows very transparently with the usual
brown tint, broken with lake, next to these the blue tint composed of smal-
tino and a little verdigris. The lights were painted with white and ultra
marine and a little verdigris, and when dry the whole was glazed with
ultramarine mixed with varnish.

CX XIV

INTRODUCTION. [chap. vi.

more accurately because he did not understand che
mistry), called verde lavita, or verde vita, which was
sold so cheap that it might almost be said to be worth
nothing.1 He added, that all the colours used by the
Venetians were cheap and common ; but that they
were made valuable by their mode of using them. He
said, " You may use the biadetto as I have directed
you with all the Venetian impasto, but in two years
it will become green"2 (meaning to say it could only be
used with his vehicle, which he did not describe). I
said that in England painters mixed varnish with the
colours, and that the pictures cracked. He replied,
" that was because they painted with the colours mixed
with varnish before the under colours were dry ;" but,
he added, painters did not all adopt Titian's manner ;
some could paint a picture in four hours; Rubens
painted his Descent in nine days ; and painters could
so temper their colours that they could complete a
picture as fast as their hands could execute it; that
their vehicle gave them complete command over their
materials, and that every one added more or less of
" certe droghe " (certain drugs), according to their
convenience and manner of working.
Sig. A. has an accurate and most extensive know
ledge of all the writers on painting, and seems to know
every thing in these authors that bears on technical
points. He quoted passages from Vasari, Ridolfi,
Bellori, Zanetti, Guarienti's 'Abecedario,' &c.' I asked
him whether he knew anything of Errante's paintings
at Rome, and of the work he had written,3 the object
of which was to recommend the addition of ground
i The Venetians used "verde eterno," which is crystallised or puri
fied verdigris, sometimes called distilled verdigris.
2 It is well known that biadetto and other blues from copper cannot be
used with oil without turning green. See Palomino, vol. ii. p. 52. Paolo
Veronese frequently mixed them with size instead of oil. See Boschini,
Ricche Minere ; and Baldinucci, Vita di Paolo Veronese.
3 Saggio sui Colori, del Cav. D. Giuseppe Errante, Roma, 1817.

chap, vi.] PRACTICE OF THE OLD MASTERS. CXXV
rock-crystal and " smalti " to the colours. Sig. A.
replied, that it was " Niente, niente," and added, " see
what his pictures become in a few years." But he did
not explain in what respect the pictures had suffered.
Sig. A. showed me a picture by Bamboccio (Peter
Van Laer), and at the same time informed me he pos
sessed a black mirror which was used by this artist
in painting, and in which the subject was reflected,
" exactly," he said, " like a Flemish landscape ;" " and
then," he added, " they had onlyto paint what they
saw in the mirror."1 This mirror was bequeathed by
Bamboccio to Gaspar Poussin ; by the latter to some
other painter, until it ultimately came into the hands
of Sig. A. v
In order to prevent insects from eating the panels,
Sig. A. stated that roche-alum should be mixed with
the grounds. He also told me that to destroy the
insects which had already got into the wood or ground of
pictures, some assafoetida and sulphur should be burnt
in an open vessel, over which the back of the picture
should be placed at a proper distance ; the whole should
be then covered in, so as to enclose the smoke arising
from these ingredients, which will effectually destroy
the insects. The picture may afterwards be washed, if
necessary, but the sulphur will not injure the painting.
Assafoetida and garlic were both used by the old
masters for these purposes.2
Sig A. thinks the old masters used madder-lake, and
that they burned it to make it darker.
Verona. — We breakfasted this morning with Count
-, who had invited an artist, principally employed

in restoring pictures, to meet us. Among other things
this artist said that ultramarine was the only blue pig-
1 See Du Fresnoy, de Arte Graphica, 1. 286, and the Commentary of
De Piles.
2 See Pacheco, Tratado, p. 382, &c. Palomino, vol. ii. p. 49.

cxxvi INTRODUCTION. [chap. vi.
ment used by the old masters. That they did not use
red-lead, but other colours mixed to imitate it; that
the Venetians used cochineal lakes. That if they laid
oil upon oil,1 they waited a year between each painting.
That there are few painters who have painted so many
times over their pictures as Titian ; that he did not
apply asphaltum over the surface of the picture, but that
he used a yellow varnish ; that the old masters did not
use oil-varnish in painting; that if new pictures were
exposed to the sun they would crack to a certainty,
unless they were previously wetted, when the process
might be repeated several times. (This reminds me of
what I had been previously told about exposing pictures
to the dew as well as to the sun.) That the canvass
was never primed on both sides. He stated that he
had found on a picture of Titian's a coat of thin gesso,
then a coat of very strong glue, made from pig's-skin,
very hard and shining, upon which the picture was
painted.2 I inquired whether the plan described by
Sig. A., of getting in the chiaro-scuro with a blueish
tint, was that of Titian ? He said it was not. That
he painted his pictures first with colours of great body,
and then finished with glazings. Sig. A. also said he
painted his colours with great body at first. This artist
mentioned a kind of strong glue called crocante, the
nature of which I have not been able to ascertain.
He prepared his linseed-oil first by straining it; he
then put white-lead into a sieve and filtered the oil
through it, when all impurities remained behind in the
lead, but he never boiled it. He always found that
Guimet's ultramarine, mixed with this oil, turned black.
i To understand this expression, it is necessary to state that I had been
previously informed that the Venetians painted the solid colours at once
with oil, and finished with varnish, so that one layer of colour mixed with
oil was not laid on another.
2 That this coat of hard glue is frequently laid between the ground and
the picture is proved by Edwards's Report, p. 888. This glue rendered
the ground non-absorbent, of which he did not approve.

chap, vi.] PRACTICE OF THE OLD MASTERS. cxxvu
Venice. — I was introduced to Sig. B., an artist
who had been long employed in restoring the public
pictures. He had then just dead-coloured a copy he
was making of a picture by Gian Bellino. The dead-
colouring of the flesh was not so blue in the shades as
Sig. A.'s. There was more red with it ; indeed the
dead-colouring seemed conducted exactly in the same
manner as I have seen it done by artists in England
The blue drapery was dead-coloured with bleu de
Berlin. The following is a summary of the information
I obtained from this artist.
1. The grounds consisted of nothing but gesso and
glue, which absorbed the superfluous oil.
2. The dead-colouring was always painted with cold
colours, the lights white, and the shades warm;1 you
may then make your picture any thing you please.
3. The warm colours were always glazed, over the
more solid tints.
4. The vehicle he used for every part of the picture
was linseed-oil, boiled on litharge, which was of a high
colour, indeed almost black, and which he purchased in
bottles imported from Germany. He also showed me
another bottle containing linseed-oil thickened in the
sun, and mixed with litharge ; more than half the con
tents of this last bottle was a black sediment. He said
he required nothing thinner to dilute the colours ; he
never used spirit of turpentine or varnish in painting.
He used bladder-colours. The lake he mixed with his
boiled oil, and it stood up on the palette, and when put
on his nail did not flow. He said he exposed his
pictures to the sun after every process of painting ; that
this never occasioned their cracking, and that he did
not wet them before exposing them to the sun. He
paints on the plan always observed in the Venetian
1 The first shades in the picture he was copying were painted in cold
colours. He must have meant that the shades when finished were to be
warm.

cxxviii INTRODUCTION. [chap, vl
school. He does not know the Flemish method, or
that of Rubens. He knows that his own method is
that pursued by the Venetians, from the frequent
opportunities he has had of observation when cleaning
their pictures. Sig. B. said that Titian did put red
shades under his blue draperies.1 He also said, " If
you paint your half tints cold, your shades warm,
and your lights white, you may glaze your picture
to whatever tone you like."
Sig. B. observed that the Venetians used little
besides earths, and never orpiment; but that the
modern Romans use it in great quantity.
There was a most beautiful deep lake-coloured
drapery in an old picture in the room where he was
painting. I asked with what colour was that done?
He shook his head, and said he did not know, but that
the dead-colouring was done with much white, and
when dry it was glazed with lake until it was suffi
ciently dark.
I asked why in old pictures the darks were always
raised higher than the lights ? He said it was because
the painters went over them a great many times. I
remarked that the blues are always more in relief than
any other colour. In this he agreed, but assigned no
further reason. His knowledge seemed entirely practi
cal, and his practice derived from his restorations of
old pictures. He said Titian used asphaltum, and
that blue draperies were glazed with ultramarine.
Sig. C, another artist, who had been frequently
employed during the last thirty years in restoring the
public pictures at Venice, informed me that Titian
generally painted on a ground of glue and gesso, but
great care was necessary, when this ground was used on
canvass, to make it soft and pliant ; the best means of

1 See p. cxxiii., cxxix.

chap, vi.] PRACTICE OF THE OLD MASTERS. CXX1X
securing this was to add some milk to the glue and
gesso. That the use of this gesso ground was to absorb
the superfluous oil.
He also observed, that Titian sometimes used a
ground composed of terra rossa, with oil. That he
laid in the subject in the natural colours, or as nearly
as he could to nature, only much fainter, and thin of
colour, and when dry painted in the colours more
solidly; but that he always painted the shades cold.
He then put the picture by for a year, and corrected
it by glazing. That Titian generally used nothing but
oil ; that he sometimes went seven, eight, or nine times
over the same part,1 with oil glazings, which is the
reason why his paintings become more yellow than
others ; that he sometimes glazed with varnish. That
he did not put red under the shades of his blue
draperies ; but that when this appearance was perceived
it arose from his having used a red ground, and when
the blue became thin by being rubbed off, the red
ground appeared through. That the blue used formerly
was called " Turchino," that it may still be purchased,
that some old painters still use it, and that it is very
apt to turn green. I mentioned that Baldinucci said
that Paul Veronese laid on the blue in distemper. He
said it was the fact, and that many restorers did not
*know it until they found it out by taking off the colour
unintentionally in cleaning it. That some of Paul
Veronese's blues turned green; but those that best
retained their colour were found to have been painted
in distemper.
Sig. C. observed that Titian and Paul Veronese both
painted " con colori di corpo," that they suffered the
colours to dry thoroughly before they painted on them
again, and this hard, dry body of colours enabled them
to apply the glazings and sfregazzi.2
1 See Zanetti, della Pittura Veneziana, p. 102. 2 See note, p. 879.
VOL. I. i

cxxx INTRODUCTION. [chap. vi.
That the brilliant reds were obtained by glazing lake
over terra rossa ; that the terra rossa they had formerly
is now lost ; that the best is now brought from Spain.1
That for a green drapery, Titian began with terra
verde, with, perhaps, giallolino for the lights. When
dry he glazed the whole with verdigris, and the shades
with asphaltum ; both these colours might be rubbed in
with the hand. Sometimes he glazed with asphaltum
without the verdigris, when he required a warm rich green.
That asphaltum could be easily dissolved for use in
spirit of turpentine.
That litharge mixed with oils was very bad for the
picture ; and that it corroded the paint, as well as
darkened the colours.
I saw Sig. C. on the following day, when I again
cross-examined him. The following is the substance of
the replies elicited : —
That he had never heard of mixing powdered glass
with oil or colours.
That he had heard of encaustic painting, but not of
mixing wax with oil.
That he had never heard of dissolving resins in oil,
and thus making an oil varnish.2
1 I am inclined to believe that the red earth, called sinopia, was a finer
colour than any of the iron ores now in use as pigments. I have frequently
noticed a red of this description on old mural paintings in Italy, and I have
also seen specimens of a fine red colour in a dry state in a volume of draw
ings by Lionardo da Vinci, in the possession of Sig. G. Vallardi, at Milan.
Some of these drawings had been executed on the paper of which the
books used for keeping leaf gold were made. Before the gold was laid in
these books, the leaves were rubbed over with dry sinopia, as we read in
Theophilus (lib. i. cap. 24), and the above instance proves that the custom
was continued in Italy at least until the time of Lionardo da Vinci.
2 As far as I could ascertain, oleo-resinous varnishes are not only obsolete
in the north of Italy, but they appear to be almost entirely forgotten.
When living artists mentioned the colours being mixed with oil and varnish,
they always alluded to the mixture of an essential oil-varnish with linseed
or nut-oil. In one instance only had I reason to think an oleo-resinous var
nish was habitually employed by a living artist.

chap, vi.] PRACTICE OF THE OLD MASTERS. CXXXl
That he had never heard of placing pictures in the
sun, unless it was for the purpose of cracking a new
picture to make it look like an old one.
That the reason why old pictures cannot be repaired
with oil colours, is that the oil in the old picture has
undergone all its changes, that the new tints are made
to match the old with oil that will change ; and when
this change takes place the colours darken, and cease
to match the old paint.
That all restorations are now done with colours mixed
with varnish ; that Sig. Pietro Edwards was the first
who introduced this practice.
Sig. C. then remarked that the reason why spirit of
wine dissolved old oil paintings, and not new ones
painted entirely in oil, was because the greater part of
the oil was dried up, and no more remained in the
picture than was sufficient to hold the paint together.
In other words, that the oil of the old picture was con
verted into a resin, and, like other resins, was soluble
in spirit of wine.
That the Venetians did not paint on gold grounds
after the time of Titian.
That the Venetians sometimes laid a coat of white-
lead and oil over the gesso ground.
With regard to the use of ultramarine, he observed
that it was occasionally used by the Venetians, chiefly
on easel pictures. That as this colour was a stone, and
not a metal, it never changed colour ; but that if used
with oil, in time the oil would dry and leave it, and
the colour would come off in powder. That it should
be used in distemper, and then it would last ; that all
those painters whose blues have stood, have applied
them in distemper. — -—
He also stated that the Jake used by the Venetian
painters was called " Lacca di Cambaneri o di Ver-
zino j"1 that it may still be purchased at Venice ; that
1 If this lake was made of verzino, it should probably have been called
" Lacca Colombina." % 2

cxxxii INTRODUCTION. [chap. vi.
it was always glazed, and used with varnish ; that it will
not stand with oil. That the blue tinge of the lake in
old pictures was occasioned by adding blue to the lake.
That the Venetians and Titian glazed with varnish.
That red-lead might be used with boiled oil, because
as the oil was already oxidised to the highest degree, it
would not de-oxidise the red-lead (deut-oxide of lead),
which would therefore not change.
He said also that Paolo Veronese had originally
glazed his red-leads with giallolino, which had been re
moved in cleaning ; and that the rich bright yellow colour
I had noticed in P. Veronese's picture was gamboge.
That the Venetians of the present day make great
use of madder-lake ; and that the old Venetian school
also possessed this pigment, because the madder-plant
grows in the neighbourhood of Venice.1
Sig. C. also informed me that Titian glazed much
with asphaltum, and that in glazing he used an essential
oil varnish, such as aqua di ragia.2
He stated also, that the very fine hair-like cracks in
old pictures were the effect of time only.3
He mentioned that distemper was frequently em
ployed on early oil-pictures, particularly on parts that
it was feared would turn yellow, such as white linen.
With regard to the method of Titian, he observed
that Titian always softened the shades of flesh with his
fingers ; and that he used sometimes nut-oil, and some
times linseed-oil, and sometimes both together; but
that linseed-oil was the best, because the nut-oil soon
became rancid, and when mixed with the colours under
went a sort of fermentation.
1 This reasoning is not conclusive, and it is probable that the Venetian
madder was not the best, since in 1565 madder was imported for dyeing by
the Venetians from Flanders, under the name of "robbia o vero roza di
Fiandra." See ' Libro intitolato Plicto,' Venezia, 1565.
2 If this be true, whence arise the wrinkles so frequently observed on
Titian's pictures, which can only take place on the tough surface of the oil ?
3 If so, why do not those of Van Eyck, Lucas Van Leyden, Hamme-
link, Antonello da Messina, Francesco Francia, and others of that period
crack also ?

chap, vi.] PRACTICE OF, THE OLD MASTERS. CXXXlll
From what this gentleman said I collect that he
deems the rapid drying of the vehicle to be of the first
importance to the permanence of the colours, which
were not likely to change when once dry, and that it is
better to use a dark-coloured oil which will not change
than any of a lighter colour which will change.
Sig. D., an eminent artist, called on me this evening
for the purpose of describing the methods of painting
practised by Titian and others of the Venetian school.
He began by stating that the only artists to be con
sidered as examples in the mechanical part of the art
are Gian Bellino, Giorgione, Titian, Bonifazio, and the
two Bassans. That the decline of the art is to be
attributed to Tintoretto, who, to save expense, used
bad colours in his immense pictures, and to Palma
Giovane. The following was the plan generally adopted by
the first-mentioned artists : —
The grounds were made with gesso and a very thin
glue ; sometimes a little black was added to this by
Gian Bellino and others. Over this one or two coats
of glue were applied to prevent the ground being too
absorbent. The glue was made of parings of leather.
An analysis of some pictures by Gian Bellino
showed they were painted in the following manner and
order : —
The ground as above.
Then the outline with ink.
The chiaroscuro painted very thin with brown.
Then the first flesh colour, very rosy, the colour
being spread thin.
Second coat of flesh colour made browner, with more
yellow, also very thin.
Third coat thin, and with more white, to match the
complexion.

CXXX1V

INTRODUCTION. [chap. vi.

This manner of painting keeps the flesh light and
clear, because it permits the white grounds and the
rosy tints to be seen through.1
These colours are all mixed with oil, but the coats
of paint being so thin, the colours dry quickly and hard
before the oil has had time to become rancid.
The flesh was finished with glazings of asphaltum.
Draperies. — The lights and shades strongly con
trasted, the lights pure white or nearly so.
The darks consisted of the pure colour.
Then the glazings with the local transparent colours.
The whole figure, drapery, &c, finished with glazings
of asphaltum and terra di Cologna,2 not much burnt.
Asphaltum was mixed with olio di sasso (naphtha)
or spirit of turpentine.
No part of paintings in oil was executed in distemper.
Titian generally began his pictures like Gian Bellino,
but instead of painting the flesh three times only, he
painted over it four, five, or six times ; consequently
the ground would not absorb all the superfluous oil,
which rose to the top and darkened the picture.
That he frequently laid on the paint with his fingers.
That he did not paint with a thick coat of colour,
but always used his colours thin, for the reason given
above. That he frequently covered the whole picture except
the white linen with asphaltum.
He painted no part in distemper.
Bonifazio glazed more than any of the others.
Giorgione began like Gian Bellino and Titian. Did
not lay in any part of the picture with distemper.
Paolo Veronese painted generally alia prima with
*
1 As to the lights in early oil paintings being semi- opaque, see Mr. East-
lake's ' Materials,' &c, p. 408.
2 I am not aware that Cologne earth is mentioned in Italian works, at
least previous to the 17th century. The colour might have been terra di
Campagna.

chap, vi.] PRACTICE OF THE OLD MASTERS. CXXXV
more body than Titian (whose patience he appeared to
want), so that the finished picture was little more than
the abbozzo ; that is, that he painted up his picture at
once. That he did not employ distemper on his pictures ;
but with regard to the appearance of distemper ob
served on his pictures, it had been remarked that the
pictures in the churches in Venice that had hung on
south walls for a great many years had the appearance
of tempera paintings because the sun Imd dried up all
the oil, and that the colours of these pictures would
wash off with water.
That the old Venetians always exposed their pictures
to the sun, and the dew even, for five or six months, in
order to prevent their becoming yellow ; that he himself
had always done this, and without the least injury to
his pictures.
That he had never found glue, &c, between the pic
ture and the varnish in old pictures, but that this was
the modern practice, because the varnish spread and
adhered better on the glue than on the oil.
He said also that Damara varnish has been found in
old pictures, and not mastic, which is modern.1
That varnish is found mixed with the paint and oil
in old pictures.
That he had never heard of colours having been
mixed with vernice liquida, as described by Cane-
parius,2 and thinks this practice must have been intro
duced after the decline of the art.
Sig. D. also mentioned that Chilone, an old painter
who died about seven or eight years ago, was acquainted
with Canal and Canaletto, and that he had told Sig. D.
that these artists used oil boiled on litharge, and re-
1 It is almost unnecessary to remark that mastic was used by the old
masters, and that Damara resin appears to be only recently introduced.
2 Canepario was a Venetian physician. His work, De Atramentis, was
published in London in 1660.

cxxxvi

INTRODUCTION. [chap. vi.

commended him to use it also, and that they frequently
spread it over the whole picture.
That mastic varnish was sure to crack if used in
painting pictures, but that Damara varnish was not so
strong and would not crack.
The reason the darks stood higher than the lights on
old pictures was because the painter went over them so
often, and generally mixed varnish with them.
He said the oil always rose to the surface ofthe
picture and dried dark; that they (the restorers of
pictures) take off this crust of oil with potash.
That the green used by the Venetians was verd'
eterno, and when used with oil the surface turns black ;
that when cleaning pictures the crust is scraped off and
the green beneath is found as fine a colour as ever.
He told me also that he had made experiments by
taking off some of the colours with a knife, and had
had them analysed by a very skilful chemist (now
dead). The following are the colours he has found on Vene
tian pictures of the best period : —
White-lead, yellow, red, and other earths, ultra
marine, native cinnabar,1 cinabro d'Ollanda, verd'
eterno, Cologne earth, asphaltum, lakes of kermes and
madder ; Naples yellow, very seldom used ; orpiment,
used by Bonifazio only; red-lead, very seldom used,
and always with varnish ; biadetto and verzino lake,
used by Tintoretto only ; verd' eterno and lake, always
laid on with varnish.
Sig. D. stated that he had found no blue but ultra
marine, and the reason this colour was raised so much
above the surface of the pictures on draperies was that
it was used very thick, because as it was coarsely
ground it would otherwise look granular and show the
white through.
1 Piobably the hard red haematite, which was called " cinabro minerale"
by the Italians.

chap, vi.] PRACTICE OF THE OLD MASTERS. CXXXV11
With regard to the grinding of the colours, he ob
served that the Venetians did not grind their colours
fine, and that he has often picked out large grains of
different colours which he has had analysed.
As to the propriety of early varnishing, he said
that the Venetians did not varnish their pictures
soon after finishing if they could avoid it, but that
early varnishing was safer where the coats of colour
had been thin than where they were laid on in great
body. He also remarked that many Venetian pictures which
had hung in churches on northern walls had been
destroyed by damp,1 while those on south walls had,
by the drying away of the oil, assumed the appearance
of paintings in distemper.
In reply to my inquiry how he had ascertained the
number of the coats of colour on pictures, he replied,
" By taking them off one after another with a knife."
Sig. D. told me he generally used fresh linseed-oil
unboiled; that he had once filtered the oil through
animal charcoal, but that this rendered it too thin.
The only preparation he used habitually was to filter
the oil through four or five sheets of paper.
In consequence of what Sig. D. told me concerning
the painting of Paolo, I inquired of Sig. C. whether
colla (glue or size) had ever been found on the pictures
of Paolo : he said, " Yes, certainly." But he did not
know that it had been found on the oil-paintings of any
other person.2
Having frequently observed in Paolo's pictures at
1 Extraordinary precautions were sometimes taken at Venice to defend
oil-paintings from damp. See p. 880, n.
2 See Orsini, Elogio e Memorie di Pietro Perugino, 208, n., where it is
stated that the blue in a picture by this artist at Montone was tempered
with flour-paste, or starch (colla di farina). A part of Van Eyck's cele
brated altar-piece at Ghent was painted in distemper. This discovery was
made accidentally by some ignorant painters washing off the colour in clean
ing it. See also Pacheco, Tratado de la Pintura, p. 373.

Cxxxvm INTRODUCTION. [chap, vi,
Venice that the colour appears laid on at once, the
dark threads of the canvass being visible on great part
of the picture without any appearance of a ground, I
inquired the reason of this appearance, and why the
white threads of the canvass should appear black. Sig.
C. told me it was because Paolo frequently painted
without any other ground than a little colla, just suffi
cient to bind the loose downy threads of the canvass
and enable the brush to move freely ; that this being
absorbent the oil soaked into the canvass and turned it
black, or nearly so.
It will perhaps be recollected that Pozzo, the Jesuit,
generally painted without a ground, for he said the
gesso caused the colours to change.1 Callot, the Vene
tian, painted on the same kind of ground.
I mentioned having been informed that Titian had
begun his pictures in chiaroscuro, and alluded to his
early picture in the gallery Manfrin ; but Sig. C. would
not allow that it was painted in this manner, and he
denied that Titian ever began his pictures in this way,
but that he always laid in the abbozzo with the local
colours, but very thinly and light in colour. In support
of his opinion Sig. C. said there was an unfinished pic
ture by Titian at Udine, in which part ofthe abbozzo
may still be seen, having never been covered over.
The S. Sebastian in the Barbarigo palace is another
example by Titian of an abbozzo in his last manner.
From the passage in Paolo Pino's Dialogue it appears
that the practice of beginning pictures in chiaroscuro
with brown was discontinued some time previous to
1548, the date of Pino's work. The probability is that
Titian painted in his youth in the Flemish manner, but
that he afterwards changed »it to that usually ascribed
to him.
In the Manfrini gallery is a picture said to have been
painted by Titian when he was only sixteen years of
1 See Lanzi, vol. ii. p. 228.

chap, vi.] PRACTICE OF THE OLD MASTERS. cxxxix
age. This picture is evidently painted in the manner
described by Sig. D., that is, the chiaroscuro with
brown and the flesh colours upon this ; the lights of the
draperies are white, and the local colours glazed over it
when dry : this is seen where the lake has been nearly
all rubbed off.
I inquired of Sig. C. whether he had found the de
scription given by Boschini 1 of Tintoretto's method of
painting correct. He replied that Tintoretto did not
begin his pictures in chiaroscuro, but that he made the
sketch in water-colours in chiaroscuro, and then oiled
it ; and when it was dry he painted in the local colours
with oil. Several of these sketches, he told me, were
in the possession of Sig. Bernardino Corniani.
I inquired of Sig. C. whether it was true that pic«
tures which had been hung for a very long period of
time (say 100 or 200 years) on a south wall were
found in a different state from those which had hung on
other walls. He answered " Yes : those which have
been hung on north walls are always found destroyed
by the damp, or at least much injured ; because the
damp dissolves the glue of the ground and the picture
scales off, while those on the south walls are always
found dried up and burnt from the effects of the sun."
I also inquired his authority for saying that colours
were frequently mixed with milk ; he replied, " It is
an old tradition ; milk was much used by the ancients,
and is mentioned by Pliny."
Another day I observed to the same professor, if
the Venetians always required so long a period for
their colours to dry before they laid on another coat of
paint, how could those pictures be painted that were
said to be executed in so short a time ? He replied
1 SeeRicche Minere. Boschini, speaking of Tintoretto, says, " Abboz-
zava il quadro tiitto di chiaroscuro, havendo sempre oggetto principale di
concertare tutta la massa come s' e detto," &c.

Cxi INTRODUCTION. [chap. vi.
that Tintoretto had painted his Crucifixion entirely in
twelve days, but that he had painted it up at once,
without touching the same part twice, consequently
without glazing. I asked whether this picture was in
good preservation ; his answer was " Benone " (excel
lent). Sig. C. told me also this picture was painted
on a ground of flour-paste.1
Signor C. told me it had been found that Paolo
Veronese's pictures were painted in the following man
ner and order : —
A ground of gesso.
The abbozzo.
The solid painting with colours mixed with oil.
• A light coat of varnish.
Then the blues, vermilions, red lead, and white
linen (biancheria), as well as the vermilion tints in
flesh, were laid on in distemper, and over the whole
picture, was a coat of varnish. He added, the tints in
distemper were so firmly united, that they would
sometimes bear washing twice without being disturbed,
and that the restorers were ignorant of the manner in
which they were painted, until, having removed the
varnish, they found the colours soluble in water.
I asked, how could the distemper colours be made
to adhere upon oil colours ? He said the distemper
colours mixed with size and milk, adhered firmly to
the thin coat of varnish, before mentioned.
Signor C. also said that Paolo used a general tint,
composed of Cologne earth, or some other brown pig
ment, a little white lead, a little blue, and a very little
terra rossa, which he spread thinly over the shadows,
1 " La prontezza xe meterse davanti
Una gran tela, e de farina propia
Tamisar, e impastar figure in copia,
E senza natural, far casi tanti."
Boschini, La Carta del Navegar, p. 339.

chap, vi.] PRACTICE OF THE OLD MASTERS. cxli
(which had been previously prepared with a grey tint,)
sometimes a velatura, sometimes a sfregazzo, and that
he used this tint on every part of the picture, even on
the heads.1
Speaking one day of the hardness of the old pic
tures, that when tried with the file, they scaled off, and
presented almost a glassy surface, Signor C. said he
had experienced this, but attributed it merely to the
viscous nature of the oil, and the varnish with which
it was mixed.
He also told me the pictures of Cima da Conegliano
were painted with solid colours in a light key, and that
the shades were laid on transparently with asphaltum.
This also was discovered in the cleaning of his pictures ;
when the varnish was removed, the shades came away
with it.2
Signor C. stated that the colour so much used by
Titian in shading was not, as is generally supposed,
terra rossa, but terra di Siena, burnt to different shades
of colour, from yellowish brown to almost black.
I asked whether Titian had painted in tempera on
his oil-paintings? Signor C. said No; Paolo Veronese
being aware that oil darkened the colours, had employed
tempera : but he did not know of any other who had
done so. I inquired whether Paolo glazed much ?
He answered, " Very little, and in the shades only."
Did he use asphaltum ? No, not that he was aware
of. But Tintoretto used it extensively, and some few
used mommia, but it was not generally approved of.
With regard to the use of oil, Signor C. said that
Titian had used more oil than other artists of the same
period ; that he frequently glazed with oil, although he
sometimes used varnish.
1 See Zanetti, della Pittura Veneziana, p. 164.
2 I observed that the blue draperies in the pictures of Tintoretto in the
Scuola of S. Rocco were painted with a flat and uniform tint of colour, and
that the shades had all disappeared, probably in cleaning.

cxlii INTRODUCTION. [chap. vi.
He again mentioned that the Venetian school used
little beside earths, and as few metallic colours as pos
sible ; and that the latter were used with varnish, except
by Paolo Veronese, who applied them in distemper.
Speaking, again, of the practice of Titian, he ob
served he lived to a great age, and had time to im
prove, and he changed his methods several times ; but
those pictures best retain their colour which he painted
in the manner of Gio. Bellino ; he added, also, he had
seen one picture by Titian the colours of which were
very brilliant, and this was painted on a ground of
terra rossa; and he added, "I think the terra rossa
was laid on in distemper." He mentioned that this
picture was on a ceiling.
Signor C. observed it was the same with Giorgione
as with Titian; his early pictures were bright and
clear, but the later ones were dark. He said that he
had seen some pictures by the former as dark as could
be. The same remark applied to Tintoretto ; but he
said Gian Bellino 's were always transparent and
bright.1 Signor C. seemed to know nothing of the
manner in which these pictures were painted; indeed
he told me Gian Bellino did not begin his pictures in
chiaroscuro. I then showed him the passage in Paolo
Pino's 'Dialogue,'2 " disegnare le tavole con tanta
estrema diligenza, componendo il tutto di chiaro et
scuro, come usava Giovan. Bellino, perche e fatica
gettata, havendosi a. coprire il tutto con li colori," &c.
Signor C. said this method was practised by the
Roman school ; but the . restorers in the Venetian
territories seem to know little or nothing of the prac
tice of any but the Venetian school.
I called the attention of Signor C. to some passages
in the Marquis Selvatico's work,3 treating of the prac
tice of oil-painting, where it is observed that the coat
i See Boschini, Ricche Minere. 2 Dialogo di Pittura, fo. 16.
3 ' Sull' Educatione del Pittore storico odierno Italiano,' Padova, 1842.

chap, vi.] PRACTICE OF THE OLD MASTERS. cxliii
of glue and gesso on the panels was, from the begin
ning to the end of the sixteenth century, covered with
a coat of boiled oil. I asked, had he observed this ?
He replied he had frequently ; but he always added the
ground should be very absorbent to get rid of the oil.
He observed Titian never used white lead in the
grounds. He also mentioned that Paolo Veronese
always laid in the abbozzo with very little colour, so
that only a faint impression of the colours should be
left ; and if the colour was too deep, that it was some
times the practice to rub it down with pumice stone.
On this abbozzo he laid the local colours solidly, but he
seldom repeated his colours, or employed glazings;
that many coats of paint were never found on any part
of his pictures. In this respect his manner was en
tirely opposed to that of Titian, on whose pictures they
frequently found seven, eight, or nine coats of colour.
Returning again to the subject of painting parts of
the picture in tempera, Signor C. said that he had
found the blue painted with varnish only, and that he
had been assured that it was frequently painted in
distemper, and that in this case there was no oil paint
under it, but that where the skies in Paolo's pictures had
turned green, they had been found to be painted in oil.
Speaking again of the old method, and of the dif
ferent practice of modern artists in restoring pictures,
Signor C. observed, " I think we have lost something.
Every artist restores in his own way, and the present
method of. painting is very bad, much worse than it
was in the last century." He added, that in restoring
he had used oil with a small quantity of thin mastic
varnish, in which a little honey was put, and that this
had cracked less than other vehicles.
Signor C. said it was an error to paint with the
colours too dry} That this was the case with the
1 See Requeno, Saggi sul Ristabilimentosdell' Antica Arte de' Greci
e Romani, vol. i. p. 163. *

cxliv INTRODUCTION. [chap. vi.
beautiful copy by Baroccio of Raphael's Transfigu
ration. When this picture was lined, the person en
trusted with it neglected to secure the face of the
picture by pasting paper over it ; the consequence was,
that when they attempted to raise the picture after
lining it, they found that, by wetting the back in order
to fix the new canvass, they had dissolved the ground,
and that the picture, which had become very dry, was
detached from it, and had dropped to pieces, and that
it could never be put together again properly.
He also told me that when he had been painting
with oil, and had found the oil penetrate through the
gesso ground, he had laid glue and gesso on the back
of that part where the oil had soaked through to absorb
it,1 and when that was saturated, he had scraped it off,
and had laid on fresh gesso, and had repeated the
operation until all the superfluous oil was absorbed ;
but this was only in cases where he had found it neces
sary to repeat the coats of oil colour. Everything
shows that the Venetians endeavoured to use as little
oil as possible.
Signor C. observed that another cause of the dark
ening of pictures has been the excessive use of asphal
tum and mummy; that many used them as solid
colours (di corpo), whereas they should be used in.
glazing only, and very thin, and that they should be
mixed with varnish only, and should not be ground
with oil or spirit of turpentine. He said, also, that
he believed mastic was not much used by the Italians
of the time of Titian, and that those who had analysed
Venetian pictures had never found wax in them.
He also observed that Paolo never painted the
abbozzo with colours tempered with water, and that yolk
1 Merimee (de la Peinture ii l'Huile, p. 31) mentions having seen a
picture by Sir Joshua Reynolds, in which the latter had employed a similar
contrivance to get rid of the superfluous oil, where he had found it neces
sary to repaint the head.

chap, vr.] PRACTICE OF THE OLD MASTERS. cxlv
of egg had not been found on his pictures ; that the
tempera vehicle used by Paolo consisted of animal glue.
Signor C. showed me a picture painted with boiled
oil which had not been varnished. I inquired how the
glossy surface was produced ? he replied, "by polishing
it with a soft cloth."
I saw this morning Signor E., an artist who had
restored some pictures by Paolo Veronese. He told
me his plan, formed from observation of Titian's
pictures, is to lay on the canvass a thin ground of gesso
and glue, made of the primings of leather ; over this
he spreads a coat of colour mixed with oil (the colour
is drab, made, I should think, of a little umber, white,
and a little black). The gesso ground absorbs the oil,
which makes the back of the canvass quite yellow. On
this ground the artist paints the whole picture with solid
colours, mixed with raw linseed oil, without any glaz
ings. He says that glazings are never permanent, and
that nothing can make them so ; and as a proof, he
told me there were in a certain palace several pictures
by Titian, which had always been covered by glasses.
That he was present when the glasses were removed for
the first time ; when, to the surprise of every one
present, the glazings were found to have evaporated
from the pictures, and to have adhered to the inside of
the glass. I considered this incredible, and it certainly
appears to require proof, although it must be recol
lected that Lionardo da Vinci says, " II verde fatto
dai rame, ancorche tal color sia messo a olio, se ne va
in fumo," &c. If the colour evaporated from the pic
ture, it would certainly be retained by the glass ; and
this artist distinctly said that all the glazings were fixed
on the inside of the glass, exactly above the painting,
and that the effect of the different colours on the glass
was very singular. From that time, he added, that he
had left off glazing his pictures.
vol. I. k

cxlvi INTRODUCTION. [chap. vi.
The same gentleman informed me that he had never
found any colours in distemper on Titian's paintings ;
and that what people took for tempera painting on the
pictures of Paolo Veronese was not really so, but was
done in the following manner : —
The first painting was executed with colours mixed
with oil, and the part to be painted oh with metallic
colours (or with such as darken with oil) was left to dry
until it was tacky; the metallic colours were then
applied, mixed with water only. The water evapo
rated, and the oil left on the picture in the first
painting was sufficient to bind the upper layer of
colours firmly to the picture.

Of the Grounds used by some of the principal Painters of Bologna.
[A communication from an eminent liner of pictures in that city.]
Panels were formerly prepared with gesso only,
applied with the pencil in the same manner as is done
by gilders ; after this, the panels received a coat of
glue or oil to prevent the colours from sinking in. In
this way Francesco Francia prepared his panels, and
Samacchini,1 Sabbatini,2 and Tibaldi 3 both their panels
and canvass. Then came the Carracci. Ludovico4
used no other priming than a thin coat of white lead
and ochre mixed with oil, sufficiently thick to ensure a
smooth surface, and he employed this priming as a
shadow colour, which we know too well was the cause
of the great change observable in his pictures. But
Ludovico Carracci was not sufficiently remunerated for
his pictures to enable him to incur great expenses in
the priming. Annibale, his cousin, sometimes em
ployed successfully on canvass, " creta," 5 mixed with
i He died in 1577, aged 45.
2 Also called Andrea di Salerno, was born about 1480, and died about 1545.
s Called also Pellegrini da Bologna, was born in 1527, died 1591.
4 Born 1555, died 1619.
s Is this "creta" the same as "gesso Bolognese?"

chap, vi.] PRACTICE OF THE OLD MASTERS. cxlvii
white lead. Instead of " creta," Guercino generally
adopted in his early pictures a thin priming of marble
dust and size, and his pictures are thought to owe much
of their brilliancy to this circumstance. In his second
manner, the priming was thicker. When lining Guer-
cino's pictures, it is generally found necessary to
remove the ground as well as the canvass. The ground
sometimes appears to be composed of hard and gritty
terra rossa, and which is thought to have been procured
outside the Porta Castiglione at Bologna. Grounds
are now prepared extremely well at Bologna and at
Rome. The canvass is all the produce of Bologna,
which province produces hemp of the finest quality.
The most durable and unchangeable pictures are
stated to be those painted on gesso. In the eighteenth
century coarse open canvass, the holes of which were
filled up with strong glue, was introduced; pictures
painted on these canvasses were not durable, for in
time the colours scaled off.
The following particulars relative to the method of
painting in oil as practised by the Parmasan School
were communicated to me by a distinguished painter
of Parma : —
1st. That gesso grounds were used.
2nd. That neither size nor varnish was laid over this
ground, which was suffered to absorb the oil.
3rd. That the picture was begun in chiaroscuro.
4th. That the first colours were painted with raw nut
oil. 5 th. That in the glazings and retouchings varnish
was used.
I was informed that a professor of that city had
devoted much time and attention to the study of the
good method of oil-painting, and that he knew more
about it than any other person.
The professor had been suffering from illness ; but at
z. o

cxlviii INTRODUCTION. [chap. vi.
the request of the Cav. Pezzana, of the Ducal Library
at Parma, he kindly permitted us to pay him a short
visit. He perfectly recollected having sent a bottle of
varnish to an English artist, and he said that the reason
he had not written to him was because he had lost the
use of his hand, and could not write legibly ; that he had
written out the recipe for some person, but that it proved
useless, for the varnish could not be made from this
recipe on account of the difficulty of the manipulation. *
I asked, could he tell me the ingredients ? He said it
consisted of amber in the natural state, and the higher
coloured the better, dissolved in oil of spike, and this
was rendered slower in drying by the addition of oil
(balsam) of copaiba.
I immediately inquired whether he had found any
document showing it was used by Correggio ?
He said No ; it was the result of his own observation
and study.
I asked whether he had ever analysed any of Cor
reggio's pictures ?
He replied without hesitation, No, no ; and as I saw
it was painful to him to talk, I took my leave.
On my return to the library, I was told that the
professor had analysed parts of pictures by Raphael,
and had found amber.
In one respect my informant was probably mistaken,
— namely, as to the artist whose pictures had been
analysed, since the professor had said the varnish he
had made was that of Correggio. It appeared, however,
quite clear that amber varnish had been found on the
pictures of one or other of these great painters.
§ 2. Colours used in Painting.
The Italians appear generally to have exercised the
same care in the purification and preparation of their
pigments as the Flemish, Dutch, and French artists.
This is apparent from the directions preserved in those

chap, vi.] COLOURS USED IN PAINTING. cxlix
manuscripts which treat in an especial manner of the
manufacture of colours, but it is seldom alluded to in
the treatises on painting. The omission in the last-
named works is easily accounted for on the supposition
that the different processes of washing, purifying, and
grinding colours were taught to the students during the
first six years of their long apprenticeship. It is pro
bable also that many studios possessed manuals or hand
books like those published in the following pages. The
Byzantine MS. of Mount Athos, the Treatise of Cennini,
and several MSS. now in the British Museum, are
works of this class. In the MS. of Le Begue several
instances are mentioned of the loan of MSS. of this de
scription by different painters to Alcherius ; and Cennini
wrote his treatise, as he himself informs us, for the
benefit of all who studied the arts. It was, therefore,
less necessary to introduce such directions in works of
higher pretensions.
Next, perhaps, in importance to the purification and
preparation of the pigments was their agreement or
incompatibility with each other. This subject occupied
the attention of artists at a very early period; it is
noticed in the third book of Eraclius,1 and in the Mar
ciana MS.2 The subject is also alluded to in the
Paduan MS. and in the Treatise of Lomazzo ; 3 and
these passages are useful in showing what pigments
were actually mixed together by the old painters, and
what mixtures were to be' avoided. Among the latter
were verdigris and white lead, orpiment and white lead,
indigo and cochineal lake, Indian lac lake and white
lead. In some cases the mixtures of pigments were
not such as would be recommended by modern pro
fessors of chemistry ; but it is possible that, as the old
masters were so select in the choice of vehicles for
certain colours, they could regulate the drying of
1 Cap. lvii. p. 252. 2 P. 609.
3 Trattato, p. 193—195. See also De Piles' Elemens de Peinture, p. 110.

cl INTRODUCTION. [chap.vi.
these pigments in such a manner as to prevent their
exercising any chemical agency upon each other. Bos
chini1 praises the colours used by Gian Bellino, espe
cially the ultramarine, which, he says, compared with
the moderns, put the latter to shame by their greater
vivacity and beauty. Boschini attributes this not alto
gether to the goodness of the colours, but to the skill
of Bellino in every part of the art.
The choice of good pigments was another point
which engaged the attention of artists : a few hints on
this subject may be collected from the work of Volpato.8
The same work also contains directions 3 for burning
earths of different colours.
The different drying properties of the several pig
ments were also studied by the old painters, and the
desiccation of some which were too long in drying was
assisted by the addition of pounded glass, white cop
peras, or verdigris, with or without boiled oil, as the
nature of the colour required.
The action of oil on the pigments, and especially on
mineral pigments, was also well understood by the old
masters ; and where oil was known to be injurious,
varnish, or, in some instances, size was substituted for it.
White Pigments.
Several white substances used as pigments and in the
preparation of colours and grounds, are mentioned in
the following treatises. The white pigment universally
employed for oil painting is white lead, which is men
tioned in the MSS. under its various synonymes of
albus, blacha, bracha, blanchet, biacca, and ceruse. It
was called albayalde by the Spaniards.
White lead is considered a good dryer, and is even
used to render oil more drying ; it is, therefore, remark
able that it should be classed in the Brussels MS.4
i Ricche Minere. 2 P. 745. a p. 7.^ 747. 4 p. 818,

chap, vi.] COLOURS USED IN PAINTING. cli
among the colours which do not dry well. De Piles,
however, states l that it dries with difficulty, especially
in winter, if ground with new oil, or if it has been
recently ground. The 'Trait6deMignature' of Chris-
tophe Ballard 2 contains " a great secret to make white
lead dry without changing." This consists in temper
ing it with oil of turpentine.
The Italians, and especially the Venetians, were ex
tremely careful in the preparation of their white lead,3
which was generally purified by washing. Fra Fortu
nato of Rovigo, in his ' Raccolta di Secreti,' gives the
following recipe " for rendering white lead extraordi
narily white. Take white lead in scales, select the
finest quality, grind it well on marble with vinegar and
it will become black, then take an earthen vessel full of
water and wash your white well, and let it settle to the
bottom, and pour off the water. Grind it again with
vinegar and again wash it, and when you have repeated
the operation three or four times, you will have white
lead which will be as excellent for miniature painting
as for painting in oil." 4
There is scarcely a doubt that the pigment called
" lime " was the preparation of lime mentioned by
Cennini5 and-Imperato,6 under the name of Bianco
San Giovanni. The lime was prepared by macerating it
in water until it had lost all causticity. According to
Imperato, pulverized white marble was added to the
1 Elemens de Peinture, p. 140.
2 Lyon, 1693, 6th Ed., p. 216. The first edition was published in 1682.
3 " Lindo alvayalde de Venecia" — "el meyor alvayalde que se hallare,
i lo es sobje todos el de Venecia." Pacheco, Tratado, pp. 354, 387.
* Per rendere la biacca piii bianca straordinariamente. Prendete biacca
di piombo in scaglie, elegete la pio. bella, e macinatela bene siU marmo con
aceto, e diventarH nera, allora prendete un vaso di terra piena d' acqua, e
lavata il vostro bianco bene, poi lasciatelo bene dar in fondo, e verrate
1' acqua per inclinazione. Tornatela a macinare con aceto et a lavare ; e
fatta questa operatione med"- 3 o 4 volte, che havera una biacca che sark
perfettam"5 bella tanto per miniare, quanto per dipingere a olio.
s Cap. 58. . . ° Istoria Naturale, lib. iv. cap. 13.

clii INTRODUCTION. [chap. vi.
lime. This pigment was used in fresco painting. It is
known to later authors by the name of biancho secco.1
White chalk, marble dust, gesso, the bone of cuttle
fish, alumen, and travertine, were occasionally used as
white pigments. They were also frequently mixed with
transparent vegetable colours to give them body.
Calcined hart's-horn or bones were used occasionally
as a white pigment.2
Egg-shell white was employed in fresco painting.
With reference to this pigment, Lomazzo 3 says, that
" there is another thing which, in fresco painting, causes
the colours to remain unchanged as when first applied
on the damp lime ; and this, which is one of the rare
inventions belonging to the technical part of the art,
consists of the shells of eggs finely ground, and mixed
in greater or less proportion with all the colours."
Terra di cava, terra da boccali, or terretta, a white
earth used by potters. It is mentioned by Volpato l
and Baldinucci 5 to have been employed in the priming
for oil paintings.
The pigment called alumen by Eraclius 6 appears to
have been allume scagliuola, a kind of stone resembling
talc, of which, when calcined, is made the "gesso da
oro," or gesso of the gilders, which is also used for the
grounds of pictures. According to Eraclius7 it was
prepared for painting by grinding with gum and water,
and was distempered when required with white of egg.
Travertine is a calcareous stone, sometimes light and
porous, sometimes dense and heavy. It is of various
colours, white, grey, yellowish, reddish yellow, and
variegated. It is found at Pisa and Tivoli. The tra
vertine from Tivoli is white. It was used by painters
to give a body to lake made from verzino.

i Lomazzo, Trattato, pp. 192, 194.
2 Sloane MS., No. 1754 ; Strasburg MS., cited by Mr. Eastiake, 'Ma
terials,' p. 133. s Trattato, p. 191.
4 *"• 73°- 5 Voc. Dis. e.p, 245. 7 p. 232.

chap, vi.] COLOURS USED IN PAINTING. cliii
White marble is mentioned as a pigment for tempera
painting by Palomino.1
" A most beautiful white pigment," probably for mi
niature painting, is described in the Paduan MS. z It
is composed of powdered Venetian glass (cristallo) and
sulphur, and is precisely similar to the opaque white
glass used for painting pottery, for which recipes are
given in the second and third books of Eraclius.3
Yellow Pigments.
Arzica. — Two pigments are known by this name in
medieval MSS.
The first kind of arzica is mentioned by Cennini
(cap. 50), who says that it was much used at Florence
for miniature painting. With regard to the nature of
the pigment, he observes merely that it is an artificial
colour. The Bolognese MS., written about the time of
Cennini, or soon after, proves4 that it was a yellow lake
made from the herb " gualda," which is the Spanish
and Provencal name for the Reseda luteola. The plant
has been used as a yellow dye not only in England but
in all Europe, from a very early period. This yellow
lake was known to the Spanish painters under the name
of ancorca 5 or encorca, and when used for the kind of
painting called " estofado," was mixed with lemon juice
and weak size.
The second kind of arzica is stated to be a yellow
earth for painting, of which the moulds for casting brass
are formed.6 A yellow loam is still used for this pur
pose in the foundries at Brighton. It is brought by
sea from Woolwich, and when washed and dried it
yields an ochreous pigment of a pale yellow colour.
1 Museo Pictorico, vol. ii. p. 113, 152.
2 P. 704. 3 P. 201, 205. * p. 483.
5 Indice de los Terminos Primativos de la Pintura, appended to Palo
mino's Museo Pictorico.
« Table of Synonymes, p. 19, 23.

cliv INTRODUCTION. [chap. vi.
When burnt it changes to an orange colour, which is
likely to prove valuable in painting.
Arzicon, or Arsicon.—In the Table of Synonymes
arzicon is considered synonymous with arzica. This is
not the case. Le Begue is, however, correct in saying
that it is the same as orpiment. It is undoubtedly a
contraction or corruption of arsenicon, which Vitruvius
(lib. vii. cap. vii.) says was the Greek name for orpi
ment. The term arzicon must not be confounded with
azarcon, the Spanish name for red lead.
Auripigmentum or Orpiment. — There was a native
as well as an artificial pigment known by this name.
The former is found in masses in the neighbourhood of
Naples, and in other volcanic countries. It has the
great advantage over the artificial pigment, of being less
poisonous. The artificial pigment only seems to have
been known to Cennini. • Being difficult to grind,
powdered glass was mixed with it, as we are expressly
told, for this purpose.2 And Pacheco directs 3 that orpi
ment should be mixed with linseed oil, made drying by
boiling it with red lead or copperas in powder.4 For
miniature painting it was tempered with gum-water and
white of egg. Its brilliant yellow colour renders it a
desirable pigment for draperies in oil painting, but it is
not durable when mixed with oil, and dries very slowly.
The author of the third book of Eraclius says, 5 " If
you mix oil with it, it will never dry." Lebrun re
marks,6 that " fat oil should be added to orpiment to
make it dry, otherwise it will never dry." Lomazzo
also mentions 7 that it was mixed with pulverized glass,
but he does not state for what purpose the latter was
added. De Mayerne, however, states " that Vandyck
was accustomed to mix powdered glass with orpiment
i Cap. 47. 2 P. 503. 3 Tratado, p. 388.
* He was evidently unacquainted with the fact that lead decomposes
orpiment. 5 P. 234. « P. 813. 7 Trattato, p. 192.
8 See Mr. Eastlake's ' Materials,' &c, p. 531.

chap, vi.] COLOURS USED IN PAINTING. civ
to make it dry. Pacheco 1 recommends it for the same
purpose ; but there is some doubt as to the propriety of
this mixture.
In the third book of Eraclius it is directed2 that
orpiment should be crushed in a leather bag, and then
ground upon marble with a little calcined bone ; in this
respect the directions resemble those given in the Strass-
burg3 and also in the Sloane MSS., No. 1754, where
calcined hartshorn is said to be the only substance
which can be safely mixed with orpiment to lighten it.
Orpiment is mentioned by Biondo 4 among the pig
ments used by the Venetians; and Boschini states6 that
it was employed by Pordenone and by Paolo Veronese.
A professor of painting at Venice informed me that he
had found it, by analysis, on the pictures of Bonifazio
only. It is generally asserted, and there appears every
reason to think justly, that orpiment should not be
mixed with any other colour, and especially with white
lead, the bad effects of which were well known to the
Italians.6 But there is evidence that the Italians were
in the habit of mixing it with ultramarine or with
indigo to make a brilliant green.7 The Marciana MS.8
recommends that white lead should be laid under orpi
ment, because it has no body.
This pigment was called jalde, or oropimente, by the
Spaniards. Pacheco directs,9 that for the second or
half tints of draperies the orpiment should be burnt in
an iron shovel over the fire. Palomino, after describing
the method of painting draperies with orpiment, re
marks, 10 that he did not approve of the colour, which
dried very badly and required many precautions in
using it, and that it was, moreover, liable to turn black;
i Tratado, p. 388. 2 P. 239. 3 Materials, &c, p. 133, 438.
* Delia Pittura, cap. 24, f. 20. 5 Ricche Minere.
6 See p. 609, and Armenini, lib. ii. cap. 8.
i Cennini, cap. 53, 55 ; Borghini, Riposo, p. 170 ; Marciana MS.,
p. 611. 8 P. 611. 9 Tratado, p. 388. io;VoI. ii. p. 252.

clvi INTRODUCTION. C0HAP- VI-
this, he adds, may be prevented by varnishing it as
soon as it is dry.
Giallolino, Giallorino, or Gialdolino, strictly signifies
a pale yellow. It is a diminutive of giallo.
There appears to be so much confusion in the ac
counts of this colour by different writers, that it will be
necessary to treat of it at some length.
According to Borghini l and Baldinucci 2 there were
two kinds of Giallolino : the first, called " Giallolino
fino," which was brought from Flanders, was used in
painting in oil, and contained lead ; the other, which was
brought from Venice, was composed of " Giallo di
vetro " and " Giallolino fino " above mentioned. Lo
mazzo 3 speaks of three kinds of Giallolino, which, he
says, are artificial pigments, but the terms in which he
mentions them are not sufficiently precise to determine
exactly their names or composition.
Sig. Branchi 4 found on analysis that the giallolino
of the old pictures at Pistoia, mentioned in the docu
ments published by Ciampi, consisted of the: yellow
oxide of lead, which, he said, was known by this name
in the sixteenth century. In support of this he quotes
Cesalpino, who mentions a pigment then prepared from
burnt or calcined lead, which was commonly called giallo
lino — " pigmentum pictoribus . . . quod hodie arte
paratur ex plumbo usto, vulgoque giallolinum vocant."8
And again, Cesalpino 6 says, " the ashes (calx) of burnt
lead assume a yellow colour, on account of the black
soot mixed with the white ; tin, however, gives a white
calx.7 Painters use the former for lights and for repre
senting flame, calling it giallolino. Potters use the

i Riposo, p. 166. 2 Voc. Dis.
* Trattato, p. 192. * Lettera di Branchi, &e., p. 13.
& De Metallicis, lib. ii. cap. 62. « Lib. iii. cap. vii.
7 Thomson (Annals, &c, p. 166) says, that the grey oxide of tin, when
brought to a full red heat, takes fire, and acquiring an excess of oxygen,
passes to a yellow colour.

.chap, vi.] COLOURS USED IN PAINTING. clvii
-latter to give a white colour to their vessels." Professor
Branchi adds, that this is confirmed by Ferrante Impe-
rato,1 a Neapolitan writer of the same century. This
author says, " Giallolino, which is made of burnt ceruse
(the first degree of alteration by fire), imitates the colour
ofthe yellow broom."
Dr. Fabroni,2 of Arezzo, analysed the colours of a
miniature of the fourteenth or beginning of the fifteenth
century, and he ascertained that the yellow pigment
consisted of " massicot," which, he says, is the first
gradation ofthe "cerussa usta " ofthe ancients.
In further confirmation of the above statements it
may be observed, that neither Cennini, Borghini,
Lionardo da Vinci, Lomazzo, Baldinucci, nor the
Paduan MS., mention " massicot," while they all speak
of giallolino.3 It may also be observed, that Lebrun,
the author of the Brussels MS., mentions 4 no yellows
but ochre and massicot ; the latter, he says, serves for
the fine or bright yellows. Van Mander, Hoogstraten,
De Bie, arid Beurs,5 in enumerating the yellow pigments
used by the Flemings, mention ochre, massicot, and yel
low lake, to which all but De Bie add orpiment. Bulen-
gerus ° also names massicot, which he calls " fin jaune."
As a further proof of the identity of these pigments,
it may be observed, that Haydocke, the translator of
Lomazzo's Treatise on Painting, published in 1598,
translates giallolino by the word massicot."1 The last au-

1 Istoria Naturale, lib. iv. cap. 42.
2 Ricerche Chimiche sopra le Miniature di un Manuscritto, Memoria
del Dr. A. Fabroni di Arezzo, letta nelle Adunanze Accademiche de' 13
Genn. e 17 Febb. 1811.
3 See Cennini, Trattato, cap. 46. Borghini, Riposo, p. 166. Lionardo
da Vinci, Trattato, cap. 352, 353. Lomazzo, Trattato, p. 191, 192, 193,
&c. Baldinucci, Voc. Dis.
4 Cap. 1, No. 6 ; cap. 7, No. 5.
5 See Mr. Eastlake's ' Materials,' &c, p. 438, 440.
6 De Pictura, &c, lib. ii. cap. iii.
' A Tracte, containing the Artes of curious Painting, Carving, and Build-

clviii INTRODUCTION. [chap. vi.
thority is particularly valuable on account of the trans
lation having been made so soon after the publication
ofthe original work.
Lomazzo mentions L " Giallolino di fornace di Fian-
dra e di Alamagna." From this it would appear that
two kinds of Giallolino were brought from the north
into Italy. These were probably the two kinds of
massicot mentioned by Felibien, who states 2 they were
made of calcined lead, " Le massicot jaune et le massi
cot blanc," or as they are called in Jombert's edition
of the Elemens de Peinture, " le massicot dore et le
massicot pale." Haydocke translates the above-men
tioned passage thus, " Yeallowe of the Flaunders for
nace, and of Almany, commonly called masticot and
generall." There is no doubt, therefore, that the " Giallolino
Fino " and " Giallolino di Fornace di Fiandra " was
massicot, or the yellow oxide of lead, the " Fin jaune "
of the French.
The yellow pigment prepared from lead is described
by Theophilus (cap. i.), who, however, does not give
it a name. The same pigment is mentioned in the
MS. of Le Begue.
We now come to the second kind of factitious giallo
lino which Baldinucci 3 states was brought from Venice,
and was composed of the giallolino di Fiandra and
giallo di vetro. Borghini says" nearly the same. In
the Bolognese MS. No. 272, is a recipe for " Vetrio
giallo per patrenostro o ambre," the ingredients of
which are lead 1 lb. and tin 2 lbs., melted and calcined.
The recipe which follows this, No. 273, is entitled " A
fare zallolino 5 per dipengiare," and the directions are to
ing, written first in Italian by Jo. Paul Lomatius, painter, of Milan, and
Englished by R. H. (Haydocke), student in physick, 1598, p. 99.
i Trattato, p. 191. 2 Principes, &c, p. 299.
3 Voc. Dis. " Riposo, p. 166.
5 It will not escape observation that the gi in this word are changed into
z, as was usual among the Venetians.

chap, vi.] COLOURS USED IN PAINTING. clix
take 2 lbs. of the above-mentioned glass, 2h lbs. of
minium, and ^ lb. of sand from the Val d'Arno : the
ingredients are to be pulverized finely, and then refined
in the furnace. I can scarcely doubt that this is the
second kind of giallolino mentioned by Baldinucci and
Borghini. It may also be the third variety mentioned
by Lomazzo.1
It must be observed that Marcucci does not men
tion giallolino among the modern Italian pigments ;
he describes2 three yellow pigments, namely, giallo di
Napoli (Naples yellow), which he says is composed of
the yellow oxide of lead and the oxide of antimony,
massicot, or the yellow oxide of lead, and giallo minerale,
which was composed of muriate of lead.
The earliest notice I have met with in Italian writers
of a pigment called Naples yellow, is in the work of
Pozzo the Jesuit.3 The name he applies to the pig
ment is " Luteolum Romse dicitur Luteolum Napoli-
tanum," and he enumerates it among the pigments to
be used in fresco. He also gives a list of colours
improper for this kind of painting, among which we
find cerussa, minium, and luteolum Belgicum, which
can be no other than giallolino di Fiandra. The con
clusion then is unavoidable that the luteolum Napoli-
tanum was not the yellow oxide of lead. In the French
translation of Pozzo's Treatise on Fresco-painting 4 the
term luteolum Napolitanum is very properly translated
Jaune de Naples, and luteolum Belgicum by Jaune
de Flandres. In other parts of Jombert's edition of the
' Elemens de Peinture,' 5 two kinds of massicot, the
yellow or golden and the pale or white, are mentioned ;
but they are not identified with jaune de Naples, which
i Trattato, p. 192. 2 Saggio, &c, p. 66.
3 The Treatise on Fresco Painting, appended to his work on Perspective,
published at Rome, 1693—1702.
4 See Jombert's ed. of the Elemens de Peinture, by De Piles, Paris, 1766.
s Elemens de Peinture, pp. 252, 286, &c.

clx INTRODUCTION. [chap. vi.
is mentioned as a distinct colour. The Italian trans
lator of Pozzo's treatise * renders luteolum Napolitanum
by giallolino di fornace, which he says is called giallo
lino di Napoli, and luteolum Belgicum by giallolino di
Francia. This writer does not appear to have been
aware that, giallolino di fornace and giallolino di
Fiandra were synonymous. Giallolino di Francia ap
pears to be a mistake for giallolino di Fiandra.
Felibien,2 Pomet,3 Pozzo,4 and the author of the
article "Fresque" in the Encyclopedic describe the
pigment jaune de Naples as a natural production found
near mines of sulphur, which is used in fresco-painting,
although it is not so good as the colour formed of
ochre and white. M. d'Arclais de Montamy, in his
Treatise on the Colours for Enamel Painting, describes
it as a stone of a pale or deep yellow colour, which ap
pears to be composed of a species of yellow sand, loosely
combined. He believes it to be the production of a
volcano. He adds that Naples yellow may be consi
dered as saffron of Mars, first produced by a volcano,
and that then the colour was brought to perfection by
remaining in the earth, or as a ferruginous substance,
the vitrification of which was afterwards decomposed.5
Cennini's description 6 of this pigment is as follows : —
" There is a yellow colour called giallolino, which is
artificial and very compact. It is as heavy as a stone,
and difficult to break. This colour is used in fresco,
and lasts for ever (that is on walls and on tempera
pictures). It must be ground like the preceding with
water. It is difficult to grind ; and before grinding,
i At the end of the Abecedario Pittorico (Naples, 17SS).
2 De PArchitecture, &c, 1697, p. 292.
3 Histoire Generale des Drogues.
•) See the French translation of this Treatise in Jombert's edition of the
Elemens de Peinture, by De Piles, p. 191.
s Treatise on Painting and the Composition of Colours, translated from
the French of M. Constant de Massoul. London, 1797. P. 137.
6 Trattato, cap. xlvi.

chap, vi.] COLOURS USED IN PAINTING. clxi
as it is very difficult to pulverize, it should be broken
in a bronze mortar, in the same way as the lapis ama-
tito. When employed in painting, it is a very beautiful
yellow ; and with this colour and other mixtures which
I will describe to you, you may paint beautiful foliage
and herbage. And I have been informed that this
colour is a real stone, produced in volcanoes ; and it is
for this reason that I said it is formed artificially, but
not in the chemical laboratory."
From this account it is evident that Cennini is de
scribing a native mineral which he considers to be pro
duced by volcanic agency — " Perd ti dico sia color
artificiato, ma non di archimia." The accordance of
this description with that of the jaune de Naples just
mentioned is apparent. It is therefore certain that
there was a native yellow pigment found in the neigh
bourhood of volcanoes, the nature of which was not
well understood, which was known by the name of
giallolino or giallolino di Napoli and jaune de Naples.
This is the opinion also of Branchi and Watin.1 In
this case therefore giallolino and giallolino di Napoli
(Naples yellow) were really synonymous. There is
also an artificial pigment called Naples yellow or jaune
de Naples, which, by some authors, has been considered
to consist of an earth coloured with weld (gaude, Reseda
luteola) and by others to be composed of the oxides of
lead and antimony with other ingredients. The last is
the general opinion, and there appears to be no doubt
the modern pigment of this name is composed of these
oxides.2 The vegetable pigment above mentioned is
the arzica of Cennini, the Le Begue, the Bolognese
MS., and Borghini, and the ancorca of Palomino.3
i Lettera di Branchi, p. 12.
2 See Merime'e, de la Peinture h, l'Huile, p. 110; Marcucci, Saggio
Analitico de' Colori, p. 66; Lettera di Branchi, p. 12; Bachhoffner,
Chemistry as applied to the Arts, &c.
3 Indice de los Terminos Primativos de la Pintura: — appended to Palo
mino's Museo Pictorico.
VOL. I. I

clxii INTRODUCTION. [chap. vi.
I consider it therefore established that there were
three kinds of giallolino employed by the old Italian
Masters, namely : —
1. A native mineral yellow pigment known by the
names of giallolino, giallolino di Napoli, jaune de
Naples, luteolum Napolitanum.
2. An artificial pigment which was composed of the
yellow protoxide of lead, and which was called giallolino,
giallolino fino, giallolino di fornace di Fiandra, giallo
lino di fornace, giallolino di Fiandra, luteolum Belgi
cum, genuli (the last is a Spanish term) and massicot,
of which there were two varieties ; namely, the golden
or yellow and the white or pale massicot.
3. An artificial pigment made at Venice composed
of giallolino fino and a certain kind of "giallo di vetro,"
or vitreous yellow, for which a recipe is given in the Bo
lognese MS. No. 273, in the Venetian dialect, and which
appears to have been the hornaza of the Spaniards.
I consider it also established that there are two
kinds of Naples yellow, namely : —
1. A native mineral pigment found in the neigh
bourhood of volcanoes, the nature of which is not accu
rately known, and which was called giallolino, giallolino
di Napoli, and jaune de Naples, and which is synony
mous with the first kind of giallolino above mentioned.
2. An artificial pigment now in use composed of the
oxides of lead, and antimony, called also giallo di Napoli,.
jaune de Naples, and Naples yellow, which was not
known to the old Italian artists.
From the above statements it will be seen that it is
scarcely possible to determine which of the three pig
ments called "giallolino " is alluded to when the term
occurs_ alone in writers on art. It is certain, however,
that one or other of these pigments was much used by
the Italian masters. Giallolino was recommended by
Lionardo da Vinci 1 to be mixed with white lead and
1 Trattato, cap. 353.

chap, vi.] COLOURS USED IN PAINTING. clxiii
lake for flesh tints. There is reason to suppose it was
also used by Raphael, since it is mentioned in an ac
count of payments for colours found on the back of a
drawing by the great painter preserved in the Academy
at Venice, and supposed to be in his hand-writing.
It was seldom found among the colours of Venetian
pictures which have been analysed. It is stated on the
authority of Boschini1 (who mentions that the pigment
was not generally approved by the Venetians) to have
been used by Giacomo Bassano and Paolo Veronese,
and it is also enumerated among the pigments named
by Biondo.2
Massicot is however frequently disapproved as a pig
ment, especially when mixed with white.3 We have
the evidence of Cennini that the native pigment called
giallolino was a durable colour. Pacheco remarks that
he has employed genuli, which has surpassed in bril
liancy and beauty the best orpiment, excelling it in
durability ; he adds that it is preserved in water like
white, and is very drying.
Giallo in Vetro, or Giallo di Vetro. — Borghini states4
that this pigment, which is used in fresco, is made
in the glass furnaces, and he recommends that it should
be purchased ready made. It is probable, as has been
before observed, that this pigment was of the same
nature as the vetrio giallo mentioned in the Bolognese
MS. No. 272 to have been composed of tin and lead
calcined. The ochres, so remarkable for their durability and
variety, will always be among the most valuable yellow
pigments. Many varieties are enumerated by writers
on art, among which may be mentioned arzica, ochre
de ru, mottee de sil, &c. The best kinds are sold in
Italy in the lump, and Volpato recommends " that such
1 Rioche Minere. 2 Delia Pittura.
3 See Mr. Eastlake's ' Materials,' p. 440. * Riposo, p. 166.
» P. 745; 12

clxiv INTRODUCTION. [chap. vi.
should be preferred to those which are sold in powder,
because the first are in the natural state and no other
material is mixed with them ; " for," he continues,
" the vendors are accustomed to falsify everything."
During the middle ages, an imitation of the Attic
ochre of Pliny was in use. This pigment, to which
the name of " Sillacetus " was given, was a preparation
of white chalk or gesso, saturated with the colour ex
tracted from the wall-flower * (Viola lutea).
Vegetable yellow pigments were of two kinds — those
which were precipitated on a white earth, such as the
different kinds of yellow lake, and those which were
used as transparent colours, without any other prepa
ration than that of expressing and inspissating the juice
of certain plants. Of the latter kind were saffron, the
zafferano of Cennini, and aloes ; the latter was chiefly
used for colouring varnishes, or for heightening the
colour of verdigris in the manner recommended by
Lionardo da Vinci.2
Giallo santo was a kind of yellow lake, which was
made from various plants. It was sometimes prepared
from the berries of the buckthorn 3 (spincervino), some
times from the flowers of the yellow goat's-beard (barba
di becco), sometimes from the flowers of the yellow
broom, sometimes from weld or dyer's weed: the
latter is the arzica of Cennini and the Bolognese MS.
The sillacetus of the Table of Synonymes was a yellow
lake. The French call pigments of this description " stil de
grain," and include under them not only those pigments
which are of a pure yellow colour, but such as incline to
green. The English term for this class of pigments is
or was "pink." Thus we have "Dutch pink," " Ita
lian pink," " brown pink," &c.
Volpato observes4 that giallo santo should be of a
• Table of Synonymes, p. 36. 2 Trattato, cap. 120. 3 P. 708. * P. 744.

chap, vi.] COLOURS USED IN PAINTING. clxv
fine colour, that in grinding it should become very
liquid, so as to require but very little oil to temper it,
and that it should dry very quickly, which is a sign
that it is pure ; but if it hardens and requires a great
deal of oil in grinding, this is a proof that it contains
dust and other impurities, and in this case it dries slowly
and fades on the pictures.
As another test, he directs * that the colour should be
exposed to the sun ; if it faded, it was bad. He also
mentions that it should not be kept in water. Giallo
santo appears to have been extensively used by the
Italians, and although it is included among the colours
which Boschini says the Venetians "detested like the
plague," it appears, on his own evidence, that it was em
ployed by Giacomo Bassano in shading yellow drapery.
The pigment is also mentioned by Biondo, by Arme-
nini, by Borghini, and in the Paduan MS. Malvasia
says that it was used by Tiarini and Cavedone.
Saffron, zafferano, the crocus of the middle ages, is
produced from the flowers of the crocus. Peter de S.
Audemar informs us that saffron was produced in
France in his time ; but he says the French saffron was
not good; he mentions that this drug was imported
from Spain and Italy, and that the best kind was
brought from Sicily, and was called coriscos. The plant is
cultivated extensively in England in the neighbourhood
of Saffron- Walden, and the name of the place is derived
from this circumstance. It was brought into England
from the Levant in the reign of Edward III., and the
manner in which it was introduced is thus described by
Hakluyt :2 — " It is reported at Saffron-Walden, that a
pilgrim, purposing to do good to his country, stole a head
of saffron, and hid the same in his palmer's staff, which
he had made hollow before on purpose, and so he
brought this root into this realm with venture of his
t P. 744. 2 See Beckmann's Inventions, vol. i. p. 179, n.

dxvi INTRODUCTION. [chap. vi.
life ; for if he had been taken, by the law of the country
from whence it came, he had died for the fact."
To these vegetable pigments may be added gamboge,
which is a gum resin that flows from the Hebradendron
Cambogioides. It derives its name from Kamboia, a
river in Siam, in the vicinity of which the gum is ob
tained in abundance. It was certainly in use in the
Venetian territories at the period when the Paduan
MS. was written, and is believed to have been employed
by Paolo Veronese. It was sometimes purified by being
ground up with lemon juice and roche alum.1
Gamboge is prepared for painting in oil by depriving
it of its gum. Marcucci recommends2 the following
method :— " Gamboge of the finest colour is to be
ground with water ; it is then to be put into a china
cup, and a sufficient quantity of water is to be poured
on it to cover it twice its own height ; after being left
thus two days, the supernatant water is to be decanted,
and the resin which remains at the bottom of the water
is to be dried. When quite dry, a quantity of spirit of
turpentine sufficient to cover it is to be poured over it,
and the cup is to be placed upon warm ashes until the
resin is quite dissolved and incorporated with the tur
pentine. A little nut oil is then to be added, and it is
to be preserved for use." Marcucci adds, "this is
excellent for glazing yellow and green draperies; for
the latter it must be mixed with ultramarine." Other
modes of preparation are mentioned by Mr. Eastiake
in his recent work.3
It appears from the Brussels MS.4 that gamboge
was in use in France in 1635. Palomino re
marks5 that this pigment, which he calls " Gutiambar,"
was employed to glaze yellow draperies, and that it
dried so badly as to require the addition of the com
mon drying oil.
i P. 660. 2 Saggio, &c, p. 135. 3 Materials, &c, p. 442.
< P. 784. 5 Museo Pictorico, vol. ii. p. 53.

chap, vi.] COLOURS USED IN PAINTING. clxvii
A recipe for an artificial pigment somewhat analo
gous to the modern pigment called " Gallstone" appears
in the second book of Eraclius. It consisted of the
gall of a large fish precipitated on a white earth. It
was said to have resembled orpiment in colour.
Aloes. — The inspissated juice of the aloe spicata.
The plant is a native of Africa. The finest kind of
aloes has a brilliant reddish-brown colour, and is trans
lucent at the edges of the fragmented pieces ; its
fracture is smooth and conchoidal, its odour aromatic
and rather agreeable, its powder deep gold colour, its
taste intensely bitter and nauseous. But such is rarely
found in trade ; it is generally opaque, of a dull brown,
when it is called Hepatic aloes, often passing into black,
when it is denominated Caballine aloes. It appears to
be a mixture of gum, extractive, and a little resin. It
is nearly soluble in boiling water, but as the solution
cools, some resin and altered extractive are thrown
down ; the alkalies and their carbonates form with it
permanent solutions, and proof spirit dissolves and re
tains it with only a slight precipitation of resin. Ca
balline aloes are mentioned by Lionardo da Vinci1 as
an improvement to the colour of verdigris, and he
recommends its solution in warm spirit (aqua vitae).
Orange-coloured Pigments.
The ochreous pigment called Arzica in the Table of
Synonymes, affords, when burnt, an orange-coloured
pigment, which is likely to prove a valuable addition
to the palette.
Orange or red orpiment — realgar. — This pigment, as
well as yellow orpiment, is sometimes found native. It
is also prepared artificially by melting it in a crucible
over a charcoal fire, and when cool, grinding it.2
Burnt or orange orpiment is mentioned by Borghini3
i Trattato, cap. 120. 2 Paduan MS., p. 662. 3 Riposo, p. 166.

clxviii INTRODUCTION. [chap. vi.
and by Lomazzo,1 who observes with regard to this
pigment, which was said to be of the colour of gold,
" and this is the alchemy of the Venetian painters."
Matthioli makes a similar remark ; after describing the
manner of converting the yellow orpiment into red by
burning it, he says, that every one may provide himself
with the latter by inquiring for it in the " calle" (lanes
or narrow streets) of Venice, where colours are sold.
It is probable that red orpiment was used by some of
the Venetian artists,2 since a colour resembling it is
frequently seen on pictures of this school, particularly
on those of Bonifazio. A few ounces of a pigment of
the colour of orange orpiment was given to me at
Milan by an artist who told me it was used by Titian,
and that he had procured it at an old colour-shop in
Venice. He called the colour rauschel minerale, and
said that he had shown the pigment to a colourman at
Bergamo who knew it by that name. From the name,
therefore, it may be conjectured, that the pigment was
native red orpiment or realgar, and that the name by
which it was known to this artist was intended for
ruschegel or rauschgelb. This pigment was called jalde
or oropimente quemado by the Spaniards,3 and sanda-
raca by the Greeks.4 It is considered to be less durable
than yellow orpiment, and extremely corrosive", for.
Merimee relates5 that where it had been employed on
flower-pieces, it appears to have corroded the priming.
The term sandaraca was also applied during the middle
ages to red lead, or minium.6 With the artists of this
period it must have been a favourite colour ; if we may
judge from the numerous recipes for preparing it which
' Trattato, p. 191.
- Marcucci is of this opinion : see Saggio, &c, p. 226 — 228. According
to this writer, it was also used by Fra Bartolomeo : see Saggio, &c, p. 215.
3 Palomino, vol. ii. p. 66.
4 Diosc, lib. v. cap. 80, by Matt., p. 1428.
5 De la Peinture k 1'Huile, p. 124.
« See Table of Synonymes, p. 36. S. Audemar, p. 141.

chap, vi.] COLOURS USED IN PAINTING. clxix
occur in old MSS. on art, and from its being mentioned
so much more frequently than vermilion. It was
purified by washing it in a horn with wine and water.1
When to be used on walls it was to be mixed with gum
water, when on parchment with egg, but when on wood
with oil. For illuminating books it was frequently
mixed with vermilion.2
It is mentioned by many Italian writers on painting,3
and has been found on Venetian pictures of the best
period. Boschini informs4 us that it was used by
Pordenone, by Paolo Veronese,5 and by Maffeo Verona.
Sig. Pietro Palmaroli states6 that it was employed by
Titian. According to Marcucci, it was also used by
Fra Bartolomeo.7
Lomazzo states8 that it was sometimes mixed with
lake. Lebrun recommends9 it in painting flesh, and
says, " If some minium be mixed with white lead and
a little fine lake, a most beautiful carnation tint will be
formed, as I know from experience." Bisagno also
observes10 that in order to make vermilion dry, a little
minium may be mixed with it. The general opinion
seems to be that minium should be used alone, and
according to the observations of the Venetian restorers
of pictures always with varnish.
Palomino alludes11 more than once to its want of
durability ; he says that, " after a time it throws upon
the surface a kind of salt which destroys the juice of
the picture." Perhaps this defect may be corrected by
purifying the red lead in the manner described by De
May erne,12 who observes, " If you extract the salt from
i Le Begue, p. 143, 295. 2 Ibid., p. 141, 297.
3 Biondo, c. 20. Lomazzo, Trattato, pp. 191, 193. Borghini, p. 166.
Volpato, p. 745. Paduan MS., p. 655.
•> Ricche Minere. 5 See also Marcucci, Saggio, &c, p. 228.
e Note to Marcucci, p. 226. i Saggio, &c, p. 217.
s Trattato, p. 195. 9 Brussels MS., p. 820, 822.
i° Trattato della Pittura, p. 206. u Vol. i. p. 56 ; vol. ii. p. 52.
i* See Mr. Eastlake's ' Materials," &c, p. 452.

clxx INTRODUCTION. [chap. vi.
minium by washing it with distilled vinegar the re
mainder does not fade and dries very well." When
minium is thus purified, it appears to resemble the
pigment formerly known by the name of Saturnine red ;
which consisted merely of minium washed in large ves
sels of distilled water, which was changed every forty-four
hours, till the surface was quite free from extraneous
matter, and the colour ceased to blacken at the edge of
the vessel. The colour was afterwards purified with
spirits of wine.1 Pacheco mentions2 that native red
lead (azarcon de la tierra) was used in his time in
tempera painting.
Red Pigments.
A great variety of native red pigments have always
been used in painting. They all owe their colour to
iron.3 Of this kind were the sinopia of Pliny and
Cennini, the terra rossa d' Inghilterra, terra rossa di
Spagna, Majolica, ferretta di Spagna, almagre, Pa-
vonazo, Indian red, light red, Venetian red, haematite,
lapis amatito, sanguine, terra rubea, brunus, brown red,
mottee de sil, red ochres.
The terra rossa d' Inghilterra, so frequently men
tioned by Italian writers, is still sold in Italy, where it
is imported from England.
The colour called Venetian red is procured from
Verona. Besides its use in painting, this earth was
formerly much employed in making the bricks of
which many of the old buildings in Venice are con
structed. The fine colour of these bricks, heightened
perhaps by their contrast with the green waters of the
1 Constant de Massoul, p. 205.
2 Tratado, p. 345. Native minium occurs amorphous and pulverulent,
but when examined by the lens exhibits a crystalline structure. It is sup
posed to be an oxide of lead, and to arise from the decomposition of galena,
in which it commonly occurs. Phillips, Min., p. 337.
3 The different kinds of red earth used in painting are fully described
in the Introduction to my work on Fresco Painting, pp. xiii. — xxxiv.

chap, vi.] COLOURS USED IN PAINTING. clxxi
narrow canals, can scarcely have escaped the observation
of travellers.
Hill, the translator of Theophrastus, mentions that
what is sold in the shops as Indian red is a native red
earth [haematite] found in England. He states (p. 122,
n. 9), " I have a specimen of some from the Forest of
Dean in Gloucestershire, very little inferior to the sort
brought from Ormuz in the Persian Gulf, which is so
much esteemed and used by our painters under the
name of Indian red. It is indeed so like, both in
colour and quality, that it is used for it, as tbe people
employed in taking it up informed me, and sent to
London to be sold under its name. On comparing it
with some of the true Persian kind, which I had from
the East Indies, I find it of a paler colour, but of a much
finer texture." The real Indian red has also a sparkling
appearance, which is wanting in the common sort.
The Sinopia of Pliny and Cennini was, as has been
before mentioned, a red earth originally brought from
Sinope, but medieval writers north of the Alps gave
the name of Sinopia, or Sinopis de Mellana, to a kind
of lake made either of the gum of the ivy ground with
vinegar and mixed with wheat flour, or of the gum of
ivy and madder.1 Sinopis is sometimes written for
cinnabar, as in p. 68, where it is said to be made of
mercury. The term Vermiculus is used by Le Begue3
to denote the red colour called " coccus," which was
undoubtedly the coccus of the ancients. It is synony
mous with kermes.3 In the Bolognese MS. it is put for
vermilion.4 Cinnabar, or vermilion, is of two kinds,
natural and artificial. Both are stated to have been
used by the Italians and Spaniards in painting, but
the former was preferred for fresco-painting, although
the latter was of a much finer colour. If we may
judge from the recipes in old treatises, the medieval
1 Le Begue, p. 145. 2 Table of Synonymes, p. 38.
3 Matth. 1085. 4 P. 449.

clxxii INTRODUCTION. [chap, vii
artists employed the latter only. Directions for re
fining and purifying it are given in the Bolognese MS.,
the Paduan MS.,1 and in the recipes at the end of the
Abecedario Pittorico.
Lebrun observes,2 that vermilion is frequently adul
terated with lime ; to detect this he recommends that
some should be put on the blade of a knife and heated ;
if good, it would, when cold, be of the same colour as
before ; but if one side of the knife remained black, and
then became brown and dark, this would be a proof of
its impurity.
Native cinnabar does not appear to be mentioned by
writers on art previous to the latter part of the 16th
century, when it is spoken of together with the artificial
by Lomazzo3 and Borghini.4 It is also mentioned and
described by the Spanish writers Cespides, Pacheco,5 and
Palomino,6 and by Felibien.7 I was informed by a
Venetian artist that both native and artificial, or, as he
called the latter, Dutch cinnabar, had been found among
the colours of Venetian pictures which he had pro
cured to be analysed. It is difficult to imagine how
native cinnabar can be distinguished by chemical
analysis from artificial, since mercury combines with
sulphur in two proportions only, forming the protosul-
phuret which is black, and the bisulphuret (vermilion
or cinnabar) which is red.8 The difficulty may perhaps
be explained by a knowledge of the fact that the name
of " mineral cinnabar" was given by the Italians to the
hard red haematite. Agricola says, that the stone
1 See pp. 500, 660, and 664.
2 Brussels MS., p. 814. 3 Trattato, p. 191, 192.
4 Riposo, p. 167. 5 Tratado, p. 342.
e Museo Pictorico, vol. i. p. 359 ; vol. ii. pp. 53, 149, 340.
"> De la Peinture, p. 299.
s The atomic composition is stated to be as follows :
The protosulphuret— 1 atom mercury 200+1 atom sulphur 16=216.
The bisulphuret— 1 atom mercury 200+2 atoms sulphur 32=232.
According to Phillips (Min., p. 358), the composition of native cinnabar
is quicksilver 84'5 — sulphur 1475.

chap, vi.] COLOURS USED IN PAINTING. clxxiii
which he calls schist (after Pliny) resembled in appear
ance minium, and that the painters called it cinnabar ;
that when calcined it imitated the colour of cinnabar.
This is confirmed by Borghini,1 who states that lapis
amatita (the haematite) is called by some persons
" mineral cinnabar." Baldinucci2 and Alberti3 make
the same remark ; and Pungelone4 mentions a design
by Correggio, in which may be seen several " pen-
timenti" drawn with "matita, comunemente detta
cinabro minerale." It is not, therefore, unreasonable
to conclude, that the mineral cinnabar said to have
been found on Venetian pictures may have been the
colour procured from the hard red haematite burnt ; at
the same time it must be acknowledged, that if the
pigment so called had actually been subjected to analysis,
its composition must have been settled beyond a doubt,
since no chemist could have mistaken a combination of
mercury and sulphur for an ore of iron. Vermilion has
been used by all Italian and Spanish painters. Lomazzo5
and Pacheco 6 direct it to be sometimes employed in
flesh tints. Its use by Flemish writers in painting has
been mentioned by Mr. Eastiake.7 Cennini recommends 8
that cinnabar should be purchased in the mass and
never bruised or ground, because it was frequently
adulterated with minium or pounded bricks.
Lakes. — The red lakes used by the Italian painters
were either of animal or of Vegetable origin, or a
mixture of both kinds.
To the first class belonged the lake produced from
kermes or grana, the most common form of which was
the lacca di cimatura, lac lake, and cochineal lake. To
the second class belonged the lake made from Brazil

i Riposo, p. 168. 2 Voc. Dis.
s Diz. Enc, tit. Cinabfo minerale, and Lapis.
4 Life of Correggio, vol. i. p. 174.
5 Trattato, p. 312. 6 Tratado, p. 386. i ' Materials,' &c, p. 44S.
8 Trattato, cap. xl.

clxxiv INTRODUCTION. [chap. vi.
wood or verzino. The third description was composed
of a mixture of the first and second kinds of lake.
Kermes or Grana. — The dead bodies of the female
insect of the coccus ilicis, which lives upon the leaves
of the prickly oak. It appears to have been known
from the time of Moses, and has been employed from
an early period in India to dye silk. It was called by
the Greeks coccus baphica, by the Latins granum in-
fectorium, by Pliny coccigranum, by the Arabs charmen,
ketones, and chermes, by the Germans scharlack ber, by
the Spaniards grana para tenir and grana in grano, by
the French vermilion, and by the Italians grana or
grana da tentori}
The kermes grains or berries, whence the name
grana, are mentioned (probably as a dye) in the Lucca
MS. and the Clavicula 2 under the name of coccarin, and
in the latter MS. they are identified with cinnaberin
and vermiculum : " Vermiculi tereni qui in foliis ceri
nascitur — coccarin nascitur, sicut supra dictum est, in
foliis ceri." They are constantly to be traced as a dye
during the middle ages in the South of Europe, and
are noticed in a commercial agreement between Bologna
and Ferrara as early as 1193, and in the Statutes of
Marseilles for the year 1287. At Montpellier no other
dye was permitted to be used for the finest red stuffs.3
In the fourteenth century Florence 4 and Venice 5 were
celebrated for their red stuffs dyed with kermes, which
the latter city exported to other parts of Italy. The

i See Matthioli, p. 1085. 2 See Mappas Clavicula, p. 41.
3 Depping, vol. i. pp. 241, 293, 300. * Ibid., vol. i. pp. 234, 235.
5 Filiasi, Saggio, &c, pp. 153, 154 n. Hellot (L'Art de Teinture,
Paris, 1701, pp. 244, 264) said this red colour was called " Ecarlatte de
graine," formerly " Ecarlatte de France," and now " Ecarlatte de Venise,"
because it was much used there, and more was made there than any other
place. He adds, " the red draperies of the figures in the old Brussels
tapestries were dyed with this ingredient, and their colour, which in some
of these tapestries is 200 years old, has lost nothing of its vivacity." In
his time kermes was only used to dye wool for tapestry.

chap, vi.] COLOURS USED IN PAINTING. clxxv
red stuffs dyed with kermes or grana found their way
into the towns of the North of Europe. Pierce Plow
man (whose 'Vision' is supposed to have been written in
1350), in describing the dress of a lady richly clad,
says that her robe was of " scarlet in grain ;" that is,
scarlet dyed with grana, the best and most durable red
dye. The import of the words " in grain " was after
wards changed, and the term was applied generally to
all colours with which cloths were dyed which were con
sidered to be permanent ; in this sense it is still used.
The idea of preparing a pigment directly from the
kermes grains appears not to have suggested itself to
the early painters, who employed the rather indirect
•process of boiling the clippings or shearings1 of cloth
dyed with kermes in ley, and then precipitating the
colour with alum. The colouring matter, combined
with alumina, was well washed to remove the salts, and
after being dried on a porous stone or brick was pre
served in small cakes. The pigment so produced was
the " lacca di cimatura di grana da rosato," commonly
called " lacca di cimatura," which appears to have been
in common use as a red pigment until the seventeenth
century.2 Neri is probably the first author who gives a
recipe for a red pigment prepared directly from the
kermes. The method he recommends was, he said,
invented by himself at Pisa.3 Other recipes for lake
from the kermes berries are contained in the Paduan
MS.4 Lake from " quermes " was used in France for
oil and miniature painting in 1682.5
As a dye the kermes was considered among the most
durable of all colours. M. Hellot says,6 " From the
1 These consisted of the loose wool, which was removed from the face
of the cloth, in order to produce a smooth surface.
2 See Cennini, Trattato, cap. 44; Le Begue, p. 91 ; Bol. MS., p. 433,
&c. ; Secreti di D. Alessio, part i. p. 103 ; Canepario, p. 335.
3 Arte Vetraria, lib. vii. cap. 119. 4 P. 703.
"• See Traite de Mignature de C. Ballard, p. 14.
• L'Art de Teinture, p. 264.

clxxvi INTRODUCTION. [chap. vi.
experiments which have been made with the scarlet dye
from kermes, as well by exposure to the sun as by
different re-agents, it has been found that there is
neither a better nor more durable colour, and yet it is
used nowhere but at Venice." This author attributes
the solidity of the colour of the kermes to its being
nourished on a shrub possessing astringent properties,
which have been communicated to the insect ; for he
remarks " that all barks, roots, woods, fruits, and other
substances of an astringent nature, furnish durable
colours for dyeing."1 The Italian painters were aware
of this property possessed by astringent substances of
rendering colours more durable, and we find accordingly
that assafoetida,2 a handful of the bark of the white
beech, or three or four small branches of the Lombardy
poplar, were boiled with the lake in order to make the
colour more permanent.3 The bark of the white beech
was considered best for rose colours ; the practice was
not confined to the red from kermes, but extended also
to madder lake.
Cremisi, Cremisino. — Although there appears to be
no doubt that chermes and grana were really synony
mous, yet it also appears that the term cremisino was
applied in Italy during the time of Matthioli to the
colour procured from certain berries or grains attached
to the roots of the pimpinella,4 as well as to cochineal.
Matthioli adds,5 " There is now brought from the West
Indies by way of Spain a new kind of cremisino ; and
as great quantities of it are made in Italy, it has lowered
the price of silks of this colour." This cremisino from
the West Indies, brought by way of Spain, can be no
other than cochineal ; it is therefore certain that it was
well known and abundant in Italy at least as early as
i L'Art de Teinture, p. 271. 2 Bol. MS., pp. 435, 442.
3 Traite de la Peinture au Pastel. Paris, 1788.
* Poterium sanguisorba. The Burnet, probably the Bruneta ofthe Sloane
MS. No. 1754. 5 Matt., p. 1085.

chap. vi. J COLOURS USED IN PAINTING. clxxvii
1549, the date of Matthioli's work. This may also be
considered to be proved by the 'Tariffa Perpetua di
Zuane Mariani,'1 in which cremese is mentioned as well as
" grana " and " polvere di grana." Both are also spoken
of in the ' Plicto.'2 These notices are certainly evidence
that the terms were not synonymous. Matthioli further
states that at the time his work was written a lake was
made for painters from the cremese or cremisino, and
Canepario 3 carefully distinguishes grana from karbisini
or cremesi. Cochineal lake is mentioned in the Paduan
MS.4 In this treatise it is stated to have been pre
pared for painting by boiling it with lemon-juice, garlic-
juice, and burnt alum ; this treatment would probably
communicate to it a scarlet tint. The anonymous
author of the ' Trattato di Miniatura '5 states that the
colour called "lacca fina di Venezia" was made from
cochineal after the carmine had been extracted, and
that this pigment was made at Paris.
The cochineal insect is produced on different species
of cactus. The most perfect variety is that which
breeds on the cactus coccinillifer. When the Spaniards
first arrived in Mexico they saw the cochineal em
ployed by the native inhabitants in communicating
colours to some ornaments and in dyeing cloth. Struck
with its beautiful colour, they transmitted accounts of
it to the Spanish ministry, who, about the year 1523,
ordered Cortes to direct his attention to the propagation
of this substance. The pigment prepared from cochi
neal, though extremely beautiful, is not so durable as
those from lac and kermes. It is, however, worthy of
trial whether it may not be rendered more durable by
i Published at Venezia, 1567. 2 Venice, 1557.
3 De Atramentis diversi Coloribus, pp. 326, 336.
4 Pp. 661, 699, 703, 709.
5 This work, which was published at Turin in 1758, appears to be a
translation of Ballard's Traite de Mignature. In this last work, carmino
is stated to be made of cochineal and rocou (Bixa orellana, an American
plant).
VOL. I. m

clxxviii INTRODUCTION. [chap. vi.
boiling it with some astringent bark, as recommended
with regard to kermes lake.
Lac, Lacca. — The term lacca occurs in the Lucca
MS., and also in the Clavicula ; but it does not appear
whether it is used to signify gum lac or the juice of the
ivy, which is described by Eraclius in the chapter en
titled "De Edera et Lacca." These notices appear rather
to refer to a dye than to a colour for painting. In 1220
the Catalans and Provengals imported lac into their
ports for the purpose of dyeing.1 As a pigment lac
was known in Italy at least as early as 1409, since
recipes for making lake from it are given in the book
lent by Fra Dionisio to Alcherius. Other recipes are
contained in the Bolognese and Paduan MSS. and in
that of Fra Fortunato of Rovigo.
Lac does not appear to have been mentioned in the
' Tariffa Perpetua ' of Mariani, but it was used in dyeing
at Venice in 1557, when the 'Plicto' was published; and
it is among the articles enumerated in the ' Tariffa ' of
Bartolommeo del Paxi de Venezia.2 Lac lake was in
use at Venice in Matthioli's time, and even as late as that
of Caneparius.3 It was also in use at Naples in 1733.4
Madder, Rubea Tinctoria, Robbia overo Roza di
Fiandra, Sandis, Granza, Garancia, Warantia,
" Rubea Major, id est Waranz." — A red pigment pre
pared from this root is mentioned in the Sloane MS.,
No. 1754, and in that of S. Audemar,5 the same recipe'
being introduced into both treatises. In the former
work it appears also to be alluded to under the term
gorma : — " Gorma quedam herba est que trahit in pur-
puram et affertur de quadam regione et hec rosa
dicitur." Rosa, as has been already mentioned, is sy-
1 Capmany, Memorias, &c. ; and Statuts de Marseille, cited by Dep-
ping, vol. i. p. 144.
2 Venezia, 1503.
3 De Atramentis, p. 331. This work was published in 1660.
4 See recipes at the end of the Abecedario, published at Naples.
- Le Begue, p. 145.

chap, vi.] COLOURS USED IN PAINTING. clxxix
nonymous with Robbia.1 It is possible that the menesch of
Theophilus may have been madder, since mnitsch is the
Indian name for this plant.2 In the third book of
Eraclius3 madder is enumerated among colours for paint
ing ; it is also mentioned in the Table of Synonymes.4
From the time the latter work was written until that of
Neri all traces of madder as a pigment seem to be lost.
This author gives" a recipe for madder and verzino
lake ; he remarks that in making these lakes a larger
proportion of madder or verzino must be allowed than
of the cimatura, because the colour afforded by the two
former is not so deep as the latter. He concludes by
observing, " In this manner you will obtain very fine
lake for painters at less expense than that made from
' chermisi ;' the madder lake especially is very beau
tiful and pleasing to the eye." From these expressions
it may almost be inferred that Neri was recommending
what he considered to be a new pigment ; had it been
known to painters, it would have been unnecessary to
advert to the beauty of the colour. With the exception
of Neri the pigment does not appear to be mentioned
by Italian writers until 1733, when madder lake is no
ticed among other lakes in the recipes for colours at the
end of the ' Abecedario Pittorico.' The French writers
are equally silent on this subject until 1788, when the
anonymous author of the ' Traite de la Peinture au
Pastel ' observes, " Madder is, of all the plants known
in our climates, that which yields the most durable red,
and the addition of the juice of the poplar makes it still
more permanent. The juice of the bark of the white
beech is still better for rose colours." Constant de
Massoul 6 also mentions madder lake, which he says is
less likely to change than any other.
i See the ' Plicto.' 2 Nemnich, Polyglotten Lexicon.
3 P. 249, 251. 4 P. 34.
5 Arte Vetraria, Firenze, 1612, lib. vii. cap. 118.
« Art of Painting, p. 208.
m 2

clxxx INTRODUCTION. [chap, vu
Madder is enumerated among the pigments which it
is stated were used by the great Venetian painters.
Madder has been used in dyeing from time imme
morial, and by the Orientals as well as the inhabitants of
Europe. It was cultivated and used extensively for
dyeing in the neighbourhood of Avignon and Marseilles,
and it is mentioned in the statutes of the latter city as
early as 1287.1 It grew wild all over Italy, and that
produced in the neighbourhood of Rome was at one
time much esteemed. In the middle of the sixteenth
century Dutch or Flemish madder was preferred to
the Italian,2 sinee the former only was imported into
Venice.
Verzino Lake, or Lake from Brazil Wood. — The
identity of these pigments is fully proved from various
passages in these MSS.,3 and the numerous recipes which
have been transmitted to us by writers on the arts show
the extent to which verzino lake was formerly used.
The dyewood from which the pigment was prepared
was known to the Hebrews, as appears from the dic
tionary of the Rabbi David Kimchi, entitled ' Book
of Roots,' a'nd was called by the Arabs " albakim " or
" bacam."4 Verzino Colombino. — Marco Polo states that the
best verzino grew in the island of Ceylon, whence
Depping supposes that the term " Verzino Colombino "
was derived from Colombo, the capital of that island.
The colour to which Pierre Pomet5 and Marcucci6 give
this name was composed not of verzino, but of the
clippings of scarlet cloth ; the former author remarks
that the preparation of this lake is attended with much
1 Depping, Histoire, &c, vol. i. p. 293. 2 See ' Plicto.'
3 See Le Begue, p. 53. Bol. MS., p. 441. See also Mr. Eastlake's
'Materials,' &c, p. 114, and Caneparius, p. 297.
4 Diet. Universel, Francais et Latin, vulgairement appele Dictionnaire de
Trevoux, Art. Bresil. Paris, 1732.
5 Histoire Generale des Drogues, vol. i. p. 34.
« Saggio, &c, p. 125; and see also Trattato 4i Miniatura, p. 29.

chap, vi.] COLOURS USED IN PAINTING. clxxxi
difficulty, and that it is seldom conducted successfully out
of Venice, because the Venetians add to the alumina a
very white earth, which causes the lake to become very
light (in weight). A pigment of this description is still
sold at Venice in masses of a pink colour and powdery
texture, which breaks easily and is remarkably light in
weight. It is said this pigment should be well burnt.
A recipe for " Laque Colombine," composed of Brazil
or other dyewood, will be found in Ballard's ' Traite de
Mignature.' Verzino or Brazil wood is not the only
wood mentioned in these MSS. which furnished red
colouring matter. Red sandal-wood,1 Campeachy or
logwood, are also mentioned ; and it appears from
• Ballard's ' Traite de Mignature ' that when that work
was published the Brazil wood of America called by the
French " le Bresillet de Fernambouc" (easalpinia
Brasiliensis) was used in making lake instead of the
Oriental Brazil _wood, or verzino (cwsalpinia Sappan).
Venetian Lake. — It is difficult to say what this pig
ment really was. The anonymous author of the ' Trat
tato di Miniatura ' before mentioned states that the
" lacca fina di Venezia " was composed of cochineal after
the carmine had been extracted. Pierre Pomet2 says
that it was made of cochineal, Bresil of Fernambouc,
burnt alum, arsenic, and Egyptian natron, or white
soda. According to Palomino3 Venetian lake was
composed of gum lac and grana, or cochineal.
Florentine Lake. — The old pigment was probably
the same as lacca di cimatura, since this was the prin
cipal kind of lake described by Neri,4 whose work was
published at Florence, although he appears to have re
sided at Pisa. The modern pigment of this name is
made of cochineal and other ingredients.5
1 P. 517. 2 Histoire Gdndrale des Drogues, vol. i. p. 33.
3 Museo Pictorico, vol. ii. p. 340. 4 Arte Vetraria, lib. vii. c. 116.
5 Dizionario delle Droghe, di Chevalier e Richard, Tradizione da F. du
Pre, Venezia, 1830.

clxxxii INTRODUCTION. [chap. vi.
Lake from Lvy. — The medieval painters were accus
tomed to prepare a red colour from the juice or gum
which in warm countries flowed from the ivy in the
month of March. This colour differed from the lakes
before described, inasmuch as the juice or gum was in
spissated by boiling, and not precipitated upon a white
earth. The Purple of the Ancients is mentioned in the
Table of Synonymes. * It is also mentioned in the
passages borrowed from Vitruvius in the third book of
Eraclius.2 It has been observed that the characteristic of the
Venetian school was the free and unsparing use of a
powerful blue, I would add of a very beautiful and cool
lake colour also, which in all pictures of the Venetian
school, from the Vivarini to Tintoretto, invariably re
tains its colour. The Venetian lakes always incline to
blue — an effect which was probably produced by the
mixture of blue with the lake. Tassi, in his ' Lives of
the Bergamasque Painters,' speaking of the beautiful
blues and lakes found on the cinque-cento pictures,
says : " Where will you find such colours now ?" 3
These considerations make it most important to ascer
tain, if possible, what kind of lakes were used.
The lakes of Florence and Venice were particularly
celebrated. We have seen that in both cities the lacca
di cimatura was most common. Cennini4 gives the
preference to the pigment prepared from gum lac, and
it is generally believed that the latter was the lake most
frequently employed by the old masters, especially by
those of the Venetian school :5 the colour of the lake in
pictures of this school favours this supposition.
Pacheco, on the contrary, prefers the Florentine to

1 P. 25, 33. 2 P. 251.

3 He published in 1793. * Trattato, cap. 44.
5 Note by Tambroni to Cennini, Trattato, cap. 44.

.chap, vi.] COLOURS USED IN PAINTING. clxxxiii
the lac lake, as more durable, but he says lake of
Honduras is not bad. By the last term he probably
meant the lake from cochineal or American Brazil
wood. Matthioli states * that in his time four kinds of
lake were made; namely, 1st, that from cremesi or
cremisino, which was undoubtedly cochineal ; 2nd, that
made from grana or kermes ,* 3rd, that from gum lac ;
and 4th, that from verzino, which was the worst and
least valued of all the others. Lomazzo mentions more
than once, in enumerating the colours used, " le lacche
tutte," which is a proof that several kinds of lake were
used iu his time ; and in another place he speaks of
"grano," whence we may infer that the kermes lake
was among the number.
Florentine lake must have had considerable reputa
tion in Venice, since Leandro Bassano contracted to
employ it in his picture of the ' Combat of the Angels,'
painted for the church of S. Giorgio Maggiore at Venice
in 1597.2
A Venetian artist told me that the Venetians used
kermes (grana) and madder lakes, and that verzino
lake was employed by Tintoret only. Another artist,
on the contrary, said that the Venetian painters used
chiefly verzino lake. A painter and restorer of pictures
at Verona believed they used cochineal lake, and, as
we have seen, he may be right as far as regards the
painters who lived after the middle of the sixteenth
century. From the preceding authorities it will be seen that
previous to the middle of the sixteenth century the
best lake pigments employed by the Italian painters
must have been either the lacca di cimatura or lac
lake, or a mixture of one of these with verzino, and
that after this period cochineal lake might have been in
use. At present there is no evidence which of the two
1 Matt. 75. 2 Iscriz. Venet., vol. iv. p. 349.

clxxxiv INTRODUCTION. [chap. vi.
former was generally preferred: judging from the
greater number of the recipes for lacca di cimatura, we
should perhaps decide that this was the pigment gene
rally adopted; but if an opinion may be formed from
the colour of the lake on Italian, and especially on
Venetian pictures, we should say that the lac lake was
preferred. Chemical analysis does not diminish the difficulty ;
the lake-coloured pigments of a miniature of the end of
the fourteenth or beginning of the fifteenth century have
been analysed by Dr. Antonio Fabroni of Arezzo, who,
after stating ! that the tint where it was mixed with
white was of a bright blood colour, draws the following
conclusions from his experiments: "The behaviour of
this pigment with re-agents proves that this colour is a
combination of a terrene base, and probably of very fine
white chalk with a red juice, or perhaps with several
juices, either of a vegetable or animal nature. It is, in
fact, a composition analogous to our modern lakes, or
rather to the ' stils de grain ' of the French. . . . From
chemical experiments I should be inclined to believe
that the dark red colour of the miniature was produced
from verzino, if; besides the chronological difficulty,2 the
depth and inalterability of the colour, which are incom
patible with the nature of Brazil wood, did not oblige
me to abandon this conjecture.
" Carthamus, gum-lac, and madder appear to me
excluded by experiment, and by the appearance of the
colour to the eye. I think then, that this lake colour
can only be attributed to the kermes (the coccus of the
ancients) modified by some indigenous vegetable juice."
Perhaps it may be safe to conjecture that where
lake-coloured draperies are of the colour of blood they
i Ricerche Chimiche sopra le Miniature di un Manuscritto.
' Sig. Fabroni probably considered that Brazil gave its name to the wood,
whereas it is supposed that the name of the wood was transferred to the
country.

chap, vi.] COLOURS USED IN PAINTING. clxxxv
have been painted with kermes, and where they incline
to the rose-colour, or pink, that lac-lake has been used
for them, if painted previous to the middle of the
sixteenth century ; but if after that period, that either
lac, cochineal, or madder may have been employed.
The price of lake does not often appear in old docu
ments, although it is frequently stipulated in contracts
that it should be provided by the person who ordered
the picture. It is however stated1 that the lake supplied
for the altar-piece, painted in 1521, by Fra Marco
Pensaben, at Treviso, was 6 lire the ounce, exactly
double the price of the azzurro.
When Guercino was painting the picture called
„" L'Amore Virtuoso," 25 oz. of lake, besides 21 oz. of
lapis-lazuli to make ultramarine, were given to him.2
Volpato remarks3 that lakes should not only be of
beautiful colour, but in grinding they should have body,
and not become liquid ; and De Mayerne observes,4
" Lake for glazing should be mixed with but a small
quantity of oil, and should be ground as thick as butter,
so that it may be cut, otherwise it will have no body,
and be good for nothing." Lake that is left on the
palette cannot be preserved, like other colours, by
placing it in water, for that would spoil it.5 Lakes
being slow dryers, the addition of boiled oil or pulver
ized glass is necessary to promote their desiccation.6
Palomino7 observes that the colour which in Spain is
called ' Laca de Francia,' and in France 'Carmin,'
although very beautiful for illuminations and minia
tures, is not durable in oil ; for besides losing its beau
tiful colour, and becoming dark, it dries so badly,
1 Memorie Trevigiane.
2 See the Account Book of Guercino, published in the new edition of the
Fclsina Pittrice. 3 P. 745.
4 MS., quoted by Mr. Eastiake, ' Materials,' &c, p. 451 u.
5 Volpato, p. 741.
6 Bald., Voc. Dis., Tit. Olio cotto. Paduan MS., p. 666. Pacheco,
p. 390. i Museo Pictorico, vol. ii. p. 53.

clxxxvi INTRODUCTION. [chap. vi.
that after being to all appearance dry, if the picture be
washed even six years after it has been painted, the lake
will wash off." It was remarked to me at Venice that
verzino lake was always applied as a glazing colour, and
with varnish.
In painting lake or rose-coloured draperies, the
Venetians generally painted the lights with pure white,
and glazed with lake until the colour was sufficiently
dark. With lac-lake this was a wise precaution ; for
Mr. Field remarks,1 that white-lead destroys this colour.
We find that it was sometimes the practice to mix the
bone of the cuttle-fish, or white chalk, with lake, in
order to give it body. The peculiar kind of lake now
made at Venice is an example of this.2
Dragons'-blood, a resin of a dark red colour, which
drops in tears from the tree called Pterocarpus draco.
It has been used from a very early period* in miniature
painting, but is not considered a durable colour. Its
tint was varied by adding to it an alkali, or soap, when
it was called " carmine," or " ponso." When a large
quantity of soap was added, it was called " cremesino."
Pavonazzo, Purple, and Mulberry colours.
Morello diferro. — Probably some ore of iron, burnt
until it assumes a morello or murrey colour ; or it
might have been the hard red haematite, ground without
being calcined. It was used for painting in oil.3
Vitriuolo Romano abbruciato. — Burnt Roman Vitriol.
¦ — An artificial pigment, prepared by calcining sulphate
of iron, by which process it acquires a red colour.
Morello di Sale. — The nature of this pigment has
not been well ascertained. It is distinguished by
Lomazzo4 from morello di ferro, and from burnt Roman
1 Chromatography, p. 185.
2 And see Fdlibien, de la Peinture, &c, p. 299.
3 Lomazzo, Trattato, p. 192.
4 Ibid., p. 191, " II morello di ferro, e quello di sale, fanno il morello,
e oltro di cio il vetriuolo cotto," &C.

chap, vi.] COLOURS USED IN PAINTING. clxxxvii
vitriol. The same author also places it among the
colours used in fresco painting. Borghini calls1 it
Pagonazzo di sale, and says it was used for painting in
fresco and in tempera. Haydocke, the translator of
Lomazzo, took much pains to ascertain the nature of
this pigment. He says,2 " But as for morello di sale, it
must needes be the rust of salte, called flos salis, whereof
Mathiolus, 1. 5, c. 88, uppon Dioscorides writing saith,
that it is of a saffron colour, in these words : ' There is
a reddish colour, like unto rust, digged out of the Ger
man salt-mines, much desired of the painters, which,
peradventure, is ipse flos salis, the flower itselfe of
salt ; for it is like it in colour and tast ; and is com
monly called morello di sale.' Wherefore I rather
think that it is the rust of iron, and the rust of salte,
making naturally a bay colour ; for which cause I have
still translated them the rust of iron and salte ; though
in some places they agree not in colour as they are
named in the mixture. So that I imagine there is
some errour crept into the booke, which by mine owne
paines I cannot yet finde, nor by my conference with
many good painters and chemists."
I have been unable to find the passage quoted by
Haydocke in Matthioli's translation of Dioscorides, lib.
5, cap. 88, or cap. 87, in which he treats of the various
kinds of salts. Matthioli says, in speaking of " fiore di
sale," that " it is of a red colour, like rust of salt — that
it is very deliquescent, and that by suffering it to repose,
the sediment subsides, and the upper portion remains
liquid." This description agrees somewhat with the
information I received at Venice, namely, that morello
di sale is the sediment which subsides from rock-salt
when it is purified.
Phillips3 describes rock-salt as of various colours,
1 Riposo, p. 174.
2 Translation of Lomazzo's Treatise on Painting, p. 100.
3 Mineralogy, p. 193.

clxxxviii INTRODUCTION. [chap.vi.
namely, white, grey, reddish-brown, brick-red, violet,
and green; when coloured it is always more or less
impure. He says that red or greyish clay frequently
alternates in beds with rock-salt.
It seems probable that morello di sale was the same
as the morellen salz of the Germans. From an ana
lysis, made by a friend, the latter pigment is found to
consist of peroxide of iron, with a small quantity of
silica and alumina. I am informed that there is nothing
in these ingredients which militates against the opinion
of the Venetians that morello di sale is the sediment
formed in the purification of rock-salt. This purifica
tion generally takes place in iron vessels, some portions
of which may be dissolved and precipitated together
with the clay which usually accompanies the salt.
Vasari, it seems, did not approve of this colour in
fresco-painting. Speaking of the frescoes of Buffal
macco, he says,1 "It was the custom of Buffalmacco, in
order to paint the flesh with greater facility, to spread a
coat of morello di sale over the whole, which in time
caused a salt to form, which consumed the white and
other colours ; whence it is not surprising that these
works are spoiled and destroyed, while others which he
painted long before are in good preservation. And I,
who thought that these pictures had been injured by the
damp, have since proved by experience, and by com
paring them with other works of this artist, that the
injury did not arise from damp, but it was entirely owing
to this habit of Buffalmacco that some of them are so
ruined, that not even the design is visible ; and where
the flesh tints were formerly, nothing now remains but
the pavonazzo. This method of painting should not be
adopted by any one who wishes his pictures to last."
Folium, TurnsoL — Theophilus2 and S. Audemar3
describe three kinds of folium, namely, red, purple,
i Vita di Buffalmacco. 2 Theoph. lib. i. cap. xxxv. 3 P. 132.

chap. vt.J COLOURS USED IN PAINTING. clxxxix
and blue, which were prepared from a plant used in
England to dye wool. According to these authors, the
purple folium was procured artificially by the addition
of other ingredients to the red folium.
S. Audemar gives the English name for the plant
from which folium was produced ; but the word appears
to have been so disguised by the French transcriber,
Le Begue, that it is quite unintelligible.
Fortunately, however, Mr. Hendrie has ascertained1
that the name of the plant from which folium was pro
duced, has been preserved in two MSS., one of which
is of the fourteenth century, and the other of the
fifteenth. In the first of these2 the plant which is
called " morella " is described as growing in the country
of St. Giles, and as producing seeds consisting of
three grains or berries, with the juice of which were
dyed pieces of cloth, which yield a mulberry colour
called folium.
The second description of folium, which differs but
little from the first, is from a MS. belonging to the
Bibliotheque Royale at Montpellier. The directions
for the preparation of the colours resemble those in
Theophilus and S. Audemar.
From these MSS. it appears that the colour called
folium was produced from a plant called "morella,"
the seeds of which were formed in groups of three
berries in a cluster, and that the plant grew " in terra
Sancti Egidii." The Venetian MS. in the Sloane
Collection (No. 416) describes a plant,3 from the pulpy
1 Theoph., p. 59. 2 Sloane MS., No. 1754.
3 A fare pecolla azurra la quale e molto fina. R. una erba la quale se
chiama torna sole che e grande uno brago e la foia sua e fatta chomo lortiga
e da il colore a modo de tera vd"e de quela che vende i spiciali e le semence
soe sono fate al modo che e el mira — solle el so cholore de le dite semence
e verde schuro e la gamba sie bianchaca_ e se voi a chognossiere la dita eba
tola I mano e tochate el chollo Icontinente te bruxa e picara e queste semence
sono quele de le qule se fa el color arecholgi queste semence la maitinap
tempo inati che lo sole se lieva e volsse arecholgiere a la ussita de Zug°, &c.

CXC INTRODUCTION. [chap. vi.
seeds of which blue and purple colours were ob
tained; but this plant is called "tornasole," and not
" morella. " The description1 is accompanied by a
drawing of a plant which bears three berries, and it is
followed by an account of the process of preparing the
colour, which corresponds with those given by Theo
philus, S. Audemar, and the Montpellier MS.
Now there are two plants mentioned by medieval
writers under the name of " morella," one of which is
the solanum nigrum, the solatro nero, or ortense, the
morella, or herba morella of the Italians, the morelle
des jardins, morelle au fruit noir of the French, the
black nightshade of the English.2 Red, green, and
blue dyes were prepared from the seeds of this plant, as
we find from the MS. of Le Begue, Nos. 94, 338 ; the
Bolognese MS., No. 91 ; and Paduan MS., Nos. 35
and 100; but on referring to the figure of this plant in
Matthioli, we see that the berries grew in bunches of
four, and not in three, and that in other respects
it differed from the description of the plant in the
Venetian MS.
The other plant called " morella " is the croton
tinctorium, or crozophora tinctoria, the heliotropium
minus tricoccum, which is called in French tournesole,
but at Montpellier " maurelle."3 The term tricoccum
will not escape observation as agreeing with the old
descriptions, and the name " tornasole " given to the
acrid plant described in the Venetian MS. sufficiently
identifies it with the croton tinctorium, the corrosive
properties of which are well known.
And now with regard to the place where it grows.
The heliotropium tricoccum grows in marshy places,
and is a native of the Levant and south of Europe,
Provence and Languedoc, especially of Galarques,

i For this recipe from the Venetian MS. I am indebted to Mr. Eastiake.
2 Nemnich, Polyglotten Lexicon. 3 ibid.

chap, vi.] COLOURS USED IN PAINTING. cxci
where a colour is still prepared by steeping rags in the
juice of this plant,1 and the neighbourhood of Nismes
and Montpellier. The Montpellier and Sloane MSS., it
will be recollected, state that it grew in " terra Sancti
Egidii," and Egidius is the Latin name for Gilles, or
Giles : now about thirteen miles due south of Nismes is
St. Gilles, a town of great antiquity, the Rhoda Rhodi-
orum of Pliny, chiefly remarkable at present for its
magnificent abbey (which dates from the twelfth cen
tury), and other medieval remains. This then is the
" terra Sancti Egidii " of the MSS., and the plant
morella is the " maurelle " of Montpellier, the modern
turnsol. Montpellier and its neighbourhood have always
keen celebrated for the dyes prepared there, and this
city was at one time the centre of the commerce of
Languedoc.2 At the present time it carries on exten
sive dye and chemical works, and manufactories of
colours, some of which are nearly peculiar to itself and
neighbourhood. Having now determined the name and species of the
plant from which folium was procured, and the country
where it grew, it remains to account for the appellation
folium, which, at first sight, appears inapplicable to the
juice of a berry. I consider that this is explained by
the Montpellier and the Venetian MSS. The directions
in the former for preparing the colour are rather inde
finite, but the Venetian MS. is more explicit. It
directs3 that pieces of cloth or rag are to be dyed with
the juice pressed from the pulp surrounding the seeds ;
and then dried in the shade, and preserved by laying
them between the leaves of a book, like leaves of gold,

1 Marcucci, Saggio, &c, p. 132.
2 Depping, Histoire du Commerce, &c, vol. i. p. 302.
3 — " e quando serano seche le dite pece mitele T uno libro de charta
Bobaxina e tine lo libro soto lo chavezale aco che no pia umiditad e quando
ne voi adoverar taiane uno puocho e mitelo amoio la sira T uno chaparaco
con uno puocho de aqa la maitina sera fato e lo cholore foro do la pcga."

cxcii INTRODUCTION. [chap. vi.
and when required for use, the colour was discharged
from the rag by steeping it in water. I imagine the
dye derived its name of " folium" from this practice
of preserving the pieces of cloth in books.
Some little difficulty has been thrown on this subject,
from the statement of Theophilus and S. Audemar,
that red, blue, and purple colours were obtained from
the same plant. In the Sloane MS. the colour is said
to be mulberry. Pierre Pomet says that' turnsole en
drapeau consists of nothing but rags dyed red with the
juice of the heliotropium tricoccum, or tornesol, the fruit
of which makes a very fine blue, but that the least acid
turns it red. In the Table of Synonymes it is mentioned
among the red colours. Nemnich,1 De Candolle,2
Lemeri,3 the author of the Paduan MS., and the
translators of ' Beckmann's Inventions,' speak of it as
producing a blue dye. Clusius,4 De l'Abel,5 and Merret,6
who follows Libavius, say it dyes cloth a bright green,
which changes to blue and purple. Gerarde7 mentions
a purple colour only. Constant de Massoul 8 says, a
paste is prepared from the fruit of the heliotropium
tricoccum, that grows in gardens in France. This
paste being steeped in water, takes a beautiful blue
tint. It will sometimes appear of a red colour, but by
adding a little lime-water it will return to its blue colour.
All these authors speak of the colour being preserved
by dyeing rags in it. It may be considered then that
the colour, when fresh, was green, that it became blue
on drying, and afterwards purple and red, according to
the ingredients used in the preparation.
The rags thus tinged with the juice of the Croton

1 Polyglotten Lexicon. 2 Flore Francaise.
3 Histoire des Drogues. * Rariorum Plant. Hist., 1501.
5 Plantarum seu Stirpium Hist., 1576, and Adversaria, 1576.
6 Notes to Neri, cap. 110.
i The Herball, or Generall Historie of Plantes, 1597.
« Treatise on the Art of Painting, London, 1797, p. 186.

chap, vi.] COLOURS USED IN PAINTING. cxciii
Tinctorium or Turnsol were called in Italian Pezzette,
literally, small pieces, or as we should say, rags ; for
soft, fine, and worn-out linen cloth was used for this
purpose. In Italy the pezzette were of various colours.
Cennini speaks 1 of " pezzette di Levante." Don Alessio
states, that they were made from " cimatura di grana,"
or verzino ; Pomet and Lemeri say that the " tourne-
sole en drapeau " of Constantinople was fine linen or
crape, dyed with an acid preparation of cochineal.
" Pezzette morelle " were made from the juice of the
wild elder; "pezzette pavonaze" from the juice ofthe
myrtle. " Pezzette " of different colours are described
in the Bolognese MS.2
I have little doubt that the bezette of the Germans
was the pezzette of the Italians, and the bisetus of the
middle ages.
The folium of Theophilus and S. Audemar must
not be confounded with the folium described by St.
Isidore, in the passage quoted by M. de l'Escalopier in
his ' Theophilus,' p. 293 — " Folium dictum, quod sine
ulla radice innatans in Indise litoribus colligitur. Quod
lino perforatum, siccant Indi, atque reponunt. Fertur
autem Paradisi esse herba, gustu nardum referens."
The Catholicon gives a nearly similar description of
folium, and adds, that the precious ointment called
" foliatum " was made from it. The passage evidently
relates to the Malabathrum of Dioscorides, which Mat
thioli3 says was called "Folio Indiano," and which was
valued for its perfume, and not for its colour.
Indigo appears also to have been called "folium In-
dicum," as may be understood from the following passage
from Du Cange, also quoted by M. de l'Escalopier:4 —
"Peto, ut nobis mittas ad decorandos parietes colores
diversos, qui ad manum habentur, videlicet auripigmen-
tum, folium Indicum, minium, lazur."
1 Cap. a. • 2 Pp. 443, 427, 439, 443. 3 Matt., p. 47.
4 Thdophile, p. 293, n.
VOL. I. n

cxciv

INTRODUCTION. [chap. vi.

Bisetus, or Biseth Folii.— There is some difficulty in
reconciling the few notices I have been able to collect
respecting this pigment. It is mentioned in Eraclius,1
who says " Folium incide de bruno ; matiza di biseto
folii." Again, " misces brunum cum albo, fietque pulcra
rosa; incide de bruno, matiza di albo vel de biseto
folii." " Viride incide de nigro, et matizabis de biseto."
" Indicum incide de nigro ; matiza de azurio, vel de
vergaut, aut biseth." " Misce auripigmentum cum azurio
vel indico, aut ocrum cum indico, vel viride, et erit
bonum vergaut; inde de bruno, aut di nigro, undajbis',
auripigmentum aut de biseth matizabis."
The only information to be collected from these pas
sages is, that it was a colour which served for heighten
ing the others, consequently that it was lighter than
they were. In the first case, it was used for the lights
of a red, purple, or blue drapery ; in the second, of a
red drapery ; in the third and fifth, of a green drapery ;
and in the fourth, of a blue drapery.
These passages, therefore, are no guide to the colour;
and as Eraclius gives directions for painting changeable
draperies in this chapter, it is by no means necessary that
the lights should be of the same colour as the shades.
The next notice of bisetus is in the Table of Sy
nonymes,2 where it is described as being less red than
folium, and is said to be taken from that portion which
swims on the surface. Le Begue adds, " I believe that
this term is applicable in the same sense to the lighter tint
of any colour, when tempered in shells (such lighter tint
rising to the surface), after the colour has settled a little."3
Merret, in his notes to Neri's ' Arte Vetraria ' (cap.
ex.), mentions bezetta as a synonyme of turnsol, " bezett*".
seu tornasolis ;" this, it will be observed, agrees with the
description in the Tableof Synonymes, Inspeaking of this

1 P- 253. ? p. 21.
3 I have adopted Mr. Eastlake's translation. See ' Materials,' &c, p. 425.

chap, vi.] COLOURS USED IN PAINTING. CXCV
colour, Merret quotes a passage from the ' Wormianum,'
in which Wormius relates that a apiece of cloth tinged
with a bright and beautiful red colour was given to him
by Christopher Herfert (apothecary to Christian V.),
who did not know how it was produced ; that it ap
peared to have been coloured with red sandal wood, and
was used to give a red colour to food in the same way
as the common turnsol ; but that it was far superior to
it ; that it was fit for rouge, and had this peculiarity,
that it communicated its colour to water, and with some
difficulty to wine, but not to spirit of wine. From this
it would appear that Merret considered this piece of
red cloth might be included under the general term
bezzetta, and that the term was not applicable solely to
cloth dyed with turnsole.
My opinion is strengthened by a remark of Nemnich,
who says,1 that cloths dyed with the juice of the turnsol
were called in the Levant and at Venice " pezzette,"
and not "bezzette," as it is usually written. An eminent
German chemist informed me that in the laboratory in
Berlin, where he studied chemistry, there were several
old boxes marked with the word "bezzette," which
contained coloured rags. It is probable, therefore,
that bisetus or biseth is a Latin term for bezzette,
which is a corruption of the Italian pezzette ; and that
these pezzette might be of different colours; hence
the opinion expressed by Le Begue in the Table of
Synonymes was probably correct. Whether it is
practicable to obtain two tints from folium, that is to
say, one from the juice itself and another from the scum
which arises on it, and whether this lighter tint was of
a pale red only, or sometimes purple or blue, can only
be determined by experiment.
With regard to the use of bisetus on the lights in the
manner mentioned by Eraclius, it must be observed,
1 Polyglotten Lexicon, tit. Croton Tinctorium.
n 2

OXCvi INTRODUCTION. Lchap. vi.
that the colour with which the rags were saturated
being transparent, might be made to appear as .light as
it was necessary, by being much diluted, and that the
strength of the colour would depend on the quantity
of water with which it was mixed, and the repetition
of the colour.
Palomino mentions a colour which he calls "ur-
chilla ;" * he states that it is of a morello colour, and
known only to a few persons ; that it is excellent for
illuminating and for shading sketches (or subjects in
chiaroscuro) ; he adds, that although he "could describe
the mode of preparation from the juice of morello-
coloured lilies and alum, it was not his intention so to
do, but merely to mention a beautiful transformation
which it undergoes, for by throwing into it lemon-juice
instead of water, it changes its colour to that of carmine
or dragon's blood ; so that, from being one colour only,
it becomes two, and both may be used for illuminating,
for miniatures, and for sketches." It is unnecessary to
observe that if this colour were really made of the juice
of blue lilies, it could not have been the oricello ofthe
Italians. Pacheco says2 that in illuminating, blues were
shaded with this colour. Blue Pigments.
Azzurro. — By this term the early Italian painters
appear to have understood Azzurro della Magna.
Azzurro della Magna, Azzurro Todesco, Azzurro
Spagnuolo, Azzurro de Anglia, Azzurro de Lom-
bardia,3 Lazurstein, Citramarinum. — I have stated
my opinion (supported by what appeared to me
satisfactory evidence) in a former work,4 that this
German azure was a native blue ore of copper. I
i Vol. ii. p. 343. 2 Tratado, p. 354.
3 Cennini states (cap. lx.) that Azzurro della Magna was found near
Siena. It is also stated to be produced at Striscia, in the district of Vol-
terra. See Ricett. Fiorent. 4 Art of Fresco Painting, p. xxxiv.— li.

chap, vi.] COLOURS USED IN PAINTING. cxcvii
have since ascertained that the fact has been settled
beyond a doubt by Professor Branchi of Pisa.1 This
gentleman analysed a portion of the blue pigment from
one of the pictures formerly in the chapel of S. Jacopo
di Pistoia. For this purpose he poured a sufficient
quantity of concentrated sulphuric acid on the blue
pigment, which he afterwards evaporated to dryness ;
the residue then being dissolved in distilled water, gave
a blue colour with ammonia, and a bluish-green precipi
tate with carbonate of potash. An iron knife-blade being
immersed in the liquor, metallic copper was deposited
on it. The Professor also obtained the same results
from the analyses of the blue pigments of other ancient
pictures, especially that from the ground of the very
ancient Madonna in the Lunette of the lateral door of
the Duomo of Pisa, for which, as appears from the
account-roll preserved in the archives, azzurro d'Ale-
magna was provided. Dr. A. Fabroni, of Arezzo, also
analysed a portion of the blue colour of a MS. of the
beginning of the fifteenth century. After describing 2
the effects of different chemical re-agents on this pig
ment, he observes, " At first sight this colour resembles
ultramarine, or at least the finest smaltino. Neverthe
less it is clearly shown by analysis to be an oxide of
copper, and I have satisfied myself by ocular examina
tion, as well as by the comparative effects of re-agents,
that it is identical with our biadetto (cendre bleue of the
French), although it is much deeper in colour. It is
to be observed that I have seen the same colour on
some ancient fresco paintings which existed in the sup
pressed monastery of S.S. Flora and Lucilla in our
city, which for some centuries have been exposed to the
injuries of the air, and yet the colour is very bright."
Sig. Fabroni conjectured that the colour was " moun-
1 Lettera di Branchi, &c, pp. 7, 8, 9.
2 See Ricerche Chimiche sopra le Miniature di un Manuscritto, pub
lished in the Acts ofthe Soc. of Arts, &c, of Arezzo, 1843, vol. i. p. 3.

CXCV111

INTRODUCTION. [chap. vi.

tain blue heightened by some acid or saline preparation."
But it appears quite possible for the colour to have been
produced by the indurated blue carbonate of copper,
which is of as deep and fine a colour as ultramarine
when first prepared and used, although it differs from
the latter in being more easily affected by re-agents,
and in fact by being generally less permanent. Professor
Petrini has written several articles in the ' Antolcgia ' *
respecting the pigment azzurro della magna. In one
of these, dated August, 1821, after mentioning the
experiments of Branchi on the old pictures in S. Jacopo
di Pistoia, he says, " the same experiments have been
tried with similar success on a great number of pictures of
the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries, whence it appears
that the painters of that period knew no other mineral
azures than ultramarine and azzurro della magna."
De Boot2 distinguishes two kinds of azure, that which
was fixed in the fire, and that which was not fixed. The
former was the real ultramarine, which was always
brought from the East ; the latter was found in Ger
many, and was commonly called lazurstein, and this, he
observes, " occupies a mean place between the Arme
nian stone, which is friable, and the lapis lazuli, which
it resembles in hardness. The colour prepared from
the lazurstein is called asurblau, but many painters do
not distinguish between this mineral and the Armenian
stone, which they confound together, because the colours
extracted from both are alike. Nevertheless, the stones
differ in hardness, and the colour prepared from that
which is not fixed in the fire is generally more beau
tiful than that prepared from the Armenian stone. I
possess colours prepared by my own hand, which are so
fine that they bear comparison with ultramarine."
The above description, as well as those of Cennini 3
1 Published at Florence.
2 Le parfaict Joaillier, p. 351. 3 Trattato, cap. lx.

chap, vi.] , COLOURS USED IN PAINTING. cxcix
and the Bolognese MS.,1 corresponds with the charac
teristics of the indurated native blue carbonate of
copper. The difficulty of distinguishing between these
two minerals has always been felt, and there appears
to be no test but that of fire, which was known at a
very early period.2
The mode of preparing this mineral as a pigment is
described by Cennini, and in the Bolognese MS.3
Having shown that the blue pigment in several old
paintings, both mural and on miniatures, has been ascer
tained to be copper,, I shall now give a few extracts
from documents, proving that it was used on pictures
also. The stipulation in the contract to use azzurro
della magna must be considered evidence of the esteem
in which it was held.
" 1453, 10 August  Padua.
" Agreement made between the monastery of Sta. Giustina and
me, Andrea Mantegna, painter, relative to the painting of an altar-
piece to be placed over the altar of S. Luca in the church of Sta.
Giustina, by which I, Andrea Mantegna, agree to paint all the
figures at my own expense, including the colours, for the price of
50 ducats in Venetian gold, and to inlay with azzurro Todesco all
the carvings and ornaments of the said altar-piece," &c.4
This picture, observes Moschini in 1826, is now
fresh and intact at Milan. On my second visit to
Milan, Conte Pompeo Litta obligingly procured me an
order, which enabled me to obtain a private view of
this picture (which, with many others, had been removed
1 P. 343. Both kinds of carbonate of copper appear to be described in
this chapter. 2 See pp. 247, 341 , 385. 3 P. 365.
4" 1453, adi 10 Agbstb  Padova.
" Pati fati con el Monastero di Sta. Giustina e mi Andrea Mantegna pen-
tor cerca el penger de una so pala da altare da esser mesa a l'altar de San
Luca in la dita Gesia di Sta. Giustina soe de depenger tutte le figure a mie
spese e'colori per prexio de ducati cinquanta doro veniciani con questo che
debo cimpizar dazuro todesco tuti li intagi e adornamenti de la dita pala,"
&c. Copied from the original contract in the possession of the Conte
Francesco de' Lazara, at Padua. The contract has been published by Mos
chini in his work entitled ' Dell' Origine e delle Vicende della Pittura in
Padova,' p. 34 n.

CC INTRODUCTION. [chap. vi.
from the gallery of Brera, for the purpose of re-laying
the floors). The picture is divided into twelve com
partments, separated by columns. In the centre is an
evangelist, and in the other compartments are saints ;
those in the upper row are half-figures, while those in
the lower are whole lengths. The figures are painted
on gold grounds, and there are several dark-blue
draperies, but the blue has turned black. All the colours
appear to have darkened, except the lakes, which are as
good as ever. The carvings and ornaments inlaid with
blue are no longer with the picture. Andrea Mantegna
was in his 22nd year when he painted this altar-piece.
By a contract, dated 22nd February, 1474, Giacomo
Filipo, a painter of Ferrara, agreed with Fra Ludovico
da Forli, Prior of the old Church of S. Salvatore at
Bologna, to paint certain pictures, " de boni coluri a
modo stia bene," on a ground of " azuro todesco," of
the price of 10 bolognini the ounce.1
In the documents respecting the celebrated altar-
piece by Fra Marco Pensaben at Treviso, published in
the ' Memorie Trevigiane,' a blue colour, which from
its price could not have been ultramarine, is mentioned
in the following terms: — "1521, 13: Ott. Dati per
oncie 10 e mezza d'azzurro, a lire tre l'onza."
Azzurro di Terra, Azzurro di Spagna, Biadetto,
Cenere Azzurre, Ceneretta, la Cendree, Cendres bleuesf
Cenizas azules, Bleu de Montagne, Bice, Terra biaua,
Sanders blue, Ongaro, Bleu minerale, Turchino,Berglblau.
—A blue pigment, prepared from carbonate of copper,
has been known to artists under the above names from
a very early period. It appears to have been of a
paler colour than the pigment called azzurro della
magna,2 and in fact not to have exceeded in depth of
colour the blue of the sky. It is probable that the
azzurro di terra was produced from the earthy blue
1 Gualandi, Memorie di Belle Arti, Ser. iv. p. 91.
2 See Caneparius, p. 360.

chap, vi.] COLOURS USED IN PAINTING. CCl
carbonate of copper; but when the latter was of a
bluish-green colour it wras employed for preparing the
pigment called verde azzurro.
It will be seen from the following MSS., that arti
ficial blue pigments prepared from copper were common
at an early period. As these azures were easily and
cheaply made, and as they were, when freshly pre
pared, but little inferior in colour to the natural pig
ments, they found a ready sale, and were not easily
distinguishable from the native pigments ; indeed it
appears from more than one writer of the seventeenth
and eighteenth centuries, that it was not generally
known whether " cenere azzurre " were natural or arti
ficial productions. The author of the ' Trattato di
Miniatura ' remarks (p. 52), " It is not known exactly
what the ' cenere azzurre ' of England really are, or
how they are made. They are brought from Dantzic
by the English and Dutch, who export them to France
and other places, whence they are called ' cenere
d'Inghilterra.' " Pierre Pomet says * that " cendre
bleue " is a composition, or pulverized stone, brought
from England or Bouen, whence it is imported into
France by the Swedes, Hamburghers, and Danes.
Notwithstanding the diligent inquiries I have made, I
have found it impossible to ascertain the nature of the
"cendre bleue :" some tell me it is a composition made
at Rouen ; but as those who make it keep it a secret,
I could not learn how it is made. The author of the
' Traite de la Peinture au Pastel ' appears to have been
better informed ; he says, " a l'egard de la cendre bleue,
c'est une terre charged d'une .certaine quantite de
chaux minerale de cuivre ; le ton de ce mineral est d'un
bleu naissant tres agreable."
It is almost unnecessary to observe that sanders
blue is a corruption of " cendre bleue."
A blue pigment prepared from the native ore of
1 Hist. Generale des Drogues, vol. ii. p. 385.

ecu

INTRODUCTION. [chap. vi.

copper was in use in Italy at the time of Lomazzo
under the name of " Ongaro."1 This is the pigment
which, it is stated on the authority of Pacheco,- Michael
Coxie obtained from Titian for the purpose of painting
the mantle of the Virgin in the copy he was making of
the celebrated altar-piece of the Van Eycks at Ghent.2
Ongaro is mentioned in the Paduan MS.
Biadetto. — This term, which occurs so frequently in
technical works on painting, has been applied both to
the native and to the artificial pigment prepared from
copper. There is no doubt that at an early period of
art the natural pigment (which was of a much finer
colour than the factitious) was much used.3 Mr. East-
lake i has discovered the true derivation of the term
" biadetto " in the ' Bladetus de Inde ' of the Venetian
MS., which is identified by De Mayerne with "la
cendree," and beis or bice. " La cendree" is described
to be " made of the blue stone which comes from India,
and which is found in silver mines."
The "azzurro di biadetti" of Borghini and Baldi
nucci was the artificial pigment. The native mineral
pigment is mentioned under the term azzurro di vena
naturale, and both these are distinguished from azzurro
della magna. The biadetto now sold in Italy is the
artificial pigment which is imported from England ; but I
could not ascertain the commercial name. The modern
biadetto is described in the ' Secreti ' of Fra Fortunato
to be composed of verdigris, sal-ammoniac, and tartar.
The name turchino is stated to have been applied
to this class of pigments in consequence of their being
imported at one time into Italy in large quantities by the
Turks ;s others trace the name to the resemblance of the
colour of the pigment to the blue stone ealled turquoise,
a mineral which also owes its colour to copper.

i See Trattato, p. 191 . 2 See Pacheco, p. 373. 3 Lettera di Branchi.
4 Materials, &c, p. 121. s See Ciampi, Notizie, &c, p. 57.

chap, vr.] COLOURS USED IN PAINTING. cciii
A modern blue pigment, known under the name of
copper, mountain, English, Hambro', lime, kassler,
mineral, and Neuwieder blue, is prepared from carbo
nate of copper, with hydrated oxide of copper and lime.
"It is obtained by a particular process (which at pre
sent is kept in part secret), by decomposing subchloride
of copper by a solution of caustic potash, and afterwards
mixing the mass with caustic lime, and exposing the
mixture for some time to the air. When the greenish-
blue- colour has become a pure blue, the mass is dried
and ground into a rather coarse, crumbling, or dust-like
powder. The darker sorts contain only a small per
centage of quick lime ; but the lighter sorts, on the con
trary, from 20 to 70 per cent. Mountain blue is used
as a lime colour, but chiefly for colouring rooms, on
account of its unchangeability on lime grounds ; some
times as enamel colour instead of oxide of copper." '
Although Boschini affirms that biadetto was one of
those colours which the Venetians " abhorred like the
plague," there is evidence to show that blue pigments
from copper were used by Venetian painters. The
fact of Titian having in his possession some of the
colour called "ongaro" has been already mentioned.
Paolo Veronese is stated by Signor Pietro Edwards
to have employed " a certain mineral azure which is no
longer in use;" and Paolo's well-known practice of mix
ing his blues with size may be considered a confirmation
of this assertion, since the copper blues if used with oil
Were certain to change. A Venetian artist, whose
family have always been painters, and who doubtless
possesses much traditionary knowledge, also stated that
the Venetians used a "terra azzurra"2 which is now
lost ; but he added, that on analysis biadetto had been
found on the pictures of Tintoretto only. The ' Tariffa'

1 Pharmaceutical Journal, vol. vi. p. 82.
2 Caneparius also mentions (p. 360, 362) a" terra cerulea.'

cciv

INTRODUCTION. [chap. vi.

of Zuane Mariana proves that a terra biaua was in
1567 imported into Venice in such quantities as to be
sold by the peso grosso; and when we consider the
immense quantity of blue found on the paintings of the
Venetian school, we are obliged to conclude either that
ultramarine was much more plentiful than it is at
present, or that some other blue pigment has been
used. To the above instances must be added the
opinion current in Venice that biadetto is the pigment
which best matches the* blue found in Venetian pictures.
The use of blue pigments from copper appears to
have prevailed in other schools of the North of Italy.
I was informed at Milan that the blue in the drapery
of the Virgin in the St. Jerome of Correggio, at Parma,
was painted with biadetto. It appears that either
biadetto or azzurro della magna was used by Lionardo
da Vinci, since there are the following entries in his
MS. book of drawings in the Ambrogiana Library at
Milan : " di spesa tra azurro, oro, biaca, giesso, indacho,
et cholla ; lire 3 .... fra smalto, azurro, e altri colori,
lire H, fra azurro e oro, lire 3i, un' oncia d'azuro, soldi
10." Here we have the exact price of the " azuro,"
which could not have been ultramarine, and which
appears to have been too cheap for azzurro della magna.1
With regard to the manner in which these pigments
were employed — in the first place it is clear that they
cannot be used with oil without turning green.2 It is
true that Borghini, Baldinucci, and Lomazzo state that
they may be used with oil ; but Bisagno remarks " la
ceneretta is but little adapted for painting skies, be
cause it becomes green in time :" and the author of the
' Traite de la Peinture au Pastel ' observes that cendres
bleues might be employed in tempera painting and in
1 The price of this pigment at Florence, in 1459, was 3 great florins the
oz. ; see a letter from Benozzo Gozzoli in the Carteggio Inedito, vol. i.
p. 193. The author of the Bol. MS. states that azzurro della magna was
sold from 10 to 30 bolognini the oz.
2 See Palomino, vol. ii. p. 52.

chap, vi.] COLOURS USED IN PAINTING. CCV
unimportant works, that cupreous earths might be used
for peinturage (by which he probably meant common
decorative effects), but never for painting, even in fresco.
Paolo Veronese is stated to have generally painted
the blues in his pictures with size ; Signor Pietro Ed
wards mentions * that in the picture by Paolo in the ceil
ing of the Collegio in the Ducal Palace at Venice, the
blue sky was painted in tempera, and the clouds with oil.
As the grounds employed by Paolo consisted gene
rally of a thin coating of glue and gesso only, no prepa
ration was necessary before applying the blue of the sky
with size. But when the blue was required to be laid
upon oil colours, it was necessary to apply a thin coat
of varnish, or to rub the surface with juice of garlic.2
The colour was afterwards varnished. Fra Fortunato
of Rovigo states, that to prepare biadetto for miniature
painting, so that it should spread well, it should be
ground with burnt roche alum, or with a little tartar or
sandarac. He adds, biadetto should be ground very
fine, and used with varnish made of spirit of turpentine
and clear mastic ; it will then spread well, glaze bril
liantly, and be of a beautiful colour. Blue was some
times applied in powder. De Boot mentions 3 that
" on account of the excessive price of ultramarine,
painters were accustomed to dead colour the parts of
their pictures intended to be blue with Armenian stone,
or a blue glass called smalt, to which white was added
for the lights. When this preparation was quite dry,
ultramarine, mixed with nut oil and spirit of turpentine,
or varnish, was glazed over it. By this means the
colours spread beneath, as if under a glass, became
brilliant and splendid, borrowing through this veil from
the ultramarine, not only beauty but durability ; so
1 In a document addressed to Sig. Savio Cassier, dated the 25th of Aug.,
1780, and now preserved in the Academy at Venice, where I saw it.
2 See Mr. Eastlake's ' Materials,' &c, p. 455.
»Le parfaict Joailli,er, &c, p. 372.

ccvi INTRODUCTION. [chap. vi.
that in two hundred years they lost but little of their
brightness and beauty." Volpato directs * that azzurro
di Spagna should be tempered as firmly as possible
with nut oil, and that it should be made to flow with
spirit of turpentine.
Bisagno remarks that ceneretta must not be mixed
with smaltino, because these colours are inimical to
each other,2 and Constant de Massoul 3 makes the same
remark with regard to cendre bleue and orpiment.
There is one peculiarity attending the blue pigments
in Italian pictures, which was first pointed out to me by
a Milanese artist, and this is that the blues invariably
are raised above the surface of the other colours, and
that in some cases (and he particularly instanced
Correggio's S. Jerome at Parma) they stand up as high
as a five franc piece above the canvass. I have myself
seen them on some pictures raised to the height of an
English shilling. This artist ascribed the effect to the
difficulty of using the blue, and to the necessity of
repeating the colour several times.
Paeheco's method of using blue pigments has been
described briefly by Mr. Eastiake.4
Smalto and Smaltini, Email, Azur a poudrer. —
There were two kinds of pigment of this name, one of
which was a preparation of zaffre, the other was a glass
composed of sand, nitre, and copper filings. The latter
is the Vestorian azure described by Vitruvius, which
was called also azzurro di Pozzuoli. It was chiefly
used in fresco painting.5 The smalto made at Venice
in the time of Caneparius seems to have been of the
latter kind, since this author describes the first under
the term zaphara.
1 P. 747. 2 Pacheco, however, recommends that azul de
Santo Domingo should be shaded with good smalti. Tratado, p. 391.
3 Art of Painting, p. 176.
4 Materials, &c, p. 431 ; and see Pacheco, p. 361.
5 See translations of Vitruvius by Orsini, published in 1822 ; and by Gal-
liani, published at Naples in 1758.

chap, vi,] COLOURS USED IN PAINTING. ccvij
It is not always easy to decide which pigment is
intended when these terms are employed, for there is
evidence that they were both in use at the same time
in Italy. Lomazzo mentions " gli smalti, come quello
di Fiandra che e il migliore de gl' altri tutti ;" from the
last words it might almost be inferred that other vitri
fied pigments of this kind were known, besides the two
above-mentioned. There is little doubt that the " smalto
di Fiandra " was zaffre, and that it was very similar to
the pigment we now call "smalt." The smaltino of
the ' Abecedario ' was also a preparation of zaffre.
One kind of azzurro di smalto only is mentioned by
Bprghjni;1 this he states was composed of glass, and
was used in fresco, in tempera, and in oil.
Lionardi da Vinci mentions " smalto " among the
colours provided for the decoration of the apartments
in the castle in which Lodovico il Moro resided ;2 but
at the period when these paintings were executed
(1492), it is scarcely probable that zaffre was known in
Italy. In the absence, therefore, of evidence to the
contrary, we must believe that the smalto mentioned
by him was of the same nature as the smaltino used by
his contemporary Pietro Perugino for the mantle of the
Virgin in his picture at Montone. Baldassare Orsini
states that the smaltino in this picture was painted in
distemper on a ground of black; and to modify the
brightness of this blue Pietro had stippled the whole
drapery with lake. With regard to the composition of
the smaltino, Orsini states that he had analysed this
colour, and had found that it was a vitrified pigment
like that described by Vitruvius in powder, and that it
was tempered with flour paste.3
Smaltino appears also to have been occasionally em
ployed in oil-paintings, as we learn from Borghini, and
from Bisagno; the latter says it should not be mixed
1 Riposo, p. 173. 2 Amoretti, Memorie Storiche di L. da Vinci, p. 38.
3 Elogio e Memorie di Pietro Perugino, p. 208, and n.

ccviii INTRODUCTION. [chap. vi.
with " ceneretta,'' and that for painting skies it should
be mixed with white lead, and tempered with nut oil.
This pigment is called " cerulee " in the Brussels MS.1
Lebrun states 2 that very beautiful blue draperies are
made with " azur a poudrer" (smalt):3 they must be
first painted with black and white, the lights being
bright (that is to say, very white), and the shades being
very dark, and then sprinkled with " azur a, poudrer."
Mr. Eastiake gives4 several instances of blue being
painted in this manner. Christophe Ballard recom
mends 5 that email (smalt) should be mixed with oil
of turpentine, in order that it may dry and not flow,
email, he states, " being very difficult to use ; for if it be
made too liquid it will flow ; and if too thick and firm
you will not be able to use it ; but by mixing it with
spirit of turpentine it may be easily used ; for the oil of
turpentine evaporates in the air." This author gives
the following directions for preventing the colour from
flowing (qu'elle ne coule) : — "When you have painted
your drapery, you will place your picture upon the
ground, or upon a table ; then you will take some
crumpled paper, such as the grey paper used by mer
chants, tear it into small pieces, and let it fall upon
your work. The paper will absorb all the oil; and
when the blue is nearly dry, and, as we say, ' embu,'
even although it should not be quite dry, the paper will
prevent the colour from flowing. To remove the
paper, you must strike the picture upon a corner, and
all the paper will fall off: and note, that you must not
suffer it to dry, or you will not be able to remove the
paper ; neither must the pieces of paper be too large, or
they will mark the drapery."6

i P. 804. 2 p. 82i.
3 Pierre Pomet, Hist, des Drogues, vol. i. p. 192, 193.
4 Materials, &c, p. 431, 455. 5 Traite" de Mignature, p. 216, 217.
« For other methods of using smalt, see also Mr. Eastlake's ' Materials,'
&c, p. 427—432.

chap, vr.] COLOURS USED IN PAINTING. ccix
In 1676, " the finest ground smalt that ever came into
England" was valued at 8s. a pound.1
The early history of cobalt and zaffre is involved in
so much obscurity, and the evidence respecting it
appears so conflicting, that it is considered useless to
enter into the subject in the present work.2 The same
remark applies to the zaffirro of the middle ages, which,
although it decidedly signifies in some cases ultra
marine, or lapis lazuli, is yet used so vaguely that it
cannot be understood to be limited to this substance
only. The difficulty of coming to any decision on this
subject may be estimated by the consideration that the
term zafirro, saffiro, or saphiro, was used to denote a
precious stone of a blue colour as well as a blue mineral,
which from its description must be lapis lazuli; that
zaffera, saphra, or zaffre was a blue pigment prepared
from cobalt, which is now known by the name of smalt,
and that safar is the Moorish name for copper.3 So
little variation is there between the terms used to de
signate the three minerals from which the principal blue
pigments are made.
Various kinds of artificial mineral azures were em
ployed in Italy ; many of these are described in the
Bolognese MS. (cap. ii.). The pigment described at
p. 388 is represented to be better than azzurro della
magna, and in appearance and colour to be equal to
ultramarine. Another of these azures is stated to be
worth four ducats the pound ; * and a third, five gold
1 Walpole's Anecdotes, vol. iii. p. 137.
2 It may be observed here that the Egyptians were acquainted with
cobalt, but they used it only for colouring glass. The small blue figurines
are coloured with copper, and neither M. Laurent, M. Malaguti, nor M.
Salvetat, have been able to detect any cobalt in them. See De Brongniart,
Traite des Arts Ceramiques, p. 558, 563. The experiments of Prof. John,
of Berlin, prove that the blues in the Egyptian paintings were oxides of
copper, with a small intermixture of iron, and that none of them contain
cobalt. See ' The Epochs of Painting characterised : a Sketch of the His
tory of Painting, Ancient and Modern,' by Mr. Wornum.
3 See Mr. Ford's Hand-book for Spain, p. 128, " P. 391.
VOL. I. O

CCX INTRODUCTION. [chap. vi.
ducats the pound.1 Borghini describes 2 several of these
artificial azures. But of all the pigments of this class
there is none which is mentioned so frequently by all
writers on colours as the azure said to be prepared from
silver.3 Yet, in spite of the most diligent inquiry, I have
been unable to ascertain that any salt of silver is ca
pable of producing a blue colour. It is probable that the
composition of such a pigment may have been suggested
by the known fact, that the old bladetus de Inde before
mentioned was found in silver mines ; and it is very
probable that the medieval artists attributed to silver
the blue colour which was actually owing to the copper
with which the silver was mixed. Whenever a blue
colour was really produced from the solution of silver
plates in acetic acid, it may be concluded that the
colour was produced by the solution of the copper with
which the silver was alloyed ; and there appears to be
no evidence to support the assertion found in some
medieval MSS., that a blue colour could be produced
from pure silver. The blue pigment composed of sul
phur, mercury, and sal ammoniac, has been called
Venetian azure.4
Bleu Minerale. — There is some doubt as to the
nature of the pigment known in Italy by this name.
Some persons consider it the same as turchino; and
it seems a pigment prepared from copper and lime is
still sold under this name. Other persons state that it
was a preparation of cobalt, and was brought from Ger
many. In the Pharmaceutical Journal 5 it is stated to
be a cyanide of iron, produced by mixing a solution of
sulphate of iron with prussiate of potash, and carefully
heating the light precipitate, which is formed with nitric
acid, till it assumes a deep blue colour. The white
substances used for the finer sorts are alumina, gypsum,,
1 P. 403. 2 Riposo, p. 173.
3 Le Begue, p. 47, 49. Bol. MS., p. 395, 399. Theoph., E. ed., p. 422.
4 See recipes at the end of the Abecedario Pittorico. 5 Vol. vi. p. 82.

chap, vi.] COLOURS USED IN PAINTING. CCXl
and heavy spar ; for the more common sorts, starch or
clay. The same author also mentions that Prussian
blue mixed with the oxide of zinc, was formerly sold
under the name of bleu minerale.1
Ultramarine, Azur d'Acre. — The exact period when
this fine pigment was introduced is not yet determined.
There is no doubt, however, that the real lapis lazuli
from Tartary was known in the thirteenth century, since
it is mentioned in the work of Yousouf Jeifaschy, who
appears to have been a jeweller of Cairo.2 The term
ultramarine must have been common in Italy at the
beginning of the fourteenth century, since it occurs in
the Italian MS. of Johannes de Modena,3 and in the'
recipe given by Michelino de Vesuccio to Alcherius,
both of which were copied in 1410. In some MSS. it
is called " azurrum transmarinum," in contradistinction
to azzurro della magna, which was called azzurrum
citramarinum.4 Ultramarine has always been occasion
ally used by the Italian painters, and so much was it
esteemed that it was frequently the subject of a parti
cular stipulation in contracts. It was generally sup
plied by the person who ordered the picture, but in
some cases the artist himself agreed to employ it. Thus
in 1501, Aloese Vivarino di Murano agreed to use
ultramarine in his picture painted for the guardians of
the Scuola della Carita.5 It was employed by Paolo
Veronese in the " Nozze di Cana ;" 6 by Leandro Bas-
sano, in his picture of the Battle ofthe good Angels
with Lucifer, and in that of Sta. Lucia, painted for the
church of S. Giorgio Maggiore a* Venice ; 7 by Pietro
1 See Traite" de la Peinture au Pastel, where this colour is said not to
have been affected by the strongest vapours of liver of sulphur in efferves
cence with the mineral acids.
2 Depping, Hist, du Commerce, vol. i. p. 147. 3 P. 96, 102.
4 P. 348 and n.
5 For this notice, extracted from the Venetian archives, I am indebted
to the Abbate Cadorin, the biographer of Titian.
6 Iscriz. Venet, vol. iv. p. 253. 7 Ibid., p. 349, 352.
o2

ccxii INTRODUCTION. [chap.vi.
Perugino, for his picture in the Duomo of Orvieto ;' by
Palma Giovane, for the pictures he painted in S. Nicolo
at Treviso, in 1618 ;2 by Gio. Batista Ponchino, for
the Pala d'Altare in the choir of the Archipresbiterale
at Treviso,3 in 1551 ; by Denys Calvart, in 1601, and
by Francesco Albano, in 1639,4 for their pictures in the
church of the Servites at Bologna ; by Innocenza da
Imola, in his pictures in S. Michele in Bosco;5 by
Felice Damiani, in 1593 ; 6 and by Ludovico Carracci,
in 1587, 7 in the picture of the Conversion of S. Paul.
It appears, from various entries in the account book
kept by Guercino 8 of the receipts for his pictures, that
he generally employed ultramarine which was furnished
by his employer. Sometimes the pigment, ready pre
pared, was given to him, and sometimes the lapis lazuli,
from which it appears he was to prepare the colour
himself. Thus, for the picture called " L'Amore Vir
tuoso," he received twenty-one ounces of lapis lazuli to
make ultramarine.
Contrary to the assertion of some modern artists,
Pungeleone states 9 that Correggio always made use of
ultramarine, although it appears that he employed
" azzurro " (probably azzurro della magna), which cost
but three lire the ounce, for the decoration of the " casa
del anchona de lo altare grando " at Correggio.10
Ultramarine is stated to have been found on Venetian
pictures ; and although the artists of this school used also
the blue pigments from copper, there seems little doubt
that the greater part of the ultramarine imported into
1 Orsini, Elogio di Pietro Perugino, p. 194 and n.
2 Memorie Trevigiane, vol. ii. p. 59.
3 Ibid., p. 76,
4 Gualandi, Memorie, ser. i. p. 4, 19. *> Ibid., p. 61.
« Ibid., ser. ii. p. 4. t Ibid., ser. ii. p. 132.
8 The original account book is in the Ercolani Collection at Bologna.
It has been published in the new edition of the Eelsina Pittriee, by Jacopo
Alesandro Calvi, at Bologna.
9 Life of Correggio, vol. i. p. 248. w ibid., vol. ii. p. 68, 69.

chap, vi.] COLOURS USED IN PAINTING. ccxiii
Italy was introduced by way of Venice, which was the
great emporium of Oriental commerce.
The price of ultramarine at different periods has been
preserved by several writers. In 1437 it was sold at
Florence for eight ducats the ounce.1 In 1548 the
price at Venice was sixty scudi the ounce.2 In 1788
the price at Paris was one hundred francs, or even as
much as fifty crowns the ounce.3 The value of ultra
marine is not stated in the Bolognese MS., but the price
of a pound of lapis lazuli varied, according to the good
ness of the specimen, from two to five ducats. De
Boot mentions 4 that lapis lazuli was usually sold for
eight or ten thalers the pound, and if the stone was
»good it would produce at least ten ounces of azure. One
of the best specimens would yield five and a half ounces
of the best colour, worth twenty thalers the ounce.
The second quality was worth five or six thalers, the
third only one thaler, or one and a half. The price paid
by Lely for one ounce of ultramarine was 21. 1 Os., but
for the best kind he paid as much as 41. 10s. the ounce.5
Pacheco states 6 that ultramarine was not used by the
Spanish painters in his time, but it was introduced
at a subsequent period, since he himself mentions the
colour ; 7 and Palomino gives directions 8 for using it.
The latter remarks that it was never used in the first
painting, because, as it had but little body, it did not
cover well ; and also because, as it was very dear; it
would have been employed uselessly ; it was therefore
either glazed or worked upon some of the other blues.
When employed in glazing it was only necessary to
mix it with nut-oil, and to pass it over the drapery with
a soft brush, moistened with nut-oil and a few drops of
spirit of turpentine, so as to leave it smooth and even.
i Cennini, Trattato,. cap. 62. 2 Paolo Pino, Dialogo, p. 18.
3 Traite de la Peinture au Pastel. 4 Le parfaict Joaillier, p. 371.
5 Walpole's Anecdotes, vol. iii. pp. 130, 132. 6 Tratado, p. 391.
7 Ibid., p. 392. 8 Museo Pictorico, vol. ii. p. 68.

ccxiv INTRODUCTION. [chap. vi.
If the drapery was to be painted with ultramarine, the
light and dark tints were to be mixed with white lead
and nut-oil, and the shadows heightened with indigo,
and if the drapery were previously glazed with ultra
marine it would be more easy to execute. As a dryer,
Palomino recommends pulverized smalt ; but, he says, it
must be used cautiously or it will spoil the colour of the
ultramarine.1 De Piles also remarks,2 that ultramarine should not
be employed for the first painting, but that the lights
and shades should be painted in very distinctly, the
high lights consisting of pure white, with common
colours ; or that the first shade tints, and even the half
tints, may be painted with charcoal of the willow, which
inclines to blue, or with bone black, and then finished
with ultramarine ; but he adds, that this last method
was not so good as the former, neither were the tints so
fresh. Ultramarine was employed by Simone Cantarini with
terra verde in the shadows of flesh, and probably by
Guido and some of his pupils,3 and by Baroccio ; 4 and
Padre Francesco Lana recommends 5 that it should be
mixed with all the flesh tints.
Blue pigments prepared from vegetables are not
numerous ; the principal are those procured from indigo
and woad. Blue colours were also procured from the
flowers of the cornflower,6 from turnsol or folium, and
other plants. The use of these pigments was limited to
miniature painting. Guato, or more correctly guado,
is the Italian name for the isatis tinctoria, called also
glastum sativum — a plant which grows spontaneously in
France, Germany, England, and other parts of Europe.
It was called glastum by the Bomans, and is now

i Museo Pictorico, vol. ii. p. 57. * Elemens, pp. 108, 118.
3 Malvasia, Fels. Pitt., vol. ii. pp. 80, 448.
4 Bellori, Vite, &c, p. 118. 5 p. 746.
6 Constant de Massoul, p. 186.

chap, vi.] COLOURS USED IN PAINTING. CCXV
known in France by the names of Pastel, Vouede,
and Gaude.
There is sufficient evidence to show that indigo was
known as a pigment in the time of the Romans, and
that it was used as such during the middle ages in
Italy, where it was sold under the name of indigo
bagadel, indigo baccadeo or bandas, indacca detto
buccaddeo, indaco del golfo.1 But there is no doubt
that the pigment called " indigo," so frequently men
tioned by writers on colours in the thirteenth, four
teenth, and fifteenth centuries, was generally prepared
from woad, and not from the real indigo. This will
appear from various recipes in the Bolognese MS.,2 in
the whole of which woad is the principal ingredient.
It will be observed that the pigment is generally
prepared from the blue or purple coloured scum which
floats on the dyers' vats, and which is the produce of
fermentation. This agrees with the account of Diosco
rides, who says there were two kinds of indigo, the first
of which was brought from India, but the second, which
was made during the process of dyeing, was a purple
scum which floated on the surface of the vats. In com
menting on this passage, Matthioli observes,3 " the
indigo generally used by the painters was that made
in dyehouses, which was procured from woad with
which wool is dyed." This passage alone is sufficient
to prove that the term " indigo " was applied to woad.
Beckmann says,4 that under the name indigo must
be understood every kind of blue pigment separated
from plants by fermentation, and converted into a
friable substance by desiccation ; for those who should
maintain that the real indigo must be made from those

1 Depping, vol. i. p. 141. See Cennini, Trattato, cap. 61. Le Begue,
pp. 86, 273.
2 Pp. 412—416. See also Secreti di D. Alessio, parte ii. p. 34 ; Nuovo
Plicto d'ogni sorte di Tinture ; and Paduan MS., p. 676.
3 Trans, of Dioscorides, p. 1414. 4 Inventions, tit. Indigo.

ccxvi INTRODUCTION. [chap. vi.
plants named in the botanical system Lndigofera tinc-
toria, would confine the subject wilhin too narrow
limits ; as the substance which our merchants and dyers
consider as real indigo is prepared in different countries
from so great a number of plants, that they are not
even varieties of the same species." Although indigo
was not considered a durable colour, it appears to have
been occasionally used in oil.
The tints were made with white lead. Palomino
says,1 " that it is a fine colour for draperies, and works
pleasantly, but that it is necessary to observe the fol
lowing conditions : 1st, That the lights should not be
too light, because the colour fades — therefore the tints
should be sufficiently deep ; the 2nd and most impor
tant, that the tints should not be too oily, but thick, and
not tormented with the brush ; and 3rdly, that the
colour should be well purified." Different modes of
purifying indigo are described by Palomino,2 and in the
recipes at the end of the Abecedario Pittorico, and also
in the Paduan MS.3 When carefully employed, Feli-
bien states 4 that it is durable if properly used, but that
too much oil must not be mixed with it, and allowance
must be made for its tendency to fade.
Green Pigments.
Mineral green pigments, both natural and artificial,
are produced from copper. The native green ores of
this metal have always been used in painting under the
names of mountain green, Hungarian green, chrysocolla,
malachite, cenere verde, verde de miniera, verde di
Spagna, verdetto, and green bice. To these colours
must be added terra verde, which is said by some per
sons to owe its colour to copper ; 5 others consider that
1 Vol. ii. p. 67. 2 Museo Pictorico, vol. ii. p. 67.
3 P- 676. ¦» Des Principes, &c, p. 299.
5 Marcucci, Saggio, &c, p. 71. Pierre Pomet, Hist, des Drogues, vol.
ii. p. 385.

chap, vi.] COLOURS USED IN PAINTING. CCXvu
it is a bluish or grey coaly clay, combined with yellow
oxide of iron or yellow ochre.1 It was sometimes
called Prasino and Theodote. Pierre Pomet2 states that
mountain green was a greenish powder in small grains
like sand, and that it was distinguished by this sandy
appearance from the artificial, which consisted of pul
verized verdigris mixed with a little white lead. It was
also sometimes adulterated with cendre verte, of which
there were many varieties.3 Mountain green appears
to have been but little used in oil painting.
Native carbonate of copper, although sometimes a
pure blue and sometimes pure green, was frequently of
a mixed colour, when it was called verde azzurro.
Prasino or Prasminum. — Isidorus gives this name to
green earth 4 (terre verte). But in some cases the
name has been applied to a white earth saturated with
a vegetable juice of a green colour, as in the Bolognese
MS., No. 88.
Verde Porro — Perhaps the same as the Prasino of
the middle ages. It is mentioned in the Paduan MS.,
also by Pozzo in his instructions for painting in fresco,
and by Baldinucci ;5 the latter states that it was a
pigment of a whitish green colour, like that of the leek,
whence it takes its name. It appears that during the
middle ages the juice of the leek was actually used as
a pigment.6 Various artificial green pigments were prepared from
copper which were known to medieval painters under
the names of viride salsum, viride Hispanicum, viride
Rothomagense, and viride Grcecum. In the last may
be traced the verdigris (verd de Grece)r of the moderns.
The best kind of verdigris was prepared at Mar
seilles by a process which has been frequently described.
1 Field, Chromatography, p. 233; and see Merim^e, p. 191.
2 Hist, des Drogues, vol. ii. p. 286. 3 Ibid., 'p. 385.
4 See p. 244, n. 4 ; and Theophilus, E. ed., 101. 5 Voc. Dis.
6 See p. 156. 7 See Mr. Eastlake's ' Materials,' &c, p. 118.

ccxviii INTRODUCTION. [chap. vi.
This pigment was known to the Spaniards by the names
of verdete and cardenillo. Verdigris was generally
purified by redissolving it in vinegar, and then suffering
it to crystallize in large crystals, by the evaporation of
the vinegar, when it was sold under the name of "dis
tilled " or " crystallized verdigris " and " verde eterno."
Verdetto. — There are several pigments of this name.
1 . A mineral green pigment which, according to Bor
ghini and Baldinucci, is found in the mountains of Ger
many ; this probably was mountain green or malachite,
the green carbonate of copper. 2. A vegetable pig
ment mentioned by Lomazzo and in the Paduan MS.,
which was of a yellowish colour, apparently of the
nature of brown pink ; Haydocke called this colour
holy green. 3. An artificial green pigment prepared
from copper, called " Verdet " in the Brussels MS.,1
and Verdete by the Spanish. These two pigments
differ in the mode of preparation.
Verde eterno. — Another name for distilled or crys
tallized verdigris.2 It is a neutral acetate of copper,
prepared by dissolving verdigris in hot acetic acid,
and leaving the filtered solution to cool. It forms
beautiful dark green crystals. It is said to have been
much used by the Venetian painters. This colour is
mentioned by Volpato, who remarks,3 " II verde eterno
si cristalino chiaro e di color vivace." Baldinucci says4
it was so called because it never lost its brightness, as
all other greens did. He adds that this was nothing
else but a glazing of purified verdigris spread thin over
silver leaf.5
Green pigments prepared from vegetables are nume--
rous. The principal of these are sap green, the verde di
vesicha and pasta verde of the Italians, prepared from
the berries of the buckthorn (Spincervino — Rhamnus

1 P. 806. = Marcucci, Saggio, &c, p. 74. 3 P. 744.
4 Voc. Dis. "> See also Mr. Eastlake's ' Materials,' p. 458.

chap, vi.] COLOURS USED IN PAINTING. ccxix
catharticus). The juice being boiled down was inspis
sated, and when dry was preserved in bladders.
Lily or Iris green (verde giglio). — This pigment was
sometimes prepared for use by dipping pieces of linen
(pezzette) into the juice and then preserving them dry.
Green pigments were also prepared from rue, parsley,
columbine, and from the black nightshade (the herba
morella of the Italians, which must be distinguished
from the " maurelle " or Croton tinctorium). The
juice of this plant was incorporated with green earth ;
in this respect it resembled the pigments called by the
French stils de grain, prepared from the berries of the
Rhamnus infectorius (grain d' Avignon). The colour
of these pigments varied from a brownish green (brown
pink) to yellow.
It was generally considered that mixed greens, com
posed of blue and yellow, were more permanent than
any of the before-mentioned green pigments. They
were frequently compounded of ultramarine and orpi
ment, of azzurro della magna and giallolino, of indigo
and orpiment, and of one of the mineral blues with a
yellow lake.1
Verdigris, and especially distilled verdigris, or
verde eterno, was extensively employed by all the
Italian schools for glazing, and especially by the Vene
tian, and the brilliant green draperies on the pictures
of this school were produced by this colour.
Verdigris was sometimes added to black to make it
dry,2 but Le Brun remarks 3 that it must only be used
in the shadows, for it is a poison in painting, and kills
all the colours with which it is mixed. It appears,
from the Paduan MS.4 to have been sometimes mixed
with vegetable greens and yellows, and also with umber

1 See Cennini, cap. 53, 54, 55 ; Borghini, p. 170. 2 Volpato, p. 747.
3 P. 823, and see De Piles, Elemens, &c, p. 124. Felibien, Principes,
&c, 300. 4 P. 652.

ccxx

INTRODUCTION. [chap. vi.

and indigo for making dark green. It should, however,
be used alone; and De Piles observes1 that if the
smallest particle of it enter into the priming of a pic
ture, it is sufficient to ruin it. It is even necessary, he
adds, to avoid using with other colours the brushes
which have been employed for verdigris.
Lionardo da Vinci remarks2 that it was liable not
only to fade, but to be removed from the picture by
washing it with water, unless a coat of varnish was
passed over it.
Volpato also notices the solubility of this colour in
water, and remarks that it must be removed from the
palette before the latter is put into water to preserve
the colours when the day's work is over. In the
Venetian school it appears the colour was usually
laid on with varnish.
Pacheco directs3 that purified verdigris should be
ground in oil for the first painting, but for the last
glazing varnish should be added. Lebrun says 4 that
to make a very beautiful green for glazing, verdigris
should be used with varnish ; it will then be very beau
tiful, and will not fade. In another place he observes,5
" Verdigris is very good, if employed with fat oil."
Verdigris is liable to turn black in time, and when
in this state the surface has been removed by a pen
knife, and the colour beneath was found to be per
fectly fresh and bright.
Borghini states6 that terra verde was used in all
three (fresco, oil, and tempera) kinds of painting. Le
brun remarks:7 "Verd de terre is used in the shades
of flesh-colour, but it must be employed sparingly, for
with age the colour appears crude, which would produce
a bad effect." Merimee observes0 that Rubens had
made great use of this colour, not only in landscapes but

i Elemens, &c, p. 124. 2 Trattato, cap. xcix.
3 Tratado,, p. 389. 4 P. 813. F- P. 815.
e Riposo, p. 169. T P. 813. « De la Peinture a. l'Huile, p. 192.

chap, vi.] COLOURS USED IN PAINTING. ccxxi
in his carnations. He concurs with Le Brun in the fact
of the colour deepening in time, and states that for this
reason terre verte should be employed cautiously.
There are frequent notices in Italian writers of terre
verte being employed in painting the shades of flesh,
but it is not always clear whether the pigment was
used raw or burnt. Thus Malvasia,1 in speaking of
Simone Cantarini's method of painting flesh, remarks,
" He was therefore as partial to white lead as he was
inimical to lake and umber for his outlines and shades ;
in which he used to employ plenty of ultramarine and
terra verde, learning from Guido the value of these
two colours in painting delicate shadows." It is very
possible that as the terra verde was used for the sha
dows, it might have been burnt. Lomazzo directs2
that the shadow colour for flesh should be made with
nero di campana and burnt terra verde, or with umber
and burnt terra verde ; and the Paduan MS.3 states
that umber, burnt terra verde, and asphaltum were
used for the same purpose.
Brown Pigments.
The brown pigments used in the middle ages were
very few; those employed by the Italians were not
numerous, and they are frequently classed with black
pigments. The principal were bistre, which is men
tioned by medieval writers under the name of fuligo
and by Lomazzo under that of fuligine ; umber, raw
and burnt; Cologne earth, burnt terra verde, and
asphaltum. Umber is a hydrate of oxide of iron mixed with a
variable quantity of oxide of manganese and a small
proportion of clay.4 Merimee says it contains silica and
alumina also. The best is reputed to be brought from
the Levant, although it is really the produce of
» Fels. Pitt, vol. ii. p. 448. 2 Trattato, p. 302. 3 P. 650.
4 De Brongniart, Essaie des Arts Ceramiques, p. 539.

ccxxii INTRODUCTION. [chap. vt.
Cyprus.1 This was probably imported into Venice,
and thence to other parts of Europe, particularly to
Spain, where the Venetian umber was sold under the
name of sombra di Venezia.2
Besides its use in painting as a shadow colour both
in flesh3 and yellow draperies4 and for all colours
lighter than itself,5 it was sometimes boiled with oil
as a drier both for painting and mordants.6 It was
also occasionally added to grounds,7 but for this purpose
it was not generally approved.8 Umber was some
times called falzalo by the Italians.9 Mixed with fine
lake, it was used as a glazing colour for shadows.
Cologne earth, a bituminous earth, which, although a
powerful colour, has the disadvantage of fading and of
drying very slowly. The former, according to Merimee,
is prevented by mixing it with very durable pigments,
the latter can only be remedied by the addition of a
drier to the oil. This pigment does not appear to have
been known to Lomazzo, Borghini, or the early Italian
writers. Neither does the name occur in any of the
treatises in this work, nor in the ' Principes de Pein
ture ' of Felibien, nor the ' Elemens de Peinture ' of
De Piles. It seems to have been used principally by
the Flemish and Dutch painters.10 It is, however,
stated to have been employed by the Venetian painters,
but this appears to require confirmation.
When terra verde is burnt over a slow fire,11 and the
heat gradually increased until the pigment is roasted, it
is converted into a fine warm brown, which was used,;
mixed with other colours, by the • Italians for the sha
dows of flesh.12 Modern writers do not mention this
1 Merimee, p. 206. 2 Palomino, vol. ii. pp. 52, 149.
3 Pp. 650, 654. Malvasia, Fels. Pitt., vol. ii. p. 448. Palomino,
vol. ii. pp. 62 — 64. Lomazzo, Trattato, pp. 191,312.
4 Palomino, vol. ii. p. 66. -*¦ Lomazzo, Trattato, p. 197.
6 Borghini, p. 176. Paduan MS., p. 740. 7 Volpato, pp. 730, 746, n.
8 P. 813. Merimee, p. 206. 9 Lomazzo, Trattato, p. 191.
i° Mr. Eastlake's ' Materials,' &c, p. 462. n P. 745.
i2 P. 650. Lomazzo, Trattato, p. 191.

chap, vi.] COLOURS USED IN PAINTING. CCXXUl
colour, but the use of it has been revived by an emi
nent English artist, under the name of " Verona
brown." Asphaltum, Bitume Giudaico, Nero di Spalto. —
Several kinds of asphaltum are used in the arts. The
best is considered to be the Egyptian. This will dis
solve neither in oil, water, nor turpentine, but it must
be fused, and then mixed with linseed oil.1 There is
Httle doubt from the descriptions of Borghini2 and
Baldinucci,3 that the old masters used the Egyptian
asphaltum, since they mention that it was brought from
the Lake of Sodom. Other kinds of asphaltum are
brought from China, France, Neufchatel, and Naples.
That brought from Naples is reputed to be next in
'goodness to the Egyptian. It will dissolve in oil, but
never yields that intense black to the same quantity of
oil as the real Egyptian. This is probably the kind
now employed by the Italians,, who dissolve it in oil,
spirit of turpentine, and Venice turpentine. It is not
always easy to procure genuine asphaltum. Watin
remarks 4 that it was frequently adulterated with pitch,
and that what is generally sold for asphaltum in Hol
land is nothing but the residuum left after the distilla
tion of oil of amber. Mr. Wilson Neil states that
a similar kind of factitious asphaltum is now made in
London, which is not inferior to the best Egyptian.
This consists of the residuum left from burning linseed-
oil and resin. The mixture of resin with asphaltum
may be detected by spirit of wine, which dissolves the
resin, but not the asphaltum.5
Lomazzo says 6 that it was used to give brightness to
light and chesnut hair. Boschini states7 that it was
much employed by Andrea Schiavone, who used it in
1 Wilson Neil on the Manufacture of Varnishes, Trans. Soc. Arts, vol.
xlix. p. 57. 2 Riposo, p. 164. 3 Voc. Dis.
1 L'Art du Vernisseur, p. 216. 5 Marcucci, Saggio, &c, p. 95.
6 Trattato, p. 198. t Ricche Minere.

ccxxiv INTRODUCTION. [chap. vi.
glazing the shades of the flesh in undraped figures, —
that Giacomo Bassano (il Vecchio) employed it mixed
with lake in the ultimate retouchings, and that he
glazed with this colour all the shadows indifferently,
whether of flesh, or drapery, or other things. In the
Paduan MS. it is stated to be used for the shadows of
flesh mixed with umber and burnt terra verde.1
Palomino2 classes asphaltum among the useless
colours, and says its place may be supplied with bone
black, mixed with fine carmine and ancorca ; that it is
a bad drier, and requires the addition of a mordant to
make it dry : he adds, that there is no doubt it was
used by the great colourists, especially in Seville and
Granada, although one may do miracles without it.
Volpato directs 3 that it should be mixed with boiled
oil and verdigris to make it dry.
The evidence of a modern Italian writer4 and of
several restorers of pictures is decidedly in favour of its
having been used as a glazing colour only ; according
to the latter it was dissolved in oil or spirit of turpen
tine, and applied, like other glazing colours, with the
hand, which insured its being thinly and evenly spread.
But even as a glazing colour, it grew darker in time,5
and the obscurity, so frequently observed and regretted,
of many Italian pictures, is attributed to the excessive
use of asphaltum. The fact that the Neapolitan as
phaltum does not yield so intense a black to the same
quantity of oil as the Egyptian, with its known property
of darkening with age on paintings, would seem to
suggest the propriety of using the Egyptian asphaltum,
which being intensely black at first, would probably be
less likely to increase in colour. Its extreme blackness
would at least cause it to be employed sparingly and
very thinly as a shadow colour.

iP.650. 2 Museo Pictorico, vol. ii. p. 53. 3 P. 747.
4 Marcucci, pp. 95, 208. i Bald., Voc. Dis.

chap, vi.] COLOURS USED IN PAINTING. CCXXV
Marcucci describes a liquid preparation of asphaltum
composed in the following manner : one part of Venice
turpentine and one and a half part of spirit of turpen
tine are put into a bottle which is to be placed in a
sand-bath to liquefy ; two parts of asphaltum are then
to be added in powder, and the whole is to be stirred
and left over the fire until it boils. When it has boiled
for one hour, it is to be removed from the fire, and
before it cools a little nut-oil is to be added to give it a
proper consistence, and when it is used a small quantity
of mastic varnish and some kind of drier are to be
added. This, he says, is an excellent colour for glaz
ing, but it must be used sparingly, as it deepens its
(jolour with age.
Mummy is by some * considered to be the same as
asphaltum, but Marcucci 2 states that the colour of the
former is warmer, and the smell more aromatic, and
that its external character is different. He remarks
that it is a fine colour for glazing oil-paintings, espe
cially in the carnations ; it is ground with nut-oil, and
is used with varnish and a drier.
Black Pigments.
The principal black pigments were terra nera, coal,
terra nera di Campana, nero di schiuma di ferro, and
charcoal of various kinds ; namely, burnt ivory and
bones, oak and vine branches, stones of peaches, shells
of almonds, paper, smoke of resin, and of nut-oil.
Terra nera, which may certainly be considered sy
nonymous with terre noire, is identified by De Mayerne
with " crayon noir," or " black chalke." 3 The Italians
procured terra nera from several places. Cennini 4
mentions a black stone brought from Piedmont, used
for drawing and painting, which he describes as soft
and unctuous. Later Italian writers mention terra
1 Palomino, vol. ii. p. 53. 2 Saggio, &c, p. 95.
8 Mr. Eastlake's ' Materials,' &c, p. 466. 4 Cap. 34.
VOL. I. p

ccxxvi INTRODUCTION. [chap. vi.
nera di Roma and terra nera di Venezia; the latter
was procured from Verona. Borghini says x that nero
di terra is a native unctuous pigment, which may be
used in fresco, oil, and tempera painting. The name
of this pigment occurs in the Paduan MS.2 Lomazzo 3
does not appear to distinguish it from nero di scaglia.
A black pigment from common coal (charbon de
terre) does not appear to be mentioned by Italian
writers, although it is said, on the authority of Lebrun,4
to have been much used in Italy for external painting,
because it was more durable than any other. Mr.
Eastiake has shown 5 that it was frequently employed
by the Flemish and Dutch painters. The tint furnished
by coal mixed with oil is stated to be brownish.
Terra nera di Campana is made from a certain crust
which forms on the moulds in which bells and artillery
are cast. It is used in all three kinds of painting, but
in a short time it fades and spoils the pictures. It is
mentioned by Borghini,6 by Baldinucci,7 and by Lo
mazzo.8 Nero di Schiuma di Ferro was composed of scales of
iron mixed with terra verde and finely ground. Bor
ghini, Lomazzo, and Baldinucci mention this colour.
Ivory Black is distinguished by many writers from
bone black. It is described as being intensely black,
and very transparent. Lebrun remarks that if it is
steeped in vinegar and dried in the sun, it cannot be
effaced. Bone Black was prepared from the bones of various
animals, but Palomino states " that the best kind was
prepared from the bones of pigs, although the bones of
stags and oxen were sometimes used. Others employed
mutton bones. It is represented to be of a reddish
colour, which may even be converted into brown by
1 Riposo, p. 164. 2 P. 650. 3 Trattato, p. 192. 4 P. 812 and n.
6 Materials, &c, p. 467. <= Riposo, p. 164. 7 Voc. Dis.
8 Trattato, p. 193. 9 Museo Pictorico, vol. ii. p. 53.

chap, vi.] COLOURS USED IN PAINTING. ccxxvil
arresting the carbonization before it is complete, and to
dry very slowly. In grinding it with oil it is necessary
to use more force than with any other colour, in order
to add with more facility the necessary quantity of fat
or drying oil.1
The blacks made from vegetable charcoal are not of
so intense a black as those of ivory and bone ; 2 of these
some painters preferred the black made from burnt
vine-branches, sometimes called blue black,3 which Bor
ghini says 4 is excellent for painting in oil. Other authors
mention the charcoal of burnt oak stripped ofthe bark,5
of the stones of peaches, and of the shells of almonds.6
The black of peach stones when mixed with white has a
blue tint. Lamp black is used in oil painting, although
not approved of by many writers.7 It is always necessary
to calcine it before it is used in oil painting.8 Ink, and
especially printing-ink, was formerly made of the soot
collected from burning resin or oil in a paper lantern.
This is the ink of which Cennini speaks in the early
part of his book. It was also used by Lionardo da
Vinci 9 mixed with lake for the darkest shades, and Va
sari relates that Fra Bartolomeo wishing to imitate the
colouring of Lionardo on a certain picture, also em-
" ployed this colour and burnt ivory, and that the picture
had darkened much in consequence. To the same cause
Vasari attributes the darkening of the colours in the
'Transfiguration ' of RaphaeL10
Another charcoal black was procured from the ashes
of paper, burnt in a closed iron tube and afterwards
ground with water.11 This black pigment is mentioned
1 Constant de Massoul, p. 215. 2 Merimee, p. 208-
a Constant de Massoul, p. 215.
4 Riposo, p. 164; and see Cennini, Trattato, cap.xxxvii.
6 Palomino, vol. ii. p. 54. Borghini, p. 164.
6 Cennini, cap. 37. Borghini, p. 164. Baldinucci, Voc. Dis.
'Seep. 823. 8 Marcucci, p. 167. Merimee, p. 209.
9 Trattato, c. 353 ; and see Vasari, Vita di Fra Bartolomeo.
i° Vasari, Vita di Raffaello da Urbino. « Marcucci, p. 167.
p 2

ccxxviii INTRODUCTION. [chap. vi.
by Borghini * and by Baldinucci, and appears to be still
made in Italy. Marcucci 2 states that he had found it
a very good black, and that it did not deepen in colour
like some other blacks.
Black pigments are considered slow in drying. Vol
pato directs 3 that boiled oil and verdigris should be
added to lamp-black to make it dry.4 The Paduan
MS.5 recommends the addition of ground glass, which
it is stated will make the colour dry in twenty-four
hours. Baldinucci 6 says black earth, bone black, and
lamp black require the addition of litharge or ground
glass to the boiled oil.
From the preceding account of the principal colours
used in painting it will be seen that, notwithstanding
the numerous names by which pigments were known in
different countries and at different periods, the real
number was not in fact so great as might be at first
imagined. This is exemplified in the various names by
which the blue carbonate of copper and the red ores of
iron were formerly known.
It will also be observed that the colours lost or fallen
into disuse are the native mineral pigments, for which
artificial preparations of a similar nature have been sub
stituted. Thus the native yellow and red orpiment
have been superseded by the artificial pigments which
bear these names, and which, besides the usual defects
of artificial as compared with natural pigments, have
the additional disadvantage of being more poisonous.
Instead of the native giallorino, or Naples yellow, we
have the modern pigment composed of the oxides of
lead and antimony, known under the name of Naples
yellow. Instead of the native carbonates of copper we
have the artificial preparations. Native minium and
native cinnabar have also fallen into disuse. The only
1 Riposo, p. 164. 2 Saggio, p. 208. 3 p. 747. 4 p_ g22.
5 P. 666. e Voc. Dis.

chap, vi.] COLOURS USED IN PAINTING. ccxxix
exception, perhaps, besides the natural yellow and red
ochres, is ultramarine, for which no perfect substitute,
possessing properties in every respect equally eligible,
has yet been discovered. With the exception of these
natural pigments, the colours lost are of little value.
It will be also observed that the more durable lakes
prepared from kermes and lac have been superseded
by the more brilliant, but less permanent, lake from
cochineal. Another source of confusion, and which has much in
creased the difficulty of identifying pigments, has arisen
from giving the name of a well-known pigment to
another which resembled it in colour, but which in
other respects differed essentially. Among pigments
of this description may be enumerated sandarace, san-
daraca, which has been used to denote red orpiment,
red lead, and massicot ; minium, the ancient term for
vermilion, and the modern term for red lead ; cinnabar,
used to signify a red earth and vermilion ; smalto,
smaltino, sometimes applied to a vitreous blue pigment
coloured with smalt, sometimes to one coloured with
copper ; indigo, used to denote both woad and indigo ;
arzica, which signified both a yellow lake and a native
ochreous pigment; verdetto, which denoted sometimes
a native mineral green pigment, sometimes an artificial
mineral pigment of the same colour, and sometimes a
vegetable green pigment.
Finally, the confusion has been increased by adopting
foreign names instead of the original term ; thus one of
the old pigments called giallorino is now known in Italy
under the term massicot, and the original appellation is
almost lost.

ccxxx INTRODUCTION. [chap. vi.
¦Of Grinding and Diluting the Colours.
The universal testimony of ali writers who have
treated on the technical part of painting establishes the
fact that the colours (excepting some which were kept
in powder) were ground in oil.1 Vasari, Armenini,
Bisagno, Borghini, and Gasparo Colombino 2 give the
preference to nut-oil, which, it is stated, is less apt to
become yellow. Borghini says,3 " Let him who would
paint in oil on panel .... colour it with colours tem
pered with nut-oil only, and nothing else " (senza piu).
Volpato directs4 that white lead should be ground with
nut-oil ; verde eterno, indigo, and all other blues, char
coal, and other colours with linseed oil. The Marciana
MS. also directs 5 that all the colours were to be ground
with oil as stiffly as possible, that is, with very little oil,
and that they were to be ground so finely that on being
felt with the fingers no hard grains could be perceived.
This is in accordance with the old Italian practice, as
described by Cennini, who repeatedly inculcates the
perfect levigation of the colours ; and with the example
of Michael Angelo, who is said to have ground his own
colours,6 and also with the practice of the Flemish
school.7 But it appears that the later Italians, and
especially the Venetians, did not consider this point of
importance as far as regards the under colours. If
there were any doubt *of the colours of the Venetians
being coarsely ground, it would be sufficiently proved
by the assertion of a professor of painting at Venice
that he had with his penknife picked out of Venetian

1 Felibien, Principes, &c, p. 296. Bulengerus, De Pictura, &c Bald.,
Voc. Dis. Lebrun, p. 771.
2 Discorso del Disegno, &c. Padova, 1623.
3 Riposo, p. 138. 4 P. 739. 5 p. 627.
6 See Lanzi, Storia Pittorioa, vol. i. p. 114.
7 " Les peintres Flamands ne prennent que la crSme des couleurs, apres
les avoir delayees et noyees dans une^rrande quantite d'eau." — Traite dela
Peinture au Pastel, &c.

chap, vi.] GRINDING AND DILUTING THE COLOURS. CCXXxi
pictures of the best period grains of colour sufficiently
large to have them analysed.
The recommendation in the Marciana MS. before
mentioned to grind the colours with as little oil as pos
sible is insisted upon by most writers on art.1 Borghini
gives 2 as a reason for this practice that the oil in drying
would become dark (nero). Again, he remarks, "If
the colours are made liquid with too much oil, it lessens
considerably their brilliancy." The use of too much
oil is frequently condemned by Malvasia 3 and by Lanzi.
The latter attributes 4 to this cause the ruin of so many
paintings by the Carracci, by Lo Spagnuolo, and by
Pasignano. Armenini also concurs in stating that oil
senders the colours dark.
After directing how the colours are to be ground the
Marciana MS. continues, " Also, while you are painting,
if you find the colours too stiff, dip your pencil into a
little oil and stir it well into the colour." The same
MS. also directs that the " vernice commie," which
might be mixed with colours, was, when too thick, to
be diluted with oil. It may be considered certain, then,
that during the first half of the sixteenth century it was
the practice in Italy to dilute the colours with nut or
linseed oil, and not with an essential oil. The anecdote
related by Ridolfi, who wrote a century later than this
MS., proves that this practice was preserved, tradition
ally at least, in his time. But although this may have
been the general practice, it by no means follows that
all colours were thus diluted ; and the specification that
certain colours were to be made to flow by dipping the
brush in an essential oil, is at once an admission that it
was the general custom to use linseed or nut oil for this
purpose, and also that these oils were not equally adapted
1 Felibien, Principes, &c.,p. 298. Requenos, Saggio, &c, vol. i. p. 163.
Verri, Saggio Elementare, &c, p. 1 16. Marcucci, Saggio, &c, p. 201.
2 Riposo, p. 175. 3 Fels. Pitt., vol. ii. p. 450.
4 Storia Pittorica, vol. v. pp. 70, 161 ; vol. i. p. 196.

ccxxxu

INTRODUCTION. [chap. vi.

for all colours. Thus Volpato observes * that painters
were accustomed to make Spanish blue flow by dipping
their brushes in spirit of turpentine, and ultramarine
with naphtha. Pacheco, whose whites and blues were
the admiration of Cespedes, and of those Italian painters
who had seen them, relates 2 that he dipped his brush in
oil of spike when painting to make the colours flow.
It appears, however, that the practice of diluting the
colours with naphtha was sometimes carried to excess
by the Bolognese painters; this was the case with
Flaminio Torre, the irrecoverable decay of whose pic
tures is attributed by Malvasia3 and Lanzi4 to the
constant use of naphtha. Felibien,5 who appears to
have been well acquainted with the Italian practice,
remarks that " those who wish their pictures to remain
fresh use as little oil as possible, and keep their colours
firmer by mixing a little oil of spike with them ; this
soon evaporates, but it makes the colours flow and work
more easily." From a passage in the Brussels MS.6 it
may be concluded that oil of chamomile was sometimes
used for the same purpose.
On the Purification and Bleaching of Oil.
There appears to be no doubt that oil was always
purified and bleached before the colours were ground
with it. It is, however, somewhat extraordinary that
neither Armenini, Vasari, Borghini, nor Bisagno allude
to this fact. The precautions taken by Lionardo da
Vinci7 for the preparation of his oils are, however, well
known, and incidental allusions to the purification of
oil may also be found in Vasari8 and other authors.
The remark of the Gesuato, at the end of his directions
i P. 749. 2 Tratado, p. 392. 3 Fels. Pitt., vol. ii. p.' 450.
4 Storia Pittorica, vol. v. p. 105. 5 Principes, &c , p. 297. 6 P. 814.
7 Amoretti, Memorie Storiche, &c, di Lionardo da Vinci, p. 149.
8 See account of Giovan Francesco Caroti, in the Life of Fra Giocondo.

chap, vi.] PURIFICATION OF OIL. ccxxxill
for purifying oil — " Observe that, whenever you find
oil mentioned, this purified oil is meant" — may be con
sidered proof of the importance attached to this fact.
The recipe of -the Gesuato forms part of the directions
for preparing ultramarine,1 and the oil was used in
making the resinous pastille into which the powdered
ultramarine was kneaded, and the colour worked out
into the water. If it was necessary to employ purified
oil for this purpose, it was much more important to
procure such an oil to mix with colours.
The Marciana MS. directs2 that purified oil should
be used for mordants, and at the end of the recipe gives
the following directions for purifying it : — " Boil it
pver the fire with water for three or four hours, then let
it settle, and separate it from the water." In another
recipe it is said,3 — " Take' linseed-oil, boiled in the
usual way ;" from which it appears that the method just
described was that which was usually adopted. In the
same MS. it is remarked,4 that if the nut or linseed-
oil is inspissated by exposure to the sun, the varnish
made with it will be clearer.
Palomino states5 that all colours were generally
ground with linseed-oil, because it was more drying
than nut-oil, which was reserved solely for the blues
and whites in finishing, and especially for ultramarine ;
" but," he adds, " if nut-oil cannot be obtained, linseed-
oil may be clarified by putting it into a vessel with
white-lead in powder, stirring it well until it is quite
white, and exposing it to the sun and dew, stirring it
up every day, for three days, then let it be used,
because if it is kept longer, it will become fat. Pacheco's
method of preparing bleached linseed-oil, which might
be used with white and blue, was as follows :6 — " Take
a glass vessel, and to one pound of limpid and clear
1 Secreti di Don Alessio, parte ii. f. 62 ; and see Mr. Eastlake's ' Mate
rials,' p. 327. 2 P. 621. 3 Ibid.
4 P. 635. * Museo Pictorico, vol. ii. p. 55. 6 Tratado, p. 393.

ccxxxiv INTRODUCTION. [chap. vi.
linseed-oil, add three ounces of spirit of wine, and two
ounces of lavender flowers, place it in the sun for fifteen
days, shaking it twice every day, and in this manner it
will be purified and clear. Then pouring it into another
vessel, it may be used for whites, blues, and flesh tints."
Some time since I tried this recipe, and found that in
proportion as the oil lost its colour, the spirit of wine
acquired it, and the mucilage separating, was carried to
the bottom of the bottle with the lavender flowers.
The yellow colour of the spirit of wine may, perhaps,
be accounted for by the fact, that a small quantity of
linseed oil is soluble in spirit of wine; four ounce
measures of spirit of wine dissolve one drachm of
linseed-oil.1 Joannes Zahn recommends2 the following process for
the clarification and bleaching of oil for painting: —
" Take the acetous herb, which in German is called
' Sauerampffer ' (sorrel), cut it into tolerably sized
pieces, and boil it in water over the fire ; then strain it
through a linen cloth, put it into a tin vessel, or into a
vase made of iron, tinned, which must be prepared so
as to be long and broad, but not deep. This being
done, pour on to this water the oil which is to be clari
fied and bleached, and then put the vase, with the water
and supernatant oil, into a place free from dust, and
exposed to the hottest rays of the sun in summer for a
few days ; in a s!hort time the oil will deposit all its
impurities, and be wonderfully clarified and bleached
by this process, in the same manner as wax and linen
are bleached. The oil thus prepared may be used by
painters, not only for making their colours more lively,
but also for the preparation of the dearer and more
brilliant varnishes." This method of purifying linseed-
oil I have also tried, and found it very successful in
removing the mucilage, which is thrown down in a few
i Henry's Chemistry, vol. ii. p. 226. 2 Oculus Artificialis, p. 625.

chap, vi.] PURIFICATION OF OIL. ccxxxv
days, and the oil remains very clear and bright, and of
a golden colour: it may afterwards be bleached by
exposure to the sun.
The purification and preparation of oil for painting,
by exposure to heat and washing with water, has been
so fully treated by Mr. Eas.tlake, that it will be unneces
sary to cite the authorities or repeat the processes he
has described. It may, however, be interesting to
state, that I have bleached and clarified linseed-oil by
the following process, suggested by the directions of the
Gesuato * and those of Dreme.2 A bottle was filled,
about one third with oil, another third with water ; it
was then corked and shaken, until the water and oil
were mixed like an emulsion, when the cork was
removed, and a piece of muslin tied over the bottle,
which was placed on the boiler of a kitchen-range,* and
kept in a moderate heat day and night. The oil was
shaken every day (the muslin being first removed and
the cork inserted in the bottle) for a few days, and then
suffered to clear. In about a week the oil was removed
from the water into another bottle, and the process was
repeated for several weeks until the water below the oil
ceased to appear milky, and the oil itself was clear and
colourless. During this experiment I observed that the
mucilage was thrown down sooner if warm water was
added to the oil instead of cold, and that the oil
separated more rapidly from the water when the bottle
was exposed to a gentle and Tegular ueat, although in a
dark situation, than when it was placed in the variable
warmth of a sunny window. The addition of salt or
sand accelerates the clarification of the oil. Many
weeks are necessary to complete the process of bleach
ing and purification. If the oil is intended to remain
fluid, it should be preserved in bottles well stopped.4
1 See ' Materials,' &c, p. 327. 2 'Der Virniss-u Kittmacher, &c.
3 Dreme recommends that the bottle -should be suspended in an oven
moderately heated. 4-See Mr. Eastlake's'' Materials,' &c, p. 341.

ccxxxvi INTRODUCTION. [chap. vi.
The purification of oil will always be attended with
much waste. It may be considered that, with the
greatest care, nearly half will be lost in the process.
The mucilage alone frequently forms one-third of the oil.
Dryers and Drying Oils.
The necessity of the colours drying quickly, and the
circumstance of some drying more rapidly than others,
led to the addition of other ingredients to the oil.
The following observations will be limited to the
drying ingredients mentioned in the Treatises contained
in this work, and to those adopted by the Italian and
Spanish painters.
The earliest notice of drying oil which occurs in the
following works is to be found in the MS. of Eraclius.1
In this recipe the oil was boiled with lime,2 and ceruse
being then added, it was placed in the sun for a month
or more, and frequently stirred. The use of white-lead
as a dryer has been continued to the present day. It
was sometimes stirred into the oil, which was then
exposed to the sun and dew, and well stirred every day
for three days, when it was ready for use.3 If suffered
to remain longer than the time specified, it would
become fat. By some modern Italian artists white-lead
i P. 232.
2 The most powerful of all dryers is perhaps chloride of lime in a dry
state : a small quantity of this added to clarified oil will convert it into a
solid ; for this reason it must be employed very cautiously. If too much
be used, it may burn the brushes, and injure the colours. It has the ad
vantage of not darkening the oil, and its drying property appears to arise
from its absorbing the watery particles of the oil. Chloride of calcium is
equally efficacious as a dryer ; but the small quantity of iron which it con
tains dissolves in the oil, and darkens it. It seems probable that if the
chloride of lime were judiciously employed, it might prove serviceable
as a dryer ; but as I am not aware that it has been tried as such by any
person but myself, the utmost caution would be required, and some expe
riments would be necessary in order to ascertain the smallest possible
quantity which would answer the purpose intended. As a dryer for house
paint it may perhaps be found useful.
3 Palomino, vol. ii. p. 55.

chap, vi.] DRYERS AND DRYING OILS. ccxxxvii
is placed on a strainer, and the oil is suffered to filter
through it, when it is ready for use.
The preparation of oil for painting is not mentioned
in the Bolognese MS. ; but in two of the recipes for
making " vernice liquida " directions are given for
rendering the oil drying previous to the addition of the
resin. In No. 207, * the oil is directed to be boiled
with burnt roche alum in powder, and minium or ver
milion ; and after boiling a proper time it is to be set
fire to, and allowed to burn for a short time, when it is
to be extinguished, and again placed over the fire and
burnt as before.
This is, probably, the only recipe for drying oil in
which vermilion is mentioned ; but as that pigment is
not known to possess any peculiarly siccative properties,
it may be supposed that it was considered by the writer
as synonymous with minium (the cinnabar of the
ancients), the term applied to red-lead during the middle
ages throughout Europe, and from that time to the
present in Italy.
The burning of the oil, recommended in this recipe,
was for the purpose of depriving it of its unctuosity,
and with this view it is still resorted to by the makers
of printing ink.
In the recipe No. 262, in the Bolognese MS.,2 2 lbs.
of common oil, that is, olive-oil, and 2 lbs. of linseed-
oil are boiled with 30 or 40 cloves of garlic, until,
on dipping a hen's feather into the oil, it is found to
be burnt. This trial with the feather is still the common
test of the oil's being sufficiently boiled. The use" of
the garlic was probably to supply moisture to the oil,
and thus prevent its carbonization. Garlic is mentioned
as an ingredient in drying oil or fat oil by Pacheco
and Palomino ; and according to the former the oil
was boiled until the garlic was burnt or toasted.3
i P. 489. 2 P. 521. 3 Tratado, p. 404.

ccxxxviii INTRODUCTION. [chap. vi.
Garlic yields a gelatinous juice, which does not appear
to be miscible with oil. Pacheco also mentions as dryers,
minium and white lead, which if added to oil, and
placed in a glass vessel in the sun in summer, for
fifteen days, stirring it every day, and then straining it,
would be very good.
According to Lebrun,1 drying oil was prepared by
suspending a piece of rag containing umber and minium
in a vessel with nut-oil, and boiling it. The mordants
described in the Paduan MS.,2 and in the ' Riposo' of
Borghini (p. 176), greatly resemble this drying oil.
In the first, ochre is added to the other ingredients ; in
the second, giallorino, calcined bones, and burnt vitriol ;
which Borghini says is to be " calcined in the fire until it
is red ; and this vitriol makes all colours which are natu
rally bad dryers siccative, although it discolours them."3
Besides white-lead and minium, litharge, the semi-
vitrified oxide of lead, was employed as a dryer for oil.
Volpato gives" directions for preparing olio cotto, by
boiling it on litharge, but he does not specify the propor
tion of litharge. The Jesuit, Father Lana,5 recom
mends, for this purpose, two ounces of litharge for each
pound of oil. Lebrun calls6 this preparation " huile
grasse," fat oil, which he distinguishes from drying oil.
Lebrun also remarks, that the litharge might be
ground on the porphyry with oil, made into a little ball
and dried When required for use it was to be boiled
until the litharge was dissolved, and, when cold, the oil
was said to become as clear as rock-water. This oil
was considered very good as a siccative for those colours
which did not dry well, such as lakes, black,7 &c.
When used for painting on glass, the proportion of?
litharge was much increased : thus the Paduan MS.8
i P. 816. 2 P. 692.
3 Burnt vitriol is sulphate of iron caHned. Iron is to a certain extent
soluble in oil, which it renders dark. * P. 741. 5 P. 746, n.
6 P. 816. 7 P. 818. 8 P. 692.

chap. vi.J DRYERS AND DRYING OILS. ccxxxix
prescribes half a pound of this ingredient to a pound of
oil ; but for pictures this cannot be recommended. The
recipe for " olio cotto," given by Fra Fortunato, differs
from these recipes in directing the addition of water,
which is to be boiled with the litharge and oil, which
he says will cause the oil to become as clear (colourless)
as water itself.1
In the appendix to the Italian edition of ' LTdee du
Peintre Parfait ' of De Piles, drying oil is described as
composed of nut-oil boiled with litharge and sandarac.
This composition is in fact identical with the old " ver
nice liquida." It differs but little from the mordant of
Cennini,2 which consisted of linseed oil, vernice (dry
sandarac), and white lead. In the former, the dryer
was litharge ; in the latter, white lead.
In the time of Baldinucci, olio cotto was prepared by
boiling linseed or nut-oik either alone, or with litharge
or glass, finely ground with water. It is stated by this
author to have been used to temper those colours which
are slow in drying, such as lake, terra nera, bone, and
other blacks, because both litharge and ground glass
have the property of making them dry quickly. Oil,
boiled without either of these ingredients, was used to
accelerate the drying of those colours, which dry well
of themselves, such as white lead, minium, terra verde,
umber, cinnabar, smalti, and others; but if used with
white lead it would become yellow. " Pure boiled oil,"
continues Baldinucci^ " when it is prepared with very
clear oik is also used by painters instead of varnish in
the darkest shades, and where the colours have sunk in.
And remember, that raw nut and linseed oil are by
nature drying, but they do not dry so soon as when

1 " Per far 1' olio cotto da Pittore, che sia chiaro, come acqua. Metti il
solito piumazzolo col litargirio, et altro come si usa dentro 1' oglio di noce, o
di lino, a bollire, e con esso mettivi seco dell' acqua abollire, che questa la
lara rimaner chiaro, come 1' acqua medesima."
2 Trattato, cap. 151.

ccxl INTRODUCTION. [chap. vi.
boiled, and especially as when mixed with ground glass
and litharge." J
Volpato also recommends2 that "olio cotto" and
verdigris should be mixed with asphaltum and black to
make them dry.
An eminent professor of painting at Venice stated
that Chilone, an old Venetian painter, who died about
the year 1834 or 1836, was acquainted with Canal3
and Canaletto,4 and that Chilone said these two artists
used oil boiled on litharge, which they recommended
him to use also, and that they frequently spread it over
the whole picture.
It appears certain then from the above evidence, that
the preparations of lead were the dryers most approved
in Italy, but it may be collected from an expression of
Padre Lana's that some doubts had been raised as to
their eligibility for this purpose. Speaking of oil boiled
on litharge, Lana says, "This application is not so in
jurious as some persons have imagined ; and the advan
tage is, that it dries quickly, for raw oil is a long time
in drying." There can be no doubt, however, that
litharge is injurious to those colours which are incom
patible with lead, such as Indian lake and orpiment.
The mixture of ground glass with colours as a dryer
is not, that I am aware of, mentioned in Italian works
written earlier than the seventeenth century : the Paduan
MS.5 and Baldinucci's ' Vocabulary of Design' appear
to be the only Italian authorities for it, although it
may have been common at the time these works
were written. The practice probably originated in the
ancient custom of mixing pulverised glass with orpi
ment, with the object, as some authors say, of making
it grind more easily; others say, of making it dry
1 Voeabolario del Disegno. 2 P. 747.
3 Fabio Canal was born in 1703, and died in 1767.
4 The real name of Canaletto was Antonio Canal. He died in 1768,
aged 71. s P. 666.

chap, vi.] DRYERS AND DRYING OILS. ccxli
better. For the latter purpose it was employed by
Pacheco, who remarks ' that when orpiment was ground
with linseed oil, it required a dryer, and that some
persons added to it glass ground with water; others
added linseed oil which has been suffered to fatten by
mixing with it red lead in powder. Others, he adds,
use a proper quantity of white copperas in powder ; but
he warns his readers to beware of verdigris, which is its
greatest enemy. Pacheco also recommends,2 as a dryer
for carmine, either ground glass or litharge in powder,
or a little of the fat oil (with minium) before mentioned,
or white copperas tempered with oil, or added in pow
der. Ground glass appears to have been a favourite dryer
with Palomino, who says 3 that it was excellent for all
colours, and that it might be ground with nut or linseed
oil like one of the colours, and preserved in a bladder,
and a little put on the palette when necessary. This
author describes 4 a drying oil for blues and whites,
composed of ground glass, litharge, white lead, and red
lead, of each one ounce, and half a pound of oil, boiled
for a short time together in a water bath. Ground
glass also forms one of the ingredients in a recipe
given by the same author for drying oil, which, from
being boiled longer, appears to have been of a darker
colour. The mixture of pulverized glass with colours is scarcely
to be recommended, because a part of the alkali, which
is free, is liable to be acted on by the air and other
causes.5 That the alkali is free, may be ascertained by
merely boiling some powdered glass in water; on dip
ping turmeric paper into the water, the paper will be
found to have acquired a brown stain. The ill effects
1 Tratado, p. 388. 2 Ibid., p. 390.
3 Vol. ii. p. 56. * Vol. ii. p. 55.
5 See an article in the Magazine of Science, vol. iv. p. 67, " On the action
of water on powdered glass."
VOL. I. q

ccxlii INTRODUCTION. [chap. vi.
liable to ensue from the presence of salts in pictures
have been described by Mr. Smith in the First Report
of the Commissioners of the Fine Arts : they are also
alluded to by De Piles,1 by Lanzi2 in a note on Cor
reggio's method of painting, and by Mr. Eastiake.3
The glass made in Venice contained lead ; when this
glass was ground and mixed with colours, the lead
probably acted on the oil as a dryer, and would affect
the colours in the same way as other preparations of
lead. In this point of view, therefore, glass can scarcely
be an eligible dryer for orpiment, which is decomposed
by lead. Manganese was another ingredient in Italian
glass ; but as the native oxide of manganese is not
found pure, but is contaminated with iron, lead, and
copper, it may be conjectured that these metals formed
part of the glass. The manganese of Piedmont was
considered by Neri to be purer than that of Tus
cany and Liguria; the latter contained much iron,
which gave the glass a dark hue, but it is still probable
that the manganese of Piedmont contained the other
metals, which cannot be a desirable addition to colours,
especially as oils are known to act on copper and iron.
If pounded glass has really any drying property (and it
must be supposed that it was not classed among dryers
without due consideration), this property may be attri
buted to the metals it contains, which are in the state
of oxides.
There is good reason to suppose that white copperas
(sulphate of zinc), which is mentioned as a dryer by
Flemish and German writers of the fifteenth century,
was the dryer of Van Eyck. We owe this discovery
to the research of Mr. Eastiake.4
With the exception of Padre Vincente Coronelli,
white copperas does not appear to be mentioned by any

1 Elemens, p. 141. 2 Vol. iv. p. 71, n. 3 Materials, &c, p. 424, u.
4 See Materials, &c, p. 130, 136,284, 299, 311, 365-367.

chap, vi.] DRYERS AND DRYING OILS. ccxliii
Italian author as an ingredient in drying oil ; but it
was employed in Italy in the composition of a mordant
for painting on glass by a Venetian friar,1 about 150
years previous to the date of Coronelli's work. This
mordant is described in the Marciana MS. :2 it con
sisted of white copperas, mastic, dry sandarac, and
roche-alum, ground in purified linseed oil. As a mor
dant for gold, the effects of this composition could not
have been very durable, since it is recommended that
vessels on which it was applied should be washed with
cold water only, and rubbed or wiped very gently.
Copperas is mentioned as an ingredient in a mordant
for gilding, and as a dryer, by Pacheco,3 who recom
mends it for orpiment and carmine; and by Palomino,4
who remarks that it may be ground with oil, and placed
on the palette like a colour : he says that burnt alum
may be added to it, but that he has not tried this dryer.
De Piles also states 5 that copperas ground in oil was
used as a dryer for lake and ultramarine, but he ex
presses a doubt whether, on account of its being a salt,
it may not, in drying, cover the picture with a white
efflorescence, especially in damp situations. There can
be little doubt that the objection of De Piles was well
founded. It has been already observed that the intro
duction of any salt into the colours must always be
prejudicial, and there seems no reason to make an
exception in favour of sulphate of zinc. The same
objection does not apply to the addition of this substance
to drying-oil : on the contrary, there is reason to believe
that calcined sulphate of zinc and the oxide of zinc are
the safest of all metallic dryers.6
1 It is very probable, as was suggested to me by a friend, that this " fra-
tre Veneziano " was Fra Sebastian del Piombo, who was a native of Venice.
If this be the fact, it affords additional reason for considering that copperas
was the dryer of Van Eyck, inasmuch as Fra Sebastian was the pupil of
Gian Bellino, who was contemporary with Antonello da Messina.
* P. 621. 3 Tratado, p. 388, 390, 418. 4 Vol. ii. p. 56.
5 Elemens, p. 140. » See Mr. Eastlake's ' Materials,' &c, p. 349.
q2

CCxliv INTRODUCTION. [chap. vi.
Verdigris is one of the most powerful dryers, and
its effects have long been known. Cennini mentions '
it as promoting the drying of mordants. Armenini,
and his copyist Bisagno, and De Piles,2 recommend its
being added to black, Volpato 3 to black and asphaltum,
and Palomino 4 to black and carmine. But its drying
properties appear to be more than counterbalanced by
others which are highly injurious to many pigments,
and cautions may be found in several writers against
the injudicious use of it. De Piles5 remarks that it is
the plague of all the colours, and that if the smallest
particle were to be mixed with the priming, it might
destroy the whole picture.
There is another dryer mentioned by Italian writers
which can only be used in dark primings or mordants :
this is the dirty oil pressed from the brushes into a tin
vessel kept for this purpose. Volpato says,6 " this dries
like a mordant even in winter." Lebrun remarks7
that this oil may be used for the dead-colouring or for
the priming ; Borghini mentions 8 it as an ingredient in
a mordant. Calcined bones, which were so much used by the
Flemish painters, do not appear to have been employed
to promote the drying of oil by the Italians, although
they are mentioned as an ingredient in a mordant by
Borghini.9 It will be seen, therefore, from the above-mentioned
authorities, that the dryers named in works of art as
most commonly used in Italy, from the earliest period
until the present time, were preparations of lead.
Mastic, which has always been so much used in var
nish, has from a very early period been considered a
dryer. Mr. Eastiake gives10 two instances, one of
' Trattato, cap. 151, 152. 2 Elemens, p. 125.
3 P. 747. 4 Vol. ii. p. 56. 5 Elemens, p. 124.
e P. 732. ' P. 770. 8 Riposo, p. 176. s Ibid., p. 176.
io Materials, &c, p. 172, n.

chap, vi.] ESSENTIAL OILS. ccxlv
which is from the Lucca MS., the other from the Ve
netian^ MS. A solution of mastic in nut oil is recom
mended by Errante * as the only eligible dryer. This
fact naturally leads to the consideration of the varnishes
used with colours in Italy, and of the resins of which
they were composed. Before entering on this subject,
I shall offer a few observations on some of the essential
oils used in painting. Essential Oils.
The purity of the essential oils is not less requisite
than that of the other materials. Mr. Eastiake ob
serves 2 that " their drying property is in proportion to
their rectification, and that the lasting purity of their
tint may partly depend on the same circumstance."
Essential oils should be kept in close vessels, and
excluded from light. By long exposure to air and
light, volatile oils become thick, and darker in colour,
and assume the appearance of resins.
The essential oils commonly used in painting were
naphtha, spirit or oil of turpentine, and oil of spike.
The first of these is considered to have been employed
in painting by the ancient Egyptians.3
Oil of spike should be the foreign oil of lavender ;
but what is usually sold as such is a mixture of three
parts oil of turpentine and one part oil of spike.4
These ingredients are sometimes rectified together.
English oil of lavender is sold for a guinea a pound,
while oil of spike may be purchased for twelve or
fourteen shillings the pound.
The naphtha, used by the Italian painters for dilut
ing their colours and varnishes, was a natural produc
tion of many parts of Italy, particularly of the territo
ries of Modena and Parma. It is also found in
1 Saggio sui Colori, &c. 2 Materials, &c, p. 313.
3 See D'Agincourt, vol. ii. p. 2.
4 See Rennie's Supplement to the Pharmacopoeias.

ccxhi INTRODUCTION. [chap. vi.
Bohemia, Persia, and in Colebrooke Dale in Shrop
shire ; but the finest specimens are furnished by Italy.
Naphtha, like turpentine, should be rectified before it
is used for painting or varnishes.1 The naphtha of the
shops is distilled from wood ; but it probably differs
considerably from the native naphtha, which is used
by chemists for the purpose of keeping potassium, for
which the wood naphtha is entirely unfit. The native
naphtha, therefore, should be procured for painting.
It is said to be the purest and most unchangeable of the
essential oils.2
While mentioning essential oils, it will be proper to
allude briefly to the volatile oil of linseed or nuts, which
was occasionally used in diluting varnishes.
The earliest notice of distilled linseed oil is probably
that which occurs in the old part of the Bolognese
MS.,3 (written previously to the introduction of the
Flemish process of oil-painting into Italy,) in a recipe
for making artificial stones for rings. It will be ob
served that although the distilled oil in this case was
not used for painting, yet it is stated by the author that
any pigment put into it will retain its colour for ever.
Vasari's account of the singular experiments, as he
calls them, of Lionardo da Vinci on oils and varnish,
is not conclusive evidence that he distilled linseed and
nut oils, or either of them ; he merely states that he
distilled oils and herbs to make varnishes ;4 and this may
be true with regard to the olio di trementina and olio
di spigo, as well as to linseed and nut oil. The passage
in Lomazzo's ' Tempio della Pittura ' 5 is rather more
definite ; but even this is not conclusive. In speaking
of Lionardo, he says, " della tempera, passd all' olio,
il quale usava di assotigliar con i lambicchi, onde e

1 Verri, Saggio, &c, p. 138.
2 Mr. Eastlake's ' Materials,' &c, p. 314. a p. 507.
4 " Cominci6 a stillare oli ed erbe per fare la vernice." See Life 6f
Lionardo da Vinci. 5 p. 49,

chap, vi.] ESSENTIAL OILS. ccxlvii
causato che quasi tutte le opere sue si sono spiccate dai
niuri, siccome fra 1' altre si vede nel consiglio di Fio-
renza la mirabile battaglia, e in Milano la Cena di
Christo in Sta. Maria delle Gratie che sono guaste per
P imprematura che egli gli diede sotto."
Besides the passages in Vasari and Lomazzo, which
attribute to Lionardo the use of distilled oil, there is
the recipe in the 'Secreti' of Alessio,1 which is con
clusive as to the fact that linseed oil was distilled and
used to dilute amber varnish. This recipe has been
copied by Wecker,2 by Bonanni, and by Salmon in his
' Polygraphices.' It is stated that this varnish was to
be applied on pictures or figures, " sopra alle figure."
« Another notice of linseed oil, distilled with other
ingredients, occurs in the 'Nuovo Plicto.'3 In this
recipe linseed oil, vernice liquida, roche-alum, nitre,
Roman vitriol, and mastic are boiled together, and
afterwards distilled. The water which comes over is
said to be good for tempering colours in miniature-
painting, and for staining or dyeing linen and other
things. It must be kept closely corked, otherwise it
will evaporate.
The fact, therefore, of linseed and nut oil being used
in painting, except for miniatures, appears to rest on
the inconclusive testimony of Vasari and Lomazzo that
it was used by Lionardo da Vinci ; at the same time it
will not escape notice that both these authors, who
were painters, and undoubtedly acquainted with the
method practised at the time they lived, disapproved
of the processes of Lionardo, which they evidently
considered unusual. As a mere diluent, distilled lin
seed or nut oil when rectified, and no longer subject to
crystallise at a low temperature,4 may not be more
objectionable than spirit of turpentine, oil of spike, or
1 Part ii. p. 74. 2 DeSecretis, lib. xvi. p. 643. 3 P. 76, 77.
4 At the temperature of 40° of Fahrenheit distilled linseed oil is con
verted into a mass of needle-shaped crystals.

ccxlviii INTRODUCTION. [chap. vi.
naphtha ; but the circumstance of its being so rarely
mentioned by writers on painting, when so many must
have been acquainted with it, suggests the idea that it
was not in general use.
Some caution is necessary in using these essential
oils either with varnish or colours upon paint that is not
thoroughly dry, lest they should disturb the colours,1
for they are all powerful solvents. Oil of spike and oil
of turpentine are frequently used by picture cleaners
to dissolve dirty varnishes, and they often bring away
the glazings which have been applied with an essential ,
oil varnish, as well as the varnish itself.
Resins.
Turpentine and Resin. — By turpentine, trementina,
and terebinthina is understood the resinous liquid
which flows from many kinds of trees; when this liquid
is hardened by the sun, or by fire, it is called resin,
ragia, or colophony.
The turpentine of Dioscorides appears to have been
what is now called Chio turpentine, the produce of
the Pistacia terebinthus of Linnaeus; the Terebinthina
pistacina, Off. We have no means of ascertaining
whether this was the turpentine mentioned in mediaeval
MSS., for Matthioli relates 2 that in his time the im
portation of it had ceased for so long a period that the
remembrance of it was almost lost, and the resin of the
larch had been introduced in its place, and had usurped
its name. This author, however, states that the real
turpentine tree grew plentifully at Trent, and in several
parts of Italy. He also remarks that, although this
was the best kind of turpentine, it had only recently
(Matthioli's work was published in 1549) been brought
to Venice. It was first imported in the dry state, but
it was afterwards brought in abundance liquid as it
i See De Piles, Elemens de Peinture, p. 167. De Massoul, Art of Paint
ing, p. 25. 2 Diosc., p. 126.

chap, vi.] RESINS. ccxlix
exuded from the tree. Laguna mentions ' that Venice
was supplied with the best kind of turpentine from
Cyprus ; but it was so much adulterated that out of one
barrel were made twenty. When, therefore, turpen
tine and larch resin are both mentioned in early me
dieval MSS., as in the chapter de Lucide ad Lucidas in
the Lucca MS., the turpentine may be considered to
have been of the kind mentioned by Dioscorides ; but
where turpentine only is spoken of, the point is doubt
ful. At a later period, and until a few years previous
to 1549, trementina may be understood in the works
of Italian writers to signify the turpentine of the larch.
In this sense, perhaps, the trementina and terebinthina
of the Bolognese MS. (in which larch resin is not
mentioned) are to be understood.
Venice Turpentine. — Matthioli states that the produce
of the Pinus larix (larice of the Italians, meleze of the
French, the lajch), called turpentine of the larch and
Venice turpentine, was formerly called " laricina."
His account of this resin is as follows : —
" There is also extracted from the larch that liquid
and excellent resin which is called ' terebinthina ' in all
the druggists' shops in Italy, because it superseded
that which is extracted from the terebinthino ; for the
merchants having ceased to import the terebinthina, the
physicians brought into use instead of it that which is
produced by the larch, whence it acquired the name of
turpentine (terebinthina). Nevertheless Fuchsio, in
his last book on the Composition of Medicines, was
mistaken when he wrote that the apothecaries now use
instead of the true terebinthina nothing but the liquid
resin of the abeto (Pinus picea of Linnaeus), which we
call tears (lagrime), for it is known to all the world
that the common terebinthina now in use is not ex
tracted from any other tree but the larch  The
1 Diosc. ilustrado por el Doct. Laguna. Salamanca, 1570.

cel INTRODUCTION. [chap. vi.
peasants inhabiting those mountains call this liquor
larga, from the larch (larice), whence it exudes. '
This kind of turpentine is called "largata" by Zuane
Mariani,2 and it appears to have been the only sort of
turpentine imported into Venice in 1567.
The liquid resin which was sold in France under the
name of terebenthine de Venise, was procured in the
neighbourhood of Lyons ; and Pomet says 3 that it
should rather be called '* terebenthine fine du bois de
Pilatre ou de Lyon." The Lyonnais called it bijon ; but
at Rouen it was called berniz. At the present time much
of this resin is brought from the confines of Briancon.4
Olio di Abezzo, Strassburg Turpentine, Gomme du
Sapin. — The resin which exudes from the Terebinthina
abietina, Off, the Pinus picea of Linnaeus, the abete
of the Italians, the sapin of the French, is the Resina
sapini ofthe Lucca MS. and Clavicula (p. 54). "The
abete produces that most excellent liquor commonly
called tears (lagrime), or olio di abezzo  It is
frequently adulterated with the resin of the larch,
which is not so dear as the olio di abezzo, and some
times when the larch resin is very clear and limpid it
is sold for the real olio di abezzo ; for few apothecaries
know one from the other. But the fraud mav be
detected, first, because the olio di abezzo is much more
liquid, and also because it has an agreeable odour, and
is much more bitter to the taste than the larch resin ;
and when it is more than a year old, it acquires a yel
lowish colour, and becomes somewhat solid."5 The
Marciana MS. mentions 6 that genuine olio di abezzo
may be distinguished by its drying rapidly ; but when
it is mixed with turpentine it dries very slowly.

1 Matthioli, p. 118.
2 See Tariffa Perpetuadi Zuane Mariani, Venetia, 1567.
3 Histoire des Drogues, vol. ii. p. 62.
4 Diz. delle Droghe di Chevalier e Richard. Venezia, 1831.
5 Matthioli, p. 120. 6 p, 635.

chap, vi.] RESINS. ccli
Resin, Resin of the Pine, Gomme de Pin, Bordeaux
Turpentine. — This is the produce of the Terebinthina
pinea, the Pinus maritima, a variety of the Pinus syl-
vestris, the Pinus abies of Linnaeus.1 Whenever the
word " ragia " occurs in Italian writers, the resin of the
pine is always to be understood.2 This resin is firmer
and more solid than that of the larch or the abete.
When this resin has been purified by melting it in the
sun, and suffering it to run through the small holes
perforated in the bottom of the vessel containing it, it
is considered equal in quality to Strassburg turpen
tine. When it is purified by melting it over the fire,
and straining it through straw, it is called " yellow
«. pitch or resin," "white pitch," and " Burgundy pitch."
If the residuum left after the distillation of spirit of
turpentine be stirred briskly with water, it loses its
transparency, and acquires a dark yellow colour. In
this state it is called "yellow resin or pitch."3
Pierre Pomet states that it was called in France
" barras," or " galipot," and that there were two kinds,
one of which was called " encens blanc," the other
" encens marbre." The incense usually burnt in
churches is the produce of the Pinus abies.4
Pece Greca, or Greek Pitch, Pece Spagnuola, or di
Spagna, Pegola di Spagna, Colophony. — The signifi
cation of these terms cannot be better explained than
in the words of Matthioli :5 — " What is commonly
called pece di Spagna, pece Greca, and colophonia by
the apothecaries is nothing but resin boiled in the man
ner described by Dioscorides. These names were de
rived from the places whence they were brought. But
there was another kind of colophonia described by
Dioscorides, which was liquid, and which was called,
par excellence, colophonia. This was very scarce and
1 Trattato delle Droghe Semplici, da Guibourt, iii. p. 412. 2 Ricett. Fior,
3 Trattato delle Droghe, da Guibourt, p. 415.
4 Humboldt's Kosmos, ii. 441. 5 Trans, of Diosc, p. 126.

cclii INTRODUCTION. [chap. vi.
dear." Matthioli thinks that the latter was the olio di
abezzo, which is not mentioned either by Dioscorides or
Pliny. The hardest of all the resins is colophonia;1 the
terebinthina continues liquid a long time, and the olio
di abezzo remains in a moderately liquid state. The
best " pece di Spagna " was brought from the island of
Pityusa, on the coast of Spain.
In the Greek MS. of Mount Athos, pece Greca is
called Pegoula.2 It appears that it was also known by
this name in Italy. Thus Fioravanti states,3 in his
'Secreti,' "La vernice commune e una compositione,
la quale si fa di olio di lino e di pece Greca, con una
parte del olio, e tre di pegola" &c.
Olibanum, Thus album, Incenso, Frankincense, are
synonymous terms in works on art. Under the first
name this resin appears to be included among the
ingredients in the chapters of the Lucca MS. and
Mappae Clavicula (p. 54, 55), entitled " De Petalo
Aureo," and " Lucida quomodo fiant super Colores."
This resin is mentioned in the commercial treaty
between Bologna and Ferrara in 1193.4 The best
kind was formerly imported by way of Tauris (now
Tabreez), whence it was called "Torisino."5 The tree
which produced the Arabian frankincense of Hadhra-
maut, so famous from the most ancient times, has not
yet been discovered and determined by any botanist.
There is a similar product in the East Indies, which,
according to Colebrooke, has been obtained from the
Boswellia thurifera, or serrata. The olibanum of our
druggists is the produce of an American plant, the
Icica guyanensis, of the same family (Burseraceae) as
the Boswellia.6 Frankincense was used by the old
i Trans, of Diosc, p. 127. 2 Manuel d'Iconographie, p. 40.
3 Secreti di S. Leonard. Fioravanti, lib. iii. cap. 95. 4 Depping, i. 241.
5 See the work of Pegoletti and Uzzano, cited by Depping, i.T42.
6 Humboldt's Kosmos, Sabine's translation, London, 1848, vol. ii. p. 440.

chap, vi.] RESINS. ccliii
painters in the composition of the pastille with which
ultramarine was mixed, as well as in varnishes ;* and
we learn from the Bolognese MS.2 that when it was
dissolved in linseed-oil, the composition was sometimes
called " vernice liquida." From the scarcity of ori
ental olibanum, it was frequently adulterated with gum
and resin. The resin held in most esteem in the East
for burning as incense was, according to Agricola,3
amber ; but it is probable that for amber we should read
oriental copal.4
Sandarac. — This resin is brought from the southern
provinces of Morocco. In the language of the country
it is called " el Grassa ;" 5 and by this name it has
, # always been known in Spain. Thus Pacheco says,
" Grassa  which is the gum of the juniper,
which the Arabs call sandarac."6 Palomino mentions
this resin under the name " grasilla." It was generally
believed that sandarac was the gum of the juniper, and
as such it is described by Matthioli, Laguna,7 Bulen-
gerus,8 and other writers ; but it is now known to exude
from the Thuya articulata (African arbor vitae), a
dwarf tree somewhat resembling the juniper.9 In its
dry state, sandarac was called vernix, vernice grossa,10
vernice in grana,11 vernice da scrivere.12 The last name
was derived from the pulverized sandarac being formerly
rubbed over cotton paper to prepare it for writing.

1 Pp. 165, 630. 2 P. 489. 3 De Metallicis, p. 243.
4 See Pharmaceutical Journal, vol. v. part iv.
5 Encyc. Brit., tit. Sandarac.
6 " Grassa, que es la goma del enepro que los Arabes llaman Sandaraca."
Tratado, 410.
7 Diosc. ilustr. por el Doct. Laguna, p. 62. 8 De Pictura, &c.
9 Mr. Eastlake's ' Materials,' &c, p. 232.
10 Borghini (Riposo, p. 175) says "sandaraca ovvero vernice grossa."
n « Vernice di sandaraca o vernice in grana," Secreti di S. Leonard.
Fioravanti, Torino, 1580, lib. iii. cap. 68. Marciana MS., pp. 609, 621, 631.
12 " Vernice da scrivere, cioe sandracha, cioe gomma di ginepro." Secreti
di D. Alessio, part ii. f. 57.

ccliv INTRODUCTION. [chap. vt.
When sandarac was dissolved in linseed-oil, it consti
tuted the " vernice liquida " of the Italians.1
Mastic. — This is a resin obtained from the Pistacia
lentiscus, a tree which grows in the Levant, and parti
cularly in the island of Chios. Mastic appears to have
been always used in the arts as a varnish ; and in the
Lucca MS.2 it is recommended to be added to a varnish
or mordant composed of linseed-oil, with resins and
gums of various kinds, as a dryer. Mastic and mastic-
varnish are also mentioned as dryers by Italian writers
on art.3
Amber, Succinum, Carabe, Glassa, Glas. — The vege
table origin of amber is now universally admitted. On
this subject Humboldt remarks :4 — " Goeppert's excel
lent researches, which, it is hoped, will soon appear
illustrated with plates, inform us ' that all the Baltic
amber is derived from a coniferous tree, which, as
proclaimed by the extant remains of the wood and bark,
were obviously of different ages, came nearest to our
white and red pine timber, but still constituted a parti
cular species.' The amber-tree of the former world
(Pinites succifer) had a richness in resin with which
none of the coniferous tribes of the present world will
bear comparison, inasmuch as great masses of amber are
contained not only within and upon the bark, but also
between the rings of the wood, and in the direction of
the medullary rays, which, as well as the cells, are seen
under the microscope to be filled with ambreous resin,
of a whiter or yellower colour in different places.
Amongst the vegetable matters inclosed in amber we
find both male and female flowers of indigenous, aci-
i Bol. MS., pp. 489, 521. Secreti di D. Alessio, part ii. f. 57, 160.
Caneparius, de Atramenti«, pp. 260, 341, 378, 379. Bulengerus de
Pictura, &c, lib. ii. cap. ii. Other authorities are cited by Mr. Eastiake,
1 Materials,' &c, p. 238.
2 DeContectio Lucidse; and see Clavicula, p. 53.
3 See Errante, Saggio sui Colori ; Armenini, de' Veri Precetti ; and Bi-
sagno, Trattato, &c. 4 Kosmos, vol. i. p. 303, and see vol. ii. p. 412.

chap, vi.] RESINS. cclv
cular-leaved, and cupuliferous trees ; but distinct frag
ments of Thuja, Cupressus, Ephedera, and Castania
vesca, mingled with others of junipers and firs, indicate
a vegetation which is different from that of the present
coasts and plains of the Baltic."
Amber, according to Berzelius, " contains five
substances: — I. An odoriferous oil, in small quan
tity.- — 2. A yellow resin, intimately combined with this
oil, dissolving freely in alcohol, ether, and alkalis, very
fusible, and resembling ordinary vegetable resins. — 3. A
resin soluble with difficulty in cold alcohol, more freely
in hot alcohol, from which it separates on cooling, as a
white powder soluble in ether and alkalis. These two
resins and the volatile oil, if removed from amber by
ether, and then obtained by evaporation of the latter in
water, form a natural viscid balsam, very odorous, of a
clear yellow colour, and which gradually becomes hard,
but retains some odour. There is every reason for
supposing this to be precisely the substance from
which amber originates, but rather poorer in es
sential oil than at first; and that the insoluble
substances in amber have been gradually formed by a
spontaneous alteration of this balsam, but at the same
time have enveloped one part of it, and so preserved it
from entire decomposition or change. — 4. Succinic acid,
dissolved with the preceding bodies by ether, alcohol,
and alkalis. — 5. A body insoluble in alcohol, ether, and
alkalis, analogous in some points to the substance found
by Dr. John in lac, and called by him the principle of
lac. This is formed in large quantity when a solution
of lac in alkali is precipitated by chlorine."1
Amber was formerly found on the coasts of the
Baltic, also near the Po and Adriatic: and it is stated
by Depping2 to have been imported from the Maldives.
1 Ure's Dictionary of Chemistry, p. 147.
2 Histoire du Commerce, vol. i. p. 142.

cclvi INTRODUCTION. [chap. vi.
The amber found on the shores of the Baltic was known
to the inhabitants of those countries under the name of
glessum, whence glasse, glassa, glas. The fact of
amber having been found near the Po, and on the
shores of the Adriatic, is mentioned by Agricola,1 and
by Matthioli, merely as a report, which they considered
to have originated from the circumstance that amber
necklaces were commonly worn by the peasaut women
of these countries ;2 and both authors carefully dis
tinguish amber or succino from the gum or resin which
exudes from the black and white poplars growing on
the banks of the Po. The latter writer, especially, is
very precise in this respect. In quoting the following
passage from Serapion, " Et dicitur quod gumnii Haur
Romi,3 quod nascitur circa fluvium, qui dicitur Eri-
danus, quando distillat in flumine illo, coagulatur ibi, et
est illud, quod dicitur Alipton, id est electrum ; et
sunt qui nominant ipsum Arsopodon, et est charabe,"
and a similar passage from Avicenna, he remarks, they
do not affirm that charabe is the gum of the black
poplar, but merely that it is said to be. Conder,4 how
ever, mentions that amber is found in earth impregnated
with petroleum, beneath the vineyards and corn-fields
in the territory of Modena ; and it will also be recol
lected that in the book lent by Fra Dionisio to
Alcherius, a certain gum, Andrianum, which had attrac
tive powers similar to those possessed by amber and
resins generally, is stated to have been found on Monte
Buono (Bene).5 Phillips6 states that amber is actually
found in Italy and on the coast of the Adriatic.

i De Metallicis, f. 238. Trans, of Diosc, pp. 155, 156.
2 " The Etrurians carried on considerable trade through the north of
Italy and across the Alps, where ' the Sacred Road' led to the distant amber
countries." (See Humboldt"s Kosmos, vol. ii. p. 164.) These traders pro
bably supplied the Italian women with amber.
3 Haur Romi is the Arab name for the black poplar. See Matt., p. 155.
4 Italy, vol. ii. p. 46. s gee p. 82. f> Mineralogy, p. 373.

chap, vi.] RESINS. ' cclvii
It may be considered questionable whether the sub
stance reputed to have been imported from the Maldives
during the middle ages, under the name of amber, was
really amber or oriental copal. Mr. Eastiake has
shown1 that these substances were scarcely distinguished
in ancient recipes. Old writers mention two kinds of
amber, the white and the yellow ; and the only distinctive
property they assign to amber is, that of attracting
straws, which proves to be common to resins generally,
and cannot therefore be considered as decisive. Agri
cola asserts3 that amber was certainly found in Africa,
but he knew not in what parts : he says it was also
found in Syria, in India, and, according to Marco
'Polo, the Venetian traveller, in the Island of Mada
gascar. It appears that copal is found in Abyssinia, in
Palestine, and in the East Indies ; and it is sold in the
bazaars of Jerusalem, Mecca, and other places, as a
choice specimen of incense.3 In this respect it agrees
with what Agricola says4 of amber ; namely, that the
odour of the smoke of amber was more agreeable to the
Indians than that of incense. Copal is ako brought
from Madagascar.5 There are some grounds then for
considering that the amber stated to have been procured
from Africa and Asia may have been oriental copal ;
and that although amber was actually found in some
parts of Italy, European nations were principally sup
plied with it from Germany.
There are two kinds of amber : the best, which is
imported from Prussia and Poland, is hard and trans
parent, and the surface is frequently marked in a
peculiar manner, as if, when in a fluid state, it had been
enclosed in wood, and had then taken and retained the
impression of the fibres of the wood and bark. This kind
l Materials, &c, p. 233, 234. 2 De Metallicis, f. 243.
3 Pharmaceutical Journal, vol. v. No. iv. 4 De Metallicis, f. 243.
6 Guibourt, Histoire des Drogues, vol. ii. p. 526.
VOL. I. *•

cclviii INTRODUCTION. [chap. vi.
of amber makes the best varnish, and dissolves perfectly
in oil. The other sort of amber is called sea-amber,
and is of the size of coffee-beans, but irregular in shape,
darker than the first kind, and much less transparent.
Mr. Wilson Neil says,1 " it is harder to fuse, has less
fluidity, and contains more salt, gas, and impurities."
Copal. — A very white transparent resin, used for
merly by the aborigines of Spanish America as incense.
In the language of these people it signified all kinds of
resin exuding from trees.2 Under the name of copal,
therefore, it is useless to look for this resin in works
written previous to the period of the introduction of
American produce into Europe. At present three
varieties are known in commerce, viz., Brazilian, West
Indian, and East Indian or Levantine copal. The
former, which is called soft copal, exudes from one of
the Hymenaeae ; the latter, or hard copal, is the produce
of the Vateria Indica.3 The last variety was pro
bably the same substance which was called amber by
the Italians, and which was stated by Agricola and
Matthioli to have been imported from Syria and
India, and by Marco Polo from the Island of
Madagascar; and this supposition is rendered more
probable by the fact that the Levantine copal is now
brought from Palestine, Abyssinia, and Madagascar.
The South African copal is considered the finest in
quality, and the best samples which sometimes reach
Europe from India were originally procured from
Africa.4 The white resin of Arabia, mentioned in the
Paduan MS.,5 was perhaps African copal, which it
appears is sold in the bazaars of Jerusalem, Mecca, and
other places, as a species of choice incense, and is at the
1 On the Manufacture of Varnishes, Trans. Soc. Arts, vol. xlix. part 2.
2 Ray's History of Plants, p. 1846. 3 Pharm. Times, vol. iii. p. 603.
* See Mr. Eastlake's ' Materials,' &c, p. 234, citing Tripier-Deveaux,
' Traite Theorique et Pratique sur l'Art de faire les Vernis,' Paris, 1845,
p. 40 ; and Guibourt, Hist, des Drogues, vol. ii. p. 526, on the Copal of
Madagascar. 5 P. 695.

chap, vi.] RESINS. cclix
present time chiefly employed for this purpose on the
altars of Mahomet.1
The earliest writer who mentions copal by this name
as an ingredient in varnishes is probably Fra Fortunato
of Rovigo, the recipes in whose ' Secreti ' date from 1659
to 1711- The next author is Palomino, who gives2 a
recipe for varnish composed of copal dissolved in spirit
of turpentine. As the solvent in both recipes is the
same, it may be concluded that copal was at this period
usually dissolved in spirits of turpentine. I have ascer
tained that copal is perfectly soluble in cold oil of spike,
but the solution is not effected in less than five or six
years. I possess a specimen of copal varnish prepared
in this way, which is very clear and pale.
Black Poplar Resin.- — It has been observed that this
resin was considered by Serapion, Avicenna, and other
writers as synonymous with carabe or amber, and that
Agricola and Matthioli had shown that a resin actually
exuded from both kinds of poplar, and that the black
poplar was the tree known to the Arabs under the
name of " haur Romi." Schrceder has, however, the
reputation of having been the first who pointed out this
resin, which he obtained not from the bark in the
manner described by the ancients, but by boiling the
buds of the black poplar in water and afterwards pressing
them. The buds yield about one-fourth of their weight
of resin, which is said to resemble Botany Bay resin.3
But although new to the moderns, this resin was appa
rently not unknown to the medieval writers, since we
find "flores populi" among the ingredients in two kinds
of varnish, for which there are recipes in the Lucca
MS., which are copied in the Clavicula.4
Lac. — There is some doubt whether the " lacca " of
the Lucca MS. and the Clavicula was gum lac or the
1 Pharmaceutical Journal, vol. iv. p. 4. 2 Museo Pictorico, vol. ii. p. 328.
3 See London Encyclop., art. Chemistry, p. 494.
4 Mappse Clavicula, p. 53, 54. r 2

cclx INTRODUCTION. [chap. vi.
gum of the ivy, but it is certain that Indian gum lac
was imported into Spain and Provence as early as
1220.1 Although the art of preparing a red pigment
from this resin was known at an early period, the resin
itself appears to have been considered useless, and it
was probably only towards the close of the seventeenth
century that it came into use as an ingredient in var
nishes. The Paduan MS.2 contains directions for sepa
rating the red colouring matter, so that the gum might
be used in japanning as a varnish with or without
colours. Lac varnish does not appear to have been used
for varnishing pictures or in painting until very recently.
Benzoin. — A solid balsam,3 extracted from incisions
made in the Storax benzoe, a tree which grows in Su
matra. According to Depping4 it was imported at an
early period into Europe; but as an ingredient in
varnish it does not appear to have been used until the
middle of the sixteenth century. It was employed for
this purpose by the Italians and Spaniards, and the
earliest notices of it probably occur in the Marciana
MS.5 and in the ' Secreti ' of D. Alessio.6 Varnish of
benzoin is also mentioned by Armenini,7 and in the
Paduan MS.8 The benzoin was dissolved in spirit of
turpentine or spirit of wine. Benzoin appears never to
have been an ingredient in oil varnishes. Palomino and
Pacheco mention this balsam under the name of menjui.
1 Capmany, Memorias, &c. ; and the Statutes of Marseilles, quoted by
Depping, vol. i. p 147. 2 P. 686, 688.
3 " Balsams are mixtures of resins and volatile oils. They differ very
greatly in consistence, some being quite fluid, others solid and brittle. By
keeping, the softer kinds often become hard. Balsams may be conveniently
divided into two classes, viz., those which, like common and Venice turpen
tine, Canada balsam, Copaiba balsam, &c, are merely natural varnishes, or
solutions of resins, in volatile oils, and those which contain benzoic or cin-
namic acid in addition, as Peru and Tolu balsams, and the solid resinous
benzoin, commonly called gum-benzoin." — Fownes, Manual of Elementary
Chemistry, p. 501.
4 Hist, du Commerce, vol. i. p. 142. 5 P. 629.
6 Secreti, part i. f. 115. " De' Veri Precetti, lib. ii. cap. ix. 8 P. 698.

chap, vi.] VARNISHES. cclxl
Copaiva is obtained from incisions made in the trunk
of the Copaifera officinalis, a tree which grows in
South America and some of the West India islands.
It is mentioned as an ingredient in amber varnish, in
the Paduan MS., and appears to have been used by the
later Venetians both in varnishes and in painting.1
Damara Resin. — Terebinta di Dammara is the
produce of the Pinus dammara (Lambert), Agathis dam
mara (Rich., Conifere, tav. 19), a tree which grows in
the Indian Archipelago. Its odour is strongly resinous
and its taste very bitter.2 At the present time this resin
is mueh used in the Venetian territories as a varnish,
and it is currently reputed to have been employed by
the old masters ; but this opinion appears to be unsup
ported by evidence — indeed, its uses are described by
Chevalier and Richard as being unknown. It has,
however, been recently employed at Munich as a vehicle
for painting, for which purpose it was dissolved in
spirits of turpentine with a certain proportion of bleached
wax.3 For the following recipe for damara varnish for
pictures, I am indebted to a painter of Verona : — Put
two and a half ounces of damara resin finely powdered
and six ounces of spirit of turpentine into a bottle ;
shake occasionally until the resin is dissolved, and it
will be a strong varnish. No heat is necessary.
Varnishes.
The earliest varnish and that which was most univer
sally adopted in Italy was unquestionably the old
vernice liquida, which was composed of linseed oil and
pulverised sandarac, commonly called " vernice," " ver
nice da scrivere," and " gomma di gineparo." The
varnishes of Theophilus are referred to under the name
1 See Mr. Sheldrake's Essay, Trans. Soc. Arts, vol. xix. ; and Marcucci,
p. 222. 2 Diz. delle Droghe di Chevalier e Richard, &c.
3 See Appendix to the Third Report of the Commissioners of the Fine
Arts, p. 52.

cclxii INTRODUCTION. [chap. vi.
of vernice liquida in the Tabula Imperfecta prefixed
to the Le Begue MS. In this table and under the
same head is another reference to the recipe of Le
Begue : " A faire bonne vernix liquide pour peintres,"1
which appears to have been compiled by him from
the two recipes of Theophilus, with a few additions
of his own. From this recipe it may be inferred that
Le Begue considered the materials in both the recipes
of Theophilus as identical, but a comparison of these
chapters of Theophilus with the three recipes in St.
Audemar, Nos. 207, 208, and 209, and that in Eraclius
(p. 241), make it highly probable that the resin in one
case was sandarac and in the other amber.2 In addition
to linseed oil Le Begue mentions hemp-seed and nut
oils, which, he says, might be used instead of linseed
oil ; and it may be remarked that in making varnishes
linseed and nut oils were used indifferently.
There is still another reference in the Tabula Im
perfecta to a recipe in the Le Begue MS. for "vernice
liquida," but as No. 2 10, the recipe referred to, does
not describe a varnish, one of those described in Nos.
207, 208, and 209, and probably the first, must be in
tended; The term " vernice liquida " occurs frequently in the
early Italian recipes copied in 1409 from the book of
Fra Dionisio, and also in the treatise of St. Audemar.
It is also frequently mentioned in the Bolognese MS.,
which contains no less than three recipes for making it.
The first of these,3 the old " vernice liquida," consisted
of linseed oil and sandarac, under the name of " gomma
di gineparo." The varnish described in the second
recipe was composed of linseed oil and incense. This
varnish was made clear by the addition of roche alum,
and was rendered drying by the addition of minium ;
i No. 341, p. 313. 2 See Mr. Eastlake's ' Materials,' &c, p. 241—246.
3 No. 206, p. 489.

chap, vi.] VARNISHES. cclxiii
the oil, moreover, was set on fire and burnt to deprive
it of its unctuosity.1 From this recipe it is apparent
that the term " vernice liquida " was not always limited
to the original signification, but was sometimes extended
to a varnish composed of oil and incense. When, how
ever, the materials of which the varnish is composed
are not specified, the old vernice liquida (linseed oil
and sandarac) is generally to be understood. The third
varnish was, like the first, composed of linseed oil,
sandarac, here called " vernice da scrivere," and thirty
or forty cloves of garlic; and when the varnish was
nearly cold the whites of several eggs were added to it
and well mixed, and the bottle was placed in the sun
„ for one day. Vernice liquida is also frequently men
tioned by Cennini not only as a varnish for pictures 2
and for tin,3 but as an ingredient in cements,4 and mor
dants,5 and other works.
Although vernice liquida is not mentioned in the
Paduan MS. or by Volpato, Armenini, Bisagno, or
Borghini, the evidence of Matthioli, Caneparius, and
others is sufficient to establish the fact that the use of it
with colours was not entirely discontinued in the six
teenth and seventeenth centuries. By the Spanish
painters this varnish, which is described by Pacheco as
that of the " guadamacileros " (leather- gilders), was in
his time mixed with colours in a particular kind of oil
painting, which this writer calls 6 " las encarnaciones de
polimento.'' The " drying oil " mentioned in the appendix to the
Italian edition of ' LTdee du Peintre Parfait ' of De
Piles consisted of vernice liquida made drying by the
addition of litharge.
In the course of time the old vernice liquida was
modified in various ways. It was sometimes combined
' P. 521. 2 Cap. 155. 3 Caps. 97, 98, 101. 4 Cap. 107.
» Cap. 151. 6 Tratado, p. 404.

cclxiv INTRODUCTION. [chap. vi.
with incense, as in the recipe in the Marciana MS., ap
proved by Sansovino,1 and sometimes with pece Greca.2
Next in importance to the " vernice liquida" was the
" vernice comune," or common varnish, of the Italians,
which Armenini and Bisagno direct to be mixed with
the priming, and with certain colours. There is no
doubt that the term was first applied to the varnish of
sandarac and oil, which Caneparius calls3 "common
liquid varnish ;" but before Armenini's time the appel
lation "common" appears to have been applied to
another varnish also.
Armenini and Bisagno give several recipes for
varnish, and after describing one made of mastic and
nut-oil, they add that " this varnish may be added to
the finer kinds of azure, lakes, and other colours, that
they may dry more quickly ;" but neither of them states
that this is the "vernice comune." A similar varnish
is mentioned in the Marciana MS.4 as a most excellent
varnish for lutes, leather, paintings on panel, cloth, &c.
In the recipe for making printing-ink the same author
says,5 " Take varnish made for varnishing, and the finer
it is the better; but the common varnish which the
apothecaries sell to varnish wood and other things will
do." The composition of " the best vernice comune,
which is good for varnishing whatever you please," is
described at p. 637, where it is stated to consist of
linseed oil and pece Greca. The statement that " ver
nice comune " was made of linseed oil and pece Greca
is confirmed by Leonard Fioravanti,6 who recommends
one part oil and three parts pece Greca. It will be
observed that the common Italian varnish corresponds
with one of the varnishes in the Strassburg MS.,7 with
1 P. 631. 2 P. 637. See also Venetian MS. in the Sloane
Collection, No. 416, f. 139. 3 De Atramentis, p. 260.
4 P. 633. 5 See p. 619. e Secreti, lib. iii. caps. 67, 95.
7 Quoted by Mr. Eastiake, ' Materials,' &c, p. 280.

chap, vi.] VARNISHES. cclxv
one of those in the Venetian MS.,1 and also with the
varnish of " Peseri " of the Byzantine MS.2
Another varnish described in the Marciana MS.3 " as
a most excellent, clear, and drying varnish, proper
for colours both in oil-painting and in other kinds of
painting," consists of the "vernice comune," with the
addition of mastic. This addition was probably made
with the view of rendering the varnish more siccative,
since mastic was placed among dryers as early as the
date of the Lucca MS. The drying properties of
mastic varnish are alluded to by Armenini 4 and Bi
sagno, and the varnish of mastic and nut-oil is recom
mended by Errante 5 as the safest of all dryers. It is
jiot therefore improbable that this varnish may have
borne the name of " vernice comune " as well as the
varnish made of nut or linseed oil and pece Greca. It
is probable that the varnishes composed of pece Greca,
mastic, and incense were much lighter in colour than
the " vernice liquida," and therefore were better adapted
for mixing with light colours. It must be observed that
the common varnish used by the Flemish painters em
ployed by Charles I. in England consisted of Venice
turpentine dissolved in oil of turpentine.6 The " vernix
commun " of the French resembled this.
According to Pierre Pomet , the latter was nothing
more than the turpentine procured from the pine (Pinus
abies) liquefied in spirit of turpentine. The same
author also calls8 this varnish "le vernis gros." Pierre
Pomet wrote in the eighteenth century, and as a varnish

1 Sloane MS., No. 416, p. 139. 2 Manuel d'Iconographie, p. 40.
3 P. 633. According to Bonanni this varnish is used by the Turks for
bows, &c.
4 Speaking of the varnish of mastic and nut-oil, Armenini says "e di
questa se ne pub mettere negli azzurri fini, nelle lacche e in altri colori,
accib si asciughino piu presto."
5 Saggio, &c. e Mr. Eastiake, ' Materials,' 471—476.
7 Hist. Generate des Drogues, ii. 106. 8 lb., p. 71.

cclxvi INTRODUCTION. [chap. vi.
composed of a balsam dissolved in an essential oil can
be traced in Italy as early as the date of the Marciana
MS.,1 and was reputed to be in general use throughout
Lombardy about 1580,2 there is reason to believe that
this kind of varnish was of Italian origin.3 That it was
used in Spain is proved by Pacheco, who remarks 4 that
the Strassburg turpentine (trementina de veta de
Francia) should be used.
But the " gros vernis " of the French was not the
" vernice grossa " of the Italians. By the latter, the
term was applied sometimes to a dry substance and
sometimes to a liquid varnish. When Borghini 5 says,
" Prendasi . . . . un' oncia d' olio di spigo e un' oncia di
sandarac ovvero vernice grossa," it is probable that he
means sandarac in its dry state. Baldinucci defines
" vernice grossa " to be a varnish which serves as a pre
paration for painting in oil on walls (per intonacare a
olio), and which is also used in the composition of print
ing-ink. D. Alessio states 6 that the varnish used for
the latter purpose was "vernice liquida." Caneparius7 is
still more precise ; he calls it " Common liquid varnish
. . . made of Arabian sandarac, which is the gum of the
juniper, and linseed-oil." It appears then that the term
" vernice grossa " was applied both to dry sandarac and
to the old vernice liquida. In the last sense we are
probably to understand the words of Vasari in speaking8
of preparing walls for painting in oil: "Make in a
pipkin a mixture of pece Greca, mastic, and vernice
grossa, and when this is boiled apply it with a large
brush."9 It can scarcely be supposed that the resins
1 P. 635. 2 See Armenini, de' Veri Precetti, &c. Hackert states
that this varnish had been in use all over the north of Europe for upwards
of 200 years. See Lettera al Cav. Hamilton, sull' Uso della Vernice nella
Pittura. Perugia, 1788. 3 See Mr. Eastlake's ' Materials,' &c, p. 470.
4 Tratado, p. 412, 5 Riposo, p. 175. <= Secreti, parte i. f. 118.
7 De Atramentis, p. 260. 8 Int., cap. xxii.
9 Compare with Vasari's description of Sebastian del Piombo's method
of painting in oil on walls, in the ' Life' of that artist.

chap, vi.] VARNISHES. cclxvii
would spread if they were merely melted without being
diluted with oil. In the ' Elemens de Peinture ' of De
Piles * this passage is translated " de poix Grecque, de
mastic, et de gros vernis ;" but the " gros vernis " of the
French was, I have shown, not identical with the " ver
nice grossa" of the Italians. At a later period, the
term "vernice grosse" was also used to denote the
common oleo-resinous varnishes. Thus linseed-oil boiled
with litharge is said to be of great use in house-painting
and in the composition of "vernici grosse."2
Amber, the principal ingredient in the German var
nish,3 does not appear to be noticed as a varnish by
Italian writers previous to the time of Lionardo da
Vinci,4 who directs that a picture to be painted accord
ing to certain directions given by him, should be var
nished either with nut-oil and amber, or with nut-oil
thickened in the sun.5 As Lionardo was one of the
earliest Italian artists who practised oil-painting upon
its first diffusion in Italy, after its introduction by An-
tonello da Messina, and as the early Flemish painters
are known to have used amber varnish, it may be
supposed that this varnish of nut-oil and amber was one
of the recent improvements introduced from Flanders6
by Antonello da Messina and the German artists,
pupils and followers of Van Eyck,7 who visited Italy
in the latter half of the fifteenth century.
i Jombert's edition, p. 133. Paris, 1766.
2 Diz. delle Droghe di Chevalier e Richard, Traduzione da F. du Pre.
Venezia, 1830. 3 See Mr. Eastlake's ' Materials,' p. 288.
4 Lionardo was a pupil of Andrea Verrocchio, who was probably ac
quainted with the art of oil painting, since Vasari relates that he painted
certain wax effigies of Lorenzo de' Medici with oil colours. See Vasari,
Life of Andrea Verrocchio. 5 Trattato, cap. 352.
6 It must not be forgotten that the Byzantine MS. of Mount Athos con
tains a recipe for varnish made of oil and " santalose," which was probably
" amber ;" amber varnish may therefore have been introduced into Italy by
the Greeks ; but of this there appears no evidence.
7 Roger of Bruges, Memling, and Justus van Ghent. See Mr. East-
lake's ' Materials,' p. 217.

cclxviii INTRODUCTION. [chap. vi.
Notices of amber varnish are not of frequent occur
rence in early Italian works on art. It appears, how
ever, to be mentioned in the Marciana MS. under the
term " carbone," which has undoubtedly been written
instead of "carabe," ' the Arabic and Persian term for
amber. The varnish made according to the recipe in
question would, like all the old varnishes, be very thick,
the proportions being one part of amber to three of oil.
It was, therefore, diluted with naphtha, oil, or spirit of
wine, and was used warm.
The ' Secreti ' of Alessio also describes 2 a varnish
for pictures consisting of three parts of amber varnish
and one of distilled linseed-oil; and another varnish
composed of linseed-oil and amber is quoted by Mr.
Eastiake from the ' Secreti ' of Rossello.3
It appears from the MS. of Volpato4 that amber
varnish was in use in his time, and that it was pur
chased ready-made at the shops, whence it may be
inferred that it was in common use. In the absence,
however, of any precise recipe for this amber varnish
of which Volpato speaks, it cannot be determined
whether amber was actually an ingredient, or whether
the so-called amber varnish was the old " vernice
comune" (linseed-oil and pece Greca) which was
known in Bonanni's time under the name of " amber
varnish."5 The ingredients of this varnish were
linseed-oil one part, and pece Greca three parts",
so that it was, in fact, the vernice comune of the
Italians, before described. It is difficult, indeed with
out additional evidence it is impossible, to assign any
reason for the new name given to this varnish. We
may, perhaps, be allowed to hazard a conjecture, and
1 See p. 628 and note. 2 Part ii. p 57.
3 Published at Venice in 1575, quoted in < Materials,' &c, p. 241.
* P. 743.
s Trattato sopra la Vernice detta comunemente Cinese, p. 42. The
"new" edition was published in 1786.

chap, vi.] VARNISHES. cclxix
to suppose that on account of the high price of amber,
and the great difficulty of making pale amber varnish,
it was customary to purchase it ready made, and that
the dealers substituted for it the before-mentioned thick
composition of linseed-oil and pece Greca.
In the before-mentioned recipes for amber varnish,
the amber was dissolved in oil ; but in those which are
now to be described, a balsam was substituted for the
oil. Such varnishes were perhaps more brilliant, but
less solid than the first, which contained oil. In the
recipe for amber varnish in the Paduan MS.1 the amber
is dissolved in turpentine liquefied over the fire. The
mixture, which when cold is hard, is to be diluted with
spirits of turpentine. Another recipe, which is stated
by Mr. Sheldrake 2 to have been brought from Venice
towards the close ofthe last century, resembled the amber
varnish ofthe Paduan MS.3 except that copal was used in
stead of amber. He tried the recipe and failed, because,
as he afterwards found, the Venice turpentine ofthe shops
was not the natural balsam, but common resin dissolved
in spirit of turpentine. He tried the experiment a
second time with Chio turpentine, and succeeded.
Nearly similar to this is the varnish used by Le
Blond on his prints.4 On this subject Mr. Sheldrake
observes, " Le Blond's prints were long neglected, and
are now forgotten. Whatever difference of opinion
may prevail respecting them, there can be none respect
ing his varnish, as I have seen some of these prints in

1 P. 688. 2 See a paper by Mr. Sheldrake in the Transactions
ofthe Society of Arts, vol. xix. 3 P. 688.
4 The recipe is as follows : — " Take 4 parts of balsam of copavi and one
of copal. Powder and sift the copal, and throw it by degrees into the balsam
of copavi, stirring it well each time it is put in ; I say each time, for the
powdered copal must be put in by degrees, day after day, in at least 15
different parts. The vessel must be close stopped and exposed to the heat
ofthe sun, or a similar degree of heat, during the whole time ; and when
the whole is reduced uniformly to the consistence of honey, add a quantity
of warm turpentine."

cclxx INTRODUCTION. [chap. vi.
perfect condition, notwithstanding they had been
thrown carelessly about for nearly sixty years. Le
Blond was a pupil of Carlo Maratti. He died at a
very advanced age, leaving behind him the character of
an ingenious projector." Mr. Sheldrake's conjecture
respecting the Italian origin of this recipe appears to
be well founded.
It will be observed that these varnishes contained
neither linseed nor nut oil ; and in this respect they
resembled a varnish which a professor of Parma con
siders to have been that of Correggio. The ingredients
of the latter varnish differed slightly from those in the
varnish last described ; they consisted of amber dis
solved in balsam of copaiba (an American production,
probably not in use in the time of Correggio), and
thinned with oil of spike. Sometimes, as in the re
ceipts of the Paduan MS.,1 mastic was substituted for
amber and copal, and sometimes sandarac and incense.
A varnish composed of • these last ingredients with
Venice turpentine is described by D. Alessio2 to dry as
soon as spread.
The transition is easy from these resinous varnishes
containing amber and copal to those composed only of
a balsam liquefied in an essential oil like that stated by
Armenini to have been adopted by Correggio, which
consisted of the olio di abezzo liquefied over the fire,
and thinned with naphtha. Count Carlo Verri attempted
several times unsuccessfully to make this varnish ; at
length, having procured genuine olio di abezzo from the
Valtellina, and the naphtha having been rectified by a
chemist on whom he could depend, he succeeded per
fectly.3 The above varnish of olio di abezzo and naphtha is
i Pp. 671, 673. 2 Secreti, part ii. p. 57.
3 Verri, Saggio Elementare sul Disegno della Figura Umana, p. 138.
The results of Count Carlo Verri's experiments with this varnish are stated
by Mr. Eastiake, 'Materials,' &c, p. 481.

chap. vi.J VARNISHES. cclxxi
mentioned in the Marciana MS.,1 accompanied by a
statement that the olio di abezzo may be diluted with
linseed or nut oil inspissated by exposure to the sun, or
with naphtha. Count Carlo Verri's failure in making
this varnish was probably not the only one; for this MS.
requires that the olio di abezzo should be genuine ; and
in order to test its purity, directs that olio di abezzo and
the oil with which it is tempered should be wanned, and
then spread over the work : if the olio di abezzo was not
genuine, it would be long in drying, which was a proof that
it had been mixed with turpentine ; but if it dried
quickly and perfectly, this was a proof of its purity.
From this it appears that pure olio di abezzo was a good
drier. The above instances are sufficient to show the
importance of procuring the best materials for varnishes.
In addition to the varnishes above mentioned, those
composed of a resin or balsam dissolved in an essential
oil appear to have been used on pictures. Of these
the favourite varnish, if we may judge by the number of
the recipes, was benzoin dissolved in spirits of wine :
this is mentioned not only in the Marciana MS.2 but in
the Paduan MS.3 and by D. Alessio, Armenini, Bisagno,
Pacheco, and Palomino.
On referring to the recipes for making the varnishes
before mentioned, it will be observed that they were so
thick as to be sometimes solid on cooling. They were
therefore sometimes diluted, while warm, with a proper
quantity of purified linseed or nut oil, spirit of turpen
tine, naphtha, or oil of spike ; and, when thick, they were
applied on the picture previously warmed in the sun,
with the hand or with a sponge. It may be remarked
that the varnishes to be mixed with colours were not
required to be thin, because a small quantity only was
to be mixed with the colours already ground with oil.
With regard to the high colour of oleo-resinous var-
i P. 635. 2 P. 629. 3 P. 699.

cclxxii INTRODUCTION. [chap. vi.
nishes, it may be observed that it is the custom in Ger
many to keep these varnishes in a sunny window;
amber varnish, thus exposed to the light, will, it is said,
in three years become sufficiently pale for general use.
The use of amber varnish as a vehicle for painting
was revived and recommended as long ago as 1801 by
Mr. Sheldrake in a paper published in the 19th volume
of the Transactions of the Society of Arts. In these
papers Mr. Sheldrake endeavours to prove that this
varnish was used by the Italian painters ; and as his
opinion has been in a great measure confirmed by docu
mentary evidence, his papers acquire additional interest
from his having recorded the experiments made by
himself in painting with this varnish.
The result of Mr. Sheldrake's experiments is thus
stated : —
" I dissolved it [amber] in each of the painter's oils,
by Dr. Lewis's process, without injuring its colour ; and
this solution was made in the common way. It was
much darker coloured in itself, but produced scarcely
any difference in effect when mixed with colour. By
experiments with each of these solutions I ascertained
the following facts, viz. : —
" Every colour, and all the tints compounded from
it, were more brilliant than corresponding tints and
colours mixed with the best drying oils to be procured
from the shops.
" Colours mixed with amber, after having been shut
up in a drawer for several years, lost nothing of their
original brilliancy. The same colours tempered with
oils, and excluded from the air, were so much altered
that they could scarcely be recognised.
" Colours tempered with amber were laid on plates
of metal, and exposed (both in the air and close boxes)
for a long time to different degrees of heat, from that
of the sun in summer to the strong heat of a stove,
without being injured. It is needless to observe that

chap, vi.] ' VARNISHES. cclxxiii
oil-colours cannot undergo the same trials without being
destroyed. " These colours, when perfectly dried in any way,
were not acted upon by spirit of wine and spirit of
turpentine united. They were washed with spirit of
sal ammoniac and solutions of potash for a longer time
than would destroy common oil-colours without being
injured. " They dry as well in damp as in dry weather, and
without any skin upon the surface. They are not
liable to crack, and are of a flinty hardness ; whence it
appears that this vehicle possesses every desirable pro
perty, and it is presumed may be a discovery of some
importance to artists.
" Having succeeded thus far with amber, I tried the
same experiments upon solutions of gum copal, which
is nearly as hard and insoluble as amber itself. The
result of these was the same as the former, except that
with copal the colours were something brighter than
with amber. As it is extremely troublesome to dis
solve the copal and amber, I tried those solutions of
them in oil which are sold in the shops. When good I
found them to answer as well as my own. This is a
great convenience, as many might be deterred by the
difficulty of preparing this vehicle, who may willingly
use it, as it is thus to be procured without that trouble."
Mr. Sheldrake also observes : —
" If my experiments have not misled me, I am entitled
to draw the following conclusions from them : — wherever
a picture was found possessing evidently superior
brilliancy of colour, independent of what is produced
by the painter's skill in colouring, that brilliancy is
derived from the admixture of some resinous substance
in the vehicle. If it does not yield on the application of
spirit of turpentine and spirit of wine, separately or
together, or fo such alkalies as are known to dissolve
oils in the same time, it is to be presumed that vehicle
vol. i. s

cclxxiv INTRODUCTION. [chap. vi.
contains amber or copal, because they are the only sub
stances-known to resist, those menstrua.
" I have been told, and some experiments of my own
prove the information to be true, that the Venetian
pictures, considered with respect to vehicle, are of two
kinds: for some are extremely hard, and not at all
affected by any of the above menstrua ;* others are
similar in colour, but so tender that it is scarcely pos
sible to clean them without injury, and in that respect
are little superior to turpentine colours. The first,
in consequence of the data which I have laid down,
incur the suspicion of being painted with amber or
copal." The correctness of Mr. Sheldrake's observations will
be acknowledged on comparing them with Mr. Eastlake's
remarks2, on the advantages of amber varnish as a ve
hicle for painting. The firmest and most durable var
nishes were undoubtedly those composed of amber and
oil ;3 the next were those composed of other resins, such
as sandarac, mastic, and pece Greca, with oil, or of am
ber or copal dissolved in a balsam ; and the last class,
which consisted only of resins dissolved in essential oils,
was decidedly the least durable.

1 "By an attentive examination of pictures which belong to the first
epoch of painting in oil, one may be convinced that some of the Italians
have employed oil varnishes which are harder than those now used by the
Flemings, since they offer greater resistance to solvents." — Merimee, &c,
p. 30. 2 Materials, &c, pp. 290, 302, 303, 304 n., 306, 316, 486.
3 See Mr. Wilson Neil on the Manufacture of Varnishes, Trans. Soc.
Arts, p. 69. Dreme, Der Virniss-u. Kittmacher, &c. Marcucci, Saggio,
&c, p. 163. Merimee, p. 48.
Dr. Lewis, after describing the experiment of Hoffmann mentioned by
Mr. Eastiake,* shows that perfect solutions of amber in drying and other
oils may be obtained in the following manner : — " In Dr. Stockar's very
curious Specimen Inaugurate de Succino, printed at Leyden in 1760,
there are sundry more important experiments on the subject, made by
himself conjointly with my worthy correspondent Mr. Ziegler, of Win-
terthur. They found that by continuing a simmering heat twelve hours,
* Materials, p. 318.

chap, vi.] USE OF VARNISH IN PAINTING. Cclxxv
On the use of Varnish with Colours in Painting.
It has been mentioned that in glazing, varnish was
generally mixed with the colours. The practice, how
ever, does not appear to have been universal, and the
same artist is reputed to have employed different ma
terials upon different pictures. Sometimes it is said
that oil only was used to paint with, and sometimes the

and confining the vapour as much as stone- ware vessels would bear with
out bursting (the danger of which was avoided by making a small notch
in the cork stoppers), powdered amber dissolved perfectly in expressed
oils, in turpentine, and in balsam of copaiba. A strong copper vessel, with
a cover screwed on it, seemed most eligible ; and for the greater security a
valve may be made in the cover, kept down by a spring that shall give way
before the confined vapour is of sufficient force to be in any danger of burst
ing the vessel. Though such a heat as converts part of the oil into strong
elastic vapours, and the forcible compressure ofthe vapour, are expedient for
hastening the dissolution, they do not appear to be essentially necessary ;
for, by digestion for a week in close stopped glass vessels, in which the com
pressure could not be very great, solutions equally perfect were obtained.
" The solution in rape-seed oil, and in oil of almonds, was of a fine
yellowish colour ; in linseed oil, gold coloured ; in oil of poppy-seeds, yel
lowish red ; in oil of olive, of a beautiful red ; in oil of nuts, deeper co
loured; and in oil of bays, of a purplish red. It is observable that this
last oil, which of itself, in the greatest common heat of the atmosphere,
proves a thick butyraceous consistence, continued fluid when the amber
was dissolved in it. The solutions made with turpentine and with balsam
of copaiba were of a deep red colour, and on cooling hardened into a.
brittle mass of the same colour. All the solutions mingle perfectly with
spirit of turpentine. Those made with the oils of linseed, bays, poppy-
seeds, and nuts, and with the balsam of copaiba and turpentine, being
diluted with four times their quantity of spirit of turpentine, formed hard,
tenacious, glossy varnishes, which dried sufficiently quick, and appeared
greatly preferable to those made in the common manner from melted amber.
" My worthy friend Mr. Ziegler, in an elegant German translation with
which he had honoured this work, described a varnish, with the method of
using it, which appeared from his experiments to be the best. Fine trans
parent amber reduced to powder is boiled in a brass vessel having a valve
in its cover, with as much drying oil as will just cover it ; generally in 5
or 6 hours the amber is perfectly dissolved. Dilute the solution with four
or five times its quantity of oil of turpentine, and let it stand some days,
that all the impurities may settle to the bottom." — Commercium Philoso-
phico-Technicum, or the Philosophical Commerce of Arts, by W. Lewis,
London, 1763, 4to., p. 366, &c. *2

cclxxvi INTRODUCTION. [chap. vi.
colours are stated to have been mixed with varnish.
The following instances and observations, referring
chiefly to the Italian schools, will show that varnish
was frequently used, not only in glazing, but in the
priming, and with the shadow colours.
Armenini and Bisagno recommend the addition of
common varnish to the priming, to those colours which
dried with difficulty, and to the glazing colours. Bal
dinucci states * that boiled oil (olio cotto) was sometimes
used in the darkest parts instead of varnish, and in
other parts where the colours had sunk in. From this
it appears that it was usual to mix varnish with the
dark shades.
As an additional proof of the use of varnish in the
dark parts of the picture, may be quoted the following
description given by Vasari2 of the method adopted
by Giovan Francesco Caroti : — " He was of opinion,
and in this he was not far from the truth, that varnishing
was injurious to pictures, and that it caused them to
appear old sooner than they would do otherwise ; and
for this reason, he used varnish and certain purified
oils in the shades when painting." This is certainly an
admission that varnish was necessary either in the pic
ture or on the surface, and that the former was, by
Caroti at least, considered preferable.
De Piles mentions that in painting on walls, varnish
was mixed with the colours to prevent the necessity of
varnishing afterwards ;3 and in the Italian edition of
this work4 it is stated that painting on wood was
executed in the same manner as on walls ; whence it
may be inferred varnish was mixed with the colours.
Canepario, the Venetian physician, says,5 " others are
accustomed to mix colours with liquid varnish and

1 Voc. Dis., tit. Olio Cotto. 2 Vita di Fra Giocondo ed altri.
3 These instructions are as old as Vasari. See Int., cap. xix.
4 Published at Turin in 1769. s j)e Atramentis, p. 304.

chap, vi.] USE OF VARNISH IN PAINTING. cclxxvii
linseed or nut oil, instead of white of egg and gum-
water ; for a liquid and oily varnish binds the colours
better together, &c." The Marciana MS.1 describes
" an excellent clear and drying varnish proper for colours,
both in oil-painting and in other kinds of painting."
These direct proofs of the mixture of colours with
varnish are from the works of authors describing the
processes of their contemporaries.2 As an indirect
proof, but not the less valuable on that account, is the
following anecdote related by Luigi Crespi 3 of his
father Giuseppe Maria Crespi, called " Lo Spagnuolo."
" One day Cardinal Lambertini was in our house sitting
for his portrait, which my father was painting, when one
of my brothers entered the room, bringing a letter,
just arrived by post, from another brother who was at
Modena on businesSa The Cardinal took the, letter,
and, on opening it, said to my father, ' Go on painting,
and I will read it.' Having opened it, he began to
read quickly, inventing an imaginary letter, in which
the absent son, with the greatest expressions of shame
and humiliation, prostrated himself at the feet of his
father, begging his pardon, and saying that he had
found it impossible to disengage himself from a stringent
promise of marrying a certain Signora Apollonia,
whence  but he had hardly proceeded thus far
when my father leaped on to his feet, knocking over
palette, pencils, and chair, and upsetting oil, varnish,
and everything else which was on the little bench, and
uttering all kinds of exclamations. The Cardinal jumped
up at the same time to quiet and pacify him, telling him
as well as he could for laughing, that it was all nonsense,
and entirely an invention of his own. Meanwhile my
father was running round the room in despair, the Car
dinal following him ; and thus pleasantly ended the
1 P. 633. 2 For additional proof see the work of Gerard Lairesse,
cap. v. 3 Lives of the Bolognese Painters, p. 220.

cclxxviii .introduction: [chap- vi-
morning's work. After this time, whenever his Eminence .
came to see my father, before getting out of the car
riage, he would whisper, ' that he had no doubt Signora
Apollonia was at home with him.' "
It is apparent from this passage, that Lo Spagnuolo
was accustomed to use varnish in painting, or the
varnish would not have been placed with the oil on the
low bench by his side while painting a portrait, for
which the Cardinal was actually then sitting ; it may
also be inferred that varnish was still used in painting
by Luigi Crespi, his son, who related the anecdote.
The period when this scene took place was between
1717 and 1732. Lo Spagnuolo studied first under
Angelo Michele Toni, afterwards under Domenico
Maria Canuti (who was a pupil of Guido), and lastly
under Carlo Cignani ; and it is fair to presume that he
employed their technical processes. The use made by Sir
Peter Lely of varnish mixed with colour, when painting
the portrait of Tillotson,1 may be considered another
incidental proof of the use of varnish with colours.
To these proofs from contemporary writers may be
added the evidence of those who have cleaned and
experimented on old pictures. Among the earliest
may be reckoned the declaration of Requeno 2 that
some of the pictures of Guercino were painted with
oil mixed with pece Greca (the vernice comune of
the sixteenth century), others with gums and resins,
and some with oil only ; and the letter written by
Hackert,3 advocating the use of varnishes in painting.
The reply to this letter 4 by a gentleman who at that
period possessed the finest collection of Flemish pic
tures in Rome is equally conclusive. This gentleman
1 Walpole's Anecdotes, vol. iii. p. 129.
2 Saggi sul Ristabilimento, &c, vol. i. p. 169> n.
3 Published at Perugia, 1788.
4 Inserted in the Giornale di Roma, 2Qth December, 1788.

chap, vi.] USE OF. VARNISH IN PAINTING. cclxxix
states- that varnish was always used by those Italian
schools most distinguished for colouring, and that the
works of Domenichino, who used varnish, were in
better preservation than those of other pupils of the
Carracci. We may also mention the certificate, dated
1754, by Carlo Cesare Giovannini of Bologna,1 re
specting the state of preservation of the celebrated pic
ture by Raphael called the Madonna di S. Sisto, which
he says was until that period intact, and had never been
touched with varnishes, or otherwise, since the day
when it had been placed over the altar of S. Sisto,
perhaps by Raphael himself, and on which the varnish
used in retouching by Raphael is now visible on elose
examination in some rancid-looking spots on the body
of the infant Jesus, where the varnish had accidentally
been left rather thick by the pencil of the master. To
these instances may be added the evidence of Mar
cucci,2 of Palmaroli,3 of Requeno,4 of Merimee,5 of
Sampieri,6 of the professor mentioned by Lanzi, who
restored a picture by Correggio, and of the other pro
fessors now living who have been already mentioned in
this work. While, however, these authorities appear to
leave no doubt as to the adoption by the Italians, during
the best period of the art, of varnish with colours on
certain parts of the picture, the assertion of Boschini,7
that in painting flesh the Venetians abhorred like the
plague all lustrous or shining surfaces, must not be

1 Gualandi, Memorie, ser. i. p. 29. This picture was purchased, with
62 other celebrated paintings, by Augustus III., King of Poland and
Elector of Saxony, for 40,000 Roman scudi, and was taken to Dresden by
Giovannini. It was restored by Sig. P. Palmaroli, the author of the Notes
to Marcucci's Observations on the Practice of Painting in Oil of the Floren
tine, Venetian, and Flemish Schools of Painting in their best time.
2 Saggio, &c, p. 222, &c. 3 Notes to Marcucci, Saggio, &c.
4 Saggio sul Ristabilimento dell' Antico Arte de' Greci e Romani Pit-
tori, vol. i. p. 169, n. 5 De la Peinture il l'Huile, p. xvii. n. xx.
6 See Lanzi, Storia Pittorica, ed. of Pisa, 1823, note 15 by Boni.
7 Ricche Minere.

cclxxx INTRODUCTION. [chap. vi.
overlooked. This assertion, as far as regards the solid
painting, is generally supported by the direction in the
Marciana MS.,1 to grind and temper the colours with
oil as stiff as possible, and if they were too stiff to
dilute them by dipping the brush in oil, as well as by
the evidence of the professors of the art now living at
Venice. The latter appear to consider that oil only
was used in the solid painting, and that the varnish was
reserved for the glazing and finishing colours, and es
pecially for such as would be injured by admixture
with oil, such as red lead, cenere azzurre, and others.
The same may also be observed with regard to the
later Bolognese school ; and this appears to have been
the opinion of Lanzi, who, in describing the manner of
Lo Spagnuolo, says that "he used gums in painting
(per colorire) in the same way as others used them in
glazing." The Parmasan school are also stated to have
painted in the same manner — namely, the solid colours
with oil, and the glazing colours with varnish.
The present state of a picture by Tintoretto in the
Casa Barbarigo at Venice is instructive as to the
practice of this artist. The surface of the picture
alluded to is generally dull, as if the varnish had been
removed or worn off, with the exception of certain dark
parts, and of the foliage, which are glossy, as if these
colours had been mixed with varnish.
Of Varnishing Pictures.
Pictures painted in the Flemish manner, or finished
with colours mixed with varnish, did not require the
superposition of varnish when complete, and we find
that even in the time of Lebrun and Lana the cus
tom of varnishing finished pictures was not universal.
The latter remarks (p. 165), " when the painting is
finished, some painters are accustomed to varnish it, in
i P. 627.

chap, vi.] PREPARATION OF GROUNDS. cclxxxi
order that the work may appear more smooth and
brilliant." And Lebrun,1 after directing white of egg
to be spread over the picture to preserve it from dust
and fly-marks, adds, " when necessary, the picture may
be cleaned by passing a wet cloth over it, which easily
removes the white of egg, with the dust attached to it.2
This," he adds, " could not be done with varnish."
These passages, therefore, may be considered evidence
of the truth of Vasari's statement that pictures painted
according to the process invented by Van Eyck re
quired no varnish. It may also be collected from an
expression of Vasari's, in his account of Giovan Fran
cesco Caroti,3 that the biographer disapproved of
varnishing pictures ; he says, " Caroti was of opinion,
and in this he was not far from the truth, that var
nishing pictures spoiled them, and made them appear
old sooner than they otherwise would do."
The fact that pictures were generally varnished is,
however, too well authenticated to require any proof.
On the Preparation of the Grounds.
There is nothing, perhaps, on which the durability of
a picture so much depends as on the goodness of the
ground ; and at the same time there is, perhaps, no part
of a picture on which the opinions of artists have been
so much divided as on the manner of preparing the
grounds ; some painters preferring white grounds, others
dark grounds ; some electing to paint on absorbent
grounds, others on non-absorbent grounds ; while others
reject all preparations but a coat or two of size to fill up
the pores of the wood, or the holes of the canvass.
The subject of the preparation of panels and canvass
forms an important part of most of the old treatises.
The earliest paintings in oil were generally executed
1 P. 816. 2 Seethe disadvantages of white of egg as a varnish
described in a letter by Hackert, 1788. 3 Vita di Fra Giocondo ed altri.

cclxxxii INTRODUCTION. [chap, vl
on panels. The panels were composed of various pieces
of wood cemented together with cheese glue, and this
glue caused them to adhere so firmly together, that
such panels were considered stronger than those which
consisted of one piece of wood only. Strips of linen
were usually glued over the joinings of the panels, and
in some cases the panel was entirely covered with linen.
Animal glue was used for this purpose.
Several coats of warm glue, which filled up the pores
of the wood, were then to be applied.
The Italian name for the next process is ingessare.1
This consisted in the application of several thin coats
of size 2 and gesso marcio3 over the surface ofthe panel,
which when dry was carefully smoothed with a knife or
pumice stone.
Upon this preparation the old tempera painters were
accustomed to apply a coat of Armenian bole mixed
with glue, on which they spread leaf gold ; a practice
which, though gradually discontinued, was sometimes
adopted in oil-painting, and was occasionally practised
in Italy.4 In Flanders the practice was continued to a
comparatively late period. The gold ground was con
sidered to give great brilliancy to the colours.5
This practice, however, was not universal ; the
grounds were more frequently left white ; but in this
state they would absorb the oil from the colours applied

1 See Bol. MS., p. 595. Vasari, Int., cap. xx., xxi. Cennini, cap. cxv.
2 The durability ofthe painting depends much on the glue being employed
of the proper strength. It is better that it should be too weak than too
strong. See Volpato MS., p. 728, 732; Bol. MS., p. 595; Palomino,
vol. ii. p. 47.
3 Plaster of Paris stirred with water until it loses its power of setting. —
Third Report of the Commissioners on the Fine Arts, p. 47, n. Cennini,
cap. cxvi. Other writers call the plaster " gesso sottile."
4 Zanetti states (Delle Pittura Veneziana, p. 194) that some pictures by
Paolo Veronese, in the Fondaco de' Tedeschi at Venice, are executed on
gilt leather.
s See Baldinucci, Vite de' Pittori, vol. vi. p. 262.

chap, vi.] PREPARATION OF GROUNDS. cclxxxiii
on them, unless prevented by the application of several
coats of size, varnish, boiled oil,1 or of colour mixed
with oil 2 — practices which prevailed generally in Italy
during the fifteenth, sixteenth, and seventeenth cen
turies, except in Venice, where some artists used ab
sorbent grounds, as will be hereafter noticed; the
painters of the other schools, however, adhered to the
general practice of employing white and non-absorbent
grounds. The use of linen for grounds is considered to have
been an invention of the Germans or Flemings, and by
them introduced into Italy.3 The canvass prepared by
the Flemings was in great repute in the time of Bor
ghini, for the facility with which it could be rolled
without cracking.4
The Venetians are generally considered to have been
the first among the Italians who adopted the custom of
painting on canvass, on which they were able to execute
larger paintings than they could on wood, and which
combined the advantages of lightness, cheapness, and
portability. The practice, however, necessarily caused
an alteration in the nature of the ground, which on
canvass was required to be composed of pliant and
elastic materials, not liable to crack or be detached
when the canvass was rolled up ; and this has always
been found a great difficulty.
Great diversity of opinion exists among writers on

1 Merimee., de la Peinture il l'Huile, p. 15 ; Lanzi, vol. iv. p. 71 n.
2 Vasari, Int. , cap. xxi. Armenini, lib. ii. cap. ix. The colour usually
employed for this purpose was a warm tint inclining to yellow or flesh
colour ; it sometimes consisted of yellow ochre, or minium ground in oil.
Fra Bartolomeo is said to have used sometimes one, and sometimes the
other of these colours. See Marcucci, Saggio, &c, p. 213.
3 Painted cloth as a substitute for window glass, and waters for painting
on linen, silk, or woollen, are mentioned in the Bolognese MS., pp. 491,
493. It is probable that the latter were for artieles of dress or the hanging
of rooms. Riposo, p. 136.

cclxxxiv INTRODUCTION. [chap. vi.
painting as to the most eligible mode of preparing can
vass ; and several processes are recorded as having been
employed by good artists. In general the coats of
gesso were omitted on cloth,1 it being considered that
they were liable to crack when the picture was rolled.
Vasari recommends that three or four coats of size
should be applied, and upon them a mixture composed
of flour paste with nut oil, and a little white lead,
should be spread with a knife and smoothed with the
hand, so as to fill up all the holes ; then, one or two
other coats of weak size should be applied, and lastly
the priming. Armenini also recommends several
coats of glue, one of which was to be applied on the
back of the canvass. The same author states2 that
" painters were in the habit of filling up the holes of
the canvass with a mixture composed of flour paste, and
a third part of white lead, before the glue was applied.
On this preparation the priming, which consisted of
white lead, giallolino, and terra di campane, or of ver
digris, white lead, and umber, was spread. But the
preparation he especially recommended was a light
flesh colour inclining to the colour of flame, by means of
the varnish, of which rather more than the usual quantity
was to be added, because it was observed that " this
added to the effect of the colours, especially the blues
and reds, without causing them to change ; for," con
tinues Armenini, " it is known that oil darkens and
sullies all the colours, which appear soiled and dirty
in proportion to the darkness of the ground beneath
them." He adds that those who were desirous that the
colours should not change from the effects of time,
made the grounds almost entirely of white lead, adding
to them a sixth part of varnish, and a little red, and
when this was dry they polished the surface, upon
1 See Vasari, Int., cap. xxiii. Armenini, lib. ii. cap. viii.
2 Lib. ii. cap. ix.

chap, vi.] PREPARATION OF GROUNDS. cclxxxv
which they either drew or traced the outlines. In a
note to this passage, Signor Palmaroli * observes that
he has sometimes found in grounds ochre or red lead
mixed with the gesso, upon which was laid a coat of
oil diluted with spirit of turpentine, applied with a
piece of cotton or a sponge.
Borghini states2 that the Flemish canvass, which
could be easily rolled and carried everywhere, was
prepared simply with one or two coats of size, and that
it was then coloured, taking care to fill the holes of the
cloth with the colours. He also recommends 3 one coat
of size and two of priming, particularly if the canvass
was to be rolled and removed to another country. He
mentions that canvass was sometimes prepared by ap
plying a coat of gesso and flour, boiled in linseed oil.
Other authors recommend a priming of potter's earth 4
mixed with oil, and applied upon a coat of size or flour
paste.5 Pacheco6 mentions a mixture of flour paste,
salad oil,7 and a little honey ; and when this application
was quite dry, and had been smoothed with pumice-
stone, then a coat or two of priming was applied.
Other painters, he states, first apply size made from the
parings of leather, then a coat of sifted ashes instead
of gesso, which after being smoothed with pumice-
stone was covered with the priming of almagra (a red
earth), ground with linseed oil ; these grounds, Pacheco
says, were used at Madrid. Another kind of priming,
according to the same author, was composed of white
lead, red lead, charcoal black, and linseed oil upon the
gesso ground. Pacheco, however, disapproved of all
these methods : he says, " I know by experience that
1 Notes to Marcucci, Saggio, &c, p. 207. 2 Riposo, p. 136.
3 Ibid., p. 138. 4 This earth was called by the Italians Ter-
retta, Terra di Cave, Terra da Boccale.
5 Volpato, p. 730. * Tratado, p. 383.
7 Palomino (vol. ii. p. 46) says linseed oil should be used, and not
salad oil, which is prejudicial to the picture.

cclxxxvi INTRODUCTION. [chap. vi.
flour-paste, gesso, and ashes are, in time, affected by
damp, and that they decay, together with the canvass ;"
and he finally recommends the application of a few coats
of size, and then two coats of priming, composed ofthe
potter's clay1 used at Seville, ground up with linseed
oil, each coat being polished with pumice-stone when
dry. Upon this was spread a third coat, to which a
little white-lead might be added or not, at pleasure. He
observes, that although weak size made the cloth more
supple, it might be omitted. This, Pacheco states, is
the best kind of priming, and that which he always used
himself; because he had remarked that the six pictures
which he began in 1600, in the cloisters belonging to
the monastery of the Order of Mercy, on this kind of
ground, were in good preservation when he wrote his
work (which was published in 1649), and showed no
symptoms of scaling off.
The directions given by Palomino2 resemble so
nearly those of Pacheco that it is useless to repeat
them. It may, however, be observed that the former
mentions that in Andalusia canvass was frequently
primed with a kind of clay, washed up by the rivers
when they rose ; or, if this could not be had, with
chalk, which was ground up with almagra : adding to
it, when ground, some old colours (those which are
cleaned from the palette and brushes3), if they could be
obtained, or in default of this a dark colour, called
sombre del Viejo, should be added to assist the drying,
the clay and chalk being bad dryers.
The custom of using gesso grounds on cloth was,
however, never entirely abandoned,4 and, among other
artists, they were used by Bassano. With regard to the
i Called at Madrid " Tierra de Esquivias" (Palomino, vol. ii. p. 48), pro
bably similar to the Terra da Boccale ofthe Italians.
2 Vol. ii. p. 46—48. 3 See Volpato, p. 733.
* See Armenini, lib. ii. cap. viii. Borghini, p. 138. Pacheco, p. 383,
384.

chap, ti.] PREPARATION OF GROUNDS. cclxxxvii
pictures of this artist, Volpato mentions having re
marked that those painted on grounds prepared with a
small quantity of gesso were in good condition, while
the colours scaled off those pictures on which much had
been used. The directions given by Volpato l as to the
preparation of grounds need not be alluded to here, as
they are contained in the work.
To return to the gesso grounds : it is asserted that
they were used also by the Bolognese painters, Sam-
acchini, Sabbatini, and Tibaldi, both on canvass and
panels. Correggio also is said to have prepared his
canvass with a very thin coat of size and gesso, over
which he laid a coat of boiled oil.2
As to the colour of the priming, the weight of au
thority is in favour of white grounds.3 Mr. Eastiake
observes (Goethe on Colours, p. 378), " the secret of
Van Eyck and his contemporaries is always assumed to
consist in the vehicle (varnish or oils) he employed ;
but a far more important condition of the splendour of
colour of the works of those masters was the careful
preservation of internal light by painting thinly, but
ultimately with great force, on white grounds." As an
additional argument in favour of white grounds, it may
be stated that modern Italian artists are now so con
vinced of the propriety of employing them, that they
have almost all returned to the use of them. When I
was in Italy, I was informed that the Academy of
Parma had recently decided against the authenticity of
a picture attributed to Correggio, because it was painted
on a red ground ; the Academicians considering that
none but white grounds were in use during the life of

1 Volpato, p. 729 — 733. 2 Lanzi, vol. iv. p. 71 and n.
3 See Lionardo da Vinci, Trattato, cap. c. ; Du Fresnoy, Art of Paint
ing, with the Commentary of De Piles ; Orsini, Vita di Pietro Peru
gino; Algarotti, Lettere sopra la Pittura, vol. viii. p. 50, 51, Venezia, 1792 ;
Delaval on Colours ; and Quatremere de Quincy, Life of Raffaelle.

cclxxxviii INTRODUCTION. [ch^p- vi.
this artist. There is, however, some diversity of opinion
as to the expediency of their being non-absorbent.
Sometimes the grounds were prepared by giving the
canvass a few coats of glue only, without other priming.1
The paintings by Callot, at Venice, are prepared in this
way ; and a picture by Lionardo da Vinci, or one of
his scholars, mentioned by Amoretti, and in the pos
session of Signor Mussi, is executed on canvass pre
pared with size only.2 Pictures so prepared stand well.
Pozzo, the Jesuit, also painted on the same grounds,
but his pictures are much changed, probably from other
causes ; for Felibien remarks 3 that if the canvass were
not primed at all, but painted on at once, the colours
would bear out better and remain more brilliant.
Various grounds were in use in the Venetian school.
A Venetian professor communicated, among other par
ticulars, the following information as the result of his
experiments on the grounds of the old Venetian pic
tures : — " The grounds were made of gesso and very
weak size ; sometimes a little black4 was added by Gian
Bellino and others. Over this were laid one or two
coats of glue to prevent the ground being too absorbent ;
the glue was made of the parings of leather." This
information was confirmed by other professors of Venice
and Verona.
With respect to the grounds used by Titian, I was
informed that this great artist employed a ground of
" gesso marcio,"5 taking especial care not to use too
much glue, and that this slightly absorbent ground was
useful in getting rid of some of the oil. It is certain,
1 Palomino, vol. ii. p. 45.
2 Amoretti, Memorie Storiche di Lionardo da Vinci, p. 165.
3 Principes, &c., p. 297.
4 These grey grounds were also used in the Flemish school. The series
of pictures by Rubens of the life of Mary de' Medicis are painted on a grey
preparation. "> Compare Merimee, de la Peinture k l'Huile, p. 241 ; De Piles, EltS-
mens de Peinture, p. 130.

chap, vi.] PREPARATION OF GROUNDS. Cclxxxix
however, that Titian sometimes employed a non-
absorbent ground, since a restorer of pictures at Verona
stated that he had found on the gesso-ground a coat
of strong glue, made of pig's skin (much used in the
Venetian territories), which was very hard and shining,
and on which the picture was painted. This was pro
bably the case with Titian's picture of S. Pietro Martire,
which, when at Paris, was transferred from panel to
canvass. The author of the ' Histoire de la Peinture
en Italie,' * who was present at the operation, remarks,
" I observed that the ground and the painting were not
consolidated together, but were laid, one upon the
other."
. Titian is said sometimes to have used a red ground
made of terra rossa with size, and Merimee mentions
that, on analysing the ground of a picture by Titian, he
found flour-paste and gesso, but no glue.2
Tintoretto is stated to have painted his celebrated
Crucifixion in the Scuola of S. Rocco on a simple pre
paration of flour-paste, and this picture is in excellent
preservation. Many painters, and especially Volpato,
Pacheco, and Palomino, object to the flour paste. The
reason assigned by Volpato is, that if the paste is too
stiff, it causes the colour to scale off; and if too weak,
the picture is liable to decay from damp. He states,
also, that it was frequently used by those who primed
bad canvass, which would decay in a few years,
because it was useful in filling up the threads of the
canvass. Paul Veronese generally painted on a twilled canvass,
' M. B. A. A., Paris, 1817.
2 Merime'e, de la Peinture ii l'Huile, p. 241. On this subject Boschini
(La Carta del Navegar, &c. p. 339) says —
" La prontezza xe meterse davanti
Una gran tela, e de farina propria
Tamisar, e impastar figure in copia,
E senza natural, far casi tanti."
VOL. 1. t

ccxc

INTRODUCTION. tCHAP- vi.

called in Venice " terlise," which he prepared with a
very thin coat of glue and gesso ; so thin as to show the
texture of the cloth through the paint. This coat,
being absorbent,1 imbibed the superfluous oil which
darkened the threads of the canvass.
Sig. Pietro Edwards, whose opportunities of ex
amining pictures of the Venetian school were perhaps
greater than ever fell to the lot of any other person, has
recorded his opinion that these grounds were best
adapted to ensure the durability of paintings ; and in
support of this opinion he instances the three pictures
by Paolo Veronese, representing the legend of Sta.
Cristina, which were executed, with very few re-
paintings, either on a ground of gesso not hardened
by strong size, or on canvass, with a thin coating of
gesso, the colours of which were, he says, so fresh that
they appeared to have been painted but two days instead
of two hundred years.2
The same favourable opinion of white tempera
grounds is expressed by De Piles ;3 but he adds that
they have the disadvantage of being liable to crack when
rolled up. This was the case with the celebrated Nozze
di Cana by Paolo Veronese, which, on its arrival at
Paris, was found to be in such a state as to render it
necessary to line it with great care in order to prevent
its scaling entirely from the canvass. This operation,
with some necessary reparations, was performed at the
Louvre with all requisite care and attention. But when,
in 1815, the picture was about to be restored to Venice,
according to the treaty, it was perceived that the colours
crumbled off and fell into dust at the slightest movement.
To continue the operation, therefore, was to expose one
of the finest works of the Venetian school to certain
destruction ; and the committee decided that the picture
i See the Dissertation of Sig. Pietro Edwards, p. 887, 888.
2 See p. 888. 3 Elemens, p. 131.

chap, vi.] PREPARATION OF GROUNDS. ccxci
of Paolo should remain at Paris, and that a painting of
Lebrun's should be sent to Venice in its stead.1
Absorbent grounds of size and gesso are considered
to have been employed by the Parmasan school.
Various contrivances were resorted to in order to pre
vent the cracking of pictures when the canvass was rolled.
Some artists added honey and oil to the preparation of
size and gesso ;s but the Venetian artists are stated tradi
tionally to have used milk for this purpose. All writers
speak of the necessity of the grounds on canvass being
thin, as a means of preventing their cracking.
With regard to the use of white lead in the priming,
the general opinion seems to be that it is injurious. It
•has been stated that any picture in which white lead
was used in the grounds would infallibly crack in less
than fifty years ; and that pictures painted on a ground
of white lead and oil would moreover turn brown. The
pictures of Longhi (born in 1702, and living in 1762)
are in good preservation, with the exception of the
grounds, which are full of large cracks, attributed by
the Italian restorers to the use of white lead in the
grounds. Neither Palomino, Pacheco, Borghini, Vol
pato, nor Lebrun recommend white lead in the prepa
ration of the grounds. Vasari and Armenini and some
few modern painters, on the contrary, are in favour of it.
1 This account was given by the French painter M. Camille Rogier to
Sig. Cigogna, who inserted it in his ' Iscrizioni Veneziane,' vol. iv. p. 328.
It may not be uninteresting to the reader to know that the sum received
by Paolo for painting this picture was 324 ducats, and not 90, as asserted by
Algarotti. The original contract, with the signature of Paolo, is preserved
amongthe papers belonging to the Monastery of S.Giorgio Maggiore at Venice.
It has been copied and published by Sig. E. A. Cigogna in the 4th volume
of the ' Iscrizioni Veneziane.' It may also be interesting to know that the
date of the contract was the 6th of June, 1562 ; and the day on which Paolo
gave his receipt for the money, on the completion of the picture, was the 6th
of October, 1563 : so that the picture was begun and finished in 16 months.
2 Pacheco, p. 383 ; Palomino, vol. ii. p. 47 ; and see Ballard's Traite de
Mignature, p. 220. Salmon's Polygraphices, p. 80. Marcucci, Saggio, &c,
p. 205, n.
t2

ccxcii INTRODUCTION. [chap. vr.
The Carracci are said to have used white lead in their
grounds. " The only priming used by Ludovico was a
slight coat of white lead and ochre, with sufficient oil
to ensure a smooth surface, and he made use of this
priming as a shadow colour. Annibale, his cousin,
sometimes used a mixture of ' creta ' and white lead
for his grounds. Guercino instead of ' creta ' em
ployed marble dust ; and with this his pictures in his
first manner are thinly primed ; in the second manner
the priming is thicker."
Some artists, and especially Guido, painted occa
sionally on silk, which was thought to be more durable
than linen cloth. It was frequently prepared for paint
ing by applying a coat of size, to which a little honey
was added to prevent its cracking, and on this the
priming was laid.1
Pictures were frequently painted on copper, and in
this case the only preparation necessary was a coat of
glue, which prevented the oil from acting on the colours.
The introduction of dark grounds into Bologna is
attributed to the Carracci. They were introduced into
Venice by Palma Giovane, who has been called the last
of the good Venetian painters, and the first of the bad.
On a careful examination of the different authorities,
it appears that pictures painted on a ground of gesso are
the most durable, but that when this material is used on
canvass the greatest care is necessary to prevent its
cracking. It also appears that when the surface of the
gesso ground has been polished quite smooth with
pumice-stone, one or two coats of glue made from pig's
skin, and perhaps a coat of varnish or oil, if the picture
is to be painted in the Flemish manner, should be
applied to prevent absorption. But if the Venetian
manner of painting is pursued, the thin distemper ground
used by Paolo Veronese is considered best adapted to
1 Ballard's Traite de Mignature, p. 229.

chap, vi.] METHODS OF PAINTING. ccxcm
promote the durability of the picture. The great re
quisites in grounds for canvass are thinness, whiteness,
and flexibility, and a perfectly smooth surface.

Methods of Painting.
In examining the technical processes of oil-painting
in the North of Italy, it will be seen that they arrange
themselves under two great divisions : in the first, which
may be called the Flemish process, the picture was
begun in chiaroscuro, and finished with the local colours ;
in the second, or Italian process, which was introduced
in the beginning of the sixteenth century, the picture
was commenced with the local colours painted solidly
with oil, white being introduced into the cool grey or
bluish shadows, and was finished with warm glazings.
The former system was generally adopted in Lombardy
and Bologna ; the latter in Venice, where it originated :
but this arrangement was not without exceptions, and in
later times the Venetian method was preferred to the
Flemish, which has almost fallen into disuse and ob
livion in Italy. Both methods, however, underwent
various modifications according to the genius or the
caprice of the different professors of painting, and so
great was the diversity in the technical habits of the
Italian painters, that the pictures of the same artist are
frequently found to have been painted in various man
ners and with different materials. Thus Titian is said
to have changed his method several times, and Requeno
relates1 that he has seen pictures by Guercino in some
of which oil only had been used, in others oil and pece
Greca, and in others resins and gums. The funda
mental principle in all may, however, be traced to one
or other of the above-mentioned sources.
In the early period of painting in oil the same pro-
1 Saggi sul Ristabilimento, &c, vol. i. p. 169, n.

CCXciv INTRODUCTION. [chap, vl
cess of painting was observed throughout Italy, as well
as in Flanders and Germany. The process may be
thus briefly described : —
The ground being properly prepared, the next process
was to draw the subject of the picture. This was fre
quently done with black chalk or black-lead pencil, but
in order to insure greater correctness the subject was
frequently traced in the usual way from a drawing on
paper. Baroccio always adopted the latter method,1 and
the outlines deeply indented, as if with a style, may be
seen in a large unfinished picture by him in the library
of the Archiginnasio at Bologna. The outline was then
secured by marking over it with a brown colour (as in
the unfinished picture by Lionardo da Vinci in the gal
lery of Brera at Milan), or with a tint composed of car
mine and dark ochre.2
When describing the different kinds of grounds used
in painting, I have mentioned that a coat of size, of
varnish, or of boiled oil was applied upon the gesso
ground to render it non-absorbent ;3 but Mr. Eastiake
has proved 4 that the outline was occasionally, at least,
drawn before this last application, and the coating of
size or the warm transparent oil priming was spread
over the outline. It is probable that this plan was
adopted in the Venetian school, and it may be observed
that sketches by Tintoretto are still in existence which
were begun in chiaroscuro with water colours, and then
oiled, the local colours being afterwards painted in
their places with oil. To this instance may be added
the passage quoted by Walpole5 from the Pocket-book
of Mr. Beale, in which it is mentioned that Lely " ap-
' See Bellori, Vite de' Pittori, p. 117. Lanzi, vol. ii. p. 124.
2 Palomino, vol. ii. p. 57, 59.
3 The present state of many of the pictures of Luini and other artists
proves beyond a doubt that the ground on which they were painted was non-
absorbent. The colours having in some parts scaled off, leave visible the
white ground unstained with oil, and of dazzling whiteness.
4 ' Materials,' &c, p. 384. 5 Anecdotes, vol. iii. p. 129.

chap, vi.] METHODS OF PAINTING. CCXCV
prehending the colour of the cloth on which he painted
was too light, before he began to lay on the flesh colour,
he glazed the whole place where the face and haire were
drawn in a colour over thin, with Cullen's earth, and a
little bone black (as he told us) made very thin with
varnish." The practice does not, however, appear to
have been universal in Italy, especially when the priming
was opaque or nearly so, since Vasari, Borghini,
Armenini, and his copyist Bisagno direct the design
to be traced or drawn upon the priming. Perhaps
it may not be far from the truth to suppose that
when the priming was transparent it was spread over
the outline ; but when it was opaque the outline was
.drawn on it.
The subject having been outlined with ink, or black
and lake, or brown, the picture was begun in chiaro
scuro by washing in the shadows lightly with the same
colour, like a drawing in Indian ink, and it was suffered
to dry. This practice is alluded to incidentally by
writers on painting, and especially by Paolo Pino,1
where he objects to painters designing their pictures with
such extreme diligence, composing the whole in chiaro
scuro according to the custom of Gian Bellino, for this,
he observes, was labour thrown away, as the whole
had afterwards to be covered with colours, &c. Vasari
mentions 2 that Fra Bartolomeo di S. Marco was partial
to this method of painting, and Malvasia,3 speaking of
Tiarini, relates that he commenced his pictures in chiaro
scuro with white lead and bone black, and then covered
them with colours and finished with glazings. The
custom is also mentioned by Pacheco,4 who did not
approve of it.
When the chiaroscuro had been painted with black,
or when the white ground had been covered with a grey
1 Dialogo, f. 16. 2 Vita di Fra BartoU...^S. Marco.
3 Felsina Pittrice, vol. ii. p. 206. 4 Tratado, p. 386.

ccxcvi INTRODUCTION. [chap. vi.
preparation, as in some of the pictures of Gian Bellino
and Rubens, the artist proceeded to paint the flesh tints.1
But where the chiaroscuro was of a rich brown, it was
necessary to interpose grey tints between the shades and
the flesh tints. The latter, which were made more rosy
than nature, were then laid on very thinly, beginning
with the lights and proceeding gradually with deeper
and redder tints into the shades,2 laying each tint in its
place and not tormenting it with the brush.
The next tints, which were also very thin, had more
yellow in them, and the last coat of colours was also
thin, and contained more white, and with this the flesh
was toned to match the complexion. The number of
coats of colour is not to be understood as limited to
three.3 Titian is said to have repeated his colours
nine or ten times ; the same has been said of Correggio ;
and it is mentioned on the authority of Mr. Beale,4
that Lely said he believed Vandyck had painted over a
portrait fourteen times. This method of painting keeps
the flesh light and clear, because it permits the white
grounds to appear through it.5 Different colours were
used for the shadows of flesh : some artists employed a
mixed tint of black, lake, and some transparent yellow,
or yellow varnish. Armenini says that asphaltum,
mummy, and the smoke of pece Greca were commonly
used for this purpose. Lomazzo names 6 terra di cam-
1 Even where the chiaroscuro has been dark brown, the scumbling of the
thin flesh tints over it has produced the effect of grey. — See Mr. Sheldrake's
Paper, in the Transactions of the Soc. of Arts, vol. xvi. For the effect of
darkness seen through a semi-transparent medium, see Goethe on Colours,
by Mr. Eastiake, Nos. 151, 160.
2 See Lomazzo, Trattato, lib. vi. cap. vi.
3 Vasari mentions incidentally that Pietro Perugino had laid three coats
of colour on some pictures in the Church of the Servi at Florence. See
Life of Pietro Perugino.
4 See Extracts from Mr. Beale's Pocket-books, quoted by Walpole,
Anecdotes, vol. iii. p. 125.
5 As to the lights in early oil paintings being semi-opaque, see Mr. East-
lake's ' Materials,' &c, p. 408. « Trattato, p. 191.

chap, vi.] METHODS OF PAINTING. ccxcvil
pana, umber (which he calls also falzalo), burnt terra.
verde, asphaltum, and mummy. The Paduan MS.1
mentions umber, burnt terra verde, and asphaltum ; and
in another place,2 lake, minium, and umber. Other
artists used for the outlines and shadows umber and
lake.3 Pacheco mentions " bone-black, umber, charcoal-
black, or smoke [of burnt resin], asphaltum, almagra,
and carmine. In this method of painting it will be
observed that the shadows are transparent, and that the
white-lead is reserved for the lights, which are semi-
opaque. It appears to have been the general practice of the
Italian painters, from Giotto to Lomazzo, to mix their
tints before beginning to paint. The instructions of
Cennini5 and Lomazzo6 are full and precise on this
point. The custom of mixing tints on the palette was
not, however, universal, and instances of the opposite
practice may be found in works on art.7
The method of painting above described appears to
have been followed by the Florentine, the Roman, the
Lombard, the early Bolognese,8 and the early Venetian
schools. Titian's earliest pictures were painted in this
manner, and the process may be seen on some unfinished
pictures by Rubens, Vandyck, Fra Bartolomeo, and
others. The beauty of this method of painting consisted in
its transparency, every coat of colour being so thin as to
show those laid beneath.
The most perfect outline is necessary when pictures
are painted in the method just described, because if a
part be shaded that ought to be light, the dark colour

i P. 650. 2 P. 654.
3 See Malvasia, Felsina Pittrice, vol. ii. p. 448 ; Lomazzo, Trattato,
p. 198. 4 Tratado, p. 386. 5 Caps. 67, 71—85, 93, 145.
6 Trattato, lib. vi. cap. vi. 7 See Zanetti, della Pittura, &c, p. 401.
8 See Marcucci, Saggio, &c, p. 213. Malvasia, Fels. Pitt., vol. ii.
jp. 206. Merimee, de la Peinture il l'Huile, p. 15, 16.

ccxcviii INTRODUCTION. [chap. vi.
will always be visible through the light tints over it, and
the colour will look opaque.1
The unfinished picture by Lionardo da Vinci in the
Gallery of Brera, before mentioned, shows that it was
not always customary to complete the chiaroscuro
before beginning the painting. In this picture, some
parts are finished, or nearly so, while parts of the ground
are left white.2

1 See Marcucci, Saggio, &c, p. 213 and' n. ; and see Mr. Eastlake's
' Materials,' &c, p. 397, 398.
2 This very interesting picture has been mentioned by Mr. Eastiake
(' Materials,' p. 392), but as I have alluded to it several times, I shall give a
description of it from my own memoranda : — The picture represents the
Virgin and Child with the Lamb. It is painted on a white ground, which
has a yellowish tint, apparently from being covered with varnish. The
ground is full of small hair-like cracks. The subject is drawn.with a black
pencil. The sky and distance are finished with blue and white, with a
slight greenish tint. There is a rock behind the figures, the colour of
which, with the earth around, is of a very dark brown, probably formed of
black and majorica and a little lake.* A space between the distance and
rocky ground is left quite blank, the white ground appearing. The face
of the Virgin is more finished than the rest of the picture; it was ap
parently begun in chiaroscuro with the usual brown — -the gray shades
incline to black, the lights on the face to lake. The face of the Infant
is nearly finished. The hands are just sketched in lightly with the same
brown, and the first flesh tints are laid on almost as thin as a first wash of
water colours. Tbe same may be observed with respect to the toes : the
black peficil-marks are visible on the nails. The drapery, which is scarlet,
appears to be formed of earthy reds, with vermilion on the lights. The
outer drapery is red also, and is lined with a yellowish green, or perhaps
this was to be a changeable drapery, since the shades are red and the
lights green. These were Lionardo's favourite colours for drapery. The
sleeves of the Virgin, part of the mantle, indeed all that part covering
her knees, part of the Infant's drapery, and the whole of the Lamb are left
quite blank, excepting that the outline of her knee is marked in pencil.
This shows that Lionardo sometimes finished portions of his pictures, leaving
the rest untouched, instead of beginning on all parts equally, or even of
painting the subject in chiaroscuro. The darks are raised higher than
the lights, and the foliage is minutely worked on the dark background. My
impression is that this picture was begun upon a non-absorbent white

* See Lionardo da Vinci, Trattato della Pittura, cap. 353. Vasari shows that
the black used by Lionardo was the lamp black used by the printers, and ivory
black. See Vita di Francesco Bartolomeo di S. Marco.

chap, vi.] METHODS OF PAINTING. ccxcix
There is little doubt that the method of painting just
described was discontinued in Venice in the early part
of the sixteenth century. This is proved by the
assertion of a professor of painting now residing at
Venice, that Cima da Conegliano (of whom nothing is
known after 1517 ") adopted the Venetian method of
beginning his pictures with solid colours, and finishing
with glazings. In Florence the latter method had
been introduced previous to the completion of Vasari's
work.2 In the earliest oil pictures the touches of the brush
are not visible, the whole being softened and blended so
as to convey the idea of real shadow, except the sharp
« touches, which stand up crisply and distinctly in a
manner that cannot be imitated with oil alone. This
is particularly apparent in the pictures of Van Eyck,
Lucas Van Leyden, Lionardo da Vinci, Luini, and
others of that time.
At a later period the touches of the brush were often
suffered to remain unsoftened ; but, in both cases, it is
remarkable that, on close observation, the darks will be
seen to stand higher above the surface of the picture
than the lights : this effect is- universally attributed to
the use of varnish in the shades.
Four different methods of painting in oil have, at
different times, prevailed in Venice. The first was
that just described, which was followed by the Bellini 3
and their pupils, and by Titian in the early part of his
career ; the second was that adopted by Titian in his
best time, and by his pupils and followers ; the third
was that employed by Paolo Veronese ; and the last
that introduced, it is said, by Palma Giovane, of paint-
ground, and that the yellowish tint is owing to the varnish with which it
has been covered.
1 See Ridolfi, vol. i. p. 101. 2 See Vasari, Life of Fra Bartolomeo.
L 3 See ante, p. cxxxiii.

CCC INTRODUCTION. [chap. vi.
ing on dark grounds, to which, as it is considered to
have led to the decline of the art, it will be unnecessary
to advert.
The pictures of Titian are not all painted in the
same manner, but the method he frequently adopted
was nearly as follows : — When the subject was drawn,
the local colours were laid in lightly and thinly with
colours mixed with oil,1 the shades being left very cold.
The picture was then exposed to the sun and the dew
until perfectly dry and hard ; a smooth surface was then
given to it by rubbing it down with pumice-stone until
quite smooth.
After many months the dead or first colouring or
abbozzo, as it is called in Italian, was examined and
corrected, and fresh colours were laid on;2 finishing
colours were then applied, and the tints were frequently
repeated seven, eight, or nine times,3 until the artist was
satisfied with his work, always however suffering a long
period to elapse between each layer of colour, and
exposing the picture to the sun and dew between each
painting. The coats of colour being very thin, the
colours dried quickly and hard, and, as the Venetians
express it, before the oil had had time to become
rancid.4 Titian, it is said, frequently laid on the paint
with his fingers, particularly on the flesh and in glazing.

i Lanzi, vol. v. p. 89, 90 ; and see Boschini, Ricche Minere, &c. ; Verri,
Saggio sul Disegno, &c, p. 121, 127. Compare also Marcucci, Saggio,
p. 213, n. 2 Boschini, Ricche Minere.
3 Soleva dir el nostro gran Tician "
" Che per formar el vivo colorito,
No' se possa a la prima (come ho dito),
Fenir le carne con intendimento ;
Ma ben con replicar diverse tente."
Boschini, La Carta del Navegar, &c, p. 341.
4 It is related that Bombelli, the Venetian painter, said that he wished
his pictures to dry as fast as possible, that the oil in them might not have
time to rise to the surface and turn yellow. See Trans. Soc. Arts, vol. xix.
p. 329.

chap, vi.] METHODS OF PAINTING. ccci
When large surfaces were to be glazed, the colour was
frequently rubbed on with all the fingers or the flat of
the hand, so as to fill the interstices left by the brush,
and to cover the surface thinly and evenly. Another
way of applying the colour with the finger, frequently
used for the soft shadows of flesh, was to dip the finger
into the colour and draw it once along the surface to be
painted with an even movement. These touches were
called sfregazzi,1 and were distinguished from the
process first described, which was called "velatura."
Trial will show that there is no other method by which
soft shadows can be so easily produced. The reason
given by the Venetians why the fingers are preferable
to the brush for this purpose, is because the colour can
be laid on thinner in this way, and it has the effect of
filling up all the interstices caused by the strokes of the
brush. The thinness of the paint also contributed to the
durability of the colours, because as the varnish or oil
dried more quickly from the thinness of the layer of
paint, the colours were preserved from being changed
by the action of the air upon them. The shadows were
glazed with asphaltum and lake, and Titian is said to
have frequently glazed the whole surface of the picture,
except the white linen, with asphaltum, or, as others
say, with a yellow varnish. The glazings were generally
laid on with varnish, although it is said that Titian
sometimes used oil for this purpose, which is the reason
that his paintings become more yellow than those of
other painters.
There is no doubt, however, that Titian used fre
quently an oleo-resinous varnish in glazing, and to this

1 " Quei rossi, e macadure de colori,
Quei sfregazzi co' i' dei, quel spegazzar
Fi\ le figure vive bulegar ;
Quei le fia. luser con mile splendori."
Boschini, La Carta del Navegar, &c, p. 340.

CCCil INTRODUCTION. [chap. vi.
is attributed the shrivelled surface so often seen on his
pictures.1 Paolo Veronese laid in the abbozzo with the local
colours thinly on a tempera ground; some say the
colours were mixed with oil, others that they were
applied in distemper.2 When these were dry and hard
the surface was rasped and smoothed, so as to leave
only a thin coat of colour.3 On this he painted the
solid colours, availing himself of a general colour for all
the half tints, as well in the flesh as in the draperies and
architecture.4 After this he covered the whole with a
very thin coat of varnish to bring out the colours, and
then retouched the lights and shades with brilliant and
resolute touches, using varnish for vermilion, red-lead,

i Merimee, de la Peinture k l'Huile, p. 31. Mr. Eastlake's ' Materials,'
&c, p. 37.
At the public library at Brescia I was shown, among other curiosities,
two small miniatures by Titian, painted one on each side of a piece of lapis
lazuli, which served for tbe ground of the painting, a head of Christ on one
side, and of the Madonna on the other. Two slight injuries on the painting
showed that there was no ground laid under the figures, but the surface
round the parts injured looked like glue or resin semitransparent at the edges.
I examined the painting with a powerful magnifying glass, and the surface,
which was perfect, except in these two places, showed the oil shrivelled as
in many of Titian's large pictures, the wrinkles in this picture bearing the
same proportionate size to the miniature as those I have observed in his
larger pictures.
I observed also in the head of our Saviour another remarkable appearance
when examined with the magnifying glass. This was the impression or ap
pearance (for we could not tell which) of threads of silk, so that I almost
fancied it had been painted on silk, and cut out and then fixed to the lapis
lazuli. The surface of the painting had the usual yellowish brown cast, so
frequently observed in Titian's paintings.
2 See Appendix to the Italian edition of the ' Idee du Peintre Parfait,'
p. 163 ; and Felibien, Principes, &c, p. 297. Merimee (de la Peinture
& l'Huile, p. 249) says that Paul Veronese, and before him other painters,
who lived at the period when artists began to leave tempera for oil paint
ing, were accustomed to begin their pictures with size colours on absorbent
grounds. All traditions of oil paintings having been begun in tempera ap
pear to be now lost in Venice.
3 Compare Armenini as to the general practice in Italy, lib. ii. cap. ix.;
Bisagno, Trattato, &c.
4 Boschini, Ricche Minere ; Zanetti, della Pittura, &c, p. 164.

chap, vi.] METHODS OF PAINTING. CCciii
blues, the tin-ts used in painting white linen, and for
the vermilion tints in flesh. He frequently painted the
blues in tempera, as in the picture in the Soffitto of the
Cdllegio of the Ducal Palace,1 in which the blue sky
was painted in tempera, and the clouds with oil. These
tempera colours are said to adhere so firmly that they
will bear being twice washed without being disturbed.
The method of Paolo is opposed to that of Titian. The
former usually painted " alia prima," seldom repeating
his colours ; and with few glazings.2 Titian on the con
trary frequently painted over the same part seven, eight,
or nine times. His pictures are neither so fresh nor so
well preserved as those of Paolo.3
After the time of Titian the art rapidly declined in
Venice ; large pictures and rapidity of execution super
seded the more sterling qualities of the art ; and the
practice of glazing to an almost unlimited extent with
asphaltum (for which Tintoretto is greatly blamed),
the introduction of dark grounds,4 and the excessive use
of oil, caused the pictures of succeeding painters to
become dark.
The honour of having re-discovered and made known
some of the early processes of painting in oil, and of
the principles which regulated the practice of the old
masters, belongs to an Englishman, Mr. Sheldrake,
whose- Essays,5 little known in his own country, are
1 This is proved by a document in the Accademia at Venice addressed
by Sig. P. Edwards to Sig. Savio Cassier, dated the 25th of August, 1780.
2 Raid., Life of Paolo .Veronese ; Boschini, Ricche Minere.
3 See p. 888.
4 Marcucci (p. 201) attributes the darkening of the later Italian pictures
to three causes, namely — first, the badness ofthe priming, either from being
too absorbent or from the use of dark grounds ; secondly, the too free em
ployment of " olio cotto ;" thirdly, the use of certain black pigments, which
deepen in colour in a very short time. See also Zanetti, della Pittura, &c,
pp. 374,401,438, 528.
5 These essays were entitled ' A Dissertation on Painting in Oil in a
manner similar to that practised in the ancient Venetian Schools ' — ' On
the Nature and Properties of Drying Oils " — ' On the Use of Amber Var-

ccciv INTRODUCTION. [chap. vi.
appreciated and quoted by foreigners. It is unnecessary
to analyse these Essays ; it will be sufficient to recom
mend them strongly to the perusal of the reader, and
to state generally, that Mr. Sheldrake considered that
the method adopted by the Venetian masters was as
follows :— The chiaroscuro was painted with umber
on a tempera preparation, composed of umber, broken
with red, yellow, or blue, diluted with chalk or whiten
ing to the proper degree of strength. A coat of varnish
was then applied, and on this, when dry, the lights were
painted solidly with pure white, scumbling it thinner
by degrees until it united with the shadows. In this
manner the chiaroscuro was finished as much as pos
sible, and the local colour of every object glazed over
it. The picture was then varnished.
The general resemblance between this method and
that first described as the Flemish or early Italian
process is apparent. The principal variation consisted
in the absorbent ground, and the solid painting with
white on the lights, which was rendered necessary by
the coloured priming.
The method of Titian was, with certain modifica
tions, adopted by the other schools of Italy ; some
artists, however, still continued to adhere to the older
method. It is probable that the method of Titian was
commonly adopted at Florence in the time of Vasari,
for he mentions1 that Fra Bartolomeo delighted in
beginning his pictures in chiaroscuro, as if this custom
of his was an exception to the general rule. This sup
position is strengthened by the short description of
nish with Colours, and the Method of Dissolving Amber and Copal ' — ' Con
jectures tending to show that these Vehicles were similar in Principle, if
not identically the same as that used by several of the older Painters who
were eminent for their skill in Colouring ' — ' An Account of the Process
used to separate the Mucilage from Linseed Oil,' &c. These Essays, writ
ten between 1797 and 1801, were published in the Transactions of the So
ciety of Arts, vols, xvi., xvii., and xix.
1 Vita di Fra Bartolomeo di S. Marco.

chap, vi.] METHODS OF PAINTING. CCCV
the process of oil-painting by Borghini, who was a
Florentine, and who may be supposed to have been
well acquainted with the works of that school. This
author directs1 that when the first colours were laid in
with as little oil as possible (for the oil in drying would,
he says, cause the colours to darken), the picture
should be laid aside for a long time, until the colours
were perfectly dry ; it was then to be rigorously ex
amined, and the necessary corrections made, and then
was to be applied the last coat of the finest colours
tempered with very little oil, which would remain
bright and lively ; for if the (fresh) colours were laid
upon the dry dead colouring, the former would retain
when dry all their beauty ; but if they were applied on
the dead colouring before it was dry, the first and last
colours would mix together, and the whole would be
dusky and darkened, especially when the colours were
made liquid with much oil, which detracts much from
the brightness of the colours. It will be observed
this author does not allude to the use of varnish in
glazing. There is another reason why one layer of colours
should be suffered to dry perfectly before another
was applied ; namely, to prevent their cracking. Some
of the early Italian artists, and particularly Pietro
Perugino, appear to have bought their experience in this
respect. Several of the pictures of Pietro are stated to
have suffered from this cause. With reference to some
of these pictures, Vasari remarks, " These three pic
tures2 are much injured, and the dark parts and shadows
are everywhere cracked ; and the reason of this is,
because when they were painted, the first colour laid on
the priming (for three coats of colour were laid one

, p. 174.
2 The Christ in the Garden, the PietH, and the Crucifixion, with Mary
Magdalen and Saints, at Florence.
• VOL. I. U

CCCV1

INTRODUCTION. [chap. vi.

upon the other) was not dry, so that the under colours
shrunk in drying, and thus occasioned those cracks on
the surface ; but Pietro could not have known that this
would happen, because in his time artists were only
beginning to paint well in oil."1
The precaution of waiting long between the dead
colouring and the finishing was observed generally by
the Italians ; Boschini relates that it was the practice
of Titian, and its universality may be inferred from
the common custom of rubbing down the surface of the
picture with pumice-stone, or even scraping it with a
knife, as related by Armenini — a process, which could
not take place until the painting was perfectly dry.
This practice seems to have been common to all the
later schools, and some unfinished pictures by Guido
and Guercino at Bologna present the appearance of
having undergone this operation.
But it was necessary that the painting should be
quite dry and hard before the surface was thus rendered
smooth ; and for this reason, as well as to prevent the
yellowing of the oil, the painting was exposed to the
sun at intervals until it was dry. This last process
was repeated after every layer of colour.
During the winter the colours dried more slowly,2
and when the heat of the sun was insufficient to dry
them, or the weather particularly damp, they were ex
posed to the heat of a stove, which Errante says 3 was
the custom of the best colourists. The practice, has. the
sanction of Lionardo "da Vinci.4
Painters had another reason for exposing their pic
tures to the sun in the various stages of the painting,

1 Life of Pietro. Perugino.
2 Gachet, Lettres Inedites de P. P. Rubens ; De Piles, Elemens, p. 142.
3 Saggio sui Colori. Rome, 1817.
4 Trattato, cap. 352. The experiments of Mr. Sheldrake prove that
pnintings executed with amber varnish were not injured by exposure to the
strong heat of a stove.

chap, vi.] METHODS OF PAINTING. cccvn
and this was to remove by evaporation the yellow coat
of oil which always rose to the surface, and which if not
removed by this process darkened the colours. A letter
of Rubens,1 addressed to Peiresc, mentions this defect
to which new pictures are subject, and prescribes the
only remedy. The letter was written in Italian, and is
thus translated by Mr. Eastiake : 2 — " If I knew that
my portrait was still at Antwerp, I would cause it to be
detained and the case to be opened, in order to see if it
is not spoiled after having been so long shut up without
air; and whether, as commonly happens to fresh
colours [under such circumstances], it has not turned
yellow, so as to be iio longer in appearance what it was
at first. The remedy, however, if it should happen to
be in so bad a state, will be to place it several times in
the sun, as the sun can dissipate the superfluity of oil
which causes this alteration. And, if at any time it
should again become brown, it should again be
exposed to the sun's rays, which are the only antidote
for this disease of the heart."
The perusal of this letter and other evidence which,
as it has been given by Mr. Eastiake, it is unnecessary
to repeat, induced me about three years since to try
and restore by exposure to the sun, the colour of some
grounds on canvass which had been made for a par
ticular purpose, of white-lead and marble-dust mixed
with oil. They had been turned towards the wall, or
otherwise excluded from light and air for some years,
and were nearly of the colour of yellow ochre. One of
these was placed in a balcony exposed to the afternoon
stih. In two days there was a perceptible difference,
and in a fortnight the yellow hue had nearly disap
peared: A long loop of riband^ by which the canvass

1 Dated London, Aug. 9, 1629, published by Gachet.
2 For much additional information on this subject, see the ' Materials,'
&e., pp. 509—519.
U 2

cccviii INTRODUCTION. [chap. ri.
(which was old) had formerly hung against the wall,
was accidentally suffered to hang over the face of the
canvass ; on raising the riband it was found that the
ground was not bleached where the riband had lain,
and this circumstance afforded the means of judging
correctly of the effect of the exposure to the sun.1
The opinion of Rubens and other evidence of a
similar nature suggested the importance of ascertaining
whether the custom of exposing pictures to the sun still
existed in Italy ; and from the inquiries I made, I am
induced to believe that the practice of exposing pictures
freshly painted in oil to the sun has always existed in
Italy, and has descended traditionally from the early ages
of oil-painting to the present time ;2 that the custom is
now observed by several eminent professors and restorers
of pictures at Milan and Venice, and that the picture is
by some artists exposed to the dew and then dried
thoroughly in the hot sun between every coat of paint ;
in short, that the great principle in painting is to make
the paint dry rapidly and perfectly between every coat
of colour, in order to prevent the pigments being acted
on by each other and by the air.3 The tradition in
Venice is that the oil always rises to the surface of the
picture and dries dark ; and if the colours are long in
drying, the oil with which they are mixed becomes
rancid and has a deleterious influence on the colours.
For this purpose the pigments are to be mixed with as
little oil as possible, and the tints laid on extremely
thin, where it is intended to repeat the colours fre-
1 In the directions given by Pacheco for cleaning and refreshing old oil
paintings, darkened by smoke and varnish, without danger to the picture,
he recommends that if they are on cloth, they should be placed in the sun
for half a day ; but if on panel, they should be exposed to the dew for two
nights previous to being washed. Tratado, p. 394.
2 See Cennini, Trattato, cap. 155 ; and Ridolfi, Vita di Maffeo Verona.
3 See the remark of Bombelli (a Venetian painter) quoted by Mr. Shel
drake, Trans. Soc. Arts, vol. xix. p. 329. See also an extract from the letter
of an eminent foreign Professor in Mr. Eastlake's ' Materials,' &c, p. 365.

chap, vi.] METHODS OF PAINTING. CCClX
quently, especially in glazing, when the hand is to be
used instead of the pencil, for the express reason that
the colours can be laid on by it more thinly than with
a brush. With regard to employing colours mixed with size
on oil pictures, it was the opinion of Merimee * that
Paolo Veronese sometimes began his pictures in
tempera and finished them in oil. I cannot discover
that any Italian author mentions this fact, nor have I
met with any traditionary account of such a practice.
But the fact that some parts of oil paintings were at
times painted with size-colours, is established beyond a
doubt, as the practice not only of the Venetians, but of
•artists belonging to the other schools ; and as it is
alleged 2 that some part of the celebrated altar-piece of
the Van Eycks at Ghent was painted in tempera, it
appears probable that the practice has existed from the
earliest period of the introduction of oil painting in
Italy. Besides this picjbure of the Van Eycks, it has
been ascertained3 that the blue sky of a picture by Pietro
Perugino (the first who practised the Flemish method
of oil painting in Perugia) was painted with smaltino
tempered with starch or flour paste (colla di farina).
There is sufficient evidence to prove that Paolo
Veronese frequently painted the blue sky in tempera,
and it has been asserted that he applied the more
delicate finishing colours in the same manner, but this
requires confirmation.
In the Flemish system of painting, which was
adopted by the early Italian schools, varnish was added
to the oil colours, so that the full effect of the colours
was always visible ; and as the layers of colour were
thin and the colours always finely ground, there was no
1 De la Peinture & l'Huile, p. 249—251. 2 Pacheco, Tratado, p. 373.
3 See ' La Vita, Elogio, e Memorie dell' egregio Pittore Pietro Peru
gino, e degli Scolari di esso.' Da B. Orsini. Perugia, 1804, p. 208, n.

CCCX INTRODUCTION. [chap. vi.
necessity for rasping the surface. But where the local
colours were laid on solidly, and not finely ground as in
the Venetian school it was necessary, when the abbozzo
was perfectly dry and hard, in order to secure ah even
surface for the finishing colours, to rub down the surface
with pumice-stone.1
In the Venetian manner the colours of the abbozzo
having been painted with oil only, were dull ; and as the
difficulty of retouching a picture "in secco," that is
with a perfectly dry surface, was felt by all artists,2 it
was considered necessary by some to apply a thin coat
of varnish in order to bring out the colours in all their
force, as well as to enable the finishing colours to adhere
more firmly.3 This is said to have been the practice df
Paolo Veronese, and is still observed by some Venetian
artists. Volpato states 4 that white of egg waS some
times used for this purpose, and sometimes varnish or
oil. Lana recommends5 boiled oil to which litharge
has been added in preference to, raw oil, and De Piles 6
prefers oil to varnish. Armenini and Bisagno direct
that a thin coat of oil should be passed over the picture,
or at least over the parts to be retouched, and then
wiped off immediately, leaving only a slight degree of
moisture on the surface.7 This process is technically
called " oiling out."
To conclude, I might have indulged in expressing
the feelings of delight with which I contemplated the
works of the great Masters of the Italian School ; but
I feel that this would not have accorded with the techni
cal and practical details of the various subjects treated
1 Mengs is said to have adopted this practice.
2 Goethe on Colours, by Eastiake, p. 407, n.
3 Lairesse, le Grand Livre des Peintres, vol. i. cap. v.
4 Pp. 747, 749. *> P. 746, n. 6 Elemens, pp. 114, 118.
7 See generally Mr. Eastlake's ' Materials,' &c, pp. 476, 304 n. ; and see
Verri, Saggio Elementare, &c, p. 115.

chap, vi.] NOTE ON MS. OF FRA FORTUNATO. cccxi
of in these volumes. It has been my object to support
the statements I have made, and the opinions I have
expressed, by the authorities quoted, or to which I have
referred. From the commencement to the conclusion,
the pleasing expectation of discovery has alleviated the
labour of research, and smoothed the path of inquiry ;
and although I have not succeeded to the full extent of
my wishes, I indulge the hope that my labours, which
have been devoted entirely to this object for upwards of
three years, may be found useful, and not altogether
uninteresting.

NOTE ON A MANUSCRIPT
"Entitled ' Raccolti di Secreti, Specifici, Remedj, &c. ; ora adesso di Fra
Fortunato da Rovigo, Laico Capucino, Infermiere nel Convento dei
Capucini di Verona.'
This MS., which is in two thick volumes in 8vo., is in the possession of
the Canon Ramelli, of Rovigo. The MS. consists of several treatises on
medicine, and of collections of recipes for colours, with directions for minia
ture painting. Many of the former are translations from the French, and
were probably used by Fra Fortunato in his character of superintendent of
the infirmary ofthe convent. The recipes date from 1659 (soon after the
profession of Fra Fortunato) to 1711. A copy from the books of the con
vent, of the register of his profession, is inscribed in the first page ofthe MS.
The recipes for painting resemble so closely those in other MSS. of Secreti,
that it appeared unnecessary to copy the whole. I have transcribed a few
only, which show the colours and methods in use during the time of Fra
Fortunato. From these we find that lake was prepared from ''grana
tinctoria" or " grana di kermes,'' " cimatura di scarlato," " cremisi" (pro
bably cochineal), " verzino," and " gomma lacca." — " Lacca fina" was made
from " cimatura di scarlato overo grana fina, cochiniglia, and gomma lacca."
Among the blue pigments, azzurro di Germania is stated to be composed of
mercury, sulphur, and sal ammoniac. " The blue colour made at Pozzuoli "
is the old vestorian azure ; it was made of sand, " fior di nitro,'' and copper
filings. " Biadetto " was composed of verdigris, sal ammoniac, and tartar.
These blue pigments appear to have been difficult to use, since there are es
pecial directions for tempering them. Sometimes a varnish composed of spirit
of turpentine and mastic was employed for this purpose. "Biadetto" was to
be ground with a little burnt roche alum, or tartar, or sandarac ; it was to be
ground very fine, and in miniature painting was to be used with a clear var
nish of spirit of turpentine and mastic ; it would then spread extremely well,
glaze brilliantly, and be a most beautiful colour.*
Biadetto fare, che bene si possi stendere, miniando. — Si macina bene con un

cccxii INTRODUCTION. [chap. vi.
" Boiled oil for painters, as clear (colourless ?) as water," was prepared in
the following manner: — " Put the usual piece of rag containing litharge
and other customary things in linseed or nut oil, add water, and boil, and
this will cause it [the oil] to be clear (colourless ?) as water itself."*
The recipes for varnish are not numerous. A recipe for one which is
ascribed to P. Bonaventura, a monk of Cento, dated 3rd of April, 1707, for
paper, wood, and other things, consisted of spirits of wine 6 oz., sandarac
2 oz., olio d'abezzo f oz. Another varnish, which is not injured by hot
water, consists of linseed oil and resin ; this was the Italian " vernice co
mune." Another varnish was composed of spirit of turpentine, sandarac,
and (concrete) turpentine ; and another of " gomma copale" dissolved in
spirit of turpentine.
The directions for " painting in fresco on lime with colours that are not
mineral (such as lake), and to enable them to resist for a long period the
effects of the air,'' are comprised in a few words, namely, to apply a coat of
" gesso da sarto" upon the lime spread on the wall, and then paint on it.
The short instructions for miniature painting contain but little that is
new. Fra Fortunato, however, recommends that the gum should be added
to the colours, only when required for use, because if the colours were
suffered to remain long mixed with gum, they would become dry, and the
addition of water to them would cause the more delicate colours, such as
lake, giallolino, cinnabar, and azure, to change. From this it appears that
it was the common practice to keep the colours for miniature painting ready
mixed with gum.

poco di alume di rocco, bruciato, o vero con un poeo di tartaro, o pure con san-
dracca. Vedi qui sotto.
II biadetto macinato ben sottile, e adoprato miniando con vernice fatta con
acqua di ragia e mastiee, che sia ben chiara, si stende benissimo, vela pulito, e
fa colore bellissimo.
* Per far V olio cotto da pittore, che sia chiaro come acqua. — Metti il solito
piumazzolo col litargirio, et altro come si usa dentro 1' oglio di noce o di fino a
bollire, e con esso mettivi seco dell' acqua a bollire, che questa lo fara rimaner
chiara, come 1' acqua medesima.

MANUSCRIPTS OF JEHAN LE BEGUE.

PRELIMINARY OBSERVATIONS.
In the year 1431, Jehan le Begue, a licentiate in the
kw and Notary of the Masters of the Mint at Paris,
being then in the sixty-third year of his age,1 com
posed, or rather compiled, the following manuscript,2
from a collection of works on painting made by one

1 See end of manuscript of Le Begue.
2 The original manuscript of Jehan le Begue is preserved in the Biblio
theque Royale at Paris. It is on paper, and is numbered 6741. For the
first information concerning this manuscript we are indebted to Lessing,
who mentions it in his Treatise, ' Dom Alter der Oelmalerey aus dem
Theophilus Presbyter,' 1774. Lessing, however, did not know the work,
but quoted the title only from the Catalogue of Manuscripts in the above-
mentioned library, because he believed it contained a copy of the manu
script of Theophilus. It does, in fact, contain great part of the first book
of this author. Raspea and Emeric David b both mention the manuscript,
but with reference to the copy of Theophilus only ; the remainder and
greater part of the manuscript seems to have been unknown until 1 842 or
1843, when M. le Comte Charles de l'Escalopier procured a copy of the
whole for the purpose of completing his edition of Theophilus. In the
autumn of 1844 I went to Paris to procure a copy of the manuscript, which
I obtained after some unavoidable delay. Some extracts from the work
have been recently published by Mr. Eastiake, in his ' Materials for Painting
in Oil,' and by Mr. Hendrie, in his edition of Theophilus ; but the whole
work has never yet been published.
» Critical Essay on Oil Painting, Lond. 1781, p. 38.
!> Biographie Universelle — Art. The"ophile.
VOL. I. B

2 MANUSCRIPTS OF JEHAN LE BEGUE.
Jehan Alcherius, or Alcerius. The motive that in
duced Jehan le Begue to undertake the work does
not appear. He himself tells us that he was unaccus
tomed to such writing ; * and the numerous mistakes
throughout the manuscript prove that he told the truth.
But, whatever might have been his inducements, the
zeal with which he undertook the work, and the man
ner in which he executed his task, show his attachment
to the arts, and his desire to obtain information on all
subjects connected with it. The formation and alpha
betical arrangement of the Table of Synonymes at the
commencement of the work, at a period when the art
of printing was unknown,2 and the sources of informa
tion from books must have been very limited, was no
small proof of his industry and perseverance. His
authorities seem to have been the works collected by
Alcherius, and the Catholicon, which was then in manu
script, and which was not printed until twenty-nine
years after Jehan le Begue completed his work.3

1 See [No. 303a]. These numbers refer to the recipes in the text.
2 The first essay of Laurentius, the inventor of printing with separate
wooden types, was about the year 1430.
3 The ' Catholicon' was a Latin Dictionary, composed in the year 1286,
by Fra. Giovan. Baldi, a Genoese. It was printed at Mentz in 1460,
nearly thirty years after it was quoted by Jehan le Begue ; and Bettinelli re
marks it was the fourth book after the Bible which was printed with moveable
types of fused metal, but the author of the article ' Printing ' in the ' Ency
clopaedia Britannica' says it was printed by Guttemberg with types of cut
metal, and that Guttemberg used none but wood or cut metal types until the
year 1462. Previous to the ' Catholicon,' two other Latin vocabularies
had been composed in Italy, the first of which was entitled ' Glossario
della Lingua Latina ;' this was written by Papia, a Lombard, and, as it is
believed, a native of Milan, who was one of the most learned Greek scholars
of his age : he flourished about a.d. 1060. This was followed by the Dic
tionary of Uguccione Pisano, Bishop of Ferrara, in 1190. See Bettinelli's
' Risorgimento d' Italia,' vol. i. p. HOn.

PRELIMINARY OBSERVATIONS. 3
My reasons for supposing this Table of Synonymes to
have been composed by Le Begue are, that the recipes
in old French at the end (which the table of contents-
informs us were added by Le Begue) are referred to
in the Table of Synonymes, and also because this Table
is full of errors, and contains many statements which
Alcherius must have known to be incorrect.
After the Table of Synonymes are two fragments of
alphabetical indices, the first of which begins at the
letter Q, and concludes with W ; the other comprises
the letter A only. These fragments, I consider, are
both the work of Le Begue, because they contain refer
ences to the recipes in old French at the end of the
manuscript. Of the early life and profession of Jehan Alcherius,
or Archerius, the manuscript gives no indications. It
does not actually appear that he was a painter, but his
attachment to the art is unquestionable, or he would not
have taken the pains he did to become acquainted with
the technical processes, and to write down so many
recipes from the dictation of others. In all that related
to the art he was superior to Jehan le Begue ; he also
possessed the additional advantage of understanding
Italian, which he acquired in Italy during his occasional
visits to that country. The object of these visits does
not transpire ; it is, however, certain that he frequented
the company of painters, and that he neglected no
means of obtaining information relative to the art.
The earliest biographical notice of Alcherius is dated

1 I am of opinion this table of contents is not in the hand-writing of Le
Begue.
e2

4 MANUSCRIPTS OF JEHAN LE BEGUE.
March, 1382, ' at which time he left Milan for Paris,
taking with him a recipe for making writing-ink, which
had been given to him by Alberto Porzello, " who was
most perfect in all kinds of writing and forms of letters,
and who, while he lived, kept a school at Milan, and
taught boys and young men to write." In 1398
Alcherius was at Paris. On the 28th of July, in that
year, he wrote his treatise ' De Coloribus diversis
modis tractatur,' 2 from the dictation of Jacob Con a, a
Flemish painter, then living at Paris. This treatise
relates chiefly to miniature painting, and its usual
accompaniment gilding. On the 8th of August follow
ing he wrote another short treatise, which also relates
to the same subject, entitled ' De diversis Coloribus,' 3
from the dictation of Antonio di Compendio, " an illu
minator of books, and an old man," who had tried all
the recipes himself. These recipes therefore may be
considered to date from the middle of the fourteenth
century, at least. In October, 1398, he was still at
Paris.4 Nothing more is known of him from that time
until the month of March, 1409, when it appears he
was again at Milan, where he copied the recipes at the
commencement of the work as far as No. 88, from a
book lent to him by Fra Dionisio, a Servite, or, as it is
expressed in the manuscript, " of the order of the Ser
vants of St. Mary, which order in Milan is called ' Del
Sacho.' " 5 These recipes, from Nos. 1 to 47 inclusive,
are for colours of various kinds for painting and writing,
and other things belonging to the art of miniature
i See Preface to No. 302. 2 See Preface to No. 291.
s See Preface to No. 297. 4 See Preface to No. 303.
5 See Preface to No. 47.

PRELIMINARY OBSERVATIONS. 5
painting. Nos. 47 to 88 contain various recipes for
working in metals ; for hardening iron ; for a kind of
nigellum ; for making a sort of pyrophorus — namely, a
light which should burn under water, and which could
be extinguished with oil only ; and also a candle which
should burn with water and without fire. In No. 86
a kind of gum is mentioned, which was said to have
attractive powers somewhat like the loadstone. It is
possible that this gum Andrianum, the name by which
it is called in the manuscript, may be another name for
amber (of which this attractive power is a known attri
bute), which is found embedded in stones in various
parts of Europe, and in Italy on the coast of the
Adriatic.1 From the description, however, and from
a consideration of the locality where it was found, it
seems equally probable that it was a sort of native
bitumen. The mountain where the gum is found is called in
the text Monte Bono or Buono ; it should be Monte
Bene. This mountain is on the high road from Bo
logna to Florence, and is covered with scattered rocks
of breccia, and is remarkable for its fine scenery, and for
the singular natural phenomena which are found in its
vicinity. The height is above 4000 feet. The fires of
Pietra Mala, a village near this mountain, are known
to all tourists. These extraordinary fires are con
stantly issuing from a spot of ground three or four yards
across. When the air is calm they are seen at a great
distance, rising about a foot from the ground, and in

1 See Agricola, ' De Metallicis,' f. 238. See also Eastiake, ' Mate
rials,' &c, 234 n.

6 MANUSCRIPTS OF JEHAN LE BEGUE.
damp weather are very bright and luminous. They are
extinguished by a high wind, but light again spontane
ously on the air becoming calm. They resemble the
flame of alcohol ; and Volta ascertained that the gas
emitted is a composition of carbon and hydrogen — pro
bably produced by the decomposition of vegetable
remains in the subjacent sand-rock. Between Monte
Bene and Montoggioli is a singular spring, which is fre
quently dry. If a lighted match be brought near the
mud of this spring, the gases exhaled from it imme
diately take fire, burning with a lambent flame.1
On the 2nd of February, 1410, Johannes Alcherius
wrote a description of the process of preparing ultra
marine from the instruction given him by one Master
Johannes, a Norman, residing in the house of Pietro da
Verona.2 This Pietro da Verona was probably a
painter; and the researches of the Abbate Moschoni
have shown that a painter of this name was at Padua
in 1398, and that his son Antonia da Verona was also
at Padua in 1393.3 We may therefore suppose that
the former was the contemporary of Johannes Al
cherius. On the 11th February, 1410, Johannes Alcherius
was at Bologna, where he became acquainted with one
Theodore, a native of Flanders and an embroiderer,
who had been employed at Pavia by Gian Galeazzo Vis-
conti, and who gave him certain recipes and directions
for preparing and using coloured waters, which Theo-

i See Murray's ' Guide to North Italy.'
2 See Preface to No. 118.
3 See Mosehini ' della Origine e delle Vicende della Pittura in Padova.'
Padova, 1826, p. 9.

PRELIMINARY OBSERVATIONS. 7
dore stated he had procured at London in England.1
These recipes, which, it appears from the Note to No.
96, were given in writing, were written in French.
It is certain that these passages relate to the pre
paration of transparent colours for painting;2 but I
think that they refer also to the art of dyeing, and to
the decoration of wearing apparel. No. 92 is evidently
a mordant, and was used both to prepare the cloth to
receive the colours, and to bleach certain parts of co
loured cloths, by which a regular pattern might be given
to them. The note of the author attached to this recipe
certainly alludes to this operation of the art of dyeing,
in which it is expressly stated white letters and figures
could be drawn upon a coloured ground ; for it is well
known if figures, &c, be drawn with the mordant on
cloth, and then suffered to dry, and if, when dry, the
cloth be dipped into a coloured dye and afterwards
dried, it will appear one uniform colour ; but if the cloth
so coloured be then washed in plain water, the colour
will be discharged from those parts on which the mor
dant was not applied, and the cloth will be marked with
a coloured figure on a white ground. This appears to
be the process alluded to in the text, No. 92.
An additional reason for supposing that these re
cipes relate also to the process of dyeing arises from the
fact that the stuff to be stained was sometimes made of
wool expressed by the French word " drap," and the

1 See Preface to No. 89. Gian Galeazzo died in 1402. He had the
glory of commencing the ' Duomo' of Milan in 1386, and the ' Cerlosa' of
Pavia in 1396. He was succeeded by Gian Maria Visconti.
2 See Eastiake, ' Materials,' &c, cap. 5. See also Eraclius, lib. iii.
No. 26.

8 MANUSCRIPTS OF JEHAN LE BEGUE.
Latin " drapis coloricis lane;" and I am not aware that
woollen cloth has ever been used for the purpose of
serving as a ground for pictures. The word " tellis,"
which occurs in the note after No. 99, shows that the
staining or painting was not limited to woollen cloths,
but extended also to those made of linen. This sup
position receives more weight from a passage in the
manuscript of St. Audemar (No. 195), where he says,
" If you wish to gild leather, or purple cloth, or linen,
or silk, stir it (the mordant) up altogether and draw
beasts, birds, and flowers upon it; then lay on the
gold." This passage can only be understood as appli
cable to articles of dress, unless indeed the painted or
gilded cloths should have been used as altar-cloths or
for the hangings of apartments.
The view I have taken of this subject is, I think,
confirmed by the fact that the English in the fourteenth
century actually wore garments painted with various
colours, or in the words of the manuscript chronicle
quoted by Mr. Planche, in his ' History of British
Costume,' "All that time the Englishmen were clothed
all in cootes and hoodes peynted with letters and
flowers, and seemly with long beards."
The practice is further illustrated by the epigram
which, in 1327, was affixed to the church-door of St.
Peter Stangate : —
" Long beirds hertiless,
Peynted hoods witless,
Gay cotes graceless,
Maketh Englonde thriftless."
Nor does it appear to me any objection that the
words " lavorare " and " depingere " are used, because
it does not appear that at this period blocks for calico-

PRELIMINARY OBSERVATIONS. .0
printing were invented, and consequently the letters
and figures were necessarily painted on the cloth by
hand. It seems to me very natural that an em
broiderer should have learnt the particulars of an in
vention which must materially have interfered with his
own trade.
On the 13th of February, 1410, Johannes caused
the recipes numbered 100 to 116, inclusive, to be
copied from a book lent to him by " Johannes de
Modena, a painter living at Bologna."1 These are
the recipes which, being written in Italian, Jehan le
•Begue could not read; he, however, procured a Latin
translation of them to be made by a friend of his "who
was skilled in both languages." They relate chiefly to
colours and to mordants for laying on gold. Among
the latter is one which will not be affected by the
weather, and which consisted of minium, ceruse, verdi
gris, bole, and ochre ground up with linseed oil and
"liquid varnish." There is also a recipe for preparing
" gesso sottile " for a ground for the gold.
There is reason to believe that the Giovanni da
Modena, the painter mentioned in this manuscript,
and Giovanni Rossi da Modena, who was called " II
Negro," the architect, were identical.
Giovanni da Modena is mentioned for the first time
as a painter in 1410, when it appears from the manu
script of Le Begue and from some documents pre
served in Bologna, that he was then resident in that
city. In 1408, Bartolommeo Bolognini directed by his will
i ' Guida di Bologna,- p. 112.

10 MANUSCRIPTS OF JEHAN LE BEGUE.
that certain pictures were to be painted in the chapel
of S. Giorgio (now S. Abbondio, in the church of
S. Petronio in Bologna), which belonged to him, and
which he described, as well as the subjects of the pic
tures to be painted. It appears, from the archives of
S. Petronio, that in 1420 Giovanni da Modena was
selected to paint some pictures illustrative of stories
from the Old Testament in this chapel, and as the sub
jects of the paintings now there correspond with those
ordered by Bartolommeo Bolognini, it is conjectured
that some of these paintings are by Giovanni da Mo
dena.1 His name again occurs as a painter in 1451
in some documents preserved at Bologna, but his
works are not mentioned ; and from this time until
1455 we hear nothing more of Giovanni da Modena ;
but about that time Giovanni Bossi executed, for the
Duke Borso, the beautiful miniatures in the Bible of
the House of Este, now preserved in the Ducal Library
at Modena.2 Lanzi says this Giovanni Bossi exer
cised his art at Mantua. From the few historical
notices of Giovanni Bossi da Modena, the architect,
called ' II Negro,' it appears that he was the son of
Martino de Bubeis de Mutina ; that he was living at
Bologna in 14 10,3 and the archives of S. Petronio

1 ' Guida di Bologna,' p. 265.
2 Marchese, ' Memorie dei Pittori Domenicani,' vol. i. p. 174. Lanzi,
vol. iv. p. 6.
3 While I was preparing these notes, I received the following note
(which I translate literally) from Sig. Michaelangelo Gualandi of Bologna,
whose archasological researches in the cause of the fine arts are well known
and appreciated : —
" We have met with the name of one Giovanni da Modena, a painter,
between the years 1410 and 1451, but none of his works are named. As
to the architect of S. Petronio in Bologna, by name Giovanni da Modena,

PRELIMINARY OBSERVATIONS. 11
show that he succeeded Paolo Tibaldi as the architect
of that edifice in 1454.1 His name may now be seen
on some architectural designs preserved in S. Petro
nio. He was living in 1470.
From these facts there appears scarcely a doubt of
the identity of the painter and architect ; for it has been
shown that Giovanni Rossi, or Russi, was an architect in
1454, and that about 1455 a Giovanni Rossi, a painter,
executed some miniatures for the Duke of Modena.
The identity is further confirmed by the circumstance
that both painter and architect resided, at least occa
sionally, in Bologna from 1410, when Alcherius visited
that city, until 1454 or 1455. In addition to these
facts it must be remembered that the old masters fre
quently exercised both professions, to which they some
times added also that of sculptor. Giotto, the reformer
of the Florentine school of painting, was the architect
of the beautiful Campanile of Florence. Michael
Angelo painted in the Sistine Chapel, and was the
architect of St. Peter's. Bramante also was a painter
and an architect : there is nothing singular, therefore,

I am going to publish some interesting notices respecting him ; among
others, that dated from Rome, 22nd February, 1454, in which he is de
scribed as follows : — ' Providum vir Magistrum Johannem quondam Mar
tini de Rvbeis de Mutina, Muratorem Bonon commorantem qui comuniter
dicitur M. Johane Negro.' He is styled ' Architecto Magistrum et Inge-
niorum.' He lived until 1470, whence it is scarcely probable (supposing
him also to have been a painter) that he should have been the same indi
vidual who worked in 1410, when he must at least have been twenty-five
years of age."
This fact is certainly sufficient to raise a doubt as to the identity of the
painter and architect, but instances of longevity are so common among
painters, that there is nothing unreasonable in supposing Giovanni da
Modena to have attained the age of eighty or eighty-five years.
1 ' Guida di Bologna,' p. 97.

12 MANUSCRIPTS OF JEHAN LE BEGUE.
in Giovanni da Modena being at the same time a
painter and an architect.
Giovanni de' Rossi had a son named Antonio, who
became a Dominican in the convent of Sta. Maria
Novella, at Florence, and who being afflicted with a
tedious and incurable malady which rendered him
unfit for other studies, occupied himself entirely in
writing and illuminating the choral books of the con
vent. He died ofthe plague in 1495.1 The name of
Antonio da Modena also occurs among the names ofthe
artists in the book belonging to the Society of Painters
in Padua during the year 1441 :2 this was probably
Antonio, the son of Giovanni de' Rossi above men
tioned. From Bologna, it appears, Johannes Alcherius went
to Venice, where, on the 4th of May, 1410, he procured
a recipe for preparing ultramarine from " Michelino di
Vesuccio, the most excellent painter among all the
painters of the world." 3 The high opinion entertained
by Alcherius for the skill of Michelino was general
among his contemporaries. Pietro Candido Dicembrio
asserts that he was one of the most famous painters of
his time — inter cceteres cetatis sua? illustris.
The Conte Gaetano Melzi informed me that Michelino
was a native of Besuzzo (a village in the province of
Milan), which forms part of the estates of the Borromeo
family, by whom he was much employed. The present
representative of this noble house possessed, until very

1 Marchese, ' Memorie,' &c, vol. i. p. 174.
2 See Moschini ' della Pittura in Padova,' p. 23.
3 See Preface to No. 117.

PRELIMINARY OBSERVATIONS. 13
lately, a picture, now entirely decayed, by this artist.
Conte Giberto Borromeo was polite enough to search
for the picture in order to show it to me, but it was so
dilapidated that I could not see it. The following
biographical notice respecting this painter is translated
from a manuscript volume of Memoirs of the early
Milanese Painters, Architects, and Sculptors, kindly
lent me by Conte Gaetano Melzi of Milan, a nobleman
distinguished for his literary attainments and possessing
an excellent library : —
" We may reasonably conclude that this is the
Michelino of Milan who is named by Vasari among
the disciples of Taddeo Gaddi. He is mentioned by
Lomazzo, who says he was a very old Milanese painter
who lived a hundred and fifty years before his time ; *
and that he was one of the best of that period, judging
from his works, some of which exist to this day. He
added that he was ' stupendissimo nel far figure di
animali ;' and he gives us a description of a picture or
drawing in which are represented some peasants in the
act of joking and laughing, which was really an extra
ordinary work of the kind. Pietro Candido Dicembrio,
who was a contemporary of this same Michelino, men
tions another of his pictures, which was the portrait
of Gian Maria Visconti, Duke of Milan. It is also
asserted that Michelino was not less skilful in archi
tecture, and that he took a prominent part in the
academy instituted by the Duke Gian Galeazzo about
the year 1380."

1 Lomazzo published his Treatise in 1584 ; this would bring the date of
Michelino at least as far back as 1434.

14 MANUSCRIPTS OF JEHAN LE BEGUE.
Michelino, therefore, is another instance of a painter
exercising the profession of architect conjointly with
his own.
Lanzi (vol. iv. p. 139), after repeating what Lomazzo
had said in praise of Michelino, adds, that it appears
he was esteemed even by foreigners, for it is men
tioned by Morelli {Notizie, fyc, p. 81) that the
Vendramini family in Venice possessed a small parch
ment book in quarto, containing animals painted by
this artist. The note of Alcherius shows that Miche
lino was at Venice in 1410. Lanzi says he was living
in 1435.
Johannes Alcherius returned to Paris in 1410; and
in December, 1411, a year after his return from Italy,
he employed himself in recopying and correcting the
manuscripts he had collected on painting.1 This ap
pears to have been his last labour in the service of the
arts. From this time nothing more is known of this
indefatigable collector of manuscripts on art, whose
labours extended over a space of thirty years. Twenty
years after we find his manuscripts in the hands of
Jehan le Begue, who copied them "with his own
hand into one volume," and who probably arranged
them in their present form.
I have entered into these particulars because they
give authority to the recipes, and authenticity to the
manuscripts. Besides these manuscripts which I have mentioned,
the volume of Le Begue contains also a copy of part of
the first book of Theophilus ; a Treatise on the Com-
1 See Prefaces to Nos. 290, 297, 302.

PRELIMINARY OBSERVATIONS. 15
position of Colours, by Petrus de Sancto Audemaro ;
and three books by Eraclius, entitled " De Artibus
Romanorum." The whole of the treatise of Theophilus has recently
been published, with an excellent English translation
and notes, by Mr. Hendrie.

TABLE OF CONTENTS.

Table of the synonymous names of colours, and of the qualities
and accidents of colours, and things pertaining to the art of
painting ; also of the works and exercises proper and
incident to them.
Another table imperfect, and without a beginning.
Experiments on colours.
Divers experiments not upon colours.
The work of Theophilus, a most admirable and learned master
of the whole science of the art of painting.
The work of Master Peter, of St. Audemar, on making
colours.
The first and metrical book of Eraclius (a most learned man),
on the colours and arts of the Romans.
The second book by the same author, also metrical.
The third book, in prose, on the aforesaid colours and
arts.
Chapters written by John Archerius, or Alcherius, in the year of
our Lord 1398, on colours for painting, as he received them
from Jacob Cona, a Flemish painter, then living in Paris.
Chapters on the colours used for illuminating books, written
and noted by the same Alcherius in the year 1398, as he
received them from Antonio de Compendio, an illuminator
of books in Paris ; and from Master Alberto Porzello, a
schoolmaster at Milan, who was most skilful in all kinds
of writing.
Other recipes in Latin and French by Master John, surnamed
Le Begue, a licentiate in law, and secretary of the general
magistrates of the king's mint at Paris ; who wrote the
present work, or the chapters collected in this volume, with
his own hand, in the year of our Lord 1431, and in the
63rd year of his age. Ulustra Deus oculum.

CONTINENTUR HOC VOLUMINE.

Tabula de vocabulis synonymis et equivocis colorum rerumque
et accidentium colorum ipsisque omni arti pictorie confer-
entium nee non operum exercitiorumque propitiorum ac con-
tingentium eorum.
Alia tabula licet imperfecta et sine initio.
Experimenta de coloribus.
Experimenta diversa alia quam de coloribus.
Liber Theophili admirabilis et doctissimi magistri de omni
scientia picturse artis.
Liber Magistri Petri de Sancto Audemaro de coloribus faci-
endis.
Eraclii sapientissimi viri liber primus et metricus de coloribus
et de artibus Romanorum.
Ejusdem liber secundus, item metricus.
Ejusdem liber tertius sed prosaicus de coloribus et ar
tibus praedictis.
De coloribus ad pingendum capitula scripta et notata a Jo-
hanne Archerio seu Alcherio anno Domini 1398 ut accepit
a Jacoho Cona flamingo pictore commorante tunc Parisiis.
Capitula de coloribus ad illuminandum libros ab eodem Ar
cherio sive Alcherio scripta et notata anno 1398 ut accepit
ab Antonio de compendio illuminatore librorum in Parisiis
et a magistro Alberto Porzello perfectissimo in omnibus
modis scribendi, mediolani scholas tenente.
Aultres receptes en Latin et en Francois per Magistrum Jo-
hannem dit Le Begue Licentiatum in legibus et generalium
magistrorum monetae regis greffarium Parisiis. Qui praa-
sens opus seu capitula in hoc volumine aggregata propria
manu scripsit anno Domini 1431. iEtatis vero suae 63.
Ulustra Deus oculum.

VOL. I.

18 MANUSCRIPTS OF JEHAN LE BEGUE.

Tabula de vocabulis sinonimis et equivocis colorum,
rerumque, et accidencium colorum, ipsisque et arti
pictorie conferentium, nee non operum exerciciorum-
que propiciorum ac contingencium eorum.

[Habitis per presentem tabulam declaracionibus nominum, colorum, rerum
que, et accidencium eorum et artis pictorie, et eis conferencium, nee non
operum et exerciciorum propiciorum ac contingencium eorum, querantur
ipsorum et ipsorum effectus et operaciones in hoc libro, et in capitulis
ejus, per primam ex tabulis sequentibus.]

Albus est color, aliter, secundum Grecos, dicitur leucos
et secundum Catholiconem dicitur glaucus ; et est cerusa, aliter
album Hispanie, et aliter album plumbum dicitur, et aliter
bracha*seu blacha.1
Azurium vel lazurium est color ; aliter celestis vel celestinu?,
aliter blauccus, aliter persus, et aliter ethereus dicitur.
Aurum est nobilius metallum croceum 2 colorem habens et
tenuatur in petulis, quo carentes utuntur stanno attenuato, et
colorito colore croceo, et in petulis tenuato.
Argentum est nobile metallum album colorem habens, quo
qui caret utitur ejus loco de dicto stanno tenuato, non co
lorito. Auripigmentum est color croceus qui aliter arsicon dicitur.
Aureola 3 est color qui aliter pictura translucida vocatur ; et
omnis pictura, cujuslibet coloris, in stanno attenuato facta, si
Note. — The technical nature of the terms, and the obscurity of many of
the explanations, render a translation impracticable.
1 Albus appears to signify white lead. Blacha was probably written
biacha (biacca).
2 Crocus, Croceum is used for yellow. See Croceum.
3 Aureola. This appears to be the auripetrum of Pietro di S. Audemar,
No. 202, and the Clavicula.

TABLE OF SYNONYMES. 19
ipsa liniatur, per eam transparet, et pulcra fit, precipue si in
stanno tenuato polito sit.
Attramentum est color niger quo scribitur, aliter incaustum
dicitur, et vide in incausto, et de ipso quoque utitur pingendo
dum fit de fuligine ardentis candele vel lampadis vel carbone
mollis ligni vel vitis.1
Auripentrum 2 est color croceus qui stanno lucido suppositus
et linitus speciem auri procul intuentibus mentitur.
Auripigmento similis est color qui vocatur (sic) et
fit de felle piscis magni marini, credo balene, mixto cum creta
alba seu gersa et modico aceto.
Arsicon vel arxica 3 sicut est auripigmentum, est color cro
ceus, et miscendo succo herbe que scalda bassa dicitur fit viridis
et succi gratia quarumdam aliarum herbarum ad hoc boni sunt.
Anguillaria herba facit colorem (sic) cum miscetur vitro.
Alba creta est gipsus, aliter gersa dicta, et fit de lapide quo-
dam in fornace usque ad dealbacionem decocto, et de subtiliore
ipsius dealbantur tabule altarium. Alii plastrum vocant.
Arxica est quedam terra crocea ad pingendum apta ac etiam
ad formas operum cupri fundendorum fiendas utilima.
Alumen glacie i quod alibi, precipue in Parisiis glassa dicitur,
et si color non sit, tamen pluribus coloribus ad picturam et
illuminaturam aptis nimis conveniens est.
Assisiam auri faciendo intrat moniculum 5 quod est quedam
(sic).
1 Atramentum, then, is charcoal or lamp-black, No. 172.
2 Auripentrum, called auripetrum by Petrus di S. Audemar, No. 202 ;
by Eraclius, No. xliv. ; and in the Clavicula. This appears to be the same
as Aureola.
3 Arzicon and Arzica are here considered synonymous, but they are not
so in fact: the former is declared by Eraclius, No. 1., to be the same as
orpiment, but the latter is shown by the Bolognese manuscript to have been
a yellow lake, made from the Reseda Luteola, Dyers' weed, or, as it is
generally called, Weld. Arzicon appears to be a corruption of Arsenicon,
which Vitruvius (lib. vii. cap. vii.) says was the Greek name for Auripig
mentum. 4 Alumen glacie appears to be common alum, see Nos. 42, 299, 313.
5 Gum. ammoniac.
c 2

20 MANUSCRIPTS OF JEHAN LE BEGUE.
Aurare seu deaurare chrisare dicitur, ut dicit Catholicon.
Argilla dicitur creta alba, et aliis modis vocatur ut sequenter
in creta dicetur.
AIM colores seu materie et metalla eorum sunt et nomi-
nantur, ut et in hac tabula reperies in locis suis, cerusa,
blacha, argentum et stannum tenuatum, gipsus, creta alba,
candidus calx, gersa, tavertinus.
Bracha seu Blacha * est color albus, et fit de plumbo vel de
ejus corrupcione, sicut rubigo fit de ferro ; . aliter vocatur
cerusa, album plumbum, et aliter glaucus.
Blauccus2, est color, aliter lazurium vel azurum aliter
celestis vel celestinus, aliter persus, aliter ethereus dictus.
Brunus 8 est color quem puto esse bularminium alibi poni-
tur pro sanguine drachonis qui quasi coloris bularminici est.
Bures* est liquor qui in licivio de cinere fabarum coctus
facit colorem (sic) credo viridem, per ea que continentur
in capitulo 247.

1 It is probable this word was originally written biacha, the old Italian
way of spelling biacca.
2 Blauccus, or, as it is written in No. 294, Blauctus, and in No. 314
blauet, signifies Blue.
3 Brunus. Probably Bruno di Spagna, which Haydocke, the translator
of Lomazzo's Treatise on Painting (p. 99), identifies with Majolica, and
which there is no reason to doubt is the soft red haematite, called also
Bruno d'Inhilterra. This colour is mentioned by Eraclius, Nos. 282,
286. 4 There is scarcely a doubt that this should be written Borax, and not
Bures. The word Borax is derived in the first place from the Hebrew
Borith, and more immediately from the Arabic Baurach, and was so cor
rupted by the different nations who practised the arts in which it was used,
that it is seldom found in old MSS. written twice alike. By Theophilus
it is called " parahas," or " barabas ;" in the Montpelier MS. described by
Mr. Hendrie (Theoph. p. 429) it is written " Boraxa ;" in the Clavicula,
Burrago, Borras, Borrax, and Borac. It was also known to the Arabs
under another name, derived from Tincal, its denomination in India, whence
it was brought to Europe, namely Tincar, whence the Spanish name Atin-
car. It is a native borate of soda, and is found at the bottom of lakes in
Persia, the Mogul territory, in Thibet, China, and Japan.

TABLE OF SYNONYMES. 21
Bisetus, vel Biseth folii,1 est color minus rubeus quam
folium, et de eodem folio cum supernatat acceptus, et credo
per hoc etiam potest intelligi quilibet clarescens color super-
natans cuilibet ex coloribus cum in conchillis temperati sunt
ad pingendum et aliquantulum quieverunt.
Bularminium 2 est color rubeus nigrescens, ut morellus, vel
ut sanguis drachonis.
Blacha seu Bracha* est color albus, aliter cerusa, aliter
album Hispanie, aliter album plumbum, et aliter glaucus
dicitur. Braxilium vel Brexilium * est lignum rubeum a quo cum
pistus rixus sit in lixivio forti vel urina cum albumine com-
miscetur exit color roxeus vel purpureus.
Blaca, dicit Catholicon, est purpura cujusdem animalis
colorem mutans ; et qui blateus dicitur, purpureus, vel talis
coloris, scilicet blauius dicitur ipse.
Blondus est color albo et rubeo mixtus, aliter cerulus vel
ceruleus ; et ceruleus color alibi ponitur pro colore ex albo et
viridi mixto ; et facto vel ex viridi, albo, et croceo.
Berettinus 5 color, Lombardice sic vocatus, est color medius
inter album et nigrum, qui Latine elbus vel elbidus dicitur, ut
in Catholicone scilicet ; Gallice grisus appellator.
Birsus ' est color rufus vel niger, ut dicit Catholicon.
Blaui 7 colores, seu materie eorum sunt et nominantur ut in
1 See Folium. Bisetus, or Biseth folii, a Latin form of " Bezette," which
is a corruption of the Italian word " Pezzette." See the note to " Succus.''
2 Bularmenium — Armenian Bole.
3 Blacha, or bracha. This should probably be written biacha (biacca),
Nos. 1, 18.
4 Braxilium, or brexilium, the verzino of the Italians.
5 This colour, which is a true grey, is the veneda of Theophilus.
6 Birsus. This appears to be a dark purple colour. See Cennino Cen
nini, chap, cxiv., note by Tambroni.
7 Blaui colores, that is blue colours. See ante, Blauccus. This term
occurs in the extracts from the Archivio delle Riformazione di Firenze,
published by Gaye, Carteggio inedito, vol. i. p. 449, and in Venetian
tariffs. Mr. Hendrie says the word is of Byzantine origin. The resem
blance to the German Blau is striking.

22 MANUSCRIPTS OF JEHAN LE BEGUE.
hac tabula in locis suis reperies, azurium seu lazurium, viola,
herbe flos, persicus, persus, indicus, silacetus, safirecus, rubigo
argenti finissimi.
Chriso, Chrisas, id est deaurare vel aurare ut in Catholicon
dicitur. Citrinus color aliquantulum differt a duobus coloribus, id
est, croceo, et punico vel puniceo, et citrinus est color ex croceo
et rubeo mixtus seu factus.1
Croceus 8 color aliquantulum differt a coloribus duobus, pu
niceo videlicet et citrino.
Carnatura,3 alia membrana, alia cedra, alia holcus vel olcus,
alia lumina, alia veneda seu veneda, alia fulvus, menesch,
prasis, posech, cerusa, purpureus, folium, sinopis, ruscus, rosa,
rubi, succus, menech, exedra.
Cedra 4 est color qui fit de rubeo, mixto cum pauco nigri
coloris, ad nuda ymaginum humanarum operanda ; aliter
dicitur exedra.
Coccicus? ci, color est rubeus, seu sanguineus ; vel etiam
genus est tincture coloris medii inter rubeum et croceum : alii
coccinum illud vocant, ut, in passione Christi, de colore vestis
ejus. Coccus dicunt Greci, nos vero coccicum, seu cortinum aut
coccinum, rubeum colorem qui fit et est ex diversis ut sunt
frondes silvestres, flores rose rubee, vel creta, que et terra
rubea, et alii colores rubei artificiali ; aliter dicitur vernilculus
vel vermiletus, et aliter sanguineus.

i Orange colour.
2 Yellow.
3 Under this term the author has included all the tints used in painting
flesh, as well the flesh tints as those for shadows.
4 Cedra. The shadow-colour for flesh. See Theophilus, lib. i. chap.
xiii., where it is called Excedra or Exedra. »
5 Coccicus or Coccicum. By this term was meant the colour called by
the Italians " Grana," and which the Arabs called " Alkermes," and we
Kermes.

TABLE OF SYNONYMES. 23
Cortex x secundus nigra prunii, si decoquatur facit colorem
croceum. Crocea terra, vel creta crocea, est ad pingendum apta ; aliter
ocra vel ogra dicitur. Alia terra crocea est que arxica * dici
tur qua forme operum fusilium cupri fiunt.
Cerulus vel ceruleus,3 dicit Catholicon, id est fulvus ad
instar cere viridis, niger, glaucus, et est prope blondus ; sed
alibi idem Catholicon dicit quod fulvus est aliquantulum
rubeus vel cum nigro rubeus mixtus, et, ut idem Catholicon,
flavus, albus, rubeus, aut blondus albo et rubeo factus.
Celestinus vel celestis est color aliter azurium, aliter blau-
cus, aliter persus, aliter ethereus dictus.
Cerusa est color albus qui fit de plumbo ; aliter vocatur
bracha seu blacha, et aliter glaucus et alibi dicitur que cerusa
fit de cupro adusto.4
Croma Grece, Latine color, secundum Catholiconem, quod
est vocabulum universale pro omnibus coloribus.
Color similiter est vocabulum universale pro omnibus colori
bus, et Grece croma dicitur, et quot sunt planete, tot sunt
colores, videlicet septem, qui sunt, primo duo extremi, albus
et niger, et reliqui quinque qui intermedii dicuntur, videlicet,
celestis seu Lazurius, rubeus, croceus seu aureus, viridis, et
sanguineus seu purpureus aut violetus vel fulvus de quorum
singulis reperies in hac tabula in locis suis secundum litteras
alphabeti primas nominum eorum et materias quibus fiunt, et de
quorum etiam interunpcionibus ad invicem infinite diversitates
colorum ad placitum humani ingenii distinguuntur.
Crocus vel Crocum 5 est color exiens de saffranno madefacto,
1 Cortex. See Nos. 206, 208, 209. This appears to have been used
in making yellow varnishes which, being spread over tin, caused it to
appear like gold.
2 Is this the "Terra di Matton bianchi " mentioned by Baldinucci?
Voc. Dis.
3 Cerulus. This is quite unintelligible.
4 See Eraclius, No. liv.
5 Crocus or Crocum. The zafarano of the Italians. See Cennini,
cap. 49.

24 MANUSCRIPTS OF JEHAN LE BEGUE.
vel est idem saffrannus ; et melior est cicilianus qui coriscos
vocatur. Croceus x est color idem exiens de saffranno, et est qui fit
ex mixtura fellis et crete albe, et est ocra vel ogra terra
quedam, et est color auri, et est auripigmentum, et est etiam
quedam terra crocea que arxica dicitur apta ad formas operum
cupri fiendas, et alii dicunt ipsam argillam.
Candidus est color albus differens ab albo.
Calx2 calcis est color albus, videlicet lapis durus in igne
usque ad ejus dealbacionem decoctus, de quo lathomi cemen-
tum ad muros edificandos faciunt.
Carminium a est color rubeus, aliter cinobrium vel sinopis
dictus ; alibi dicitur quod fit de albo et ocro mixtis.
Cerosius est color viridis, alibi capitur pro quodam succo in
159, et alibi pro (sic).
Coriscos est crocus, id est, saffranus perfectissimus, ut ait
Ysidorus, nascens in Cicilia insula.
Caligo * est color, videlicet, materia ilia crocea obscura,
quam fumus ignis generat sub caminatis sub quibus continue
fit ignis decoquendo fercula.
Caprifoliurn 5 est herba in Anglico dicta " gaterice," cujus
grana in vino trita et bulita si emitatur ferrum eruginatum
color viridis fulgentis efficitur, et si addatur atramentum, niger
efficitur. Creta alba, dicitur argilla, est color albus factus de lapide
in fornace cocto, qui aliter plastrum dicitur, et ajiter gersa, et
aliter gipsus, et utuntur ipsa pelliparii ; alia est rubea, alia
viridis et alia nigra, que terra nigra seu lapis niger vocatur, et
alia crocea.

i Croceus may here be considered a general name for yellow pigments.
2 Lime.
3 See Eraclius, No. lvi.
4 This appears to be the colour we call Bistre.
5 Sir Thomas Phillips says, in his Introduction to the Clavicula, that
for Gaterice we should read gate-tree, i. e. goat-tree.

TABLE OF SYNONYMES. 25
Creta viridis,1 cujus melior nascitur in creta cirina insula,
et vocatur Grece theodote ; alia creta reperitur rubea, et alia
alba, et alia nigra, que appellata est lapis niger.
Crisicula 8 est color (sic) veniens a Macedonia, et
foditur ex metallis aerariis.
Ceruleus color fit ex succo de lutea herba expresso, alibi
dicitur quod viridissimum colorem facit, ipsa herba seu succus
ejus, precipue si alicui substancioso colori albo admisceatur, ut
crete aut cerusie ; et alibi ceruseus est color blondus ex albo et
rubeo factus.
Carbo" est color niger factus de lignis mollibus ustis, ut salix,
populus, vitis, et similia.
Cinobrium * vel cinopis aliter carminium dicitur.
Conchile 5 vel concile maris circonscise sanguinem purpureum
colorem habentem emittunt, quo tinctura purpurea fit pro lanis.
Crocei colores seu materie, et metalla eorum sunt et nomi-
nantur ut in hac tabula reperies in locis suis : aurum, auripig
mentum, auripigmento similis color, arsica, suffranus, coriscos,
caligo, decoctio secundi corticis nigri pruni, ocra vel ogra, fel,
grecumspect, staniium tenuatum croce colore in hoc convenienti
coloritum. Celare a celo, celas, id est lanire, sculpere, pingere, figurare,
protrahere, designare ; et inde celatura, celature, etc.
Drachonis sanguis 6 est color morellus seu rubeus obscurus.
Deaurare, id est, auro aurare, chrisare dicitur, ut in Catho
licon.

1 This creta viridis seems to be our terra verte.
2 Chrysocolla. This is the native green carbonate of copper.
3 Carbo, that is, charcoal black.
4 Cinnabar or vermilion. The writers of these old MSS. speak of the
artificial cinnabar only.
5 This was the purpura of Pliny and the ancients, from which the cele
brated Tyrian dye was prepared, and which was procured from a fish of ihe
genus Buccinum found in the Mediterranean.
6 Dragon's blood.

26 MANUSCRIPTS OF JEHAN LE BEGUE.
Designare, protrahere, pingere, sculpere, figurare, lanire,
celare, quasi idem significant.
Exedra* est color ex mixtura rubea et modico nigri ad nuda
corporum humanorum fienda aliter dicta cedra.
Edera 2 est herba arboribus herendo, repens, que in Gallico
dicitur "yene" vel "lierre," cujus rami ex sobula perforati,
vel hinc inde infra eos incisi, ad medium videlicet de mense
Marcii emittunt liquorem sanguineum, qui, cum urina coctus,
lacca est, qua tinguntur pelles parcium.
Ethereus color aliter dicitur lazurium seu azurium, et aliter
persus, aliter blauctus, et aliter celestinus seu celestis.
Elbus,3 -\>&,-hxi.m, vel elbidus,-da,-dum, color est medius
inter album et nigrum, ut ait Catholicon, et Gallice dicitur
Grisus, set Lombardice Berretinus nominator.
Flavus 4 color fit de cerusa combusta.
Folium 5 est pro tingendo lanas, et est color rubeus, et qui-
dam alter est purpureus, et alter saphireus, scilicet est quidatn
alter qui fit miscendo ipsi rubeo cinerem vel lexivium cinerum
ligni ulmi, et vocatur folium scampnense.
Fel 6 est liquor croceus, seu color, quo si cuprum cultello
rasum et dente politum ungatur quociens conveniat, splendi-
ficatur tanquam si deauratum esset, et si ipsum fel misceatur
cum creta seu gersa alba, et modico aceto, efficitur color auri-
pigmento similis, videlicet croceus.
Fuscus est color niger, ex carbone, vel ex fumo lampadis

1 Exedra. See Theophilus, lib. i. cap. xiii. ; and Le Begue, No. 345.
2 Edera, the ivy.
3 In English, Grey.
4 Flavus. This appears to be the colour we now call massacot, the
protoxide of lead.
s Folium. See Vocabulary of Colours, supra.
6 A similar colour is in use at the present day, called Gallstone. It is a
beautiful and very transparent yellow, but it is not permanent. It is used
in water-colours.

TABLE OF SYNONYMES. 27
aut candele ardentis factus, et aliter dicitur fuligo,1 dicitur
aliter fuscus sanctonicus dicitur.
Fuligo est color niger vel quasi niger, ad croceum tendens,
et veniens a camino ignis, aliter dicta caligo, et est etiam fumus
candele et lampadis nigerrimus recollectus ad scutellam vel
aliud vas ferreum, vel cupreum, vel terreum.
Fumus3 est color niger, si cum ab igne candele sepi vel
cere, vel a lampadis lumine exit, colligatur, qui aliter fuscus,
et aliter fuligo nominator.
Fulvus, dicit Catholicon, est rubeus aliquantulum, vel cum
nigro rubeus ; et vide sequenter in R. littera super verbo ravus,
quod ibi aliter dicitur.
Fenix, seu phenix, vel feniceus color rubeus est et feniceon
Grece Latine rubeum colori rosarum rubearum similatus.
Ferula,3 aliter galbanum dicta, est genus, et lac herbe, et
est quidem color inde de succo ex palmitibus ejus expresso fac
tus ut dicit Catholicon.
Figurare, pingere, sculpere, protrahere, designare, lanire,
celare, quasi idem significant.
Galbanum 4 est genus et lac herbe, que dicitur ferula, et est
quidem color inde de succo ex palmitibus ejus factus, et sic
dicit Catholicon.
Grrisus color, Gallice sic dictus, est color inter album et
nigrum, qui Latine elbus vel elbidus dicitur ut in Catholicon,
set Lombardice vocatur beretinus.
Grenuspecti herba, cujus decoctio vini aut cervisie crocea
est, de qua, si temperetur et teretur viride Grecum, fit pulcrum
viride, quod credo esse viridegris.

1 The colour here described is Bistre.
2 Fumus — Lamp black.
3 Ferula — See Galbanum.
4 Galbanum, a liquor or gum produced by a species of ferula in Africa
and Turkey, called Ferula Galbanifera.
5 Grenuspect. Sir Thomas Phillips thinks this should be written
" Grcningwert."

28 MANUSCRIPTS OF JEHAN LE BEGUE.
Gersa1 est color albus, de quadam terra, vel lapide non
duro, cocto in fornace factus, qui aliter gipsus vel creta alba
vocatur, et ipsa utuntur pelliparii, et aliter plastra dicitur.
Set etiam pelliparii pocius utuntur alia creta alba, que fit de
quodam meliori lapide absque coctione albissimo pulverizato,
Gallice " croye."
Glades* vel glacies, cum ex metallis primum exciduntur,
gutas argenti vivi exprimunt, pro usu artificum, et sine ipsis
es neque argentum inaurari possunt.
Garancia 3 herba est ad faciendum tincturas lanarum et
lineorum, et in Ytalico gadus dicitur.
Gadus 4 herba est, in Gallico garancia dicta, ad faciendum
tincturas lanarum et lineorum.
Glassa 5 credo quod sit alumen glasse seu glacie.
Gipsus 6 est color albus, aliter gersa, et aliter alba creta
dictus, et est terra seu lapis in fornace usque ad dealbacionem
decoctus, quo tabule altarium dealbantur ut depingantur.
Granetus est color de albo et viridi factus.
Gladius 7 viridis est color viridis factus de auripigmento et
indico mixtus.

1 This is plaster of Paris, the gesso of the Italians. The other stone is
our English chalk.
2 I believe this passage is from Pliny. See Eraclius, No. 241.
3 Garancia is certainly madder, but its Italian name is Robbia, and not
gadus. 4 Gadus. This is a mistake : the French term is Gaude ; the Italian,
Guado; the English, Woad — Isatis Tinctoria.
5 Glassa. In these manuscripts of Le Begue the word Glassa is used in
two significations : first, it is used to denote Sandarac or Amber, as in Nos.
208 and 341 ; and, secondly, it is used in conjunction with Alumen, and
appears to mean crystallized alum simply, or Roche alum, as in Nos. 42 and
299. 6 Gipsus. Gesso — plaster of Paris.
7 Gladius viridis. A vegetable green, prepared from the leaves of the
Gladiolus communis ; in Italian, Gladiolo ; in French, Glayeul flambe ; in
English, the Corn-flag; in Sicilian, Spatulidda. This pigment was much
used in Italy. See ' Secreti di Alessio,' part ii. p. 37 b. A blue colour
was made from the flowers of the same plant.

TABLE OF SYNONYMES. 29
Glaucus est color albus, ut cerusa, que aliter dicitur album
plumbum, aliter blacha, et aliter album Hispanic
Gaterice l Anglice est herba, cujus grana in vino trita et
bullita, si immittatur ferrum eruginatum efficitur color viridis
fulgentis et si addatur attramentum niger efficitur.
Gumma 2 edere, lacha est facta ex succo vel liquore exeunte
in Marcio de ramis edere herbe arboribus inherentis et re-
pentis, si aculeo ferro perforentur.
Holcus 3 vel olcus est color, qui aliter membrana dicitur, ex
rubeo, et albo, et pauco viridis creta compositus ad nuda cor
pora et membra humana depingenda.
Herba morella,* trita cum gersa seu gipso, id est, creta alba,
facit colorem viridem.
Herba sandix5 vocata, est rubea, et de ipsa fit tinctura
rubea aut sanguinea.
Herba vaccinium " vocata duplex est ; una rubea, que tem-
perata cum lacte purpureum colorem facit elegantem, reliqua
vero croceum colorem facit.
Herba viola dicta, cujus flos persus seu blavus est, facit co
lorem blavum si ipse ejus flos misceatur crete albe et teratur.
Herba que scalda bassa vocatur in janua facit succum si pis-
tetur et exprimatur, qui mixtus cum arxicon vel arxica, colore
croceo, fit color viridis.
Iris est color (sic).
Indicus vel indicum est color celestinus obscurus.

i i i*

1 See ante, Caprifolium.
2 Gumma Edera. Gum from the Ivy.
3 See Theophilus, lib. i. cap. i. ; and Pietro di S. Audemar, No. 180.
4 Herba Morella (Solanum Nigrum) is here, as in the Bol. manuscript,
said to make a green colour.
6 Herba sandix — the madder. The word madder is derived from the
Danish, Swedish, and Russian languages.
6 Herba vaccinium, the violet. That from which a yellow colour is
made is the Viola lutea, the Wall-flower.

30 MANUSCRIPTS OF JEHAN LE BEGUE.
Incaustum est color quo scribitur, aliter attramentum dictum,
vide in attramento, id est factum ex decoctione gallarum frac-
tarum, et vitriolo et gummi Arabico, aut ex decoctione mirce
que vulgariter genestra dicitur, et dictis vitriolo et gummi
Arabico et decoctio etiam corticis hoene ligni aut ceresi ligni
posset convenire, nee non cortex secundus nigri pruni arboris
ad hoc per decoctionem adaptaretur cum addicione supra-
scriptorum vitrioli et gummi Arabici.
Jas viride dicitur, ut dicit Catholicon.
Lumina l est color ex mixtura membrane et ceruse factus ad
illuminandum facies et nuda corpora humana in pictura, seu ad
gibbositates in ipsis elevandos.
Lacca est gumma quedam, facta de liquore rubeo, qui exit
de liquore edere, arboribus herente et repente, si rami ipsius
in mense Marcii aculeo ferreo perforentur.
Lazurium vel azurium fit de lapide lazulli ; dicitur aliter
persus, aliter celestis vel celestinus, aliter blauctus seu blauus,
et aliter ethereus.
Lucee 2 herbe succus coloris cerulei est, et alibi dicitur quod
viridissimus est.
Lazuli Zapi'-Oreperitur in montibus vel partibus et est ce-
Lapis lazuli ) lestis coloris seu persi vel blaui et de ipso fit
pulver qui purificatur et postea est azurium.
Lapis niger 3 est, de quo, si satis mollis sit, utuntur pictores
et carpentarii, protrahendo ad siccum ; et de ipso pingitur
terendo ad liquidum ; aliter terra nigra dicitur.
Lignum braxillii " rubeum seu purpureum colorem reddit si
in lixivio vel urina aut in claro ovi cum alumine temperetur.
' Lumina. See Theophilus, lib. i.
2 Herba Luzza, either the Erba lizza, the Tragopogon pratettse, yellow
goat's beard, or the Erba Lutea of Pliny, the Reseda Luteola, Dyer's weed,
or weld.
3 Black chalk, or graphite.
4 The Verzino of the Italians.

TABLE OF SYNONYMES. 31
Leucos Grece, Latine album, ut ait Catholicon, qui color et
glaucus dicitur.
Lanire, celare, sculpere, pingere, figurare, protrahere, de-
signare, quasi idem significant, etc.
Membrana ] est color quo pinguntur facies et nuda corpora
humana ; aliter olcus dicitur, vel holcus, et aliter carnatura.
Minium3 est color non tam rubeus ut synopis, set magis
pallidus, aliter dictus sendracum vel sendaraca.
Menesch ; 3 aliqui dicunt quod est color rubeus, minus clarus
quam minicum, et magis clarus quam synopis ; alii ipsum vocant
succum, et indici coloris est ; aliter dicitur esse succus sambuci,
qui viridis est.
Mellana 4 est color cum quo ex lacha seu gumma edere et
flore farine tritici in urina positus fit rubeus color synopis
vocatus. Morella 5 herba trita cum gersa seu creta alba est color
viridis. Mellinus est color metalli speciem habens.
Morellus est eolor ex rubeo et nigro factus.
Morus Grece, est arbor quam et Latini etiam sic appellant
cujus fructus morum dicitur, et ejus succus, mixtus cum creta
i Membrana. See Theophilus, lib. i. cap. 1, and Pietro diS. Audemar,
No. 180.
2 The term Sandaraca is sometimes applied to Red orpiment, and some
times to Minium.
3 Menesch. Mr. Hendrie (Theoph. p. 81) says this is a Romaic word,
signifying violet colour ; but I would suggest whether it may not signify
" Madder," the Indian name for which is Mnitsch. This construction is
perfectly compatible with the directions of Theophilus ; and in this case
it will also agree with the definition in the Table of Synonymes, on which,
however, I acknowledge but little dependence can be placed.
4 Mellana. In the MS. of S. Audemar this colour is called Sinopis de
Mellana. It is a kind of lake.
5 Morella. This is one of the Italian names for the Solanum Nigrum,
the Black nightshade. It is also called in Italy Solatro Nero, and Cacabo.
In French it is called " Morelle," " Morelle des Jardins ;" but it must be
distinguished from the " Maurelle," the name which the Croton Tinc
torium bears at Montpellier.

32 MANUSCRIPTS OF JEHAN LE BEGUE.
alba et aliis rebus convenientibus, simul et separatim, colorem
roseum et sanguineum faciunt.
Mirca ' est arbor vulgariter dicta genestra, que interponitur
faciendo incaustum ad scribendum.
Moniculum s est (sic), quod intrat ad faciendum
assisiam auri.
Niger est color terre nigre, que lapis niger dicitur, satis
mollis ad protrahendum, et color niger est etiam ex carbone
molito, vel ex fumo lampadis aut candele factus ; aliter fuscus
dicitur, et aliter sanccenicus.
Neveda,3 seu veneda est color ex mixtura nigri cum modico
albo plumbo, et si poni vult in muro, ponator calx loco dicti
albi plumbi.
Nigri pruni cortex secundus, si decoquatur, facit colorem
croceum, et si immittantur in ipsa decoctione debite quantitates
vitrioli et gummi Arabici, fit attramentum seu incaustum ad
scribendum. Niger color et rufus color vocantor birsus, ut ait Catholicon,
et vide in rufus et ravus quod ibi dicitur, ac etiam in birsus.
Nigri colores, seu materie eorum, sunt et nominantur ut et
in hac tabula reperies in locis suis, attramentum, incaustum,
fuligo, carbo, lapis niger, fuscus, fumus, sanctonicus.

i, 1 > est color terre crocee.
a,)

Ocra, Ogra,
Olchus 4 color aliter appellator membrana, ad facies et nuda
corpora humana depingenda.
Oster 5 piscis est marinus, cujus sanguis color est rubeus ;
purpureus vocatus.
i Mirca. See note to MSS. of St. Audemar, No. 206.
2 Probably Gum ammoniac.
3 See Veneda.
4 Olchus. See Pietro di S. Audemaro, No. 180, and Theophilus, lib. i.
cap. i.
8 The purpura of the ancients.

TABLE OF SYNONYMES. 33
Prasis ¦ est creta viridis ut dicit Catholicon.
Prasinus9' est color rubeus ; alii dicunt quod habet simili-
tudinem viridis coloris et nigri, set Catholicon dicit quod prasin
Grece, latine dicitur viridis.
Posch 3 est color ex mixtura prasini, et rubei combusti, et
ocre, et modico cenobrio, factus, ad distinguendas partes mem-
brorum humani corporis in membrana colore, set alibi posch
dicitur fieri ex ogra et viridi simul mixtis.
Purpureus, qui est color rubeus, aliter folium vocatur, —
vide in folium ; et Anglici, in quorum terra nascitur, ipsum
vocant "unormam ;" fit etiam color purpureus ex lapide silicis
exusto, et in aceto dum callescit extincto, et oster est certum
quid, id est, piscis maris, aut aliud, quo fit color purpureus,
vel de sanguine ejus ; et concule maris etiam circumcise pur
pureum colorem faciunt, et similiter creta alba infecta radice
rubea, et sic herba que vaccinium dicitur facit purpureum
colorem si cum lacte temperetur.
Pruni nigri secundus cortex facit ex decoctione colorem
croceum. Paratonium est color (Sic) .
Persus est color aliter celestis, aliter lazurium vel azurum,
aliter ethereus, et aliter blauus dictus.
Pictura translucida* aliter aureola dicta, est color seu
liquor per quem omnes alii colores transparent, si cum in
operibus siccaverint ipso liniantur, precipue in stanno attenuato
et polito.
Pallidus est color non proprie albus, set declinans aliquan
tulum ad obscuritatem.
Plumbus albus est color ex plumbo factus, aliter albus
hispanie, aliter glaucus, aliter cerusa, et aliter blacha dictus.

1 Probably Terre Verte.
2 Prasinus, the same as Prasis. See Theophilus, lib. i. cap. ii.
3 Posch. See Theophilus, lib. i. cap. iii. and vii. ; and Le Begue,
No. 344.
4 See the Chapters ' De Confectio Lucidae' and ' De Lucide ad Luci-
das'.of the Lucca manuscript, and Clavicula.
VOL. 1. D

34 MANUSCRIPTS OF JEHAN LE BEGUE.
Plastra est terra vel lapis, qui, decoctus fornaci, albissimus
est, aliter gersa, aliter creta alba, et aliter gipsus.
Phenix color rubeus est, vel fenix ; et feniceon Grece, latine
rubeum. Pumiceus color seu puniceus, aliquantulum differt a duobus
coloribus, id est, a croceo et citrino, que plus continet de
croceo, et minus de rubeo, quam citrinno.
Puniceus vel pumiceus, dicit liber de proprietatibus rerum,
est color circumdans rubeum colorem, aliter etiam dicitur
citrinus, qui est color ab eo parum differens que puniceus plus
continet de croceo et minus de rubeo quam citrinus.
Pingere, lanire, celare, sculpere, figurare, protrahere, de-
signare, quasi idem significant.
Rubeus est color qui ex frondibus silvestribus et aliis materi-
alibus diversis fit, et diversis in obscuritate, et claritate, et
aliis varietatibus, ut sunt dicti frondes, et etiam flores, ac terra
vel creta rubea, et alii colores rubei artificiati ; et Greci ipsum
coctum dicunt, nos vero rubeum vel vermiletum.
Rosa est color ex mixtura membrane et modico cenobrii et
modico minii factus ad rubricandas facies et membra humano-
rum corporum in pictura, et fit de vermiculo et albo plumbo,
ac de brasilio et alumine cum urina.
Rubi sunt rubei fructus arborum qui apud Grecos morus
dicuntur, et fructus ipse eorum morum dicitur, ex quibus
succus, mixtus aliis rebus materialibus, ut crete, seu gipso,
sanguinei vel rosei colores fiunt.
Rubea radixl\est de qua rubeus color fit, miscendo cum
Radix rubea Jcreta alba, id est, gipso.
Rubea terra, seu creta, ex qua trifa pingitur.
Rava color niger est fulvo mixtus, dicit Catholicon.
Roseus est color rosarum rubearum colori similatus, et aliter
vide in cocticus, coctus, fulvus, fenix seu phenix vel fenicus aut
feniceus, per p et h vel /etc scribendo, et vide etiam in pur
pureus et va. folium. 1 Madder.

TABLE OF SYNONYMES. 35
Rufus color et niger color vocantur birsus ut ait Catholicon.
Ravus, rava, ravum, id est, fulvi color, ut ait Catholicon, et
vide ante in fulvus quod ibi aliter dicitur et in eodem Catho-
licone dicitur ravus talis color, videlicet niger fulvo mixtus, et
vide advertenter in birsus quod ibi dicitur.
Rubei colores seu materie eorum sunt et nominantur ut et in
hac tabula reperies in locis suis carminium, cinobrium, sinopis,
coctinus, cocticus, coctus, vermiculus, herba sandix, herba
vaccinium dicta, folium, succus luchet herbe, mellana, sanda
raca, minium, sandix, terra seu creta rubea, fenix seu phenix,
roseus, et sanguineus ; set nota quod colores nominatim in
fenix seu phenix in roseus et sanguineus differunt a rubeis, et
est de ipsis coloribus sanguineis aliud capitulum generale
factum in littera S. in fine.
Sinopis1 est color magis rubeus quam vermiculus; aliter
dicitur cenobrium, aliter mellana, et fit de warancia, et aliter
est qui fit ex lacha vel gumma edere, et flore farine bullitis in
urina ; et aliter sinopis fit ex warancia et lacha suprascripta.
Saffranus, qui reddit colorem croceum, dicitur crocus, et
perfectior qui sit Sicilianus, tam in colore quam in sapore, qui
vocatur coriscos.
Succus 2 est color trahens ad indicum ; alii dicunt esse ru
beum minus clarum quam minium et magis clarum quam

1 There was a natural pigment called Sinopia, which is described by
Pliny and by Cennini (cap. 38), and which is also mentioned in the Bo
lognese MS. The sinopis of the text was a red lake.
a Succus. In the ' Secreti di Don Alessio Piemontese,' part 2, p. 37, is
a recipe for making " Pezzette morelle '* from the berries of the Ebuli, or
Sambuco Salvatico (Dwarf Elder). The pezzette were pieces of rag which
were dipped into the coloured juice of the elder, and other plants, until they
absorbed the juice. They were then dried in the shade ; when dry, they
were then dipped in a solution of alum and again dried. When they were
required for use, a piece was put into a shell, and a little gum-water being
poured over it, it was stirred about until the colour was discharged, when
the rag was thrown away : the colour left, which was transparent, was used
for painting.
D2

36 MANUSCRIPTS OF JEHAN LE BEGUE.
sinopis, et aliter vocatur menesch, quod aliter dicitur ipse
menech esse succus sambuci.
Succus sambuci est color seu liquor viridis obscurus, qui
aliter menech dicitur.
Succus herbarum est color viridis seu liquor cui sepe ad-
miscentur alia ad virides colores faciendos.
Stannum attenuatum album utitur scilicet loco argenti, qui
caret argento ; et loco auri, qui auro caret, depingitur seu
coloratur croce colore, et ipso utitur.
Sandaracum - seu sandaracha est color minus rubeus quam
vermiculus, et est aliter minium dictus.
Scrupulum (Sic) .
Sandix 2 genus est herbe rubee de qua fit tinctura ut dicit
Catholicon. Sandalica est genus coloris.
Sanguis drachonis 3 est color rubeus obscurus seu est color
morellus. Sillacetus1 color fit ex violis aridis decoctis, et, expressa
aqua, tritis super lapide cum creta alba, id est, gersa.
Safireus color est color quilibet saphiri lapidis assimilans,
videlicet propr-ie inter celestem et rubeum, plus ad celestem
trahens colorem quam ad rubeum.
Sanctonicus color aliter fuscus dicitur, qui color niger est.
Sanguineus est color rosarum rubearum colori, ac etiam
colorum sanguinis assimilatus, et aliter vide in roseus et in
aliis locis ibi nominatis.
Scupere, lenire, celare, pingere, figurare, protrahere, de-
signare, quasi idem significant, &c.
Sanguinei colores seu materie eorum sunt et nominantur ut
et in hac tabula in locis suis reperies, bullarminium, sanguis
1 Red orpiment is frequently understood by this term. It is used by
S. Audemar in the terms mentioned in the text.
2 Madder.
3 Dragon's blood.
4 This is a yellow colour, prepared from the Viola Iutea, the Wall-flower,
and white chalk or gesso. The name in the text is derived from P!lny.

TABLE OF SYNONYMES. 37
drachonis, braxillii lignum, lacca, purpura, biacca, sanguis
conchillarum maris, coctos, vermiculus, liquor edere herbe,
gomma edere, sandix herba, vaccinium herba, mellana, morus,
oster maris, rosa, rubi, rubea radix, roseus ; et nota quod
sanguinei colores a rubeis differunt, ut in capitulo generali de
rubeis coloribus dictum est in littera R.
Terreus color fit de cerusa combusta.
Therdote (sic) Grece, latine est creta viridis, cujus melior
nascitur in creta cirina.
Terra nigra vel lapis niger mollis est, de quo terendo fit
color niger; et, non terendo, utuntur carpentarii et pictores
protrahendo ad siccum.
Terra seu creta rubea, ex qua trita pingitur.
Terra vel creta viridis ad pingendum est cujus melior nasci
tur in creta cirina, et in Greco dicitur Theodote.
Terra vel creta crocea est apta ad pingendum et aliter ocra
vel ogra dicitur.
Terra seu creta alba, aliter gersa, aliter gipsus, aliter plastra
dicitur, qua utuntur pelliparii ; et est alia rubea, alia crocea,
alia nigra que de terra vel lapide aut creta nigra trita fit, alia
viridis cujus melior nascitur in creta cirina, et ipsa in Greco
dicitur theodoce.
Tavertinus1 albus color, seu lapis qui apte rubificatur, si in
ligno braxilii, cum urina, vel lexivio, et alyjnine misceatur.
Viridis vel viride est color ex diversis factus sicut creta vel
terra viridis et alii ex herbarum succis et metalli facti virides
artificiati. Violaceus vel violetus color est, qui ex rubeo et nigro, aut
ex rubeo et perso vel lazurio, fit miscendo.
1 Travertine. A stone dug in many parts of Italy, particularly in Siena,
Pisa, Lucca, and near the river Teverone at Tivoli. It is a peculiar kind
oflimcstone, formed by a deposit from the rivers in these districts. It was
much used in Italy for building, and for making lime. See 1st ' Report of
Commissioners of Fine Arts,' p. 39, and n

38 MANUSCRIPTS OF JEHAN LE BEGUE.
Warancia ' est color seu materia coloris, quia cocta in aqua
cum lacha seu gumma edere fit quidam color rubeus sinopis
vocatos et etiam ex ipsa warancia fit color rubeus ad tingen-
dum pelles parcium.
Viridis terra seu creta quedam est, cujus melior est que nasci
tur in creta cirina, et aliter, videlicet in Greco, theodoce dicitur.
Violetus est color, qui ex rubeo et perso, seu azurio, mixtus,
maxime ex rubeo claro, id est, lacha, et azurio fino fit.
Vaccinium 2 est herba rubea que temperata cum lacte facit
colorem purpureum elegantem, et est quedam alia herba simi
liter vaccinium vocata que croceum colorem facit.
Vergaut 3 est color qui est quasi ut azurium respectu coloris,
non respectu materie.
Viola est flos cujusdem herbe persus seu blauus, quo cum
creta alba fit color blauus, et aliter cilacetus color dictus est.
Vermiculus* color rubeus est, qui fit ex frondibus silvestri-
bus, ut dicit Catholicon, et Grece ipsum dicunt coctum ; nos
vero rubeum vel vermiletum.
Veneda 5 seu neveda est color factus ex mixtura nigri cum
modico albi plumbi, et si poni vult in muro, ponatur calx loco
dicti albi plumbi.
Vercanda 6 nominator in capitulo libri colorum 342.
Verblea 7 nominator in capitulo 345 libri colorum.
1 Vuarantia. The name by which madder was generally known during
the middle ages, espeerafly in the western parts of Europe. It was called
" Garance" in French, and "Granza" in Spanish, whence the term
warantia is apparently derived.
2 Vaccinium, the purple violet. The latter is the Viola lutea, or Wall
flower. 3 Vergaut. See Eraclius, No. 282. Perhaps Vertbleu.
1 By Vermiculus is here meant the kermes, or coccus, the " grana'' of
the Italians.
5 Veneda, a true grey. See Theophilus, lib. i. cap. vi.
0 In the number referred to this word appears to be written " Vernide"
and " Vercande," a proof that this part of the table of synonymes was
written after Le Begue had added his recipes.
7 Verblea. Probably Vert-bleu, the Verde Azzurro of the Italians, a
native carbonate of copper, of a greenish-blue colour, the Armenian stone of
Pliny.

TABULA IMPERFECTA. 39
Usticium, usticii, genus est coloris, ut dicit Catholicon.
Virides colores seu materie, et metalla eorum, sunt et nomi-
nantur ut et in hac tabula in locis suis reperies, arxica mixta
succo viridi herbarum, cerosius, caprifolium, gaterice, ceruleus,
succus luree herbe, gladius, herba morella, scalda bassa herba,
prassis vel prassinus, succus herbarum diversarum, theodote
terra vel creta viridis, jas, succus rute herbe mixtus cum viride
eris.

Alia Tabula, licet imperfecta et sine inicio.
Quociens ponendi sunt colores in operibus, 147.
Rosam primam, scilicet colorem sic nominatum facere, 124.
Rosam secundam, id est, colorem sic dictum ad differentiam
prime facere, 128.
Rosam colorem facere de ligno brixillii et creta alba, 289,
299, 304.
Rose colorem cum brexillio et creta alba, 293.
Rosam facere cum ligno brexillii absque creta alba set cum
aliis, 14, 15, 16, 17, 334. •
Roseum seu sanguinetim colorem facere, 234, 14, 15, 16,
17, 184, 218, 289, 299, 304, 293.
Roseas litteras scribere, 16.
Roseam aquam facere de brexillo, 20.
Rubeam quam facere ad* pingendum in telis, 91, 93.
Rubeum succum edere herbe arboribus repentis lacham dic
tum facere vel habere, 184, 218.
Rubeum minium ex cerusa facere, et cerusam etiam facere,
288. Rubificare ossa ligna et alia materialia, 51, 335.
Safranum seu crocum finum eligere seu cognoscere et dis-
temperare, 165, 331.

40 MANUSCRIPTS OF JEHAN LE BEGUE.
Sanguineus color qui lacha dicitur quomodo de ligno brex-
illii fit, 309.
Sanguineum vel roseum colorem qui lacha dicitur facere,
184, 218, 332, 11, 12, 13, 16, 37, 100, 181, 309, 332.
Sanguineum vel roseum colorem facere, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18,
218, 289, 299, 293, 334, 309.
Sanguine vel roseo colore tingere materialia, 42, 326.
Scribendo apti colores diversi quomodo de campestribus
floribus fiunt, 212.
Scribere litteras aureas non cum auro set cum colore, 25.
Scripturam argenteam absque argento facere, 321.
Scripturam auream et argenteam absque auro et argento
facere, 324.
Scribere l'tteras argenteas de petula argenti, 24, 320.
Scribere litteras auro molito, 217, 219, 320, 323, 328, 336,
339, 310.
Scripturas et picturas de auro molito facere, 310.
Scripturas auro, argento, et lotono mollitis facere, 312.
Scripturam stanneam de stanno molito facere, 185.
Scribere litteras roseas, 16.
Scribere virides litteras, 28, 199, 221.
Sculpa opera lignea que corio, panno, nee pergameno, co-
operiuntur, ut rotunde ymagines, selle equestres, scabella, et
alia talia opera pingere, 140.
Sellas equestres, scabellas, ymagines rotundas et alia opera
lignea sculpa que pergameno nee drapo cooperiri possunt prop
ter sculpturas in ipsis factas pingere, 140.
Senum decrepitorum et juvenum capillis et barbis colorem
aptum facere, 132.
Sigilli formam facere, 49.
Sinopis quis color sit, 179.
Sinopidem de mellana colorem facere, 182.
Sinopidem ex lacha et Warancia facere, 183.
Spongia vitellum ovi parare, 270.
Stanneam scripturam de stanno molito facere, 185.
Stannum atenuatum, id est, petulas stanni facere, 143, 205.

TABULA IMPERFECTA. 41
Stannum atenuatum cum petula auri fini aurare, 105,, 142.
Stanneas petulas in opere ponere et eas coloribus oleo tem
peratis pingere, 145.
Stannum tenuatum seu petulas stanni colore verzini seu
brixilli pingere, 101.
Stanni petulas vel fob.a seu laminas colorare taliter quod
aurate videantur, 144, 202, 205, 206, 207, 208, 2U9.
Stampnence folium colorem purpureum in Anglia Wormam
dictum distemperare seu facere, 162, 164, 166.
Succum rubeum edre herbe arboribus repentis lacham dic
tum habere, 184, 218.
Tabulas seu laminas stagni tenuatas que petule vocantur
f-fcere, 143, 205.
Tabulas seu laminas stanni tenuatas que petule vocantur
colorare taliter quod aurate videantur, 144, 202, 205, 206,
207, 208, 209.
Tabulas seu laminas stanni tenuatas que petule vocantur
ponere in opere et eas coloribus oleo temperatis pingere, 145.
Tabulas et asseres ligneas et ligna aptare ad pingendum,
268, 269.
Tabulas altarium et alias pingere, 131.
Tabulas et ostia et alia lignea opera cum coloribus oleo tem
peratis pingere, 138.
Tellam lineam aut canapinam preparare ut possit in ipsa
pingi et aurum poni, 280.
Tellas rubea aqua pingere, 91, 93.
Tellas violacea aqua pingere, 95.
Tellas aqua indica vel persea pingere, 97.
Tellas virid' aqua pingere, 90, 94, 98, 99, 110, 199.
Tellas aqua nigra pingere, 89.
Tingere quelibet materialia in quolibet colore, 326, 41, 40,
46, 199, 42.
Temperamenta colorum in libris ponendorum facere et de
quibus liquoribus, 197, 306, 325, 346, 347.

42 MANUSCRIPTS OF JEHAN LE BEGUE.
Temperare colores qui cum goma seu aqua gomata tempe-
rari non possunt, quo modo fit, 146.
Terreas fialas preciosa pictura bituminis vitri facta ornare,
213. Tingere in sanguineo colore materialia, 42, 326.
Tingere pelles in viride, 46, 199, 326.
Tingere in viridi ligna ossa tellam et alia materialia in quo-
cumque colore, 41.
Tollere litteras de carta et papiro, 2, 17, 21, 34.
Translucidam picturam facere, 148.
Temperamentum colorum tam infectivorum seu transluci-
dorum quam corpulentorum vel simplicium seu materialium
facere ad eos ponendum in opere seu stampno et plumbo vel
super metallis aliis stampnatis vel plumbeatis aut simplicibus
per .se videlicet non stampnatis nee plombeatis nee aliquo alio
ex metallis co-opertis, 368. *
Vasa figuli id est terrea plumbeare seu vitreare vitro plumbi,
259. Vasorum fictilium pingendorum picturam vitri nigri facere,
230. Vasorum fictilium, id est, terreorum pingendorum picturam
albi vitri facere, 229, 233.
Vasorum fictilium depingendorum picturam viridis vitri fa
cere, 228, 232.
Vasorum fictilium pingendo picturam vitri nimis virentis
facere, 231, 234.
Vasa fracta terrea et lapides integrare, 8.
Venedam alibi venedam colorem facere, 126, 330.
Vernicem liquidam, id est glutinam pro pictoribus facere,
341, 138, 139, 210.
Viride eris facere, 8, 43, 44, 152, 155, 156, 157, 159, 201,
273, 287, 300, 331.
1 Iste liber non est completus usque ad ilium numcrum. — [Marginal note
by author.]

TABULA IMPERFECTA. 43
Viride eris pulcherrimam facere, 45, 161.
Viride eris colorem cum sale facere, 150.
Viride eris distemperare et facere, 152, 331.
Viride eris subtiliare et liquidum facere, 160.
Viridi eris mixturas aliorum colorum in fine capituli seu
post capitulum, 159.
Viridem colorem facere cum corpore et non corrosivum sed
dulcem, quam vis in ipso sit de viride eris quod de se corrosivum
est, 301, 331.
Virides litteras scribere cum colore cum viride eris facere,
28, 331.
Viridem aquam ex viride eris et aliis facere ad pingendum
in tellis, 90, 94, 98, 99, 331.
Viridi eris tingere pelles, 46, 331.
Viridia cum viride eris et aliorum facere ligna ossa telam
filum et alia materialia, 40, 81.
Viridem alium quam eris facere, 158, 199, 221, 227, 331,
395, 398.
Virides litteras scribere cum colore non de ere, 199, 221,
227, 331, 295, 158.
Viridem aquam vel colorem non eris ad scribendum facere,
199, 221, 227, 331, 395, 158.
Viridem aquam aliter quam de viride eris facere ad pingen
dum in telis, 110, 199, 221, 227, 331, 295, 158.
Viridem colorem aliter quam de ere facere ad detingendum
pelles, 199, 110a 221.
Viridem colorem non de ere facere pro operando in diversis,
295, 331, 227, 199, 110, 221, 158.
Viridem colorem absque ere ad que volueris depingenda fa
cere, 227, 295, 331, 227, 199, 110, 158, 221.
Viride terreum distemperare, 265.
Viride vitrum ad vasa fictilia depingenda facere, 228, 232.
Virentem nimis vitrum ad vasa fictilia depingenda facere,
231, 234.
Vitri invencio, 255.

44 MANUSCRIPTS OF JEHAN LE BEGUE.
Vitrum flexibilem facere invenit quidam qui ideo jussu impe-
ratoris, decapitatus fuit, 256.1
Vitriare vitro plombi, id est, plombeare vasa figuli id est ter
rea, 259.
Vitri bitumine preciosa tinctura facta terreas fialas vitriare
et ornare, 213.
Vitrum album ad vasa fictilia pingenda facere, 229, 233.
Vitrum album et de diversis coloribus facere, 257.
Vitrum viride ad vasa fictilia, id est, figuli pingenda facere,
228, 232.
Vitrum nimis virentem ad vasa figuli seu fictilia depingenda
facere, 231, 234.
Vitrum nigrum ad vasa fictilia depingenda facere, 230.
Vitrum pingere, 272.
Vitrum coloribus colorare et ipsum de plumbo facere, 271.
Vitreas et terreas fialas auro decorare, 215.
Vermiculum facere quod est color rubeus, 174, 175.
Vermiculi mixto cum' minio, 177.
Vernicium seu vernicem liquidam vel glutinam facere est
post numerum 138 ; item est in numero 139, 210.
Verniciare aurum ne perdat colorem, 267.
Verniciare opera depicta, 147.
Verzinum facere colorem, id est brixillii pro tenendo ad po
nendum in opere quando necesse est, 202.
Verzini colorem facere proponendo super argento aut super
stanno tenuato, 101.
Violetam aquam facere ad pingendum in telis, 95.
Vitellum ovi spongia parare, 270.
Viscum seu gluten vel collam de corio bovis vel vacce fa
cere, 186.
Viscum casei seu collam aut gluten facere, 127, 163.
Warencia colore rubeo pelles tingere, 258.

1 Malum premium. — [Marginal note by author.]

TABULA IMPERFECTA. 4j
Vultum et nudorum corporum colores, scilicet exedram vel
posam et alios facere, 133, 317, 344.
Worniam colorem sic in Anglia nominatum qui est aptus ad
tingendum lannas est purpureus, aliter folium dictus distem
perare, 162, 164.

Tabula ad reperiendum quodlibet capitulum arcium
fabulis et aurifabulis et rerum et accidencium illis
conferencium nee non operum exerciciorum que et
contingencium eorum.
* Aqua cavans ferrum, 64.
.Arma et alia ferramenta conservare a rubigine, 69, 348.
Attribucio cujuslibet ex metallis alicui ex septem planetis
continetur post numerum, 46.
Aurare cuprum fellis pinguedine seu liquore, 226.
Aurare auricalcum, 249.
Aurare metalla fusilia, 252.
Aurare ferrum, 237, 238.
Auraturam facere, 253.
Auraturam metalli perditam recuperare.
Aurei coloris ferrum facere, 67.
Aureo colore metallos colorare, 66.
Auricalcum aurare, 249.
Auricalcum facere, 49.
Auricalcum seu lathonum solidare, 65.
Auricalcum seu lathonum pulcrum facere sicut aurum, 82.
Aurum et argentum fondere, 365.
Argentum et aurum fondere, 365.
Azarium et ferrum temperare, 57, 58, 61, 62, 83, 84, 223,
333, 364.

( 46 )

EXPERIMENTS UPON COLOURS.

1. Know that gold letters are thus written with the following
water. Take of sulphur vivum, of the inner bark of the pome
granate, of alum, salt, and gold dust (?), as much as you like,
and liquid gum water and a little saffron. Mix, and write.
2. To erase black letters upon paper. — Make a water from the
following things. Take nitre, and Roman vitriol, of each one
pound, and distil them in an alembic, and a clear water will
be produced ; with this water slightly moisten a sponge, and
rub the letters with it.1
3. To make fine azure. — Take plates of fine silver, and put
them into a new jar ; cover the jar closely with a tile, and place it
in the skins of the grapes for 40 days ; then scrape off the
efflorescence, which you will find upon the plates, and which is
fine azure.
4. Also azure which is not fine is made in another way. — Put
vinegar into a glass bottle, the mouth of which must be well
covered with tenacious earth, and let it be buried in horse dung
for a month, and afterwards dry it in the sun.
5. To make azure. — Take a vase of pure copper, and put into
it a colour [pigment] made of white marble (some recipes say
quicklime) so as to half fill it. Afterwards fill it up with very
strong vinegar, cover it over, and put in a warm place, or under
dung, for a month, and you will find a blue good both for panels
and walls.
6. For the same. — Take a new glazed jar, or a vase of silver,
and put into it plates of very pure silver, as many as you like,
rubbed over2 with good wine, and place the jar under the refuse
1 The produce of this distillation is nitric acid.
2 From sborfato, a Bolognese word.

( 47 )

EXPERIMENTA DE COLORIBUS.

1. Nota quod auree littere scribuntur sic, cum ista aqua ;
accipe sulphur vivum, et corticem interiorem mali granati,
aluminis, saltis, et de pluvia auri, tantum quantum vis, et
aquam gummi liquide, et modicum de croco, et misce, et scribe.
2. Ad delendum litteras nigras de carta. — Fac aquam de1 in-
frascriptis rebus. Accipe salniterum, et vitriolum Romanum,
de quolibet libram unam, et distilla per alembicum, et erit
clara aqua, et cum ipsa aqua balnea spongiam modicum, et de
ipsa frica litteras.
3. Ad faciendum azurium finum. — Recipe laminas argenti
fini, et pone in olla nova, et cooperiatur bene cum tegula, et
pone ollam in vinariis uvarum per dies xla, et flos quem re-
pereris super laminas radde, quod est azurium finum.
4. Item aliter azurum non finum fit. — Ponatur acetum in
ampulla vitrea, cujus orificium bene cooperiatur cum terra
tenaci, et sepeliatur in fimo equino per unum mensem, et postea
siccetur ad solem.
5. Ad faciendum azurrum. — Recipe ampullam de puro
cupro et pone intus colorem de albo marmore, ita ut sit dime-
dia ; et in aliis receptis dicitur calx viva. Postea imple de
aceto fortissimo, et cooperiri, et pone in loco calido, vel sub
fimo, per mensem, et invenies azurrum bonum, in ligno, et in
pariete. 6. Ad idem. — Habeas ollam novam incretatam, vel vas ar
genti, et immitte laminas argenti purissimi, quot vis, brofatas
bono vino ; et mitte vas in profundo viaziarum,2 per dies
1 Id est infrascriptum et scribitur ut supra causa brevitatis. — [Marginal
haote by author.] 2 Vindemiarum ?

48 MANUSCRIPTS OF JEHAN LE BEGUE.
of the grapes for 36 or 40 days ; and afterwards scrape or shake
off into a clean vase the efflorescence which you find round and
about the plates, which efflorescence is preserved upon the plates,
in the same manner as rust upon iron, and verdigris upon plates
or in vases of brass.
7. To make azure. — Take very thin plates of fine silver, as
many as you like. You must also have a glazed earthen jar, with
a cover ; and on the middle of the under part of this cover there
must be a small hook, to which you must hang the silver plates
with a silver thread, so that they may not touch each other ;
and put very strong vinegar into the said jar, so as not to touch
the plates, but to reach near them ; and close carefully the said
cover with a piece of linen and with glue, and put the jar for
15 days under dung, or over a slow fire or under the refuse of
grapes. Afterwards scrape off the azure which you find upon
the plates, and if you want more azure, do the same with the
plates as you did before.
8. Green from copper or brass is made in the same manner
with plates of brass, as was directed to be done with silver plates
to make blue.
9. To make perfect azure. — Take an earthen jar with a cover
similar to that in which ceruse is made, and take sheets or plates
of fine tin, wetted with strong vinegar, and sprinkled over with
powdered white quicklime, place the vase, with the aforesaid
plates, in the dung of sheep or horses, for 10 days, and then
scrape off the efflorescence which you find on the tin plates, and
if you want more of it, put back the jar with the plates as before.
10. To make perfect ultramarine azure. — Take of lapis lazuli
as much as you like, and grind it very fine upon a porphyry slab.
Then make a cake or pastille of the following ingredients,
namely, if there is one pound of lapis lazuli, take vi. oz. of Greek
pitch, ij. oz. of mastic, ij. oz. of wax, ij. oz. of black pitch, ij. oz. of
gum from the pine, 1 oz. of oil of spike or of linseed, and \ oz.
of turpentine. All these things must boil in a pipkin until they
are nearly liquefied, afterwards strain them into cold water, and
take what drops into the water through the strainer, and knead

EXPERIMENTA DE COLORIBUS. 49
xxxvi. vel xlta; postea excucias seu raddas in vas mundum
florem quem inveneris in cercuita laminarum, qui flos conser
vator super ipsis laminis, sicut fit rubigo super ferro, et viride
eris super laminas vel in vasis eris.
7. Adfaciendum azurrum. — Recipe laminas argenti fini quot
vis subtilissimas, et habeas vas terre vitriatum cum coperculo,
et in parte inferiori dicti coperculi sit unus uncinellus in medio,
cui suspendas laminas suprascriptas cum filo argenteo, taliter
quod lamine non se tangant invicem ; et in vase mitte acetum
fortissimum, tantum quod non tangat ipsas laminas, set stet
prope ; et optura bene dictum coperculum cum pecia lini, et
cum cola, et pone vas sub fimo per xvcim dies, vel ad ignem
temperatum, vel sub vinariis ; postea radde azurum quod in
veneris super laminas, et, si plus velis, fac iterum de ipsis lami
nis ut fecisti.
8. Ad viride rami seu eris. — Fiat eo modo de laminis eris, ut
supra dictum est de argenteis pro azurro.
9. Adfaciendum azurrum perfectum. — Accipe vas terrenum,
cum coperculo tali, ut illud de quo fit cerusia, et habe laminas
seu plactas fini stagni, balneatas aceto forti, et sparsas alba calce
viva pulverizata, et pone vas, cum laminis suprascriptis in ipso,
in fimo pecorum vel equorum, per decern dies ; postea radde
florem quem invenies super laminis, et, si plus vis, repone vas
cum laminis, ut prius.
10. Ad faciendum azurrum ultramarinum perfectum. — Re
cipe de lapide lazulli quantum vis, et teres super lapide porfirico
subtilissime, et fac massam seu pastilum ex rebus insertis;
videlicet, si dictus lapis est libra una accipe oncias vj. picis
Grece, oncias ij. masticis, oncias ij. cere, oncias ij. picis nigre,
oncias ij. gummi pini, onciam j. olei spici vel lini, et onciam \
trementinse, que omnia buliant in uno pignatello, usque dum
quasi sint strinta [strutta ?], et postea cola in aqua frigida, et tolle
quod cadit in aqua, quod est celatum, et deducas, et misces bene
vol. i. * E

50 MANUSCRIPTS OF JEHAN LE BEGUE.
and mix it well with the powder of the lapis lazuli until it is
well incorporated ; and so let it stand for viij. days ; and the
longer it stands, the better and finer will be the azure. After
wards work this paste in your hands, throwing it into water, and
keep the first water by itself, and the second by itself, and the
third also by itself. And when you see the azure sink to the
bottom, pour off the water, and keep the azure.
11. To make fine lake. — Take the ashes of oak,1 and make
a ley, and boil in it clippings of fine scarlet of rubea de grana2
until the colour is extracted from the clippings, and then strain
the ley with the colour through a linen cloth. Afterwards take
some more ley, similar to what you first took, and heat it, and
put into it some finely powdered roche alum, and let it stand
until the alum is dissolved. Then strain it through the strainer
with the other liquor or ley in which the clippings were put, and
immediately the ley will be coagulated, and make a lump or
mass, which you must stir well. Remove it afterwards from the
vase, and lay it on a new hollow brick, which will absorb the
ley, and the lake will be left dry. You must afterwards take
it off the brick and keep it for use.
12. Also to make lake. — Take 1 oz. of lac, which is a certain
gum called lac, or take some of the grana with which scarlet
cloths are dyed, and steep it in ley, or in urine, so as to
cover over the lac, or the grana, and let it boil for half an
hour on a moderate fire without smoke, namely, with smith's
charcoal, stirring it continually with a stick whilst it boils. Af
terwards take | an oz. of roche alum and J an oz. of sal gem,
and grind them well with ley, and put them into the vase before
it ceases to boil. Then remove the vase from the fire, and let
it cool. Afterwards take a glazed jar, and a little urine, or
strong ley, and empty the before-mentioned jar into it, and stir
or shake it every evening and every morning, and after 15 days

1 The Turkey oak, the Cerro ofthe Italians.
2 Strictly speaking, "Rubea" means madder, and "Grana" kermes;
but as it appears that at this period the kermes was generally used in

EXPERIMENTA DE COLORIBUS. 51
illud per dictum pulverem lapidis lazuli, donee bene incor-
porentur omnia, et sic stent per viii0 dies, et, quanto plus stete*
rint, tanta azurrum erit melius, et magis finum ; et postea de
duc hanc massam per manus, proiciendo cum aqua, et primam
aquam serva per se, et secundam per se, et tertiam per se. Et,
postquam videris azurrum descensum ad fundum, proice aquam
et retine azurrum.
11. Ad faciendum lacham finam. — Tolle cineres ligni cerri,
vel roboris, et fac lecivium, et in ipso fac bulire cimaturam
scarlate fine rubee de grana, tantum quod ex dicta cimatura
extractus sit color ; postea ipsum lessivium, cum dicta cima
tura, colla per pannum lineum ; postea accipe de alio lexivio
simili suprascripti quod prius accepisti, et calefac, et pone in
ipso de alumine roche trito subtiliter, et permitte donee alumen
sit fusum, postea cum dicto colatorio cola ipsum in dicta alia
collatura vel lexivio, in quo stetit cymatura, et subito dictum
lessivium stringetur, et faciet unam bussatoram seu massam,
quam mistica bene, et postea trahe ipsam de vase, et pone in
' madono concavo novo, qui bibet lessivium, et remanebit sicca
dicta lacha, quam postea trahe de madone et serva usui.
12. Item ad faciendum lacham. — Tolle unciam unam lache,
que est quedam gumma dicta lacha, vel accipe de grana de qua
tinguntur scarlate, et pone in lissivio vel urina viri, tanta que
coperiat lacham seu granam, et fac bullire per mediam horam
ad ignem temperatum, absque fumo, videlicet cum carbonibus
fabrorum, deducendo cum baculo semper dum bulit. Postea
tolle onciam ^ aluminis roche, et onciam \ salis geme, et mole
bene cum lexivio, et postea pone in vase suprascripto antequam
cesset bulire. Postea leva vas ab igne, et permitte frigidari.
Postea tolle unum vas vitriatum, et unum paucum urini homi-
nis, vel de lessivio fortissimo, et mitte simul de super vase, et
deduc vel agita omni sero et omni mane, et post xvdm dies cola

dyeing scarlet, and as the recipes for making this " Lacca di Cimatura "
generally direct the clippings of cloth dyed with kermes to be used, it is
probable that the kermes was meant in the present case, and not madder.
VOL. I. * E 2

52 MANUSCRIPTS OF JEHAN LE BEGUE.
strain it by means of a linen bag placed upon a new tile, which
will immediately dry the lake, which will remain in the bag,
and which you may keep for use, and when you wish to use it,
grind it well upon a slab, and work with it. And if you like
strain the water again, as before directed ; and, if you wish to
make more lake, boil the said water, and take more of the
before-mentioned ingredients, and do as before, and it will be
finer than the first mentioned above.
13. To make very fine lake. — Take clippings of very fine
scarlet of rubea de grana, and put them into a vase, with suffi
cient urine to cover the clippings to the depth of one or
two fingers' breadths, and let it stand for some days, until
the clippings are decomposed, which you may know by touching
them with your hand or your fingers. Afterwards take them
out of the vase, without squeezing them, and put them on a
clean stone, and allow the liquor to flow out by itself. Then
grind it well upon a stone, and strain it through a thin piece of
linen, and you will have fine lake, to use upon paper, parch
ment, and upon primed wooden panels, but not on walls.
14. To make a fine rose colour. — Take fine brexillium, and
scrape it fine, and take strong ley made with the ashes of oak,
and make it boil, and pour it over the said verzino into a glazed
earthen saucer, so as to cover the brexillium, and let it stand
for an hour. Then take egg-shells, pound them well, and
grind them very fine on a porphyry slab with clear water, and
lay them on a new hollow brick, that the water may be ab
sorbed. Afterwards put them into a glazed earthen jar, and
pound up some roche alum, and mix with the powdered egg
shells ; afterwards strain the ley in which the verxillium is put,
and pour the ley which is dyed red with the verzilium upon
the egg-shells, and mix, that the whole may be incorporated
together ; and afterwards dry the lake, not in the sun, hut on
a hollow brick, straining it through a linen cloth, and you will
have a perfect rose colour.
V 15. Also, to make a colour deeper than rose colour. — Take
1 oz. of scraped verzino and put it in a glazed saucer, with

EXPERIMENTA DE COLORIBUS. 53
cum saculo telle lini, posito super tegula nova, que subito sicca-
bit lacham, que remansit in saculo, quam serva ad usum ; et
cum voles uti, mole bene super lapide, et operare. Et, si vis,
recola dictam aquam, prout -dictum est; et si plus volueris
facere, fac bulire dictam aquam, et accipe de novo de rebus
supradictis, et fac ut prius, et erit ista finior quam suprascripta.

13. Ad faciendum lacham finissimam. — Accipe cimaturam
scarlate fine rubee de grana, et pone in vase cum tanta urina
hominis, que cooperiat cimaturam quantum est grossitudo digiti
unius vel duorum, et stet per plures dies, donee dicta cimatura
sit bene putrefacta, cujus putrefactionem cognosces tangendo
cum manu vel digitis. Postea trahe ipsam de vase absque
ipsam exprimere, et pone super mondo lapide et dimitte ipsam
per se excolare. Postea mole ipsam bene super lapide, postea
cola per peciam subtilem lini, et habebis lacham finam pro
operendo in cartis et in tabulis gissatis, set non in muro.
14. Ad faciendum colorem rosete fine. — Accipe berxillium
finum, et rade subtiliter, et accipe de lessivio forti facto de
cineribus cerri, quod fac bullire, et ipsum mitte desuper dicto
versino, in una scutella terre vitreata tantum quod cooperiat
verxillium, et stet per horam ; postea accipe corticas ovorum,
et trita bene, et molle super lapide porfirico cum aqua clara
subtiliter, et pon*e super madono concavo novo ut aqua de-
cicetur. Postea pone in scutella vitriata, deinde pista de
alumine roche, et misce cum dictis corticis tritis, et postea cola
lissivium in quo est verxillium, et lessivium illud rubefactum
a verzilio mitte desuper dictas corticas, et misce ut incorpo-
rentur omnia, et postea desica, non ad solem, set super madono
concavo, colando per tellam, et habebis perfectam rosetam.

15. Adfaciendum etiam colorem plusquam de roxeta. — Accipe
onciam £ verzini rasi, et pone in scutella vitriata cum tanta
vol. i. * e 3

54 MANUSCRIPTS OF JEHAN LE BEGUE.
sufficient urine to cover it, and make it boil, on a char
coal fire, for an hour ; then, before you take it off the fire,
add 1 oz. of honey, and mix it ; then remove it from the fire,
and leave it so until the next morning, and you will have a fine
rose colour.
16. To make a rose colour for drawing letters. — Take red
/ brexillium, and roche alum ground upon a stone, and put them
both together in whipped white of egg, and let it stand for a
day and a night, and you will have what was mentioned.
17. Item, to make a rose colour. — Put into a glazed saucer
1 oz. of scraped verzino; and pour in enough urine to cover
1 the verzino and the ingredients which are to be added after
wards. Then add 1 oz. of white marble, ground upon a stone
with water, and dried, and \ oz. of roche alum in powder ;
and when putting the before-mentioned ingredients into the
saucer, let the last thing which is added be the marble dust.
Do not mix it until it has stood in the sun long enough for the
marble to imbibe the colour ; and if it should dry in the sun
before the marble has absorbed the colour, add to it some
more of the same urine as before, and let it stand in the sun
until the marble is sufficiently coloured, and it will become
red, or rose coloured. Afterwards strain it through a linen
cloth, and dry it upon a baked stone or brick, and keep it
for use.
18. To make flowers and letters of gold. — Take sal ammo
niac, and temper with pure water ; then write with that water
and draw flowers, and, when they are dry, lay gold leaf upon
them. 19. To make the colour purpurinus. — Take of sal ammoniac
1 oz., quicksilver 1 oz., sulphur vivum 1 oz., tin 1 oz. ; melt the
tin over the fire, then pour the quicksilver into it, and allow it
to stand for a short time ; next grind the sal ammoniac and
sulphur together, and add them to the melted tin and quick
silver ; put them all together into a glass flask, so that it may
be filled only up to the neck, and then cover the flask all over
with chalk, of the thickness of one finger's breadth ; place it

EXPERIMENTA DE COLORIBUS. 55
urina hominis que cooperiatur, et fac bulire ad ignem car-
bonum per horam ; postea, antequam leves ab igne, onciamque
j. mellis, et misce, et leva ab igne, et dimitte sic usque de
mane sequenti, et habebis colorem rosete fine.
16. Ad faciendum colorem roxeum pro scribendo litteras. —
Accipe vexilium roxeum, et alumen roxie tritum super lapide,
et pone omnia in clara ovi spongiata, et stet per diem et noc-
tem, et habebis quod dictum est.
17. Item ad faciendum colorem roxaceum. — Pone in scutella
vitriata onciam i. verzini rasi, et pone tantam urinam pueri
que cooperiri possit dictum verzinum, et alia que secuntur ;
postea impone onciam i. marboris albi, triti super lapide cum
aqua clara, et siccati, et onciam \ aluminis roche triti, et ulti-
mum quod ponetur in dicta scutella, ponendo in ipsa ea que
dicta sunt, sit dictus marmor tritus ; et non misceas, donee
steterit ad solem tantum quod marmor ceperit colorem, et si
sicaretur ad solem antequam marmor cepisset colorem, pone
iterum de simili urina ut prius, et stet ad solem donee marmor
ceperit colorem, et devenerit rubeus seu roxaceus. Postea
cola per pannum lineum, et fac siccari cum lapide cocto seu
madono, et serva ad usum.

18. Ad faciendum flores et litteras auri. — Accipe sal armo-
niacum, et distempera in aqua pura, et de ilia aqua scribe, et
fac flores, et cum desicate sint, pone desuper folium auri.
19. Ad faciendum purpurinum colorem. — Accipe sal armo-
niacum onciam i., argentum vivium onciam i., sulphur vivium
onciam i., Stangnum onciam i., et fonde dictum Stagnum ad
ignem, et in ipso mitte argentum vivum, et dimitte stare ali
quantulum, et mole dictum sal armoniacum et sulphur simul ;
et pone in dicto stagno liquefacto, in quo est argentum vivum,
et omnia pone in ampula vitri, quod ex ipsis impleatur solum
usque ad collum, et sic ipsa ampula, circumlinita de creta

56 MANUSCRIPTS OF JEHAN LE BEGUE.
in a small furnace, in a hole at the top of the furnace made
for this purpose, so that the flask may only be half way through
the hole, and then, by means of a hole made in the side of
the furnace, make a strong fire in it, and cover the mouth of
the flask with a plate of iron, pierced, in order that the vapour
may escape from the flask, and continue the fire strongly until
the fumes cease to come from the flask. Then remove it from
the fire, let it cool, break the flask, and take your purpurinus ;
and when you want to use it, temper it with gum-water or
with whipped white of egg.
20. To make a rose-coloured water for shading figures andotlier
things. — Put scraped verzino into whipMMl* white of egg, and
let it stand for a day. Then strain and squeeze through a
cloth, and temper what passes through with pure water : shade
whatever you like with it, both on parchment and on paper.
I think that the colour will not be extracted from the said
brexillium or verzino, unless a little roche alum be added.
21. To erase letters on parchment without injury to the paper.
— Take a hare's skin and dress it, and salt it down, afterwards
dry it over the smoke of a fire, and reduce it to powder ; put
some of this powder upon the letters which you wish to erase,
and rub them with pumice-stone, and the letters will be erased
without injury to the paper.
22. To make letters which will seem to be of gold. — Make a
small hole in a hen's egg, and take out the white only, and fill
the egg with quicksilver ; close up the opening carefully, place
it under hot dung for 40 days. Then remove the quicksilver,
and take 1 oz. of crystal and reduce it to a very fine powder,
and incorporate it with the yolk of the egg. Then, with this
composition smear the paper, or whatever else you want, and
when it is dry rub gold or silver upon it, and it will remain of
the colour of gold or silver.
23. That letters may seem to be of gold. — Mix sal nitrinum
with water and write upon parchment, and illuminate it with
juice of celandine and warm the paper, and the letters will
appear like gold.

EXPERIMENTA DE COLORIBUS. 57
grossa, per grosseciam unius digiti, quam pone in parva fornace
per foramen fornacis superius, propter hoc factum, ita quod
dicta ampula descendat in dicto foramine solum usque ad
medium ampule ; et postea, per aliud foramen factum a latere
dicte fornacis, immitte, et fac ignem fortem, et cooperi orificium
ampule cum lamina ferri forata, ut exeat fumus ampule, et
continua fortem ignem usque quo fumus ampule cessaverit
exire, et tunc leva ab igne, et dimitte frigidari, et rumpe
ampulam, et accipe purpurinum, et ipsum, cum vis operari,
distempera cum aqua gummata, vel cum clara ovi spongiata.
20. Ad faciendum aquam roxeaceam pro umbrando ymagines
et alia. — Pone de verxino raso, in albumine ovi spongiato, et
stet per diem. Postea cola per telam, stringendo, et quod
exierit distempera cum aqua pura, et umbra quod vis, in carta,
et papiro. Credo quod color non exibit a dicto brexillo, seu
verzino, nisi ponatur de alumine roze.
21. Ad delendum litteras de carta absque lesione carte. —
Accipe cossam leporis, et decoria ipsam, et postea in salla, et
desicca ad fumum ignis, et pulveriza, et posito de ipso pulvere
super litteris quas raddere vis, trahe desuper pumicem; et
radetur absque lesione carte.
22. Adfaciendum litteras, que videantur esse de auro. — Fac
in ovo galine foramen parvum, et extrahe albumen solum, et
postea reple ovum argento vivo, et claude bene foramen ovi, et
ipsum pone sub fimo calido per dies xla ; postea extrahe ar
gentum vivum, et accipe onciam i. cristalli, et pulveris subtilis-
sime, et incorpora cum dicto vitello. Dein cum dicta pasta
unge cartam aut quidquid vis, et, cum siccaverit, frica de-
super cum auro vel argento, et remanebunt coloris auri vel
argenti. 23. Ut littere videantur de auro. — Incorpora salnitrinum
cum aqua, et scribe in carta, et inlumina cum suco celidonie,
et calefac, et videbuntur de auro.

58 MANUSCRIPTS OF JEHAN LE BEGUE.
24. To make gold or silver letters. — Take sal ammoniac, the
juice of pounded vervain mallows, and gum arabic, mix all
these together, temper them with urine so as to make them
rather liquid ; afterwards make the mixture liquid with gum-
arabic. Then write whatever you like with this liquid and let
it dry. Then breathe upon it well with your mouth, so that
the surface of it may be rather damp, and lay gold leaf upon
it, and press it on lightly with a piece of cotton.
25. To make letters of silver. — Take three parts of quick
silver and a fourth part of tin, melt them together, and let the
mixture cool ; then grind it on a stone and temper it with
a solution of gum-arabic ; write with it and let it dry, and
polish it with the tooth of a dog or other animal, fit for the
purpose, and the letters will be beautiful and brilliant.
26. To make letters appear like gold. — Take the horn of a
goat, cut it into very small pieces, and distil it in an alembic,
and keep the water which comes over, in a glazed jar, in the
sun for some days ; afterwards write with this water, and the
letters will appear like gold.
27. To erase letters from parchment. — Take the juice of an
orange and dip cotton or sponge in it, and rub it lightly upon
the letters, and it will erase them perfectly. But as the parch
ment will be wetted and made soft, it must be rendered dry
and white in the following manner : — Take white lime in
powder and mix it with clear water, and afterwards strain
through a piece of white linen, dip cotton in the water which
has been strained and dab it upon the parchment where it is
soft, and it will become white and firm. I think it would be
better to dip the cotton in dry lime, and not to wet it.
28. To make a green ink for writing. — Take of good vinegar
oz. ij., sal ammoniac oz. ij., common salt oz. ij., brass filings
oz. ij., put them all together in a glass flask for six days, and
it will make a green ink, which you must strain and keep for
use.

EXPERIMENTA DE COLORIBUS. 59
24. Adfaciendum litteras aureas vel argenteas. — Accipe sal
arraoniacum, et succum alci pisti, et gumirabicum, et hec simul
distempera, et postea distempera cum urina, ut sit liquida
aliquantulum ; postea perfecte liquidam facies cum aqua gum-
irabici, postea scribe cum hoc que vis, et permitas sicari, et
postea flaa desuper cum ore multum bene, ut aliquantulum
humectetur superficies, et pone desuper folium auri, super quo
deduc leviter bombacem.1
25. Adfaciendum litteras argenti. — Accipe argentum vivum
per tres partes, et per quartam de stagno, et fonde simul, et
permitte frigidari, et molle super lapide, et distempera cum
aqua gumi arabici, et scribe cum hoc, et permitte siccari, et
polias cum dente canis vel alterius animalis ad hoc apto, et
erunt pulcre littere et lucentes.
26. Ui littere videantur de auro. — Accipe cornu yrci, et
ipsum incide minutissime, et distilla per alembicum, et aquam
que exibit tene in vase vitriato ad solem per aliquot dies, et
postea cum ipsa aqua scribe et littere videbuntur de auro.
27. Ad delendum litteras de carta. — Accipe succum pomi
ranzii, et in ipso balnea bombacem vel spongiam, et frica le
viter super litteras, et optime dellet, et quia carta libri bal-
neatur, et efficitur mollis, remediari debet isto modo, ut sit
sicca et alba. Accipe florem calcis, distemperate cum aqua
clara, postea cola cum pecia lini alba, et de aqua alba que
exibit balnea bombacem, quam ducas super cartam ubi mollis
erat, et fiet alba et solida. Credo quod melius esset intingere
bombacem in calce sicca et non madida.
28. Ad faciendum aquam viridem ad scribendum. — Accipe
bonum acetum oncias ii., salis armoniaci ii., salis communis
oncias ii., limature eris oncias ii., pone omnia in ampula vitrea
per vj. dies, et fiet aqua viridis, quam cola et reserva.

1 Bombacem, id est spongiam ut jam supra vel lanam. [Marginal note
by author.]

60 MANUSCRIPTS OF JEHAN LE BEGUE.
29. To make excellent azure. — Take of sal ammoniac oz. iij.,
and of verdigris oz. vi., mix them together and make them into
a paste with solution of tartar, and put them into a glass jar,
which you must stop up, and lute, and place in warm dung,
and let it stand there for some days, and when you take it up
you will find the green changed to excellent azure.
30. For the same. — Take of alum scagliola one part, of
vinegar two parts ; grind them together upon a slab, and make
them boil a little in a glass or other vase, and put them into a
glass flask and bury them in dung for five days or more, until
you see it is become of a blue colour.1
31. Good ink is thus made. — Take IJ lb. of pounded galls,
soak them in warm rain water, or warm wine or vinegar, of the
quantity of 10 phials, and so let it stand for a day or more ;
then boil it until the said water, wine, or vinegar is reduced
to one-third, and let it be taken off the fire and a phial or two
of wine or vinegar be immediately added, and let so much
water be added as was boiled away from the said mixture, and
let them all be put on the fire again. When the mixture be
gins to boil let it be removed from the fire ; when it is only
just warm strain it, and add to it 1^ lb. of gum-arabic in
powder and 1 lb. of Roman vitriol, and mix the whole to
gether. 32. If you wish to make a gold or silver colour for ivriting.
— Take talc and put it into a glass vase, and pour over it good
vinegar made from white wine, and add mercury to it, namely
half an oz., and 1 oz. of fish-glue, and put it on the fire, that
it may become liquid like water, and write with it, and it will
make silver letters. If you wish to make golden letters, add a
little saffron.
33. Cement for joining parchment is thus made. — Take gum-
arabic and whipped white of egg, dissolve the gum in this
white of egg and let it dry in the sun, and when you wish to
use it wet the edge of the piece with your tongue and lips and
1 The colouring ingredient seems wanting in this recipe.

EXPERIMENTA DE COLORIBUS. 61
29. Adfaciendum azurrum optimum, — Accipe salis armo-
niaci oncias iii., viridis eris oncias vi., et misce simul, et con-
ficiantur cum aqua tartari ad modum unguenti, et ponantur in
ampula vitrea, que obturetur, et luctetur, et ponatur in fimo
calido, et stet per aliquos dies, et accipe que invenies, viridem
conversum in optimum azurrum.
30. Ad idem. — Accipe aluminis scarole partem unam, aceti
partes duas, tere simul super lapide, et bulire facias parum in
vase vitreo vel alio vase, et pone in ampula vitrea, et sepelias
in fimo per dies v., vel plures, donee videas devenisse azurri
colores. 31. Attramentum optimum sic fit. — Recipe galle fracte
libram 1^-, et pone in aqua pluviali tepida, vel in aceto, aut
vino tepido, ad x. fialarum quantitatem, et sic stet per unum
diem vel plus, et postea buliantur donee remaneant ad terciam
partem dicte aque, seu vini, aut aceti, et deponantur ab igne,
et statim super addatur fiala una vel due aceti vel vini ; et
ponatur tantum de aqua, quantum consummata fuerit ipsa
mixtura, et iterum omnia ponantur ad ignem, et cum inceperit
bulire deponatur ab igne, et cum ad tepiditatem reductum erit,
coletur, et ponatur in ipso libra \\ gumi arabici pulverizati, et
libram 1 vitrioli romani, et simul misceantur omnia.
32. Si vis facere colorem aureum vel argenteum ad scribendum.
— Accipe talch, et pone in vase vitreo, et superpone acetum
de vernazia perfectum, et pone cum ipso mercurium, videlicet
onciam \, et colam piscis onciam i., et pone super ignem ut
liquefiat ut aqua, et scribe, et fient littere argentee ; et si vis
quod faciat litteras aureas, pone cum ipso parum croci.
33. Colla ad jungendum cartas sic fit. — Accipe gummi ara
bici, et clarum ovi spongiati, et dissolvatur gumi in ipsa clara
ovi, et siccentur ad solem, et cum operari volueris, balnea caput
ipsius masse cum lingua et labiis oris, et trahe desuper cards

62 MANUSCRIPTS OF JEHAN LE BEGUE.
apply it to the parchment where the pieces are to be joined,
and let it dry in the shade, and the pieces will adhere firmly
together. But if you wish to join paper only and not parch
ment, wheat-flour or powdered bread-crumbs mixed with pure
water and slightly boiled is very good for paper. But if you
mix a little gum-arabic or whipped white of egg with it, it will
do for parchment.
34. If you wish to erase letters from paper, take roche alum,
and grind it, and make it into a paste with the juice of an
orange, and expose it to the wind, and let it dry ; afterwards
rub it upon the letters, and it will erase them from the paper.
35. If you wish to make letters ofthe colour of brass, silver,
or gold, take crystal, and grind it very fine upon a marble or
porphyry slab, with white of egg, and write what you like with
it; and when the letters are dry, rub them with the metal
whose colour you wish them to take, and they will take the
colour. Powdered glass will do instead of powdered crystal.
36. To make lake. — Take urine, and keep it for a long while,
and afterwards make it boil until half of it is evaporated upon
a slow and clear fire, skimming it continually, until it is per
fectly purified. Then strain it through a linen cloth, and put
4 lbs. of it into a glazed jar of the said urine, and 1 lb. of raw
lac well ground, and add to it a sufficient quantity of alumine
zuccarino, and put it by and keep it for use.
37. For the same purpose. — Take of gum lac, ground very
fine, as much as you like, and put it into clear urine for three
days, and afterwards make it boil on the fire, and skim it. Add
a little Roman vitriol to it, and strain it through a linen cloth
of loose texture ; then add some urine, and make it boil, always
stirring it with the ladle, until one fourth part or more is eva
porated ; then put it in the sun and let it dry, and keep it
for use.
38. If you wish to remove oil from parchment or letters, take
bones of chicken or capons, and burn them until they are white,
and reduce them to powder. Lay some of this powder on the

EXPERIMENTA DE COLORIBUS. 63
in locis juncture, et junge, et permitte siccari ad umbram, et
tenebunt se simul fortiter. Set si non cartam, set solum pa-
pirum, jungere velis, farina frumenti, vel tritura panis subti-
liata, et distemperata cum aqua clara, et modicum bulita,
optima est pro papiro ; set si immisceris parum gumi arabici,
vel clare ovi spongiate, valebit pro cartis.
34. Si vis elevare litteras de carta. — Accipe aluminis roche,
et tere et impasta cum succo pomi aranzii, et pone ad auram,
et dimitte siccari ; postea frica super litteras, et levabit eas a
carta. 35. Si vis facere litteras coloris erei, argentei, aut aurei. —
Accipe cristallum, et tere subtiliter super lapide marmoris vel
porfirici, cum clara ovi, et scribe quod vis de ipso bitumine, et,
siccatis litteris, frica desuper metallum illud, cujus colorem vis
quod recipiant littere, et accipient ; pulver vitri esset bona loco
cristalli triti.
36. Ut facias lacham. — Accipe urinam hominis bibentis
bonum vinum, et diu serva, et postea bullire facias usque ad con-
sumpcionem medietatis, semper despumendo, super lentum et
clarum ignem, donee sit optime purgata ; postea cola per telam,
et pone in vase vitriato libras iiiior dicte urine, et libram unam
lache crude, bene trite, et pone de alumine Zucarino quantum
sufficit, et repone servando ad opus.
37. Ad idem. — Accipe gumam lache quantum vis tritam sub
tiliter, et pone in urina nitida per tres dies ; postea fac bulire
ad ignem, et spuma, postea pone in ipsa parum vitrioli romani,
postea cola per pannum lineum rarum. Postea adde de urina,
et fac bulire agitando semper cum spatula, donee consumatur
circa quarta pars vel plus. Postea pone ad solem, et dimittas
siccari, et serva ad usum.
38. Si vis oleum de cartis vel litteris extrahere. — Accipe
ossa pullorum vel castroni, et arde usque ad albedinem, et pul-
veriza, et de ipso pulvere super pone ubi est oleum, et per-

64 MANUSCRIPTS OF JEHAN LE BEGUE.
place where the oil is, and let it stand, in summer in the shade,
and in the sun in winter. If necessary, repeat this two or three
times. Lime also is good for this purpose.
39. To make the colour purpurinus as beautiful as gold. —
Take quicksilver and tin, and melt them together ; then take
sulphur vivum and sal ammoniac, and grind these two together,
and mix them with the before-mentioned ingredients, grinding
the whole very fine upon a stone, with .' Then put
them into a glass flask well luted, so as not to be quite full of
the aforesaid things, and put them on the fire, and let the mouth
of the flask be uncovered, and let it stand on the fire until the
vapour ceases to issue from the mouth of the flask. Afterwards
let it cool, and break the flask, and collect and keep all that is
above the dregs, and it will be an excellent colour for using
on books and parchment.
40. If you wish to stain, of a green colour, bones, wood, tablets,
or panneh of wood, knife-handles, thread, and linen cloth, take
strong red vinegar, in a glass vase, with brass filings, a little
Roman vitriol, and some roche alum, and make all boil together
for a short time, and allow it to stand for a few days ; and when
you wish to stain anything, put it into this mixture, and let it
boil a little, and it will become of a good and lasting colour.
41. To make a water for staining anything of any colour. —
Take of sal ammoniac 1 lb., and of nitre ^ lb., and distil it in
an alembic ; and if you take 1 oz. of this water, and put into it
the weight of two florins of calcined gold, it will make a yellow
water ; if calcined silver, it will make a blue ; if mercury, a
black ; if calcined copper, a green ; if calcined lead, a white
water ; and if calcined iron, a water of a red colour.2
42. If you wish to dye anything a blood colour, take a very
strong lye, and soak in it shavings of brazillium, and ground
1 So in original.
* This water, which dissolves gold, must be Nitro-Muriatic Acid (Aqua
Regia). — See Henry's ' Chemistry,' vol. ii. p. 131. The recipe proves
that the solvent power of this acid on gold was generally known as early

EXPERIMENTA DE COLORIBUS. 65
mitte stare in estate ad umbram, in yeme ad solem, donee
oleum exierit a carta. Et, si necesse fuerit, facias hoc bis vel
ter ; et calx etiam est bonum ad hoc faciendum.
39. Ad faciendum purpureum colorem pulcrum et aurum. —
Accipe argenti vivi et stagni, et fonde simul ; postea accipe
sulphuris vivi, salis armoniaci, et tere simul hec duo, et pone
cum predictis, terendo super lapide subtiliter cum (sic),
postea pone in ampula vitrea bene luctata, que de predictis non
sit plena, et pone ad ignem, et ampula sit discoperta ad orifi-
cium, et stet ad ignem tam diu quod fumus cesset exire de
orificio ampule ; postea dimitte frigidari, et frange ampullam,
et totum quod super feces fuerit collige, et serva, et est color
optimus ad ponendum super libris et cartis.

40. Si vis in colore viridi tingere ossa, ligna, tabulas, seu
telas ligni, manubria cutellorum, filum, et pannum lini. —
Accipe de aceto rubeo et forti, in vase vitreo, cum limatura
eris, parum vitrioli romani, et de alumine roche, et fac aliquan
tulum bulire omnia simul, et permitte stare per aliquos dies,
et, cum vis aliqua tingere, pone in ipsa mistura, et fac aliquan
tulum bulire, et fient coloris optimi perdurantis.
41. Adfaciendum aquam ad tingendum aliquid in quocumque
colore. — Accipe salis armoniaci libram 1, salis nitri libram £,
et distilla per alembicum, et si de ista aqua acceperis onciam
unam, et in ipsa posueris pondus duorum florenorum auri
ealcinati, fiet aqua crocea ; si argenti calcinati, fiet aqua celes
tis ; si mercurii, fiet aqua nigra ; si cupri calcinati, fiet aqua
viridis ; si plumbi calcinati, fiet aqua alba ; et si ferri calcinati,
fiet aqua coloris rubei.
42. Si vis aliqua tingere in colore sanguineo. — Accipe lessi
vium fortissimum, et in ipso pone rasuram Brazillii, Alumen

as 1409. Mr. Hendrie (Theoph., p. 427) shows that it was known to
Geber (De Alchem., Norimb., 1545, cap. xxiii.), who lived during the
ninth century.
VOL. i. F

66 MANUSCRIPTS OF JEHAN LE BEGUE.
alumen glacise ; and let it stand for five days or more, and it
will be of a blood colour. Whatever you mean to dye, you
must soak in it for three days, and then boil it until what you
have put in it is properly dyed.
43. If you wish to make verdigris, take a brass vase, and put
urine into it to the depth of one finger's breadth. Add a little
sal ammoniac to it, and expose it to very strong sunshine until
it is dry, when you must scrape off whatever you find in the
vase, and it will be very good'verdigris.
44. For the same purpose. — Take of alum zuccarino oz. vi ;
of brass filings 1 lb. ; . of common salt 2 lbs. ; of nitre ij oz. ; of
roche alum, burnt and bleached, iij oz. Reduce all these things
to a very fine powder, and smear brass plates with it. Place
the brass plates in a well-covered glazed jar ; and then, through
a hole made in the side of the jar, pour in hot urine or hot
vinegar, and close up the hole, and place the vase under warm
dung, and let it remain there 40 days. Then take it out, and
scrape the brass plates, and you will have a green colour. You
can repeat this several times, if you wish to have more colour.
45. If you wish to make a very deep and beautiful green, take
the herb rue, or parsley, when fresh, and extract the juice from
it, and with this juice mix verdigris, and grind it upon a stone ;
then put it into a shell, adding to it a little strong vinegar co
loured with saffron, and it will do even without the saffron.
Make it liquid as if for writing, and use it.
46. If you wish to make a very green colour for dyeing skins,
take of filings of Venus, or copper, 1 part, and of sal ammoniac 2
parts, and temper it with urine. Stretch the skins which you wish
to dry upon a hoop, and paint them on the side next the flesh with
this colour, and let them dry, and the colour will pass through to
the other side.
Whereas in the preceding recipes mention is made of five metals, giving
them the names of the planets to which they are appropriated, the follow
ing remarks are necessary in order to understand them.
Sol is put for gold, the colour of which is yellow.
Luna for silver, the rust of which is azure.

EXPERIMENTA DE COLORIBUS. '67
glacie tritum, et stet per dies quinque vel plus, et erit san-
guinea, et quod tingere vis pona in ipsa per tres dies, et postea
fac bulire, donee quod in ipsa ad tingendum posueris tinctum
sit. 43. Si vis facere viridem ramum. — Accipe vas ereum, et
pone in ipso urinam, usque ad altitudinem grossesiei unius
digiti, et in ipsa pone parum salis armoniaci, et mitte ad for-
tissimum solem, quousque siccetur, et quod postea inveneris, in
vase rade, et erit optimum rami viride.
44. Ad idem. — Accipe aluminis zucarini onciam vi., et
limature eris libram j., salis communis libras ii., nitri oncias
ij., aluminis roche combusti et dealbati oncias iij., pulverisentur
hec omnia subtilissime, et unge laminas ereas, quas pone in
vase vitriato bene coper to ; postea per foramen quoddam,
factum a latere vasis, proice urinam calidam vel acetum cali-
dum, postea claude dictum foramen, et pone vas sub fimo
calido, et stet ibi per xl dies ; postea tolle et radde tabulas,
seu laminas, et habebis viridem colorem ; et potes hoc pluries
reiterare, pro habendo plus de colore.
45. Si vis coloratissimum et pulcherrimum viridem facere.~-
Accipe herbam rute, vel petroxellii, recentem, et ex ipsa trahe
siccum, cum quo misce viride eris, et tere super lapide, postea
pone in conchilla, et adde de forti aceto aliquantulum, quod sit
coloratum cum croco ; et etiam absque croeo potest fieri ; et
distempera ut liquidum sicut ad scribendum, et operare de ipso.
46. Si vis facere viridissimum colorem pro pellibus tingendis.
¦^Accipe limatoram veneris seu rami, partem unam, et de sale
armoniaco, partes duas, et distempera cum urina, et pelles quas
vis colorare tende in circulo, et perunge ex ipso colore ex parte
carnis, et dimitte siccari ad umbram, et color transibit ad aliam
partem. Quia in precedentibus quinque dicuntur metalla, nominando ea per
nomina planetarum quibus appropriantur, ideo ut intelligantur, nota ut
sequitur. Pro sole, aurum, cujus color croceus est.
Pro luna, argentum, cujus rubigo color lazuli est.
f 2

68 MANUSCRIPTS OF JEHAN LE BEGUE.
Mars for iron, the rust of which is violet, rather inclining to
blackness. Mercury for quicksilver, of which are made sinopis and mi
nium, which are red.
Jupiter for tin.
Venus for copper or brass, the rust of which is green.
Saturn for lead, the rust of which is a white colour.
Also, note, that in the MS. from which I copied the preceding
recipes, it was thus written in this place. " The whole that is con
tained in this unbound book, namely, from the beginning of number
1 to this place, I copied ' in Janua' in the year 1409, in the month
of June, having extracted it from an unbound book lent me by
Brother Dionysius1 of the order of the servants of St. Mary,
which order is called del sacho at Milan."
Also, in the said MS., on the margin of the recipe immediately fol
lowing, where the number 47 begins, was written, "I had 'in
Janua' this receipt on the 1st day of March, 1409."
47. To make good ink for writing, particularly for books. —
Take 4 bottles of good wine, white or red, and 1 lb. of galls,
slightly bruised, which must be put into the wine, and allowed
to stand in it for 12 days, and be stirred every day with a stick.
The twelfth day it must be strained through a strainer of fine
linen, and must be poured into a clean jar, and put on the fire
to get hot, until it almost boils. Then remove it from the fire,
and when it has cooled so as only to be tepid, put into it 4 oz.
of gum-arabic, which must be very bright and clear, and stir
it with a stick, then add £ lb. of Roman vitriol, and stir it con
tinually with the stick, until all things are well incorporated
together, and let it cool and keep it for use. And note, that
ink made with wine is good for writing books upon the sciences,
because, when books are written with it, the letters do not fade,
and can hardly be scraped out or discharged from parchment
or paper. But if they are written with ink made with water, it
is not so, for they can easily be scraped out, and it may happen
that the letters written with it will fade.
1 So in original.

EXPERIMENTA DE COLORIBUS. 69
Pro marte, ferrum, cujus rubigo violacea est, et pocius ni-
gredini comparata.
Pro Mercurio, argentum vivum, de quo fiunt sinopis, et
minium, qui rubei sunt.
Pro jove, stagnum.
Pro venere, ramum, seu es, cujus rubigo viridis est.
Pro saturno, plumbum, cujus rubigo albus color est.
Item, nota, quod in exemplari a quo prescripta sumpsi, in hoc loco,
scriptum sic erat, " totum quod continetur in isto quaterno, scilicet a
principio numeri 1, usque hie, scripsi in Janua, anno 1409, de mense
Junii, extrahendo ab uno quaterno michi prestato per Fratem Dio-
nisium de (sic), ordinis Servorum Sancte Marie, qui ordo
in Mediolano dicitur ' del sacho.' "
Item, in eodem exemplari, super margine recepte immediate sequentis,
quaincipit numerus 47, scribebatur sic, "habui in Janua istam re-
ceptam die primo Marcii, 1409."
47. Ad faciendum optimum attramentum pro scribendo, pre
cipue libros. — Recipe bocales iiiior optimi vini vermigii vel albi,
et libram i. galle modicum fracte, que ponatur in dicto vino, et
stet in ipso per duodecim dies, et agitetur omni die cum baculo,
ultima vero die colletur bene subtiliter per colatorium tele linee ;
postea ponatur in vase mondo ad ignem, et callefiat usque dum
quasi bulliat ; deinde deponatur ab igne, et cum refrigidatum
sit, taliter quod sit tepidum, ponantur in ipso onzie iiiior gummi
arahici bene lucidi et clari, et agitetur cum baculo ; deinde
ponatur libra i vitrioli romani, et semper misceatur cum baculo,
donee bene incorporentur omnia simul, et infrigidetur et usui
servetur. Et nota quod attramentum factum cum vino est bo
num ad scribendum libros scienciarum, que cum de ipso scripti
sunt libri, non cadunt littere, neque quasi raddi possunt, nee
expelli de carta, nee de papiro. Set si scripti sunt de attramento,
seu incausto, facto de aqua, non est sic, que bene radi possunt
leviter, et accidere potest quod littere de ipso scripte caduce
sint. VOL. I. * F ^

70 MANUSCRIPTS OF JEHAN LE BEGUE.
4 bottles of wine, or water, or half of each.
1 pound of galls of xij. oz. to the pound.
4 oz. of gum arabic.
6 oz. of Roman vitriol.
And if you took equal parts of each, galls, gum, and vitriol,
as much of one as of the other, by weight, it would still be
good ; as, for instance, 6 oz. of each, which would be sufficient
for the said 4 lbs. of wine or water, or of wine and water mixed
as before.

OTHER EXPERIMENTS NOT UPON COLOURS.
48. The preparation of Tucia. — Take as much as you please
of Alexandrine tucia, pulverize it well, put it in an iron ladle,
and distemper it over the fire until the tucia becomes red.
Then take vinegar and urine, and stir it in well with a rod
until the tucia becomes of a citrine colour.
49. To make brass. — Take thin plates of copper, clean
them well with salt, urine, and honey, and when they become
red, and are well cleansed, take red honey, and rub it over the
plates ; then sprinkle powdered tucia on the honey and liquefy
it in a shell with - (?) of holly, it will then be very good
brass. 50. To write with black on gold or silver.— Take burnt lead
and sulphur, distemper them together, and write on the gold:
or silver ; then heat it with fire, and the desired effect will be
produced. 51. To redden white bones. — Distemper sal ammoniac with'
pure water, put any bones into the water and leave them for
2 days. Add some Brazil wood raspings,, and a little ley, and
leave them for 2 days more. Then take them out, and if they
1 The word is illegible in the original.

EXPERIMENTA DE COLORIBUS. 71
Bocales iiiior vini, vel aque, vel per medietatem de utroque.
Lipra i. gallarum, de onziis xii. pro lipra.
Onzie iiiior gummi arabici.
Onzie vi. vitrioli romani.
Et qui caperet gallas, gummam, et vitriolum, quodlibet ad
equale, videlicet totidem de uno quotidem de alio, ad pondus,
ad hue bonum esset, videlicet ut onzie vi. de quolibet, quod
satis esset pro dictis libris iiiior vini, seu aque, vel aque et vini,
ut supra.

EXPERIMENTA DIVERSA ALIA QUAM DE
COLORIBUS.
48. Preparacio tuchie. — Recipe tocie alexandrine quantum-
vis, bene pulverizate, et pone in ramaiolo ferreo, et distempera
ad ignem, tantum quod tucia rubescat. Postea accipe acetum,
et urinam pueri, et imbibe, et misce cum baculo, tantum quod
tucia deveniat ad modum citrini.
49. Ad ottonem faciendum. — Habeas laminas eris subtiles,
et purga bene cum sale, et urina pueri, et melle, et quando
fuerit rubeum, et bene purgatum, accipe mel rubeum, et unge
dictas laminas, et super mel asperge pulverem tucie, et liquefac
concham bomb de aggrefolio, et erit optimum ot-
tonum. 50. Ad scribendum de nigro in auro vel argendo. — Accipe
plumbum ustum, et sulphur, et distempera simul, et scribe
super aurum vel argentum, et calefac ad ignem, et feceris quod
dictum est.
51. Ad faciendum ossa alba fieri rubea. — Distempera sal
armoniacum in aqua pura, postea mitte in ipsa aqua osse que
vis, et stent per duos dies, et postea adde de verxino raso cum
modico lissivii, et stet per duos dies, postea extrahantur ossa, et,

72 MANUSCRIPTS OF JEHAN LE BEGUE.
are too red put them in water in which sal ammoniac has been
dissolved, and if they are not sufficiently red, do not put them
into a fresh solution of sal ammoniac but replace them in the
first, containing the Brazil wood raspings, and add more Brazil
wood ; leave them for some time, and they will become suffi
ciently red.
52. To blacken horns or bones of animals. — Take 2 pints of
rain water, 3 oz. of quicksilver, and 2 oz. of quicklime, boil
them together for a short time ; then take the mixture off the
fire, and when it becomes tepid, steep horn or bone in it, and
it will become black.
53. A medicine for silvering divers things in a durable
manner. — Take Lupins, boil them in water until their virtue is
imparted to the water. Then strain and boil until the water is
reduced to the consistence of honey, and add a quantity of
quicksilver equal in weight to the water, stirring it well until
the quicksilver is no longer visible. With this you may wash
wood, metals, and whatever you please. This will silver them,
and this silvering will never separate or fall off.
54. To make a durable silvering.- — Take clay, pig's blood,
vine-wood ashes, and quicksilver, mix them well, then dry and
pulverize them ; rub anything with this powder and it will be
silvered. 55. To make gold worms, or worms which seem gilt, for gild
ing anything. — Take bull's brains, put them in a marble
vase, and leave them for 3 weeks, when you will find gold-
making worms ; preserve them carefully.
56. To make a powder which shall light a candle without fire
but with water. — -Take an ounce of loadstone and 4 ounces of
quicklime. Put half of the lime into some strong pipkin, then
add to it the loadstone, and fill the pipkin with the remainder
of the lime ; cover it well, and leave it in a brick-kiln for
9 days, then take it out of the kiln, and when it is cold uncover
it entirely : then remove the lime gently, when you will find
the loadstone in powder ; keep it separately, and when you
wish to light a candle take some of this powder, put it on a

EXPERIMENTA DE COLORIBUS. 73
si nimis sint rubea, reponantur in alia aqua salis armoniaci.
Et si parum, non ponantur in aqua nova salis armoniaci, set in
prima in qua prius fuerant, in qua est verxinum, et addatur de
verxino, et stent, et fient rubea ad sufficienciam.

52. Ad nigrandum cornu vel osse animalis. — Accipe duas
pintas aque pluvialis, uncias tres argenti vivi, et uncias duas
calcis vive, et fac bulire simul aliquantulum, et depone ab igne,
et cum devenerit ad tepiditatem, pone in ipso cornu vel osse
animalis, et denigrabitur.
53. Medieina ad argentacionem perpetuam diversarum rerum
materialium. — Accipe lupinos, et decoque in aqua, donee virtus
eorum transierit in aquam. Postea cola, et fac bulire usque
ad spisitudinem mellis, et pone intus de mer curio seu argento
vivo, ad pondus aque, et misce bene, ita quod in ea non appareat
argentum vivum, et de ipsa lignias ligna, metalla, et alia que
vis, et erunt de argentata, et ipsa de argentacio nunquam sepa-
rabitur seu cadet.
54. Adfaciendum argentacionem durabilem. — Accipe terram
tenacem, sanguinem porci, cineres de sermento, et argentum
vivum, et commisceantur bene, et postea siccentur, et pulveri-
zentur, et ex ipso pulvere frica que vis, et argentabuntur.
55. Ad faciendum vermes auri, vel qui videantur deaurat?,
pro deaurando que vis. — Accipe cerebrum tauri, et pone in vase
marmoris, et stet per tres ebdomadas, et invenies intus vermes
facientes aurum, et custodi bene.
56. Ad faciendum pulverem que candelam accendat, absque
igne, set cum aqua. — Accipe calamitem masculum onziam i., et
calcem vivam onzias iiii01", et pone medietatem dicte calcis in
aliquo pignatello forti, et postea pone in ipso dictam calamittam
integram, postea cooperiri pignaculum cum alia parte dicti
calcis, et obtura bene dictum pignatellum, et pone per novem
dies in fornace in qua cocuntur lateres. Postea leva dictum
vas de fornace, et cum frigidum sit apperi plane, et remove
moderate dictum calcem, donee inveneris cajamittam pulveriza-

74 MANUSCRIPTS OF JEHAN LE BEGUE.
piece of paper or on the wick of a candle, and touch it with
water or saliva, when the candle will be lighted. But take
care you do not keep it in a damp or warm place.1

57. To temper iron well. — Take powdered glass and burnt
goat's horn or stag's bone, well pulverized, heat the iron slightly,
and grease it with mutton fat and sprinkle with the powders
that part of the iron which is to be made hard. Then heat the
iron or the part which you wish to harden and quench it in
water which has been distilled from radish-roots and red earth
worms which are found in damp places.

58. To temper iron so that it will be hard enough to cut pre
cious stones. — Heat the iron in the fire to a convenient heat,
and extinguish it in the blood of a goat in the month of March.
59. To take the impression of seals and other things with
engraved or raised surfaces. — Take 2 parts of gypsum and 1 of
flour, mix them together and make them into a paste with glue
made of hartshorn and reduce them until they become of the
consistence of soft wax. Then make two small tablets of this
paste and before they dry press between them the seal or image
or other form which must be wrapped in onion skins. Then
take out the seal or image, let the tablets dry, then melt lead
or wax and pour it into the mould. When cool remove it from
the mould or tablets, and you will have what you desire.
60. To make a perfect glue for fixing hard bodies, such as
crystal, glass, and gems, together ; or for fixing wood, horn, or
other things on to stones. — Take ceruse made from burnt bricks,
that is to say, the powder of them, and finish by grinding it

1 It appears from a passage in Beckmann's Inventions, vol. ii. p. 504,
that this recipe was quoted by Cardan, who ascribed it to one Marcus

EXPERIMENTA DE COLORIBUS. 75
tam, quam serva per se ; et dum vis lumen accendere, accipe
de pulvere dicte calamite, et pone in papiro, seu licivo candele,
et tange cum aqua dictum licivum, vel cum sputo, et accendetor
candela; set cave ne ipsum pulverem teneas in loco humido
nee calido.
57. Ad temperandum ferrum optirne.— Accipe vitrum pulveri-
zatum, et cornua yrci, vel ossa cervi, usta et pulverizata, et
calefac parum dictum ferrum, et ipsum unge cepo ca strati, i.e.
muttonis, et asperge de dictis pulveribus simul mixtis, ab ilia
parte ferri que expedit fieri dura, et calefac ipsum ferrum, seu
partem illam ejus quam vis duram facere, et extingue in aqua
distillata per alembicum, de radicibus raffanorum, et vermibus
terrestribus, seu bombricibus rubescentibuSj nascentibus in locis
humidis. 58. Ad temperandum ferrum, quod erit tam durum, quod de
ipso poterunt incidi duri lapides preciosi. — Callefac ferrum ad
ignem ut convenit, et extingue in sanguine irci libidine amoris
inflammati, id est in marcio mense.
59. Ad faciendum formam sigilli, et aliarum rerum sculptarum
vel levatarum, quas voles extrahere. — Accipe partes duas gipsi,
farine unam, et misce, et fac pastam de ipsis cum cola cervina,
et deduc, et confice, donee fit sicut cera mollis ; postea fac de
ipsa duas tabuletas, et, antequam siccentur, stringe inter ipsas
sigillum, vel ymaginem, aut aliud, cujus formam facere vis, et
sit involutum in pelliculis ceparum, et postea extrahe sigillum
vel ymaginem, et permittas siccari dictas tabuletas, et cola
plumbum vel ceram ut vis, et immitte in dicta forma, et dimitte
frigidari, et apperi formam, id est dictas tabulas, et habebis
quod quesivisti.
60. Ad faciendum collam perfectam, ad corpora dura fir-
manda, ut cristallum, vitrum, et gemmas, invicem. vel super
petras, ligna, cornua, aut alia. — Accipe cerussam laterum coc-
torum, videlicet pulverem ipsorum, et confice subtiliando super

Graecus, who, according to some persons, lived in the ninth century, and,
according to others, in the thirteenth.

76 MANUSCRIPTS OF JEHAN LE BEGUE.
finely on the porphyry slab with painter's liquid varnish. With
this preparation you may join anything you like, and then dry
it in the sun. And if you have no liquid varnish, take linseed
oil with a little lime, and the said ceruse, or powder of bricks
burnt in the furnace, and well triturated and pulverized.1
61. To temper iron. — Take a sufficient quantity of the juice
of radish roots, then take earth-worms and put them in salt or
sea-water for an hour until they die, and in dying they will be
purified from their superfluous humours. Then remove them
from the water without squeezing them, but only laying them
down and shaking the water from them. Then put them in a
glass cucurbit, and pour the radish-juice on them so as just to
cover them. Then fix an alembic on the said cucurbit, lute it,
place the cup in the ashes, give it a slow fire, and collect the
water, which will come off clear as spring water. When your
iron is properly heated quench it in this.
62. For the same purpose. — Take the herb which is called
" famula '" and which is like " vidalia," but which has leaves
like the " elder," extract its juice, and when your iron is pro
perly heated quench and temper it in this.
63. To make a water which corrodes iron. — Take 1 oz. of
sal ammoniac, 1 oz. of roche alum, 1 oz. of sublimed silver, and
1 oz. of Roman vitriol, pound them well, take a glazed earthen
vase, pour into it equal parts of vinegar and water, then throw
in the above-mentioned articles. Boil the whole until reduced
to half a cup or a cup, apply it to such parts of the iron as you
may wish to hollow or corrode, and the water will corrode them.
64. A water which corrodes iron, and takes away the spots on
all metals, and cleanses wounds. — Take Roman vitriol and eu-

1 There appears to be some error in this recipe.
2 Probably " Flammula ;" in French, Clematite flammvk ; in Italian,
"Flamula;" in English, the sweet-scented Clematis. This is rendered
more probable by the comparison of this plant with another species of Cle-

EXPERIMENTA.DE COLORIBUS. 77
lapide porfirico cum vernice liquida pictorum, et de hac confec-
tione junge quod vis, et dimitte siccari ad solem. Et si non
hahes, accipe oleum lini, et aliquantulum calcis, cum dicta
cerrusa, seu pulvere laterum coctorum in fornace, atritorum, et
pulverizatorum subtiliter.
61. Ad temperandum ferrum. — Recipe radices rafani, extrahe
succum ita quod de eo habeas satis ad quod vis facere, et accipe
lombricos, aliter bombricos, terrestres, quos pone in aqua bene
salita, vel marina, per horam, donee moriantur, et moriendo
purgentur ab eorum humoribus superfluis. Postea extrahe
ipsos de aqua absque eos exprimere, set solum jaciendo, et ex-
cuciendo aquam, et pone eos in cucurbita vitri, et superpone
dictum succum rafani, ita quod succum superet eos aliquantu
lum, et dicte cucurbite superpone alembicum, et luta, et loca
cucurbitam in cineribus, et da ignem lentum et recollige aquam,
que exiet clara ut aqua fontis, et in ipsa extingue ferrum debite
ignitum. 62. Ad idem. — Accipe herbam que vocatur famula, que est
ad modum vidalie. Set scias quod habet folia ad modum sam
buci ; et de ipsa trahe succum, in quo extingue, et tempera,
ferrum debite ignitum seu calefactum in igne.
63. Adfaciendum aquam que cavat ferrum. — Accipe onciam
i. sabs armoniaci, et onciam i. aluminis roche, et onciam i. de
argento sublimato, et onciam i. vitrioli romani, et pista omnia
bene, et accipe unum vas terre vitriatum, et pone in ipso aquam
et acetum, de utroque equaliter, et immitte que dicta sunt, et
fac bulire, donee devenerit ad quantitatem medii ziatus, vel
unius ; et, hiis factis, de ipsa linias ferrum, modo quo vis ipsum
cavere, seu radere, et radebit ipsum dicta aqua.
64. Aqua que cavat ferrum et levat maculas ab omnibus me
tallis et purgat putredinem vulneris. — Accipe de vitriolo romano

matis, the Clematis Vitalba, the wild Clematis, or common Virgin's bower ;
the Vitalba and Clematite of the Italians ; La Clematite des Haies of the
French.

78 MANUSCRIPTS OF JEHAN LE BEGUE.
phorbia,1 and distil them in an alembic. Then take the water
which is distilled from them and apply it to the wound, and it
will purify it and remove the dead flesh without great pain.
If you write with this on iron or any other metal, the letters
will immediately be made and bitten into it.
65. To fix one piece of brass to another. — Take the scrapings
of a cask, that is, tartar, burn it until it no longer smokes, and
reduce it to powder ; then take a fourth part of borax, put it
in a small quantity of water, and stir it until it is dissolved ;
then add the tartar to it, until it makes, as it were, red bubbles,
when you must add a little water to make it more liquid : you
may then use it to fix anything you please, smearing the
article with the said water or mixture. Then put a few copper
filings and powdered borax into the said water and smear this
mixture as before. Then put what you join into the fire, and
when you see the copper filings run or melt, at that instant
throw water on the fire, take out whatever you have soldered,
and you will find it firmly fixed.
66. If you wish to give a gold colour to any metal. — Take
powdered red sulphur and red orpiment, heat them in a crucible
over the fire, stain your work with this composition, and it will
be of a gold colour.
67. To give iron a golden colour. — -Take alum of Jameni,
grind it with urine so as to be ofthe consistence of ointment, and
spread it wherever you like on the plates of iron ; then heat it
over the lighted coals ; what you have spread will become of a
golden colour.
68 or 69. To preserve arms and other iron utensils from rust.
— Anoint them with chicken's grease.
70, 71, 72, 73, or 74. To make fire which will burn under
water, and which cannot be extinguished with anything but oil. — •
Take equal parts of quicklime and sulphur, 1 oz. of wax, a
1 Euphorbia, the spurge, of which there are many species, one of which
is mentioned in the Bolognese MS. , No. 38, under the name of Turtum&gli,
a derivation from the Latin Tithymalus, the Euphorbia Esula (Erba Latte,

EXPERIMENTA DE COLORIBUS. 79
et euforbiano, et distilla per alembicum, et de aqua que exierit
pone in plaga, et expurgabitur, et levabit carnem mortuam
absque dolore magno, et si de ipsa scripseris litteras in ferro,
vel alio metallo, statim fient et cavabuntur in ipso.
65. Ad consolidandum unum latonem cum alio. — Accipe rasu-
ram vegetis, id est, tartarum, et combure donee fumum non
faciat, et pulveriza eam ; postea accipe quartam partem borratis,
quam mitte in modico aque, et misce, et agita eam, donee
liquefiat; postea mitte cum ea dictam rasuram, donee faciat bul-
las quasi ruheas, postea mitte parum aque, ut sit magis liquida,
postea de ipsa operare, et consolida que vis, et unge eas de
ipsa aqua seu mistura ; postea mitte in ipsa mistora aliquan
tulum limature cupri, et aliquantulum borracis pulverizate, et
de ipsa mistura unge ubi supra, et que jonxeris pone ad ignem,
donee videbis spargi, seu fondi, linituram dicte mixture positam
super jonctura duorum conjonctorum, et subito proice desuper
de aqua in igne, et extrahe de igne ea que jonxisti, quia con
solidate erunt.
66. Si vis dare aureum colorem alicui metallo. — Accipe pul
verem sulphuris rubei, auriplumenti rubei, et bulias ad ignem
in cruxibulo, et de tali confectione opus toum intinge, et sus-
cipiet aureum colorem.
67. Ad faciendum aureum colorem super ferrum. — Accipe
aluminis jameni, et tere cum urina, ut sit quas unguentum,
et linias ex ea lamina ferrea ubi volueris, et calefac super car-
hones ignitos, et fiet linitora color aureus.
68 vel 69. Ad conservandum arma et alia ferramenta a
rubigine. — Ungantur asungia gallinarum.
70, 71, 72, 73, vel 74. Adfaciendum ignem qui ardebit sub
aqua, nee poterit extingui, nisi cum oleo. — Accipe calcis vive,
sulphuris vivi, ana, onziam i. cera, parum olei, parum petrolei,
Lattaroli ; Euphorbe k feuille de pin, La petite Esule, the Gromwell-
leaved spurge). All the species are acrid and poisonous.

80 MANUSCRIPTS OF JEHAN LE BEGUE.
little oil, and a little petroleum. Mix these things together,
smear them over iron or wood, put this under water, and it will
burn. If you wish to extinguish it, put it in oil.
75. If you wish to keep a fire for some time. — Put lighted
coals or charcoal under the ashes of juniper wood, and they will
not be extinguished for a long time.
76. To make maggots and lice fall from your head. — Anoint
your head with the juice of rue.
77. If you wish to take spots of oil, and so forth, out of
woollen cloth. — Distemper white, or gypsum, or marble dust
ground with egg, lay it on the spot, dry it, and then wash it
with cold water.
78. To take stains out of scarlet, velvet, fyc. — Take roche
alum, with a little common salt, and grind it, and make it into
a paste with yolk of egg and a little vinegar ; put this on the
spots and dry it. The dried "mixture" maybe removed by
rubbing, and the cloth will remain free from the spot.
80. * For the same purpose. — Take burnt tartar of wine, and
a little sulphur, grind them and make them into a paste with
yolk of egg and water. Put this on the spots, dry it, and re
move it by rubbing and beating.
81. If you wish to stain bones, wood, planks, wooden platters,
knife-handles, thread, and linen cloths green, put some strong
red vinegar into a glass vase with brass filings, a little Roman
vitriol, and roche alum, and boil all these things together for
a short time, and then let them stand for a few days. When
you desire to stain anything, put it into this mixture, boil it a
little, and it will be of a beautiful and durable green colour.
82. If you wish to make brass as beautiful as gold, take lib.
of brass plates, \ lb. of the best tuchia, melt them together in
a crucible over the fire, add 2 oz. of tin, stir well, and let the
mixture cool. Then melt it a second time, add 3 oz. of tuchia,
stir it, and again set it aside to cool. Then melt it a third
time, add 3 oz. more of tuchia, stir and cast it in the form of
rods, strips, plates, or any other form, and it will be beautiful.
1 79 is missing in original.

EXPERIMENTA DE COLORIBUS. 81
et hec misce simul, et lignias de hoc ferrum vel lignum, et
mittas sub aqua et ardebit; et si vis extinguere, mitte in
oleo. 75. Si vis conservare ignem maximum tempus ne extingatur. —
Pone carbones, seu calcicos accensos, sub cineribus ligni juniperi,
et durabunt diu.
76. Ut Undines et pediculi cadant de capite. — Unge caput
succo rute.
77. Si vis extrahere de pannis lannarum maculas olei et
aliorum. — Distempera album, vel gessum, vel marmor, tritum
cum ovo, et inunge ubi est macula, et dimitte siccari, postea
lava cum aqua frigida.
78. Ad extrahendum maculam de scarlata, et voluto, et talibus.
— Accipe de alumine roche, et parum salis communis, et tere,
et impastentur cum vitello ovi, et pauco aceti, et superponatur
macule, et siccetur, et confricando expellatur dictum bitumen
siccum, et pannus remanebit liberatus a macula.
80. Ad idem. — Accipe alumen fecis, et parum sulphuris, et
tridentur et impastentur cum vitello ovi et aqua, et superpo-
nantur macule et dimittantur siccari, et expellantur confricando
et excuciendo.
81. Si in colore viridi vis tingere ossa, ligna, tabulas, scutellas
ligni, manubria cutellorum, filum, et pannum lini. — Accipe de
aceto rubeo et forti in vase vitreo cum limatura eris, parum
vitrioli romani, et de alumine roche, et fac aliquantulum bulire
omnia simul, et permitte sistare per aliquos dies, et cum vis
aliqua tingere, pone in ipsa mistura, et fac aliquantulum bulire,
et fient colores pulcri viridis optime perdurantes.
82. Si vis facere lottonem pulcrum sicut aurum. — Accipe la
minas eris libram i, et optimam tuchiam libras s, et simul fonde
in igne cum cruxibulo, et pone intus onzias ii stagni, et misce,
et dimitte frigidari. Postea fonde secundo, et pone intus de
tuchia onzias iii, et misce, et dimite frigidari. Postea tercio
fonde, et mitte in ipso onzias iii tuchie, et misce, et jacta in
virgis vel laminis platis, vel in qua forma vis, et erit pulcher.
VOL. I. G

82 MANUSCRIPTS OF' JEHAN LE BEGUE.
83. To make a good temper for iron utensils. — Early in the
morning collect a large quantity of celandine when it is wet or
full of dew. Extract its juice by pounding, boiling it until one
third is consumed, and the two parts remaining will be ex
cellent. Then take the whole of the herb Lattaroli1 (?),
pounded, and extract its juice. Distil this, if possible, and
sprinkle some finely powdered antimony on the iron, heat the
i" on, and quench it in the distilled water.
84. For the same purpose. — Take the leafstalks of briony,
pound them, and extract the juice. Distil this, and quench
the red-hot iron in the water which is distilled from it.
85. To mend broken vases of earth, stone, and marble. — Take
the white earth of -the fellmongers, that is, chalk, which is
otherwise called gersa [gesso] ; make it into a plaster with
white of egg, grind it well on a stone, and use it.a
86. If you wish to attract glass touched with some gum, as
iron is attracted by the magnet, take the gum Andrianum, which
is found in the large rocks near Bologna towards Tuscany, in
Monte Bono, or Buono, and besmear a stick with this gum.
Touch the glass phials on the table with this stick, draw away
the stick, and the phials will follow it, as iron follows the
magnet. 87. If you wish to turn black skins white, take a mole, boil
it, then take the water in which it has boiled, and smear a black
horse with it, on any part. The black hairs will fall off, and
white hairs will grow.
88. For the same purpose. — Take cheese, heat it by the fire,
press it strongly on the forehead of a black horse, and it will
make a star as you know.
After the preceding, it was written in the MS., " All the things con
tained in this unbound book, namely, from number 47 unto this page, I
wrote ' in Janua' in the year 1409, in the month of June, extracting
them from a book lent to me by brother Dionysius de (sic) of

1 The Euphorbia Esula. See ante, note to p. 78.
2 This recipe appears to be copied from Pliny, who says quicklime
should be used.

EXPERIMENTA DE COLORIBUS. 83
83. Ad faciendum bonam temperam ferramentis. — Collige
summo mane bonam quantitatem celidonie, quando est plena
seu madida rore, cujus succum pistendo extrahe, et fac bulire,
donee consummata sit tertia pars ejus ; due vero remanentes
partes optime sunt ; et accipe totidem herbam lateranniam,
pista, et succum extrahe, et ipsum distilla per alembicum, si
fieri poterit, et pulverem antimonii triti pulverizati proice super
ferrum, et calefac ferrum, et extingue in dicta aqua distillate.
84. Ad idem. — Accipe radicem de foliis brionie, et pista, et
extrahe succum, quem distilla per alembicum, et in aqua que
exierit extingue ferrum ignitum.
85. Ad reintegrandum vasa terrea, lapidea, et marmorea,
fracta. — Accipe terram albam pellipariorum, id est cretam, que
aliter gersa vocatur, de qua fac emplastrum cum albumine ovi,
et suhtilia super lapide et utere.
86. Si vis vitrum tactum de quadam guma attrahere, sicut
ferrum attrahitur a calamita. — Accipe gumam andrianam que
invenitur in saxis maximis Bononie versus Tuscam in monte
Bono seu Buono, et cum ipsa guma unge baculam, et cum
ipso baculo tange fialas vitri positas super mensa, et deduc
baculum per mensam, et fiale sequentur baculum, sicut ferrum
sequiter calamitem.
87. Si vis de pellibus nigris facere albas. — Accipe telpam et
fac bulire, et.ex ipsa aqua in qua bulierit linias equum nigrum,
ubi vis, et cadent pili nigri, et orientur albi.
88. Ad idem. — Accipe caseum et calefac ad ignem, et in
fronte equi nigri imprime fortiter, et fiet stella sicut scis.
Post predicta scriptum erat in exemplari, " omnia contenta in presenti
quaterno, id est, a numero 47, usque hie, scripsi in Janua, anno
1409, de mense Junii, extrahendo ab uno quaterno prestato michi
per Fratrem Dyonisium de (sic), ordinis Servorum Sanete

G 2

84 MANUSCRIPTS OF JEHAN LE BEGUE.
the order of the Servants of St. Mary, which order, in Milan, is
called Del Sacho ; and from that same book I copied also many
experiments for making colours for illuminating books, which expe
riments I wrote in another quire which precedes this."
These are the experiments, Nos. 1 to 47 inclusive.
Also in the same MS., in another unbound book attached to the preced
ing, it was thus written : " On Tuesday the 11th day of February,
1410, 1 caused the following to be copied in Bologna from recipes lent
to me at that place by Theodore (sic) of Flanders, an embroi
derer, accustomed to work at Pavia during the life of the late
renowned Duke of Milan ;' which recipes the said Theodore said he
had procured in London, in England, from the persons who work
with the waters hereinafter mentioned."
The following recipes were brought from England : —
89. To make black water. — Take a pint of water from under
the grindstone on which knives are ground,2 and place it over
the fire, and throw into it a glass of vinegar and ii. oz. of
galls ; then take \ an oz. of alum and an oz. of copperas, and
boil it until it is reduced by one -third, and then let it stand for
a day. 90. To make green water. — Take an ounce of verdigris, half
an ounce of alum, a little saffron, and a little parsley ; grind
the whole well together, and distemper it with one glass of
vinegar ; then strain it through a cloth into a saucer, and let it
rest for a day.
91. To make red water. — Take an ounce of rags or clippings
of scarlet [cloth], and soak them in a jar in a pint of strong
ley ; then put the jar over the fire, and throw into it a little
alum and gum arabic, and make it boil until it is reduced one-
half, and let it rest for a day.
92. To make tlie water for staining cloth of all colours, and
to make it quite white. — Take a pint of strong ley, and put it over
the fire, and throw into it an ounce of alum and an ounce of
saltpetre, and when it is melted take it off the fire and use it.
1 Gian Galeazzo, who died in 1402.
2 This water probably contained iron-dust. It is also mentioned in the
Bolognese MS., Nos. 134, 338.

EXPERIMENTA DE COLORIBUS. 85
Marie, qui in Mediolano dicitur ' del Sacho,' et ab ipso quaterno
copiavi etiam multa experimenta ad faciendum colores pro illumi-
nando libro, que experimenta scripsi super uno alio quaterno prece
dent! (ste) finis quaterni." [Ista sunt experimenta que
scribuntur a pre (sic) numeri 1 usque ad numerum 47].
Item in eodem exemplari in quodam alio quaterno precedentibus con-
tiguo scribebatur sic " 1410 Die Martis xi Februarii, feci copiari in
Bononia, a receptis ibi mihi prestatis per Thedericum (sic)
de Flandria, rachamatorem solitum operari in castro papie, in vita
condam ineliti ducis Mediolani, quas receptas idem Thedericus
dixit habuisse in Londonia in Anglia, ab operariis infrascriptarum
aquarum."
Ab Anglia venerunt recepte sequentes : —
89. Pour faire Teau noire. — Prenez une pinte de l'yaue de
cjessoulz la meule sur quoy on meult les couteaulx, et la mettez
sur le feu, et gettez ung voire de vin aigre, et ii onces de galles,
et prenez demie onche d'alon, et une onche de coperose, et le
faitez tant boulir, qu'il apetice du tiers, et puis le laissier re-
poser un jour.
90. Pour faire I'eaue verte. — Prenez une once de vert de
gris, et demie once d'alon, et un petit de safren, et un petit de
persil, et hroyez bien tout ensemble, et puis le destrempez en
j voire de vin aigre, et puis le coulez parmi un drapel dedens
une escuelle, et le laissiez reposer i jour.
91. Pour faire Veaue rouge. — Prenez une once de bourre
d'escarlate, ou tondure, et le destrempez dedens une olle, en
une pinte de la forte lexive, et puis le mettez sur le feu, et
gettez dedens un po d'alun, et de gomme arabique, et le faites
tant boulir qu'il apetice de la moitie, et puis le laissiez reposer
un jour.
92. Pour faire I'eaue a destaindre drap de toutes couleurs, et
faire devenir tout blanc. — Prenez une pinte de la forte lessive,
et la mettez sur le feu, et gettez dedens une once d'alun, et
une once de salepetre, et quant il est fondu mettez le jus du
feu et en ouvrez.

86 MANUSCRIPTS OF JEHAN LE BEGUE.
Note. — It seems also possible to draw, with the said water, on coloured
woollen cloths, any letters and other drawings, the parts within the
outlines of which only, where the water has touched, will be bleached ;
and thus there will be white letters and figures ; the ground, where
it has not been touched by the water, still retaining its own colour.
93. To make the red water. — Take an ounce of Brazil in
powder and a 6th part of alun de glace, and make it boil well
in a vessel of clear water until it is reduced to one half, and
then use it.
94. To make the green water. — Take an ounce of water of
the leaves of the black nightshade,1 and ^ an ounce of alum and
the worth of a blanc2 of saffron, and ij. oz. of verdigris; grind
all together as well as you can, and distemper with a chopine 3
of strong vinegar, and then use it.
95. To make the violet water. — Take an ounce of turnsole
and soak it in a chopine of strong and tepid ley, and then
use it. What is here called turnsole is to be understood " Bresil."
96. To make the blue water. — Take an ounce of indigo of
Bandas, that is to say, Baguedel,4 and reduce it to powder, and
then distemper it with \ a "lot" 5 of strong lessive fondisse, and
put it on the fire ; and just before it boils, throw into it a 6th
part of quicklime, and the same quantity of "meltrac" (?), and
then take it off the fire and stir it well, and when it is tepid use it.
Also in the said MS., over the recipe immediately following, was
written — " At the beginning of this are wanting several words which
had been cut off, as appeared when I caused this to be copied from
the MS. ; but I think it is for making a water of an azure colour, of
a blue or indigo water."
97. Take the worth of a blanc of quicklime, and the same
quantity of calcined lees of wine, and of calx of tin, and some
" creeres " of indigo, and boil all together in two lots of clear,
1 Morelle. The herba Morella, Solanum Nigrum, Black Nightshade.
2 A blanc was equivalent to 5 deniers.
8 Chopine, a half pint. The old French " pinte " was equivalent to
1 quart English.
4 This was the real Indigo.
5 Lot, a liquid measure, perhaps what was afterwards called " Litre."

• EXPERIMENTA DE COLORIBUS. : 87
Addicio. — Debent etiam posse cum dicta aqua protrahi in drapis
coloricis lane quelibet littere, et alie protractiones, in quarum solis
continenciis, quantum aqua eadem tetigerit, albificatio fiet, et sic
habebuntur ibi protractiones et littere albe, remanente campo in suo
colore ubi a qua ipsa non tetigerit.
93. Pour faire I'eaue rouge. — Prenez une once de brezil en
poudre, et un sisain d'alun de glace, et le faites bien cuire, en
desmerlant d'yaue clere, tant qu'il appetice de la moitie, et
puiz en ouvrez.
94. Pour faire I'iaue verte. — Prenez une once d'eaue de
morelle de la feuille, et demi once d'alun, et pour un blanc
de saffren, et ij onces de vert de gris, et broyez tout ensemble
si bien comme vous porrez, et puis le destrempez d'une chopine
de fort vin aigre, et puis en eeuvrez.
95. Pour faire I'eaue violete. — Prenez une once de tornesel,
et le met tremper en une chopine de forte lessive fondisse, et
que elle soit tiede, et puis en ceuvre.
Nota.- — Quod ubi dicitur tornesel vult dicere Bresil.
96. Pour faire Teaue perse. — Prenez une once de inde de
Bandas, c'est a dire, Baguedel, et le met en pouldre, et puis le
.iiestrempe en demi lot de forte lessive fondisse, et puis le met
sur le feu, et quant il voudra boulir, gette dedens un sisain de
chaulx vive, et autant de meltrac, e puis le met jus du feu, et
le remue bien, et quant il est tede s'en ceuvre.
Item in eodem exemplari et supra receptam immediate sequentem sic
erat scriptum. " Hie, in principio, deficiunt plura verba, que ab
exemplari erant abscisa, ut apparebat, quando feci hoc copiari ab ipso
exemplari ; set credo quod sit ad faciendum aquam coloris celestini,
aut aquam persam vel indicam."
97. Pren pour un blanc de chaulx vive, et un blanc de cendre
de lie de vin, et un blanc de la cendre d'estaing creeres de
' Inde, et fait tout boulir ensemble en ij lotz d'iaue clere une

88 MANUSCRIPTS OF JEHAN LE BEGUE.
water for an instant, and stir it well, and then take it off the
fire, and throw into it a glass of cold water • and when it is
settled you can use it.
Also in the same MS., over the two paragraphs following, it was thus
written — " I think that the following recipes are for making two
green waters, as I collect from the contents, and the names and
things which are mentioned in them."
98. One oz. of tartar of white wine, 1 oz. of sal gem, 1 oz.
of alun de glace, i an oz. of alun de plume, 6 esterlins1 of
verdigris, 1 chopine of common salt.
99. 1 oz. of copperas, \ an oz. of verdigris, 1 oz. of salt
petre, ^ an oz. of rhubarb.
Take a chopine of water and put it into a new earthen jar,
and when you see that the water begins to boil put in your
powder, and take it off the fire and stir it with a skewer, and
let it cool.
I think these words of the above written paragraph relate to both the
articles marked 98 and 99.
After the aforesaid, it was thus written in the before-mentioned
MS.:—
" The true method of working in England with [coloured] ^waters. —
The aforesaid 2 Theodore, from whom I had the above- written recipes
for the aforesaid waters, told me that in England the painters work
with these waters upon closely woven cloths, wetted with gum-water
made with gum-arabic, and then dried, and afterwards stretched out
on the floor of the soler,'upon thick woollen and frieze cloths ; and
the painters, walking with their clean feet over the said cloths, work
and paint upon them figures, stories, and other things. And because
these cloths lie stretched out on a flat surface, the coloured waters do
not flow or spread in painting upon them, but remain where they are
placed, and the watery moisture sinks into the woollen cloth, which
absorbs it ; and even the touches of the paint-brush made with these
waters do not spread, because the gum with which, as already men-
1 Esterlins, 18^ grains, a goldsmith's weight. According to Spelman
(Gloss. 203) and Dufresne (3, 165), the word was derived from the Ester-
lings or Easterlings, as those Saxons were anciently called who inhabited
the district in Germany now occupied by the Hanse Towns and their ap
pendages, the earliest traders in Europe. See Tomlin's Law Diet., art.
Coin. 2 Who is mentioned before in page 84, previous to No. 89.

EXPERIMENTA DE COLORIBUS. 89
onde, et le remuer bien, et puis le met jus du feu, et gette
dedens un godet d'yaue froide, et quant elle sera rassisse tu en
puez ouvrer.
Item in eodem exemplari super ij partes sequentes sic erat, " credo
quod hec verba sequencia sint ad faciendum aquas duas virides, ut
comprehendo per contentus verborum ac rerum in ipsis verbis nomi-
natarum."
98. Une once de gravelle de vin blanc, une once de sal
gemme, une once d'alun de glace, demie once d'alun de plume,
vi esterlins de vert de gris, un estrelin de sel commun.
99. Une once de coperose, demie once de vert de gris, une
once de salpetre, demie once de rubarbe.
Prenez une chopine d'yaue et la metez en 1 pot de terre
neuf, et quant vous verrez que I'iaue commencera a boulir, si
metez vostre pouldre, et ne l'ostez hors du feu, et la remuez a
une hrochete, et laissiez refroider.
Credo quod ipsa verba suprascripti capituli. serviant articulis signatis
uno 98 alio 99.
Vero modum operandi in Anglia cum aquis.
Post supradicta scriptum sic erat in prefato exemplari, " Antedictus 1
Tbedericus, a quo habui ante scriptas receptas prescriptarum aqua-
rum, dixit quod in Anglia operantur operarii pictores cum ipsis aquis,
super tellis bene contextis, et belneatis cum aqua gummata de gummi
arabico, et siccatis, et postea extensis super solario2 per terram, super
drappis grossis Ianne et frixia, incedentes cum pedibus nitidis ipsi
qui operantur, iunt, inde per super ipsas telas, operando et depin-
gendo super ipsis imagines, historias, et alia. Et quodque ipse telle
sedent et stant in planicie extense, ut dictum est, et super dictis
drapis dicte aque colorate pingendo non fluunt, se spargentes, set
stant ut ponuntur, et humitidas aquea descendit in drapo lanne, qui
eam bibit, ac etiam non sparguntur tractus pincellorum facti ex ipsis
aquis, quea gumacio tele facta ut dictum est, prohibet sparsionem

1 De quo supra in 2a- pagina folii precedents ante numerum 89.
2 Solario — the soler, or upper story of a house. See Illustrations of Do
mestic Architecture from popular Medieval writers. By Mr. Wright.
Published in the Archaeological Journal, September, 1844, p. 218.

90 MANUSCRIPTS OF JEHAN LE BEGUE.
tioned, the cloth is wetted, prevents their spreading. And when the
cloths are thus painted, their texture is not thickened or darkened
any more than if they had not been painted, because the aforesaid
watery colours have not sufficient body to thicken the cloth."
Also in the beginning of the following quire in the same MS. it was thus
written — " On Thursday, the 13th day of February, 1410, I caused
the following to be copied at Bologna, by the hand of Dom Johannes
de diversis, from a certain book of Magister Johannes de Modena, a
painter living at Bologna."
It must also be remarked that the articles which follow, namely, from
the article 100 to the article 116 inclusive, were in the book from
which I, John Le Begue, copied, as has been already said, the
present articles ; and that this book was written in the Italian lan
guage ; and as I did not understand that language, I caused it to be
translated into Latin by a certain friend of mine, who was skilled in
both languages.
100. To make lake. — Take ashes of oak, and boil them in a
boiler full of water, namely, in one containing 6 small cups of
water, and one parasis, i. e. a large [saucer or] basin full of the
ashes, and boil it until it is reduced to three cups. Then let
it settle, and when it is clear, pour it into a glazed earthen
basin ; then take a woollen cloth, and strain the said water,
and when it is strained it will be a ley. Put into the said ley
a sufficient quantity of the clippings, that is, cuttings of scarlet
cloth of rubeum de grana, to be perfectly covered by the ley.
Then put it into a glazed earthen jar, and let it rest for twelve
hours. Next take that ley, together with the clippings, and
put it into a glazed earthen pipkin, and set it by the fire, and
let it simmer gently for an hour. After that try it, by putting
it on your nail, and if it stands up well on your nail, it is
done ; then remove it from the fire and strain it through a
thick woollen cloth. You must then have a new glazed
earthen pot, and pour into it what was strained through the
said cloth ; add to it vi oz. of roche alum, and stir it together
until it is dissolved. Then take a spoon and skim off all the
froth that forms over the top of it, and throw away this scum,
for it is not good. But the other part is good, and should be
put into a glazed earthen vase, and suffered to stand until it

EXPERIMENTA DE COLORIBUS. 91
ipsam tractuum pincellorum ; et cum telle ipse operate sunt, tamen
raritas ipsarum non est inspisata, nee ob fuscata, plus quam si non
picte fuissent, quia aquei colores suprascripti non habent tantum
corpus, quod possent inspicare raritatem telle."
Item in principio quaterni sequentis in eodem exemplari sicut erat
scriptum, " 1410, die Jovis xiiia Februarii, feci copiari que se-
quuntur in Bononia, de manu domini Johannis de diversis, a quodam
libello magistri Johannis de Modena, pictoris habitantis iu Bononia."
Et autem sciendum, quod articuli qui sequuntur, scilicet ab articulo 100
usque ad articulum 116 inclusive, erant in libro a quo ego, Johannes
le Begue, presencium articulorum, ut supra dictum est, in ytalico
sermone conscripsi, quem sermonem, cum non intelligerem, feci per
quemdam amicum meum, utriusquelingue peritum, in latinum vertii,
eo qui sequitur modo.

100. Ad faciendum lacha. — Ad faciendum lacha, accipe
cinerem de quercu, et fac bulire in una patella plena aque,
videlicet quod sint intus sex cassete aque, et una parasis de
dicta cinere, videlicet una magna scutella, et fac tantum bullire
quod reveniant ad tres cassetas tantum modo. Postea sine
clarificare, et, quando est clarificata, ponas in una patella de
terra vitreata ; postea habeas pannum de lanna, et per ipsum
fac colare dictam aquam, et, cum fuerit clarefacta, turn erit
lessivium; ponas in dicto lessivio tantum cimature, videlicet
burre de panno scarlato rubeo in grana, quod super habundet
aliqualiter lessivium dictam cimaturam. Postea ponas totum
in uno vase de terra vitriato, et sine morari intus per xij horas.
Postea capias illud lessivium una cum cimatura, et ponas in
una olla de terra vitreata, quam pones juxta ignem, et fac
bulire paulatim per unam horam. Et postea experimentes, et
ponas supra unguem, et si teneat se super unguem, tunc est
coctum, et hoc facto amovebis ab igne, et fac colorare per
pannum grossum de lana. Postea habebis unum potum de
terra vitreatum novum, et ponas intus illud quod colaverit per
dictum pannum, et accipe vi oncias de alumine de Roch, et
ponas intus, et misce ad invicem, usque quo liquefacerit.
Postea accipe unum coclearium, et collige tentum illam

92 MANUSCRIPTS OF JEHAN LE BEGUE.
has become somewhat dry, when it must be formed into small
grains, and be put in the sun.

10J. To make verzino for painting on silver. — To make
verzino for painting on silver or tin-foil, so that the brilliancy
of the silver or tin may shine and appear through it, put a
piece of white lime about the size of an egg into water to dis
solve, and let it stand in the water for three days and three
nights. Then rasp or scrape verzino, and add it to the lime-
water, and let it stand for an hour ; then put it on the fire in a
small jar, and let it boil until, when you put it upon your nail,
it remains upon it. Then take isinglass, or, as some say, tur
pentine, a piece about the size of a bean, and put into it, and
remove it from the fire. Take a little roche alum, which you
must stick in the end of a small stick and tie it there, and dip
it into the said mixture, and let it remain there until you see
that it is dissolved. Then take a strainer, and strain or filter
the water through it.

102. To make [a liquid] for dyeing. — Take the whites of six
eggs, and put them in a glazed basin, and break or beat them
well with a sponge. Then take an ounce of verzino and scrape
it, and add it to this white of egg, and let it remain in it for
three days. Then take a little roche alum and scrape into it, and
set it to strain or filter through a strainer. Then place it in the
sun, and let it stand until it dries. Temper it with a little
weak gum, that is, gum-water, made with gum arabic, having
but little gum in it, on account of the viscosity of the white of
egg, which is sufficient for it.
-JJ-03. To make gesso sottile. — Take fine gesso sifted, that is
passed through a sieve, and put it into water to dissolve, and
change the water every day, and stir it together every day, and

EXPERIMENTA DE COLORIBUS. 93
spumam que veniet desuper, et illud quod remanet desuper
separes, quod non est bonum. Alteram vero est bonum, et
ipsum ponas in uno vaso de terra vitreato, et sinas stare intus
usque quo aliqualiter desiccetur, et, quando desiccatum fuerit,
fac de ipso parva grana, et ponas ad solem.
101. Adfaciendum verzin super argento ponendo. — Ad facien
dum verzin super argento vel stagno verberato, ponendo taliter
quod splendor argenti et stegni splendeat et lucescat, accipe
calcem albam tantum, quantum est unum ovum, et ponas in
aqua ad liquefaciendum, et sine stare in dicta aqua per tres
dies et tres noctes. Postea habeas feltrum, et per ipsum cola
dictam aquam. Postea ratices sive radas verzin, et ponas in
dicta aqua de calce, et sine stere intus per unam horam, postea
ponas super ignem in una parva olla, et sinas tantum bulire,
quod si posueris super unguem, ibi remaneat. Postea habeas
de cola piscium, et aliqui volunt dicere de Trementina, tantum
quantum unum granum fabe, et pone intus et removeas ab
igne, et habeas parumper de alumine de roch, quod ponas in
summitate unius parvi baculi, et liges ipsum, et emerge in
dicta aqua commixtionata, et sine stare usquequo videris esse
liquefactum. Postea habeas unam stamineam, et per ipsam
fac penetrare sive colare dictam aquam.
102. Adfaciendum pro tingendo. — Accipe clarum sex ovo-
rum, et ponas in una scutella vitreata et deducas, sive per-
cussias, bene cum una spungia. Postea habeas unam onciam
de verzin, et ratices, et ponas in isto claro ovorum, et sinas
stare intus per tres dies. Postea habeas aliquantum de
alumine de roch, et ratices desuper, et pone ad colandum, sive
penetrandum, in una staminea. Postea ponas ad solem, et
sine stare tantum quod sit siccum. Postea tempera ipsum
cum aliquantum de gumma debili, id est de aqua gommata de
gummi arabico, que parum gumme in se habet, causa viscosi-
tatis clari ovi jam impositi, que sufficit.
103. Ad faciendum gessum subtile. — Accipe de gesso subtili
sedassato, id est, penetrate per aliquam stamineam, et pone in
aqua ad liquefaciendum, et cotidie renoves aquam, et cothidie

94 MANUSCRIPTS OF JEHAN LE BEGUE.
do this for a month. Then strain or filter off the water, and
teke the part that remains behind and put it into a fresh vase,
in which you must let it remain till it has settled properly 5
then make it into a cake, and let it dry.
104. To lay burnished gold upon paper. — Take gesso sottile
and grind it on a stone with water. Then let it dry, and when
it is dry take some glue, not very strong, and mix with it, and
add a little minium and ceruse — i.e. blanchet — and lay the
gesso on the paper, and let it dry. Then scrape it, and lay
over it Armenian bole well ground with white of egg, and when
it is dry, lay gold upon it with white of egg, and burnish it in
proper time.
105. To lay fine gold upon gilt tin. — Take white of egg, and
whip or beat it well with a sponge, with which wet also the tin,
but the sponge must not be too wet. Then take fine gold, and
lay it on the tin, and let it stand until it is fit to burnish.
106. To make a mordant with garlic. — Take garlic, and
pound or grind it very fine, and strain or sift it through a very
fine sieve. Then take what passed through, and put it on a
stone with a little minium and ceruse, viz., blanchet and a little
bole, and grind and mix all these together, and let the mixture
stand till it becomes tacky.
107. To make a mordant which will not be affected by the
weather. — Take a little minium and ceruse, viz., blanchet, also
verdigris, bole, and ochre, and grind all together with water,
and let them dry until the water is completely evaporated.
Then take what remains and grind it with oil and linseed, and
add a little liquid varnish to it, and a little gold size, and
grind all these things well together, and apply the mordant,
and when you have applied it lay on the gold.
108. To make lake. — Take verzino and rasp it with glass,
and take travertine rasped to powder, and a little roche alum,
and grind it, and soak all these things in a ley, and let them

EXPERIMENTA DE COLORTBUS. 95
commisceas ad invicem, et in tali stetu sine morari usque ad
unum mensem ; postea cola sive penetra aquam, et abstrahe
illud quod remanserit, et ponas in uno vase novo, ubi sinas
morari usque quo fuerit bene repausatom, postea fac panem,
et sine siccari.
104. Ad ponendum aurum bornitum in carta. — Accipe ges-
sum subtile, et tere super petra cum aqua. Postea sine sic
cari, et quando erit siccum, habeto de cola non valde forti, et
extempera cum ipso et pone aliquantulum de minio, et de
ceruza, videlicet blanchet, et pone istad gessum super carte,
et sine siccari. Postea radas et ponas super bolarminum, bene
tritum cum claro ovi, et quando est siccum, pone super aurum
cum claro ovi. Postea bornisce quando tempus est.
"105. Ad ponendum aurum finum super stagno aurato. —
Accipe clarum ovi, et deducas sive percutias bene cum spungia,
et balne stagnum de dicta aqua cum spungia, et non valde ;
postea accipias aurum finum, et vade ponendo super stanno, et
sinas tantum quod sit ydoneum ad borniendum.
106. Ad faciendum mordentem de aleo. — Accipe de aleo, et
pista, sive tere, bene nitide, et cola, sive penetra, bene nitide
per unam pessiam. Postea collige illud quod penetraverit, et
ponas supra petra cum aliquantum de minio, et de cerusa,
videlicet Blanchet, et aliquantum de bolo, et omnia ista tere et
commisce ad invicem, et sine tentum quod efficiatur conglu-
tinosus. 107. Ad faciendum mordentem qui stet ad aerem. — Accipe
parumper de minio, et cerusa, videlicet blanchet, et de ver-
deramo, et de bolo, et de ocrea, et tere omnia ista ad invicem
cum aqua. Postea sine siccari usquequo aqua exiverit. Postea
accipe illud quod remanserit, et tere cum oleo et semine lini,
et pone intus cum aliquanto vernicis liquide, et aliquantum de
auratura ; et omnia ista tere bene invicem, et ponas in opere,
et quando pungit pone super aurum.
108. Adfaciendum lacha. — Accipe verzin, et ratices cum
aliquantum de vitreo, et accipe tevertini raticatam in pulvere,
et accipe alume de roch, et tere. Et omnia ista pone ad lique-

96 MANUSCRIPTS OF JEHAN LE BEGUE.
stand for a day. Then mix the whole well together, and put
the mixture in a new earthen jar, and make it boil for a quarter
of an hour. Then take a small bag, and pour the whole into
it, and let it remain until the moisture has passed or run
through, and let it fall into a saucer or stone basin.
109. To make a yellow colour. — Take an ounce of orpiment,
and an ounce of sulphur vivum, and temper this colour with
the milk of a fig-tree, and it is done.
110. To make a green water. — Take buckthorn berries, and
mix them in the same way as is done with wine or raisins when
they are boiled in a cauldron to make wine, and cover them
up, and let them remain for six days. Then squeeze them
into a parasis, viz., a basin of glazed earthenware, and add to
it a little * alum, lest it should be spoiled. Proportion the
alum to the quantity of the liquid, and place it in the sun to
dry. And when you wish to use it add a little ley to it ; and
if you wish to have a beautiful green take some fine azure and
mix with this water ; and note, that for this purpose azurrum
de Alemannia, provided it is good and perfect, is better than
ultramarine. 111. To make ultramarine azure. — Take 3 lbs. of lapis
lazuli, and pound finely in a copper mortar, and afterwards sift
it with a sieve such as perfumers use when they sift their per
fumes after having pounded them. Then teke 3 lbs. of tur
pentine, and put into a glazed earthen saucer, and place it on
the hot ashes. Then put into it a little olive oil, and when
you see that it begins to boil take it from the fire, and imme
diately put in the powdered lapis lazuli, little by little, stirring
it well with a stick, so that the turpentine may be well incor
porated with the said powder. Then keep the saucer, with the
pastille thus made, for three days, and the longer it stands
the better. Afterwards take another larger saucer, and put
the pastille into it, and teke some clean tepid water, and pour
1 So in original.

EXPERIMENTA DE COLORIBUS. 97
faciendum cum lexivio, et sine morari per unum diem. Postea
misce omnia iste bene, et pone in una olla de terra nova, et
fac bulire per quartern partem unius hore. Postea habeas
unum parvum succum, et pone intus omnia ista, et sine morari
usquequo succus penetraverit, sive colaverit, et fac cadere in
una paraside, sive catino, de petra.
109. Ad faciendum colorem croceum. — Accipe unam unciam
de orpimento, et unam unciam de sulfure vivo, et distempera
istum colorem cum lacte de figu, et est factum.
UO. Ad faciendum aquam viridem. — Accipe grana de spino
cervino, et ammusces sicut fit de vino sive raisinis, quando fit
bullire in cuva pro vino faciendo, et tege et sine morari usque
ad vj dies. Postea premas in una paraside, videlicet, in uno
catino de terra vitriato, et pone intus aliquantulum de alume de
(sic), ne corrumpatur, et ponas de dicto alume secundum
quantitatem dicti liquoris, et pone ad solem, et sine siccari.
Et quando vis de ipso operari, accipe aliquantum liscivii, et
mitte intus ; et si vis facere pulcrum colorem viridem, fac quod
habeas pulcrum azurrum, et misce cum ista aqua ; et scias
quod ad istud negotium melius est azurrum de Alemannia,
quam ultramarinum, dum modo sit bonum in perfectione.
111. Adfaciendum azurium ultramarinum. — Accipe libras
tres lapides lazuli, et pistes valde bene in uno mortario de
cupro, et fac postea penetrare per unam stamignam, qua
utuntur aromatarii, quando faciunt penetrare aromate post-
quam pestaverint. Postea habeas libras tres de trementina, et
ponas in una scutella vitreata, quam pones super cinerem
caldum. Postea pone intus aliquantum de oleo olivarum, et
situvides quod inceperit bulire, removeas ab igne, et statim
pone intus dictum pulverem lapidis lazulli, paulatim, miscendo,
et bene incorporando cum uno baculo, per modum quod ilia
trementina sit bene incorporata cum dicto pulvere. Postea
conserva dictam scutellam cum dicto pastillo taliter confecto
per tres dies, et si plus staret, melius valeret. Postea habeto

VOL. I.

S8 MANUSCRIPTS OF JEHAN LE BEGUE.
over the pastille as much as would fill a small saucer of the
size of the saucer in which the pastille was kept, and wash the
pastille well with your hands in the water, and then strain the
water through the cloth ; and having strained the water from
the pastille in that manner three times, keep it in another larger
saucer, for in it you will have the flower of the azure. Also
pour water again over the pastille in quantity about three
saucers' full, pouring it over three times, one saucer full at a
time, and do as you did before, and you will have good azure,
but not so perfect as the first. Also pour water on the pastille
a third time, and do as you did before, and you will then have
another azure, yet not so perfect as the first or the second.

112. To make the pastille with which the azure is prepared.— >
Take 3 oz. of olive oil, also 2 oz. of turpentine, also J oz. of
liquid varnish, also 2 sagii1 of good incense; and, in my
opinion, each sagium makes 1 sterling and a half. After
wards prepare the oil in the following way : — Take a glazed
jar, and first put some of the oil into it, and next the two
ounces of turpentine, and place it on a clear fire, and let them
boil together for so long as it would take to say a Paternoster
and Ave Maria. Then put in the said 2 sagii of incense, and
let them boil together for as long as it would take to say the
miserere mei Deus twice. Then add the half ounce of liquid
varnish, and let them boil together for as long as it would
take to say the miserere mei Deus twice. Lastly, pour in the
remainder of the oil, and afterwards strain it through a clean
closely-woven linen cloth, and preserve it in a clean jar.
113. To extract the azure from the pastille. — Put the pastille
into an earthen vase, and rub it very well with linseed oil, and
afterwards make the said pastille into a round cake. Then
1 A Sagium, or scruple, according to the Ricettario, weighed 24 grains.
The saggio mercantile weighed 24 grains. — Ricett. Fior., p. 126.

EXPERIMENTA DE COLORIBUS. 99
unam aliam scutellam majorem, et in dicta pone dictum pas-
tillum, et habeas de aqua nitida et clara tepide, et in dicto
pastillo pone quantitatem unius parve scutelle, que scutella sit
quantitatis que erat prima scutella, in qua prius conservasti
dictum pastillum, et cum manibus lava bene dictum pastillum
in dicta aqua, et tunc cola dictam aquam in dicto panno, et
illam aquam, taliter colatam de pastillo, tribus vicibus reserva
in una alia majori scutella, quia in ista to habebis florem azurii.
Item altera vice ponas aquam in metipso pastillo, in quantitate
trium scutellarum, ponendo per tres vices, et qualibet vice
unam scutellam, et fac sicut fecisti prius, et habebis azurum
bonum, set non tam perfectum sicut primum. Iterum, tercia
vice, ponas aquam in metipso pastillo, et fac sicut fecisti alteris
duabus vicibus, et tunc habebis alium azurum, set non erit in
perfectione sicut primum nee secundum.
112. Ad faciendum pastillum de quo fit azurrum. — Accipe
tres oncias de oleo olivarum, item duas oncias de trementina,
item dimidiam onciam vernicis liquide, item duos sagios boni
incensi ; et, secundum opinionem meam, quodlibet sagium facit
unum sterlingum cum dimidio. Postea confice dictum oleum
isto modo : in primis accipe unam ollam vitriatam, in qua pones
prius de dicto oleo, postea duas oncias de dicta trementina,
postea pones juxte ignem clarum, et sine bulire ad invicem,
tantum quod diceretor semel pater noster et ave Maria.
Postea pones dictos duos sagios incensi, et dimitte bullire in
vicem tantum, quod bis diceretor " miserere mei Deus." Postea
pone dictam dimidiam unciam de vernice liquida, et sine bulire
tantum, quod diceretor bis miserere mei Deus. Postea finaliter
pone residuum de dicto oleo, et postea cola per unum pannum
lineum nitidum bene intextum, et ponas in uno vaso nitido.
113. Ad trahendum azurrum de pastillo. — Pone dictum pas
tillum in uno vaso de terra, et frica valde bene cum oleo de
semine lini, et postea fac de dicto pastillo unum panem ro-

h2

100 MANUSCRDPTS OF JEHAN LE BEGUE.
take wann . ley, well strained and clear, and pour it on the
pastille, and do the same thing a second and a third time, and
thus you will have three sorts of azure. Then remove the ley
as well as you can, and put it afresh into another ley, and
make it boil slowly and gently, and skim it. Then let it
boil for an hour, and remove it from the fire, and pour off the
ley, and wash and strain it well. Make every three portions
boil in this way, and also each by itself; and also, if you wish
to strain it together with the ley you can do it.
114. To make the pastille from which the ultramarine is
made. — Take 1 lb. of lapis lazuli and grind it well, and take
three sagii of new wax. In my opinion these sagii are equal to
1 sterling and a half each. Also three sagii of mastic, also one
sagius of coarse incense, also one ounce ofthe before-mentioned
prepared oil, and then make a pastille in the following manner.
First take the wax, and chew it well with your teeth, and put
it into a glazed jar. Then place it on the fire, and let it melt.
Next add the incense, and let it melt ; and then add the mastic,
and let it boil slowly and gently for so long as it would take
you to say the miserere mei Deus once. Then add half an ounce
of the oil, and let it stand by the fire until it boils. Then re
move it from the fire, and keep stirring it till it is cold, or
nearly so, when you must add the powder of lapis lazuli, and
stir it until it becomes hard. Then take water that is slightly
warmed, and put the pastille into it, and mix it until the water
is well coloured. Then put it into a parasis or basin of glazed
stoneware, and the perfect azure will immediately sink to the
bottom of the basin, and you must then pour off the water care
fully ; or, you may keep it, if you wish to do so, and then pour
off the water : add cold water, and wash the said azure well,
mixing it with a stick. Then strain it through a closely-textured
linen cloth, and pour off the water and dry it, and you will
thus have perfect azure.
115. To extract perfect azure. — First teke a phial of cold ley,
and put into it one drachm of the stone tuzia, well ground with
the said ley, then wash the azure in it, and afterwards wash it

EXPERIMENTA DE COLORIBUS. 101
tundum; postea habeas lessivium tepidum bene colatum et
clarum, et pone in dicto pastillo, et simili modo iterum facies
bina et trina vice, et sic habebis de tribus maneriebus azurri.
Postea atrahes lixivium quam melius poteris, et de uno pone in
alio lexivio, et fac bulire paulatim et plane, et schiumabis [from
schiumare] desuper ; postea sine bulire per unam horam, et re-
trahe ab igne, et abstrahe lexivium, et lava bene, et similiter bene
colabis, et fac omnibus tribus vicibus sic bullire, et qualibet vice
pro se ; et etiam, si velis colare una cum lessivio, facere poteris.
114. Adfaciendum pastillum de quo fit azurum ultramarinum.
— Accipe unam libram de petra vel lapide lazuli, et tere bene,
et accipe tres sagios de cera nova, qui sagii faciunt, videre meo,
quilibet unum sterlingum cum dimidio. Item tres sagios de
mastich, item unum sagium large incensi, item unam onciam
de oleo supradicto confecto, et postea fit pastillum tali modo.
In primis accipe ceram, et mastica bene cum dentibus, et pone
in una olla vitriata. Postea pone juxte ignem et sine liquefieri.
Postea ponas dictam incensum, et sine liquefieri ; postea ponas
dictum mastich, et sine bullire paulatim et plane, tentum quod
diceretur semel " miserere mei Deus." Postea ponas dimidiam
onciam de dicto oleo, et sine tantum stere juxte ignem quod
buliat. Postea remove ab igne, et commisce tentum quod sit
refrigeratum, vel quasi ; postea pone dictam pulverem de lapide
lazulli, ct misce tantum quod veniat dura; postea accipe de
aqua parumper calida, et pone supradictum pastillum, et tantum
misceas, quod aqua sit bene colorata. Postea ponas in una
paraside, sive catino, de lapide vitreato, et statim azurrum per
fectum submergetar in profando cathini ; postea diligenter
abstrahe aquam, et, si vis ipsam reservare, potes, et abstrahe
dictam aquam, et ponas de aqua frigida, et laves bene dictum
azurrum, miscendo bene cum uno ligno. Postea cola per
panum lineum bene intextum, et abstrahe illam aquam, et
siccabis, et sic habebis azurrum perfectum.
115. Ad abstrahendum azurrum perfectum. — In primis accipe
unam fiolam* de lissivio frigido, in qua pones intus unam drag-
mam de lapide tazia bene trite cum dicto lixivio, postea lavabis

102 MANUSCRDPTS OF JEHAN LE BEGUE.
with cold water, until it remains pure and brilliant, and thus
you will have a perfect blue.
116. To obtain a blue, not quite so perfect. — If you like you
may also make up the pastille again, as before directed, except
that you must not add to it any of the before-mentioned lapis
lazuli, and you must keep and knead this second pastille as
before directed with regard to the first, and thus you will have
a second and a third kind of azure not so perfect.
Whoever wishes to try all these experiments must observe and note
that the pounds mentioned here must be understood as of twelve
ounces each, according to the Italian mode of reckoning.
Also in the said MS. it was thus written — " I received the following
receipt at Venice, on Tuesday the 4th day of May, 1410, from
Michelino di Vesuccio, the most excellent painter among all the
painters of the world."
117. Azure is thus made. — Take 1 lb. of lapis lazuli and
grind it well upon a porphyry slab ; then wash it with water
and dry it, and reduce it to powder. The pastille is thus
made : — To each pound of powdered lapis lazuli take 1 lb. of
Greek pitch, ij. oz. of liquid varnish, j. oz. of mastic ; put into
a rough jar iij. oz. of good common oil, i. e. linseed or olive oil,
and make it boil ; then put the mastic and varnish in powder
into the oil, and stir it well with a stick, and when you see that
they are dissolved add the Greek pitch in powder, and let it
boil a little, until the whole is incorporated. Then strain it
through a cloth into cold water and knead it with your hands
greased with common oil, and then incorporate the powdered
lapis lazuli very carefully upon a slab with the pastille, and let
it stand for three days with the pastille. Afterwards extract
the azure from the pastille in this way : — Stir it about with a
stick in water that is a little more than tepid, and keep it in as
long as any colour flows out ; but if you cannot extract the
colour put hotter water to it, and so keep adding water hotter
and hotter by degrees until it brings out the colour. Lastly,
pour off the water when it is at the hottest, and having ex
tracted all the azure and separated it from the water, make a
very strong ley, and put the azure into smooth vases, and pour

EXPERIMENTA DE COLORIBUS. 103
aziimim, postea etiam lavabis cum aqua frigida, tentum quod
remaneat purum et nitidum, et sic habebis perfectum azurrum.
116. Ad habendum azurrum non adeo perfectum. — Si vis, fac
.pastillum etiam de novo, sicut dictum est de super, excepto
quod tu non debes ponere aliquid de dicto lapide lazullino, et
istud secundum pastillum debes custodire et incorporare, sicut
dictum est de super in primo, et sic habebis azurrum in secundo
et tercio modo non adeo perfectum.
Sit autem monitus, vel advertat, quicumque habet omnia ista experiri,
quod libre, de quibus in eis fit mencio, intelligantur de dnodecim
unciis quelibet libra, secundum morem italicum.
Item in eodem exemplari sic erat scriptum, " hoc sequens experimen-
tum hujusmodi, in Veneciis, die martis, IIII maii, anni 1410, a
Michelino de Vesucio, pictore excellentissimo inter omnes pictores
mundi."
117. Azurrum sic fit. — Recipe libram unam lapidis lazuli,
,et tere bene in lapide porfirico. Postea ablue ipsum cum aqua
•clara, deinde desica et reduce ipsum in pulverem. Pastillum
•sic fit ; ad libram unam pulveris lapidis, pone libram unam picis
grece, oncias ij. vernicis liquide, one. i. masticis ; ponantur in
olla radi one. iij. olei communis, id est lini, vel olive, et boni, et
•fac bullire, et tunc mastice et vernicem pulverizatem pone in
oleo, et bene moveas cum ligno. Et cum videas resolute, pone
piscem pulverizatam, et permitte parum bullire, donee omnia
fuerunt bene incorporate. Postea cola per pannum in aqua
frigida, et manicetur manibus oleo communi, et postea pulver
lazulli incorporetur super lapidem cum dicto pastillo, et optime,
et dimittatar per tres dies in dicto pastillo. Postea extrahatur
azurrum de pastillo hoc modo; misceatur cum baculo in aqua
calida, parum plusquam tepida, et taliter teneatur, quousque
aliquid exiverit. Si vero non exiret, ponatar aqua magis calida,
et sic gradatim, mittendo aquam calidiorem, et miscendo, donee
aliquid exiverit ; ultimo ponatur aqua quando magis fervet, et
extracto toto azurro, et separate ab aqua, et sicato, fiat lexivium
fortissimum, et ponatur azurrum in planis vasis, et superius
ponatur lexivium, sicut nosti, ut exeant immondicii pastilli, quo
purgato, dulcifica cum aqua clara, etc.

104 MANUSCRIPTS OF JEHAN LE BEGUE.
the ley upon it, in order, as you know, to get rid of the im
purities of the pastille. Having thus purified it, wash it with
clean water, &c.
In the year of the Circumcision of Christ, 1410, on the 2nd day of
February, after that Master Johannes de (') (a Norman,
who was residing in the house of Master Petrus de Verona, who
knows how to refine or make ultramarine azure, and does refine or
make the said azure when he wants it) had told me, Johannes
Alcherius, at Paris, the process which is used in making the said ultra
marine azure, I noted down and made the present writing, according
to my opinion, and according to the things which I heard from him,
and also according to the things which I saw in divers treatises con
cerning this, and as I heard from divers other persons.
118. To clean, refine, or make ultramarine azure with a
pastille ; or to make it with lapis lazuli ground to powder, and
to purify the powder with a pastille. — Pound and grind very
fine and dry in a copper mortar fine ultramarine lapis lazuli,
which is the better in proportion as it is of a deeper and more
brilliant sky blue, namely when the colour is not too pale or
whitish, and the stone itself is not mixed with parts that are
not of a blue colour, but of a yellow or earthy and whitish
colour. And if, as it sometimes happens, the stone cannot be
obtained in pieces, but the powder of it, which the salesmen call
azure, can be obtained, although not refined or purified, take it
and try whether it is fine, by heating it in the fire upon an iron
plate. If it does not change its colour or get dull it is good.
Then grind this powder excessively fine, upon a hard and smooth
stone, with clean water, in the same way that colours are
ground. Then dry it, and reduce it to powder, and make the
pastille for purifying the said powder or azure, of the following
things, in this manner : —
Put into a glazed earthen vase, 8 oz. of turpentine. This
must be softened by warming, so that it may be stirred and
washed ; and it must be washed several times with pure warm
water, stirring the water and the turpentine with a stick, and
1 So in original.

EXPERIMENTA DE COLORIBUS. 105

Anno circoncisionis 1411, die ij Februarii, post quam magister
Johannes de (sic), Normanus, commorans in domo magistri
Petri de Verona, qui sit afinare vel facere azurrum ultramarinum, et
afinat diatim, seu facit, cum expedit, dixit mihi Johanni Alcherio, in
Parisiis, modum quo utitur afiniando, seu faciendo ipsum azurrum,
notavi, et feci presentem scripturam, secundum avisum meum, et
juxta eaque ab ipso audivi, et juxta eaque per diversas scripturas
vidi de hoc, et a diversis aliis personis audivi.

118. Ad purgandum, vel afinandum, seu faciendum, azurium
ultramarinum cum pastillo, seu ad faciendum illud de lapide
lazulli, trito in pulvere, et purgando pulverem cum pastillo. —
Pulverizatur et teritur subtilissime ad siccum, in mortario
cupri; lapis lazulli ultramarinus finus, cujus bonitetis est major,
quanta est magis celestis coloris, et vivi, videlicet quod non sit
nimis clarus color et albescens, seu quod lapis ipse non sit im-
mixtus de partibus non celestini coloris, set crocei, vel terrestis,
et albescentis ; et si, ut quandoque accidit, non invenitur lapis,
et inveniatur pulver de ipso factus, quem vendentes appellant
azurium, dato quod non sit afinatus seu purgatus, accipiatur et
probetur si fit finum, ponendo ipsum ad ignem super lamina
ferri, et si non mutat colorem, vel pejorat, est bonum ; deinde
pulver illud teratur super lapide duro, piano, bene subtiliter
cum aqua clara, ut teruntor colores, postea siccetur, et rediga-
tur in pulverem, et fiat postea pastillus, pro purgando dictum
pulverem seu azurium, de rebus sequentibus, hoc modo.
Accipiantur in vase terreo vitreato uncie octo tormentine, que
si vel sic intepidetur, ut sit aliquantulum mollis, ut possit agi-
tari lavando eam, et lavetur pluries cum aqua clara tepida,
agitando aquam et tormentinam simul cum baculo, et jactando
aquam, ita quod termentina fiat bene alba, clara, et purgata,

106 MANUSCRIPTS OF JEHAN LE BEGUE.
then throwing away the water, so that the turpentine may be
bleached, cleaned, and purified. This is my own advice,
although Master Johannes did not say that it would be better.
Then add to it 2 oz. of pine resin, or Greek pitch, and 2 oz. of
new wax, and melt or liquefy all these things together over the
fire, and mix them well, and it will make the pastille, which
must afterwards be allowed to cool a little, so that it may be
just tepid and soft, and not liquid, but rather solid.
Then add viij., x., or xij. oz. of the said powdered lapis
lazuli, putting it in by degrees, and mixing the pastille and the
powder with a stick, so that the powder may be well incorpo
rated with the pastille, and let it rest for about a day and a
night or longer.
Then pour over it a quantity of warm water sufficient to
cover the pastille, and let it stand for a short time, so that it
may not be melted, but only warmed and softened sufficiently
to allow it to be kneaded and stirred with the stick. After
wards, if the water has become too cold, add more hot water,
which thus being added to the former becomes and also causes
the pastille to become of a convenient heat. It would there
fore be more convenient in summer than in winter on account
of the heat. Stir the pastille gently with a stick or a wooden
spoon, and pour off the water, and the azure that is extracted
with it, into another glazed earthen jar. And because the
azure on account of its weight sinks presently to the bottom
of the water, the water must be immediately poured off into
another glazed earthen jar, lest any yellowish or white and
earthy impurities, which are not so heavy as the azure, and
which therefore do not sink to the bottom so soon, should, per
haps, render the water turbid ; and if the water should be turbid,
these impurities will sink to the bottom along with the azure,
which it will contaminate by being mixed with it. Afterwards
wash the said pastille again several times in the same manner
with warm water, not allowing it to cool or harden, hut keep
ing it at a proper degree of heat and softness ; always pouring
off the water of each washing, together with the azure which

EXPERIMENTA DE COLORIBUS. 107
quod advisavi ego, dato quod ipse magister Johannes non
dixerit erit melius. Postea ponantur in ipsa oncie due picis
rase, seu grece, et oncie due cere nove, et fundantur seu
liquefiant hec omnia simul ad ignem, et misceantur bene, et iste
erit pastillus, qui postea dimittatar aliquantulum infrigidari,
ita quod sit solum tepidus et mollis, et non liquidus, set ali
quantulum obduratus. Deinde ponantur in ipso oncie viii°,
vel xcem, vel xiidm, dicti pulveris lazulli lapidis, paulatim im-
ponendo, et cum baculo pastillum cum pulvere miscendo, ita
quod bene incorporetur pulver cum pastillo ; postea dimitetur
per circa diem et noctem, vel plus, deinde ponatur de aqua
calida, ita quod pastillus cooperiatur, et stet paucum, ut efficia-
tur non liquefactus, sed tepidus et mollis, ut possit cum baculo
agltari et misceri. Postea, si aqua erit nimis infrigidata, et
suponatur de alia calida, que sic fit alteri adita remaneat, et
pastillus cum ea ad tepiditetem convenientem reducatur.
Igitur melius fit hoc in estate, pro calido, quam in hieme ; et
misceatur pastillus cum baculo, vel spatula ligni, moderato
modo, et azurrium, quod exibit cum aqua, immittatur, cum ipsa
aqua lavature sue, in alio vase terreo vitriato. Et quia azurium
subito, pro ejus ponderositate, descendit ad fondum aque, est
cito post ejus descensum proficienda est aliquo alio vase terreo
vitreata, ne aliqualis turpitudo albescens, vel crocea, et terres-
tris, que non est tam ponderosa, ut azurrium, et igitur nee tam
cito descendit ad fundum, et qua tarpedine forte ipsa aqua es
aliqualiter turbida, si aliqualiter ex ea torbida erit, descendat
ad fondum cum azurrio, et ipsum deturpet se sibi immiscendo ;
et postea iterum relavetor simili modo dictus pastillus pluribus
vicibus cum aqua tepida, non dimittendo ipsum pastillum infri
gidari nee indurari, set tenendo ipsum in tepiditate et mollicie
debita, et semper aquam, ad quamlibet lavaturam cum azurro
exeuntem quem secum traxerit et dixerit, mittendo.in dicto
vase, in qua prima missa erit, donee videatur quod azurrium
incipiat exire a pastillo tanto minus bonum, seu minus pulcrum
in colore ejus, quam primum, quod ex nimia differencia con-
veniat non plus ipsum ulterius ex aliis lavaturis exeuntem

108 MANUSCRIPTS OF JEHAN LE BEGUE.
comes off with it and is mixed with it, into the vase in which
the first was put, until you see the azure come out of the pas
tille so much inferior in colour that on account of the too great
' difference of colour it is not proper to mix this last with the
azure proceeding from the former washings, but it should be kept
separate. You must then put what comes off with the subse
quent waters into another vase, separate from the first, and
pour off in a similar manner the water of the washings into the
same vase in which you put the water of the former washings.
And afterwards wash the azure again secondly as many times
as you were directed to wash the first sort aforesaid, namely
until the colour changes so materially for the worse, and then,
on account of the too great change in the colour, let the subse
quent waters be poured off into another third vase, until the
whole pastille is washed in such manner that all the colour
which can be extracted from the pastille is obtained. There
will thus be three sorts of azure.
Next, pour off the water of all these different washings into
the other vase, which contains the rest of the water of the said
washings, and let the azure, which was thus made and refined,
dry, and keep it for use in painting pictures. Then stir the
aforesaid water, consisting of a mixture of all the washings of
the three sorts of azure, well from the bottom with a stick, so
as to mix up the grounds of the azure and the earthy parts,
and so that the water may be as turbid as possible ; let it stand
for a very, very short time, and then immediately pour the
water quickly off, with all the earthy impurities mixed with it,
leaving in the bottom of the vase any azure which may sink to
the bottom, if there should have been any portion of it with the
water, as there usually is in this manner of refining the azure,
namely with the water which is poured off from the three sorts
of azure.
And note that when it is wished to use the ultramarine
azure, which is made from the three sorts of waters above
mentioned, it must not be ground upon a stone, as is done with
sinobrium and other colours, because the grinding which it had

EXPERIMENTA DE COLORIBUS. 109
miscere cum primo, set teneri separate ; et tunc quod exibit
ad alias sequentes lavaturas pastilli suprascripti ponatur in alio
vase, separatim a primo, et similiter mittendo aquam dictarum
lavaturarum in dicto vase, in quo alia aliarum lavaturarum
missa erit. Et postea iterum secundo per tot vices lavetur,
quod similiter ut de suprascripto primo dictum est, videatur
quod nimis mutet colorem in minori pulcritodine ; et tunc,
ab ipsa nimia mutatione coloris antedicta, ponantur tertio
sequentes lavature in alio vase, donee pastillus totus sit taliter
lavates, quod extractum sit de ipso totum azurium quod ex-
trahi poterit ; et sic erunt tres sortes azurii, de quibus dictis
lavaturis similiter iniciatur aqua in predicto alio vase, cum alia
aqua omnium aliarum lavaturarum predictarum, et postea de-
siccari permittetur azurium, quod sic erit afinatam et factum,
et servetur ad usum operum fiendorum, et qua predicta, acu-
mulata de omnibus dictis lavaturis dictarum trium sorterum
azurii, agitetur fortiter cum baculo usque ad fondum, ut fecies
azurii et pars terrestris commoveatur, et turbidetur aqua
quantum poterit ; deinde valde parum stet, et postea proiciatur
cito ipsa aqua, cum tote turpedine suprascripta terrestri in ipsa
immixta, et retineatur in fundo vasis ilia aliqua pars azurii que
in ipso fondo erit descensa, si aliqua pars adherit, ut esse solet,
in talibus affinaturiis azurrii de dependenciis, scilicet dictarum
trium sortarum azurii ; et nota, quod cum dicto azurrio ultra-
marino dictarum lavaturarum ipsarum trium sortarum in opere
ponere volueris, non debet teri super lapide, nee aliter, prout
fit de sinobrio et aliis coloribus, quia suffisit de prima supra
scripta tritione facta, et etiam quia azurii color fortiter pejaretor
et vastaretur, sed debet sic ut est destempari cum aqua gomata,
seu cum clara ovi, vel cum cola liquefacte, aut cum oleo semi-
num lini, prout volet operari, et pertinebit operi fiendo ; postea
si voluerit lavari de alio azurrio, accipiatur totidem de termen
tina, et pice, et cera, ut antea est dictum, et fiat alter pastillus,
et fiat ut prius, et tociens quociens fieri voluerit, semper re-
faciendo novos pastillos, secundum quantitatem que expedit
volenti facere et purgare azurrium. Set credo quod, pro

110 MANUSCRIPTS OF JEHAN LE BEGUE.
at first is sufficient for it, and also because the colour of the
azure would very likely be spoilt or deteriorated, but it should
be tempered just as it is with gum- water, or with white of egg,
or melted glue, or with linseed oil, according to the choice of
the artist and the nature of the work which is to be done.
Afterwards if any more azure is to be washed, the same quan
tities of turpentine, pitch, and wax as were mentioned before
must be taken and another pastille must be made as before,
and the same method adopted ; and this may be done as often
as is wished, always making up new pastilles, according to the
quantity convenient to the person who wishes to wash or refine
the azure. .
But I think, that in order to diminish the expense, the former
pastille might be cleansed from all the impurities which it has
contracted in the operation for which it was used, if it is put
over the fire to boil and liquefy in clear water, because the
pastille, being melted by the heat of the boiling water, would
liquefy and float upon it. It should then be stirred with a stick
or a wooden spoon, beating it up violently and quickly in the
water with the stick, so that the pastille may be well mixed
with the water and that the impurities of it may be dissolved
by the water, and leave the pastille and enter into the water,
and that when the stirring has ceased the melted pastille may
separate and float upon the top of the boiling water, entirely
cleansed from all earthy and other impurities, which by their
weight will sink to the bottom. If it is afterwards taken off the
fire and allowed to cool, the pastille being allowed to remain as
it is in the said water, when the water is cold and the pastille has
become hard, it can be taken out of the water, and the water
with the impurities can be thrown away ; and having been thus
renewed, it may be used again for the same purpose as before,
and thus it would be useless to incur any expense in making
fresh pastilles; but the labour of washing the azure might
be repeated as often as convenient, until the whole of the
washing necessary for the quantity of the azure has been com
pleted.

EXPERIMENTA DE COLORIBUS. Ill
faciendo minorem expensam, posset primus pastillus purgari
ab omni sorde in ipso inserta, pro operatione de ipso facte, si
poneretur ad ignem, ad bulliendum in aqua clara, et liquide
faciendum ; quia cum ex caliditete bullientis aque esset fusus
et liquidus, supernataret ipse pastillus in ipsa aqua bullienti ;
et, si agiteretur cum baculo vel spatula ligni, cum veloci stre-
pitu agitando cum ipso baculo usque ad aquam, ita quod im-
misceretur pastillus cum aqua, torpedo ipsius dilueretur, et
exiret ab ipso, et intraret in aquam ; et, cum cessaretor a dicta
agitacione, adunaretur ipse pastillus liquefactus, supernatetando
in superficie dicte aque bullientis, totos purgatus ab omni sorde
terrestri, et a quacumque alia, que, ut ponderosa, ad fondum
descendasset ; et postea, si levaretur ab igne, et permitteretur
infrigidari sic, ipso pastillo stente in dicte aqua, cum frigidatus
esset et durus, posset levari ab aqua, et abici aqua cum sorde,
et de ipso iterato refici opus primo de ipso factum, et sic non
expediret fieri expensa, pro aliis pastillis novis fiendis, set, quo-
ciens expediret, posset opus predictum lavacionis azurii eodem
dicto modo reiterari et refici, usque ad totelem expedicionem
lavende necessarie quantitatis azurrii.

( 112 )

OF THE MS. OF PETRUS DE S. AUDEMAR.

PRELIMINARY OBSERVATIONS.
This MS. affords internal proof that Petrus de S.
Audemar (Pierre de St. Omer ?) was a native of or a
resident in the northern part of France. Many passages
in the MS. prove that it is of French origin ; among
these I may mention that in which is described the
Rothomagensian green, which derived its name from
Rothomagus, the Latin name for Pouen on the Seine.
Madder also, which is called in French Garance, is
mentioned under the term Warancia, and in No. 201 a
recipe is given for making a green colour after the
Norman manner. There are indications also of some
of the recipes being derived from English or Anglo-
Saxon sources, and thence communicated to their fel
low-subjects in Normandy. In No. 162 the English
name for Folium is mentioned, and in Nos. 199 and
201 two other English plants are named. These last
recipes are to be found in the Mappse Clavicula, but
without the addition, in No. 201, of the words "ac
cording to the Normans." Several other recipes be
longing to this MS. are also in the Clavicula ; some
are found in the 1st book of Theophilus, and some
in the Sloane MS., No. 1754.
The date of the MS. is doubtful. Mr. Eastiake
(Materials for a History of Painting in Oil, p. 45) says

PETRUS DE S. AUDEMAR. 1 13
it cannot be placed later than the end of the thirteenth
or beginning of the fourteenth century. The fact of
some of the recipes being in the Clavicula, which is
supposed to be of the twelfth century, affords no evi
dence of the age of the MS., because some of them are
comprised in the body of the work, but the greater
part are to be found in the very beginning, even before
the table of contents, and these seem to have been an
addition to the original work. It is by no means im
probable that these recipes were selected in both cases
from some well-known originals as yet undiscovered.
The MS. contains the usual recipes for colours, for
ink, and for gilding. Among the colours we find greens
prepared in different ways from copper and vegetables ;
white from lead, black from charcoal, blue from silver,
from copper, and from flowers. Ultramarine does not
appear to have been known to our author. It seems
from the description of the mode of purifying the blue
pigment in No. 168, that it was a natural blue ore of
copper, the Azzurro della Magna of Cennini (chap, lx.),
which was extensively used both before and after the
introduction of ultramarine, and which was produced
in great abundance in the mines of Chessy, near Lyons.
This mine was worked for a long period, and continued
to produce great quantities of the blue ores of copper.
It is now, however, closed. In the year 1845 I saw
many specimens of these ores exposed for sale at
Lyons. The red pigments consisted of artificial vermilion,
red lead, which the author calls " minium " and " san
daraca," and lake made from the gum of the ivy. It
VOL. I. I

114 MANUSCRIPTS OF JEHAN LE BEGUE.
will be observed that the latter is also called "Sinopis
de Mellana."
The only yellow pigment is saffron, but the principal
use of this colour appears to have been in colouring
varnishes, the yellow in old pictures being more fre
quently represented by gold.
Like Cennini, Peter de S. Audemar teaches what
vehicles should be used with each colour, and from
these instructions we learn that the colours were ap
plied on walls in secco, tempered with egg or gum ; in
books, that is, miniatures with gum or egg ; and on
wood with oil — thus affording certain proof of the use
of oil in painting at this period in France.
That varnish was used, is incidentally mentioned in
the recipe for making auripetrum, which was a varnish
to which a golden colour was imparted by saffron, and
which, when spread over tinfoil, was employed to imi
tate gold. A similar recipe is given in Eraclius, and
another will be found in the Lucca MS., which has
been copied into the Clavicula, a proof of the extent to
which it was used. A gold colour was also given to
tin by applying over it several coats of gall (see No.
203), and also by applying a solution of aloes, No. 206.
Other varnishes are described in Nos. 207, 208, and
209 ; and it seems these also must have been highly
coloured, because they were to be used like the auri
petrum, for colouring tin to imitate gold, the price of
which placed it beyond the reach of all but the rich.
As to the materials of the varnishes, one was composed
of linseed oil, resin, and vernix, that is, sandarac;
another of linseed oil boiled with the inner bark of

PETRUS DE S. AUDEMAR. 115
the black plum, glassa, alum, and dragon's blood;
and the third of the same linseed oil previously boiled
with the inner bark of the black plum, resin, and
frankincense. We must therefore suppose that three
different ingredients were used for varnishes, for it is as
reasonable to conclude from the text that they were all
synonymous, as that vernix and glassa were the same
in this instance, for it can scarcely be supposed that
Peter de S. Audemar, who must have been in the habit
of making these varnishes, should have used a different
term, if any two had been synonymous.
•It will also be observed, that there is no allusion in
this MS. to the application of varnish upon colours or
pictures, or to any other preparation of oil, except
boiling it with the inner bark of the black plum (the
object of which, if we may believe the Table of Syno
nymes, was to give the oil a yellow colour) before it
was mixed with the resins ; at the same time there is
nothing to show that this boiled oil was not used in
painting. The fact of' " liquid varnish " being men
tioned in the recipe for Auripetrum, No. 202, is suffi
cient proof that it was in use at this period, and that
tbe drying effect produced on oils by boiling was
known, because sandarac is not soluble in raw oils, and
distilled oils were not used at this period. The recipes
Nos. 208 and 209 much resemble those in the Paris
MS. of Eraclius, No. 274.

i 2

( 116 )

HERE BEGINNETH THE
BOOK OF MASTER PETER OF ST. AUDEMAR
OK MAKING COLOURS,
AND FIRST THE
INTRODUCTION.
By the assistance of God, of whom are all things that
are good, I will explain to you (at whose request, as
you know, I undertook this work) how to make colours
for painters and illuminators of books, and the vehicles
for them, and other things appertaining thereto, as
faithfully as I can in the following chapters.

150. Tlie way to make a green colour with salt. — First hear
how to make a green colour with salt: — Stir some salt toge
ther in a jar or in a ladle, and heat it, stirring it frequently
until it loses its former colour and becomes dusky — i.e. darkish.
Then pound it, and, if necessary, pass it through a sieve,
shaking it with your hand, in the same way that hoys are
accustomed to shake dust in a bottle ; sift it into a jar, or any
other vase which will hold it, in order that, if by chance any
hairs or other impurities be mixed with it, they may be sepa
rated ; as otherwise, if it continue white, or if any impurities
remain in it, the colour will be dirty. Afterwards crush it
well, dry as it is, upon a flat slab, either of marble or wood,
with a smooth wooden block made for this purpose, or with a
stone. Then temper some soap with wine or vinegar. Vine
gar is made as follows.
151. How to make vinegar. — Take good wine, or wine as
sour as you can get it, and put it into a jar or any other vase,

( 117 )

INCIPIT LIBER
MAGISTRI PETRI DE SANCTO AUDEMARO
DE COLORIBUS FACIENDIS,
BT PRIMO
PROHEMIUM.
Deo opitulante, cujus sunt omnia que bona sunt, tibi,
sicut novisti, cujus rogatu hoc opus sum aggressus, de
cgloribus pictorum et illuminatorum librorum faciendis,
de temperamentis que eorum, et de aliis hiis conve
nientibus, quam fidelius potere in sequentibus expli-
cabo.

150. De modo faciendi viridem colorem de sale. — Primo quo
modo ex sale fiat intellige ; salem igitur commiscens in olla
seu patella torribis, saepius movendo, usque quo primum
colorem amittet, et fuscus fit, id est subniger. Deinde pulve-
rizabis, et, si opus fuerit, induces cum stemino, et manu mo
vendo, sicut pueri pulverem in catrasia positum agitare solent,
et transire facies in ollam, vel in aliud quodcumque vas, illud
recipiens ut si forte pUi, vel alias sordes, ei commixtae fuerint,
seque ferentur alioquin, si albus remanserit, aut aliquod turpe
in ipso remanserit, turpis color erit. Postea super tebulam
sequalis superficiei, vel marmoream, vel ligneam, bene subtiliter
ita siccum conteres cum ligno ad hoc parato equali, vel cum
lapide. Deinde savonem cum vino vel aceto distemperabis.
Acetum vero sic fit.
151. Quomodo fit acetum. — Sume vinum optimum, vel quan
tum acrius habere potes, et in ollam positum, seu vase alio,

118 MANUSCRIPTS OF JEHAN LE BEGUE.
and let it stand for 5 or 8 days, or for as many days as you
like, in a vase covered with a plank or a stone, and not entirely
closed, in order that it may feel the changes of the air, which
cause it to turn sour ; and let it acidify by exposing it to the
sun, or suspending it over the fire. You can then put it by,
and preserve it as long as you like.
If you have no soap, never mind ; yet, nevertheless, wet
plates of copper or basins,1 cut into pieces or strips, all over
with pure wine, without water, or else with the vinegar. After
wards spread salt well and evenly over the metal, so that the
copper may be entirely covered, but very thinly and evenly,
because, if it be covered too thick, the colour will not be good.
You must have a vase prepared for the purpose, either of earth
or of wood, in the bottom of which you must pour a little wine
or beer, or stale urine, which is better than fresh, and place
the copper, salted as before directed, inside the vase. But, in
order that it may not slip into the wine or urine, let it be sup
ported by putting a piece of wood over the jar, to which the
said slips or curved pieces (if formed by cutting up basins or
cups) must be suspended side by side, so as not to touch one
another. Then stop up the mouth of the jar, lest any dung
should fall into it, and put plenty of horse dung all round it,
and under it and over it, and leave it in that manner to heat in
the dung for 8 or 9 days, and you will then find your salt
turned green, and of an excellent colour. The hotter the dung
is, the sooner it will be done. You may, if you like, wait for
17 or 18 days before you uncover it and remove the colour.
And in winter and summer, according as you find the heat of
the dung greater or less, you will so time your work ; and also
according to whether the plates are made of copper or brass,
as aforesaid, knowing that if they are of copper the work will be
done — i. e. the colour will be made sooner ; but if they are
made of brass it will be longer before it is made. Heat accele
rates the formation of the colour, cool weather retards it, and
1 When the word "basin" is used alone, a vessel of copper or brass
should be understood.

S. AUDEMARO DE COLORIBUS FACIENDIS. 119
quinque, vel octo, vel quot volueris diebus, vase cooperto asce
vel lapide, et non obturate, ut aeris mutaciones sentiat, qua?
acuere facit, et ad solem, vel super ignem, suspensum, acui
permitte, et sic quantum diu volueris repositum servare poteris.
Si autem savonem non habueris, non sit tibi cure, nihilominus
tamen ex vino puro absque aqua, si vel ex dicto aceto, laminas
cupreas ex omni parte humectabis, vel bacinos decisos per
pecias seu laminas. Et postea ex ipso sale asperge bene et
equaliter per totum, ita ut cuprum totum coopertum sit, tamen
tenuissime et equaliter, quia si spissum fuerit non habebit
optimum colorem. Unum vero vas habebis ad hoc paratum,
vel ligneum, vel fictile, in cujus fundo pones parum vini, vel
cervisise, aut aceti, vel urinam, nihilominus vetustem, quas
melior ad hoc probatur, et desuper in ipso vase pones cuprum,
sicut jam dixi, salitum. Sed ne labatur in vino vel urina, sus-
tineatur ligno superposito, cui suspendantur dictae laminae in
aere, sive autem recte sint laminae, seu curvae, ut de de bacinis,
vel patellis incisis, sint juxta se alia post aliam, non se tangente.
Postea os ipsius olle obtures, ne fimus introcadat, et fimum
equinum habundanter, et sub vase, et in circuita, et super-
pones, et sic isto modo, in dicto fimo califactum, octava^vel
nona die salem viridem recipies, et optimum. Et quanto fer-
vencius callescet fimus, tanto fiat citius. Et turn nihilominus,
si volueris, usque ad xvii. vel xviii. dies expectabis, antequam
discoperias vas, et recipias colorem. Et in estate, et in hyeme,
sicut senseris calorem stercoris vel fimi majorem vel minorem,
ita tuum laborem moderabis ; et tam de aeneis, quam cupreis
tabulis, sicut dixi, sciens que si cupreae fuerint, citius fiet
opus — i. e. colorabitur — si vere aeneae, tardius. Calor ejus ac-
celerat colorem, sed tepidites tardat ; frigiditas vero nil agit ;
et notendum est, quod si dictum vas cooperieris in fimo existenti
in stabulo equi, in alio secreto et calido loco, melius valet, et
opus acceleratur, quia interius calefit. Hoc idem agere potes
in cumulo vinciarum, ad pressorium vini. Hunc autem colo-

120 MANUSCRIPTS OF JEHAN LE BEGUE.
cold stops it altogether : it must also be remarked, that if the
vase is covered with dung in a horse-stable, or in some other
warm and close space, it is better, and the work will progress
more rapidly, because it is better warmed. The same thing
can be done in the heaps of grape-skins by. the wine-presses.
You must then scrape and shave off the colour with a knife, or
any other instrument, from the aforesaid plates, and if you find
that any white salt has remained mixed with the green colour,
you need not be vexed at it, but just pick it out with a knife or
with your hand ; and you must afterwards wash these tablets
with water, preserving the water, if necessary. Then wash,
scour, and clean them a second time, with wood-ashes, rubbing
them down with a linen cloth before you put fresh salt upon
them, lest, if any of the old remained upon it, it should he a
hindrance. You must allow the water of the first washing,
which was done without the ashes, to remain quiet, so that you
may collect the colour which sinks to the bottom, throwing
away the supernatant water. This colour may be distempered
and mixed with water, or still better, with vinegar, and also
with linseed-oil, or even with white of egg.
152- How to make and temper lohite and green. — White and
green colours, without salt, are made and tempered as follows :
Pour very strong vinegar into a vase, and place twigs of trees
across it inside the vase, and then place strips of lead, and other
strips of copper or brass, suspended in the air by means of the
twigs, so as not to touch the vinegar or each other. Then close
the vase very carefully, and lute it with clay or cement, or
wax, so that there may not be the least hole through which the
vinegar may exhale. Then cover it with horse-dung, and, after
30 days, on account of the acidity of the vinegar or the wine —
for the wine, on account of the heat of the dung, will become
vinegar — on account, I say, of the acidity ofthe wine or vinegar,
the copper or brass will be found to be turned green, and the
lead white. Take the white, dry it, and grind it, and temper
it with wine, and use it for painting on parchment, and mix it
with oil for painting on wood and on walls. In the same manner

S. AUDEMARO DE COLORIBUS FACIENDIS. 121
rem postea cum cultello, vel alio instrumento, a laminis pre
dictis extirpere et radere debes, et si aliquantulum de albo sale
cum viridi remansisse invenies, non sit tibi curae, sed caute cum
cultello vel manu separa, et projice. Viridem autem reservan-
dum excipe, et postea ipsas tabulas debes primo cum aqua
lavare, si opus fuerit, servando aquam. Deinde secundo etiam
cum cinere, et panno lineo fricando, lavabis, detergas, et
nitidas, antequam super ipsas alterum salem ponas, ne si quid
ex veteri remansit, impedimento fiat. Cujus lavationis primae
aquam, quae absque cinere erit, quiescere dimitte, ut colorem,
qui in fundo remanet, colligas, projiciendo aquam. Hie color
cum aqua, vel melius cum aceto, et etiam cum oleo lini, dis-
temperatur, et mollitur, nee non et cum vitello ovi.

152. De albo et viridi colore quomodo fiunt et distemper antur.
— Albus autem et viridis color, absque sale, hoc modo fit et
distemperatur. In vase aceto acerrimo imposito, et desuper
virgulas ligneas, intra vas, et sic tabulas plumbeas, et alias
aeneas, vel cupreas, pones virgulis suspensas in aere, ne tangant
acetum, nee se invicem. Deinde vas diligentissime claudes,
liniesque de argilla, vel cemento, vel cera, ne aliquod spiracu-
lum remaneat, per quod exalatio fiat. Deinde co-operiatur in
fimo equino cabdo ; post dies autem xxx. vas aperiatur, et ex
fortitudine aceti vel vini, quod vinum excalore fimi devenerit
acetum, et ex fortitudine ipsius vini vel aceti, cuprum vel aes
virideum, plumbum vero album invenientur. Sumptum autem
et arefactum album, teratur, et temperetur cum vino, et pinge-
tur in pergamenis, et cum oleo in lignis et in materiis. Simili
ter virideum cum oleo teres, et distemperabis, et operaberis in
hgnis, sed in materia cum vino, vel, si mavis, cum oleo. In

122 MANUSCRIPTS OF JEHAN LE BEGUE.
grind and temper the green with oil, and use it for painting on
wood ; but on walls with wine, or, if you prefer it, with oil. On
parchment, however, you must not grind it with oil, but you
must temper it with very clear and good wine, or with vinegar.
153. Of a green water, or colour, for writing. — But if you
wish to write letters, put the green powder of brass in wine or
vinegar as aforesaid, and then stir it round a little with your
finger only, and immediately the whole of the wine or vinegar
will be green. If the wine, before it has cleared itself from the
dregs of the said green powder, is very green, you may know
that it has enough of the powder of brass. If it seems of a
dirty colour, appearing contaminated by the admixture of
yellow impurities, you must know that this is because a suffi
cient quantity of the green powder has not been added to it :
you must therefore add a little more, and stir it again with
your finger, and again let it rest ; and if it is not yet of a
beautiful colour, add more of the powder, and stir it again with
your finger, and, if necessary, do this a third time. But if you
wish it to be very beautiful, add a little saffron ; and when
it has settled so that tbe impurities have sunk to the bottom,
pour off the clear green liquid which stands uppermost in the
vase, and you will thus separate it from the impurities and
gross substance of the saffron that was put into it. If you
wish to write with it immediately, you cannot do so unless
you first let it boil over the fire to make it thicker ; or you may
let it stand in the shade, or in the mild breeze of the evening
or morning ; but it must be done when the wind blows gently,
and must not be put in the sun.
154. To make minium out of the before-mentioned white colour.
— The white colour which we mentioned before, is called, I
believe, by the armourers ceruse, and you may convert it into
minium by putting it into a jar and torrefying it over the fire for
two days and two nights, stirring it frequently in the vase or
jar with any instrument ; and this is the way to make minium.
Take care not to let any flame get inside the jar, but make the
fire of charcoal only without flame ; you must heap the charcoal

S. AUDEMARO DE COLORIBUS FACIENDIS. 123
perchamenis vero non teres cum oleo, sed in vino clarissimo et
bono, seu aceto, temperare debes.

153. De aqua vel viridi colore ad scribendum. — Si vero lit
teras scribere volueris, pone viridem pulverem aeris in vino vel
aceto, ut dictum est, et sic digito tantum fricabis, et statim
totum vinum vel acetum virideum erit ; quod si valde virideum
fuerit illud vinum, cum necdum a fece sua dicte pulveris viridea
sit purgatum, scias quod sufficienter habet depulvere eris super-
scripto. Si vero turpem colorem videatur habere, et quasi
crocei, turpidis commixtione corruptum, scias esse hoc habere
parum pulveris ipsius viridis. Et ideo aliquantulum adde, et
digito iterum commisce, et postea paululum quiescere sines, et
si non ad hue pulchrum colorem habet, iterum adde de pulvere,
et iterum digito fricabis, et postea adhuc sines quiescere, et, si
necesse fuerit, fac similiter tercio. Et si vis quod mirae pul-
critudinis fiat, adde aliquantulum de croco et cum quieverit, ita
quod feces ad fundum decensa sint, mitte clarissimum virideum
desuper stantem in vasculo, et sic ipsum separabis a fecibus, et
a substancia grossa crossi imposite ; et si ex ipso statim scribere
volueris, non poteris, nisi prius ad ignem ipsum fervere permi-
seris, ut spissior fiat, vel in umbra solis, vel mane, vel vespere,
ad auram dulcem ; quando sed ventus suaviter flat ponendus
est, non autem in sole.

154. Di minio faciendo de albo colore ante dicto. — Album
autem colorem de quo supra diximus, scutarii, sicut puto, ceru-
sam vocant, quem in minium vertes, si in olla posueris duobus
diebus noctibus que, eandem saepe movendo, in vase, seu olla,
ipsa cum aliquo instrumento ad ignem torrueris, et sic minium
facies. Cave autem ne in olla flamma nullo modo tangat, sed
tantum carbones, verum absque flamma ; de quibus fac con-
geriem albam, usque ad medietetem ollae, et eam ore aperto in

124 MANUSCRIPTS OF JEHAN LE BEGUE.
round the jar, so as to reach half-way up the jar, which must
be put in the middle. The charcoal should be large, so that
the air may pass through the spaces of it, and keep up the
heat; it should not be small, for it would then be useless.
When it begins to get hot, stir the colour which is inside it
with a spoon, or with a strip of iron or brass, or a stick : so
that the hot colour, which is next the side of the vase, may be
mixed with the tepid part in the middle ; for this stirring is the
principal cause of the perfect preparation of all which is thus
torrefied ; and this stirring must be repeated four or five times
in the space of every two or three hours. This process must
be continued, as I said before, for two days and two nights
following : not sleeping all the time, unless you have another
person to supply your place and to continue stirring it, as well
as to take care of the fire, and to manage the operation, other
wise your labour will be in vain. When the large charcoal is
all consumed, take the jar off the fire with a blacksmith's
pincers, or a twisted stick, or any other instrument, and throw
away the small coal and ashes, and put fresh charcoal. We
shall mention this colour frequently hereafter.
155. How to make the green from brass which is called Greek or
common green? — If you wish to make the copper-green which is
called Greek, teke a new jar, or any other concave vase, and put
into it the strongest or most acid vinegar, so as not to fill it, and
put strips of very clean copper or brass over the vinegar, so that
they may not touch the vinegar or each other, being suspended
to a stick placed across the vase. Then cover the vase and
seal it, and put it into a warm place, or in dung, or under
ground, and leave it so for six months, and then open the vase
and scrape and shake out what you find hi it, and on the strips
of metal, into a clean vase, and put it in the sun to dry.
156. To make Rothomagensian green? — If you wish to make
Rothomagensian green, take strips of very pure copper or brass,
1 This recipe and the next are in the Clavicula.
2 Rothomagus, Rouen on the Seine. This recipe is in the Clavicula,
and the Sloane MS., No. 1754.

S. AUDEMARO DE COLORIBUS FACTENDIS. 125
medio compone, carbones autem sint magni, et per rimas eorum,
ventus entret, et calorem exerceat ; non minuti vero, quod non
perficerent. Cum autem torreri cceperit, colorem, qui intus est,
cum cocleari, vel lamula ferrea, vel aerea, vel lignea, commove,
ut qui circa testam seu ollam calet, illi qui in medio loco tepet,
misceatur. Nam commotio haec est principalis causa omnibus que
coquuntur, ad perfectionem decoctionis ipsorum ; hoc autem
per duarum vel trium horarum spatium, quater vel quinquies.
Duobus enim diebus ac noctibus continuis est agendum, sicut
dixi, non dormiendo nisi alter accedat, qui hoc ipsum procuret,
et commociones ipsas, et ignis curam, et manutenaciones agat ;
alioquin frustra laborabis. Cum autem carbones grossi con-
sumpti fuerint, vel forcisibus ferieris, vel virga conterata, vel
alio quodum instrumento, ollam a foco extrahe, et minutes car
bones et cineres abjicies, et alios adhibe. De hoc eodem colore
aliquanti spei in sequentibus loquimur.

155. Quomodo fit viride eris quod Grecum dicitur seu com
mune. — Si vis facere viride eris quod Grecum dicitur, accipe
ollam novam, aut aliquod aliud vas concavum, et mitte in eo
acetum fortissimum seu acerrimum, ita quod vas non sit ple
num, et laminas cupri mundissime, vel aeris, pones supra
acetum, ita ut non tangant acetum, aut se invicem, suspendendo
eas ad aliquod lignum, in vase extranverso positum, et ita
cooperi vas, et sigilla. Et sic pone illud in calido loco, aut in
fimo, aut in terra, et ita dimitte usque ad sex menses, et tunc
aperies illud vas, et quod in eo et circa dictas laminas inveneris,
rade, et excute in vase mundo, et mitte ad solem siccare.
156. De viride Rothomagense faciendo. — Si vis viridem
Rothomagensem facere, accipe laminas purissimi cupri, vel

126 MANUSCRIPTS OF JEHAN LE BEGUE.
smear them over with good soap, and put them into a clean vase
made for this purpose, and pour into it some pure vinegar ;
then suspend the strips of copper or brass in the vase to a stick
stretched across it, which should be placed as high up as possible,
so that the strips may not touch each other or the vmegar. Then
cover up the vase and seal it, and put it into a warm place, such
as horse-dung, or the refuse of the wine-press ; or, in winter,
cover up and bury the vase in a deep hole under ground, and
thus leave it for one month ; then open it, and shake and scrape
off what you find upon the strips, putting it in a bason or an
earthen vase ; place it in the sun to dry, and preserve it for use.
157. Also, how to make verdigris for writing. — Whoever
wishes to make a green colour for writing, let him pour into a
copper or brass vessel equal quantities by weight of honey well
mixed with vinegar, and then bury the vessel in horse-dung, in
the hottest part of the heap. After 12 days are passed, he may
teke the colour out of the vase, scraping it out ; then dry it in
the sun, and keep it for use.
158. Also, how to make green without brass. — If you wish to
make earth-green, teke, in the middle of May, a bunch of the
flowers of the herb columbine ; pound them well in a mortar,
and strain the juice through a linen cloth. Then put this juice
into a vase, and place it in the sun until it is hard. This must
be tempered, first with water, and then with egg, on wood or
on walls ; but on parchment it must be used like ceruse.
159. Also to make green. — If you wish to make a green
colour, take urine, or vinegar, and put it into a vase, and
make a plate of brass, and place it over the liquid in the said
vase so as not to touch the urine, and afterwards set the vase
in a warm place and cover it up for 9 days, then take it out
and collect the colour which is produced. This is tempered
first with water, and afterwards with egg on wood or on walls.
When you put verdigris upon paper, put cherry juice [or cer-
visia ?J in it. If it is not of a fine green, mix viride terrenum.
If it is too green, so as to be too dark, mix pure orpiment with it
160. Also verdigris is thus made. — Take vinegar and put it

S. AUDEMARO DE COLORIBUS FACIENDIS. 127
eeris, et liniis ipsas in circuitu de optimo savone, et mitte ipsas
in vase mundo ac hoc facto, et pone in ipso de puro aceto, et
superpone in ipso vase dictas laminas cupreas vel aereas, sus-
pensas ad virgulam in vase ex transverso, altius quam poteris,
sitam ita ut lamine non se invicem, nee acetum tangant. Pos
tea cooperies vas, et sigilla, et in calido loco, ut in fimo equino,
aut in vinaciis pressorii vinarii, aut in hyeme sub terra, in pro-
fundo loco cooperias, et sepelias, dictum vas. Et sic dimittas
uno mense, et postea aperies, et quod inveneris in circuitu la-
minarum excuties et rades, et mittendo in bacino vel vase
terreo, et pones ad solem siccare, et usui reserva.
157. Item de viridi eris, quo modo fit pro scribendo. — Colorem
viridem qui vult ad suum usum scribendi facere mel cum aceto
valde mixtum equo pondere infundat ac deinde in sterquilinio
equorum ubi plus calet in vase cuprea vel aereo cooperto posi
tum sepehat. Postea bis senis diebus transactis illud recipiet
de vase ipsum colorem radendo et ad solum siccet et reservet
pro usu.
158. Item de fiendo viridi aliter quam eris. — Si vis facere
terreum viride in medio maio accipe massam florum herbae quae
vocatur aquileia et pila in mortario optime et cola succum per
pannum lineum. Deinde pone ipsum succum in vase et pone
ad solem siccare usque quo durum sit. Hoc distemperatur
primum cum aqua, deinde cum ovo ad lignum vel murum, in
carta pone sicut cerosium.
159. Item de viridi faciendo. — Si vis facere colorem viridem,
accipe mictum hominis, i. e. urinam, vel acetum et mitte in vas,
et fac laminam eream, et pone desuper in dicto vase ita ut
mictum non tangat et pone postea vas in calido loco et cooperi
per novem dies postea trahe foris et colorem exortum execute.
Hoc distemperatur primum cum aqua post cum ovo ad lignum
vel murum. In cartam dum ponit viride eris pone succum
cerosium in ipso si non bene est viridis misce terrenum viridem.
Si nimium est viride ita ut nigrescat misce auripigmentum
purum. 160. Item eris viride sic fit.— Accipe acetum et pone in vaso

128 MANUSCRIPTS OF JEHAN LE BEGUE.
into a brass or copper vase, and place it on the coals so as to
boil strongly, skim it well, and grind it with a little alum upon
a marble slab. Afterwards put it in a brass vase, and then
leave it to settle for a day or two. Then pour off the super
natant liquor which floats over the dregs at the bottom into an
other vase, separating it from the before-mentioned impurities,
and put it away and keep it for use. Then pour more vinegar
into the aforesaid sediment, and mix it well. Leave it so for
four days, so that everything may settle, and it will then be good
green. But if it is too clear or liquid, put it upon lighted
charcoal without flame, so that it may boil a little and thicken,
and then put it into the vase, and keep it for use.
161. How to make a beautiful green. — Mix Spanish green
with saffron, and distemper them both together, and the colour
will be of wonderful beauty.
162. Of folium, how it is distempered. — The purple colour
called folium by the laity, by whom (or rather by the English,
in whose country it is prepared, and who call it worina) it is
used in dyeing wool, is not always tempered in the same maimer ;
for some persons distemper it with urine, or with ley made from
the ashes of ash-trees, and particularly on walls ; while others,
on parchment, distemper it with cheese-glue, made as follows.
163. How glue is made from cheese. — Fresh cheese is first to
be washed in hot water, until the milk is washed out, and then
ground with lime and water, in a little mortar or on a marble
slab ; and a little before this is done — namely, while the cheese
is being ground — the colour is soaked in water again. Then,
when the cement is prepared, so as to be as white, clear, and
shining as milk, it is put into a small vase, and the colour is
scraped into it with a knife, and care must be taken not to let
the air have access to the mixture ; and when the colour is seen
to be good, it may be used for writing at pleasure.
164. Of folium stamipiensi, a purple colour, how it is tem
pered or made. — Take the wood of the tree which is called
elm and burn it in the fire, and collect such a quantity of that
flowery ash which appears upon the coals as you think will be

S. AUDEMAR DE COLORIBUS FACIENDIS. 129
aereo vel cupreo et super carbones pone ut fortiter bulliat et
spuma illud optime et ex eo cum alumine modico super mar
morem tere viridem. Postea in vase aereo mitte et sic uno die
vel duobus dimitte ut resideat. Illud autem quod super feces
in fundo descensas nataverit in aliud vas a dictis fecibus sepa-
rando, mitte et reserva deinde acetum iterum mitte in fecibus
superscriptis, et misce bene. Postea dimitte sic per quatuor
dies ut quicquid quiescat et tunc forte bonum viride erit. Si
vero nimium clarum seu liquidem fuerit pone super carbones
ignites absque flammis ut modicum bulliat et spissum fiet tunc
mitte in praedicto vase ad servandum usui.
161. Quomodo pulchrum fiat viride. — Viridi Hispanico ad-
misce crocum et distempera simul et mirae pulchritudinis erit.
162. De folio quomodo distemperatur. — Purpureus color quem
folium vocant laici qui lanam inde tingunt vel potius Anglici in
quorum terra conficitur worina vocant non uno semper modo
distemperatur. Nam aliqui cum urina vel lexivia de cinere
fraxini facta ut in parietibus precipue alii in pergamenis cum
visco de caseo ita facto.
163. Quomodo viscum de caseo fiat. — Primum recentum
caseum in aqua calida lavant, donee lac eliciatur et sic ilium
in morteriolo vel super marmorem terunt cum calce et aqua et
paulo antequam hoc agant dum scilicet teritur caseus, iterum
ipsum colorem in aqua temperare permittunt. Deinde cum
viscum preparatum habent, sic album et nitidum et clarum
velut lac. Inducunt in vasculo et super incidunt cultello ipsum
colorem jam temperatum in aqua et tunc cavent ne ventus tan
gat ipsam confectionem et si cum viderit colorem esse bonum
scrihunt inde prout ipsis placuerit.
164. De folio Stamipiensi (sic) purpureo colore quomodo distem
peratur seu fit. — Sume tibi ligna arboris quae ulmus vocatur et
arde in ignem, ilium vero florem cineris qui super carbones ap-
paret toUes et in unum pones quantum tibi sufficere putes et in
VOL. I. k.

130 MANUSCRIPTS OF JEHAN LE BEGUE.
sufficient for you, grind it in a mortar, and distemper it with
urine so that it may be as thick as dough ; make it into cakes as
thick as you like, and put these cakes upon two trays or plates
of iron, or baked bricks, in order that they may burn for a day
and a half. Then take them out of the fire and put them into a
mortar and pound them until they are reduced to powder. Then
sift this powder through a sieve, or make it pass through a
sifter. Again, while you are doing this, you must have a jar
prepared full of urine, and let it boil over the fire three or four
times ; then remove it from the fire, and add to it of fresh urine
one half or less, until it is tepid, and then stir them together.
Afterwards take the colour, which is called folium, and put it
into a vase, and wash it with this prepared urine, rubbing it
between your hands, and hold it against one side of the jar and
throw away the urine ; then take the above-mentioned ashes
and fill one ladle with them, and take another ladleful of
folium, and lay one couch of ashes in that vase by sprinkling
them, and then one of folium, and do so until the folium and
the ashes are all mixed. Then again rub them between
your hands, and so leave them for three days, well covered
up by the fire, that they may keep warm. But the best colour
will of itself, when it begins to get warm, be covered all over
with a purple bloom. If you wish to dye anything, put the
water into a vessel ; but if you have nothing to dye, let the
water and the folium cool, so that you may make it into small
cakes, and you may keep it as long as you like, and put it into
an oven.
165. Of the different sorts of saffron.— -Y bu must not take
all kinds of saffron for painting or writing with, for you must
know that that which grows in our country of Gaul, as well as
throughout the whole of France, is not good ; and although it
has some resemblance to the good sort, yet it has not the exact
colour, smell, or taste of the perfect sort ; for there is a certain
herb with whitish leaves and roots, the flowers of which we call
crocus, but which the laity call saffron. When you see these
flowers have a certain whiteness at the top of one side, you

S. AUDEMAR DE COLORIBUS FACIENDIS. 131
mortariolo fortiter teres, cum urina distemperabis ita ut panis
crudus spissum sit, facies que de ea tortellos quantum grossos
volueris quos super duas dolatiles seu laminas ferreas vel la-
teres coctos pones ut ibi super carbones usque ad dimidium
diem ardeant. Dein trahe ab igne item que in mortariolo
pones et multum fortiter usquedum pulvis fiat. Pestabis ;
postea attenuabis per satacium vel per staminiam, transire
facias. Iterum dum hoc facies, habebis ollam paratam plenam
urina et cum tribus vel quatuor vicibus bullire permittes. Postea
ah igne retrahes et cum ea de urina cruda, medietetem vel mi
nus, usque dum tepida fuerit vel fiat similiter misces. Posthaec
accipies ilium colorem qui folium vocatur et in uno vase pones
abluesque de ilia mixta urina inter manus tuas fricando, attra-
hes que in unam partem et feces urinae projicies foris. Tunc
accipies ilium suprascriptum cinerem et unam scutellam de eo
implebis et de folio aliam facies que in illo vase de cinere pul-
verando unum lettum et unum desuper de folio sic que facies
usque dum folium et cinis mixta sint. Iterumque inter manus
tuas fricabis et sic dimittes usque tribus diebus bene coopertum
juxta ignem ut calefiat. Ipse vero optimus color de se ipso emit-
tet colorem purpureum super se cum cepit calescere. Si vero
aliquid tingere volueris pones aquam in sartagine. Si vero tin
gere non habes dimittes aquam et folium sic refrigerari ita ut
possis ex eo parvos tortellos facere et servare poteris quantum
volueris et in forulo pone.

165. De croco et de diversitatibus ejus. — Omnem crocum ad
pingendum assumere non oportet vel ad scribendum. Ilium
enim qui in hac nostra patria galliae ut in toto Francia crescit
bonum non esse non nescias. Et quamvis aliquam similitudi-
nem boni habeat tamen vere colorem nee odorem nee saporem
illius perfecte habet et enim quedam herba albo silis foliis et ra-
dicibus cujus flores nos crocum laid vero safran vocant. Quos
flores cum videris gestere quandam candorem ex una parte in
summittate scias quod non est bonus cum duos digitos saliva
k2

132 MANUSCRIPTS OF JEHAN LE BEGUE.
may know that they are good. When you wet two of your
fingers with saliva, and rub the saffron a little between your
fingers, if your fingers immediately become yellow, you may
know that the saffron comes from Italy or Spain, and is good ;
but in Sicily, as a certain Ysidius [Isidorus] says, the best is
that which is called coriscos; and a great deal of excellent
saffron comes from thence, very fragrant to the smell, and of a
colour superior to gold. Some temper this with egg ; others
both grind and temper it with egg, or mix it with water, and
strain it through a linen cloth, and then they paint with it.
However, I do none of these things, but only put clear water
into a very clean vase ; I then sprinkle the saffron over it, and,
after a little while, when I see the water well impregnated with
it, I put it on the coals for a short time, leaving the saffron in
it, and then, with a pencil or pen prepared for this purpose, I
paint upon skins and other things, and upon box-wood, in order
to colour it yellow, or to redden it, by mixing the saffron with
wine, and then laying it on the box-wood. If you wish to make
the wood shine, let the saffron dry, and then lay on some more
with oil.
166. That there are three kinds of folium, and ofthe way to
temper the purple folium.1 — There are three kinds of folium ;
one purple, another red, and a third sapphire blue, which you
must temper as follows. Take ashes, and sift them through a
cloth, pour cold water over them, make them into cakes like
loaves of bread, and put them into the fire until they are quite
white hot. When they have been burnt for a long time, and
have afterwards cooled, put part of them into an earthen vase,
and pour urine over, stir them with a stick, and, when they have
settled clear, pour the liquor on the red folium, and grind it a
little on a stone, adding to it one-fourth part of quicklime,
and when it is ground and sufficiently moistened, strain it
through a cloth, and lay it with a pencil wherever you like,
first thinly, and afterwards more thickly. And if you wish to
1 This is a transcript of chap. xxxv. ofthe first book of Theophilus.

S. AUDEMAR DE COLORIBUS FACIENDIS. 1 33
lmmectabis et florem inter eos paululum fricabis et statim crocos
habueris inde digitos scias quod ex Italia vel Expania venit et
bonus est. In Sicilia autem, ut Ysidius ait quidam, melior est
qui coriscos dicitur, unde crocum plurimum et optimum venit.
Spiramine flagrantius et colore pulchrius auro. Hunc cum ovo
distemperant, ahi etiam cum ovo terunt et distemperant vel
cum aqua per lineum pannum transire faciunt et sic isti pin-
gunt. Ego vero nichil horum facio sed tantum in mundissimo
vasculo claram aquam mitto, Dein crocum desuper spargo et
post modicum cum videro aquam totem inde confectam super
carbones paululum simulque crocum permitto et deinde cum
pincello vel pennula ad id parata in pellibus pingo et alibi et
super buxum ut croceus fiat vel rubicundior ubi crocus cum
vino distemperandus est et sic buxo superponendus est quod si
volueris ut ipsum lignum luceat permitte prius crocum siccari.
Postea cum oleo eum super ilium pone.

166. Quod folii tria sunt genera, et de modo distemperandi
purpureum. — Tria sunt folii genera ; unum purpureum, aliud
rubeum, turcium saphirum que sic temperabis. Tolle cineres
et crebra eos per pannum ; Perfondes eos aqua frigida fac inde
tortulas ad similitudinem panis mittes que ea in igne donee om-
nino candescant. Postquam diutissime canduerint et postea
friguerint mitte partem in vas fictile perfunde urina, move ligno,
cum que residerent lucide perfunde rubeum folium et teres illud
modice super lapidem addens ei quartern partem vivae calcis, et
cum tritum fuerit, et sufficienter perfusum cola per pannum et
trahe cum pincello ubi volueris tenue deinde spissius et si placet
in similitudinem palii in pagina facere purpureo folio eodem
temperamento absque calce profuso pinge penna vel pincello.

134 MANUSCRIPTS OF JEHAN LE BEGUE.
represent a robe on the page [of a book], paint it with purple
folium, moistened with the same vehicle, but without lime, with
a pen or a hair pencil.
167. Of azure ; how and with what vehicles it is tempered. —
Of the etherial colour, or, to speak in common language, the
azure or blue colour, I have nothing very certain to say, as
some grind and temper it with goat's milk, others with woman's
milk, and others with white of egg ; and either of these is
sufficiently good.
168. How azure is prepared and purified. — But I shall not
conceal how I purify it when it comes to my hands. I first
pour it into a bason, and put a little water along with it, and
rub it with my finger until it is thoroughly moistened, and then
I pour in more water and stir it well, and let it rest. When
it has settled, I pour off the water, turbid from the impurities,
into another vase, keeping the precious colour which remains at
the bottom of the vase, for its nature is such that the finer and
purer the colour is the heavier it is, and therefore the sooner it
reaches the bottom ; and the impurities, or the whitish or yel
lowish parts, which are lighter, float or remain above it in the
water. And, if necessary, I repeat this process several times,
pouring water out and in until it is purified ; and when it is
well purified and ground with water, after I have put it into a
horn, I pour in very clear whipped white of egg, and paint upon
the places in which I wish to paint anything ; and I afterwards
throw away the same white of egg within the space of one hour,
for if it remains in it any longer it spoils the colour by depriving
it of its fine appearance and beauty. And after I have thrown
away the white of egg, I immediately fill the horn with cold
water and stir up the colour, and wash it with water, throwing
away the same water after an hour, while the colour settles
and sinks to the bottom ; for, as I said, if the egg, or the said
water impregnated with the said egg by the washing of the
colour were to remain any longer, the colour would be deterio
rated. This colour is used on walls with egg and with water ;
but on wood it is ground with oil, like other colours.

S. AUDEMAR DE COLORIBUS FACIENDIS. 135

167. De azurio quomodo distemperatur et cum quibus liquori-
bus. — De etherio colore, vel ut juxte vulgare loquar lazurio vel
perso quid certius dicam non habeo quia alii cum lacte caprino
alii cum lacte mulieris alii cum glarea ovi molunt ac distem
perant et satis utrumque bonum est.
168. Quo modo preparetur et purgetur azurium. — Sed quo
modo cum admanus meas venerit ilium preparare non tecebo.
In primis fundo id opus in bacino simulque cum eo, paululum
aquae mitto, et cum digito, tamdiu frico quousque totus made-
factus sit, ac deinde habundancius aquam infundo et bene mis-
ceo et quiescere permitto. Postquam quieverit eamdem aquam
sic turbatam ex emundicia in alio vase recipio reservaturque co
lorem preciosumqui in fundo remanet vasis, nam hujus modi
naturae est ut quanta pulchrior et purior est tanto ponderosior
et ideo tanto ad fundum labatur ; et immundicea seu pars albes-
centis vel croceantis coloris qui nimis gravis est superius natet
vel maneat et si necesse fuerit id ipsum saepius repeto aquam
saepe infundendo et effundendo donee pergatus sit. Et jambene
purgatum et cum aqua tritum postquam in cornu reposuero
postea loca in quibus inde aliquid facere voluero glaream ovi
multum clarum immitto et operor. Postea glaream eamdem
prius unius hore spacium jecturus nam si diutius intus remanse
rit corrumpet colorem illi precipuam speciem et pulchritudinem
auferendo. Et postquam glaream ejecero statim illud cornu
aqua frigida repleo et misceo colorem et lavo cum aqua, eandem
aquam post horam dum color ad fundum quescendo descendit
rejecturus. Nam ut dixi si diutius remaneret ovum vel dicte
aqua, de dicto ovo ex ipsa lavatione coloris infecte color corrum-
peretur. Hunc colorem cum aqua et cum ovo in materia ponet
in ligno vero cum oleo ut tritos colores.

136 MANUSCRIPTS OF JEHAN LE BEGUE.
169. How azure is made.1 — If you wish to make azure, take
a new jar that has never been used, and put into it strips of
very pure silver, as many as you like, and so cover it up, and
seal it, and put the jar among the grape-skins, and keep it well
for 14 days and then open the jar, and scrape into a very clean
vase the efflorescence which you find on the silver, which will
be a perfect azure, and of a blue colour, provided that the
silver contains no alloy or mixture of any other metal, but only
consists of the purest and finest silver. If it contains any
brass, you will obtain a colour which is rather green, than blue
or azure. If you afterwards want any more of it, do again as
before directed.
170. To make azure not so good [as the last].2 — If you wish
to make another azure, take a jar of very pure copper, and put
lime into it until it is half full, and then fill the jar with very
strong vinegar, and so cover it up and seal it. Then place the
jar under ground, if it is in winter, that it may be warm there,
or among the grape-skins, or in hot horse-dung, or in any other
hot place, and so leave it for one month. Afterwards, open the
jar, and scrape off what you find upon it, and put it in the sun
to dry. This azure is not so good as the last, but it is useful
for wood or walls.
171. Also of another way of making blue with the juice qf blue
flowers. — If you wish to make a third kind of azure, take blue
flowers, that is, of an azure colour, and grind them, and press
out the juice, straining it through a cloth into a very clean vase.
And you must first make the ground of your work, whether on
wood or on parchment, with white lead, which is called ceruse,
and put over it three or four, or five coats of this expressed
blue juice or colour, and repeat this until you find the colour
appears like azure, letting it dry each time you lay it on, before
you apply a fresh coat.
! This recipe is in the Appendix to the MS. of Theophilus in the British
Museum, and in the Mappse Clavicula, p. 7.
2 This recipe and the next are also in the Mappae Clavicula, p. 7.

S. AUDEMAR DE COLORIBUS FACIENDIS. 137
169. — De azurio quo modo efficitur. — Si vis facere azurrium
optimum accipe ollam novam que nunquam in opus fuerit et
mitte in eas laminas purissimi argenti quantes vis et sic cooperi
eam et sigilla et mitte ipsam ollam in vindemia et serva bene
usque ad quindecim dies et sic aperies illam ollam et ilium
florem qui erit in circuitu laminarum argentearum excudes in
mundissimo vase. Quod perfectum azurium erit et celestini
coloris dum tamen argentum laminarum mullum alligamentum
vel mixturam alterius cujus que metalli in se continuerit pre-
terquam purissimum ac finissimum argentum. Quid si in se
aliquid eris continuerit viridatis potius quam celestis vel azurii
colorem obtinebis et si postea amplius volueris habere, iterum
fac ut superscriptum est.
170. De azurio alio non tam bono faciendo. — De alio azurio
si vis facere, accipe ampullam purissimi cupri, et mitte in eam
calcem usque ad medium, et sic imple ampulam fortissimo
aceto et ita cooperi et sigilla. Et tunc mitte ipsam ampulam
in profundo terrae si erit in hyeme ut ibi calidum sit aut in
vindemia aut in fimo equimo calido, aut in alio calido loco, et
ita dimitte usque ad unum mensem et postea aperies ampulam
et ex ea rade quod in ipsa inveneris et mittes ad solem siccare.
Illud azureum non est ita bonum sicut aliud, tamen valet ad
lignum vel materiam.
171. Item aliter modofiendo azurio cum succo fiorum persa-
rum. — Tertium azurium si vis facere, accipe flores blauos id
est celestini coloris et teres et exprime colando per telam in
mundissimo vase et fac prius campum tui operis sit in ligno vel
sit in pergameno, De albo plumbo quod cerusa dicitur et mitte
desuper tries aut quatuor aut quinque lectos de ipso succo seu
colore blauo expresso, et tantum ita fac usque quo videas ipsum
colorem similem esse azurio permittendo qualibet vice quam
posueris siccare antequam reponas.

138 MANUSCRIPTS OF JEHAN LE BEGUE.
172. How to make a black colour in various manners. — Every
black colour which is used in painting on skins, we know to he
atramentum, distempered in various manners, except that with
which we stein the skin, which is commonly called corduanum
(cordovan). But that black colour is made of oil and scales of
iron, boiled together for a very long time, and it is laid on the
skin, not with a pen or a brush, but with a very sharp piece of
wood, namely boxwood. But on walls, or on wood, we teke char
coal, made of leather, or of hay, or of wood of any kind, except
oak, which, on account of its hardness, can scarcely ever be suffi
ciently ground. If you wish to lay black over other colours
on parchment, you must not put incaustum, but know that you
must take charcoal distempered with egg, and the same on
walls either with water or with egg, and on wood with oil ; and
whoever takes the soot of rushes and oil, where they are burnt
together over a lamp, and calcines it in a jar upon coals, and
grinds it with water or with egg, or with oil, will find it a very
excellent colour wherever he wants it.
173. Also of another mode of making black. — Take the hark
of the wood which is called elm, and cut it into small pieces,
and put it into a vessel to boil with water; and take the
rust which is at the bottom of the water under a workman's
grindstone, and mix it with the said bark, in order that they
may boil over the fire together ; and add to them atramentum
distempered with the aforesaid water of the bark. Afterwards,
if you wish to dye anything, put it in while the water boils,
and so leave it from morning until the third hour of the day
(i.e. from 6 to 9 a.m.), until it is diminished to a third of the
quantity. And if what was put into it is not well dyed, put it
in again, and add a httle atramentum, in order that that which
is put into the composition may be better dyed.
174, To make vermilion.1 — If you wish to make very good
vermilion, take a glass flask, and lute it outside. Then take
one part by weight of quicksilver, and two parts of sulphur of a
1 This recipe is also in the Clavicula.

S. AUDEMAR DE COLORIBUS FACIENDIS. 139
172. De nigro colore quomodo fit diver si mode. — Omne atrum
colorem unde pingitur in pellibus scimus attramentum esse
variis modis distemperatum praeter ilium de. quo tingimus
illam pellem, quam vulgus corduanum vocat. Illud autem
nigrum ex olio paleaque ferri diutissime simul coctis fit et in
eadem pelle non cum penna nee cum pincello sed cum ligno
acutissimo scilicet buxeo pingitur. In parietibus vero vel in
Hgnis assumimus carbones scilicet de lignis cujus libet generis,
vel de corio vel de feno factos praeter querqueos que vix un-
quam pro eorum duritie suffienter teri possunt. Sed si in per-
gamenis supra ceteros colores ponere volueris nigrum non
pones incaustum sed scias quod carbones cum ovo distemperatos
assumes, in materiis similiter, vel cum aqua, vel cum ovo, et in
Hgnis cum oleo. Fuligine quoque junci et olei ubi simul in
lampade ardent qui ceperit si in teste super carbones tornierit
et cum aqua vel cum ovo vel oleo triverit valde optimum colo
rem ubique voluerit comprobabit.
173. Item, alio modo de nigro faciendo. — Accipe corticem
ligni quod elna vocatur et per particulas incides mittes que in
sartaginem i.e. patellam cum aqua bullire. Accipies que fer-
ruginem que est in fundo cum aqua subtus in ollam fabri. Et
mitte cum dicto cortice ut simul ad ignem bulliat ponesque
cum eis attramentum de ilia supradicte aqua dicti corticis ligni
distemperatum. Postea in volueris aliquid tingere mittes intus
dum aqua bullierit et sic id dimittes a mane usque ad terciam.
Et si bene tinctum non fuerit, quod intus positum fuerit, iterum
intus reponatur adjiciatur que parumper de attramento ut me
lius tingatur id quod in compositione mittetur.

174. De ver miculo faciendo. — Si vis facere vermiculum opti
mum accipe ampulam vitream et lini de foris luto. Et sic
accipe unum pondus argenti vivi et duo pondera sulphuris albi

140* MANUSCRIPTS OF JEHAN LE BEGUE.
white or yellow colour, and put them into the aforesaid flask,
which you must afterwards place upon four stones, and make a
very slow fire of charcoal piled round the flask, and cover up
the mouth of the flask with a tile ; and when you see a blue
vapour come out of the mouth of the flask, cover it up ; and if
a yellow vapour comes out, cover it up also. But when there
comes out a vapour nearly as red as vermilion, then take it
away from the fire, and you will have excellent vermilion in
the flask.
175. Another way of making vermilion. — Take a glass jar,
and quicksilver and sulphur, and weigh them, so that two parts
may be of sulphur, and the third of quicksilver, and fill the
flask with them up to the neck. But first cover the flask with
three coats of very good clay, then put in the aforesaid articles,
so that the sulphur may be underneath, and the quicksilver
above, and put red tile, well pounded, from the neck to the top
of it, and place it upon three stones over a charcoal fire, and
let it burn until a blue vapour comes off, and then it will
suffice. 176. How to make minium, otherwise called sandaraca. — If
I am not mistaken, minium, that is sandaraca, and white lead,
that is ceruse, are of one nature. If you put ceruse into the
fire it takes a new name, and colour, and strength ; because,
the more it is burnt the redder it is, and the less it is burnt
the more it retains its former colour, that is, its whiteness or its
paleness ; and in laying it upon walls, it is ground with gum-
water, but never with egg. It can, however, be laid upon
parchment, distempered with egg ; but on wood, with oil.
177. How minium is mixed with vermilion. — If any one
wishes to illuminate a manuscript he must not do that with
minium only, because, although the letters may be well formed
yet they would not be beautiful, for they would be too pale ; he
must therefore mix minium with vermilion, that the colour
may be brighter. But as I have certainly known some persons
who are ignorant about this mixture, not knowing how much to
put of one sort, or how much of the other, if they will give their

S. AUDEMAR DE COLORIBUS FACIENDIS. 141
aut crocei coloris, et mitte in ampulam suprascriptam quam
postea pones super quatuor petras et ignem lentissimum de
carbonibus in circuitu ampullae positis facias cooperto ore am
pullae tegula et quando videris fumum ex ore ampulae exire
hlauum, cooperi ; si vero fumus crocei coloris, iterum cooperi ;
quando autem exierit fumus rubeus quasi ut est vermiculum,
sic tolle ab igne et habebis vermiculum optimum in ipsa am
pula. 175. Alio modo ad faciendum vermiculum. — Accipe ampul-
lam vitream et vivum argentum et sulphur, et libra ita ut duae
partes 3int de sulphure et tertia de argento vivo, et intus pone
ut veniat usque collum ampullae et primitus lini ampulam de
argilla optima tribus vicibus et intus pone supradictes partes,
ita ut sulfuris pars subtus sit bene diminuta et argenti vivi pars
supersit et rubeam tegulam bene diminutam a collo usque ad
summum mitte et super tres lapides ampulam in igne de car
bonibus et dimitte combuere donee ignis inde exeat glaucus et
tunc satis est.
176. De minio faciendo aliter sandaraco dicto. — Nisi fallor mi
nium id est sandaracum et album plumbum id est cerusa unius
naturae sunt, si in ignem mittas cerusam, nomen et colorem et
fortitudinem accipit quia quanta plus ustum fuerit plus rubet,
et quo minus ustum plus pristinum colorem retinet, id est albo-
rem vel pallorem et ponendo ipsum in materiis teritur cum
aqua gummata numquam vero cum ovo. In pergamenis vero
poni potest cum ovo distemperatum, sed in lignis cum oleo.
177. Quomodo misceatur minium cum vermiculo. — Si quis
codicem illuminare satagit non id de sole minio debet facere
quia quamvis litteree forent bene formate pulchre tamen non
essent quia nimio pallore essent obfuscate, ideo minium cum
vermiculo misceat ut pulchriores sint. Verum tamen quia
aliquos de hac commixtione novi certe, nescientes quantum ex
uno nee quantum ex altero mittere deberent si mihi assint am
mo de hoc intimabo, quod mihi notum est, ut teneant. Si ipsum

142 MANUSCRIPTS OF JEHAN LE BEGUE.
attention to me I will teach them all that is known to me, that
they may remember it. If the vermilion is very good and new,
I put two parts of it, and scarcely the third part of minium.
But if the minium is dusky and very old, put a half or a third
part of the vermilion, and make the remainder of minium ; and
you must know, that the older the vermilion is by nature, the
darker and the less useful it is ; and the darker it is, the less of
it must be added to the minium. When you have ground
this minium thus cautiously mixed with vermilion well in clear
water, if you wish to write with it immediately, allow it to dry
completely, and then distemper the same with stele white of egg,
namely, three or four days old. And if you wish to write or
paint with this minium, which will shine with a sort of varnishy
brilliancy, you must mix but a little clear water, or nothing at
all, with the above-mentioned white of egg, with which you dis
temper the minium ; and then lay it sufficiently thickly on the
parchment while you are writing, that is to say, you must paint
the letter thick ; and if, after this, it should happen that the work
does not shine, you may know that this is to be imputed to the
quality of the air, or the weather, if it be damp. And you must
know this also, that if it is dried at the fire, it will undoubtedly
shine ; but it will turn black in the sun. The minium may be
either fresh or have been prepared for some time.
178. How minium is to be washed. — But if, when you are
illuminating any book, the minium is old, and of a dirty colour,
you must wash it thus. Take water and wine, so that the third
or the fourth part may be of wine, and put it into a horn with
the minium, and mix it well, stirring it. Afterwards let it
rest. When it has settled and is fallen to the bottom, throw
out the water and the wine, and pour in a sufficient quantity of
white of egg, and use it.
179. Of sinopis. — Sinopis, as I have heard, is a certain colour
redder than vermilion, so that when the vermilion itself is very
precious on account of its beauty, the heralds praising it call it
sinopis, although the vermilion only resembles it on account of
its redness.

S. AUDEMAR DE COLORIBUS FACIENDIS. 143
vermiculum valde optimum et novum fuerit duas partes ex illo
et vix tertiam partem ex minio. Si vero minium fuscum et
vetussimum fuerit dimediam seu tertiam partem ex illo vermi
culo mitte et reliquas de minio facito. Et sciendum est quod
vermiculum natura quanta vetustior tanto nigrior et minus utilis
et quanta nigrior est tanto minus de illo mittendum est in minio.
Quod minium sic ex vermiculo caute mixtium postquam bene
triveris cum aqua clara. Si statim ex inde scribere volueris
permitte penitus prius exsiccare deinde cum vetusta glarea ovi
trium scilicet aut quatuor dierum ipsum idem distempera. Et si
tibi accidat scripturam vel picturam ex eodem minio facere velle
quasi que verniciate nitore subluceat glarea suprascriptae qua
ipsum minium distemperas parum aquae clarae vel nil omnino
commisceas et exinde inter scribendum sufficienter pergameno
suppone crassam scilicet litteram debes facere. Sane si post hoc
opus ipsum non lucere contingerit noveris hoc imputandum quali-
tati vel aurae vel tempori si humidum sit. Hoc autem scire debes
quod si ad ignem exsiccetur procul dubio venitescet. Sole vero
fuscabitur minium potest esse vel noviter vel ex multo tempore
paratum sit.

178. Quomodo lavatur minium. — Si autem cum aliquem
libram illuminas minium vetus sit et turpis coloris. Debes ita
lavari. Sume aquam et vinum, et ita ut tertia vel quarta pars
sit vinum et mitte in cornu cum minio et commove bene mis
cendo. Postea permitte quiescere. Cum autem sedatum et ad
fundum deductum erit eice aquam et vinum et mitte glaream
quantum opus sit et operetur.
179. De sinopide.Smo]A& est quidam color magis rubeus
ut didici quam vermiculum. Unde et ipsum vermiculum sit
valde preciosum in pulchritudine fuerit quasi laudando scutarii
sinopidem vocant cum tantum modo vermiculum in rubeo te-
neat ejus similitudinem.

144 MANUSCRIPTS OF JEHAN LE BEGUE.
180. How the colour olchus, otherwise membrana, is made. — •
The colour olchus, otherwise membrana, is so called from its
appearing like the human flesh on the face, the hands, and the
other parts of the body. It is made of red or vermilion, and
wliite or ceruse, and he who has no vermilion, must make it of
minium and white mixed together in proper proportions of each,
according to the greater or less ruddiness, or paleness, or white
ness, which he wishes to give to the naked figure, in painting it.
And because a greenish colour is proper for it, mix a little green
with it, in proper proportion as you may think proper. And if
you have no green, mix orpiment with lazur, and you will
have a green which you may use. Others also collect the
flowers of a certain herb, the name of which has escaped me,
which they grind or mix with the olchus, and thus make the
colour. 181. How lake is made. — Take filings or scrapings of Brazil
wood, and let them boil over the fire in a clean vase with red
wine. Then add lake distempered with urine, and let them
boil together, and having done this, strain and squeeze them.
Then take alum and mix with the other ingredients in the vase
over the fire, and stir it a little. Then remove it from the fire,
and pour the contents into a basin. Then grind it well upon
a stone, and collect the lake together and let it dry in the sun.
Afterwards preserve it in a box.
182. Item. — How to make sinopis de mellana. — If you wish
to make sinopis de mellana, take lac, that is, the gum of ivy,
with which parcium is dyed, and grind it very fine, and temper
it with vinegar or urine. Then, adding wheat flour well cleansed
from the bran, make it into little cakes, and bake it in an un-
glazed jar ; and, while it is being baked, put a little of it upon
a stick with a twig, until you see that it is of a very good colour.
If you wish to have it very red, bake it but little ; if less red,
bake it more.
183. As before. — To make the same sinopis in a different man
ner. — If you wish to make excellent sinopis, take lac, that is,
the gum of ivy, and madder, and boil it for a short time in a

S. AUDEMAR DE COLORIBUS FACIENDIS. 145
180. Quomodo componitur olchus color seu membrana. — Ol
chus color aliter membrana vocatur qui sicuti humana caro in
facie in manibus et aliis partibus et membris corporis demon-
stratur. Componitur ex rubeo seu vermiculo et albo seu ce
rusa. Et qui non haberet vermiculum componeret ex minio
et albo simul ad proportionates quantitates utriusque ipsorum
juxta majorem vel minorem rubedinem vel palliditatem, vel
albedinem quam dare voluerit nudo ymagini pingens ipsam.
Et quia virideus color in ipso convenit aliquantulum viridis per
debitam portionem sicut placuerit. Et si viride non habetur
auripigmentum cum lazurio misceat et viride habebit quo uti
poterit alii colligunt colligunt (sic) etiam cujusdem herbe flores
cujus nomen excidit quos cum olcho terunt seu miscent et colo
rem inde facit.
181. Quomodo efficitur lacha. — Accipe Brasilis ligni lima-
turam vel rasuram, et in uno vase mundo cum vino rubeo per
mitte ad ignem bullire. Deinde lacham cum urina distemper-
atam cum ea pone et simul bulliant et hoc facto colantur et
exprimantur. Postea alumen accipe et misce cum eis in vase
ad ignem existente et move parumper. Tunc ab igne tolle et
in scutella mitte. Deinde super petram fortiter tere et collige
et ad solem siccare permitte. Postea ad servandum in forulo vel
pixide pone.
182. Item de faciendo sinopide de mellana. — Si vis facere
sinopidem de mellana. Accipe de lacca id est gumma ederae
de qua parcium tingitur et optime tere et distempera cum aceto
vel urina. Deinde farinam triticeam bene a furfure mundatam
adjungens, fac quasi pastulas et coque in olla rudi et frequenter
cum coquetur ex eo cum festuca super virgulam tuam pone,
donee videas optimi chloris esse et si multum rubeum volueris
minus coque si minus rubeum magis coque.
183. Sicut supra de eodem synopide aliter faciendo. — Si vis
facere optimum sinopidem, accipe laccam id est gummam ederae
et Waranciam et coque in ollam aliquantulum cum aqua postea
vol. i. l

146 MANUSCRIPTS OF JEHAN LE BEGUE.
jar with water, and afterwards teke it out of the jar, and let it
cool a little. Then grind it well in a mortar, and strain it
through a cloth, squeezing "it well out, and afterwards heat it
carefully in a basin or saucer, taking care not to let it boil, hut
only simmer. And while it is on the fire put it frequently with
a twig upon your rod to try it ; if it is thick enough, remove it
from the fire, and let it cool and harden, so that you may he able
to make it into cakes. Having made it into cakes, cut it up, and
put it into a small hole, and keep it for use.
184. Of lake. — In the month of March, cut branches of ivy
crosswise in various places, or pierce them with a bodkin, and
there will exude a liquid, which you must collect every third
day. This is boiled with urine, and turns to a blood colour,
which is also called lacha, with which the skins, commonly called
parcie, are dyed with alum. The above-mentioned liquid is
useful for many purposes.
185. Of writing, or painting, with tin. — When you are going
to make gold or silver writing or painting, if you have neither
of them, that is to say, neither gold nor silver, you must make
use of the following process. Cast very pure tin into strips of
half a foot or little more in length, namely, like those of which
glass windows are made. Then scrape with a knife one or
more of them, as many as you like, into very small pieces,
until they, or it, are; or is, entirely scraped away ; and then put
the shavings into a mortar made of very hard metal, namely, of
that of which bells are made, which must be prepared for this
purpose, and fixed in a plank. You must also have a muller or
pestle of the same metal, which must revolve in the mortar.
Afterwards put these clippings into the mortar, and pour water
upon them, and grind them by pulling a thong backwards and
forwards ; but when the muller begins to stick a little, so that
it will not turn, teke it out, and pour or tip out the water and
tin into a very clean vase ; and then, letting the tin remain in
the vase, pour the water cautiously off, without pouring away
the tin. Afterwards let the tin dry by the fire or in the sun.
Then put it on a very thick linen cloth, and make the fine parts

S. AUDEMAR DE C0L0RD3US FACIENDIS. 147
extrahes ab olla et aliquantulum refrigerari permitte. Deinde
in mortariolo fortiter tere et per pannum extorquendo cola, et
postea in bacina vel in teste coque cum diligentia cavens ne
bulliat sed tentum fremat. Et dum coquitur frequenter cum
festuca super virgulam tuam pone temptando ; si satis spissum
ab igne tolle et permitte frigescere et durescere. Itaque inde
possis pastillos facere. Et factis pastillis excisea et pone in
forulo et serva usui.
184. De lacca. — Mense Marcio ramas in diversis locis incide
de edera extransverso vel cum aculeo perfora et egredietur
liquor quem de tertio in tercium diem collige qui cum urina
coquitur et in sanguineum colorem vertetur, qui et lacha di
citur ex qua pelles alutine tingentur que vulgo parcie dicuntur.
Liquor superdictum ad multa valet.
185. De stannea scriptura vel pictura. — Auream seu argen
team scripturam vel picturam facturus, si neutrum habeas,
scilicet nee aurum nee argentum hac utere compositura. Stan
num purissimum funde in laminas quas dimidii pedis vel paulo
plus longitudinis fac ad instar scilicet earum ex quibus fenestre
vitree componuntur. Deinde unam earum vel plures quot vis
cum cultello vel quo instrumenta necesse fuerit minutatum
erade vel errade quo ad usque tota consumpta vel consumptae
sint. Et deinceps ipsas encisuras in morteriolo pone quod de
metallo durissimo sit, quo scilicet campanae fiunt ad hoc opus
parato et in ligno infixo. Habeas simulque molam seu pistil -
lam qui in morteriolo vertitur, de eodem metallo. Postea in
ipso mortario pone ipsas incisuras. Et super ipsas infunde
aquam et sic eas mole trahendo corrigiam et retrahendo seu
relaxendo. Ubi autem mola stare ceperit paululum nee jam
posse verti extrahe illam et aquam et stannum in mundissimo
vase rejecta vel reversa. Et ipsum stannum retinendo in ipso
vase eice caute aquam absque ejiciendo stannum. Et postea
permitte ipsum stannum siccari ad ignem vel ad solem. Deinde
panno lineo valde spisso indue ac fac transire subfiles minucias ;
l2

148 MANUSCRIPTS OF JEHAN LE BEGUE.
pass through ; but the coarser parts, which will not pass through
the cloth, put back into the mortar, and grind as you did before :
and you must always make the finer parts pass through a cloth
as before, and then put them with the other similar parts ; and
so, when you have reduced the tin to a very clean powder, draw
upon the parchment and upon the cloth flowers and images, and
whatever else you like. And in painting you must put glue
upon the places which you wish to gild or silver, with a brush
of ass's hair, which glue you must thus make from ox-skins : —
186. How to make glue from the skin of an ox or a core. —
Take the skin of an ox or a cow, as thick as you can find it,
which has already been tanned for shoes, and put it in a jar
and pour water upon it, and make it boil over the fire from
daybreak on a summer's day until nearly the third hour ofthe
day, pouring water into it when necessary, or, when it is much
diminished, pour off the water, which has boiled so long, and
pour in clean water, and make it boil again until the sixth
hour. Then pour off this water, which will be nearly all eva
porated, and again pour clean water into the jar over the same
leather, and do not renew it more than once or twice more.
And take great care not to let it boil over, and then, having
boiled it down to one-third, pour it into a vase, and leave it to
cool all that day and night. In the morning of the next day
if it is coagulated in the vase, put your finger upon it. If any
part of it remains sticking to your finger, you may know that it
is not good, and may throw it away as refuse. Afterwards fill
up the jar with water as before, in order to boil it with the
leather ; and you must not fill it up any more, but take all
possible care not to let it boil over. You will know when it is
good by (after you have boiled it sufficiently and let it cool)
putting your finger upon it as before, to see whether it is hard ;
and the harder you find it, the better you may know it to be.
Afterwards putting a small portion of it into an earthen vase,
set it on the coals and make it rather warm. Then, removing
the vase from the fire, keep it at a moderate heat over a slow
fire made of a few pieces of charcoal, lest it should be con-

S.. AUDEMAR DE COLORIBUS FACIENDIS. 149
grossiores vero quae per pannum transire non poterunt iterum
in ipso raortario mitte et moUe sicut antea feceras. Et semper
minutiorem partem per pannum transire facias sicut dictum est
et repone cum similibus minutiis et sic postquam in mundissi-
nium pulverem redegeris stannum protrahe super pergamenum
et super pannum flores et imagines et quodcumque opus volu
eris. Et in ipso opere per loca que de aurare vel argenteare
voles, pones viscum cum pincello asinino quod viscum sic facies
de corio bovis.
186. Quomodo viscum vel gluten fit de corio bovis vel
vacca. — Corium bovis vel vaccae quod spissius invenire poteris
jam ad calcimaente instinctum mitte in ollam simul que aquam
et a primo deluculo usque ad horam pene tertiam temporis
aestatis fervere fac ad ignem, aquam infundendo cum opus erit
vel cum comminute fuerit. Postea projicies ipsarum aquam
que tandiu fervuerit et infundas claram aquam et iterum fer
vere facies usque ad horam sextam. Postea ipsam aquam
pene consumptum projice atque iterum in olla cum corio eodem
aquam claram mitte nee augeas plusquam semel aut bis sed
diligenter observa ne ex inundando exiliat tunc usque ad ter
tiam partem coctam ipsam in vase recipe et refrigerari per
mitte tota die ilia et nocte. Mane die altera si coagulatur
invanis digitum suppone. Si digito aliqua pars adhaerens reman
serit, scias non esse bonam et projice illud velut stercora.
Post hoc iterum aqua ollam implebis similiter ut cum eodem
corio excoquatur, nee augebis amplius sed cum qua possis
diligencia custodi ne exiliat sciens quod bona erit si digitum,
postquam sufficienter bullierit et frigidari permiseris, suppo-
sueris ut supra et durum inveneris, et quanta duriorem senseris
tanto meliorem esse scias. Postea sic aliquam partem de ea
sumptam in testeo vasculo pone eo super carbones aliquan
tulum fac fervere. Ex igne autem in vasculum quem ad
levem ignem paucorum carbonum ad moderatam caliditatem
tunc ne congelitur pincellum minimum ad hoc paratum ea
intinge et super pergamenum et super pannum quidquid pro-
trahendo vel de protractis volueris fac et linias atque statim ut

150 MANUSCRIPTS OF JEHAN LE BEGUE.
gealed, and dip into it a very small paint-brush made for this
purpose, and draw on the parchment or canvas whatever you
like, or fill in any former drawings ; and as soon as you have
drawn your paint-brush over a few places, before the glue is
congealed, quickly, and without delay, in order that the tin
may adhere before the glue dries, sprinkle plenty of the pow
dered tin over it, so that none whatever of those parts, which
you spread over with the paint-brush full of glue or cement,
may remain bare, or not covered with the powdered tin. And
so go on by degrees with the remaining parts of the work,
until you have completely filled in all that you intended to
colour with it. Lastly, collect and put by the superfluous powder
of the tin which is lying scattered about here and there on the
paper, not adhering to the work, and leave your work until the
next day to dry.
188. How to know good tin} — Good tin is known as follows.
Put a plate of tin to your ear, and bend it to and fro several
times with both hands, as if you wished to know whether it was
broken, and if it rings, that is, creaks or crackles, it is good.
Also, if you cut a strip from the plate with a knife, and do not
entirely separate it, but bend it to and fro six or seven times, as
if you were going to break it off, and if it does not break, you
will by that means prove the said tin to be very good.
189. How to make ink? — If you wish to make ink, you
must take, they say, the bark of blackthorn, and when you
have torn it off clean from the wood, you must fill a vase
with it, mixed also with plenty of water, which must not he re
newed, and put it on the fire, and let the bark boil down over
the fire like beef, and then take it out, and squeeze out of it
the water which it has soaked up, and let the water boil quickly
over the fire till it is reduced to one-half. Afterwards, pour
it into the first vase, and let it boil still, and when it is re
duced, pour it back into the other vase, and make it boil away.
1 No. 187 is missing in the original.
2 The word atramentum is written in the margin of this chapter in the
original.

S. AUDEMAR DE COLORLBUS FACIENDIS. 151
aliquantulum in aliquibus locis pincellum traxeris priusque
congeletur glutem cito non tardando ut stannum tenere possit
et antequam siccetur, habundanter stannum pulverisatum super
spargas et ita ut nil omnino de his quae cum pincello de ipso
visco vel glutine linieris vacuum remaneat quin stanno pul-
verizato cooperiatur. Deinde sic fac paulatim procedendo ad
reliquas partes operis usquequo intoto compleveris quod per-
ficere ex eo decreverit. Demum stanni pulverem quod super
hahundaverit et hac illuc dispersum erit non adherens operi,
colligas et recipe et opus tuum usque in crastinum siccari
permitte.

188. De cognitione boni stanni. — Sic autem bonum stannum
cognoscitur. Accipe lamina stanni juxta aurem tuam et cum
utraque manu plices sepius illam quasi qui velis scire an facta sit
et osculta diligenter et si tinuit id est stridet vel crisnat bonum
est, et si de lamina cum cultello crispam sceveris nee tamen
omnino abrumperis sed quasi qui velis eam frangere, sexcies
vel septies plicueris et sine fractura remanserit optimum fore
dictum stannum isto modo comprobaverit.
189. De incausto quo modo efficitur. — Quisquis igitur in
caustum conficere voluerit sumens ut aiunt corticem nigrae
spinas quam cum de ligno ad purum evulserit impleat inde vas
mixta pariter habundantissime et semel tentum cum aqua qua
imposita igni sinat corticem dequoqui more carnis vaccinae eo
que extracto extorqueat ab eoquam ebiberat aquam et ipsam
aquam igni prestolatur excoqui ad medietatem. Postea ipsam
transfundat in vas primus et adhuc bullire permittat et cum
comminuta fuerit refundat in aliud vas et ebullire faciat. Et
cum ad ultimum iterum comminuta erit evacuet in minimo

152 MANUSCRIPTS OF JEHAN LE BEGUE.
And when lastly it is again reduced, empty it into a very small
vase, and make it boil away. And when the ink has become
thick like porridge, take it off the fire, because it is sufficiently
boiled. But when you wish to prepare it for writing, take
some part of it, and put it into an earthen vessel with double
the quantity of wine, and take great care, when it begins to
get hot, to throw away the impurities which sink to the bottom,
separating them from the ink by straining through a cloth.
But what cannot be omitted is, that care must be taken not to
let it run over the edge of the vase, for otherwise you will lose
a great part of your labour. But when, as I had begun to say,
it is still hot, mix up with it two pieces of burnt atramentum,
and after four days or a week you will be able to write with it.
And if the ink should remain pale, or soak the parchment like
water, put it on the fire again, mixing with it a little incaustum
and atramentum. But do not throw it away while it is still
hot, for it is atramentum.
190. How to lay gold on a wall, or on parchments. — If you
wish to lay gold on a wall, or on paper, or on wood, or upon a
block of marble, grind gypsum by itself separately. Then
grind brown separately in the same manner, and teke three
parts of gypsum and one of brown, and take glue made from
parchment or leather, and distemper them together, mixing
the said parts, and lay upon it [the object to be gilded]
one coat of this mixture with a paint-brush, and then ano
ther ; and so lay three or four coats. And when the last
is dry, scrape it with a knife or other iron instrument fitted
for the purpose, so that it may be very smooth; and then
burnish it with a tooth or a stone, and lay over it, with the
paint-brush, only one very thin coat of the gypsum, and let it
dry. When it is dry, lay the gold upon that mordant, as you
have been taught. Afterwards lay upon the gold a very fine
cloth that has been two or three times warmed ; or apply it as
I do, not so warm, in order that the gold may be the better
polished. 191. Also how to lay on gold. — Take gypsum and grind it

S. AUDEMAR DE COLORIBUS FACIENDIS. 153,
vase et ebullire faciat. Cum que ipsum incaustum in modum
pultium densatum fuerit extrahat illud ab igne, quia ad ple
num est decoctum, cum vero ad scribendum volueris aptare
tolles ab eo aliquam portionem pones in vas fictile, duplum que
vini, solicitate que procaveat ut cum ceperit fervere sordes in
¦ fundo immergentes rejiciat separando eas ab incausto colando
ipsum per telam. Hoc vero quod pone preteriri poterit ob-
servet ne vel tunc vel quando confectatur in caloris ora vasis
transeat. Alioquin magna parte quassabitur suo labore. Cum
vero ut dicere ceperam ad hue calet attramenti duo frustra
cremate commisceat quatuor que diebus vel ebdomada exacta
inde scribere poterit. Et si in pallore perduraverit vel perga
menum transierit more aque appone iterum igni miscendo
aliquantulum incausti et attramenti sed tunc cum ad hue effer-
fuerit non abiciat quod attramentum est.

190. Quomodo in muro vel in pergameno ponitur aurum. — Si
vis aurum ponere in muro vel in carta vel in ligno vel super
petra marmorea, tere fortiter gypsum per se separatim.
Deinde brunum similiter teris separatim facies que de gypso
tres partes et quatuor de bruno. Accipies que colam de per-
gamenis vel de corio factum et distemperes simul, miscendo
illas supradictas partes, facies que de ipsa mixtura unum
lectum de super cum pincello et ad hue de super alium. Et
sic facies tres vel quatuor linitiones : cum vero siccum fuerit
rades cultello vel alio ferro ad hoc parato ita quod sit bene
adequatum deinde burnias dente vel petra et cum pincello de
super tantum una vice trahe de ipso gypso postea siccabitur.
Postquam siccatum fuerit pones de super ea distemperatura
tua aurum sicut doctus es. Postea pannum delicatissimum
super aurum duabus vel tribus vicibus calefactam pones, vel
sicut ego facio minus calefactum, ad modum vel melius polia-
tur, super eum pone.
191. Item de ponendo auro. — Accipe gypsum et mola eum

154 MANUSCRIPTS OF JEHAN LE BEGUE.
well with water. Then take your glue which is made of hull-
skin and mix with it a little white of egg, and distemper the
gypsum. But when you wish to lay on the gold, cover the
place with gypsum with a paint-brush, and let it dry. Do
this three times. Then scrape it, that it may be smooth, and
burnish it, and again lay another coat of the glue or mordant
upon it, and then your gold upon that, and remove the dirt
gently with cotton, and then let it dry. But if you wish to
polish it, do so with haematite, or with a dog's-tooth.
192. Also how to lay on gold. — Take brasilium, newly dis
tempered with white of egg, well whipped with a sponge or
otherwise, and draw and paint with it whatever you like on
vellum or on any other thing you wish to gild, and immedi
ately lay the gold upon it, and remove the dirt with cotton,
scarcely touching it, and leave it to dry for half a day or a
whole day if you like. Then take a dog's-tooth, and begin to
burnish at first gently, lest you should spoil it all, and then
harder, and afterwards so hard that your forehead is wet with
perspiration. And if you wish to lay gold on parchment made
of sheep's-skin, add a little plum-tree gum, otherwise gum
arabic, which is excellent for working on any kind of parch
ment, namely, from calf-skin, sheep-skin, and goat-skin, as we
shall declare in the following [recipe]. And either kind of
gum must be distempered as follows : —
193. Tlie mode of tempering the gums for laying on gold. —
Take whichever of these gums you like, and tie it up in a very
clean linen cloth, and put it in a glass vase, and let it lie in
water for a whole day and night, although indeed, if you want
to make haste, you may stir up the water with your finger.
Then draw whatever you like on the parchment, and lay the
gold on it as before mentioned.
194. Of the precautions required in gilding. — But teke notice
that you ought to work in gold and colours in a damp place
on account of the hot weather, which, as it is often injurious in
burnishing gold, both to the colours on which the gold is laid
and in [the operation] of gilding, if the work is done on parch-

S. AUDEMAR DE COLORIBUS FACIENDIS. 155
fortiter cum aqua. Deinde accipe gluten tuum quod fit de
taurino pinguedine et misce cum eo parumper de glarea ovi,
et distempera gypsum. Ubi vero aurum ponere volueris ibi
cum pincello de gypso trahes, dimittes que siccare. Hssc facies
tribus vicibus ; postea raddes eum ut sit planum et burnies ;
iterum de dicto glutine seu cola de super trahes et illico aurum
tuum pones et de cotho suaviter turpedines ipsum et ita dimitte
siccare si vero polire eum vis de emate vel dente canino polies
ipsum. 192. Item ad ponendum aurum. — Accipe brasilium noviter
distemperatum cum glarea ovi optime fracta cum spungia vel
aliter et de ipso protrahe et pinge quae vis in pergameno
vitulino vel alio ubi ponere aurum volueris et statim aurum de
super pone et de cotho quasi non tangens turpedine, dimit-
tesque dimidium diem siccare vel per totum diem si vis.
Postea accipe dentem caninum et brunire incipias primum
quidem suaviter ne totum dissipes, deinde fortius postea tem
fortiter ut frons tua sudore madescat. Et si aurum in perga
meno de ariete ponere volueris addes parumper de gumma
cinea aliter gumma arabica quae mirabilis est ad operandum
in utroque pergameno scilicet vitulino, arietino et capretino
sicut in sequenti declarabimus utrumque etenim gummam dis
temperabis sic.
193. Modus distemperandi gummas ad ponendum aurum. —
Accipies gummam qualem vis unam de duabus hiis et ligabis
in pannum lineum nitissimum ponesque in vitreo vase tote die
et nocte in aqua jacere vel certe si festinare vis, distemperabis
eam digito tuo cum ipsa aqua. Sic que in pergamenum penna
protrahe omne quod vis et illico pone aurum ut suprascriptum
est. 194. De advertentiis habendis in ponendo aurum. — Sed inde
adverte quomodo operari te oportet de auro, et coloribus in
humido loco propter calidum tempus quod sicut sepe nocet ad
bruniendum aurum et ad colores de quibus aurum ponitur et
de auro operari si opus fiat in minus humido et nimis sicco

156 MANUSCRIPTS OF JEHAN LE BEGUE.
ment that is too dry and not sufficiently moist ; so also it is
injurious when the weather is too dry and arid, or too damp,
while applying colours or gilding.
195. Also how to lay on gold. — Take gum arabic and dis
temper it as aforesaid. Then take gum ammoniac distem
pered with hot water over the fire, and mix it with the gum
arabic, and stir it with your finger, and put it in the sun, that
it may be well mixed and liquefied. Next, take gypsum, and
distemper it with white of egg, and mix it with gum ammoniac
and gum arabic. And when you wish to gild leather or
purple cloth, or linen or silk cloths, stir it up altogether, and
draw beasts and birds and flowers upon them with a very sharp
stick, and let them dry. Then take the gold, and blow gently
on the flowers, and lay on the gold directly, and press it down
with a burnishing tooth or stone, and burnish it as before.
196. Of certain kinds of gum or glue? — If you have not the
air-bladder of a sea-fish, cut up thick vellum in the same
manner, and wash it. Also wash carefully three times in
warm water the dried bones of the head of a pike, and boil
them. Whichever of these you boil, add to them one-third
part of very clear gum, that is, gum arabic, and boil a little ;
and you may keep this as long as you will.
197. How and with what vehicles to temper colours for paint
ing in books. — When mixing colours for painting in books,
make a vehicle of the clearest gum arabic and water, as
before, and mix with it all colours except green and ceruse,
minium, and carmine. Salt green is of no use in a book.
Spanish green you must temper with wine, and if you wish to
shade it, add a little of the juice of sword grass, or cabbage, or
leek. You must mix minium and ceruse, and carminium, with
white of egg. Grind azure with soap, and wash it, and mix it
with white of egg.
198. How that various tints are made by the mixture of the
i This chapter is a paraphrase of chap, xxxiii. of the first book of Theo
philus, English ed.
a See Theophilus, lib. i. cap. xxxiv. (Eng. ed.), of which this is a para-

S. AUDEMAR DE COLORIBUS FACIENDIS. 157
pergameno. Sic de coloribus vero operari et ponendo aurum
in tempus nimis rigidum vel siccum ac etiam minus humidum,
195. Item ad ipsum aurum ponendum. — Accipe gummam
arabicam et distempera ut dictum est. Accipiesque moniacu-
lum distemperatum cum aqua calida ad ignem et misces cum
arabica, distemperabis que digito tuo et pones ad solem ut
bene distemperetur et liquefiat. Postea accipe gypsum et dis
tempera cum glarea ovi et clarum misce cum moniculo et ara
bica. Et quando aurum in corio vel in purpura vel in pellis
lineis vel siricis ponere volueris movebis omnia simul et facies
bestias et volucres et flores cum baculo acutissime de super
dimittesque siccum. Postea accipe illud et super flores modice
suffla et statim aurum impones et imprima dente vel lapide ad
bruniendum, et brunias ut supra.
196. De quibusdam generibus gummi vel glutinis. — Si vesicam
non habueris piscis marrini pergamenum vituli spissum eodem
modo incide, lava quoque ossa etiam capitis lupi piscis sicca,
diligenter lota in calida aqua ter ilia coque ; qualemcumque
horum coxeris. Adde eis terciam partem gummi lucidissimi,
i. e. arabici et modice coque et poteris servare quam diu volu
eris. 197. Quomodo temperantur colores in libris ponendis et de
quibus liquoribus. — Temperando colores in libris ponendos fac
temperamentum ex gummi arabico lucidissimo et aqua ut
supra et tempera omnes colores excepto viridi et cerusa et
minio et carminio ; viride salsum non valet in libro, viride
hispanicum temperabis vino et si volueris umbras facere adde
modicum succi gladioli vel caulis vel porri ; minium et cerusam
et carminium temperabis claro ovi. Azur mole cum sapone
et lava et distempera claro ovi.
198. Qui ex mixturis colorum ad invicem plurimce ipsorum

phrase ; the last sentence excepted, which is not in Theophilus, but part of
it will be found in the Clavicula, p. 61.

158 MANUSCRIPTS OF JEHAN LE BEGUE.
colours with one another. — All colours whatever are diversified
and varied in various ways and manners, by mixtures being
made with them or laid over them, of other colours, that agree
with them in proper manners and quantities. If you require
these mixtures for painting figures and other things, mix and
temper them as before for books. And all colours are to be
laid on twice, in books, and on parchment, first very thin, and
then thicker ; but in letters only once.1
199. Of black, and ink, and of a black and green colour? —
Take ripe berries of honeysuckle, that is, in English, galetrice,
and pound them well in a mortar. Afterwards boil them care
fully in wine, adding also some rust of iron to the decoction.
This is a green and brilliant ink. If you wish to colour a cloth
or a skin green, paint it over with a paintbrush. But if you
wish it to be black, add ink to the composition, as usual.
200. Gum prevents the ink from running. — If you wish to
prevent the above written, or any other ink from running when
you are using it, add the gum of a plum-tree or of an apple, in
the boiling, and boil it together.
201. Also how to make green, according to the Normans? —
Take the herb which is called grenuspett [or gremispe'tt], and
boil it with beer or wine, so that the beer may be coloured
yellow by the herb. Then strain it. Then grind sufficiently
some Greek green with the beer, and afterwards let it stand in
a basin or a copper vase in the sun to ripen.
202. How to make auripetrum. — Spanish saffron, distempered
with very clear glue or liquid varnish, and laid over very clear,
that is, very bright and well polished tin, assumes the appear
ance of gold to those that look on it, for it receives its colour
from the sun, and its brilliancy from the tin, and thus may be
made excellent auripetrum.

1 The latter part of this chapter is from Theophilus, lib. i. cap. xxxiv.
8 This recipe and the next are in the Mappae Clavicula, p. 43.
3 This recipe is also in the Clavicula (p. 43), without, however, the re
markable addition " according to the Normans."

S. AUDEMAR DE COLORIBUS FACIENDIS. 159
mrietates fiunt. — Omnes et quicumque colores ex mixturis
aliorum eis convenientium debitis modis et quantitatibus eis
adhihitis et impositis diversificantur et variantur plurimis
modis et differenciis. Quas mixturas si indigueris ad pin
gendum imagines et alia, compone et distempera in libris ut
supra. Et omnes colores bis ponendi sunt in libris et perga-
menis in primus tenuissime, Deinde spissius in Uteris vero
semel. 199. De attramento et incausto et de negro et viridi colore. —
Accipe grana matura caprifolii hoc est anglice galetrice et in
mortario bene contere. Post vino diligenter fac bullire ferrum
aruginatum decoctione similiter addiciens. Hoc est viride et
fulgens incaustum et si vis pannum vel corium habere viride,
pincello desuper linias. Si vero vis ut niger sit huic coniposi-
tioni adde solito attramentum.
200. Quod gumma cum prohibet filuxum incausti. — Si vis
facere quod superscriptum incaustum vel aliud non decurrat
cum de ipso operatur, pone gummam cini vel pomi in coctione
et simul coque.
201. Item de viridi faciendo secundum normannos.- — Accipe
herbam que dicitur gremispect et bulli cum cervesia aut vino
adeo ut cervisia crocea sit de herba. Postea cola Deinde
pulverem de viridi Greco mola cum ipsa cervisia ut satis sit,
postea stet in baccino vel cupreo vase contra solem ad matu-
randum. 202. Quomodo efficitur auripetrum. — Crocus hispanicus cum
lucidissimo glutine seu vernicio liquido distemperatur et stanno
limpidissimo, i.e. pene polito et claro, superpositas speciem auri
intuentibus mentitur quod a sole colorem et stanno accipit
fulgorem et inde optimum fit auripetrum.

160 MANUSCRIPTS OF JEHAN LE BEGUE.
203. Also, in the same manner, a coat of gall gives the ap
pearance of gold to copper vases.1 — By scraping copper with a
knife, and burnishing it with a bear's tooth, it is polished.
Then lay gall evenly over every part of it with a paintbrush ;
and, when it is dry, lay on more and more coats of gall, and it
imitates the colour of gold.
204. How to colour copper. — Take copper that has been well
filed and polished and afterwards varnished over, and warm it
frequently before the fire, and it will turn of a red colour.
Afterwards scrape it with a sharp knife in several places and
cover it again with some colour, and then the fire will turn it
of a different colour ; and so in proportion to the warmth.
205. Also, the manner of beating out tin-plates, so as to appear
gilt, to use in painting, on account of the price of gold. — If you
wish to make [imitate] gold leaf, take pure tin or silver and
make it into very thin plates ; and take dry saffron flowers, and
wrap them up in a linen cloth and lay them in gum water, and
leave them there until they are soft. Then take them out,
being careful not to squeeze them. But if the saffron which
you intend to soak in water is fresh, you must first put the
flowers in the sun in a linen cloth by themselves, to dry, and
when they are dry soak them in water as before directed.
Afterwards take the beforementioned water and lay it thinly
once over the plates and let them dry. Then take the flowers,
dried as before directed, and soak them in white of egg, which
has been whipped a little, and stir it with your finger, and let the
plates lie in it a short time, until each piece has been dipped
three times, letting the pieces dry separately between each of
these three times, and afterwards polish them with an onyx
stone ; and if you have no onyx, grease the tin with the oil
which is made from linseed, and let it dry, and put it on paper
or on wood in this manner. Take the above mentioned gum
and put it in tepid water, and allow it to remain for so long as
it takes to sing a mass.2 Afterwards lay pure white colour in
1 See Eraclius, lib. ii. No. XVI. 2 About a quarter of an hour.

S. AUDEMAR DE COLORIBUS EACIENDIS. 161
203. Itemque sic vasa cuprea linicio fellis deauraturam men-
titur. — Cuprum raddendo cum cultello et bruniendo dente
ursino splendificatur. Deinde cum felle linies pincello per
omnes ejus partes tracto equaliter f \mo siccato iterum atque
iterum fel superpone et auri mentitur colorem.
204. Ad colorandum cuprum. — Cuprum bene limatum et
planatum postea vernido tinctum ad ignem sepe calefaciat et
contrahet colorem rubeum. Postea cum acuto cultello radde
in diversis locis et iterum illini aliquo colore et ibi alium
colorem habebit ad ignem et quanta plus calefiet.
205. Item de modo attenuandi laminas stanni ut 'auratce
videantur ex carentia auri utendas in operibus. — Si vis facere
petonas de auro accipe stannum purum vel argentum et fac
laminas multum tenuas et accipe crocum florem siccum et in
volve in panno lineo et pone in aqua ubi gumma est et dimitte
ibi usquequo mollescat. Postea tolles eum et cave ne con-
stringas eum ; si autem crocus recens est quum ipsam accipis
pro ponendo in aqua debes prius ponere ad solem in panno
lineo florem separatim siccare et dum siccus fuerit mitte in
aquam temperare ut dictum est superius. Post hec accipe
aquam supradietam et tinge laminas subtiliter semel et admitte
siccari. Dehinc accipe florem siccatam sicut dixi et pone in
glaream ovi aliquantulum vapulum et cum digito fricabis. Et
laminas dimitte jacere aliquantulum in ea donee omnes laminae
infusae sint ter. Ita tamen ut unaquaque vice exipsis tribus
permittas eas sigillatim siccari, postea liccabis eas cum onchino-
si non habes onchinum unge laminas de oleo quod fit de lini
semine et permitte siccari, et eas pones in carta vel in ligno
hoc modo. Accipies gummam supradietam et pones aquam
tepidam et iterum tantum permittes jacere, quantum spatii est
cantare missam. Postea pone purum album colorem sicut
ponere debes in locis in quibus ponere vis laminas et dum

vol. i. M

162 MANUSCRIPTS OF JEHAN LE BEGUE.
a proper manner on those places on which you wish to apply
the tin, and, when they are dry, polish them with an onyx
stone ; then lay the gum water upon the white colour, and let it
dry. Then polish it as before ; after this cut the tin according
to the form required, lay it on with the said gum-water, and
let it dry; and clean it with a sponge dipped in cold water;
then rub it down with a linen cloth well wrung out, and rub
the tin, and afterwards polish it, as before mentioned.
206. Also as before, how to gild leaves or beaten plates of
tin. — Take the herb which is called myrrh,1 and aloes, of each
equal weights, and having mixed them together, put them in
a proper quantity of water. Then boil them well, and after
they have been boiled, pour the water into a vessel, and take
the leaves of tin well covered on one side with varnish, im
merse it in the liquor as long as necessary. Then boil the
middle bark of the black plum well in a vessel, and afterwards
dip the same tin in this water. Then lay it on a table to dry.
207. Also as before. — Mix linseed oil and resin, an equal
weight of each, and add the same measure of vernix, put these
ingredients into a jar and boil them well. Then dip leaves of
tin well varnished into it [the jar], and afterwards dry them in
the sun.
208. Also as above. — Put linseed-oil and the inner hark of
the black plum into a new jar, and boil it well for a short time
upon charcoal or upon a clear fire. Then clean your glassa, by
weight as much as you like, and put it into another jar, and
take about half the quantity of alum, and of dragon's blood,
and put it all into the jar, and lastly add a little resin, and
melt the whole well together, and as soon as all the ingredients
i It seems probable that the gum-resin myrrh is meant, particularly as
myrrh is named among other gums and resins in the recipe entitled " Lu-
cida quo modo fiant super colores," in the Clavicula, p. 53, and in the
Lucca MS., published by Muratori. At the same time it must be observed,
that the author writes " the herb which is called myrrh ;" and in the Table
of Synonymes myrrh is said to be the " tree vulgarly called genestra.'*
The plant called " myrrha," myrrhis, &c, is the Scandix odorato,

S. AUDEMAR DE COLORIBUS FACIENDIS. 163
siccum fuerit licca eum onichino et sic pones aquam in qua
gumma est super album colorem et dimitte siccare. Item
licca ut supra ; post hoc incide laminas secundum modum loci
ubi ponere volueris, et pone eas cum dicta aqua gummata, et
permitte siccari et cum spongia intincta in aqua frigida purga
postea ipsas laminas ubi posuisti eas, postea cum panno lineo
extersa optirae et frica ipsas laminas et postea licca ut supra
scriptum est.
206. Item ut supra de modo deaurandi folia seu laminas
stanni attenuatas. — Accipe herbam que dicitur myrra et aloem
uno pondere ambas et commixtas simul pone in illam aquam
secundum modum appositam. Deinde fac bullire bene, et post
coctionem herbarum mitte aquam in sartaginem et folia stanni
bene illinita una parte de vernix appone et bene merge quan
tum opus fuerit. Deinde medianam corticis pruni nigri fac
bullire, in sartaginem bene et postea mitte eadem folia in hac
aqua. Deinde appone folia super tabulam ad siccandum.
207. Item ut supra. — Oleum de lini semine et pieem uno
pondere mixtum et eamdem mensuram de vernix pone in ollam
et fee bullire bene. Deinde mitte folia stanni bene verniciata
intus et post modum siccata ad solem.
208. Item ut supra. — Oleum lineum et medianam corticem
nigri pruni mitte in ollam novam ac fac bene bullire super car
bones vel claro igne paulatim, deinde munda glassam tuam
quantum volueris cum pondere et pone in alteram ollam et
aluminis quasi mediam partem et sanguinem drachonis et
omnia haec mitte in ollam et ad ultimum mixtum picem ad-
junge et bene funde et quam citius hec omnia fondentur appone

Myrrhis magno semine longo sulcato, Myrrhis major cicutaria odorato.
Myrrhenkerbel, Aniskerbel. In English, the sweet-scented Cicely, or
myrrh. Cerfeuil odorant ou musque, Cerfeuil d'Espagne, Fr. Cerfoglio
odoroso, Miroide, Ital. Matthioli and Laguna say that the Cerfeuil of the
French was synonymous with the Gingidio ofthe Greeks (the Scandix cere-
folium) : therefore, instead of "Genestra," we ought perhaps to read
" Gingidio."
M 2

164 MANUSCRIPTS OF JEHAN LE BEGUE.
are melted, add the abovementioned oil, and, as if you were
making a compound ointment, let them boil well together, and
stir them frequently, and afterwards dip your nail into the com
position and try whether it is good or not.
209. Also as before. — Collect twigs of black plum, and put
them in the sun for a week or a fortnight, and then throw away
the outer bark, and take the inner bark, and put it into a
rough jar, so as to fill it. Then take linseed or hempseed-oil,
and pour into the jar as much of it as it will hold, and heat
it slowly over the fire, until the bark is reduced to charcoal.
Then throw away the bark, and strain the remainder of the oil
through linen, and take resin and white frankincense, and clean
the jar well, and then put all the ingredients into it again, and
heat it as long as you please.

S. AUDEMAR DE COLORIBUS FACIENDIS. 165
supradictum oleum et secundum unctionem confectionis et sine
bene bullire simul et saepe move et post modum intinges ungu-
lam tuam et temptabis utrum bonum sit an non.
209. Item ut antea. — Collige virgulas de nigro pruno et
pone ad solem per octo dies aut quindecim et postea primum
projicies corticem accipies que secundum et pones in olla rudi
ita ut plena sit. Deinde accipies oleum de lino vel de canapo,
et in olla quantum intrare poteris impones et lente igne tam
diu coques donee ipse cortex in carbonem redigatur et tunc
projicies et per lintheum quod remanserit oleum colabis et
postea accipies picem et thus album et ipsam que ollulam for
titer mundabis, totum que simul repones iterum intus et quan
tum tibi placuerit coques.

( 166 )

MANUSCRIPTS OF ERACLIUS.

PRELIMINARY OBSERVATIONS.
Two ancient copies only of the MS. of Eraclius have
been hitherto discovered, and it is somewhat singular
that both are bound up with MSS. of Theophilus.
The most ancient of these is that discovered by
Raspe in the library of Trinity College, Cambridge,
and which he afterwards published in his work on
Painting in Oil (London, 1801). This MS. is written
on vellum, and is of the latter half of the thirteenth
century.1 It is now in the British Museum.2 The
first two books are in verse ; the last, which consists of
twenty-four or twenty-five chapters, is in prose.
The MS. next in point of antiquity is that which
forms part of the MS. of Le Begue. It is written on
paper, and was transcribed in the year 1431, probably
from an older MS., the property of John Alcherius,
which passed with his other MSS. into the hands of
Le Begue. The third book of this copy contains a
great many additional chapters, and the whole of those
published by Raspe, with the exception of one chapter,
" De probatione auri et argenti."3
i Raspe, ' On Painting in Oil,' p. 42 ; Eastiake, ' Materials for a His
tory of Painting in Oil,' p. 33.
2 Egerton MSS., 840, A.
3 Raspe, }>. 117.

ERACLIUS. 167
There is reason, however, to suppose that many
copies of this MS. existed formerly, and that they were
as widely scattered as the copies of the MS. of Theo
philus. That this was the case is, I think, proved by
the fact that fragments of the Treatise of Eraclius are
found in other works, although they are ascribed not
¦infrequently to other authors. I shall mention, in the
first place, those works in which the metrical chapters
are to be found.
The most ancient work in which this occurs is the
Treatise of Theophilus, the copy of which in the Bri
tish Museum contains fifteen chapters of the first and
second books of Eraclius, some of which, like the
original, are metrical, while the others are paraphrases
in prose ; and this is certainly a proof that this part of
the Treatise of Eraclius was written before that copy of
Theophilus.1

1 The mere fact of one MS. containing parts of another, is not of itself
sufficient to prove the age of a MS. . as these old writers borrowed from
each other without acknowledging their obligations, it is impossible to say
which is the oldest, unless other circumstances assist in determining the
age. In the case of Theophilus it is apparent that the poetical parts are
borrowed, because they form part of another work written entirely in verse,
while no part of Theophilus is in verse except the commencement, and the
measure ofthe latter verses differs from those of Eraclius, for the former are
Leonines, which is not the case with the latter. If this proof be insuffi
cient, the passage in Theophilus, lib. iii. cap. cvi.,will be quite conclusive.
He says, "Ex vitro si quis depingere vascula quserit, et te verte ad hanc
artem quas in primo libro scripta est. Hasc enim ita se habet." The
chapter referred to is not in Theophilus, but in the first book of Eraclius.
In the case of the Clavicula, it is not so easy to determine whether it is
older than Eraclius, because both contain copies of certain chapters which
perhaps belonged to a third work, for some of them are repeated two or
three times in the Clavicula. The age of the MS. must be settled by the
consideration of other circumstances, and these favour the presumption that
the Clavicula preceded the third book of Eraclius.

168 MANUSCRTPTS OF JEHAN LE BEGUE.
The earliest writer, after Theophilus, whose name I
have yet found attached to the verses of Eraclius is
Arnold de Villeneuve.1 The verses ascribed to him
occur in the Secreti of Wecker,2 published at Basle in
1598, pp. 428 and 449. They relate to precious stones
and crystal.
Other metrical chapters of Eraclius, eight in number,
will be found in the same edition of Wecker (p. 643-
645) ; but these chapters, instead of being ascribed to
Arnold de Villeneuve, have the name of Marcellus
Palingenius attached to them.3

1 Arnold de Villeneuve, a physician and alchemist. He travelled in
Italy and Germany. He was born a.d. 1245, and died previous to 1811.
a The work of J. J. Wecker, ' De Secretis,' was originally a translation
of the secrets of Don Alessio Piemontese ; the first edition was, according
te Hall'er, printed at Basle in 1559. " Every edition," says Beckmann,
" seems to differ from the preceding ; many things are omitted, and the
new editions are, for the most part, of little importance. I have the edi
tion of Basle, 1592, Svo., in which there is a great deal not to be found in
that of 1662, and which wants some things contained in the edition of 1582.
The latest editions are printed from that improved by Theod. Zuringer,
Basle, 1701, 8vo. The last edition by Zuringer was published at Basle in
1753." The edition of 1598, the preface of which is dated 1582, is the
only one to which I have hud access ; I cannot say, therefore, whether the
extracts from Eraclius are contained in other editions.
3 The real name of this Marcellus Palingenius was Manzelli, or ManzoH ;
he was a native of the neighbourhood of Ferrara, and being a reformer, he
narrowly escaped being put to death by the Inquisition. He published a
Latin poem, eaMed the Zodiac ; the first edition of which was published
not prior to 153'4. The measure of these verses is different from that of
Eraclius, and I could not discover that the work of the latter formed a part
of it. Another work has also been ascribed to Marcellus, entitled ' De
Corallorum Tinctura.' (See Potts' ' Chemical Dissertations,' translated by
Demachy.) The fragment from Eraclius may have formed part of this
work, for which I have inquired in vain in many public libraries. When I
was at Ferrara I inquired for this and other works of Marcellus Palingenius
of the Abb. Antonelli, the learned librarian of the public library of that
city, and I showed him the verses in Wecker, but he could give me no
information, except that the King of Prussia, when he was at Ferrara, had

ERACLIUS. 169
With regard to the chapters of the third book con
tained in other MSS., I shall at present mention only
that some of them are to be found in the Clavicula.
These have been collated with the MS. of Eraclius,
and the variations are inserted in the present work.
It is probable that many more chapters may be incor
porated into some of the works entitled " Secrets ;" but
there appears to be no inducement to undertake the
labour of searching these works, since they would
neither add to the practical knowledge of the arts they
describe, nor make us acquainted with the history of
Eraclius or of his works, since they do not bear his
name. Of the biography of Eraclius nothing is known : his
country and the date of his work are equally uncertain.
The same uncertainty attends the work ; for there is
some doubt whether the whole of the MS. ascribed to
him in the Le Begue collection was actually written by
him or not. I shall first offer some remarks on the
work itself, and shall then state the conclusions I have
drawn from a careful consideration of it.
With regard to the composition of the work itself, it
appears to consist primd facie of three books, the first
two of which are metrical ; the third is in prose.
The metrical part consists of twenty-one stanzas or

appeared to take a personal interest in Palingenius, and had procured
such of his works as he could collect. On my return to England, Sir
Henry Ellis was so obliging as to give me a letter of introduction to Dr.
Pertz, the librarian ofthe King of Prussia, to whom I wrote, requesting to
know whether he could inferm me if these verses, of which I inclosed a
copy, formed part of any work of Palingenius whieh might be preserved
in the Royal Library at Berlin. Dr. Pertz very kindly searched both
the Royal Library and the King's private library, but without success.

170 MANUSCRIPTS OP .TEHAN LE BEGUE.
chapters. It commences with a prologue, which is pre
ceded in the Cambridge MS. by these words, " Incipit
Liber Eraclii sapientissimi viri de coloribus et artibus
Romanorum." The commencement of the second book
in the same MS. is " Incipit Lib. II. de colore auripig-
mento simili ;" while in the Paris MS. the word " me
tricus " is inserted in the title of both books after
" primus " and " secundus." The third book in the
Cambridge MS. has no heading ; but in the Paris MS.
it is headed " Incipit tertius liber et prosaicus Eraclii
antedicti de coloribus et artibus praedictis." These
various readings certainly suggest the idea that the
headings of the chapters were not written by Eraclius
himself, and that the work consisted originally of the
metrical parts only ; and this supposition gains ground
from a consideration of the difference of style observable
between the first and second books and the third part,
and from the fact that the metrical parts contain fre
quent allusions to the arts of the Romans, which is not
the case in the third book, with the exception, perhaps,
ofthe extracts from Vitruvius and Isidore. The chapter
" De edere et lacca " is singular, and seems to indicate
that the author was a native of Italy. Eraclius says,
" Hujus enim frondem nimium coluere priores,
Ad titulum laudis ; erat ipsa corona poetis."
while the parallel chapter in Theophilus (E. Ed. p.
394) runs thus : " Poetarum enim carmina cum reci-
tarentur in tbeatro ante conventum romanorum corona-
bantur hedera." From this it may be inferred, not
only that Eraclius was a native of Italy, and that
Theophilus (supposing the whole of the MS. in the

ERACLIUS. 171
British Museum ascribed to Theophilus to have been
included in his work)1 was aware of the fact, but also
that the latter was not an Italian, otherwise he would
not have changed the phraseology of Eraclius.
The first chapter of the second book describes a yel
low colour, composed of the gall of a large fish, called
"Huso," mixed with chalk, which produced a colour
like orpiment. A similar recipe, which is entitled
"colore aureo Lombardico," is contained in a small
MS. in the Bibliotheque Royale at Paris.2 This is
another intimation of an Italian origin.
4 Although the name of Eraclius appears to be Greek,3
and not Latin, I am induced to suppose that Eraclius,
the author of the first two books, was an Italian, a native
perhaps of some part of the Lombard dukedom of Bene-
vento, which, says Sismondi, " had preserved, under
independent princes and surrounded by the Greeks and
Saracens, a degree of civilization which in the earlier
part of the middle ages was unexampled throughout
the rest of Italy. Many of the fine arts and some
branches of science were cultivated there with success.
The schools of Salerno communicated to the West the
medical skill of the Arabs, and the commerce of Amalfi
introduced into those fertile provinces not only wealth,
but knowledge. From the eighth to the tenth century
1 I have before observed, that the copy of the MS. of Theophilus in the
British Museum contains no less than fifteen chapters taken from the first and
second books of Eraclius. Some of these are transcripts, others are para
phrases. It is impossible to say whether these additions to the work of
Theophilus were actually made by himself, or by one of his transcribers.
The former appears to me probable, because I think it is evident that
Theophilus was well acquainted with the MS. ascribed to Eraclius.
2 No. vi. MDCCXLIX., B. No. 9.
3 Raspe, p. 44.

172 MANUSCRIPTS OF JEHAN LE BEGUE.
various historical works, written, it is true, in Latin,
but distinguished for their fidelity, their spirit, and their
fire, proceeded from the pen of several men of talent,
natives of that district, some of whom clothed their
compositions in hexameter verses, which, compared
with others of the same period, display superior facility
and fancy."
The custom alluded to of composing works in hexa
meter verses, will not fail to recal to the mind of the
reader the metrical work of Eraclius, the literary merit
of which, however, certainly does not entitle it to rank
among the works alluded to by Sismondi.
It appears to have been also the custom in Italy
during the twelfth and thirteenth centuries, to place
inscriptions in Latin verse on works of art, as well of
architecture, as of sculpture and painting, and even in
mosaics. Many of these inscriptions have been pub
lished by Ciampi.1 The verses were sometimes hex
ameters, and sometimes leonines. It is not improbable,
therefore, that the first two books of Eraclius were
written during the prevalence of this custom.
The last book of the Cambridge MS. which follows
the metrical chapters without any title, contains about
twenty-five chapters which are arranged with some re
gard to order. Nos. I. — IV. relate to pottery ; two of
these I have before observed are versified in the second
book. Nos. V. — XII. treat of glass and precious stones.
In these chapters is given a narration, taken from
Isidore, who had copied Pliny, of the discovery of the
art of making glass, with the marvellous legend of the
1 Notizie inedite della Sagrestia Pistoiesej &c, pp. 27, 37, 38, 43, 46, 48.

ERACLIUS. 173
cup of flexible glass which, it is said, cost the inventor
his life ; to which are added from other sources the
method of making glass of various colours and of
cutting and polishing precious stones. Nos. XIII. —
XXIII. relate to gilding on metals, and the last two
chapters relate to painting. There is reason to suppose
that this third book of the Cambridge MS. is incom
plete, because there is a reference in one of the chapters
to auripetrum, the composition of which is not described
in this MS., but in that of Le Begue.
The third book in the Le Begue MS. contains all
the chapters enumerated above, with the exception of
one "De probatione auri et argenti," to which are
added above thirty other chapters which treat chiefly
of painting. The arrangement, however, observable in
the Cambridge MS. is not the same in the MS. of
Le Begue, in which the different recipes appear to
be thrown together at random without any regard to
the subject. As it was therefore necessary to select
between the arrangement of the Cambridge MS. and
that of Le Begue, I have adopted the former as the
most methodical, and have arranged the remaining
chapters of the third book as systematically as it was
possible. I have however retained the numbers of the
Le Begue MS. for the convenience of reference, and
have attached to them other numbers which commence
with the third book. As the last chapters of the Cam
bridge MS. treat of preparing wood and colours for
painting, the chapters which relate to the preparation
of grounds and vehicles are placed next. After this is
a recipe for dyeing Cordovan leather, followed by
recipes for colours, for gilding on pictures, and then

174 MANUSCRIPTS OF JEHAN LE BEGUE.
for executing Nielli. Next follow several chapters
relative to colours which are extracted principally from
Vitruvius, and lastly three chapters on painting which
have evidently formed part of some Byzantine MS.
While preparing this MS. for publication, I have had
occasion to remark, that several chapters in the third
book, contain words and expressions and allusions to
arts, which appear to belong to the twelfth or thirteenth
centuries. From these expressions it also appears to
me quite clear, that the author of certain portions of
the third book was neither a Greek nor an Italian ; on
the contrary it seems to me extremely probable, from
the fact of some of the foreign words introduced being
of French origin, while others occur in French MSS.,
that this part of the work was written by a Frenchman,
under which term I inelude also the Normans, who
were at that period English subjects.
I shall first notice the word " cerasin," which appears
to me to be derived from the French, and if this could
be proved it would at once fix the country of the
author, for he says " quod nos Cerasin vocamus." If
this be the faet, " Galienum " may also be considered a
French term, for although it is mentioned in the Index
of the second book of Theophilus (who calls it " Gal-
lien " l and not " Galienum "), yet it will be recollected
that this author professes to teach " quicquid in Fenes-
trarum preciosa varietate diligit Francia," and in lib.
ii. cap. xii., he again mentions the skill of the French
in this art. Besides, the term " Gali colour, red,"
l " De vitro quod vocatur Gallien." See the Wolfenbiittel MS. of
Theophilus, published by Lessing. There is a reprint of this work in the
8vo. edition of Lessing's works, published in 1839.

ERACLIUS. 175
occurs in the MS. of Mayerne in an extract from the
book of "Mr. Colladon" entitled " Couleurs des Es-
maulx ou Vernix de la Poterie de Faience ; Copie de
l'original d'un Maistre potier Anglais." *
The term "Grossinum," which occurs in No. VIIL
and No. XLIX., appears to denote a gros, which was a
French weight equal to 1 drachm or the 8th of an
ounce ; it may also denote a small German coin, but
in the present case the former may be fairly con
sidered to express its real signification.
Among the terms which are peculiar to the north
and west of Europe may be enumerated "Cervisia,"
also "Warancia," which is mentioned in the recipe for
Cordovan leather No. XXXII., and which in the ex
tracts from Isidore No. LIIL, is written "Garancia,"2
and is identified with Sandis (madder) ; " Glassam "
called in German "Glas," and in French MSS.
" Glasse," amber, and several others.
It is to be observed that several recipes occur in the
1 It is observed by all writers on glass-painting, that the colours used for
one art are always applicable to the other. See Le Vieil, de la Peinture
sur Verre, p. 113.
Le Vieil (p. 25) observes, " A great many of our French churches,
which date from the twelfth century, contain coloured glass windows,
which consist only of different compartments of glass, the ground of
which is generally red, and this red glass was so common then, and is now
so rare, that it is only with regard to this fine red colour that we can truly
consider the art of painting on glass as a secret now lost."
2 Granza is the Spanish for madder ; and Isidore, from whose work the
passage in question was copied, was Bishop of Seville in the seventh century.
Madder is called in French, Garance. In medieval MSS. the term Wa-
rantia is generally used.
The fact of the madder plant being mentioned under four different terms,
two only of which are mentioned to be synonymous, is certainly a proof
that the recipes were written by different persons. In No. XXXII.
the term " Warancia" occurs ; in No. LIIL we find " Sandis, id est Ga
rancia;" and in No. LV. the plant is called " Rubea."

176 MANUSCRIPTS OF JEHAN LE BEGUE.
third book, which are merely variations of some in the
first book. This occurs so frequently in old MSS., that
no conclusions can be drawn from this fact alone, as to
the antiquity or originality of those of the first book.
No. XVIII. in the first book is a metrical version of
No. I. in the third book ; No. XIX. ofthe first book, of
No. II. in the third book ; No. XXI. of the first book,
of No. IV. in the third book. There is no evidence
to show which of these are the most ancient.
The same thing may be observed of the recipes for
sculpturing or engraving gems and hardening iron,
three of which occur in the first book ; a similar number
are contained in the third book. The recipes are all
somewhat different, but they are alike in principle,
and Eraclius informs us (Lib. i. No. VI.) that they
were derived in the first instance from Pliny. Several
of these are found to be in the Clavicula.
As to the date of the third book of Eraclius, it
appears to me that it must not be considered earlier
than the twelfth, or later than the thirteenth century.
The allusions to the arts of the Saracens or Arabians,
in Nos. IX, XXXII., XLVL, and XLVIL, prove
that the work could not have been earlier than the ninth
century, and the recipe for dyeing cordovan leather *
(No. XXXII.), in which the word "Warancia"

1 Cordova was taken by the Moors a.d. 711, And in the year 759 Ab
durrahman established his royal residence there. From that time Cordova
became the centre of the arts, of industry, and of genius. It was distin
guished for the excellence of its manufactures, and was especially celebrated
for its leather, hence called " Cordovan." The remains of the tan-pits
employed in the process, which are still to be seen on the north side of the
Guadalquivir, prove that the art was of Moorish origin, for they were
formed of baked earth, a material, says Mr. Murphy, much used by the

ERACLIUS. 177
occurs, affords a strong presumption that it was much
later, in order to give time for the Moorish art to
become known in those countries where madder was
called by the above name.
The lead glaze mentioned in No. III. will, however,
probably enable us to fix the earliest date at which this
third book could have been written, for De Brongniart,
the director of the manufactory at Sevres, who cer
tainly may be considered good authority on this sub
ject, remarks in his Traite des Arts Ceramiques, p.
304, " J'ai deja. dit que jusqu'a present on n'avait re-
connu aucune potterie Europeenne qui avant le xiie
siecle eut requ une gla-^ure plombifere." * He also says
that lead glazing was applied to pottery at Pesaro
about 1 100 ; that it had been found on pottery in a
tomb at Jumieges, the date of which was 1 120. He
also remarks, that pottery with a lead glaze was found
at Alsace in the thirteenth century.
The directions given by Eraclius for the preparation
of oils and varnishes, and for painting generally, corre
spond with the practice of the thirteenth century, espe
cially in England, as Mr. Eastiake 2 has shown from va
rious documents preserved in the public records. I should
also observe, that the real Lapis Lazuli is mentioned in
No. LL, with the test by which it was distinguished from
the Azzurro della Magna, which certainly does not
occur in Theophilus, the Lucca MS., the Clavicula, or
Moors in Spain. The prospects of Cordova continued to increase until the
dissensions which distracted the Moorish power in Spain, towards the close
of the tenth century. After that period it continued to decline until the
expulsion of the Moors in 1236. The trade in Cordovan leather was then
nearly destroyed, and the Moors carried it with them to Morocco.
1 See also pp. 96, 97, 98.
8 ' Materials for a History of Painting in Oil,' pp. 49-57, and 552-561.
VOL. I. N

178 MANUSCRIPTS OF JEHAN LE BEGUE.
S. Audemar, and I think not in the first or second
books1 of Eraclius. Brazil wood also is mentioned in
the third book of Eraclius, and in S. Audemar, but
not in Theophilus, the Lucca MS., or the Clavicula.
The probability is, that the third part was written
after the Clavicula,2 and shortly before the MS. of
Theophilus, who appears not only to have introduced
some of the metrical parts of the work into his own ;
but it seems probable that he had the third book before
him when he composed his own second book, although
he has enlarged, and I must say, very much improved
upon his original, which I think I can trace in se
veral chapters of the second book of Theophilus, and
I also think that three of the missing chapters men
tioned in the table of contents of the second book of
Theophilus will be found in* the MS. of Eraclius. Red
glass, called " Gallienum," and green glass, are de
scribed in No. VII., and blue glass in No. VIIL
and No. XLIX. of Eraclius.3
The extracts from Isidore relative to glass are
contained in both MSS., those relating to pigments
are in the Le Begue MS. only. Some of these are
abstracted in so imperfect a manner, as to be scarcely
1 The lazur mentioned in the second book seems to have been native
carbonate of copper, and not lapis lazuli, because it turned black in the fire.
2 The date of Sir T. Phillips's copy of the Clavicula (the only one
known) is of the twelfth century, but the earliest copies of Eraclius and
Theophilus are of the thirteenth century. There is, however, internal
evidence of the Clavicula being older than the third book of Eraclius, espe
cially those parts which relate to painting in oil, and which are found in the
Paris MS. only.
3 The fourth of the missing chapters (De Coloribus qui fiunt ex cupro et
plumbo et sale) seems to be contained in cap. xxxi. of the second book of
Theophilus, entitled ' De Anulis,' where we find the following words : —
" Deinde acquire tibi cineres, sal, pulverem cupri, et plumbum."

ERACLIUS. 179
intelligible. It is easy, however, to perceive that Nos.
L. to LV. inclusive, are an abridgment of Chapters
VIL— XIV. of the 7th book of Vitruvius, interspersed
occasionally with a few original observations relative to
colours generally, and to a few pigments which were
employed during the middle ages.
Chapters LVL and LVIII. appear to be transla
tions from some MS. of Byzantine Art, which was cur
rent wherever painting was practised at this time, and
parts of which also appear, with the variations likely to
be met with in translations by different persons, and
perhaps by persons of different nations, from the same
original, in the Clavicula, in the MS. of S. Audemar, in
the appendix to the Theophilus of the British Museum,
and at the greatest length in the Sloane MS., No. 1754.
From the fact of all these translations appearing in
MSS. of northern origin (always supposing Theophilus
to have been a German), and of the white pigment so
frequently mentioned being called Album de Pullia, or
Apuleya, I have formed the opinion that the original
MS. of Byzantine art was written by a Greco-Italian
of the Duchy of Benevento (which included Apulia),
and that the MS. was perhaps communicated by some
descendant of the Norman followers of Robert Guis
card * to the Normans settled in the west of Europe.
1 In 1002 or 1003 the Normans first landed in the Neapolitan territory :
in 1015 they made their first settlement there. In 1019 the Normans
under Raynulf, uniting with the Lombards and Greeks, drove the Saracens
out of Sicily ; and the Greeks, who, on the arrival of the Normans, were in
possession of about two-thirds of the kingdom of Naples, re-established
themselves, and made a distinct province in the western part of Apulia,
under the name of Capitanata. In 1056 Robert Guiscard, the Norman,
was made Duke of Apulia, and his successors continued to enjoy the
dignity until 1195, when the Normans submitted to the Emperor.
N 2

180 MANUSCRIPTS OF JEHAN LE BEGUE.
After a careful perusal of the MS. attributed to Era
clius, I have formed the following conclusions : —
That it is a collection of works on art, somewhat of
the same nature as the MS. of Le Begue.
That the metrical parts only constituted the Treatise
de Coloribus et Artibus Romanorum of Eraclius, and
that this part is more ancient than great part of the
third book.
That the third book consists of a miscellaneous col
lection of works on art, which may be arranged under
three heads ; first of an abridgment or paraphrase from
Vitruvius and Isidore on making* glass and on colours ;
secondly, of some translations of a Greek or Byzantine
MS. ; and thirdly, of original matter, or of recipes
collected from contemporary artists, many of which
appear to be of French origin.
That these MSS. fell into the hands of some person
who did for them what Le Begue did for the collection
of Alcherius, namely, united them into one work, and
who also extended to the whole work the title which
was probably intended for the first and second books
only. I think there is some proof of this in the epithet
added in both MSS. to the name of Eraclius, " Vir sa-
pientissimus," which, whatever might have been the
opinion of Eraclius relative to his own abilities — and
he certainly did not underrate them — he would scarcely
have ventured to place there himself.
I think it of some importance to the arts that the
time of Eraclius should be fixed. If my reasons are
not satisfactory, I shall probably be corrected by those
more skilled than myself on this subject.

EXPLANATION OF SYMBOLS
REFERRED TO IN THFa NOTES TO THE TREATISE OF ERACI.IUS.

P. denotes the MS. in the Royal Library at Paris.
R. the MS. published by Raspe.
W. the chapters printed by Wecker, and by him ascribed to Arnaldus de
Villanova and Marcellus Palingenius.
T. the chapters of Eraclius found in the MS. of Theophilus in the Har-
leian Collection at the British Museum.
(T.) those chapters of which a prose version is given in the last-mentioned
MS.
S. the chapters of the third book of Eraclius contained in the MS. No. 1754,
ofthe Sloane Collection at the British Museum.
C. the chapters of the third book of Eraclius contained in the treatise
called ' Mappae Clavicula.'
Cant. The MS. formerly at Cambridge, but now in the British Museum.

( 182 )

HERE BEGINS THE

FIRST AND METRICAL BOOK OF ERACLIUS,

A VERY WISE MAN,

ON THE COLOURS AND ARTS OF THE ROMANS.
ANB FIRST THE
INTRODUCTION.

I have described, brother, various flowers for your use, as
I best could. I have added to the flowers the arts which relate
to, and are proper for writing ¦ to which, if you pay attention,
you will find them true in practice. I indeed write nothing to
you, which I have not first tried myself. The greatness of in
tellect, for which the Roman people was once so eminent, has
faded, and the care of the wise senate has perished. Who can
now investigate these arts ? Who is now able to show us what
these artificers, powerful by their immense intellect, discovered
for themselves ? He who, by his powerful virtue, holds the
keys of the mind, divides the pious hearts of men among various
arts.

( 183 )

INCIPIT

PRIMUS ET METRICUS l LIBER ERACLII,

SAPIENTISSIMI VIRI,

DE COLORIBUS ET ARTIBUS ROMANORUM.

PROHEMIUM.*

Ut potui levius varios tibi frater ad usus
Descripsi flores, adjeci floribus artes,
Congrua scripturis quae sunt, et idonea3 scriptis,
Que si perpendis, utendo vera probabis.
Nil tibi scribo quidem, quod4 non prius ipse probassem.
Jam decus ingenii quod4 plebs Romana probatur
Decidit, ut periit sapientum cura senatum.
Quis nunc has artes investigare valebit,
Quas isti artifices, immensa mente5 potentes,
Invenere sibi, potens est ostendere nobis ?
Qui tenet ingenii claves virtute potenti
In varias artes resecat pia corda virorum.
1 Primus et metricus omittit R. 2 St primo prohemium omittit R.
Idone R. 4 Qua R. 5 Meree R.

184 MANUSCRIPTS OF JEHAN LE BEGUE.
ii. How various colours fit for writing are made from
wild flowers.1
He who wishes to convert flowers into the various colours
which, for the purpose of writing, the page of the book demands,
must wander over the corn-fields early in the morning, and then
be wiU find various flowers fresh sprung up. Let him make
haste to pluck them for himself; and when he gets home, let
him take care not to mix them together, but let him do what
this art demands [namely], grind these flowers upon a smooth
stone, and grind raw gypsum along with them. So you can
preserve these colours dry. And if you wish to change the
colour to green, mix lime with the flowers. You will then see
what I have bid you [do], which is as I have already tried it
myself. 1 See Theoph., E. Ed., p. 392. Wecker, p. 643.
The early painters were accustomed to prepare many vegetable pigments
for painting in miniature. Indeed there are scarcely any plants which
yield colouring juices, which have not, at some period, been used for this
purpose. The process employed in the text was simple enough : it con
sisted in grinding the flowers first by themselves and then with sulphate of
lime, which, while it gave body to the vegetable pigments, did not affect
the colours. The text shows that the effects of lime in changing vegetable
blues to greens, even at that early period, were well understood.

iii. To paint earthen vases?
If any one wishes to paint vases with glass, [let him grind
Roman glass well on marble, and when it is like dust, let him
paint earthen vases with it, with the clear fatness of gum, mixed
with spring water ; and when dry, send them to the furnace.
Let the earth [clay] be good, so as to stand the fire ; and at
length he will take out of tlie furnace shining vases good enough
for kings. ] Let him choose for himself two stones of red marble,
between which let him grind the Roman glass, and when it is
1 See Theoph., E. Ed., p. 398; and Wecker, p. 644.

ERACLIUSDE COLORIBUS ET ARTIBUS ROMANORUM. 185
ii. Quomodo fiant diver si colores de floribus campestri-
bus ad scribendum apti?
Flores in varios qui vult mutare colores.,
Causa scribendi quos2 libri pagina poscit,
Est opus ut segetes in summo mane pererret,
Et tunc3 diversos flores ortuque recentes
Inveniet properetque sibi4 decerpere eosdem.
Cumque domum5 fuerit,6 caveat ne ponat in unum
Hlos, sed faciat quod7 talis res8 sibi poscit9
Desuper10 equalem petram contriveris istos
Flores ; incoctum pariter turn11 contere12 gypsum13
Sic tibi siccatos poteris servare colores.
Ex quibus in viridem si vis mutare colorem,14
Calcem commisce'cum floribus ; inde videbis15
Quod tibi mandavi, veluti prius ipse16 probavi.
1 Sic P. ; R. et T. habent de floribus ad scribendum ; W. Carmen de
floribus seu coloribus, ad scribendum, pingendum, &c. s Quis P. 3 Et
interR. 4 S&'omittuntP. R. > DomiVf.T. 6 FuerintT. i QuceY.R.
" Quis W. 9 Poscit vel guarit T. I0 Dum super W. T. " Tu P. R.
18 CongereT. l3 Sic W. T. ; Gipsum P. R. " JRecentemW. 15 Hanc
lineam omittit W., errore forsan typographico. 16 Veluti prius ipse W. ;
verum velut ipse P. R. ; veluti ipse T.

iii. Ad vasa fictilia depingenda?
E vitro2 si quis depingere vascula3 quaerit,
[Vitrum4 Romanum bene marmore conterat, et cum
Ut pulvis fuerit, claro pinguedine gummi,
Fontis aqua mista, figulorum vascula pingat,
Siccaque fornaci mandes : sit terra probata
Quae valeat flammis obstare, nitentia tandem
Regibus apta satis ex furno vascula toilet.]
Eligat ipse duas rufo de5 marmore petras
1 Sic W. ; De preciosa pictura vitri R. ; De pictura ex vitro T. ; Quo
modo flake terrece ex preciosa pictura de vitri bitumine facta ornantur P.
1 Ex vitro T. ; De vitro W. ; De vitro fialas P. 3 Vascula omittit P.
4 In [ ] inclusa in W. solum continentar. " De rufo T.

186 MANUSCRIPTS OP JEHAN LE BEGUE.
pulverized as fine as the dust of the earth, let him make it liquid
with the clear fatness of gum. After this let him paint the
vessels, which the workman has finely moulded in clay, and when
they are dry, let him put them into the furnace. And let him
take care to put them into [vessels of1] good clay, that they
may thus be able to check the heat, and make them shining
with perfect beauty.
.* Compare with the last sentence in No. III. lib. iii.

iv. Of sculpturing glass?
O all you artists, who wish to engrave in a beautiful manner
on glass, I will now show you what I myself have tried. I
sought fat worms, which the plough turns up from the earth ;
and the art useful in these things bid me at the same time seek
vinegar, and the warm blood of a large he-goat, which I had
cunningly fed for a short time on strong ivy, tied up under cover.
After this, I threw the worms and vinegar into the warm blood,
and anointed all the bright shining vessel, after which I tried to
carve the glass with the hard stone called pyrites.

1 See Theoph., E. Ed., p. 396 ; and Wecker, p. 644.

v. Of phials decorated with gold.
The Romans made themselves phials of glass, artfully varied
with gold, very precious, to which I gave great pains and atten-

ERACLIUS DE COLORIBUS ET ARTIBUS ROMANORUM. 187
Inter quas vitrum Romanum conterat,1 et cum
Ut pulvis terrse fuerit pariter resolutum,
Hoc faciat 2 liquidum clara pinguedine gummi
Post haec3 depingat petulas4 quas finxit honeste
Figulus. Hoc facto succensae imponat5 easdem
Fornaci, caveatque simul quod6 terra probata
Has teneat, quo7 sic valeat8 obstare calori9
IUas que faciat10 plena virtute nitentes.
' Conteret P. R. W. 2 Faciet P. R. 8 Post hoc P. W, i Sic P. R.
Paginas T. ; Peculas W. 5 Figulus e terra; siccatas ponat W. 6 Quce
P. R. ; quo T. i Qua W. 8 Valeant W. T. 8 Colori P. R. l0 Sic T. ;
Masque faciet W. P. ; IUas qui facies R.

iv. De sculptura vitri.1
0 vos artifices qui sculpere vultis honeste2
Vitrum, nunc vobis pandam,3 velut ipse probavi,
Vermes quaesivi pingues quos vertit aratrum
Ex terra,4 atque simul me quaerere jussit6 acetum
Utilis ars istis rebus, calidum que6 cruorem
Ex hirco7 ingenti, quem sollers8 tempore parvo
Ex hedera9 forti pavi tecto religatum.
Sanguine cum calido ; post haec10 vermes et acetum
Infudi,11 ac totam fialam clare renitentem
Unxi ; quo facto, temptavi 12 sculpere vitrum
Cum duro lapide piritis13 nomine dicto.
1 Sic R. and T. ; De Sculptura vitri, quomodo fit P. ; Modus pingendi
vasa, et vitra W. ! Honesti W. s Pandam vobis W. l E terra P. R. ;
Per terram T. 5 Sic W. ; Jussit me quaerere alii. • Atque W. ''HyrcoT.
8 Solito quem W. 9 Ex Hedera W. ; ex herba P. R. ; herba ex hedera T.
10 Posthoc P. *¦ Infondi P. ,2 Quo pacto tentavi W. ls Piritis, sic R.
P.T.; SmerilliW.

v. Defialis auro decoratis?
Romani fialas, auro caute variatas,
Ex vitro fecere sibi, nimium preciosas ;
1 Defialis vitri auro decorandis P.

188 MANUSCRIPTS OF JEHAN LE BEGUE.
tion, and had my mind's eye fixed upon them day and night,
that I might thus attain the art by which the phials shone so
bright; I at length discovered what I will explain to you, my
dearest friend. I found gold-leaf carefully inclosed between the
double glass.1 When I had often knowingly looked at it, being
more and more troubled about it, I obtained some phials shining
with clear glass, which I anointed with the fatness of gum with
a paint-brush. Having done this, I began to lay leaf-gold upon
them, and when they were dry I engraved birds and men and
lions upon them, as I thought proper. Having done this, I
placed over them glass made thin with fire by skilful blowing.
After they had felt the heat thoroughly, the thinned glass ad
hered properly to the phials.
1 A small design in gold and silver is mentioned by Count Caylus in his
work entitled ' Recueil d'Antiquites,' torn. iii. p. 193, which is thought to
be enclosed between two strata of glass, probably in the manner described
in the text. One stratum of the glass mentioned by Caylus was blue, the
other was colourless. From the recipe in the text, it may be conjectured
that this method of gilding on glass was followed by the Romans, and early
Italian school, which existed contemporaneously, although independently of
the Byzantine school, at the time when the MS. of Eraclius was written.
The process taught by Theophilus (lib. ii. cap. xiii.), and usually adopted
in the Florentine school of Mosaic painters, who were taught by the Byzan
tine Greeks, appears to have been different. See Lettera di Branchi al
Prof. Ciampi, Notizie Inedite, &c, p. 25, n.

vi. Of engraving precious stones?
Whoever wishes to cut with iron the precious stones in which
the kings of the Roman city (who anciently held the arts in
high estimation) much delighted, upon gold, let him learn the
discovery which I made with profound thought, for it is very
precious. I procured urine, with the fresh blood of a huge he-
goat, fed for a short time upon ivy, which being done, I cut
the gems in the warm blood, as directed by Pliny, the author
who wrote upon the arts which the Roman people put to proof,
and who also well described the virtues of stones ; of which he
•-See Theoph., E. Ed., p. 402; and Wecker, p. 428.

ERACLIUS DE COLORIBUS ET ARTIBUS ROMANORUM. 189
Erga quas gessi cum summa mente laborem,
Atque oculos cordis super has noctuque dieque J
Intentos habui, quo sic attingere possem
Hanc artem, per quam fialae valde renitebant ;2
Tandem perfexi tibi quod Carissime pandam.
Inveni petulas3 inter vitrum duplicatum
Inclusas caute. Cum sollers sepius illud
Visu lustrassem, super hoc magis et magis ipse
Commotus, quasdam claro vitro renitentes
Qusesivi fialas mihi,4 quas pinguedine gummi
Unxi pincello. Quo facto5 imponere cepi
Ex auro petulas super illas ; utque6 fuere
Siccatae volucres homines pariterque leones
Inscripsi ut sensi ; quo facto desuper ipsas
Armavi7 vitrum docto flatu tenuatum
Ignis ; sed postquam pariter sensere calorem
Se vitrum fialis8 tenuatum junxit honeste.
1 Diebus P. s Nitebant P. 3 Paculas P. 4 Michi P. 5 Ex auro male
supplet R. • Atque P. n Ornavi P. 8 Fialce R.

vi. De preciosorum lapidum incisione?
Qui cupit egregios 2 lapides irrumpere ferro
Quos dilexerunt nimium reges 3 super aurum
Urbis Romanae, qui celsas jam tenuere
Artes,4 ingenium quod ego sub mente profunda
Inveni, accipiat 5 quoniam valde est6 preciosum.
Urinam 7 mihi quaesivi, pariterque cruorem
Ex hirco ingenti, modico sub tempore pasto
Herba, quo facto, calefacto sanguine gemmas
Incidi, veluti monstravit 8 Plinius 9 auctor.
Artes qui scripsit quas plebs Romana probavit,
1 Sic P. R. De sculpendis gemmis T. Gemmarum sectio W. s Egre-
gio W. 3 Reges nimium W. T. 4 Arces W. 5 Capiant W. " Sic P. ;
est omittet R. ; T. habet quem valde est ; et W., quoniam nimis est. » Un
ciam R. 8 Monstrante R. 9 Plenius P.

190 MANUSCRIPTS OF JEHAN LE BEGUE.
who knows the powers, esteems them most. For the first kings,
who anciently held the city, adorned with gems their garments,
gleaming with gold ; of these the most remarkable was Aure-
lian, who interwove his own robes with gems and gold.

vn. Of golden writing?
Whoever wishes to execute beautiful writing with gold, let
him read what I say in lowly verse. Let him grind gold with
pure wine, until it is well dissolved. Then let him wash it
frequently, for the white page of the book demands this, and
then make it [liquid] with the fatness of ox [gall, if he pleases,
or with the clear fatness of gum] ; and I also request him to
stir it with a reed when he uses the gold, if he wishes to write
beautifully. When the writing is dry, let him make it very
brilliant with the tooth of a savage bear,
1 See Theoph., E.Ed., p. 392.

vin. Of ivy and lake?
The strong ivy is very useful for these purposes. Our an
cestors were very fond of its leaves as a mark of honour : it
was used as a crown for poets. In the spring all things rejoice,
1 See Theoph., E. Ed., p. 394.
' It appears that the resinous juice exudes from the ivy in warm countries
only. See Nemnkh, Polyglotten-Lexicon, Tit. Hedera. It will be ob
served, that the juice, when it first flowed from the ivy, was not red, but
that it gradually acquired that colour.

ERACLIUS DE COLORIBUS ET ARTIBUS ROMANORUM. 191
Atque simul lapidum virtutes scripsit honeste,
Quorum qui noscit * vires, plus 2 diligit illos.
Nam primi reges, urbem qui jam tenuerunt 3
Gemmis ornarunt vestes auro renitentes.
Ex quibus insignis primus fuit Aurelianus
Qui proprias vestes gemmis contexit et auro.4
1 Sic T. W. ; nescit R. P. a Minus R. P. 8 Tenuere R. P. - Hos
quatuor versus ultimos omittit W., et eorum loco ponit " Primus ait versus
quot habet sententia sensus."

vii. De aurea scriptura.
Scripturam pulcram quisquis bene scribere queerit, *
Ex auro, legat hoc quod2 vili carmine dico.
Aurum cum puro mero 3 molat, usque solutum
Hoc 4 nimium fuerit. Tunc sepius abluat illud ; s
Nam quia 6 deposcit hoc candens pagina libri.
Exin taurini faciat 7 pinguedine [fellis 8
Hoc liquidum, si vult, seu cum pinguedine] gummi.
Atque rogo pariter calamo cum ceperit aurum
Illud9 commoveat, pulchre si scribere quaerit.
Hinc siccata sicut 10 fuerit scriptura, nitentem
Hanc n nimium faciat ursi cum dente feroci.
1 Si quis scripturam quaerit sibi scribere pulcram T. s Hie quae R.
3 Mero T., Menio P. ; Omittit R. 4 Hoc T. ; omittunt R. P. s Sic R. P.
Moneo quod saepe lavet illud T. 6 Namque R. P. i Faciet R. P. 8 Ex'T.
In R. P. male omissum. 9 Ilium T. 10 SedutT. "HuncT.

vin. De edera et lacca?

Propositis rebus edere satis utile robur.
Hujus enim 2 frondem nimium coluere priores
Ad titulum laudis ; erat ipsa corona poetis.
Vere novo, reduci cum gaudent 3 omnia succo,
1 Sic R. ; in P. vero De ederd herba et lacca succo ejus rubeo ab ipsa
exeunti. 2 Ut R. 3 Cum gaudent P. Congaudent R.

192 MANUSCRIPTS OF JEHAN LE BEGUE.
being refreshed with new sap ; and the spring brings back the
moisture to the trees, while the winter refuses them the power
of growing. The ivy is similarly affected ; for the ofishoots of
the branches, pushed into barren places, give out a juice,
which, whoever collects, should put into a red vase of baked
earth, and it will gradually assume a blood colour. This the
painter loves, and the scribe equally delights in. Hence also
is made the parcia dyed with a rose colour. It also serves to
dye the skins of goats and sheep.

ix. Of gold-leaf , how it is laid on ivory?
You will decorate carvings in ivory with gold-leaf. Now
hear in what manner this thing is done. Seek to obtain the
fish which is called " huso,"2 and keep its air-bladder liquefied
by being boiled in water, and with this mark over the place
where you wish to lay the gold ; and you will thus easily be
able to fasten it to the ivory.
i See Theoph., E. Ed., p. 404; and Wecker, p. 645.
s The Huso or Huson (Acipenser Huso) was the large sturgeon from
which isinglass is procured. It was the Ichthyocolla of Pliny ; the Ittiocolla,
Usone, Colpesce, of the Italians ; the Copese of the Venetians ; the Isin
glass fish of the English ; the Huizenblasfisk of the Dutch ; Der Hausen
of the Germans ; and the Bjeluga of the Russians. See Nemnich, Polyg.
Lexicon.

x. How gems are polished?
If you wish to give a shining splendour to gems, obtain for
yourself a piece of smooth marble, and lest it may be injured
by this, lay it on the gem and rub it gently, and a polish will
be given to the stone. The harder it is, the brighter polish will
it take. ' See Theoph., E. Ed., p. 402; and see Wecker, p. 645.

ERACLIUS DE COLORIBUS ET ARTIBUS ROMANORUM. 19,3
Arboribusque refert humor, quas bruma negabat
Crescendi vires, ederam talis probat ordo.
Nam subula rami, loca per deserta forati,
Emittunt viscum, quem qui sibi sumpserit ilium,
Transferet in rubeam coctum prurigine 1 formam ;
Sanguineumque sibi leviter capit ille colorem.
Hunc sibi pictor amat et scriptor diligit eque.
Hinc etiam roseo fit parcia tincta 2 colore.
Quae 3 quoque caprinas, quae 3 pelles tingit ovinas.
1 Prurigine P. ; in R. lacuna relicta sic — . . . .rigine. B Parva tinctura
P. a Quam R.

ix. De petula auri, quomodo in ebore mittatur?
Sculpturas eboris auri petulis 2 decorabis
Quo tamen ipsa tibi 3 res ordine congruat audi.
Quaere tibi piscem qui dicitur usa 4 liquentem
Vesicam tamen 5 serva cum flumine coctam
Inde locum petulam cui 6 vis componere signa
Sic ebori facile poteris ipsam consolidare,
1 Sic R. ; Quomodo petula auri in ebore mittatur, et cum quo visco P. ;
De pictura eboris W., qui hunc versum cseteris premittit — "Pingere si quis
ebur vult sicprocedere debet." s Pecula W. a Tibi omittunt R. P. 4 Sic
P. ; Hvsa W. ; R. lacunam habet s Tantum P. ; W. vero habet Vesi
cam serva decoctamfluminis unda. 6 Petulam quem P. ; Pecula quem W.,
qui sequentem versum omittit.

x. De gemmis quomodo lucidce fiunt?
Si vis splendentem gemmis inferre nitorem 2
Partem quaere tibi tantummodo marmoris sequi
Gemma superposita petrae, sed flumine pauco
Hinc ne laedatur, tractu leviore limetur.3
Quanto durescit, tanto magis ipsa nitescit.4
1 Sic P. ; De gemmis quomodo luceant R. ; Gemma ut nitescant W.
! Colorem P. R. 3 Sic emendavi. W. habet " Gemma suppositapetrae, sed
flummepauco: sed nelcedatur, tractu leniore limetur. " P.etR.vero "Hinc
ne ladatur, tactu leviore limetur Gemma superposito, sedpetre lumine tracto."
* Nitescit P. ; Accescit R. ; Nitebit W.
VOL. I. °

194 MANUSCRIPTS OF JEHAN LE BEGUE.
xi. Of a green colour for writing?
If you wish to embellish your writing with a green colour,
mix vinegar together with strong honey, and then cover up the
vase itself in very hot dung ; and so take it out after twelve
days shall have elapsed.
» See Theoph., E. Ed., p. 396.
The vase mentioned in this chapter must have been of copper or brass.
The colour produced in that case would have been verdigris, which is an
acetate of copper.

xii. How to cut crystal?
Crystal can easily be cut by the following artifice : — Seek
for yourself a convenient plate of lead, and join two boards to
it, one on each side, with a centre piece of iron, so as to keep
the lead steady ; for to the lead alone belongs the business of
cutting, and the outer plates are as guides to make it run
round evenly. But you would not be able to overcome such
great hardness by the unassisted softness of the lead, unless
you join to it some powder, such as the pulverized fragment of
a furnace, which you will be able to fasten to the tender plate,
for this addition will make the lead sharp, and the fragments
of brick also have equal force ; you must cut it, adding to it a
little river water. But let the blood of a goat first temper it,
for this blood makes the iron so hard that even adamant is soft
compared with it.
1 See Wecker, p. 449.
Compare with Theophilus, lib. iii. cap. xciv. (E. Ed., p. 387). Crystal
is defined by Theophilus to be " water hardened into ice." In this, Mr.
Hendrie observes, he has repeated the opinion of Pliny. The term " crys
tal " was also applied to glass made from pulverized quartz or sand fused
with an alkali. In an extract from the book of Mr. Colladon, quoted in
the Mayerne MS. and by Mr. Hendrie (Theoph., p. 180), crystal is de
fined to be " very clear glass of Venice."

ERACLIUS DE COLORIBUS ET ARTIBUS ROMANORUM. 195
xi. De viridi colore ad scribendum?
Si quaeris viridi scriptura2 colore notari,
Acri commissum melli miscebis acetum ;
Hinc valde calido vas ipsum contege fimo.
Sic et bissenis hoc extrahe solibus 3 actis.
1 Sic R. ; ad scribendum quomodo fit P. 2 Scripta R. a Talibus R.

xii. Quomodo cristallum possit secari?
Cristallum tali facile z valet arte secari.''
Opportuna 4 tibi qumratur 5 lamina plumbi ;6
Huic 7 etiam binae claves 8 jungantur utrinque,9
Ex ferro medium, quae firmant 10 undique plumbum ;"
Nam plumbo soli 12 tribuetur cura secandi.
Ipsi custodes laminae sint exteriores,
Ut sibi dent rectum recto consumere 13 cursum.
Sed nee duritiem H poteris praerumpere ls tantam
Mollitie plumbi, nisi quaedam junxeris 16 illi
Tanquam pulverulas fornacis fragmine micas 17
Quae tenerae poteris laminae connectere plumbi ,8
Haec etenim plumbum conjunctio reddet 19 acutum.
, At quum rursus *° habent lateris fragmenta vigorem
Concidis adjuncta paulatim fluminis unda 21
Sed22 vim cristalli cruor antea temperet hirci
Sanguis enim facilem ferro facit hie adamantem.23
1 Sic R. Quomodo cristallum possis secare P. Cristalli sectio W.
* Cristallus tali durus W. 3 Parari P. * Oportuna P. R. 6 Qucere-
tur W. e Ferri P. R. » Hinc ? P. R. 8 Sic R. Bene clavos P. ; Bini
clavi W. B Utrumgue P. 10 Qui solito medium consument W. u Plumbi P.
18 Solo P. R. la Conamine P. R. 14 Duriciam R. P. I5 Prorumpere R. P.
8 Ita emendavi. Nee quiddam junxeris R. ; Nisi quoddam junxeris P. ;
Nisiquasdamjunxerit, W. v Sic P. R. ; Tanquam pulvereas fornacis frag
mine mittas W. lB Sic W. ; Contere, quas tenerm poteris [possis P.] con
nectere laminas P. R. 19 Hunc versum omittit W. Reddit P. 20 Et quum
rursum P. R. » Hunc versum omittunt P. R. sa Si W. ** Sic P. W. ;
Hunc versum omittit R,
o 2

196 MANUSCRIPTS OF JEHAN LE BEGUE.
xiii. Of tempering iron [liardfor cutting stones.]1
[You must thus make iron hard for sculpturing gems.]
Whoever wishes to cut stones with the solid iron, must observe
the following rules to temper its edge. At the time when the
goat is in heat his fat alone is fit for this purpose. For if any
one quenches the hot iron in its fat, it immediately becomes
hard with a firm edge.
1 See Theoph. p. 404. Wecker, 428.

xiv. Of the gems which you wish to make from Roman
Glass.
You will thus be able to make beautiful shining gems of
every sort with Roman glass. Hollow out some clay for your
self as a mould for the stone ; and put into it some glass broken
into small pieces. You may easily prepare this [the mould]
by this artifice. Let a certain reed be skilfully turned round
and round, and when it [the clay] begins to harden, and the
rod sticks tight, then fix it on the rod on both sides, and let the
rod be held by the glass placed round it ; and then put the
clay, guarded by a hollow iron, into the fire, and when the glass
is thoroughly Hquefied, press it into the hollow with a bright
iron, so that you may have no bubble or flaw in it.

ERACLIUS DE COLORIBUS ET ARTD3US ROMANORUM. 197
xur. De temperamento duro ferri ad incidendum lapides?-
Qui qu33iit solido 2 lapides irrumpere ferro,
Hos habeat ritus, ut acumen temperet ejus.
Tempore quo solito magis uritur 3 hircus amore,
Solus adeps hujus fit ad istos aptior usus.
Hujus enim calidum 4 si quis pinguedine ferrum
Extinguit,5 subito durescit acumine firmo.
1 Sic P. ; De temperamento ferri R. ; Gemmarum sculptura W., qui hunc
versum alteris praemittit — Sic gemmis durum sculpendis effice ferrum. ** Qui
qweret solido R., quisquis vult solito W. 3 Uritur magis P. 4 Candens W.
5 Sestinguet R. ; refrigeret P.

xiv. De Gemmis quas de Romano vitro facere quceris.
Sic ex Romano poteris conficere vitro
Splendentes pulcros generis cujusque lapillos
Ad modulum lapidis cretam tibi quippe cavabis ;
Hie pones vitrum per quaedam frusta minutum.
Hunc ergo facile poteris hac arte parare.
Subtiliter * quaedam circumvolvatur arundo,
Qui dum durescit, dum virga firmius 2 haeret,
Tunc ipsi virgae superimponetur utrinque,3
Et circumposito teneatur virgula vitro ;
Atque cavo tectam ferro post 4 insere cretam
Igni ; fit 5 vitrum ; cum fit 6 penitus liquefactum,
In fossam lato fulgenti 7 comprime ferro ;
Quo vesica sibi, quo lesio nulla supersit.
^SubtUisP. 'DuriusP. 8 UtrumqueP. * Ferro post P. PenitusTH.
5 Fit. Sic emendavi ; codices sit habent. 6 Fit. SicR. Sit P. ''F-i
gentiP.

( 198 )

HERE BEGINS
THE SECOND AND METRICAL BOOK,

AND FIRST

xv. Of a colour resembling orpiment?
You will easily be able to make a colour resembling orpi
ment thus ; preserve it carefully in your memory. The gall of
a large fish is very useful for this art. The liquor of the gall
must be received in a marble stone, and you must mix a little
vinegar with it, and then add some white clay to the fatness of
the gall, and this mixture will make the colour brilliant.

1 A recipe similar to this is contained in the small Paris MS., No. vi.
mdccxlix. B., where it is called " Colore aureo Lombardico."

xvi. Of copper gilt with the fatness of gall?
If you wish to prepare copper with the fatness of gall, so as
to appear gilt, you may do it in this way. Having scraped it
with a knife, burnish it by rubbing it with a bear's tooth, and
then sprinkle it with a pencil [dipped in] the liquor of the gall,
and lay it evenly all over ; afterwards give it another smooth
coat, and upon this a third ; and each time pass the quill evenly
all over it, lest any scratch, or lump, or bubble should make the
copper rough. 1 See Theoph., E. Ed., p. 406. S. Audemar, No. 204.

( 199 )

INCIPIT
IIBER SECUNDUS [METRICUS,
ET PRIMo] l
xv. De colore auripigmento simili.
Sic facile similem poteris servare colorem
Auripigmento ; memori tu mente teneto.
Hinc piscis magni fel multum congruit arti,
Marmorea cujus petra liquor excipiatur,
Cui vetus et paucum tamen E admiscebis acetum,
Fellis et hinc albam turn3 cum pinguedine cretam.
Reddet splendentem commixtio tanta colorem."
1 In [ ] omittit R. 2 Turn R. 3 Ter P. 4 Liquorem R.

xvi. De cupro fellis pinguedine deaurato.
Si velut auratum fellis pinguedine cuprum
Condere curabis, sic hoc implere valebis.
Cultello rasum splendens hoc eflice tactum.
Ursi dente ; quidem calamo post \ sperge liquorem
Fellis ; et hoc eque tamen 2 apponatur ubique.
Appones alium post 3 equo tramite. Rursum
Huic alium junges ; vice tamen undique duces
Equali calamum, ne qua divisio cuprum
Ne quis monticulus vel ne tumor efferat " ullus.
1 Post P. ; penitus R. * Tegmen P. 3 Penitus R. * Offerat P.

200 MANUSCRLPTS OF JEHAN LE BEGUE.
xvn. How to make a green colour for painting what
you please?
Thus, O painter ! you may obtain for yourself a green colour!
Grind white earth with the leaves of the black nightshade.2
Grind them both evenly together on a marble slab until they
become liquid for the use of the pen, and afterwards take this
juice and try it with your paintbrush. Then adorn any writ
ings you please with the colour ; but take care previously not
to add too much earth.
i See Theoph., E. Ed., p. 394.
2 This chapter must have been written by a person who habitually spoke
Italian or French, because the Solanum Nigrum is not known by the name
of " Morella," or " Morelle," except in the countries where the Italian
and French languages are spoken. The expression in the MS. of Theo
philus runs thus: "herba quae vulgb morella nuncupatur." The term
" morelle " occurs more than once in the MS. of Le Begue, and also in the
Bolognese MS. It must not be confounded with "Maurelle," tbe name
by which the Croton Tinctorium is known at Montpelier.

xviii. How green glass is to be made for painting earthen

vases?

By these things the effect of precious glass is shown. Take
sulphur burnt in the fire, and [burnt] copper, and grind shining
glass with the powder of these, and take care to make it hquid
for yourself with gum only, and then place the jar, painted
over with this, into the fire, for the painting will assume a
green colour, when the outside of the jar begins to turn red.
i See Theoph., E. Ed., p. 398. Wecker, p. 644.

xix. Of white glass for painting earthen vessels?
You must thus make white glass fine enough for painting.
Grind white glass mixed with sulphur. With these, ground
i See Theoph., E. Ed., p. 400. Wecker, p. 644. This probably describes
an opaque white glass, resembling those threads of white glass which Theo.

ERACLIUS DE COLORIBUS ET ARTIBUS ROMANORUM. 201
xvii. De viridi colore quomodo fieri possit ad quas
volueris depingere.
Sic poteris viridem tibi pictor habere colorem.
Cum foliis albam morellae - contere cretam ;
Hac in marmorea pariter quoque contere petra,
Usus ad pennae liquidum dum fiat utrumque.2
Et post 3 hunc succum pincello sume probandum.
Hinc quascunque cupis scripturas conde colori,4
Ne cretae nimium ponas tamen ante caveto.
1 Morellam male habet R. s Utrinque R. 3 Penitus R. * Sic emendavi.
Coloribus P. R.

xvra. De vitro viridi quomodo fieri debeat, ad vasa
fictilia? depingenda.
His rebus vitri patet effectus preciosi :
Igni combustum sulphur, quaerasque cupellum,2
Atque teras horum splendens cum pulvere vitrum ;
Hoc cures solo liquidum tibi 3 reddere gummo.
Attamen inde litam post 4 ignibus injice testam,5
Assumet viridem quoniam6 pictura colorem,
Exterior testae cum coeperit ipsa rubere.7
1 Figuli P. s Quaerasque cupressum P., assum quare cuprum W. 3 Ter
W. * Penitus R. 5 Coctam P. R. e Qualem R. ? Rubore P.

xix. De vitro albo, ad vasa fictilia? depingenda.
Album picturis vitrum sic2 attenuabis3
Candens permixtum cum sulphure contere vitrum
' Vasa figuli P., Fictilia vasa W. s Sic vitrum R. 8 Attenuabit R.
philus (lib. ii. cap. 14) says were sometimes made to surround long-necked
bottles. Le Vieil (p. 27) says that white opaque glass was used for the
windows in the churches belonging to the monasteries of the Bernardines
and Cistercians.

202 MANUSCRIPTS OF JEHAN LE BEGUE.
together until they are like dust, you must paint a thick jar
all over the outside. Then put it in to be baked by the flame
of the furnace ; and when it is red-hot, and the painting adheres
to it, take it out ; so also you may paint vases in the manner
described in the first book.

xx. Of black glass for painting earthen vases?
In the same manner also you may make black glass useful
for painting. Grind the azure that is found in the earth with
gum ; and then breaking clear glass upon a marble slab, mix
it up with it, and grind them again. This mixture will assume
a blue colour, which, however, the force of the fire will turn to
a beautiful black. 1 See Wecker, p. 645.

xxi. Of glass which is very green?
So also you may make glass of a very deep green. Take
very small fragments of burnt copper, which you must after
wards mix with the rust of the same. Then grind it again,
with an admixture of shining glass. Afterwards, put the jar,
painted with this, into the furnace ; and when the flame makes
it white hot, take it out. It will not be of a beautiful ap
pearance until it is cold ; for while the glass is made intensely
hot, the violence of the flame takes away the real beauty of the
colour. i See Wecker, p. 645. Theoph., E. Ed., p. 400.

ERACLIUS DE COLORIBUS ET ARTIBUS ROMANORUM. 203
His simul attritis, postquam ¦ fuerint quasi pulvis
Exterius spissam depinges2undique testam.
Injice post ipsam fornacis ab igne coquendam.
Cum3 simul ipsa rubet, sibi cum pictura coheret,
Extrahe. Sic etiam* pinges hinc vascula quaedam,
Ars velut in primo notat insinuata libello.
1 Penitusque R. " Depurges P. 8 Quam P. R. * Ea W.

xx. De vitro nigro ad vasa fictilia1 depingenda.
Sic etiam nigrum pingendi transfer in usum.
Qui terra capitur cum gummo8 contere lazur ;
• Et sic3 perspicuum frangens in marmore vitrum,
Ipsi miscebis, rursumque terendo parabis.
Haec quoque caeruleam sumet4 commixtio formam
Quams tamen in nigrum vertet vis ignia6 vitrum.
' Vasa figuli P., ea vasa W. s Gummi R. 3 Ut sit W. * Sumat W.
5 Quos W. 6 Sic emendavi ; vertetur insignia P. R., convertet sin
gula W.

xxi. De vitro quod nimium viret?
Sic etiam nimium tu virens effice vitrum.
Accipies assi subtilia fragmina cupri,
Quae tamen ejusdem post2 cum rubigine mittes ;
Rursus et admixto splendenti contere vitro,
Protinus hinc3 pictam fornacibus injice testam.4
Postquam lucentem dabit ipsi flamma colorem,
Accipe. Non5 pulcram capiet nisi6 frigida formam,
Nam dum fit vitrum nimis fervere, coloris 7
Huic auffert propriam 8 flammae violentia formam.
1 Sic P. R. De vitro valde virente W. 2 Penitus R. 3 Hie R. 4 Flam-
mam R. 5 Nam R. W. 6 HincW. ? Nimio fervore vaporis W. 8 Pro
pria R.

( 204 )

HERE BEGINS
THE THIRD AND PROSAIC BOOK OF THE
AFORESAID ERACLIUS,
ON THE AFORESAID COLOURS AND ARTS,
AND FIRST
I. [232] * On painting earthen vases with green glass.' — Take
green glass and burnt thunderbolts,3 and also burnt copper, in
powder, and mix them with clear glass, previously ground on a
smooth stone. And if you wish to paint a vase with it, temper it
with the aforesaid gum water, and lay it on the vase with a paint
brush, and put it into the furnace until it appears thoroughly
red hot. When cool it will be of the colour of green glass.
II. [233] To whiten earthen vases with white glass? — If you
wish to make white glass for the purpose of painting, grind hot
sulphur carefully with white glass, and lay it on a thick piece
of earthenware, and put it into the furnace. And when it has
run together, take it out of the fire ; and if you wish to paint
saucers and phials, made of earthenware, with it, grind it up
as if for writing, and do as before directed for the green glass.
HI. [259] How earthenware vessels are glazed. — Take the
strongest potter's clay you can procure, and put it into the fur
nace with the other vases, or in any other fire, and bake it until
it is quite red hot. When it is cool, put it into any vase, and
1 The figures in [ ] refer to the numbers in the Le Begue MS. at Paris.
2 See lib. ii. No. xviii.
3 The nodules of iron pyrites found about the chalk-rocks at Brighton
and other parts of the coast of Sussex, are still called by the lower orders
" thunderbolts." The same term is also applied to the fossils called " Be-
lemnitae ;" but I consider that, in the present case, it can apply only to one
ofthe minerals called "pyrites.",
4 See lib. ii. No. xix.

( 205 )

INCIPIT
TERCIUS LIBER ET PROSAICUS ERACLII,
ANTEDICTT,
DE COLORIBUS ET ARTIBUS PREDICTIS,
ET PRIMO1
I. [232] De vasis testeis depingendis ex viridi vitro.* — Viridis
vitri et usti fulminis pulverem, item usti cupri, accipe, et misce
cum claro vitro 3 prius bene * super marmoream petram planam 5
trito. Si ex eo testam ornare volueris,6 cum gummi liquore
supradicto temperes, et cum 7 pincello testam ex his " intinges,
et in fornacem pones ut bene rubeat.9 Refrigerata vitri viridis
representabit 10 colorem.
H [233] Ad vasa testea albo vitro dealbanda?1 — Album
vitrum si facere vis ad usum pingendi,12 calidum sulphur cum
vitro albo diligenter tere, et super spissam testam pone, et in
fornacem mitte. Cum autem glutinatum fuerit, extrahe ab
igne, et si ex eo scutellas13 arte figuli factas vis dipingere, illud
contere14 ad usum scripturae, et fac quemadmodum15 ante dic
tum est de viridi vitro.
III. [259] Quomodo vasa figuli 16 plumbeantur. — Accipe
terram figulorum quantum17 fortem poteris invenire, et in furno
cum aliis vasis mitte,18 ubi tantum lento igne coques, vel in alio
igne, quousque tota sit rubea. Quando19 frigida fiierit, mitte eam
1 Ex P. 2 Ex P. De vasis testeis pingendis R. 3 Cum claro misce R.
4 Bene omittit P. 6 Planam omittit R. " Temperes hie inserit P., et post
omittit. i Cum omittit R. „8 Hie R. 9 Ut tantum rubea appareat R.
10 Resplendabit. Cant. " Ex P. Item ut supra R. 12 Tere hie inserit P., et
post omittit. 13 Et fialas inserit P. " Contere iUum P. l3 Scriptura qualiter
R. 16 Fignul R. » Quantumvis R. l8 Mitte omittit R. 19 Et quando P.

206 MANUSCRIPTS OF .TEHAN LE BEGUE.
grind it until it is reduced to powder. Then take water and
mix with it, and pour off the water into another vase, and let
it remain so until the next day, and then throw away that
water. Then take [some of] the clay that is left behind, and
mix it with other clay without sand, and with two parts of the
aforesaid very strong clay. Then pound it with a mallet, and
make whatever kind of vase you like with it. Afterwards,
take [some more of] that clay which you allowed to settle, and
mix oil with it, and spread it all over the vase which you have
made, before it is baked. Then put it away in a secret place
until it is quite dry, and do not let the draught get to it. If
you wish to glaze the vessel, take wheat flour, and boil it in a
jar, and let it cool, and wash over the vessel with this water.
Then take lead well dissolved. But if you wish to make the
vase green, take copper or brass, which is better, and melt it
with lead in the following manner. Take lead and melt it
well in a vase. When it is quite liquid, shake it round the
vase with your hands until it is reduced to powder, and then
mix six parts of brass filings with it, and while the vase is wet
with the flour paste, you must immediately dust the lead over
it [that is, dust it over with the aforesaid filings]. But if you
wish it to be yellow, dust it over with the powder of lead alone,
without the filings. Then place this vase in another larger
vase, and put it into the furnace, that it may be more brilliant
and beautiful, but with a slow fire, so as to be neither too
strong nor too weak.
IV. [234] Also to finish earthenware vessels with green glass?
— Grind rust of copper and copper filings with clear glass, and
afterwards paint a jar with them as before, and put it into a
very hot furnace. Then take it out of the furnace, and you
will have a precious colour. 1 See lib. ii. No. xxi.

ERACLIUS DE COLORIBUS ET ARTIBUS ROMANORUM. 207
in quodam vase, et tamdiu tere, quousque tota sit quasi pulvis.
Deinde accipe aquam, et misce cum ea, et in alio vase cola, et
usque ad alium diem sic eam dimittes. Postea illam aquam
projicies foras. Deinde accipe illas feces, et cum alia terra
quae sine sabulo est misces, cum duabus partibus illius fortis-
simae terra? supradictse. Postea tere eam cum malleo. Deinde
qualecunque vas volueris facies. Postea accipe illam fecem
quam sivisti quiescere, et cum oleo misces, et illud vas quod
fecisti, antequam coquatur, per totum linies. Deinde pones
eum in secreto loco quoadusque totum siccetur, et ne ventus ei
contrarius sit. Si vero eum plumbeum facere volueris, acci-
pias1 farinara de frumento, et in ollam bullire eam facies, et
refrigerari permittes, et de ipsa aqua eam per totum in cir-
fcuitu linies. Postea accipe plumbum bene solutum. Si tamen
viride eum volueris 2 facere, accipe cuprum, vel auricalcum,
quod melius est, et cum plumbo misce sic. Accipe plumbum,
et in vase eum optime funde. Quando totum liquefactum
fuerit, circumvolve manibus tuis illud in vas usque dum pulvis
fiat et ita3 VI partes limaturae auricalci 4 cum eo misces.
Cum vas illud de aqua farinae humefactum fuerit, statim pul-
verabis de plumbo [id5 est, suprascripta limatura pulverabis].
Si vero vis ut croceus sit, de puro plumbo,6 et sine 7 limatura,
pulverabis. Deinde in majori vase intus vas illud repone, et
in furno mitte ut sit plus splendidum et pulcrum, lento tamen
igni, ut non nimis fortiter nee nimis flebiliter.8
IV. [234] Item, [ad' testea vasa, id est, figuli, viridi vitro
perficienda?] — Rubiginem cupri et pulverem ejusdem,10 cum
vitro claro tere, et postea ex hoc " testam ut supra pinge, et in
fornacem valde succensam mitte. Deinde a fornace extrahe,12
et preciosum habebis colorem.12
1 Accipies P. * Virideum volueris eum P. 3 Ita, sic P. ; R. lacunam
habet. * Auricalci limature P '. 5 Ex P. 6 Deinde pones plumbo. Cant.
1 Suprascripta. Cant. 8 Nimus fortiter nee minus flebis R. ° Ex P.
10 Rubiginem vitri R. " Ex lioc omittit R. 1S Abstrahe R. ls Preciosum
colorem habeas viridem P.

208 MANUSCRIPTS OF JEHAN LE BEGUE.
V. [255] How and when glass was invented. — Glass is so
called, as Isidorus says, because it has the property of being
transparent to the sight ; for with regard to other metals, what
ever is inclosed in them is concealed. But with regard to glass,
whatever liquid or substance is contained in it, appears inside just
as it appears outside, and is visible, however it may be inclosed.
Its origin was as follows : In the part of Syria which is called
Phoenicia, and which borders on Judea, at the foot of Mount
Carmel, there is a swamp, in which the river Belus rises, which
after a course of 5 miles flows into the sea just by Tholoma'is
[Ptolema'is], the sands of which are washed by the water flow
ing over them. At this place, as it is reported, a vessel of
nitre-merchants was wrecked, and when they were preparing
their food here and there upon the sands, having no stones to
support their [cooking] vessels, they placed lumps of nitre
[natron] under them ; which being ignited, and mixed with the
sand of the shore, streams of a new and transparent liquor
began to flow, and this is asserted to have been the origin of
glass. Then as the ingenious skill of men was not contented with
the glass alone, endeavours were made to extend and improve
this art, with other mixtures ; for it is heated with light and
dry wood, together with copper and nitre, and is melted in
constant furnaces like brass, and is made into lumps. After
wards these lumps are again melted in the workshops, and some
is formed into shape by blowing, some is ground on a lathe, and
some is sculptured like silver. It is also tinged in many ways
so as to imitate hyacinths and green sapphires and onyx stones,
and other colours of gems. And there is no material fitter for
mirrors, or for pictures especially, than the white glass, and
particularly that which is made like crystal ; so that for drink
ing cups it has driven gold and silver quite out of use. Glass
was formerly made in Italy, and throughout Gaul, and in
Spain. Very soft white sand was triturated with a pestle
and mill. It was then mixed with three parts of nitre, by
weight or measure, and when melted was transferred to other

ERACLIUS DE COLORIBUS ET ARTIBUS ROMANORUM. 209
V. [255] Quomodo et quando inventum fuerit vitrum. — Vi
trum dictum,1 ut ait Ysidorus,3 quod visui perspecuitate trans-
luceat. In aliis enim metallis quicquid intrinsecus continetur ab-
sconditur, In vitro vero,3 quilibet liquor vel species4 interius,
talis5 exterius declaratur, et quodam modo clausus6 patet.7
Cujus origo haec fuit. In parte Syriae quae Fenicis vocatur,
finitima Judeae, circa radicem montis Carmeli, palus est, ex
qua nascitur Belus amnis,8 V millium passuum spatio in mare
fluens, juxta Tholomaida, cujus arenas, decurrente9 fluctu,
sordibus eluuntur. Hie 10 fama est, quod, expulsa u nave mer-
catorum nitri,12 cum sparsim 13 per litus epulas pararent nee
essent lapides w pro attollendis vasis, lapides, glebas nitri vasi
suhdiderunt.15 Quibus accensis, permixta arena littoris, trans-
lficentis novi liquoris, vitri scilicet,16 fluxisse rivos,17 et hanc
fuisse originem vitri.
Mox, ut 18 ingeniosa hominum 19 solertia non fuit contenta
solo vitro, sed et aliis mixturis hanc artem studuit 20 [in melius
ampliare, levibus enim et] aridis lignis concoquitur, adjecto
cipro ac nitro,21 continuisque fomacibus, ut a?s, liquatur, mas-
saeque fiunt. Postea ex massis rursus funditur in officinis, et
aliud flatu figuratur, aliud torno teritur, aliud argenti modo
celatur. Tingitur etiam multis modis ita ut jacinctos saphi-
rosque virides imitetur,22 et onichinos, et aliarum gemmarum
colores. Neque est alia speculis aptior materia, vel picturae
accommodatior. Maximus tamen in candido vitro, proximaque
in cristalli similitudine, unde et ad potandum argenti et auri
metalla23 repulit. Vitrum olim24 fiebat25 in Italia, et per
1 Deinde P. 2 Proprietatem habet supplet P. 3 Vero omittit R. 4 Quae-
libet supplet R. 5 Taliter R. ' Clarius R. 7 Inter haec duo verba lacu-
nam habet R. 8 Belus rivus R. 9 Decrescente R. 10 Hac P. " Quod
expulsa P. ; pulsa R. 12 Mercatorum nitri omittit P., et loco ejus ibidem
supplet. I3 Sparsius R. u Lapides omittit R. 15 Ex R. ; cum ad ignem.
in navi apponi deberent pro ferculis decoquendis, glebas igitur nitri, loco
lapidum utendas, navi subdiderunt ; P. I6 Vitri scilicet omittit R. lT As.
seritur supplet P. 18 Est supplet R. 19 Hominum omittit R. "ExP.;
nam R. !1 Et vitro supplet P. B Immittetur P. n Argenti metalla et
auri R. « Enim P. S5 Et supplet R.
VOL. I. P

210 MANUSCRIPTS OF JEHAN LE BEGUE.
furnaces. This mass was called " Admovitrius," and from
this, when re-melted, pure and white glass was made. Among
the kinds of glass, the stone obsidian1 is also enumerated.
This is black and occasionally greenish, and sometimes trans
lucent, and of a coarser appearance, and when used for mirrors,
shows a shadow instead of an image. Many persons make
gems of it. It is said that this stone is produced both in India
and Italy, and in Spain near the ocean.
VI. [256] How that a person was beheaded by order ofthe Em
peror because he had discovered the art of making flexible glass.2
— It is related that in the reign of Tiberius Caesar a certain
artist had discovered a way of making glass flexible and ductile.
When he was admitted into Caesar's presence, he handed a
phial to him, which Caesar indignantly threw on the ground,
and it bent like a brazen vessel. The artist took up the phial
from the pavement, and then taking a hammer out of his bosom
he repaired the phial. Upon this Caesar asked the artist
whether any other person was acquainted with that method of
making glass. When he affirmed with an oath that no other
person knew the secret, Caesar ordered him to be beheaded,
lest, when this was known, gold and silver should be held dirt
cheap, and the prices of all the metals be reduced. And,
indeed, if glass vessels did not break, they would be better
than gold or silver.

1 Mr. Phillips observes that obsidian occasionally bears a great resem
blance to common glass. The origin of this substance has been warmly
contested : it is common in the neighbourhood of volcanoes, and has
been considered as vitrified lava, whence it has obtained the familiar
name of volcanic glass. It is found on Heola, and in almost every part of
Iceland, in the Lipari Islands, in one of which it constitutes the greater
part of the mountain " della Castagna"; near the Peak of TenerifTe ; in
Peru, Mexico, and New Spain. In Europe, obsidian is made into reflectors
for telescopes ; in Mexico and Peru, it was made into looking-glasses and
knives. Phill. Min. p. 135, 136.
2 It is merely necessary to observe with respect to this tale, which is
repeated by every writer on the subject, that it is universally disbelieved. The

ERACLIUS DE COLORIBUS ET ARTIBUS ROMANORUM. 211
Gallias, et in Hispania. Arena alba mollissima pila molaque
terebatur. Dehinc miscebatur tribus partibus nitri pondere
vel mensura, ac, liquata, in alias fornaces transfundebatur quae
Massa vocabatur Admovitrius,1 atque haec recocta fiebat vitrum
purum et candidum. In genere vitri et obsianus lapis ad-
mimeratur. Est autem virens interdum, et niger, aliquando
et translucidus crassiore visu, et, in speculis parietum, pro
imagine umbras reddente.2 Gemmas multi ex eo faciunt.
Hunc lapidem et in India,' et in Italia, et ad Oceanum in
Hispania nasci tradunt.
VI. [256] Quod quidam decapitatus fuit jussu Imperatoris,
quia modum faciendi vitimm flexibile invenerat.3 — Fertur autem
sub Tiberio Cesare quendam artificem excogitasse vitri tempera-
mentum ut flexibile esset et ductile. Qui, dum admissus esset
ad Cesarem, porrexit4 fialam Cesari, quam ille indignatus in
pavimento projecit, quae complicaverat se tanquam vas aeneum.
Artifex autem sustulit fialam de pavimento, deinde martulum
de sinu protulit, et fialam correxit. Hoc facto, Cesar dixit
artifici, numquid alius scit hanc condituram vitrorum? Post
quam ille jurans negavit alium 5 hoc scire, jussit ilium Cesar
decollari, ne, dum hoc cognitum fieret, aurum et argentum6
pro luto haberentur, et omnium metallorum precia abstrahe -
rentur. Et revera quod si vasa vitrea non frangerentur, meliora
essent quam aurum et argentum.

1 Admonitem P. 2 Reddere P. 3 Sic P. De artifice R. 4 Prorrexit P.
5 Alterum R. 6 Et argentum omittit R.

The problem, however, of making malleable glass was always a
favourite subject with the alchemists, and Raymond Lully expressly de
clares, that " one ofthe principal effects of the philosopher's stone was to
render glass malleable." The Hon. Robert Boyle mentions (Philosophical
Works, vol. i. p. 58), on the authority of an expert chemist, a piece of
transparent red glass which, after receiving several strokes with a hammer,
was found to have stretched under it (although it had begun to crack on
the edges), growing more thin on the beaten part, and leaving visible im
pressions made on it by the edge of the hammer. Mr. Boyle, very
pruderitly, declines expressing his own opinion on this subject. v 2

212 MANUSCRIPTS OF JEHAN LE BEGUE.
VH. [257] Hoio to make white glass, and glass of various
colours. — Glass is made with the ashes both of fern and of
" faina " 1 — that is, of the small trees which grow in the woods.
The fern is cut before the Feast of St. John the Baptist, and well
dried, and is then put into the fire and reduced to ashes. So
also the "faina" is reduced to ashes in the fire. Then take
two parts of fern, and one-third part of " faina," and mix them
together. Then make a furnace of stones, faced with clay
mixed with horse-dung. You must make the foundation quite
smooth to the height of half a cubit, and leave a hollow in the
furnace without any materials — that is, you must put nothing
in the middle of the furnace, because the fire must be in the
middle of the furnace while it is at work. Upon the foundation
of the furnace you must begin to make three small compart
ments, which are called " archae," in which there must be small
windows. You must make the middle arch large, with two win
dows in it, one on one side, and one on the other. In the middle
arch, just opposite the door of the arch, must be placed two
jars, very well baked, which they call " mortariola," in which
the ashes, or sand, as it may be called, is melted, and the glass
is made. And you must make the other arches, one on the
right hand and one on the left of the middle arch, and the one
on the right hand smaller than the one on the left. In the
arch on the left hand side you must heat the ashes for a day
and a night; and you must heat them until they cohere into a
mass. In this arch also you must bake your melting pots per
fectly, in order that they may be firm and hard, so as to hold
and melt the glass without breaking. When the whole of the
ashes have been well baked, and for a very long time, put them
into your melting pots with an iron spoon, and melt them until
they become white. If you wish it [the glass] to become red,
1 Theophilus employs the ashes of beech-wood, " ligna faginea." It
seems to me, therefore, not improbable that " faina " may have been an old
French term for the seedling beeches which grew wild in the woods, the
beechnut being still called in French " faine." The ashes of the beech-tree
are mentioned afterwards, in treating of the purple and flesh-coloured glass.

ERACLIUS DE COLORIBUS ET ARTIBUS ROMANORUM. 213
VII. [257] Quomodo efficitur vitrum [album ¦ et etiam de di
versis coloribus]. — Vitrum efficitur de cineribus, id est,2 de filicis
cinere,3 et de faina, id est,4 de parvulis arboribus quae sunt
vel crescunt in sylvis. Accipitur autem filix ante Festum
S. Johannis Baptiste, et optime siccatur, deinde ad ignem
mittitur et fit cinis. Similiter et faina efficietur cinis per
ignem. Accipies itaque duas partes de filice, et terciam
partem de faina, et simul misces. Deinde facies furnum de
petris argilla linitis mixta de stercore jumentorum. Funda-
mentum ejus altitudine dimidii cubiti totum planum facies;
profiindum furni dimittes sine materia, id est,6 in medio furni
nihil facies, quod in medio ejus ignis quando operatur semper
faciendus est. Super fundamentum furni incipies facere tres
mansiunculas, quae arche nominantur, in quibus erunt fenes-
trellae. Mediam archam magnam facies, in qua duae fenestras
erunt, una ex parte una, et alia ex parte altera. In istam
archam intus ante os archam duas ollas optime coctas ponunt,6
quas mortariola vocant, in quibus cinis sive 7 arena, ut dicetur,
funditur, et vitrum efficitur. Alias autem archas facies unam
a dextris mediae archae, et alteram a sinistris. Illam autem
quae est a dextris minorem facies ilia quae a sinistris est.8 In
archa sinistra partis una die et una nocte cinerem coques.
In tantum vero coqui facies, ut simul 9 sit agglutinatus.10 In
hac quoque archa mortariola tua penitus11 coqui facies, et, ut
firma sint et duriora ad vitrum sustinendum et coquendum, ne
frangantur, Quando autem cinis totus et diutissime et optime
coctus merit, tunc mittes eum in mortariolis tuis cum coclea
ferrea, et funde eum tamdiu, donee efficiatur album. Si vero
vis ut efficiatur rubeum, de cinere non12 bene cocto, sic facies.
Accipe limaturam cupri, et ard e eam quousque pulvis sit, et
mitte ilium in mortariolis, et erit vitrum rubeum, quem Galie
num vocamus. Viride vero vitrum ita facies. De eodem

1 Ex P. 2 Id est P. ; Et R. 3 Cinere omittit R. 4 Id est P. ; Aut R.
5 Id est P. Et R. 6 Ponunt omittit R. 1 Seu P. s Quas est a sinistris
It. 9 Similiter R. 10 Conglutinatus P. " Primitus P. 12 Tamen. Cant.

214 MANUSCRIPTS OF JEHAN LE BEGUE.
you will do as follows, with ashes not well baked. Take cop
per filings, burn them until they are reduced to powder, and
throw them into your melting pots ; and this will make red
glass, which we call " galienum." Green glass you will make
thus. Throw, of the same powder of burnt copper into your
melting pots, as much as you think proper, and stir it, and it
will be green. Yellow glass is thus made. Take raw ashes,
and put them into the melting pot and melt them, and throw a
little sand in with them, and a little, if I am not mistaken, of
the powder of copper, and stir the whole together ; and it will
make a yellow glass, which we call " cerasin." Purple and
" membranaceum " are made differently, with the ashes of the
beech-tree, which are baked like white ashes, and put into a
melting pot, and melted and boiled until they burn to a purple
colour. While the glass is boiling, stir it about frequently, like
the other glass, as we have said before. When you see it turn
to a purple colour, take what quantity you like of it, and do
whatever you like with it, until you see it turn pale. From
this pale colour it changes to another colour, which is called
" membrun." But when you wish to make tablets or plates, take iron tubes
of the length of one cubit, more or less, as you may think fit,
and at the end of each tube a little wooden tube, having a very
small hole, through which you must blow when you wish to
make a vase. When you begin to work the glass, take one
tube, and look into the melting pot to see whether the glass is
well cleared and melted. Then dip the tube into the melting
pot and take up a little glass upon it, like dough, and whirl it
round in your hand, and form whatever you please upon the
iron slab which is placed at the mouth of the furnace. And
you must make a screen of brickwork, to avoid being scorched
by the fire ; and inside this you must put the iron slab, which
is called " marmor," upon which you must shape the glass
which you are working, and you may form whatever kind of
vase you like. When your vase, or cup, or saucer, or phial, is
made, you must put it into the arch which is on the left hand

ERACLIUS DE COLORIBUS ET ARTIBUS ROMANORUM. 215
pulvere cupri combusti ' in mortariolo pones quantum tibi
visum fuerit, et movebis, et erit8 viride. Croceum quoque
vitrum sic efficitur. Cinerem crudum accipies, et mittes in
mortariolo, et fundes eum, projicies que modicum sabuli intus
cum eo, et parum, ni fallor, de pulvere cupri, et movebis simul,
et efficietur croceum vitrum, quod nos Cerasin vocamus. Pur
pureum et Membranaceum3 aliter efficiuntur4 de cinere arboris
fagi, et, sicut cinis albus, ita coquitur, et mittitur in olla, et
tamdiu funditur bulliendo, quousque vertatur in colorem pur
pureum. Dum bullit sepe movebis, sicut et aliud vitrum,
ut5 supra docuimus. Quando videbis6 eum verti in purpureum
colorem, illico tolle quantum vis, et fac opus quod volueris
usque dum videris eum mutari [in pallorem.7 De colore pal-
*lido mutatur] in aliud quod membrun8 vocatur.
Quando vero vasa vel tabulas facere volueris, habebis virgas
ferreas intus cavatas longitudine unius cubiti, aut plus, vel
minus [ut videbis opportunum9] et in summitate virgae parvu-
lum lignum intus cavum, habens10 unum foramen parvissimum
per quod sufflabis quando operari volueris aliquod vas ; et
quando de vitro operari incipies, accipies virgam unam, et in
mortariolo, si sit11 bene purgatus vel fusus12 fuerit cinis, aspicies.
Tunc mittes virgam in mortariolo, attrahesque modicum vitri
quasi parumper pastae, et circumduces manu tua in girum, et
formabis quod tibi placuerit super marmorem ferri qui positus
est juxta os furni. Nam ibi13 facies obstaculum quoddam14 ma-
eerie, ne ab igne consumeris, in quo pones tabu! am ferri quae
marmor vocatur, super quem formabis vitrum quando opera
beris, et facies qualecunque vas placuerit tibi.15 Facto autem
vase vel16 cipho vel scutella vel fiala, mittes in archa quae est in
sinistra parte furni ut ibi temperetur donee refrigescat.
1 Cupri combusti omittit R. 2 Et erit R. ; eritque P. 8 Membranum.
Cant. 4 Efficitur vel efficiuntur P. 5 Sicut R. ' 6 Videris R. i Ex R.
8 Membranum. Cant. 9 Ex P. 10 Concavum habentem P. " Sit Inserit P.
" Fondatus vel fonditus P. w Tibi P. 14 Quadam R. 15 Qualecunque
vas sicut placuerit in oculis tuis P. 16Id est P.

216 MANUSCRIPTS OF JEHAN LE BEGUE.
-side of the furnace, that it may be annealed there until it is
cool. But when you wish to spread out plates of glass — that is, to
make them smooth— heat them again in the furnace, and
spread them out in the small window, which is called " expla-
naria," which is near the left hand side of the arch. When
they are spread out, put them into a small furnace made on
purpose, and let them remain there until quite cold. And
there must be put live coals in the furnace, and as they go out,
so the glass cools.
VIIL [271] How glass is made of lead, and liow it is co
loured? — Take good and shining lead, and put it into a new jar,
and burn it in the fire until it is reduced to powder. Then take
it away from the fire to cool. Afterwards take sand and mix
with that powder, but so that two parts may be of lead and the
third of sand, and put it into an earthen vase. Then do as before
directed for making glass, and put that earthen vase into the
furnace, and keep stirring it until it is converted into glass.
But if you wish to make it appear green, take brass filings,
and put as much as you think proper into the lead glass ; and
then, if you wish to make any vase, do so with the iron tube.
Afterwards take out this vase with the glass, and let it cool.
You may, if you like, mix some of this leaden glass with a
grossinum of sapphire for painting on glass, adding to it one-
third part of scoria of iron. And this pigment is to be ground
on an iron slab.
IX. [235] How to cut glass and other stones.2 — The Saracens
whip the udder of a goat well with sting-nettles, and then rub
it with their hands to get the milk down into it. It is then
1 The latter part of this chapter should be compared with No. xlix.,
" Quomodo pingitur in vitro."
s See Mappa? Clavicula, p. 63.

ERACLIUS DE COLORIBUS ET ARTIBUS ROMANORUM. 217
Tabulas autem vitri quando volueris extendere, id estj
planas facere, recalefacies in furnum, et extendes1 in fenestra
parva qua? explanaria vocatur, quae est juxta sinistram partem
archae. Explanata vero repones eam in parvum furnum ad
hoc opus factum, et ibi dimittes donee omnino sit frigida.
Carbones autem vivi erunt in fumo preparati, qui quanto magis
extinguitur2 tanto plus refrigescit3 vitrum.
VIII. [271] Quomodo efficitur vitrum de plumbo, et quomodo
coloratur.4 — Accipe plumbum optimum5 et nitidum, et pone in
ollam novam, et arde in ignem usque quod6 pulvis sit. Deinde
tolle earn ab igne ut refrigeretur. Postea sabulum sume, et
misce cum pulvere illo, ita tamen ut duae partes sint de plumbo,
et tercia de sabulo, ponesque in testeo vase. Facies vero sicut
supra7 scriptum est ad vitrum faciendum, et illud vas testeum
pones in furnum, et semper movebis, usque dum vitrum efficia
tur. Si vero ut videatur8 virideum facere cupis, accipe lima
turam auricalci, et intus cum plumbeo vitro quantum tibi
Visum fuerit pone. Deindeque9 si aliquod vas facere10 volueris
cum fistula ferrea facies. Postea11 vas illud cum vitro tolle et
refrigerari sine. [De isto12 vitro plumbeo poteris, si vis, cum
gallino13 saphireo miscere ad pingendum in vitro, apposita tercia
parte de scoria ferri. Et haec pictura in marmore ferreo est
terenda.]14 IX. [235] Quomodo inciditur vitrum™ [et alii lapides]. — Cum
acri urtica ubera capras Saraceni acriter urticant,16 et palmis tun-
dunt,17 ut in eis lac18 descendat. Postea19 lac in vas emulgitur,20
' R. lacunam habet sic — ;  tendes. 2 Sic emendavi. Quanto extin
guitur R. Tanto magis extingueritur P. 3 Refrigescet P. 4 Sic P. Quo
modo efficitur de plumbo R. 5 Di Vitro, Cant. 6 Quod omittit R. i Supe
rius, Cant. 8 Efficitur P. 9 Denique R. I0 Facere vas R. " Posthac R.
12 Pisto, Cant. 13 Grossino, Cant. 14 Sic R. ; in P. vero, de isto vitro plum
beo, illo scilicet qui cceruleus est, qua de duobus coloribus potest fieri, poteris,
si vis, cum pulvere saphireo miscere ad pingendum in vitro. 15 Sic P. In
[ ] omittit R. Ad vitrum incidendum C. 16 Saraceni acriter urticant sic C. ;
urlicantur R. ; acriter urticantur P. v Tenduntur P. R. 1B In ea C.
18 Ex eis supplet P. 20 Sic C. ; mulgetur in vas R. ; mulgatur in vas P.
VOL. I. * p3

218 MANUSCRIPTS OF JEHAN LE BEGUE.
milked into a vase, into which the glass, with the iron with
which it is to be cut, is to be put for one night until it becomes
soft. The iron must be tempered in the milk itself. When
necessary the milk should be warmed to the same degree of
heat which it had when first milked. The glass must be always
kept warm in it, and so it must be cut. Other stones are cut
in the same way. The goat must be fed on ivy.

X. [236] How precious stones are cut and polished and made
brilliant? — Sume hircum qui nunquam coierit, et pone in cuppa
per tres dies [quousque totum digerat quod in ventre habet.
Postea hederam da ei edere per iiij. dies]. Posthaec purgabis
dolium, ut urinam ejus accipias. Posthoc occides hircum et
sanguinem ejus urinae commiscebis ; et sic lapidem impone per
unam noctem, et posthaec vel comprime in figuram, vel sculpes
si vis. To make it beautiful, procure a leaden plate, and
sprinkle upon it white flint, ground fine like pepper, and rub
the stone upon it until you have ground down the roughness of
it. Then tie up some of the said powdered flint in a linen
cloth, with which rub down the angles which you could not do
on the plate. And then, in order to restore it to its former
lustre, make some nut oil, and rub over it. You must also
rub it down with a waxed cloth to make it shine and remove
the greasy appearance.
XL [254] How to cut crystal? — Take the crystal, and wrap
it up in a linen cloth wet with sudore caprae, and bury it, toge
ther with the cloth, in cow-dung ; and afterwards cut it with
a knife just as you like, but with care. After you have done
this, put the crystal into cold water, and then polish it with a
leaden plate, and with flour or bran.
1 See Mappae Clavicula, p. 64.

ERACLIUS DE COLORIBUS ET ARTIBUS ROMANORUM. 219
et in eo per unam noctem, vitrum cum ferro ponitur1 cum quo
debet incidi [temperabitur in ipso lacte ferrum, aut in lotio
parva? puellae rufae, quod excipitur ante ortum solis8]. At vero
lac,3 cum necesse fuerit, recalefiat cum 4 eadem calitudine, qua
fuit prius 5 mulsum, et iu eo semper vitrum calefiat [donee 6
molle fiatj et sic incidatur. Sic et alii lapides.7 [Capra vero
hedera pascatur.]"

X. [236] Quomodo sculpuntur preciosi lapides, poliunturque,
et splendificantur? — Sume hircum qui nunquam coierit, et pone
in cuppa 10 per tres dies [quousque totum digerat quod in ventre
habet. Postea hederam da ei edere per iiij. dies].11 Posthaec
purgabis dolium, ut urinam ejus accipias. Posthoc occides 12
hircum et sanguinem ejus urinae commiscebis ;13 et sic lapidem
impone per unam noctem, et posthaec14 vel comprime in figuram,
vel sculpes si vis. Ut pulcrum facias, fac tibi tabulam plum-
beam, et super hanc asperges album silicem contritum, ut piper,
et lapidem desuper fricabis, quoadusque asperitatem lenies.15
Postea liga de eodem silice contrito in laneo panno, et inde
fricabis angulos quos prius 16 aptare nequisti 17 in lamina.
Deinde, ut pristinam lucem recipiat, fac tibi oleum de nucibus,
et inde fricabis. Adhuc debes eum linire panno cerato, ut
splendeat et sudore deficiat.18
XL [254] Quomodo incidatur 19 cristallum. —Accipe cristal
lum, et involve in panno lineo intincto in sudore caprae, et cum
ipso panno in fimo bovis involve, et sic cum cultro incide, ut volu
eris, et tamen caute. Postquam20 feceris, mitte in aquam frigi-
dam. Dehinc lica cum lamina plumbea, et farina vel furfure.21
1 Ponatur P. R. 2 Ex C. ; alii omittunt. 3 At vero lac C. ; omittit P. ;
at vero R. 4 Cum omittunt P. C. 5 Primitus C. " Ex C. 7 Alia
petra C. 8 Ex C. 9 Ex P. ; quomodo sculpuntur lapides R. ; ad cristallum
comprimendum in figuram C. 10 Cupam P. R. " Ex C. 12 Vel incides
supplent P. R. 13 Miscebis P. R. '4 Posthoc P. 15 Lenieris R. ; Linie-
ris P. l6 Prius omittunt P. R. '7 Nequivisti C. ls Et sudore desinat C.
" Incidetur P. "> Posteaquam R. 2I Cum farina vel sulfure P.

220 MANUSCRIPTS OF JEHAN LE BEGUE.
XII. [266] How stones are polished. — Take the stone which
is called haematite, which must not be too hard, or veined, but
very smooth and bright ; and go to a grindstone, and make it as
smooth as you can. When it appears sufficiently even, make it
still smoother upon a tile, and afterwards, that it may be still
smoother, rub it upon a whetstone. Then polish it upon a leaden
plate, and again polish it still better upon the hairy side of a
cow's skin, which must be very smooth and clean. Afterwards
pobsh it again on a very smooth and polished piece of the wood
which is called aspen or poplar. You may also polish the teeth
of beasts in this way, and not only teeth, but also whatever
gold you have used either on walls, or wood, or even on parch
ment. XIII. [276] Of gilding [tinfoil]. — Gilding is composed of
quicksilver and tin, in the proportion of three parts of quicksilver
to four of tin. Take a plate of tin, and varnish it very thinly
two or three times, and let it dry. Then take soot1 and cervisia,
and mix them together. Then strain them and place them
upon charcoal. When they have boiled a little, dip the tin into
the dish containing the soot and cervisia, and when you see that
it is sufficiently done, take it out of that colour, and put it into
a saucerfull of cold water, and it will then appear to you to be
good. Afterwards, when you take it out, it will look like gold.
XIV. [253] How to gild. — Take seven parts of quicksilver
and one of gold, and mix them together, and then put them into
a saucer, or cup, or basin, and wash them with water, and gild
whatsoever you like with them. But if you wish to keep the gold
very long, squeeze out the quicksilver through a clean cloth,
and the gold will remain, which you may put into a vase, and
so you may preserve it. And when you wish to gild with it,
mix it afresh with quicksilver, and wash it.
1 Probably the soot from burnt wood, of which the pigment called
" Bistre " was made.

ERACLIUS DE COLORIBUS ET ARTIBUS ROMANORUM. 221
XII. [266] Quomodo politur lapis [et dens animalis.^ — Sume
lapidem qui dicitur emantes, qui non sit nimis durus, neque vena-
tus,2 sed admodum planus, et clarissimus, et vade ad molam fabri,
et ut volueris planum facies. Cum tibi visum fuerit satisfac-
tum, inde super tegulam levius planabis ; postea iterum, ut
dulcius fiat, cum cote ; deinde super tabulam plumbeam, ut
poliatur. Hinc iterum super corium vaccae ilia parte quae3
pilosum fuit, quod planissimum et mundissimum4 sit volo, super
quod5 iterum melius polies. Posthoc super lignum quod tre-
mulum vel populus6 vocatur, optime et multum planatum, polies
iterum.7 Dentem vero bestiarum poteris hoc modo polire ; non
tantum dentem, sed et aurum, quocunque posueris, sive in muro,
seu in ligno," vel etiam in perchameno.9
XIII. [276] De deauratura [petula stagni.]w — Deauratura
efficitur de vivo argento et stanno11 ita ut tres partes sint de vivo
argento, ct quatuor,12 de stagno. Sume laminam stagni, et ver-
nicia illam duabus vel tribus vicibus multum tenuiter, et dimitte
siccare. Postea accipe fuliginem et cervisiam, et misce simul.13
Postea14 cola. Deinde pones super carbones. Cumque aliquan
tulum bullierit, tunc in patella cum fuligine et cervisia mitte,
et cum videris satisfactum, abstrahe de hoc colore,15 et mitte in
scutella plena aqua frigida,16 et tunc tibi non videbitur bonum.
Postea, cum eum tuleris, velut aurum eum17 videbis.
XIV. [253] Deauratura quomodo fit. — De argento vivo vii.
partes,18 et unam de auro accipies, et misces simul. Deinde in
scutella vel in19 cipho vel in bacino mitte, et de aqua ablue, et
deaura quod volueris, [si20 vero diu multumque servare volueris]
per pannum nitidum21 argentum vivum projicies foras, et rema-
nebit aurum, et in vase pones. Sicque servare poteris. Quando
vero deaurare volueris, iterum cum argento vivo misces, et
ablues. 1 Ex P. 2 Veratus P. a Qua P. ; vel qua R. Quod. Cant. - Mundum
R. 5 QuaK. " Vel populus omittit R. ' Novum capitulum hie incipit R.
8 Sive in ligno sive in muro R. 9 Pergameno P. 10 Ex P. " Stagno R.
12 Quarta R. I3 Similiter R. 14 Post P. ,5 Colore R. 16 Et plena aqua
frigida in scutella mitte R. ir Eum omittit R. ,8 Partes omittit R. ,s In
omittit R. 20 Ex P. 21 Accidum R.

222 MANUSCRIPTS OF JEHAN LE BEGUE.
XV. [252] How brass, or silver, is gilt. — Take soot and
pure salt, and grind them well, and take white of egg, and
distemper them with it. Then spread it over the silver, or gold,
or copper, or whatever else you wish to gild, laying this mixture
on those parts between which you wish to gild it, and put it upon
charcoal, and when it is dry, gild those parts upon which the
mixture was not laid, and when it is gilt, wash off the mixture,
and burnish.
XVI. [249] How to gild brass. — Take three parts of atra
mentum and one part of salt, and grind them with vinegar ;
then mix quicksilver with them, and grind them all together
again. Next take a clean cloth and dip it in atramentum, and
rub the brass strongly with it. Then put it into the fire until
it is thoroughly red-hot, when it must be removed from the fire
and suffered to cool. You may then gild it like gold or copper.
XVII. [237] How to gild iron? — Grind brass filings with
vinegar in a brass mortar, with salt and alum, to the consistence
of honey : some persons use water instead of vinegar. Then the
iron, well cleaned, and slightly warmed, must be anointed and
rubbed with this, until it is of the colour of brass. It is then
washed with water and wiped, and gilt like silver, and the
quicksilver driven off in the usual manner by heat ; and in order
to make it shine it is rubbed with an iron.
XVIII. [238] Otherwise.— Globular alum (?)' and salt,
which is called sal gem and calcanthum, are ground with vinegar

1 See Clavicula, p. 37.
2 The different readings of these words have cast much obscurity over
the passage. The word " glumen," however, does not appear to be sus
ceptible of any other explanation than the reading in the Mappae Clavi
cula (p. 39), which has been followed in the text. Additional weight is
given to this construction by the word " alumine " being used in a manner
somewhat similar in the recipe immediately preceding. The correspond
ence of the other parts of the recipes will also be observed. Salt, which
is mentioned in the first, is substituted for the sal gem (the purest kind of
rock salt) ofthe second, and the brass filings of the first recipe for the
calcanthum (sulphate of copper) of the second.

ERACLIUS DE COLORIBUS ET ARTIBUS ROMANORUM. 223
XV. [252] Quomodo deauratur ces, vel auricalcum, vel argen
tum? — Accipe fuliginem et purum sal ; teres fortiter, accipiesque
glaream ovi et distemperabis. Deinde linies aurum, vel argen
tum, vel cuprum, vel aliud quod volueris deaurare, et ibi ubi
volueris interim deaurare illam distemperaturam superpones,2
et super carbones mittes. Cum fuerit siccatum, deaurabis ubi
non fuerit positum, et quando deauratum fuerit, ablues distem
peraturam, et burnies.
XVI. [249] Quomodo deauratur auricalcum? — De atramento
tres partes, et salis unam partem accipies, et cum [aceto 4 fortiter
teres, deinde argentum vivum cum eis misces, et in simul iterum
teres]. Postea accipe pannum nitidum, et intiuges in atramen
tum, et auricalcum fortiter fricabis. Deinde mitte in ignem
quousque totum rubeum fiat. Postea retrahe 5 ab igne, et sine
refrigerari. Tunc poteris deaurare sicut aurum vel cuprum.
XVII. [237] Quomodo ferrum deauratur.6 — Eris [pulvis 7
vel] limatura teritur8 cum aceto in mortario aereo,9 et 10 cum sale
et alumine, usque ad mellis spissitudinem. Aliqui pro aceto
aqua utuntur. Deinde ferrum bene purgatum,11 et leviter
calefactum, hac mixtura inungitur,12 et fricatur, donee colorem
Kris13 accipiat. Posthaec14 abluitur aqua,15 et tergitur,16 et sicut
es vel17 argentum deauratur18 et calefactum, recedente19 vivo
argento, sicut mos est,20 ut splendorem accipiat, ferro defricatur.
XVIII. [238] Aliter.*1 — Alumen rotundum, et sal, quod gem
ma vocatur,82 et calcanthum,23 ex aceto acerrimo teruntur in aereo
1 Quomodo deauratur vel aurum vel argentum R. s Suppones R. s Ori-
calcum R. 4 Ex P., R. habet eis misces et insimiliter tercium teres.
5 Trahe P. « Sic P. R. ; inauratio ferri C. (p. 64). In C. (p. 37)
partem alterius capituli facit. ' C. (p. 37). 8 Teratur P. R. 9 In eneo
mortario C. (p. 37), in hereo mortario C. (p. 64). 10 Et omittit C.
11 Sic C. (p. 64) ; Deinde ferrum multum purgatum P. R. Denique
bene purgatum ferrum C. (p. 37). 12 Inungatur P. 13 Eis P., Heris C.
(p. 64) ; eris C. (p. 37). " Posthoc P. ; posthac R. ; tunc C. (p. 37).
15 Abluta aqua R. , aqua abluitur C. 16 Teritur C. (p. 37). l7 Aurum et
It. ; es vel C. ; omittit P. 18 Deauratum P. l9 Recedendo R. so Et
supplet P. 21 Sic P. R, C. (p. 64). In C. (p. 37) partem facit capituli cxlvj.
82 Ex C. (p. 37). Glumen rotundum et salvandum, quod sal Gemma vocalur
P. R. ; alumen rotundum et salvandum, quod salis gemma vocatur C. (p. 64).
23 Calcantum C.

224 MANUSCRIPTS OF JEHAN LE BEGUE.
in a brass mortar. This is rubbed over the clean iron with a
cane or any other light stick, and, when it has the colour of brass,
it is washed and gilt. The quicksilver is then driven off, and it
is cooled with water, and then rubbed down with a very smooth
and bright iron until it is well polished.
XIX. [239] How ivory is bent and ornamented.— Ii you
wish to bend and adorn ivory, put it into the aforesaid mixture
for three days and three nights.1 Having done this, hollow
out a piece of wood in whatever manner you like, and then put
the ivory into the cavity, and turn and bend it just as you like.
A plate of copper, 10 inches in breadth, and the same in length,
can be gilt with [the weight of ] one denarius2 of gold.
XX. [250] How to restore gold. — If you have gilt any vase
which, through negligence, has lost the gilding, take atramentum
and salt, well ground together, and spread some of it over the
vase. Then place it before the fire to dry ; and give it another
coat, then place it again before the fire. Do this three or four
times, and it will recover its former colour, which it had lost.
XXI. [267] How to varnish gold so that it will not lose its
colour. — If you wish to varnish gold that has been laid upon
gypsum, varnish over the gold, not with pure varnish, but with
that colour which is made for preparing auripetrum,3 mixed,
however, with oil, and a little varnish, lest it should be too
thick. And so, if in any part the colour of the gypsum should
appear through [the gold], it may be covered with this colour.
But you may varnish figures and other colours with pure
varnish or with thick oil.
XXII. [248] How to solder gold, or silver, or copper, or brass.
— Take three parts of brass, and three parts of tin, and melt
1 See Clavicula, p. 64.
* It is obvious that the author is here speaking of the weight of the coin,
for the denarius was not a gold coin. Celsus informs us that, from the time
of Tiberius to that of Vespasian, seven of them were made from one ounce
Troy_ weight. At a later period eight were made from the ounce Troy.
In the lower empire they scarcely weighed half so much in pure silver.
3 The composition of this colour is described in No. xliv., which is not in
the Cambridge MS. From this it would appear that the MS. published by
Raspe was really defective.

ERACLIUS DE COLORIBUS ET ARTIBUS ROMANORUM. 225
mortario. Ex * his ferrum purgatum, cum ferula,2 vel alia
qualibet levi hastula,3 defricatur, et, cum aeris habuerit
colorem,4 detergitur,5 et deauratur ; deinde," exfumigato vivo
argento7, aqua refrigeratur,8 et9 usque ad splendorem, ferro
valde piano et limpido, defricatur.
XIX. [239] Quomodo dirigitur et ornatur ebur?a — Quod si
volueris ebur dirigere et ornare,11 in hac supradicta confectione
mittatur tribus diebus et tribus 12 noctibus. Hoc facto, cavabis
lignum quali modo volueris ; deinde, posito ebore in cavatura,13
diriges illud, et plicabis ad placitum.14 Tabula cupri quae
decern pollices habet in latitudine, et totidem in longitudine,
denario auri deaurari 15 potest.
XX. [250] Quomodo recuperatur deauratura. — Si aliquod
vas habueris deauratum, et per negligentiam deauraturam per-
diderit, accipe atramentum, et sal cum eo bene tritum, et lini
illud vas. Postea pone ad ignem seccare, et iterum linies, et
ad ignem pones. Hoc facies tribus vel 16 quatuor vicibus, et
recuperabit colorem pristinum.17
XXI. [267] Quomodo vernicietur aurum ne perdat colorem. —
Si aurum super gypsum positum verniciare volueris, non de 18
puro vernicio, sed de illo colore qui efficitur ad auripetram l9
faciendum, mixto tamen 20 cum oleo modico vernicio, ne nimis sit
spissum,21 vernicietur 22 super aurum. Ideo si aliquid 23 gipsei
coloris apparuerit,24 hoc colore operiri poterit. Imagines vero
et alios colores de puro vernicio, vel de crasso oleo, poteris
verniciare. XXII. [248] Quomodo poteris solidare aurum vel argentum
velcuprum15 vel auricalcum. — Accipe tres partes de auricalco, et
1 Ex omittit C. (p. 37). 2 Ferura C. (p. 64). 8 Hattula R. ; astula P.
4 Cum eraminis colorem habuerit C. (p. 37) ; cum heris colorem habuerit
C. (p. 64). 6 Extergitur C. (p. 37) ; retergitur C. (p. 64). 6 Ac
deinde C. i Argento vivo C. (p. 37). 8 Refrigeratum C. (p. 37). 9 Et
omittit C. ,0 Sic P. ; omittit R., qui septem prima verba capituli rubri-
cavit. De ebore C. (p. 64). u Vel carvare C. 12 Tribus omittit C.
13 Cavitura'R.P. 14 Quod sequitur omittit C. ls Decora? i'R. 16 Et R.
17 Pristinum colorem quem perdiderat R. 13 Circumde (conde) R. l9 Au
rum petmm R. 20 Unde R. 21 Ne sit spissum nimis P. 2a Verniceter
R. a Aliqui R. M Apparuerunt R. !5 Vel cuprum omiltit R.
VOL I. Q

226 MANUSCRIPTS OF JEHAN LE BEGUE.
them together in a ladle over the fire, and reduce the mass to
powder, and put it away in a box. Then take three parts of
paramentum, and burn it in an earthen vase in the fire like
atramentum. Then take salt, and dry it well upon coals.
Then grind the salt and paramentum together with wine.
When you wish to solder brass or copper, put some of this
preparation, made with the salt, upon the brass or copper,
wherever you wish to solder it. Then immediately put some
of the aforesaid powder on it, and heat it in the fire and it will
be firmly soldered.
XXIII. On trying gold and silver? — All pure gold, of what
ever weight, is denser, by one-twentieth part of itself, than any
silver, similarly pure. This may be proved as follows : If one
pound of pure gold be weighed in the balance, under water,
with an equal weight of pure silver, the gold will be found
heavier than the silver, or the silver lighter than the gold, by
xii denarii, or one-twentieth part of its weight. Wherefore if
you have any article made of gold, with which silver appears to
have been mixed, and you wish to know how much gold, and
how much silver, is contained in it, take silver or gold, and
having found the weight of the said article, make a mass of
either of the metals, of exactly equal weight, and, putting them
into the scales, immerse them in the water. If the mass which
you made is of silver, the said article will preponderate. If the
mass is of gold, the gold will preponderate, throwing up [the
scale containing] the said article. And it will happen, that by
as many parts as the gold is heavier, by so many parts the
silver is lighter ; for whatever there may be in the said article,
under water, besides the usual weight, belongs to the gold on
1 This chapter does not form part of the MS. of Le Begue ; but it will
be found, with some variations, in Mappse Clavicula, p. 45. From the
chapter in the text, it will be seen that the value of the denarius was much
diminished, since, at the time the above was written, 20 denarii were equal
to an ounce, and 240 to a pound.

ERACLIUS DE COLORIBUS ET ARTIBBf ROMANORUM. 227
tres partes de stagno, et funde • simul in conca ad ignem, pul-
veremque facias, et in buttam 2 recondes. Postea accipe para
mentum tres partes s et quasi atramentum in testeo vase arde in
igne. Accipiesque sal, et super carbones optime siccabis.
Deinde paramentum et sal i macerabis simul cum vino. Cum
vero auricalcum vel cuprum solidare volueris, pones super
auricalcum vel cuprum de ista confectione, et de sale, et tem
peramento facta ubi volueris solidare. Statimque de pulvere
supradicta 5 pones, et ad ignem calefacies, et firmiter solida-
bitur. XXIII. De probatione auri et argenti.6 — Omne 7 aurum
purum, cujus libet ponderis, omni argento similiter puro, ejus
dem 8 tamen ponderis, densius est parte sui vicesima ;9 quod ita
probari potest. Si purissimi auri libra cum equo 10 puri " argenti
simili pondere 1S sub aqua conferatur in statera, xii denariis,13 id
est 14 vicesima 16 sui parte, aurum gravius argento, vel argentum
levius auro invenietur. Quapropter si inveneris opus aliquod 16
auro formatum, cui argentum permixtum esse " videatur,
scireque 1S volueris quantum auri, quantumque 19 in eo argenti
contineatur, sume argentum sive aurum, et examinato supra-
dicti operis 20 pondere, nee 21 minus pensantem massam de utro-
vis28 metallo fabricato, atque utraque et opus et23 massam
statera 24 lancibus imponito,25 aquisque immergito. Si argentea
fuerit [massa quam fecisti, opus preponderabit ; si aurea
fuerit26] alleviato27 opere, aurum inclinabitur. Hoc tamen ita
fiet, ut quot partibus inclinatur aurum, totidem partibus sub-
levatur28 argentum; quia29 quicquid in ipso opere fuerit sub
aquis praeter solitum pondus,30 ad aurum, propter densitatem,
1 Fonde P. ' Buscam P. 3 Tres partes paramentum P. * Sal et para
mentum P. 5 Suprascripta P. 6 Sic R. ; de auri pondere C. (p. 45).
1 Omnem. Cant. 8 Eidem. Cant. 9 Parte sui xxiiij. et insuper ccxl. C.
10 Eque C. " Puri. Omittit Cant. I2 Ex. Cant. 13 xj. denariis C.
14 Et R. 15 xxiiij. et ccxl. C. l6 Opus aliquod inveneris C. l7 Per com-
mixtumem inesse C. 18 Que omittit R. 19 Quantumve C. so Examinato
inspectione C. 21 'Non C. ^ Utrius R. ss Utrumgue opus scilicet, et C.
" Stantem C. a Irnposito R. * Ex R. *> Allevato C. *> Sullevetur C.
M Quod li. » Ponderis C. Q 2

228 MANUSfRIPTS OF JEHAN LE BEGUE.
account of its greater density ; and whatever deficiency there
may be is to be attributed to the silver, on account of its
greater rarity. And in order that you may perceive it more
easily, you must bear in mind.that, in weight for gold, and in
lightness for silver, x denarii signify a pound, as I have already
stated in the former part of this chapter.
XXIV. [268] How wood is to be prepared before painting on
it? — Whoever wishes to adorn any wood with divers colours, let
him hear what I say. First make the wood very flat and smooth
by scraping it, and lastly by rubbing it with that herb which is
called shave-grass. But if the piece of wood is such that you
cannot smooth down its inequalities, or you have reasons for
not wishing to do so, and at the same time are not willing to
cover it with leather or with cloth, grind dry white-lead upon a
stone, but not so finely as if you were going to paint with it.
Then melt wax over the fire in a vase, add tiles ground fine.
Then mix it with the white-lead which you had ground, stirring
it frequently with a small stick, and so let it cool. Then heat
an iron, and with it melt the wax into the little fissures, until
they are level, and then scrape off the rough parts with a knife.
And if you hesitate about mixing white-lead with the wax,
know that the more you mix with it, the harder it will be.
And when you have made it smooth, as I was saying, mix
plenty of white-lead very finely ground, with linseed-oil, and
lay an excessively thin coat of it wherever you intend to paint
with a brush of ass's hair adapted for that purpose. When
this is dry, lay on, as you did before, another and a thicker
coat of it, not thicker by having a greater quantity of colour,
but by having less oil in it. For you must take very great
1 The mode of preparation described in this chapter differs essentially
from those usually followed ; inasmuch as several coats of white lead and
oil are laid immediately on the wood, without a previous preparation of glue
and gesso.

ERACLIUS DE COLORIBUS ET ARTIBUS ROMANORUM. 229
pertinet ; quicquid autem levitatis, ad argentum, propter rari-
tatem, conferendum est.1 Et, ut hoc 2 facilius possit adverti,
considerare debes, tam in gravitate auri, quam in levitate
argenti, x denarios3 significare libram, sicut in* prima lec-
tionis hujus fronte prefixum est.
XXIV. [268] Quomodo aptetur lignum antequam pingatur. —
Quicunque aliquod lignum ornare diversis coloribus satagis, audi
quae dico. Imprimis ipsum lignum multum rade equalem, et
planissimum radendo, et ad ultimum fricando cum ilia herba
quae dicitur asperella. Quod si ligni materies talis fuerit, ut
non possis equare ejus asperitates,5 vel non velis, propter ali-
quas occasiones, nee tamen6 cum corio illud7 velis cooperire,8
vel panno ;9 album plumbum teres super petram siccum, sed
non tantum 10 quantum si inde pingere " velis. Deinde ceram
in vase supra ignem 12 liquefacies, tegulamque tritam subtiliter ;
albumque plumbum, quod ante trivisti,13 simul commisces, se-
pius movendo cum parvo ligno, et sic sine refrigerari. Postea
aliquod ferrum fac calidum, et, cum ipso, ceram14 funde in
ipsas cavernulas donee equales sint, et sic cum cultello desuper
abrade ea quae sunt scabrosa. Si autem album15 plumbum
miscere cum cera dubitas, scito quod quantum plus miscueris,
tanto durius erit. Et, sicut dixi, jam equali facto, habundan-
cius plumbum, valde subtilissime tritum cum oleo lini,16 de-
super, per totum ubicunque pingere vis, tenuissime exten-
dendo 17 cum pincello asinino,18 sic aptato ; deinde ad solem ex-
iccari bene permitte. At post,19 cum siccatus fuerit color,
iterum superpone, sicut prius fecisti, de eodem, et spissiorem
pones ; sed non ita spissiorem, ut abundancius 20 colorem super-

1 Est referendum R. 2 Hoc omittit R. 8 Denaiios xj. C. 4 In omittit C.
iAsperitatemP. 'Id supplet P. J Illud omittit P. 8 OpeiireR. ' Quod
sequitur novum capitulum facit P., cum titulo " Quomodo ligni caverna-
culas seufossulas implebis." 10 Tantum omittit P. ll Inpinge P. 12 Super
igne R. aTrivissesP. li Ipsam supplet P. 15 Album omittit R. M Lini
omittit R. l7 Extendo P. Exterende Cant. l8 Afornio vel Aforino P.
19 Post omittit R. 20 Abundanciorem R.

230 MANUSCRIPTS OF JEHAN LE BEGUE.
care never to lay on the colour too fat, for if you do this, and
lay on a great deal of it, when it begins to dry, wrinkles will
form on the surface of it.1 But now, in order that I may omit
nothing that relates to the subject, I beg you will let me return
to where I was speaking of the bare wood [if you were willing
to cover it with a leather or with a cloth]. If the wood, which
you wish to paint upon, is [not] smooth, cover it with leather
made of horse-skin or with parchment.
XXV. [262] How a column is prepared for painting. — If you
wish to paint on a column or slab of stone, first let it dry very
perfectly in the sun or before a fire. Then take white, and grind
it very finely with oil upon a marble slab. Afterwards, the co
lumn being well smoothed and polished, without any crevices,
lay on it two or three coats of that white, with a broad paint
brush. Then rub very stiff white over it with your hand or
with a brush, and let it remain a short time. When tolerably
dry, press your hand strongly over the white surface, drawing
your hand towards you. Continue to do this until it is as
smooth as glass. You will then be able to paint upon it with
all colours mixed with oil. But if you wish to imitate the
veins of marble on a general tint (brown, black, or any other
colour), you can give the appearance, when the ground so pre
pared is dry.2 Afterwards varnish it in the sun.
XXVI. [280] If you wish to paint a linen cloth, and to lay
gold upon it, prepare it thus. — Take parchment, or clippings of
parchment, and put them into a jar with water, which must be
placed over the fire and made to boil as before directed ; then
dip a cloth into it, take it out immediately, and stretch it out
on a wet panel, and let it dry. Then burnish or polish it all
over with a glass muller, and stretch it out, fastening it on to a
1 See Mr. Eastlake's remarks on this subject, in his recent work, Mate
rials for a History, &c, p. 37.
2 I have adopted Mr. Eastlake's translation of this sentence. Ibid.
p. 34.

ERACLIUS DE COLORIBUS ET ARTIBUS ROMANORUM. 231
ponas, sed ut oleum minus habeat. Nam et in hoc multum
cavendum est ut nunquam crassiorem colorem superponas ;
quod si feceris et abunde posueris, cum exiccari cceperit, rugae
desuper erunt. Nunc autem ut ea quae supersunt * simul
omnia dicam, superius queso me redire permitte, ubi de ligni
nuditate locutus sum, [si 2 illud corio vel panno operire vo
lueris]. Quod si lignum, quod pingere volueris, non3 fuerit
equale, corio equino vel perchameno operi illud.
XXV. [262] Quomodo preparatur columpna ad pingendum. —
Si vis aliquam columnam vel laminam de petra pingere, inprimis
optime ad solem vel ad 4 ignem siccare permittes.5 Deinde 6
album accipies,7 et cum oleo super marmorem clarissime teres."
Postea illam columpnam jam bene sine aliqua fossula planam
*et politam, de illo albo cum lato pincello superlinies duabus
vel9 tribus vicibus. Postea imprimes cum manu vel brussa
de albo spisso, et ita dimittes paululum. Cum vero modicum
siccatum fuerit,10 cum manu tua album u planando fortiter re-
trahes. Hoc tamdiu facies donee planum sit quasi vitrum.
Tunc vero poteris desuper 12 de omnibus coloribus 13 cum oleo
distemperatis pingere. Si vero marbrire volueris, super unum 14
colorem, vel brunum, vel nigrum, vel alium colorem, cum sic-
cata fuerit 15 marbrire poteris. Postea vernicia 16 ad solem.
XXVI. [280] Si vis pingere lini pannum, et aurum in ipso
ponere, sic prmpara. — Accipe pergamenum vel minutias perga-
menorum, et mitte in ollam cum aqua, et pone ad ignem, et fac
bullire sicut suprascriptum est, et mitte in ea pannum, sta-
timque extrahe, et desuper tabulam in aquam extende, et ita
dimittes siccare, et tunc cum petra vitrea burnies, seu lissabis,
per totum ; postea extendes ipsum, ligando in lignis cum filo,
1 Superius R. - 2 Ex P. ; omittit R. 3 Volueris, non P. ; vis R. 4 Ad
omittit P. 5 Permittas P. 6 Dein R. *• Accipe P. 8 Tere P. 8 Vel
omittit R. 10 Fuerit album siccatum P. " Album omittit P. '2 Desuper
poteris P. ls Et supplet P. " Unum omittit R. 15 Fuerunt R. 18 Ver-
niza P.

232 MANUSCRIPTS OF JEHAN LE BEGUE.
wooden frame with the thread. You may then paint upon it
with colours distempered with size, or egg, or gum.1
XXVH. [281] How to lay gold on the cloth. — And if you
wish to lay gold on the cloth, apply it with the before-men
tioned size, and polish it.
XXVIII. [285J Of the general practice in grinding all co
lours. — You must know, however, that all colours may be
ground with clear water, if they are afterwards allowed to dry ;
and then with white of egg, or oil, or gum-water, or wine, or
cervisia, when they are mixed or tempered.
XXIX. [260] How oil is prepared for tempering colours. —
Put a moderate quantity of lime into oil and heat it, continually
scumming it ; add ceruse to it according to the quantity of oil,
and put it in the sun for a month or more, stirring it fre
quently. And know that the longer it remains in the sun, the
better it will be. Then strain and keep it, and distemper the
colours with it.
XXX. [263] How alumen 2 is distempered. — Grind the alu
men with gum and water upon marble, and let it dry ; and when
you wish to do anything with it, distemper it with white of egg.
XXXI. [284] Of the manner of preparing white of egg for
tempering colours. — When you are going to prepare white of
egg, take a filter, and dip it in water, and wet it well, and after
wards receive the white of egg mixed with water in this filter,
which must be folded up so as to be pointed at the bottom
and open at the top ; and so, squeezing it, make it pass through
seven or eight times, or oftener or less frequently, if necessary,
for you must do this until the white of egg becomes like water,
and runs through without drawing into threads. Then take it
and put it by ; or, if you wish, write with it. Two vases are
necessary for preparing it.
1 The sized cloth mentioned in this recipe was probably used for the
transparent painting practised by the English and Germans. See East-
lake, Materials for a History, &c, p. 100.
2 See No. L., where alumen is said to be a white colour.

ERACLIUS DE COLORIBUS ET ARTIBUS ROMANORUM. 233
deinde cum coloribus, cola, vel ovo, vel gummi distemperatis,
desuper pingere poteris.
XXVTI. [281] Quomodo aurum ponitur in panno. — Et si
aurum desuper ipso panno ponere cupis, cum distemperatura
suprascripta pones et polies.
XXVIII. [285] De pratica generali in movendo omnes colores.
—Sciendum autem est quod omnes colores cum aqua clara moli
possunt, si postea exsiccari permittantur, ut postea glarea, vel
oleum, vel aqua gummata, aut acetum, seu vinum, necnon cer-
vesia, quomodo misceantur aut temperentur.
XXIX. [260] De.oleo, quomodo aptatur ad distemperandum
colores. — Calcem in oleo mensurate pone, et illud despumando
coque ; cerosium in eo secundum quod de oleo fuerit pone, et
ad solem, per mensem, vel eo amplius, frequenter removendo,
pone. Scito quod quanto diutius ad solem fuerit, tanto melius
erit. Postea cola, et serva, et colores inde distempera.
XXX. [263] Alumen quomodo debet distemperari. — Alumen
cum gumma et aqua super marmorem tere, et dimitte siccari, et
cum aliquod ex eo facere volueris, cum glarea ovi distempera.
XXXI. [284] De modo parandi glaream ovorum, ad colores
ex ea temperandos. — Glaream paraturus sume staminium, et in
aqua intinge illud ; et madidum sit, ut postea glaream aque mix-
tam, in eodem staminio duplicato, subter summato (acuminato ?),
desuper autem expanso, excipe, et sic exprimendo, fac transire
vel septies vel octies, vel saepius, vel minus, si necesse fuerit,
tamdiu scilicet debes hoc facere, donee glarea quasi aqua fit,
et tenuis, sine filo, distillet. Hinc susceptam reconde, vel, si
vis, scribe. Ad hanc autem parandam, duo vascula sunt ne-
cessaria.

234 MANUSCRIPTS OF JEHAN LE BEGUE.
XXXII. [270] How yolk of egg is prepared. — Orpiment is
ground and prepared with the yolk of egg in the following
manner, and the yolk of egg is thus prepared : — Take the yolk
in the middle of your hand, and prick it with a thorn or a needle,
and, putting your finger upon it, press it out, and receive it in
a vase ; and, adding a drop of water to it, mix it with the orpi
ment. Tf you mix oil with it, it will never dry. Mix it there
fore with yolk of egg.
XXXIII. [258] How Cordovan leather is dyed. — Take the
leather which is called " Cordovan," not dyed with colour, but
pure and white, and wash over the side on which the hairs grew
with alum. Then take madder, and heat it over the fire in a
brass vessel with wine or with water, so that you can just bear
your finger in it. Then dip the aforesaid leather into the
vessel, and take it out ; see if the colour is sufficiently deep ; if
it is, well and good ; if not, dip it in again. Then spread it
out on a smooth table, burnish it with a piece of box-wood ;
and then take fat, and grease the skin all over, and suffer it
to dry.
XXXIV. [277] How to make use of brasilium. — Take a
brass dish, and scrape as much brasilium into it as you may
think necessary ; then fill it up with urine ; add powdered alum
to it, and so let it remain for a night. The next day set it upon
the coals, make it boil up once or twice ; remove the dish from
the fire, and put a little quick-lime with the brasilium and
alum and stir it up, and so let it stand till it settles thick, and
the water floats on the top ; then throw away the water, and let
the remainder dry in the sun, and keep it as long as you like.
You may use this colour both on wood and on walls ; but with
greater brilliancy on parchment.
XXXV. [289] To make a rose-colour with braxilium. — To
make rose-colour, add urine to the braxilium before you put
the alum ; and this is the way it is to be done.
XXXVI. [288] How ceruse is made, and how red minium is
made from that. — If you wish to make red minium, or the white
which is called ceruse, take lead plates, and put them into a

ERACLIUS DE COLORIBUS ET ARTIBUS ROMANORUM. 235
XXXII. [270] Quomodo vitellum ovi paratur. — Auripig
mentum cum vitello ovi molitur et distemperatur sic, et vitellus
hoc modo paratur. Sume vitellum in media manu, et spunge
vel spina vel stila, et digito superposito, exprime, et in vase
recipe, mittens guttam aque ex auripigmento misce. Si autem
oleum miscueris, nunquam siccabitur. Ideo misce cum vitello.

XXXIII. [258] Quomodo corduanum tingitur. — Accipe co-
rium, quem corduanum vocant, nondum coloribus tinctum, sed
purum et album, illamque partem, quae prius pilis tegebatur, de
alumine ablues. Accipiesque Waranciam, et ad ignem in vase
aereo calefacies cum vino, vel cum aqua, et tantum ut digitum
»tuum in ea mittere possis, et tunc corium antedictum in vase
merges et trahes, videbisque ; si fuerit rubeum, bene quidem ;
si non, iterum merge, dimittesque siccare ; postea super tabu
lam planam extendes, et cum baculo buxeo burnies ; deinde
adipem accipies, et pellem per totum inunges, sicque siccare
permittes. XXXIV. [277] Quomodo poteris de bresilio operari. — Accipe
patellam aeream, et brasilium intus rade, quantum tibi visum
fuerit. Postea imple eam urina, pulveriza desuper alumen, et
sic una nocte dimittes. In crastino super carbones mitte, unam
aut duas undias bullire facies, et retrahe ab igne patellam, et
pone parumper de viva calce cum brisillio et alumen, et in-
simul move, et ita dimittas ; dum spissum fuerit, et aqua de-
super nataverit, projice foras, et reliquum ad solem permitte
siccum fieri, et serva quantum volueris. De hoc colore in
ligno et in muro operari poteris, mirabilius tamen in perga-
menis. XXXV. [289] Quomodo rosa color fit de ligno braxillii. —
Rosam faciendo, urinam pones cum brixillio priusquam pones
alumen, et sic faciendum.
XXXVI. [288] Quomodo fit cerusa, et de ipsa rubeum minium.
— Si vis facere rubeum minium, vel etiam album, qui cerusa
dicitur, accipe laminas plumbeas, et mitte in ollam novam, et

236 MANUSCRIPTS OF JEHAN LE BEGUE.
new jar, and so fill the jar with very strong vinegar, and cover it
up and set it in some warm place, and leave it so for a month.
Then open the jar, and put what you find adhering to the slips
of lead into another jar, and place it upon the fire, and keep
stirring up the colour until it becomes as white as snow. Then
remove it from the fire, and take as much as you like of that
colour, which is called ceruse. Put the rest back over the
fire, and keep stirring it until it becomes red minium. I re
commend you to continue stirring it, because, if it is not stirred,
it turns back again to white lead. Then take it from the fire
and let the jar cool.
XXXVII. [265] How terre verte is distempered.- — Take
mallow, and distemper it with vinegar or with very good wine,
and with this juice distemper the terre-verte, and it will be a
good colour for walls.
XXXVIII. [273] How to make a green colour from salt. — I
have often mentioned a green colour, and now I will tell you how
I make it. I take a piece of oak, of whatever length and breadth
I please, and scoop it out into the shape of a scrinium. I then
take copper, and cause it to be hammered out into plates as
long as I choose ; that is, so that their length may cover the
breadth of the hollow wood. Afterwards I take a ladleful of
salt, and pressing it strongly down, I put it into the fire for a
night, and cover it up with coals ; and the next day grind it
very carefully upon a dry stone. I then take small twigs, and
place them in the aforesaid wood, so that two parts of the
hollow wood may be underneath and the third above. Then
smearing the copper-plates on both sides with honey, I sprinkle
the salt all over the honey, then shake the plates over the ladle
to avoid waste, and then place the plates upon the twigs. I
next cover up the hollow wood with another piece made for this
purpose, and lute it all round with clay well mixed with asses' -
dung. But before I cover up the hollow wood, I pour into it
hot vinegar or hot urine, so as to fill one-third part of it, and
then cover it up, and afterwards do as before directed with this
colour.

ERACLIUS DE COLORIBUS ET ARTIBUS ROMANORUM. 237
sic imple illam ollam fortissimo aceto, et cooperi, et mitte in
aliquo calido loco, et sic uno mense dimitte ; et tunc aperies
ollam, et quod inveneris in circuitu laminarum plumbearum
mitte in aliam ollam, et pone super ignem, et semper movebis
ipsum colorem, donee efficiatur albus sicut nix, et tunc tolles
ab igne, et sumes de ipso colore quantum vis, et iste color
vocatur cerusa ; reliquam partem pone super ignem, et semper
movebis donee efficiatur rubeum minium. Propterea moneo ut
moveas, quod si non moveris, semper iterum vertetur in album
plumbum, et sic tolle ab igne, et ipsam ollam dimitte refrige-
rari. XXXVII. [265] Quomodo distemperatur viride terrenum. —
Accipe malvam, et distempera cum aceto, vel optimo vino, et
"de isto jussu terrenum viridem distempera, et erit boni coloris
in muro.
XXXVIII. [273] Quomodo efficitur viridis color cum sale. — ¦
Ssepe tractavi de viridi colore, quali modo efficiatur. Nunc vero
quomodo id ipsum facio narrabo. Lignum quercinum sumo
quanta? latitudinis et longitudinis voluero, et illud in modum
scrinii cavo ; deinde cuprum accipio, et facio illud attenuari in
laminas tam longas quantum mihi placet, scilicet ut longitudo
ejus operiat latitudinem concavi ligni. Posthoc accipio scutellam
plenam salis, et, comprimens eum fortiter, mitto in ignem per
noctem, et cooperio carbonibus, et in crastinum super lapidem
molo duigentissime siccum. Postea accipio surculas graciles,
colloco eas in predictum lignum, tamen ita ut duae partes ligni
cavi sint inferius, et tertia superius, sicque liniens laminas
cupreas utraque parte melle, et desuper mel sal aspergens per
totum, moxque excutio laminas in scutellam, ne pereat, sicque
super surculas illas laminas pono. Tunc lignum concavum
altero ligno adhuc aptato cooperio, et in circuitu totum argilla
bene fimo asini mixto linio. Antequam autem lignum illud
concavum cooperuerim, ponam intus vel acetum calidum, vel
urinam calidam, ita ut tertia pars impleatur, et mox cooperio ;
tunc deinceps facio quod de hoc colore suprascriptum est.

238 MANUSCRIPTS OF JEHAN LE BEGUE.
XXXIX. [287] A manner of making green with copper or
brass. — Fill a basin with white wine vinegar, and put into it
strips of copper, and throw into it any other copper that you can
procure ; let it remain there for the space of one, two, or three
months, and you will then find an excellent green colour.
XL. [261] How orpiment is prepared for use. — Crush the
orpiment in leather, and afterwards grind it with water upon
marble, adding to it a little calcined bone, and so let it dry
there. Distemper it afterwards with egg for painting on wood,
or on walls ; but on paper, distemper it like ceruse. If it is not
good, mix ochre with it, and then it will do.
XLI. [264] How to lay on gold? — Take ochre and distem
per it with water, and let it dry. In the mean while make glue
with vellum, and afterwards whip some white of egg. Then mix
the glue and the white of egg, and grind the ochre (which will
by this time be well dried) strongly upon a marble slab, and, as
soon as the ochre is «&y, lay it on the parchment with a paint
brush, wherever you wish to lay the gold on the parchment, and
then apply the gold, and let it remain so without pressing it with
the stone. When it is dry burnish it well with a tooth. This
is what I learned by experiment, and have frequently proved,
and you may safely believe that I have told you the truth.
XLII. [278] How to gild on parchment? — Take gypsum and
white of Apulia, and carminium,3 that is to say, cinnabar,
namely, one third part of gypsum, and two equal parts of white
and of carminium. Mix them well, and grind them on a marble
slab, and add to them only a little thin glue ; and with this
mordant you may lay on gold wherever you like, and you may
keep it a long time.
1 See Sloane MS. No. 1754. 2 Ibid.
8 Carminium is here represented to be synonymous with Cinnabar ; but
at p. 252 it is said to be composed of white and ochre.

ERACLIUS DE COLORIBUS ET ARTIBUS ROMANORUM. 239
XXXIX. [287] Modus faciendi viridem cupri vel mris. —
Imple pelvim de aceto albo vini, et quicquid cupri poteris
habere, projice intus, et sic stare permittes per spatium unius
mensis vel duorum vel trium, et postea optimum viridem pro-
creatum invenies.
XL. [261] Quomodo auripigmentum prceparatur ad operan-
dum. — Auripigmentum confringe in corio, postea tere cum aqua
super marmorem, addens ei parum ossis combusti, et ibidem
siccare permitte. Postea distempera cum ovo ad ponendum in
ligno vel in muro, sed in carta pone sicut cerosium. Si non est
bonum, misce ocrum ; postea valet.
XLI. [264] Quomodo ponitur aurum? — Accipe ocrum, et
distempera cum aqua, sicque dimittes siccare. Interim de per
gameno 2 vitulino colam facies. Postea glaream de ovo facies.
Tunc colam et glaream insimul misces, et ocrum jam3 bene
siccatum 4 fortiter super marmorem teres, et ubi volueris ponere
aurum in pergameno, statim ut molitum fuerit ocrum, super
pergamenum cum 5 pincello trahes, sicque aurum desuper illico
pones, dimittesque siccare 6 ita sine impressione coti.7 Postea,
cum siccatum fuerit,8 cum dente fortiter burnies.9 Ecce ut
saepe experimento didici, multociens probavi, et tua certa fide
verum dixi.
XLH. [278] Quomodo aurum in pergamenis ponitur?0 —
Accipe gipsum, et album de Pullia11 et carminium, i. e. cino
brium,12 tertiam partem de gipso, et de albo, et13 de carminio14
duas partes equales, et misce simul, et tere super marmorem,
adjungesque eis15 modicum colle, tenue tamen,16 et de hac
distemperatura poteris aurum ubicunque volueris ponere, et
multum17 diu servare.
1 Sic P. ; De temperamento auri S. No. 63. t Percameno passim S.
3 Jam omittit S. 4 Teres hie inserit et post omittit P. 5 Percameno illo S.
' Siccare omittit P. 7 Et supplet S. 8 Cum siccatum fuerit omittit S.
9 Quae sequuntur omittit S. 10 Sic P. Item de distemperatura auri S.
'! Apuleya S. No. 64. I2 Carominium id est sinobium S. 13 Quod P.
14 Carominio S. 15 Cum Us S. 16 Tantum P. " Multum omittit S.

240 MANUSCRIPTS OF JEHAN LE BEGUE.
XLIH. [279] How to write with gold? — Take a glass yase
and fill it with urine, and let it rest until it appears clear.
.Then take the white of an egg well whipped, and divide it into
two parts, and mix it with the urine, and stir them both toge
ther, and put them into a horn with gold dissolved, that is,
ground, and then washed. You may write with this gold as
with any other colour.
XLIV. [274] Of auripetrum. — Secundum Magistrum R.
Take oil made from linseed, and put it into a new jar, and take
the bark of " vesprum " very well dried and well ground in a
mortar, and let it lie for a night in the 'oil. The next day boil
it as long as you may think proper, but not much, and then pass
it through a cloth into another jar, and boil it again a little over
the fire with myrrh and aloes. Strain it again, and immediately
put vernix with it, and heat it upon the coals. But if you have
no vernix, take glassa, and put it with the aloes and myrrh in
stead of vernix, and, as I said before, strain it again. If you
have not the bark of vesprum take dry incaustum, or else the
bark of black-thorn dried and ground, and, as I said before,
boil it with the myrrh and aloes, and afterwards remove it from
the fire, and when it is cold, put it away in a vase to preserve
as long as you like. You must collect the bark in March or
April, and dry it in May, and keep it as long as you like.
XLV. [275] How to gild upon tin. — Take tin and place
it on a tablet well whitened for this purpose, and well dried.
Hammer the tin out well, and polish it with water and flint,
rubbing it both along and across. Then take a polished iron
made for this purpose, and polish it again with water. When
it is very bright, let it dry, and then take it again and lay
it on a table and burnish it with flint. And you may
work with this gold on wood or on walls, and wherever you
wish to gild. 1 See Sloane MS. No. 1754.

ERACLIUS DE COLORIBUS ET ARTIBUS ROMANORUM. 241
XLIII. [279] Quomodo scribitur de auro? — Sume tibi vas
vitreum, et urina tua illud imple ; sicque, donee appareat clara,
requiescat ; postea accipe glaream ovi optime fractam,2 et fac
duas partes, miscesque cum urina, et movebis utrumque 3 insi-
mul, et pone in cornu cum auro soluto [i.e. molito et postea la-
vato 4], itaque 5 poteris de tali 6 auro scribere sicut de alio colore.
XLIV. [274] De auro petro. — Secundum magistrum R.
Accipe oleum de lini semine factum, et pone in ollam novam.
Accipies que corticem de vespro optime siccatam, et in mortario
bene tritam, et in oleo eam unam noctem jacere permittes. In
crastino ad ignem bullies ; quando satis tibi visum fuerit, tamen
non multum, protinus per medium pannum in aliam ollam tran
sire facies, deinde iterum ad ignem cum mirra et aloe parum
per bullies. Iterum colabis, statimque vernix cum eis pones, et
super carbones calefacies. Si autem vernix non habueris, acci
pies glassam, et pones cum aloe et mirra pro vernix, et, ut dixi,
iterum colabis. Si autem corticem de vespro non habueris,
accipe incaustum siccum, vel etiam corticem de nigra spina
siccatam et tritam, et, sicut supra scripsi, cum mirra et aloe
bullies, post hoc retrahes ab igne, et, cum frigidum fuerit, ad
servandum in vase, quanto tempore volueris, repone. Cortices
autem in Martio vel in Aprili accipies, et in Majo siccabis, et
servabis quamdiu volueris.
XLV. [275] Quomodo ponitur aurum super stagnum. — Accipe
stagnum, et pone super tabulam ad hoc opus optime dealbatam,
et bene siccatam, extende, et cum silica et aqua in longitudinem
et latitudinem poli ; deinde sume ferrum totum aceratum, ad
hoc opus factum, et iterum cum aqua poli. Cum multum et
stans fuerit, sic siccare dimittes ; postea accipies iterum, et super
tabulam pones, et cum silice burnies eum. Poterisque de hoc
auro in ligno vel in muro operari, et ubi volueris ponere.

1 De omittit S. No. 65. 2 Factum S. 8 Utrumque omittit S. " Ex P.
Omittit S. 5 Et S. 6 Tali omittit S.
VOL. I. R

212 MANUSCRIPTS OF JEHAN LE BEGUE.
XL VI. [246] How borax1 is distempered and kept— Take
bean-ashes, and strain them through a cloth into a jar three or
four times, and afterwards boil them [with water] over the fire
unt;i the ley is thick like ink, and then take the liquor which
is called borax, and grind it in a vase or cup like cummin or
pepper, and then mix it with the aforesaid ley. Then make it
boil again, and keep stirring it, and then remove it from the fire,
and put it into a leaden vase, and you may keep it as long as
you like.
XL VII. [247] Also on the same subject in another manner. —
Also, take the same ley, fresh made, and mix it with a little
borax previously well ground in a shell, and then take copper
reduced to powder of the weight of 12 denarii, ( |-f-j ), and grind
it well in a shell, like pepper, and mix it with the ley and borax,
and boil it over the fire, and afterwards let it cool, and put it
into a copper vase, and preserve it as long as any remains.
XLVIII. [248] How to make nigellum. — When you wish to
make nigellum, take quicksilver, and copper, and lead, in equal
quantities by measure, and put them into a shell to fuse
together. Then take 6 denarii by weight of sulphur, and mix
with the other ingredients, and stir them well. Then remove
the mixture from the fire, and let it cool, and put it into a
vase ; then take atramentum distempered with wine, and draw
what you like upon the silver with the atramentum, and imme
diately lay the powder made of the quicksilver, copper, and
lead upon it [and heat it] until it melts, and it will make a
beautiful nigellum.
XLIX. [272] How to paint upon glass.-*— I must tell you how
to paint upon glass. Take a grossinum of sapphire, and the
scales which are beaten off red-hot iron upon the blacksmith's
anvil ; and you must put one-third part of this with the grossi-

1 I have no doubt that " Bures " should be read " Borax," and I refer
to the note on this subject in the Table of Synonymes. It will be observed
that the Bures of the text is said to be a liquor ; it is unnecessary to remark
that this is scarcely consistent with the direction to " grind it like cummin or

ERACLIUS DE COLORIBUS ET ARTIBUS ROMANORUM. 243
XL VI. [246] Quomodo distemperatur bures et servatur. — Ac
cipe cinerem fabarum, et cola per pannum in ollam tribus vicibus
aut quatuor, postea ad ignem bullire facies donee spissum sit
quasi incaustum ; deinde accipias ilium liquorem qui vocatur
bures, et teres in vase vel cipho quasi caminum vel piper ; tunc
misces cum laxiva suprascripta, iterumque bullire facies, sem-
perque movebis. Postea tolle ab igne, et in plumbeo vase
pone, et poteris servare quamdiu volueris.
XL VII. [247] Item de eodem aliter. — Item accipe eandem
laxivam cum nuper fuerit facta, et misces cum ea parum de
bures bene in conca prius maceratum ; deinde accipies pulve
rem de cupro factam pensantem xiicim denarios, et macerabis
fortiter in conca velut piper, et cum lexiva bures misces, et ad
ignem bullire facies. Postea sine refrigerari et in vase cupreo
mitte, et serva quantum duraverit.
XLVIII. [248] Quali modo nigellum facies. — Quando volu
eris nigellum facere, accipe de argento vivo, et de cupro, et
plumbo, equali mensura, et mitte in conca, ut simul coquantur.
Tunc accipe sulphuris pondus vj denariorum, et cum eis misces,
et movebis. Postea retrahe ab igne, et sine refrigerari, in vase
pone ; deinde accipe attramentum cum vino distemperatum, et
facies quod volueris super argentum de attramento, statimque
pulverem de argento vivo et cupro et plumbo superpones, donee
fundatur, fietque pulcrum nigellum.

XLIX. [272] Quomodo pingitur in vitro. — Dicendum quo
modo pingere debes in vitro. Accipe grossinum de saphiro, et
palleam, quae excutitur de calido ferro super incudem fabri, cum
grossino tertiam partem pones, et plumbeum vitrum, Judeum

pepper." A similar direction is repeated in the following recipe. I con
sider that in both cases the Borax was prepared as a flux for the nigellum in
No. xlviii.

r2

244 MANUSCRIPTS OF JEHAN LE BEGUE.
num, and mix it with lead glass, that is, Jewish glass,1 and
grind it well on an iron slab, and so you will be able to paint.
L. [240] On the various kinds and names of the principal
and intermediate colours. And on the advantage of mixing them
together ; and on the places in which they are found, and are
produced, or exist, and on the means of knowing the goodness of
them. — Of colours, some are white, and some are black, and
some are intermediate. And the species of white are ceruse,
lime, and alumen. The blacks are fuscus and those which are
made from twigs. The intermediate colours are red, green,
yellow, purple, prasinus, azure, and Incicus [Indigo ?], which
are each of them, in themselves, beautiful ; but are more so
when mixed, because, by their variety, they give beauty to one
another. And then, in composition they have a different hue,
for as in medicinal preparations the various drugs mixed to
gether modify each other ; so colours of different kinds are
mixed together, in order that they may partake of the nature
of the others as well as of their own, and make as many, and
beautiful, and pleasing, varieties as possible.
In this mixture, and in the order in which one is laid over
another in painting, great skill is exercised. For after white,
black or red should be put as an intermediate, because yellow,
in composition, is in the second degree of mediocrity, for a
colour too thick or too thin, soon alters.
Reds are produced in many places, but the best are found
in Pontus and Spain.2 " Paratonium " 3 is named from the
place where it is dug. In the same manner, also, " Meline
earth," a kind of metal, is found in some of the Cyclades, and
receives its name from it. Green earth 4 is found in many
1 In an extract published by Mr. Hendrie from a copy of the MS.
of Le Begue, "judicatim scilicet" is inserted instead of "Judeum
scilicet." So little is known of the history of glass-making, that it is im
possible to say whether the glass mentioned in the text resembled in any
respect the " Jews' glass," which used to be sold at Birmingham. — (See a
paper in the ' Philosophical Magazine' for Dec. 1836.) The latter was a
ruby-coloured glass, coloured with gold ; but as Bulengerus says (' De Pic
tura,' &c. lib. ii. cap. v.), " Sine plumbo nullum metallum in vitrum transire

ERACLIUS DE COLORIBUS ET ARTIBUS ROMANORUM. 245
scilicet, misces, et super marmorem fortiter teres, sicque pingere
potes. L. [240] De diversis colorum principalium et intermediorum
speciebus et nominibus et de utilitate mixtionis eorum ad invicem,
et de locis in quibus inveniuntur, et nascuntur, vel sunt, et de cogni-
cione perfectionis eorum. — Colorum alii sunt albi, alii nigri, alii
sunt medii. Et albi quidem species, cerusa, calx, alumen. Nigri
vero, fuscus, et qui ex sarmentis componitur. Medii, rubeus,
viridis, croceus, purpureus, prasinus, azur, et incicus ; quorum
expressio per se cujuslibet pulcra est, sed interdum sic invicem
permixti pulcriores fiunt, quia sua varietate graciam alter alteri
prastant : Dein compositi aliud monstrant, nam ut in medicinae
confectionibus species sibi permixtae invicem conferunt, sic
colores non ejusdem qualitatis, ut partem ex alterius natura,
partem ex sua trahant, et quam plurimas eorum varietates
pulcras et delectabiles reddant, simul commiscentur. In qua
commixtione, et in eo modo quo in pictura alter alteri post se
ponuntur, summa est subtilitas ; siquidem post album, niger,
aut rubeus medius, convenit ; quoniam crocus, in temperacione,
mediocritas secunda est, quia color nimium spissus, et nimium
tenuis, cito deficit.
Rubi itaque multis locis generantur, sed optimi Ponto, et in
Hispania, nascuntur. Paratonium ex ipso loco unde foditur
habet nomen. Eadem racione et melinus quidem, metalli
species, per insulas Cycladis, inde dicitur. Creta viridis plu-
ribus locis nascitur, sed optima in Creta Cirina, quae Greece
dicitur Theodote quaedam, in cujus solo primum est inventa.
Arzicon, id est, auripigmentum, in Ponto nascitur. Sandaraca
potest," it is not improbable that glass coloured with gold was composed
partly of lead ; and if, as appears from the text, lead glass was called " Jewish
glass," this may sufficiently account for the appellation given to the glass
made at Birmingham.
2 See Vitruvius, lib. vii. cap. vii.
3 Paratonium and Meline earth, or Melino, are both white minerals.
4 The author of the French Commentary on Pliny, published at London
in 1725, observes that Isidore mentions green earth, which he calls " Pra
sinus."

246 MANUSCRIPTS OF JEHAN LE BEGUE.
places, but the best in " creta cirina," which in Greek is called
Theodote,1 in which territory it was first found. "Arzicon,"2
that is, orpiment, is found in Pontus. "Sandaraca"3 is found
in many places, but the best is found in Pontus, and by the
river Ysparis.4 Azure is mentioned as having been first found
in the Ephesian territory and afterwards in Spain, and with it
are connected the following inventions.5
LI. [241] On trying azure.- — Now azure must be tried in the
following manner : Put it on an iron plate, and hold it over the
fire until it is red-hot. Then take it out and let it cool. If it
does not change colour, it will be good ; but if it does change
colour, it is adulterated.
When ice,6 therefore, is first cut off metals, drops of quick
silver are pressed out, which artificers collect for various pur
poses, for neither silver nor brass can be gilt without it. When
the drops of quicksilver are run together, so as to fill a measure
of 4 sextarii, they will weigh one hundred pounds. If upon
this liquor you place a stone weighing a hundred pounds,
it will float on it. If you put a scruple into this liquor, it will
sink, whence you may see that the difference does not consist
in the weight of the substance but in the nature of it. Also, if
the goldsmith wish to obtain the gold from the tinder of burnt
frieze, let him wash it, and mix it with quicksilver, and then
press it in a linen or cotton cloth, so that the quicksilver may
be expressed, and the gold remain.
1 Vitruvius says it was called " Theodotion," because the name of the
owner of the estate where it was found was Theodotus.
2 The word Arzicon appears to be a corruption of " Arsenicon," the
Greek name for Orpiment.
3 The term " Sandaraca" is applied to red orpiment and also to red
lead ; both are occasionally found native.
' Hypanis, according to Vitruvius.
5 A native mineral azure is here described, which appears, from the test
mentioned in the next chapter, to be Lapis Lazuli. The author of this work
appears to have been unacquainted with the azure described by Vitruvius,
which consisted of a blue glass formed of nitre, sand, and copper filings.
6 This obseurc passage appears to be an abridgment of cap. viii. of the
7th book of Vitruvius. The original MS. may have been imperfect, or

ERACLIUS DE COLORIBUS ET ARTIBUS ROMANORUM. 247
pluribus locis generator, sed optima in Ponto et juxta flumen
Ysparim. Azurii autem natura, primum Ephesiorum solo
reperta, memoratur deinceps in Hispania, cujus natura has
invenciones habet.

LL [241] De probations azurii. — Verum probacio azurii sic
erit observanda. In lamina ferrea mittatur, et super ignem
ponatur, tamdiu donee lamina rubescat. Tunc retrahatur ut
refrigescat. Si colorem non mutaverit, optimum erit ; si autem
mutaverit, viciatum erit.
Glades itaque, vel glaciens, cum ex metallis primum exci-
duntur, argenti vivi guttas exprimunt, quas artifices ad plures
usus colhgunt. Neque enim argentum, neque aes, sine hiis
inaurari possunt. Nam confuse in unum guttae argenti vivi,
ita ut quatuor sextariorum mensuram habeant, centum librae
pondus efficiunt. Supra cujus liquorem centenarium saxi
pondus si posueris, sustinebit ; scrupulum si posueris, descendit.
Unde intelliges non ponderis esse, sed naturae distinctionem.
Itaque si aurifex pannis tostilibus adustis ex friso in rudi vase
fictili solidari pulverem voluerit, lava, postea mixtum argento
vivo, vel in panno, vel in linthiolo, cumprimis, ut liquor argenti
vivi expressus emanet, et aurum extrinsecus remaneat.

something may have been omitted by Le Begue, for this paragraph is
evidently unconnected with the first part of the chapter. The following
extract from Vitruvius (lib. vii., cap. viii.) may render the passage more
intelligible : — " Ingrediar nunc Minii rationes explicare  Foditur enim
gleba,-quae Anthrax dicitur antequam tractionibus ad minium perveniat, vena
uti ferreo magis subrufo colore, habens circa se rubrum pulverem ; cum id
foditur, ex plagis ferramentorum crebras emittit lacrymas argenti vivi, qua? a
fossoribus statim colliguntur."

248 MANUSCRIPTS OF JEHAN LE BEGUE.
LII. [242] On the mixture of colours, and what the colours are,
particularly lakes, which are used for want of other colours. —
It is evident that all colours are corrupted by mixing them ;
although, indeed, in tempering " folium," lime made from hard
stone is used, lest the colour should fade for want of body.
For when "folium" is distempered with a pernicious quantity
of albumen, that is white of egg, it can [not?] be employed
with great beauty and advantage. The juice of dragon's blood,
and " sandis," that is, madder — is used either pure or with red
chalk ; other juices of a similar kind are also mixed with green
or yellow earth. " Crisicula1" [chrysocolla] comes from Ma-
cedon, and is dug in copper mines. Indicus by its name shows
whence it is brought.
LIIL [243] How atramentum of various kinds is made? —
The method of making ink is as follows, for it is necessary, not
only for use in painting, but even for every day writing. A vase
is put into a hollow chamber ; and a furnace is made so as to
have nostrils, that is, apertures, through which the smoke can
penetrate into the vase. Some tiles must then be laid in the
furnace, and upon these hot tiles resin must be put, so as to
drive all the smoke and soot into the vase. Afterwards grind
the soot very fine, and you will make a very bright atramen
tum, with which you must mix painter's size. To accelerate
the process, soft charcoal of wood, or of peach-stones, ground
up with glue, is useful. Charred twigs also will imitate the
appearance of atramentum ; but the blackest twigs must be
used. If good wine is poured over them, and glue be added,
they will form a colour which will appear to imitate the soft
ness of daylight.
LIV. [245] How to make a "purpurino"3 colour out qf various
things in various ways. — Stones or flints, that is, stones emitting
fire, seem very necessary for painting, when they are heated in
the fire, and quenched with very strong vinegar, and they will give
1 See Vitruv., lib. vii. c. ix. a Ibid. c. x.
3 Ibid. cap. xi. This chapter treats of red or crimson colours, and not
ofthe " Purpurino" ofthe Italians.

ERACLIUS DE COLORIBUS ET ARTIBUS ROMANORUM. 249
LII. [242] De colorum commixtione, et quales ipsi colores
sunt, pracipue infectivi, quibus utitur propter aliorum colorum
inopiam. — Colores autem omnes commixtione corrumpi mani-
festum est. Siquidem in temperamento folii utilitul* calx ex
duro saxa facta, ne minus pressus pereat. Quippe aqua dis-
temperato folicio, cum perniciosa quantita albuginis, id est,
glarea ovi, pulcherrime et utiliter miscetur. Sanguis dra-
chonis aut sandis, id est, garancia ; ejus autem purus succus,
aut creta rubea, viridi quoque, et croceo, alii suae qualitatis
permiscentur. Crisicula a Macedonia venit, foditur autem
ex metallis aerariis. Indicum ab ipsis ostenditur ubi nascitur.

LHI. [243] Quomodo fit attramentum diversarum specie-
rum. — Attramenti vero compositio sic erit observanda, quae non
solum ad usum picture necessaria videtur, sed etiam at cothi-
dianas scripturas. Vasculus curva camera servatur : fornacula
sic componatur, ut nares, id est, suspiracula, habeantur in vas-
culo, quibus fumus possit intrare. Tegulae in eadem fornace
intendantur. Super tegulas ardentes resina mittatur, ut omnem
furnum et fuliginem per nares in vasculum exprimat. Postea
fuligmem diligenter conteres, et attramentum facies nitidum,
pictorum autem gluten misceas ipsi. Ad accelerationem etiam
operis, carbones molles ligni, et ossium persicorum, cum glu-
tino contriti, valent. Nee minus sarmenta exusta attramenti
qualitatem imitabunt, sed sarmenta quae nigrioris coloris sunt,
si in optimo vino perfundantur, postea exusta fuerint, addito
glutino, imitari etiam diei suavitatem monstrabunt.
LIV. [245] Quomodo fit purpurinus color ex diversis diversi-
mode. — Utique plurimum necessaria in operibus picturae
videntur glebae vel silices, id est, lapides ignem emittentes, cum
in igne cocuntur, tunc, aceto acerrimo perfuso, extinguuntur, et

250 MANUSCRIPTS OF JEHAN LE BEGUE.
a purple colour. Copper burnt becomes ceruse.1 The oster 2
also, the blood of which is used for a purple colour, is found in
many places, but the best are found in the island of Cyprus,
when they grow with the sun [i. e. in the spring]. Having,
therefore, cut them round, pound them, and they will give out
drops of a purple colour, which, being run together, are tem
pered as a purple pigment. This pigment is called " oster,"
because it is obtained from the above liquor, which soon solidi
fies on account of its saltness.
LV. [245] Of lakes ; and how they are made of various sub
stances in various manners.3 — Purple colours are also made by
straining [a decoction of] boiled madder roots. So also other co
lours are dyed with flowers. Thus, when painters wish to imitate
sil atticum they put dried violets4 into a vase of water over the
fire to boil, and, when boiled down, they are strained through
a linen cloth, and rubbed down in a mortar with chalk, and so
a colour like sil atticum is made. In the same manner, tem
pering "vaccinium" with milk, a very elegant purple colour is
made ; so the herb which is called "litea"5 gives out an azure
juice ; and a very deep green colour is also made. These are
called " infectivi ;" and are used for want of simple colours.
In the same manner, also, mixing formosa or angularia6 with
glass, they make colours with it.
LVI. [282] On mixing colours together in painting, and in
illuminating ; and ofthe ways in which pictures are filled in with
them, and how the lights and shades are laid on? — Mix azure
with ceruse ; shade it with indigo ; lay on the lights with white-
lead. Shade pure vermilion with brunum or with dragon's

1 There is probably some mistake here. See Vitruv., lib. vii. cap. xii.
2 Ibid. cap. xiii.
3 Ibid. cap. xiv.
4 The Viola lutea, or Wall-flower.
5 Lutea — The Reseda Luteola — Dyer's weed, Weld. See Vitruv., ibid.
6 The annularia of Vitruvius and Pliny.
5 This chapter and the next are certainly translations from some Byzan
tine MS. The term Bisctum, Biseth, occurs frequently. It is a corruption

ERACLIUS DE COLORIBUS ET ARTIBUS ROMANORUM. 251
reddent purpureum colorem. Cuprum adustum fit cerusa. Oster
autem, cujus sanguinem qui pro colore purpurae temperatur,
pluribus locis nascitur, sed optimum in insula Cipri, cum solis
cursum habentur. Concute itaque, cum circumcisae fuerint,
lacrimas in purpureum colorem emittunt, quibus collectis, pur
pureus color temperatur. Hoc autem oster est appellatum,
quod ex humore licetur, qui cito ex salsugine inhaerescit.

LV. [245] De coloribus infectivis, et quomodo fiunt ex diversis
diversimode. — Fiunt etiam purpurei colores, infecta cocta rubea
radice. Similiter ex floribus alii colores inficiuntur. Itaque
(fictores, cum voluerint silvaticum imitari, viola arida in aqua
cum vase ad ignem ponatur, ut ferveat, et decoctam in linteolo
exprimunt, et in mortario cum creta terunt, et faciunt silasa-
cetum colorem. Eadem ratione, vaccinium cum lacte tempe-
rantes, purpureum faciunt eleganter, uti herba quae litea
appellator, succum efficit caeruleum, et utuntur viridissimo
colore. Haec infectiva appellantur, quibus utitur propter in-
opiam colorum simplicium. Simili modo cum in formosam seu
angulariam vitro miscentes, inficiunt ex ea colores.

LVI. [282] De miscendis inter se coloribus pingendo et illumi-
nando, et de modis cum de ipsis implentur opera et matizantur
et inciduntur alter ex alter o.— Azurium misces cum cerosio ;
incides de indico; matizabis de albo plumbo. Vermiculum
purum incides de bruno, aut de sanguine draconis ; matizabis
of Pezzette, the Italian name for those pieces of rag dipped in the juice of
certain plants, which were used in painting, and for other purposes. The
Turks and inhabitants of the Levant still call them " Bezerere Rubre "
(see Pierre Pomet, Histoire Generate des Drogues, Tit. Tornesole). In
the we3t of Europe they were called Bezette or Bezeth. From the term
"Vergaut," which occurs in this recipe, and which appears to signify
" Vert bleu," " blue green," or " Verde azzurro," I should think the trans
lation was by a Frenchman.

252 MANUSCRIPTS OF JEHAN LE BEGUE.
blood ; lay on the lights with orpiment or minium. Also mix
vermilion with white-lead, and make the colour which is called
rosa ; shade with vermilion ; lay on the lights with white [and]
rosa, or with white-lead. Also make a colour with dragon's
blood and orpiment ; shade it with brunum ; lay on the lights
with orpiment. Shade carminium with brunum ; vary with
minium. Shade folium with brunum ; lay on the lights with
bisetum folii. Also mix folium with white ; shade it with
folium ; lay on the lights with white-lead. Shade ochre with
vermilion; lay on the lights with white [and?] ochre. Also
shade ochre with green ; lay on the lights with white. Shade
white with pure minium ; and vary with azure. Shade brunum
with black ; lay on the lights with azure or minium. Also mix
brunum with white, and it will make a beautiful rose colour ;
shade with brunum ; lay on the lights with white or with bise
tum folii. Also mix brunum with minium ; shade with black ;
and lay on the lights with red minium. Mix orpiment with
azure or indigo, or ochre with indigo, or green, and it will be
good " vergaut ;" then vary with brunum or black ; lay on the
lights with orpiment or with bisetum. Shade green with black ;
lay on the lights with bisetum. Mix green with white ; shade
with green ; lay on the lights with white. Shade brunum with
black ; lay on the lights with vergaut or with minium mixed
with brunum. Shade indigo with black ; lay on the lights with
azure, or vergaut, or bisetum. Shade orpiment with vermilion ;
lay on the lights with white [and ?] orpiment. Carminium is
made with white and ochre.
LVII. [283] On colours incompatible with each other. — Now,
if you wish to know which are the colours that are incompatible
with each other, they are these : — Orpiment does not agree with
fobum, or with green, or with minium. Nor does green agree
with folium, namely, in the mixture of the materials of the said
pigments, and in the works in which they are employed together.

ERACLIUS DE COLORIBUS ET ARTIBUS ROMANORUM. 253
de auripigmento aut de minio. Item, vermiculum misce cum
albo plumbo, et facies colorem qui vocatur rosa ; incide de ver
miculo; matizabis de [alba1 rosa, aut de] albo plumbo. Item,
facies eolorem de sanguine draconis et de auripigmento ; incide
de bruno ; matizabis de auripigmento. Carminium incide de
bruno ; de rubeo minio undabis.2 Folium incide de bruno ;
matiza de biseto folii.3 Item, misce folium cum albo ; incide
de folio ; matiza de albo plumbo.4 Ocrum incide de vermi
culo ; matiza de albo ocro. Item, ocrum incide de viride ;
matiza de albo. Album minii purum incide, et undabis simul
de azuro. Brunum incide de nigro ; matiza de azurio vel
minio. Item, misces brunum cum albo, fietque pulcra rosa ;
incide de bruno ; matiza de albo, vel de biseto folii. Item,
brunum misces cum minio ; incides de nigro ; matiza de rubeo
minio. Misce auripigmentum cum azurio vel indico, aut
ocrum cum indico, vel viride, et erit bonum vergaut ; inde de
bruno, aut de nigro, undabis ; auripigmento aut de biseth ma
tizabis. Viride incide de nigro, et matizabis de biseto. Misce
viride cum albo ; incide de viride ; matiza de albo. Brunum
incide de nigro ; matiza de vergaut, aut de minio mixto cum
bruno. Indicum incide de nigro ; matiza de azurio, vel de
vergaut, aut biseth. Auripigmentum incide de vermiculo ;
matiza de albo auripigmento. Carminium fit de albo et ocro.

• LVII. [283] De coloribus sibi contrariis.— Modo si vis scire
qui sunt colores qui sibi invicem alter alteri sunt contrarii, hi sunt.
Auripigmentum non concordat cum folio, nee cum viride, nee
cum minio. Nee viride concordat cum folio, scilicet in mix
turis materiarum ipsorum colorum, et operationibus mixtis
eorum, quae discordantiae non sunt in qualitatibus colorum, nee
1 Ex P. ; in alteris omittitur. 2 Matizabis de rubeo minio. C.
3 De albo plumbo C. " Albo folio P.

254 MANUSCRIPTS OF JEHAN LE BEGUE.
And these discordances are not in the mere [optical qualities of
the pigments, nor in their accidents of colour ; for there are no
colours, or qualities of colours, either simple or mixed, which, as
regards the colour only, do not agree with any other sorts of
colours in mixtures, namely, for composing other different mix
tures ; and you may thus have at pleasure almost innumerable
varieties of colours. But the said discordances are, and are to
be understood as being, in the other natural conditions, incident
to the substance of the said pigments, they being contrary to each
other in such manner that, if they are mixed together, one sub
stance, by a certain natural incompatibiuty, either changes the
other or is changed by it ; and so the quabty and beauty of
the pigments themselves, as well separate as mixed, and their
own substance, and the work done with them, are spoiled and
destroyed. They therefore do not bear to be mixed together ;
and so, in the art of painting, besides the consideration that
is to be had for the varieties of colour, and these and other
things relating to the said art, we must not forget the proper
and necessary considerations, drawn from a true theoretical and
practical knowledge of and acquaintance with the natural con
ditions and contrarieties existing in the materials and liquors of
the said colours, and of the contrarieties of the other things in
cident to that art.
LVIII. [286] Ofthe care which must be taken with regard to
the nature of the colours and of the way of mixing them together,
and qf the method to be observed in shading and laying on the
lights, on which another chapter has been inserted. — If you wish to
know well the natures of the colours, and the mixtures of them, ¦
as whether they are transparent or opaque, give attention to what
follows. And note, that you must shade azure with black ; and
lay on the lights with white lead. Also mix azure with white
lead ; and shade [with azure, and lay on the lights] with white
lead. Shade vermilion with brunum ; and lay on the lights with
orpiment. Also mix vermibon with white lead, and make the
colour which is called rosa ; shade it with vermilion ; lay on the
lights with white lead. Shade orpiment with vermilion, and orpi-

ERACLIUS DE COLORIBUS ET ARTIBUS ROMANORUM. 255
ex accidentibus colorativis eorum ; quia nulli colores, nee co
lorum qualitates, sunt, simplices aut mixtae, quae et qui,
quantum ad colores, non conveniant quibuslibet aliis in mix
turis, ad componendas, scilicet, alias diversas et quasi innume-
rabiles qualitatum varietates ad placitum habebis : sed dictae
discordantiae intelbguntur et sunt, quantum ad ceteras natu-
rales conditiones insistentes in materiis ipsorum colorum in
vicem taliter contrarias, quod, si simul miscentur, una materia,
ex contrarietate quadam naturali alterius, vel alterat alteram,
et altera alteram, et colorum ipsorum qualitas et pulcritudo,
tam distincta quam mixta, necnon eorum materia, et opus ex
ea factum, vastatur et deletur. Igitur mixtiones ad insimul
invicem non tolerant ; et sic non praetermittendum est, quin in
arte pictorial ultra debitas considerationes quantum ad colorum
varietates, ac eorum et aliarum rerum in ipsa arte concurren-
tium differentias, habeantur etiam debite et necessarie consi
derationes, ex vera theorecali vel practicali scientia et cogni-
tione conditionum et contrarietatum naturalium, insistentium
materiis et liquoribus ipsorum colorum, et rerum contrariabbus
in ipsa arte intervenientium.

LVIII. [286] De diligentia qua haberi debet circa naturas
colorum, et de modis miscendi, eos inter se, et incidendi, et mati-
zandi, cum in operibus distinguuntur, ut etiam aliud. capitum de
hoc antepositum est. — Si vis bene scire naturas colorum et mix
tiones eorum, ut hi sunt clari et spissi, diligenter autem intentum
appone. Et nota quod lazurium incides de nigro ; matizabis
autem de albo plumbo. Item, misces lazurium cum albo plumbo
[incides1 de azur, matizabis] de albo plumbo. Vermiculum
incides de bruno ; matizabis auripigmento. Item, miscebis ver
miculum cum albo plumbo, et facies colorem qui/ vocatur rosa ;
incides de vermiculo ; matizabis de albo plumbo. Auripigmen
tum incides de vermiculo ; et illi matizatura non est, quia ster-
corat omnes alios colores. Turn si vis facere gladium viridem,
1 Ex. T. ; et incides P.

256 MANUSCRIPTS OF JEHAN LE BEGUE.
ment has no light tint, because it mars all colours. Then, if
you wish to make lily-green, mix orpiment with indigo; shade it
with black ; lay on . the lights with orpiment. Shade dragon's
blood with black ; lay the lights on with white lead. Also mix
dragon's blood with orpiment ; shade with dragon's blood; lay
on the lights with orpiment. You must shade green with black,
and lay on the lights with white lead. Also mix green with
white lead ; shade with green ; lay on the lights with white lead.
Shade granetum with green ; lay on the lights with white lead.
Shade indigo with azure ; lay on the lights with white lead.
Also mix indigo with white lead ; shade with indigo ; lay on
the lights with white lead. Shade flesh colour with black ; lay
on the lights with white lead. Also mix saffron with white lead ;
shade with saffron ; lay on the lights with white lead. Shade
folium with black; lay on the lights with white lead. Mix
folium with white lead ; shade with folium ; lay on the lights
with white lead. If you wish to make a colour like lily- green,
mix azure with white lead ; shade it with azure ; lay on the
lights with white lead ; and when it is dry, cover it over with
clear saffron. Orpiment does not agree with green, or with
folium, or with red minium, or with white minium, as we have
already said.

ERACLIUS DE COLORIBUS ET ARTIBUS ROMANORUM. 257
auripigmentum misce cum indico ; incides cum nigro ; matiza
bis auripigmento. Sanguinem draconis incides de nigro ; mati
zabis de albo plumbo. Item, misces sanguinem draconis cum
auripigmento ; incides de sanguine draconis ; matizabis de albo
plumbo. Item, misces sanguinem draconis cum auripigmento ;
incides de sanguine draconis ; de auripigmento matizabis. Vi
ride incides de nigro ; matizabis de albo plumbo. Item, misce-
bis viride cum albo plumbo ; incides de viridi ; matizabis de
albo plumbo. Granetum incides de viridi ; matizabis de albo
plumbo. Indicum incides de lazurio ; matizabis de albo plumbo.
Item, misce indicum cum albo plumbo ; incides de indico, ma
tizabis de albo plumbo. Carminum incides de nigro ; mati
zabis de albo plumbo. Item, misces crocum cum albo plumbo ;
fncides de croco ; matizabis de albo plumbo. Folium incides
de nigro ; matizabis de albo plumbo. Misces folium cum
albo plumbo ; incides de folio ; matizabis de albo plumbo.
Si vis facere colorem similem gladio viridi, misce lazurium
cum albo plumbo ; incides de lazurio ; matizabis de albo plumbo ;
et quando fuerit siccus operi de claro croco. Auripigmentum
non concordat cum viridi, nee cum folio, nee cum rubeo minio,
nee cum albo minio, ut antea jam dictum est.

VOL. I.

( 258 )

THE FOLLOWING IS
A TREATISE UPON COLOURS
OF VARIOUS KINDS.
AND FIKST
THE INTRODUCTION.
290. In the year of the Circumcision of Christ 1398,
on Sunday, the 28th day of July, John Archerius
wrote and noted down, at Paris, the following chapters
concerning colours for painting, according to the words
and instructions given him by Jacob Cona, a Flemish
painter then residing at Paris, who, as he said, had
himself tried, and used, during the whole period of his
life, the recipes contained in the following pages.
And afterwards in the month of December, in the
year of Christ 1411, the said John, more than a year
after his return from Lombardy, corrected them in se
veral places, according to various information which he
had since received, both from other authentic books
relating to such things, and otherwise ; and which he
copied fairly as follows : —
291. For laying gold in different ways upon various articles
so that it may be burnished, and the cautions to be observed
concerning this in painting. — For laying gold on parchment,1
1 Carta et papiro. It is difficult to translate these words accurately :
there is no doubt that in this sentence carta means parchment, which
would otherwise be omitted in enumerating the substances on which
gold was laid. Papirus also may be understood to mean paper, since
cotton and linen paper were both in use at this time. The next time the
author mentions the word " carta" he explicitly speaks of that kind called

( 239 )

DE COLORIBUS DIYERSIS MODIS TRACTATUR
IN SEQUENTIBUS.

ET PKIMO
MODUS PROHEMII.

290. Anno circumcisionis Christi 1398 die dominicae
28 Julii, Johannes Archerius scripsit et notavit in
Parisiis sequentia capitula de coloribus ad pingendum,
per verba et signamenta quae sibi dixit Jacobus Cona
flamingus pictor commorans tunc Parisiis, qui toto tem
pore suo ut dixerat temptaverat et usus fuerat ipsemet
de contentis in sequentibus. Et post ea anno Christi
1411 de mense decembris, idem Johannes reversus de
partibus Lombardiae jam per plusquam unum annum,
correxit ea in pluribus locis secundum plures informa-
tiones, quas inde postea per ceteros libros autentiquos
de talibus narrantes et aliter habuerat, et ad nettum
rescripsit ut sequitur.

291. Ad ponendum aurum burniendum super diversis diverse
mode et de cautelis habendis circa hoc pingendo. — Ad ponendum
aurum in carta, papiro, tela linea ; sindone, et in ligneis tabulis
"parchment" (pergamenum), of the clippings of which, he adds, the size
might be made. In the earlier part of this MS. I have translated the word
" carta" always by " parchment," but it appears that it was also applied to
paper at this period, 1382 — 1411.
The exact date when the Egyptian paper, made of the papirus, fell into
disuse in Europe is not known, but it appears from the testimony of Eusta-
s2

260 MANUSCRIPTS OF .TEHAN LE BEGUE.
paper, linen cloth, sindone,1 and on primed wooden panels,
which gold may be burnished, that is polished. Take the white
gersa, which is otherwise called white chalk, which is found
in abundance at Bologna and at Paris ; and a little Armenian
bole, in quantity about one-fourth of the chalk, or a little crocus,
which is commonly called saffron. This Armenian bole and
this saffron are not added because they cannot be omitted with
out great inconvenience by any one who wishes to do so, but
merely that the colour may not be white, but yellowish or
reddish ; and not for any other reason than this, namely, that
when it is laid upon the paper, it may differ from the whiteness
of the paper, and thus the things which are made of it are
better seen than they would be if the colour of it was white
like that paper which is called parchment. Grind all these
things very fine upon a hard stone, well polished, and broad,
with another stone to be held in the hand, polished in the same
manner with clear water from a well or a spring, and let the
chius, the learned commentator on Homer, that it was no longer in use in
his time, 1170.
The invention of paper made from cotton is believed to have occurred in
Greece in the tenth century. The most ancient MS. that Montfaucon saw
on this paper, with the date, was written a.d. 1050.
Theophilus, lib. i. c. xxiii., mentions " pergamenum gracam qua fit ex
lana ligni." This is the reading of Raspe, from a MS. of the thirteenth
century, and may certainly be understood to apply to the cotton paper made
in Greece, which was called by the Italians " Carta Bambagina ;" but the
copy of the MS. of Theophilus, which formed part of the MS. of Le Begue,
which is of the fifteenth century, and which is in his hand-writing, instead
of " ligni," has the words " lini id est papirum." Le Begue then may be
considered to have understood this passage, if indeed he did not interpolate
the words " id est papirum," as applying to paper made of rags or linen.
We may therefore, I think, consider that, where papirus is used in the MS.
of Jehan Le Begue, paper made of rags is meant.
I am the more strongly inclined to this opinion, because the author of the
article ' Paper ' in the ' Encyclopaedia Britannica,' quoting the work of the
Abbe" Andrez, published at Parma in 1782, entitled ' Dell' Origine, Pro-
gressi, e Stato attuale d'Ogni Letteratura,' says that paper made from silk
was anciently fabricated in China, and that the art of making this paper was

1 Sindone, a kind of very fine linen, such as cambric or lawn.

ALCHERIUS DE COLORIBUS DIVERSIS, ETC. 261
dealbatis, quod aurum burniatur, id est, poliri possit. Accipe
gersam albam quas aliter dicitur creta alba de qua habundanter
reperitur bononia et Parisiis? et accipe parum bularmenii circa
quantitatem quartae partis cretae, vel parum croci, qui vulgariter
dicitur safran et qui bularmenius et saffranus non ponuntur
quia non possunt absque magno inconvenienti dimitti qui vult,
sed ponuntur solum ut ipse color non sit albus sed sit croceus
vel rubescens et non per alia causa, ad hoc quod dum ponitur in
opere super cartam quae differenciet ab albedine cartas et quod
per hoc melius videantur quas fiunt de ipso quod videri possent
si ipse color esset albus ut est carta quas dicitur pergamenum.
Et ea omnia tere valde subtiliter super lapidem durum bene
¦politum et latum et cum alio lapide manuali similiter polito,
vfz. cum aqua clara putei vel fontis et fiat tempera seu color
qui in gallico dicitur assiete, quas postea si vis tamen antequam
penitus siccet, dum tamen induratus jam sit, quia postquam
siccus sit potes distemperare cum aqua colata, ex cola facta de
carried from China to Persia about the year 652, and to Mecca in 706.
The Arabs substituted cotton, the production of their own country, for silk,
and introduced the paper into Spain. The Spaniards, from the quantity of
linen to be found in the kingdom of Valencia, seem first to have adopted
the idea of using linen rags, and the most ancient paper of this kind is that
of Valencia and Catalonia. From Spain it passed into France, as may be
learned from a letter of Joinville to St. Louis about 1260. It is discovered
to have been in Germany in 1312, and in England in 1320. In consequence
of the paper made from cotton in the Levant, the paper from linen was
introduced much later in Italy. " Carta Bambagina " is frequently men
tioned in the MS. of Cennino Cennini, written at Florence in 1437, and it
is still made in the Levant.
The precise period of the introduction of paper made from rags into
France and Italy is not known, but Montfaucon could find no book on this
paper antecedent to the death of St. Louis.
We may then conclude, that during the time of Jehan Le Begue, paper
made from linen rags was used in France and Germany, and that in Italy
paper was made from cotton, while parchment, which had become scarce,
was employed occasionally throughout. Europe.
It will be observed that in the following chapters Alcherius writes " per-
gamena seu carla." 1 Sic sublin. in MS., sed in atramcnto recenlori.

262 MANUSCRIPTS OF JEHAN LE BEGUE.
mixture or colour be made, which in French is called assiete?
which you may afterwards, if you like, before it is quite
dry, but after it has set, distemper with glue water, made
with glue from cuttings of the white leather of which gloves
are made. Clippings of parchment also are good for this pur
pose, but the cuttings of. the white leather make the glue
stronger. Lastly, let the size, or sized water, be warm ; I say
warm, lest it may be conglutinated, because if the size is as it
ought to be, when it is cold it will be congealed like jelly for
galantina [brawn] not very hard, and this on account of the
glue which is made to enter into the water by the decoction of
the cuttings of leather or of parchment in that water, which is
congealed by cold. And therefore summer weather is very
convenient for this, both because it does not allow the colour to
congeal or chill, and because it makes the colour dry quickly
when it is laid on. And with this warm size, you must, as has
been said before, distemper the said powdered colour or tem
pering for laying on gold, so that it may be soft and liquid like
good ink for writing, or as it may seem convenient. Having
done this, write, draw, and fill in or paint whatever you wish
with it, and rather with a paintbrush than a pen, because if it
were done with a pen, and were to become chilled in the pen, it
would not flow so well as with a paintbrush ; moreover, when
using a paintbrush, the colour may be held in the hand, which,
by its warmth or heat, will not allow it to congeal ; this, how
ever, can also be done well with a pen, but a paintbrush is
much more convenient. And, in painting with a pen, as well
as with a paintbrush, it is a good thing to keep the colour over
a slow fire of charcoal, at such a warmth, that it may not con
geal, but may remain liquid. Afterwards let those things dry
which you have drawn and painted, and when they are dry
burnish them, that is, polish or smooth them gently with a tooth
of a horse or a boar, or with a polished hard stone fitted for this
purpose, in order that all the roughness may be softened down,
1 Hence our terms " size " and " gold size."

ALCHERIUS DE COLORIBUS DIVERSIS, ETC. 263
inciseriis corii albi de quo fiunt chirothecae, et minutiae perga-
menorum etiam sunt bonae ad hoc, sed meliores sunt dictse
incisae corii albi quia faciunt colam firmiorem ; denue cola seu
aqua colata sit tepida, dico tepida ne sit conglutinata quod si
ipsa aqua sit qualis debet esse cum ipsa erit frigida erit con-
gelata in modum gelii galantinae non multum duri, et hoc
causa colae in ipsa aqua insertae ex decoctione dictarum minu-
tiarum corii vel pergameni facta in ipsa aqua, quae per frigidum
congelatur. Ideo tempus aestatis in hoc multum prodest, tam
quod non permittit colorem congelari neque frigidari quam
quia facit colorem cito siccari cum positus est in opere. Et de
ipsa aqua colata tepida debes ut dictum est distemperare dic
tum colorem tritum seu temperamentum ad ponendum aurum
taliter quod sit mollis et liquidus quantum est bonum incaustum
ad scribendum, vel ut conveniens videbitur. Et hoc facto
scribe pertrahe et imple seu pinge quae vis ex eo, et potius
cum pincello quam cum calamo, quod si fieret cum calamo et
infrigidaretur in calamo, non tam bene curreret sicut facit cum
pincello ; ac etiam operando cum pincello potest ipse color ex
tendi super manum, quae pro tepiditate sua seu caliditate non
permittit ipsum colorem congelari, quod tamen potest etiam
bene fieri cum calamo sed multo melius pincello convenit. Et
operando tam cum calamo quam cum pincello, bonum est quod
color ipse teneatur cum lento igne carbonum in tali tepiditate,
quod non possit conglutinari, sed stet liquidus ; et postea di
mitte sigcari ex quae scripseris pinxeris et protaxeris [protraxeris]
et quando siccati fuerint, burnias, id est polias seu lisses leni-
ter cum dente equi vel apri, vel cum lapide duro polito ad hoc
apto, ut adsequentur omnes scabrositates in ipsis praecipue locis
in quibus ipsam assisam seu colorem posuisti, deinde rettera et
adhuc in ipsis locis repone pinge et pertrahe tanquam prius
cum ipso colore et postea permitte siccari et adhuc polies et
burnias ut prius. Postea vero tertia reponas et repinge ea
ipsa quae prius de eadem assisia seu colore, sed fac quod ista

264 MANUSCRIPTS OF JEHAN LE BEGUE.
particularly in those places in which you have put this size or
colour. Then grind some more, and again paint over and
draw upon those same places, with this colour, as before, and
afterwards let it dry, and then polish and burnish it as before.
Afterwards go over and repaint those places which you did
before, with the same mordant or colour, but let this third and
last coat of colour be tempered with white of egg whipped or
beaten, so as to be liquid and without any particles con-
glutinated or adhering together ; because this white of egg
makes a size or vehicle sufficiently strong to hold the gold
for burnishing and to resist the shaking and violence of the
friction and rubbing the burnisher over the gold. Then, before
the colour on the places in which you put it, is dry. apply the
gold quickly, and allow it to dry, and afterwards burnish all
these things with the same tooth, stone, or other instrument,
you used before as above mentioned, but first pressing lightly
and drawing the burnisher over the gold ; then rather harder,
and afterwards harder still, particularly on parchment, paper,
and panels ; but on cloth and sindone not pressing so hard, and
taking great care lest what has been done should crumple up
and be broken, and so those things which you drew and painted,
and upon which you laid the gold, will remain clean and
polished ; and the forms and lines made with this colour will
remain brightly gilt.
But it must be observed, that on parchment, paper, and
panels it is sufficient for the said colour to be put on once only,
tempered with size, and afterwards, for the last coat, with white
of egg, provided that it is laid on well the first time when tem
pered with size. But on cloth or sindone it is more necessary
that this colour should be laid on twice, while tempered with
size, before it is put on for the last coat tempered with white of
egg. And this is because sindone and cloth, owing to their
porosity, are too absorbent, flowing, flexible, and unstable, and
therefore soak up the colour, so that there does not remain a
good and firm substance of colour upon the cloth or sindone,
unless, as useful experience tells us, it is laid on several times.

ALCHERIUS DE COLORIBUS DIVERSIS, ETC. 265
tertia et ultima vice temperatus sit ipse color de clara ovi
spongiata aut verberata, ita quod sit liquida absque aliquibus
partibus conglutinatis et sibi adhaerentibus quia ipsa clara ovi
facit ipsam assisiam seu temperam fortem satis ad tenendum
aurum ad burnissionem et ad strepitum et violentiam fricationis
et deductionis ipsius super ipso auro. Et tunc velociter ante
quam siccetur color in locis in quibus posueris, pone sursum
aurum et sic permitte siccari, et postea ea omnia burnias cum
eodem dente lapide vel alio instrumento quo prius ut supra,
sed primo leniter premendo et trahendo burnissorem desuper
aurum, postea aliquantulum fortius, et postea adhuc fortius,
praacipue in carta papiro et tabulis, sed in telis et sindone non
tam fortiter et cum majori studio ne plicetur et diripietur quod
factum est, et sic remanebunt quae pertraxeris de ipso colore
pinxeris et auro ut dictum est posueris purgata polita et ex
ipsa deauratura lucida juxta formas et pertractiones ex dicto
colore factas.
Sed notandum est, quod in carta, papiro, et tabulis, sufficere
quod ponatur dictus color solum una vice, temperatus cum
cola et postea ultima vice cum clara ovi, dum bene ponatur ad
primam vicem cum cola temperatus. Sed in tela et sindone
magis est necesse poni bis, primo cum cola temperatus ipse
color, antequam ultima vice ponatur temperatus cum claro
ovi etc., et hoc quod sindon et tela, pro raritatibus eorum sunt
nimis labiles, decurrentes, flexibiles, et instabiles ; et ideo
bibunt colorem ipsum nisi pluries, prout expediens experientia
doceat, reponatur ita quod in superficie telae vel sindonis non
remanet bene valida substantia . coloris ; neque etiam dicta
flexibilitas et ductibilitas ipsorum, sindonis et telae, per ali-
quem alium modum corrigi potest, et ad stabilitatem quandam,
quam illis ex hoc causa viscositatis et tenacitatis colae infertur
reduci potest. Ideo haberi debet etiam advertentia, quod si
tempus sit ventosum, impedit, nisi ponens aurum sit in loco
recluso ; et si aer sit nimis siccum, color non bene capit aurum ;
et si nimis humidum, color non tenere potest aurum ad bur
nissorem. Et provideatur etiam quod tela et sindon cum ca-

266 MANUSCRLPTS OF JEHAN LE BEGUE.
And this flexibility and instability of the cloth or sindone can
be corrected and reduced to firmness in no other way than by
the tenacity and viscosity of the glue laid over them for this
purpose. And therefore care must be taken as regards the
situation, because windy weather is a hindrance, unless the
gilder is in a closed place ; and if tbe air is too dry, the colour
does not take the gold well ; and, if too wet, the colour cannot
hold the gold under the burnisher. Care must also be taken
that the linen or sindone which is chosen for this purpose be
well woven and strong, and as close in the texture as pos
sible. The colour itself ought not to be apphed too thick or
too cold, lest by the curve made in folding them the colour
should scale off and fall away along with the gold ; particularly
under the stroke of the burnisher, while the gold upon it, as
has been already mentioned, is being burnished ; and so your
labour should be thrown away. And even supposing that the
cloth, sindone, paper, or parchment, on which gold has been
laid in the manner hereinbefore described, should be folded into
slight creases, as frequently happens spontaneously and by
chance, and unless they are folded and rubbed together, crack
ing the priming by violent and voluntary force, the gold will
not fall off or start from the places in which it was laid.
292. For laying on gold in various ways, and upon various
articles, when it is not to be burnished. — For laying gold on
parchment, paper, cloth, and sindone, with size alone, or with a
mordant tempered with size, and this by a short and quick me
thod, but so that it ought not, nor can be burnished, particu
larly on cloth and sindone, which, on account of their flexibility,
instability, softness, and porosity, can ill bear the stroke and pres
sure of the burnisher, nor can they stand it so that the gold will
not be spoiled in burnishing ; and also because the size which is to
be used for laying on the gold, or for tempering the colour on
which the gold is to be laid, is not strong enough to hold the
gold against the stroke of the burnisher, as white of egg would
be, if it were tempered with white of egg. Take the glue with
which bows and spears are glued, and put it to soak in cold

ALCHERIUS DE COLORIBUS DIVERSIS, ETC. 267
piuntur pro operando sint bene texti et fortes, et minus rari in
eorum textura quam possunt. Sed neque etiam debet ipse
color esse nimis grossus seu spissus et frigidus, ne ex ductu
plicationum contingentium eis, ut necessario convenit, cadat et
resiliat color cum auro, et specialiter ad strepitus burnissoris,
quando aurum desuper, ut dictum est, burnitur, et quod sic
opus perdatur. Et dato quod tela, sindon, papirus, et carta in
quibus positum erit aurum modo quo dictum est complicentur
ahquantum in rugas sicut a casu per se accidit, dum modo
non violento et voluntario rigore confringendo plicentur et
fricentur, aurum tamen non cadit nee resilit a locis in quibus
positum est.

292. Ad ponendum aurum diversi mode super diversis, quod
non burniatur. — Ad ponendum aurum in carta, papiro, tela et
in sindone cum cola tantum vel cum colore de cola temperato
et hoc brevi modo et veloci, quod burniri non debeat, nee pos-
sit, praecipue in tela et sindone qui pro eorum flexibilitate duc-
tibilitate mollitie et raritate strepitum et impressionem burnis
soris male sustinent nee possint pati quin burniendo aurum dele-
retur, et etiam quia cola imponenda ad ponendum aurum vel ad
temperandum colorem, de quo poni debet, non est fortis ad tenen
dum aurum ad strepitum burnissoris ut esset clara ovi si de clara
ovi distemperetur. Accipe colam de qua colantur arcus et hastaa
et pone ad distemperandum in aqua frigida, et quum est bene
mollis pone ipsam in vase cum circa totidem de dicta aqua, quo-
tidem debito respecta est colla et non plus, et pone ad ignem

268 MANUSCRIPTS OF JEHAN LE BEGUE.
water, and when it is well softened put it into a vase with about
an equal quantity of the said water, that is, as much as the glue
requires, and no more, and put it on the fire so as not to boil,
but only keep hot, until the glue is dissolved in the water, or is
melted, and incorporated with the water. And having done
this, not allowing the glue to cool, but keeping it at a moderate
heat with a slow fire, for fear it should be congealed, so that it
could not be used, write and draw whatever you wish with this
glue, upon a linen or other cloth, or upon sindone, or even on
parchment, or paper, with a soft pen, or a small paintbrush
of hogs' bristles, which brush must be obtuse, that is, must
have short bristles which are stiff or hard, that is to say,
like those which are used to mark the canvass upon bales
of goods with ink ; and write, fill in, or paint, and draw any
letters or other broad designs, whatever they may be, with the
said stiff and blunt paintbrush. But if you are working on fine
cloths or sindone, and on parchment and paper, it is better for
the paintbrush to be made of the hairs of the tails of minever,
blunt or pointed as you see best, according to the nature of the
work you have to do. When you have done this, leave it to
dry, and afterwards with the same glue go again over those things
which were drawn before, particularly on cloth and sindone,
which usually absorb the first coat of size so strongly, that
scarcely any of it remains upon the surface to hold the gold
which is to be laid on them. It is therefore proper to lay it on
twice, if it should seem necessary; afterwards at the last coat,
before tbe letters and drawings are dry, apply the gold and
allow them to dry. And know, that if the cloth, sindone, paper,
and parchment, on which the gold is laid in the above men
tioned manner, are folded into a crease, and rubbed, as some
times happens accidentally, and not by violent and voluntary
force, yet the gold laid on in this manner will not fall off, or be
spoiled. This is because the size, with which the gold is laid
on, or with which the mordant is tempered, if a mordant is
used, makes the mordant itself less rigid and more flexible and
yielding, by reason of its soft condition and nature, than the
white of egg, which is firmer and stiffer.

ALCHERIUS DE COLORIBUS DIVERSIS, ETC. 269
ita quod non bulliat sed solum calefiat, usque ad hoc quod colla
fundatur in aqua seu sit liquefacta et incorporata cum aqua.
Et hoc facto, non permittendo infrigidari colam, sed tenendo
ipsam ad temperatam caliditatem cum lento igne, ne congluti-
netur, ita quod de ipsa possit operari, scribe et pertrahe quod
vis de ipsa cola super telam lineam vel aliam, vel super sindo-
nem, aut etiam super papirum, aut pergamenum, seu cartam
cum calamo non duro vel cum pincello parvo setarum porci, qui
pincellus sit obtusus, id est, babeat setas curtas ut sint rigidae
seu durae, viz., sicut sunt pincelli ad signandum balas mercium
super earum cavenatiis [canevatiis ?] cum incausto ; et scribe,
imple, seu pinge et pertrahe, quascumque literas et alias per-
tractiones grossas, quaeque sint, fac cum dicto pincello sic rigido
et obtuso. Sed si operaris in telis subtilibus ; vel in sindone, et in
carta, aut in papiro, melius est quod pincellus sit de pilis cau-
darum vayrorum, obtusus vel acutus secundum quod videbis
magis convenire juxta qualitatem operum faciendorum. Et
hoc facto dimittas siccari, postea de eadem cola rescribe et re-
imple iterum semel, et repertrahe quae pertracta jam fuerant ;
specialiter super telam et sindonem qua? solent lambere tam
fortiter primam colam, quod de ipsa quasi nil remanet in super-
ficie eorum quo possit aurum desuper ponendum teneri. Ideo
advertatur de ponendo vis si necesse videatur, et postea, ad
ultimam vicem, antequam siccentur literae et pertractiones pone
aurum desuper et dimitte siccari. Et scias, quod dato quod
tela, sindon, papirus, et carta, ubi positum erat aurum modo
supradicto, complicentur in rigam et fricentur sicut accidit a
casu, et non cum rigore violento et voluntario, tamen aurum
illo modo positum, non cadit, seu non vastatur, etiam quia cola
qua positum est aurum, vel qua temperatus est color de quo
positum est aurum si de colore ponatur, reddit colorem ipsum
magis flexibilem, non rigidum, et consentientem contingentibus
flexionibus ex sua moUi conditione et natura, quam facit clara
ovi quae fortior et rigidior est.

270 MANUSCRIPTS OF JEHAN LE BEGUE.
293. A good rose colour for linen cloth, sindone, parch
ment, or paper, and primed panels, is made in this way. —
Take brasilium rasped or scraped with a knife, or with glass,
pounded in a mortar ; but it is much better to have it scraped ;
then let it be put with a httle raw alum in powder into a
ley, or into urine. Then make it boil for a long time over
a charcoal fire, not a wood fire, lest by chance the smoke,
which the wood makes, should spoil the colour. Afterwards
let it be strained through a linen cloth, retaining in the
cloth the substance of the wood brasilium, lest it should be
mixed with the colour that is to be made, and then let it be put
into a glazed jar with white chalk or gersa [gesso], in powder,
or with powdered bracha [biacha — biacca], which is otherwise
called white lead, otherwise ceruse, otherwise Spanish white ;
and let it be allowed to incorporate with the said chalk or ceruse.
Next let it be ground altogether upon a hard stone without add
ing water or urine, on the contrary, keeping it as little liquid,
i.e., as thick as it can be ground ; and although it should be less
liquid than it was at the beginning before it was ground, and
yet not sufficiently thickened in the grinding, because the water
of the ley or the urine had not been sufficiently poured off or
dried ; let the colour be put to dry upon a hollow stone of chalk
or gersa, or upon a concave brick made of clay, and baked, in
the furnace, which will immediately absorb the moisture of the
ley, so that the colour remains suddenly almost dry, i.e., inspis
sated. Afterwards let the colour be put away ; and when it
is necessary to use it, take whatever is wanted of it and
temper it with white of egg, or with gum water made of gum
arabic, in the way cinnabar is used. But if it is used with
white of egg, it shines where it is used, and is more beauti
ful. And write and draw and paint with this colour what
ever is. wanted on parchment, and primed panels, as well
with the pen as with the paintbrush. And the less ceruse
or chalk there is in it the darker will be the colour ; and so,
on the other hand, the more there is of it the lighter the colour
will be.

ALCHERIUS DE COLORIBUS DIVERSIS, ETC. 271
293. Color rosoe bonus in tela linea, sindone, papiro, perga
meno, seu carta et in tabulis dealbatis fit hoc modo. — Accipe bri-
silium raspatum seu rasum cum cultello vel cum vitro aut pis-
tum in mortario, sed multo melius tamen est habere rasum ;
deinde cum pauco aluminis crudi pulverizati ponatur in lexivio
vel in urina hominis ebriatoris quae optima est, et melior est
Vetera et diu facta quam nova. Et fac bullire diu ad ignem
carbonum ; non lignorum, ne fumus quem ligna faciunt vastet
colorem. Et postea coletur dictus color ita callidus jDer telam
lineam, dimittendo in tela substanciam ligni brisilii ne immis-
ceatur colori faciendae, postea ponatur in vase vitreato cum
creta seu gersa alba pulverizata vel cum bracha pulverizata
quae aliter dicitur album plumbum aliter cerusa, atque
» aliter album Hispaniae, et dimittatur incorporari cum ipsa
creta vel cerosio. Et postea teratur totum simul super lapi
dem durum absque addendo aquam nee urinam ymo minus
liquidum, i. e., magis spissum quam teri poterit vel possit ;
deinde si minus liquidus erit quam sic esset a principio ante
quam tereretur, et quod terendo non satis inspissatus fuerit,
quod aquositas lexivii vel urinae non erat satis comminuta et
desiccata ponatur ad siccandum super concava lapide creta; vel
gersae aut super latere concavo facto de terra et cocto in fornace,
qui subito bibunt humiditatem lexivii taliter quod remanet color
subito quasi siccus, viz., inspissatus. Postea reponatur et quando
oportet operari accipiant de illo quantum necesse sit, et distem-
peretur cum clara ovi vel cum aqua gummata de gummi arabico
ut distemperatur cinobrium. Sed si distemperatur cum claro
ovi, relucet cum in opere est, et pulcrior est. Et scribantur
ex eo et pertrahantur ac pingantur in carta in papiro et in tabu
lis dealbatis de ipso colore, quae velint tam cum calamo quam
cum pincello. Et quanto erit in ipso minus de cerusa aut de
creta, tanto erit color plus obscurus ; et quanto plus, sic con-
verso magis clarus.

272 MANUSCRIPTS OF JEHAN LE BEGUE.
294. A blue colour, that is, azure, which is not ultramarine,
nor is it so beautiful, but which is good on linen, sindone,
parchment, or paper, and primed panels, that is panels covered
with gersa. — Take fine indigo, which is called by the name
of Bagadel, and Spanish white, otherwise called ceruse or
blacha, and mix both together, and grind them on a hard
stone, with white of egg beaten and mixed with pure water, or
with gum water, made with gum Arabic, and in the manner in
which sinobrium, that is, sinopis is ground when alone. When
it is ground, temper it in a shell or a horn with the clear part
of beaten white of egg, not mixed with water, as has been
already directed for the rose colour, and write or draw what
ever you want with this colour. This is the way in which it
must be made if you wish to use it immediately. But if you
do not want this colour for immediate use, but wish to keep it,
you must not add any egg or gum water to it when you grind
it on the stone, but only mix it with pure and clean water ; and
when it is ground up with water, let it dry up or inspissate
upon a brick of baked clay, or a hollow stone of white chalk,
which immediately absorbs the moisture in such a manner, that
the colour remains thickened and like juice, and afterwards
allow it to dry completely in the shade, or in the sun, and put
it away and preserve it. And when you wish to use it, take
some of it and temper it in a shell or a horn, with white of egg
not mixed with water, or even with the said gum water, and
make it of a reasonable and moderate softness or liquidity, ac
cording to what is required for the work you intend to do with
it, and just as you would do with sinopis. And the lighter or
less dark you require it, the more blacha or ceruse you must
mix with it ; and, on the other hand, the darker you wish it,
the less you must put of the said ceruse, that is, white-lead,
that is to say, while you are grinding the colour upon the
stone. 295. To make letters of a green colour, and to draw and
paint all other things on linen, parchment, or paper, primed
panels, and sindone. — Take fine indigo, called Bagadel, and

ALCHERIUS DE COLORIBUS DIVERSIS. 273
294. Color blauetus id est celestis, qui non est de lazurio, nee
tam pulcher, et est bonus in tela linea, sindone, papiro, perga
meno seu carta et in tabulis dealbatis, id est gersatis. — Accipe
Indicum finum qui cognomine bagadellus vocatur, et de albo
hispania? aliter cerusium vel blacham, et misce ambo simul et
tere super lapidem durum cum claro ovi spongiato et mixto
aqua clara, aut cum aqua gummata de gummi arabico, et ad
modum quo teritur sinobrium solum, id est sinopis ; et post
quam erit tritum, distempera in conchilla vel in cornato cum
claro ovi spongia liquidato, non mixtum aqua ut dictum est
antea de colore rosae, et scribe et pertrahe quae vis cum ipso
colore. Et hie est modus quo fieri debet, volendo ipsum de
prasenti ponere in opere. Sed si non vis ipsum colorem de
praesenti ponere in opere et quod velis ipsum servare, debes
isto modo nullum ovum nee aquam gummatum ponere quum
ipsum teris super lapidem, ymo solum ponas de aqua munda
pura et simplici, et cum tritum sit cum aqua, fac ipsum siccari
vel inspissari super later em terrae coctum aut super later em
coctae albae concavum qui subito bibit humiditatem aquae taliter,
quod remanet color subito inspissatus et quasi succus ; et postea
desiccari penitus permittas ad umbram aut ad solem et repone
et serva. Et cum vis operari accipe de ipso et distempera in
conchilla vel in corneto cum claro ovi non mixto aqua, vel
etiam mixto vel cum dicta aqua gummata, et fac ipsum de ra-
tionabili et moderata mollitie, seu liquidate secundum quod
requiritur in faciendo ea quae vis de ipso facere et sicut de sino-
pide faceres. Et quanto vis clariorem seu minus obscurum,
tanto pone plus de blacha seu cerosio ; et e converso, quanto vis
magis obscurum, pone minus de dicto cerosio, id est de albo
plumbo, scilicet quando teres ipsum colorem super lapidem.

295. Adfaciendum literas viridis coloris et ad protrahendum
et pingendum omnia alia in tela in papiro in carta seu perga
meno in tabulis ligneis dealbatis et in sindone. — Accipe Indicum
vol. i. T

274 MANUSCRIPTS OF JEHAN LE BEGUE.
orpiment, and mix and grind them together upon a hard stone
with clear water from a well or a spring, and it will be a green
colour, and the lighter you require it, the more orpiment
you must add ; and the darker you require it, the less orpiment
you must put, and the more indigo. When you have ground
it very fine, let it dry ; and if it is put upon a stone of white
chalk, that is gersa, or upon a clay brick baked in the furnace,
and concave so that it may hold the colour, the moisture will
directly dry up or be absorbed into the stone, and the colour
itself will remain hard and thick, and you may then allow it to
dry by itself, and when it is dry, put it away and keep it. And
when you wish to use it, take as much as you want of it, and
put it into a horn, or into a shell which is found in fresh water,
or even a sea-shell that is fit for this purpose, and temper it
with white of egg, or with gum water, as is done -with sinopis,
and with it write and draw whatever you like, in the same
manner as is done with vermilion or sinopis. But if, omitting
and not putting the indigo, you mix fine ultramarine with the
said orpiment instead of indigo, you will have a much finer
green. 296. To prepare parchment, or paper, primed panels,
and linen, so that you may be able to draw upon them in black,
with a pencil or stile of gold, silver, bronze, or brass, as is done
upon panels of boxwood whitened or covered with bone or stag's-
horn burnt and whitened in the fire. — Take bones of any animal
or bird, or stag's-horn, which is better, and. burn it, and make
it white and friable and soft by long and violent boiling, and
afterwards grind it upon a hard stone with pure water. Then
put it on a brick of baked clay or of white chalk, that the
moisture may enter into it, and that the bone may remain
thickened and almost dry. Remove it from the stone, and
burn it a second time in a charcoal fire, and make it perfectly
white and fine in a crucible in which silver or gold is usually
melted, and afterwards, that it may be made still more fine
and white, grind it a second time upon a stone with water,
in the same way as you did before ; and then if you wish to use

ALCHERIUS DE COLORIBUS DIVERSIS. 275
finum quod bagadellum nominatur, et auripigmentum, et misce
et tere simul super lapidem durum, cum aqua putei vel fontis
clara et erit color viridis. Et quanto volueris ipsum magis
clarum, pone magis de auripigmento. Et quanto magis obscu
rum pone minus de dicto auripigmento et plus de Indico. Et
cum tritus sit valde subtiliter, pone ad siccandum, et si po
natur super lapidem album creta? i. e. gersae aut super laterem
de terra coctum in fornace et concavum ita quod capax sit
coloris, subito aquositas siccabitur seu intrabit in ipso lapide et
color remanebit durus et spissus, et postea permittas per se
siccari et cum siccus sit repone et serva. Et quando vis de
ipso operari, accipe quantum vis de ipso et pone in cornu vel
in conchilla quae reperitur in aquis dulcibus vel etiam in mari
*apta ad hoc et distempera cum claro ovi, aut cum aqua gum
mata ut fit sinopis, et de iUo scribe pinge et pertrahe quae vis
ut fit de vermiculo seu sinopide. Sed si cum dicto auropig-
mento, loco Indici, praemisso Indico et non posito, misceris
finum azurium multo pulcriorem viridem habebis.

296. Ad aptandum papirum, et pergamenum, seu cartam, ta
bulas ligneas et telam, modo quo possis super ipsas protraliere
nigro, cum grossio seu stilo auri, argenti, latonis, vel ceris, sicut
super tabulas busuli dealbatas seu intinctas cum osse vel cornu
cervi combusto et dealbato in igne. — Accipe de osse cujusvis ani
malis vel avis, aut de cornu cervi, quod melius est, et arde
illud et albifica et tritibilem et dulcem facies longa et forti de
coctione, postea tere super duro lapide cum aqua clara ; postea
pones super latere terrae coctae, aut cretae albae, ut in ipso
entret humiditas et inspissetur et remaneat ut quasi siccum :
postea eleva a lapide, et iterum in ignem carbonem secundo
decoque et perfectissime albifica et subtilem facies illud in cru-
sihulo in quo solet fondi argentum vel aurum ; postea ut iterum
magis subtilietur et dealbetur, tere illud secundo super lapidem
cum aqua ut prius feceras ; deinde si prompte vis operare, de
ipso distempera quantum velis in conchilla vel in scutella figuli
t 2

276 MANUSCRIPTS OF JEHAN LE BEGUE.
it immediately, wet up as much of it as you require in a shell
or a glazed earthen jar, with size made from glue or from clip
pings of white leather or parchment, and which must be of a
moderate consistence and warmth. Having done this as di
rected, paint or draw with it, with a broad paint-brush, upon
paper which has been polished with a boar's tooth. Also lay
it over parchment, cloth, sindone, and wooden panels, and
permit it to dry. And then, if the first coat is not sufficient for
it (which may be known by drawing on it with a stile of brass,
or bronze, or copper, or still better of silver, and seeing whether
it makes black marks or not), you must give it another coat of
the said bone-dust, keeping it warm in the vase in which it
stands over a slow fire, particularly in winter, lest it should be
congealed by the cold, on account of the glue with which it is
mixed, which hardens with cold ; afterwards let it dry, and try
it again by drawing upon it with a stile as before. And so you
must apply this bone or horn as many times as you see neces
sary, though it is true that the second coat usually suffices,
and frequently the first. Aud note, that if you wish the paper,
after it is thus painted, to be very smooth and polished and with
out any inequalities or roughnesses, that it may be better to
draw upon, you must polish and burnish it, holding it under
another paper not painted on, upon which you must rub a boar's
tooth, or a hard and polished stone, or any other instrument fit
for burnishing. And know, that if you wish to make this pre
paration of various colours, it is necessary, while grinding the
horn or bone upon the said stone, and wetting it in a shell or a
glazed earthen vessel, when you wish to paint the paper, that
you should mix with the horn or bone whatever colours you
wish, separately, which must however be ground very fine upon
the said stone with pure water. Afterwards, if any of the said
horn remain, whether white or coloured, it can be preserved,
because, although what remains becomes dry by keeping, it may
still be of use to lay upon other paper, like any other colours,
by being wetted up with pure water, not sized; because,
although the water of the first wetting dries up, yet the glue of

ALCHERIUS DE COLORIBUS DIVERSIS. 277
vitriata, cum aqua colata de cola seu de incisuris corii albi vel
pergameni, et quod^sit colata moderato modo et tepida. His
itaque talimodo factis pinge vel pertrahe de ipso cum pincello
grosso super papyrum quod primo sit lissatum cum dente apri.
Item pinge de eo pergamenum telam sindonem et tabulas lig-
neas, et permitte siccari ; postea, si prima depinctio facta non
sufficit, quod scitur protrahendo desuper cum stilo aeris vel
latonis aut cupri ; et melior esset de argento ; si non bene per-
trahit nigros tractus. Quod si sic sit debes iterum repingere
de eodem osse, tenendo ipsum tepidum in vase in quo est lento
igni, praecipue si sit in hyeme ne conglutinetur ex frigore pro
cola qua temperatus est, et quae pro frigore induratur ; postea
dimitte siccari et iterum tempta protrahendo desuper cum stilo
*ut prius. Ita sic ipsum ossem vel cornu totiens ponas quotiens
videbis esse necessarium, dato quod verum est quod si secunda
vice pingatur, solet sufficere et multotiens pro prima. Et nota
quod si velis ipsum papirum postquam taliter pictus sit esse
valde politum et equale absque fossulis et scabrositatibus ut
melior sit ad protrahendum super, ipsum lisses et burnias te
nendo ipsum sub uno alio papiro non picto super quem trahes
imprimendo dentem apri, aut lapidem durum politum, aut
aliud instrumentum ad burniendum aptum. Et scias quod si
de diversis coloribus ipsas depictiones facere velis, oportet quod
terendo cornu vel osse super dictum lapidem distemperando
illud in conchilla vel scutella figuli vitriata, quando papirum
vel cartam vis pingere, quod in ipso cornu vel osse misceas
separatim quales" colores velis, tritos tamen ut subtiliores super
lapidem cum aqua clara. Postea si de dicto cornu tam albo
quam de coloribus remanent partes illae residuae possunt ser-
vari, quia dato quod resedentiae postea stando siccentur, possunt
tamen sicut est de omnibus aliis coloribus adhuc alias valere ad
ponendum in opere, scilicet distemperata cum aqua clara non
colata ; quia dato quod aqua prima? distemperatura? sit desic-
cata, tamen iterum remanet ibidem cola ipsius prima? distem-
perationis, qua? sufficit; quia in exhalatione et desiccatione
aquositatis primae distemperatura?, non frustrata nee exalata

278 MANUSCRIPTS OF JEHAN LE BEGUE.
the first wetting still remains there, and in sufficient quantity ;
for in the exhalation and evaporation of the moisture of the
first wetting, the strength or substance of the glue is not ex
haled or evaporated, but only the water. And if any of the
first quantity of bone or horn, not mixed with any colour or
glue remains in the vase, shell, or saucer, you may put it on a
lump of chalk, or on a brick of baked clay, that the water
which is contained in it may be dried up, and may be exposed
to the air or the sun, that it may dry completely ; and after
wards, when you wish to use it, you must temper it with size
as originally directed, as there is not any size or glue mixed
with it. You can also colour it with various colours, mixing
them with it, as before, according to your taste, as above men
tioned. And note, that if you have no stag's-horn, the bones
of the stag are good, as also those of any other animal or bird,
as has been already mentioned.

ALCHERIUS DE COLORIBUS DIVERSIS. 279
est virtus nee substantia cola?, sed solum aqua. Et si de primo
osse vel cornu non mixto de colore ullo et in quo non est cola
remanebit ulla pars in vase seu scutella vel in conchilla, potes
ipsum ponere super lapidem creta?, aut super laterem terrae
coctae, ut siccetur aqua quae in ipso est et reponere ad aerem
vel ad solem, ut ex toto desiccetur, et postea quum de ipso
eges ad operandum, debes illud distemperare cum aqua colata
ut prius dictum est. Ex hoc quia in ipso non fuerat umquam
cola seu aqua ulla colata. Et potes etiam colare illud de
diversis coloribus, ut prius commiscendo eos in ipso ad libitum
tuum, ut dictum est supra. Et nota, quod si non habes cornu
cervi, pro faciendo quod dictum est, bona sunt ossa sua et
etiam ut supra est declaratum ossa aliorum animahum et
« avium.

( 280 )

A TREATISE UPON YARIOUS COLOURS,

AND FIRST THE

INTKODUCTION.

297. In the year of the Circumcision of our Lord
Jesus Christ, 1398, on Thursday, the 8th day of Au
gust, Johannes Alcherius wrote, and noted down, at
Paris, in the house of Anthonio de Compendio, an illu
minator of books, and an old man, according to the
words told him by the said Anthonius, who, as he said,
had tried, during the whole time of his life, all the fol
lowing recipes, namely, the following chapters concern
ing colours for illuminating books. And afterwards, in
the year 1411, in the month of December, the same
Johannes, who had then returned more than one year
from Lombardy, namely, from Bologna, where there
was a curia apostoliea newly united, corrected them in
many places, according to further information, which he
subsequently received by means of several authentic
books treating of such subjects, and otherwise; and
copied them fairly as follows : —
298. For laying gold upon various articles, so that it may
be burnished, and various cautions concerning it, for illumi
nating. — To lay gold on parchment, or paper, and on wooden
panels primed with white chalk, which gold may be burnished
or polished. Take gersa, or white chalk, and a little ocra de
ru, equal to one-third part of the chalk, and pound them both
together, and grind as thick as you can, i. e. with little water,

i i

( 281 )

DE DIYERSIS COLORIBUS
IN SEQUENT! TRACTATU,
ET PRIMO MODUS PROHEMII.
297. Anno circumcisionis domini Jesu Christi 1398
die Jovis octavo Augusti, Johannes Alcerius scripsit et
notavit in Parisiis in domo Anthonii de Compendio il-
luminatoris librorum, antiqui hominis, a verbis qua? ipse
Anthonius sibi dixit. Et qui omnia quae sequuntur ten-
taverat toto tempore vita? suae, ut dixit, de coloribus
scilicet ad illuminandum libros, sequentia capitula. Et
postea anno 1411 de mense decembris, idem Johannes
qui jam per plusquam annum reversus fuerat a partibus
Lombardiae, viz., a Bononia, ubi erat curia apostolica
noviter unita, correxit in pluribus partibus ea, secundum
plures informationes quas inde postea per plures libros
autentiquos de talibus narrantes, et aliter habuerat, et
rescripsit ea ad nettum ut sequitur.

298. Ad ponendum aurum super diversis quod burniatur, et
de diversis cautelis utendis super hoc, illuminando. — Ad ponen
dum aurum in papiro, in pergameno, seu carta, et in tabulis
ligneis, creta alba dealbatis, quod aurum burniatur seu polia-
tur. Accipe gersam seu cretam albam et modicum ocra? de
ru, per tertiam partem quantitatis creta? et totum simul sub-
tilia, et tere cum aqua clara magis spissum quam poteris,

2S2 MANUSCRIPTS OF JEHAN LE BEGUE.
upon a smooth hard stone, with a muller also made of stone.
Afterwards put the colour, which is otherwise called the tem
pera or size of the gold, in a shell or a glazed earthen saucer,
or a glass vase. And when you wish to use it, take as much
as you like of it in another smaller shell, and temper it to a
reasonable softness or consistence, with whipped white of egg,
in order to paint or write with it ; and if you have time, allow
the mordant to get stale, for several days or weeks, for it will
be better putrid than fresh. Afterwards write, paint, and draw
whatever you like, and where you like, and let it dry. Then,
when you wish to lay on the gold, go into a closed place and
choose a proper time, as has been before mentioned. And having
chosen a fit time and place, and used the proper precautions,
lay the gold on those parts of the parchment or paper on which
you put the colour or mordant, and draw over it, first pressing
lightly, and afterwards more forcibly, the burnisher, namely,
the tooth of a boar or a horse, and polish the said gold until it
adheres to the colour, and becomes shining, as was said before.
Therefore, when the gold is to be laid on, the mordant which
was left from a previous gilding is better than any other, pro
vided that in the interval, by looking at it, stirring it and
mixing egg or water with it, it has been kept sufficiently liquid,
so that it may not be completely dried up, or have been too
much putrified or altered.
299. To make a rose colour. — To make a rose colour for
painting on parchment, paper, and wooden panels primed
with chalk. Take brixiUium scraped very fine with a knife
or with glass, and tie it in a fine piece of linen, not tight,
but loose and easy. And put it, tied up in that manner,
into a new glazed earthen jar, to soak in ley, or in urine;
and if the urine is stale, so much the better. If you cannot
have any such, take very strong ley and put with the said
piece of linen containing the brixillium, some of the white
chalk of three or four times the weight of the brixiUium,
more or less, as by looking at it you may think fit, according
to the goodness, of the brixillium. Afterwards add some

ALCHERIUS DE COLORIBUS DIVERSIS. 283
i. e. cum pauca aqua, super lapidem equalem durum cum mol-
leta lapidis similiter. Postea pone ipsum colorem qui aliter
tempera vel assisia auri dicitur, in conchilla aut in scutella
figuli vitriata, aut in vase vitri. Et cum operari vis, accipe de
ipso in conchilla alia parviori quantum vis et modera ipsum
cum claro ovi spongiato ad rationabilem mollitiem seu liquida-
tem pro pingendo aut scribendo de ipso, et si habes tempus
cum temperaveris, dimittas inveterari per plures dies vel septi-
manas ipsam temperam, quia melior erit putrida quam recens.
Postea de ipso scribe pinge et pertrahe qua? vis et ubi vis et di
mittas siccari. Postea sis in loco recluso cum aurum vis ponere
et elige tempus idoneum ut supradictum est. Et habitis idoneis
loco et tempore et remediis ; ponas aurum in locis carta? aut pa-
•pyri quibus ipsum colorem vel assisiam posuisti, et super trahe,
et premendo primo leviter, postea fortius burnissorem, scilicet
dentem apri vel equi et pohas tantum dictum aurum quam ad-
ha?reat colori et lucidum fiat ut supra jam dictum est. Ideo
cum aurum poni vult, color talis remansus de alia positione
auri alias facta melior est dum ex interpolata visitatione de-
ductione et ovi aut aqua? interpositione conservatus sit in debita
liquiditate, ita quod ad totalem siccitatem vel nimiam putre-
factionem et alterationem deductus non sit.

299. Adfaciendum Rosam. — Ad faciendum rosam pro ope
rando in carta, et in papiro, et in ligneis tabulis creta dealbatis.
Accipe brixUlium rasum subtiliter cum cultello vel cum vitro,
et liga in subtili pecia lini non stricte sed late et fluctuanter.
Et sic ligatum pone in vase figuli vitriato novo ad temperan
dum in lixivio aut in urina hominis ebriatoris potantis forte
vinum, et si urina sit vetera tanto melius, et si non possis
habere talem, accipe lessivium fortissimum et pone de creta
alba in ipso lessivio, cum dicta petia in qua est brixillium et
per quantitatem de tribus vel quatuor vicibus quantitatis brix-
iUii ad pondus et etiam sicut inspiciendo melius videbis conve-
nire plus et minus secundum bonitatem brixillii. Postea pone

284 MANUSCRIPTS OF JEHAN LE BEGUE.
pulverized raw alum, in quantity about one-fourth part of the
chalk or thereabouts, more or less, and mix all these things
together, always leaving the said brixillium tied up in the
said piece of linen, and leave it so for about one hour. Next,
place the jar upon a fire, not of wood, but of charcoal, and
let it boil, but not too fast, for the space of a quarter of an
hour or less, so as just to melt the alum. Then take the said
bag of brixillium out of the vase, and press it and screw it out
well, in order that the whole of the colour may run out of it
into the said vase ; and then remove the colour, hot as it is,
from the fire, and put it on a hollow lump of chalk or upon a
brick of baked clay, in order that the urine or ley may be im
mediately absorbed into the stone, and the colour itself remain
thickened and half dry. Afterwards let it dry completely in
the sun, and then remove the colour, which is of a rose colour,
from the stone or brick with a knife, and put it by for use.
When you wish to use it, take as much as you require and
powder it, that is, grind it upon a hard and smooth stone with
gum water, which must be made of two-third parts of gum
arabic dissolved in so small a quantity of water as barely to
cover the colour when the water is added and strained through
a linen cloth, and one-third part of clear water mixed with the
said gum so dissolved and strained. And with the gum water,
thus made, temper your rose colour to a proper consistence,
and use it for whatever you please, as well for writing, as for
painting and drawing.
300. To make corrosive green, without substance or body. —
To make a green transparent in its nature, and without body,
that is, having no substance, such, for example, as is the colour
of saffron, i. e. of crocus, which does not cover up other colours
so as to conceal them, on account of its thinness, transparency,
and rarity, owing to which other colours appear through it,
wherefore this colour as well as the said green colour is over
powered, and shows little or not at all, nor can it be much seen
over other colours. But this green colour is not mild like
saffron, on the contrary it is, by nature, acrid and corrosive, so

ALCHERIUS DE COLORIBUS DIVERSIS. 285
de alumine glaro crudo pisto in pulverem, quod sit tantum
quantum est quartum dicta? creta? vel circa, et autem plus
quam minus, et misceas haec omnia insimul dimittendo semper
ligatum in dicta pecia dictum brixillium et dimittens sic per
horam unam vel circa. Postea ponas vas ad ignem non ligno-
rum sed carbonum et bulliant non nimis fortiter et per spatium
quarta? partis hora? vel minus, ita quod solum alumen fondatur.
Postea de ipso vase tollatur dicta pecia brixillii et exprimatur
et extorqueatur fortiter ut color de ipsa totaliter exeat in eodem
vase ; postea tollatur ipse color ita callidus ab igne et ponatur
super lapidem creta? concava? vel super lapidem de terra &c,
ad hoc quod urina seu lessivia intret in lapidem subito et
color ipse remaneat ibi inspissatus et semisiccus. Postea facias
ex toto siccari ad solem, deinde eleva ipsum colorem, qua? rosa
est cum cultello a lapide vel latere, et repone servando pro usu.
Et cum de ipsa operari vis, accipe de ipsa quantum vis et
subtilia, id est tere super lapidem durum et planum cum aqua
gummata qua? fit per duas partes gummi arabici fusi in tam
pauca aqua, quod pene cooperiatur ipsa aqua cum in ipsam po
nitur aqua, et colati postea per telam lineam, et per tertiam
partem fit aqua clara insimul cum dicto gummi fuso et colato ;
4 de ipsa aqua gommata ipso modo factam distempera dictam
rosam ad debitam mollitiem et operaberis de ipsa qua? volueris,
tam scribendo quam pingendo ac protrahendo.

300. Ad faciendum viride corrosivum absque substantia seu
corpori. — Ad faciendum viride in substantia clarum et non cor-
pulentum id est substantiam non habentem, ut verbi gratia
clarus atque sine substantia est color safran, i. e. croci qui non
cooperit ahos colores pro ejus subtilitate claritate et raritate,
qua alii colores apparent per medium ipsum, et ex hoc ipse
pro raritate sua ut et dictus color viridis remanet obfuscatus, et
nil vel minimum apparet, neque multum apparere potest super
alios colores. Sed ipse color viridis non est dulcis sicut est
dictus color croci, ymo ex sua natura est acer et corrosivus,

286 MANUSCRIPTS OF JEHAN LE BEGUE.
that it destroys and corrodes other colours if it is put over
them, or they over it, and this on account of the verdigris
which is in it ; and such is its nature, and it is used upon
parchment and paper. Take verdigris and a little of the
dried lees of wine, which in Latin is called tartarus, and in
French gravelle? and pulverize it and grind both the ingredients
together upon a hard and smooth stone with vinegar. After
wards draw all those things which you wish, both in parchment
and paper, and the empty spaces which are between the lines
of black ; afterwards fill in with the green colour made in the
above manner, and colour according to your taste, the things
which you have so drawn as aforesaid. And note, that no
other colour can be laid over this green colour, as has been
already observed, nor can it be laid over others ; nor can it be
used otherwise than by itself and upon white paper and parch
ment, because this green colour, made as above, is corrosive
and acrid, and, by reason of its acrid nature, it destroys other
colours, as has been already mentioned above.
301. To make a green colour, which has body and is not cor
rosive. — To make a mild green body colour, for painting on
parchment, on paper, on linen, and on primed wooden panels.
Take verdigris and the juice of the herb which is called Hi
French flamma? and strain the juice of the herb through a
linen cloth, and grind up the aforesaid green with it upon
a stone, adding a little gum water to it. Then put it into a
shell or a glazed earthen saucer, and temper it with the gum
water, and the juice of that herb. The gum water must be
made of clear gum arabic, and must be strained, lest, when the
gum is poured into the colour, it should contain any straws, earth,
or other impurities. Afterwards write, draw, and paint what
ever you like with this green colour, and note, that the juice
of rue would be better than that of the above written herb for
putting into the ^above-mentioned composition of the said green

Anglic^ " Tartar."
Flambe, Glayeul. It. Gladiola ; E. Cornflag ; L. Gladiolus Communis.

ALCHERIUS DE COLORIBUS DIVERSIS. 287
taliter quod destruit et rodit alios colores si ponatur super ipsos,
vel ipsi super ipsum, et hoc pro viride aeris qui in ipso ponitur
et est talis conditionis et ponitur in carta et in papiro. Accipe
viride aeris et modicum de faece vini sicca, qua? dicitur in latino
tartarus et in gallico gravella, et subtilia et tere super lapidem
durum et planum insimul qua? dicta sunt cum aceto. Postea
omnia quae in carta et in papiro protrahere vis, protrahe, ac va
cuum, viz. per lineas de colore scilicet nigro, postea de ipso
colore viridi sic facto ut dictum est colora ad libitum ea quae
ut dictum est protraxeris. Et nota quod super ipsum colorem
viridem ut dictum est, nullus alter color debet poni neque ipse
super alios nisi solum super cartam albam vel papirum, et non
super colorem aliquem album artificiatum seu pictum, quia ipse
color viridis illo modo factus est fortis seu acer et pro sua acri-
tudine destruit alios colores ut supra jam dictum est.

301. Adfaciendum colorem viridem cum corpore et. non cor
rosivum. — Ad faciendum colorem viridem dulcem et corpulen-
tum, pro operando in pergameno, in papiro, in telis, et in
tabulis ligneis dealbatis. Accipe viridem aeris seu arani et
succum herba? qua? dicitur in gallico flamma et ipsum succum
herba? cola per telam lineam et cum ipso tere super lapidem
viridem suprascriptum addendo aliquantulum de aqua gom-
mata, postea ipsum pone in conchella, vel in scutella figuli
vitriata, et distempera cum dicta aqua gummata et cum dicto
succo ipsius herba?, et dicta aqua gummata debet fieri de gum
mi arabico lucido, et collata, ne cum infusum sit gummi in ipsa,
adsint in ipsa ulla? pallea?, terra vel alia? turpitudines. Et pos
tea de ipso colore viridi scribe protrahe et pinge qua? vis. Et nota
quod succus rutae esset melior quam suprascripta? herba? ad po
nendum in dicta compositioni dicti viridis coloris. Et alii sunt

288 MANUSCRIPTS OF JEHAN LE BEGUE.
colour. There are some persons who put the juice of certain
other herbs.
The aforesaid colour is such that you may paint upon it
with other colours, and lay gold upon it, &c, in the same
manner as upon sinopis or ultramarine, or upon rosa, and other
similar things, because there is no vinegar in it, and the acrid
nature of the verdigris is corrected by the juice of the said
herb. 302. Introduction to the following chapter, concerning the
manner of making writing ink.
Also in the aforesaid year, 1398, on Saturday the xijth day of Octo
ber, the aforesaid Johannes Alcherius wrote at Paris, and in
this place, after the preceding, added this chapter concerning the
way to make good atramentum, or incaustum, which chapter had
been long previously, even before the year 1382, given to him
in writing at Milan, by the since deceased Master Alberto^ Por
zello, who was most perfect in all kinds of writing and forms
of letters, and who, while he lived, kept a school at Milan, and
taught boys and young men to write ; and who, as he said, had
frequently tried and made ink in the manner described in this
chapter, and had found it very good, as he told the said Johannes.
And the said Johannes, himself, afterwards tried this method at
Milan, and also found it very good. And afterwards in the said
year, 1382, in the month of March, when the said Johannes
Alcherius went from Milan to Paris, he carried with him a cojljr
of the said recipe, which is as follows. But afterwards, in the
year of Our Lord Jesus Christ, 1411, in the month of Decem
ber, having then been returned to Paris more than one year from
Lombardy — viz., from Bologna, from the newly-formed Apostolical
curia, he corrected in some places the following recipes, and copied
them fairly as follows : —
303. To make ink for writing. — Observe that choice and
tried writing ink must be made in this way. Take iij ounces
of galls, the goodness of which may be known by their being
wrinkled. Take an equal quantity of gum arabic, the good
ness of which may be known by its being bright and easily
broken, and the smallest is the best. Item. Take 3J oz. of
Roman vitriol [sulphate of copper ?], the goodness of which may
be known by its being of a blue colour, and solid, and coarse
after the manner of coarse salt. Afterwards take four pounds,

ALCHERIUS DE COLORIBUS DIVERSIS. 289
qui ponunt succos quarundam aliarum herbarum. Et color
suprascriptus est talis quod potest super ipso pinge cum aliis
coloribus, et super ipso poni aurum etc. sicuti posset fieri super
sinopide vel super lazurio, vel super rosa et aliis similibus,
quia ibi non est acetum, et acritudo viridis aeris mitigata est ex
dicto succo herba?.

302. Prohemium super capitulo sequenti de modo adfacien
dum incaustum pro scribendo.
Item anno praedicto 1398, die sabati xii. Octobris, antedictus Johannes
Alcherius scripsit in Parisiis, et hie post precedentem addidit hoc
capitulum de modo faciendi bonum atramentum seu incaustum ad
scribendum, quod capitulum jam diu usque ante annum 1382 sibi
dederat in scriptis in Mediolano nunc quondam magister Albeitus
PorzeUus perfectissimus in omnibus modis scribendi et formis lite-
rarum, qui tunc dum vixit tenuit scolas in Mediolano et docebat
pueros et juvenes ad scribendum. Et qui temptaverat ipsemet
multotiens et fecerat attramentum in modum in ipso capitulo con-
tentum, et invenerat valde bonum ut dixit dicto Johanni. Et postea
dictus Johannes ipsum modum temptavit Mediolano et invenit
similiter valde bonum. Et postea dicto anno 1382 de mense Martii,
quum dictus Johannes Alcherius ivit a Mediolano Parisiis, portavit
secum copiam dicti capituli quae talis est ut sequitur. Sed postea
anno ejusdem domini nostri Jesu Christi 1411 de mense decembris
dum jam per plusquam annum de partibus Lombardise viz., a Bo
nonia veniens, ab apostolica Curia noviter unita, rediisset Parisiis, in
aliquibus partibus ea quse dicta sunt sequentia, et rescripsit ad
nettum ut sequitur.

303. Ad faciendum incaustum seu atramentum pro scri
bendo.— Nota quod atramentum electum et probatum hoc
modo debet fieri. Accipe uncia? tres gallae, cujus bonitas ap
paret si minuta in crispa est. Totidem accipe de gummi ara
bico, cujus bonitas apparet si lucidum et de facili frangatur,
et minutum magis valet. Item accipe oncias tres et dimidiam
vitrioli Romani, cujus bonitas apparet si est coelesti coloris et
solidum et grossum, quasi in modum salis grossi. Postea accipe
quatuor libras de onciis duodecim per libram aqua? clara?, qua? si
VOIa. i. u

290 MANUSCRIPTS OF JEHAN LE BEGUE.
of twelve ounces to the pound, of clear water, which if it in
rain water, or water from a cistern in which rain water is kept,
is better than well, spring, or river water ; and put into a new
metal or glazed earthen jar, which has never been used for any
thing else, in order that it may be pure and clean from all
filth ; and into this water, put the galls roughly pounded so
that each grain of gall may be broken into four or five pieces,
and then let the galls boil in the water without gum or vitriol,
until the water is reduced to one-half. Then let it be strained
through a cloth or piece of linen, and be put back without
the substance of the galls in the vase over the fire, and let it
remain there until it begins to boil, and then put into it the
gum ground and pulverized, and let it boil gently for a short
time, namely, until the gum is dissolved. Having done this,
pour into it directly two pounds of the best pure and white
wine, and stir it a little, and immediately add the vitriol well
pulverized, stir it again a little, and then immediately re
move the vase from the fire, and mix the whole together in
order that the vitriol may be well incorporated with the galls,
and the gum, and the water. Having done all these things in
order, put the vase with the ink in the open air, and let it
stand for one night, in order that the air may make it brilliant
and more black. And therefore if it be done in fine weather,
it will be better and finer. Afterwards strain it through a
cloth, and put it by, and keep it for use.
303a.1 Another Recipe to make Ink.
Another recipe for making one quart of good atramentum, or incaus
tum, which, however, does not belong to the present treatise ; but
was added in this place on account of its connexion with the matter
of the preceding chapter, by me, Jehan Le Begue, licentiate in law,
who wrote with my own hand, although not accustomed to it, the
present work, or the chapters in this volume contained, in the Year
of Our Lord mccccxxxj, and in the year of my age lxiij, as I found
the same recipe elsewhere, written as follows : —
Take a quarter of a pound of gall-nuts of the weight of iiij.
1 The succeeding chapters, to the end of the volume, were added by
Le Begue.

ALCHERIUS DE COLORIBUS DIVERSIS. 291
estpluvialis vel de cisterna reservante aquas pluviales melior est
quam putei nee fontis nee fluvii et pone eam in vase metallino
vel figuli vitriato novo, quod non sit alteri usui deputatum, ut
sit purum et mundum ab omni sorde, et in ipsa aqua mitte
gallam grosso modo tritam, ita quod de quolibet grano gallae
fiant quatuor vel quinque particulae, et sic bulliat galla in aqua
absque gummi et vitriolo, donee aqua reddatur ad medium
comminuta. Postea coletur per pannum seu telam et absque
substantia galla? reponatur in vase ad ignem et sic tantum stet
quod incipiat bullire, et tunc gummi tritum et pulverizatum
mittatur in ipsa et bulliat aliquantulum, scilicet leniter usque :
quo gummi liquefactum sit. His factis, immediate apponas
duas libras optimi vini puri et albi et aliquantulum misce, et
immediate mitte vitriolum bene pulverizatum et misceas pa
rum, et statim eleva vas ab igne, et misceas simul totum, ita
quod bene incorporetur vitriolum cum galla, et gummi, et
aqua. Omnibus his peractis ex ordine pone vas cum ipso
attramento ad aerem serenum, et stet per unam noctem, ut sere-
num reddat ipsum lucidum et magis nigrum. Et ideo si fiat
sereno tempore, magis valet et pulcrius est. Et postea coletur
per telam, et reponetur, et usui servetur.

303a. Autre Recepte pour faire encre.
Alia recepta pro faciendo unam quartam attramenti seu incausti boni,
qua? tamen non est de praesenti compilatione, sed hie, propter con-
nexitatem materiae capituli precedentis, fuit addita per me Johannem
Le Begue licentiatum in legibus qui praesens opus seu capitula in hac
volumine aggregata, propria manu, licet non assuetus, scripsi Anno
Domini mccccxxxi aetatis vero meae lxiij, prout eandem receptam
alibi scriptam reperi sub hac forma.
Prenes ung quarteron de noiz de galle-de iiij deniers parisis

v2

292 MANUSCRIPTS OF JEHAN LE BEGUE.
Parisian deniers, and let them be beaten to powder. Put it
[the powder] into a quart and a half of water, and let it boil
for an hour and a half or more on a good charcoal fire until the
water is reduced to a quart ; and when it has thus boiled put
into it a quarter of a pound of gum of the weight of iiij. Parisian
deniers and a cup full of vinegar ; and then make it boil another
hour, and when it has boiled, take it off and put into it a quarter
* of a pound of copperas in powder of the weight of iij. Parisian
deniers, and let it cool, and then put it into an inkstand. And
if it is too pale add to it a little more copperas, and you will
have good ink.
304. To make a rose colour from Brazil wood. — Take a mix
ture of equal quantities of water from a cistern, and wine, and
boil in it shavings of the said brexillium ; and, having extracted
and pressed out the colour, and strained the red liquid through
a linen cloth, and removed the substance of the wood, add to
the water a little roche alum in powder ; and when it is dis
solved, put in some white gypsum, which has been ground
upon a stone with pure water and dried, or some bracha pre
pared and ground in the same way as the gypsum is directed to
be done, in sufficient quantity, and mix and incorporate them all
well together, and keep for use. This water can also be used with
out putting in gypsum or bracha, but only for shading, and not
as a body colour, for it has no body or substance ; and when
the bracha or gypsum is added, then it can be used as a body
colour as well as for shading, because the gypsum or bracha,
which have body, give their body to the colour.
305. Tracing paper, through which all things are visible that
are drawn and figured on other parchment or on paper or on
panels when laid under it, and therefore all drawings which are
put under it, or all drawings or pictures over which it is put,
can be drawn correctly and perfectly on this tracing paper. It
is made in this way. Grease thinly with mutton suet a smooth
and polished stone of the breadth and length you wish your
tracing paper to be. Then, with a broad brush, spread clear
and transparent melted glue over the stone, and let it dry.

MANUSCRIPTS OF JEHAN LE BEGUE. 293
et faites batre en pouldre, puis la metez en quatre et demie
diaue et la faites boulir une heure et demie ou plus a beau feu
de charbon et jusques atant que leaue soit revenue a la quarte ;
et puis quant elle aura ainsi bouli, y mettez un quarteron de
gomme de iiij deniers et plain gobelet de vin aigre ; et puis le
faites boulir une autre heure et puis quant elle aura boulu, la
descendez et y metez un quarteron coperose en pouldre de iij
deniers parisis, et le laissiez refroidier puis metez en un cellier.
Et se elle est trop clere blanche si y metez encore un pou de
coperose et vous aurez bon encre.
. 304. Adfaciendum colorem ligni Brexillii rosaceum. — Acci-
piantur aqua cisterna? et vinum album per medietatem, et in
Ipsis coquatur rasura dicti brexUii et extracto colore postea ex-
pressa et colata dicta aqua rosacia per telam et ablata substan
tia ligni suprascripti ponatur in ipsa aqua parum aluminis rosia?
triti quo fuso ponatur in ipsa aqua de gipso albo bene trito su
per lapidem cum aqua clara et desiccato aut de bracha eodem
modo ordinata et trita quo dictum est de gipso ad quantitatem
qua? sufticiat et incorporentur et misceantur et operetur de hoc,
et etiam potest operari de ipsa aqua antequam ponatur gipsum
nee bracha, sed solum umbrando, et non ad corpus, quia corpus
seu substantiam non habet, et quando apposita est bracha vel
gipsus, tunc potest operari ad corpus et etiam umbrando quia
gipsus seu bracha qui corpus habent incorporant colorem ipsum.

305. Carta lustra, per quam transparent qua? sub ipsam sunt
posita protracta et figurata in aliis cartis vel in papiris aut in
tabulis et possunt igitur in ipsa carta lustra penitus et recte ab-
strahi qualia sunt qua? sub ipsam ponuntur protracta vel pro
tractiones et picturae super quas ipsa extenditur. Fit hoc modo.
Perungas subtiliter sepo arietino lapidem aequalem et politam
latitudinis et longitudinis tanta? quanta? vis facere cartam.
Postea cum pincello lato lineas ex colla liquefacta clara et lucida
lapidem ipsum et dimitte siccari. Postea eleva ab uno angulo

294 MANUSCRIPTS OF JEHAN LE BEGUE.
Afterwards lift up from one. of tlie comers of the stone a little
of this skin of dried glue, which will be as thin as paper, but
transparent ; and see whether it is thick enough, that is, whe
ther it is not too thin ; if so, do not pull it off, but leave it there
and give it another coat of the same glue, and let it dry ; and
then again, as before, try whether it is thick enough. And
repeat this until it is sufficiently thick. Afterwards take it
quite off the stone, because the above-mentioned greasing with
mutton fat will enable you to take off the said coat of glue easily,
for it will not allow it to fasten or stick to the stone ; and so you
will have tracing paper for the purposes aforesaid.1
306. How the colours are tempered. — All colours are distem
pered with the gum of the pine or of the sapin," except minium
and ceruse, which are tempered with white of egg. All kinds
of green must be tempered with glue except Spanish green,
which must be tempered with vinegar.
307. To clean and renovate minium that is too old and dirty. —
Put it into water mixed with one-fourth part of wine in a horn,
and stir it up well ; then let it settle well and pour off and re
move the water, and pulverize the colour and distemper it with
whipped white of egg, and do as you please with it.
308. To make a colour which makes all other colours, except
orpiment, sinople, and saffron, bright, brilliant, and lustrous, and
which is called " Clare." — Put gum arabic to soak in clean water
in a clean vessel, until it is dissolved, and with this distemper
your colours, or stir them with it and leave them moist for a day
or two ; and if you wish the clare to be made quickly, place it
over hot ashes.
309. Tomake a very good lake. — Take an ounce of lake,8 and
1 Compare this with Cennino Cennini, chap. xxv.
a The article being repeated, it would seem that the author intended two
kinds of pine resin. The latter was the Pinus Picea of Linnaeus, the
Silver Fir of the English, the Abete of the Italians — whence they procured
the Olio di Abezzo, which was used in making varnishes. See Nemnich,
art. 'Pinus;' and see Matthioli, pp. 118, 120.
3 The lac lake.

MANUSCRIPTS OF JEHAN LE BEGUE. 295
lapidis aliquantulum linituram illam colla? siccatse qua? erit sub-
tilis ut carta sed erit lustra, et vide si non sit satis grossa seu
spissa, viz., quod sit nimis subtilis, et non eleves sed permittes,
et adhuc linias desuper de eadem cola et permitte siccari, et ut
prius tempta si satis grossa sit. Et totiens hoc reiteres quod
fiat sufficienter grossa. Postea ex toto eleva a lapide quia su
prascripta perunctio lapidis ex adipe arietino facta dabit facili
tates elevandi ipsam cartam quam non permiserit lapidi glu-
tinari nee adhaerere et sic habebis cartam lustram ad ea quae
dicta sunt facienda.
306. Toutes couleurs sont destrempees de gomme de pin ou
de sapin, fors mine et ceruse qui se destrampent de glaire dceufs.
Tout vert droit estre destrempe de glux, se ce nest vert des-
pagne qui doit estre destrempez de vin aigre.
307. Se mine est trap vielle et trop orde pour la renouveler et
abeUir. —Mettez le en yaue avecques la quarte partie de vin,
en un cornet et la mouvez tres bien, puiz la laissiez bien ras-
seoir, puis purez et ostez leaue et le brisiez et destrempez de
glaire dcef et en faites vostre volente.
308. Pour faire une couleur qui fait toutes autres couleurs
reluisans clers et replendissans qui est nommee dare; hormis
orpiment sinople et safran. — Mettez tremper gomme arabice
en eaue nette en un vaisseau net tant que elle soit fondue et
soit expresse par raison, et de ce destrempez vos couleurs ou
vous les mouvez avecques, et les laissiez moitier par ung jour
ou deux. Et se vous voulez qu'il soit tost fait si le mettez
dessus les cendres chaudes.
309. Pour faire tres bonne laque. — Prenez une once de laque

296 MANUSCRIPTS OF JEHAN LE BEGUE.
rasp finely a little Brazil wood, put it into a clean vessel, then
add to the Brazil wood some clean and clear beaten white of egg,
and a little alum water. Grind the lake with that water and
dry it in the sun, and when you wish to use it, distemper it with
this water, especially on parchment ; and the more you grind it
up with this Brazil wood water, the better it will be.

310. To write or paint with gold. — Put quicksilver with pow
dered gold into stag's leather, and press it ; the quicksilver will
pass through the leather, and the gold will remain ; then put
the gold with the quicksilver over the fire, but take care that
the crucible does not burn. And you must add to it a little weU-
pulverized salt, until the mercury evaporates, which you may
catch in a vessel anointed with grease, and suspended above it.
Then wash the powdered gold with water in a basin as you would
wash minium ; and when it is dry, stir into it a glue made with
parchment or vellum, which you must put into a vessel over
hot water, and it will presently be dissolved. When this is the
case, grind it well, and fill with it your pen or pencil, and write
or paint with this distempered gold.
311. To illuminate a book or other thing with minium? — Do
not use minium alone, for the letters would be too hght coloured,
and would not look well, but put minium with vermilion ; and if
the vermilion is very red and new, put two parts of that to one
of minium. And if it is old and brown, put equal quantities of
each, or two-thirds of minium, for the older the vermilion the
darker and browner it is. When it is ground up with clear water
and dried in heaps, if you wish to use it and to have it appear
brilliant, distemper it with varnish and white of egg beaten to a
froth, and add a little clean water ; with this you may write
large letters [initial] and small on parchment. If the colour is

1 This is nearly a repetition of No. 177.

MANUSCRIPTS OF JEHAN LE BEGUE. 297
et rayez un pou de bresil soubtillement et mettez le en un vais-
sel nett, puiz mettez dedens le bresil glaire do?f batu clers et
net et puiz un pou deaue en quoi il ait un pou dalun mis avec
ques, et puis de celle eaue moules le laque, puiz le laissiez se-
cher au soleil et quant vous en voulez ouvrer vous le destrem-
prerez de ceste yeaue especialment en parchemin. Et quant
plus de foys le ferez broyer et mouldre a cette yaue de bresU,
et resuer, tant mieulx vauldra.
310. Pour escrire ou paindre dor. — Mettez argent vif avec
ques or molu en pouldre en cuir de cerfs, et le espraignez si
passera largent vif par le cuir et lor demourra ou cuir, puis
mettez lor avecques largent vif surle feu maiz gardez bien que
le crosel narde. Et mettez avecques un pou de sel bien moulu
et crible tant que le vif argent se parte par fumee, lequel vous
pouez recevoir en une escuelle ointe de graisse pendue au hault
au dessus puis lavez la pouldre dor en un bacin en yaue, comme
vous feriez mine. Puis mettez la pouldre dor quant elle est seche
en glus faite de parchemin orculin [ou velin] lequel mis en vais-
sel sur eaue chaude est tantost resolu et quant tout sera resolu
moelez bien et mettez en vostre plume ou pincel et escrisiez ou
paindez dicellui or trempe.
311. Pour enluminer de mine, soit livre ou autre chose. — Ne
mettez pas mine par soi, car la lettre en seroit trop clere et mal
parant, mais mettez mine avecques vermilion, et se le vermilion
est bien rouge et novel si en mettez deux parties et le tiers de
mine. Et sil est viel et obscur ou brun mettez de mine la moitie
ou les deux pars, car plus est vermilion viel et plus est noir et
obscur, et quant il sera mouluz ensamble a leaue clere et sec
par monseaux se vous voulez eu ouvrer et quil soit luisant
trempez le de vernix et de glaire doeufs rompue a lespurge, et y
mettez pou deaue clere et de ce escrisiez en parchemin grosse
lettre etmenue et quant il est sech, sil nest bien luisant, et que

298 MANUSCRIPTS OF JEHAN LE BEGUE.
not brilliant when dry, and the weather is moist, dry it by tbe
fire, and thus it will shine ; but if the weather is dry and hot,
it will be better to dry it in the sun.
312. To write with brass, gold, and silver. — File some brass
of a good colour very finely, then grind it on the porphyry,
which is a very hard stone ; put it into a clean vessel and let it
settle ; then pour off the water and prepare your tempera of
gum arabic. Distemper it with this, and use it on your pencil,
and when it is dry you must rub and burnish it well with the
stone which is called ametiste [haematite]. You will act in
the same manner for writing with gold and silver.
313. Orpiment [atramentum] is thus made? — Take oil and
ink, and juice of the blackthorn, and its middle bark well
ground in a mortar ; put the whole together in a pot, and let
it stand for a night. Then boil it gently and strain it ; boil it
gently again with myrrh and aloes, and again strain it. Then
add to it a little verjuice or glace,2 and put the whole to boil
gently over the coals without flame ; then take it off and
keep it.
314. To make a blue colour like azure. — Take the juice of
the corn-flower,3 and make on wood or parchment a ground of
white-lead ; lay the juice on the said ground, three, four, or
five, or more times, if necessary, and thus you will have an
azure colour.
315. To paint walls. — Put a little lime with ochre, that it
may be lighter coloured, or mix it with simple red or prasin,4
or with a colour which is called posce,5 which is made with
ochre, green, and membrayne ;" or you may take of a colour
1 See ante, No. 189.
s Glace, probably Alumen Glacie, or glarum, as in No. 41.
3 The blue-bottle, the Corn Centaury, the corn-flower. Ciano delle
biade, Ciano ceruleo, Blaveolo, Fiore di Zaccaria, Centaurea cyanus.
4 Prasinus. See Theophilus, lib. i. c. ii., and see ante, pp. 236 and
244. This colour was sometimes called " Prasminem ;" and by the Italians
"Verde Porro."
5 Posce. See Theophilus, lib. i. c. iii.
6 See Theoph., lib. i. c. i. See also ante, pp. 144 and 180, where this

MANUSCRIPTS OF JEHAN LE BEGUE. 299
le temps soit moite, sechez le au feu, si resplendira ; et se le
temps et sech et chaut elle seroit mieulx sechee au soleil.
312. Pour escrire de laton et pareillement dor et dargent. —
Limez tres subtilement laton de tres pure couleur et puis le
molez soutiliment sur le porphire qui est pierre tres seure,
puis le mettez et un net vaisel et le laissiez asseoir, puis ostez
leaue et ayez vostre detrempe de gomme arabiche, et len des
trempez puis en ouvrez de vostre pincel, et quant ce sera fait
et sech, si le frotez et burnissez tres bien, d'une pierre qui est
nommee ametiste et ainsi povez vous escrire dor et dargent.
313. Orpiment sefait ainsi. — Prenez oille et encre et jus
despine noire et son escorce moienne bien broyee en un mor-
tier et mettez tout ensemble, en un pot, et li laissiez une nuit
reposer, puis le metez un poi boulir, puis le colez, puis le
metez boulir un pou avec mirre et aloes et derechief le coulez.
Puis metez avee un po de verjus ou de glace, et remetez tout
ensemble sur les charbons sans flamme un petit bolir, puis le
ostez et le gardez.
314. A faire couleur blauet comme d'azur. — Prenez jus de
bleues net et faites en bois ou en parchemin un camp de blanc
de plomb, puis mettez le jus dessus le dit champ, trois ou
quatre ou cinq lis ou plus si mestier est ; si avez couleur
dazur. 315. Pour peindre murs. — Mettez un po de chaux avec ocre
pour avoir plus grant clarte, ou vous la mellez avec rouge
simple ou avec prasin ou avec une couleur qui est nommee posce
qui est faite de ocre vert et de membrayne ou vous pouvez

colour is described by S. Audemar under the name of " Olchus seu Mem
brana." The method of mural painting described in the text was probably that
which was generally practised by the painters of the middle ages ; and
there is reason to suppose that the old paintings recently discovered on
the walls of churches in so many parts of England were painted in this

300 MANUSCRIPTS OF JEHAN LE BEGUE.
which is made of sinople, ochre, lime, and pose, &c. And
walls should be painted rather moist than otherwise, because the
colours unite together better, and are firmer. And all the
colours for walls should be mixed with quicklime.
316. Black is made with charcoal ground with water or
wine, and distempered with oil or garlic ; but the best is made
with atramentum, unless it is charcoal which is made of
scales of iron boiled and heated with oil. Or take the bark of
alder and grind it with iron filings in water, and put it with
atramentum, and distemper it.
¦317. The flesh colour of images is thus made. — Take terre
verte, white, and lake, mix them together, and fill what you
please with them. Then make a shade [tint] of green and
ochre so that it may be like green, and mix with it a little
lake, and mark out the shadows with it ; then make the rose
colour with white and synople, and lay it wherever you may
think proper. Then make the flesh colour of ochre and white,
with a little synople, and fill up the solid parts, but that which
is laid on the rose colour should be very thin. Then take
some of that colour and lay it on the eyebrows, and under the
feet, on the mouth, chin, neck, and ears. Then draw as it
were veins, and then with pure lake mark the eye-lashes, nos
trils, eyes, and limbs. Then shade again lightly with lake
mixed with a little oil ; then whiten the lights with pure white,
and then draw the eyehds, eyes, and other members.
318. To gild with gold leaf. — Grind well some gypsum with
pure clean water, dry it ; then grind it with synople like rose,
and with fish-glue dissolved in very good white wine, and with
the pencil spread it where you please, covering well with it the
part to be gilded. Then dry it, and make it smooth with the
knife, apply the gold, fix it with the haematite and polish it,

MANUSCRIPTS OF JEHAN LE BEGUE. 301
prandre dune couleur qui soit faite de synople et docre et de
chaux et de pose etc. ; et doivent estre murs paint plus moiste
que aultre chose pour ce que les couleurs se tiennent mieulx
ensembles et soient plus fermes. Et doivent toutes couleurs
pour murs estre melles avecques chaux vive.
316. Noir est fait de charbon broye avec eaue ou vin et
destrempez doile ou deil, mais le bon est fait darrement,1 etc.
Se ce nest carbon qui est fait de paille de fer boulu et cuie
avec oille. Ou vous prene# escorce dalne et le broiez en eue
avec molure de ferre en yaue, et mettez avec arcement et
destrempez. 317. Charnure dymages se fait ainsi. — Prenez vert terrin
blanc et laque, et mellez ensemble et emplissiez la ou vous
vouldrez, puis faictes ombre de vert et ocre en telle maniere
que ce soit comme vert et mellez avecques un po de laque, et
signez vos lits, et puis ombre et puis rose de blanc et de
synople, et roses la ou vous plaira, puis faites charnure docre
et de blanc et dun po de cinople et mettez dedans les signe-
mens espes et cil qui sera sur la rose sera tres sutil, puis
prenez de celle couleurs et mettez sur les surcils et dessoubs
les piez et sur la bouche et au menton et a la goile et aux
oreilles. Et en faut si comme se fust vains, puis designez de
pur lac les cilles et narines et les yeulx et tous les membres.
Et metez de rechief dedens umbre legierement et de lac loig-
nez un petit, puis le blanchissez de blanc pur, puis designez
les cilles et les yeulz et les autres membres.
318. Pour mettre or de feuilles battues. — Molez gipse tres
bien avec yaue pure et nette, puis le sechiez, puis le molez
avec cinope si comme rose, et avec cole de poisson qui soit
fondue avec tres bon vin blanc et le mettez au pincel la ou
vous vouldrez et soit bien couvert et le sechiez puis le raez dun
coustel plainement et mettez lor dessus et le fermez de ame-

1 That this word is really " atramentum," is proved by a similar passage
in S. Audemar-see ante, No. 172. See also" ' Materials for a History of
Painting in Oil,' by Mr. Eastiake, p. 132, n. ; and Halliwell's « Dictionary
of Archaic and Provincial Words.'

302 MANUSCRIPTS OF JEHAN LE BEGUE.
and if it does not succeed well, take the above-mentioned glue,
spread it over the drawing, and over that the gold leaf.
319. If you wish to prepare oil for distempering all kinds of
colours. — Take quickhme, and equal quantities of ceruse and
oil ; expose these to the sun without moving it for a month or
more, as the longer it remains the better it will be. Then
strain it and preserve the oil well. With the oil, thus kept and
prepared, you may distemper all "colours either separately or
mixed. 320. To write with gold and silver. — Take leaf gold, grind
it with salt on the marble, leave it for a long time in water,
stir it and let it settle. Then pour off the water to remove the
salt, and the gold will remain at the bottom. Distemper it
with gum for writing, and the letters you make will be dark ;
but when they are dry, polish them with a tooth and they will
be of a beautiful yellow shining gold colour. If you choose
you may write with silver in the same manner.
321. To make silver letters without silver. — Grind alum with
salt ; then wash it in order to remove the salt ; then distemper
it with gum and write with it. When it is dry, if you polish
it with the tooth, it will lose its darkness, and will take the
colour of silver.
322. A recipe for grinding gold. — Take some very fine and
pure gold filings, grind them in a mortar such as is used by
the apothecaries, which is made of three parts copper and one
part of tin or lead ; such are their mortars. But previous
to this, your gold filings should be well washed in a basin or in
a shell with a pencil. Then grind all your gold in the above-
mentioned mortar, so that when finished it shall be left clear.
And in like manner you may grind copper, silver, brass,
pewter, and all other metals ; but take care that the gold
does not burn, as it would then be necessary to regrind it.
When the operation is finished, remove the water and impu
rities, let the gold settle, then place it over the coals with water,
and warm, and stir it.

MANUSCRIPTS OF JEHAN LE BEGUE. 303
tiste, et le lissez. Et se il ne vient bien prenez de la cole
dessus dicte et metez au dessein, et tantost la feuiUe de lor
dessus. 319. Si vous voulez appareiller oile pour destremper toutes
manieres de couleurs. — Prenes chaux vive avec autant de ce
ruse comme est de loile, puiz metez au soleil et ne le movez
jusques a ung moyt ou plus tar quant plus y sera, et mieulx
vaudra, puis le colez et gardez tres bien loile, et de celle oille
gardee et ainsi preparee, povez destremper toutes couleurs en
semble et chacun par soy.
320. Pour escrire dor et dargent. — Pren feuiUe dor et la
broye sur le marbre avec sel, puis le fay estre longuement en
eaue, et le leve et laisse rasseoir puis prenez leaue pour oster
le sel, si demourra lor au fons. Si le destrempe a gomme et
en escri, si auras lettre noire et quant eUe sera seche, si la
poli dun dent, si sera belle et gaune et luisant en bonne cou
leur dor, et ainsi puez tu escrire de argent se tu veulz.
321. Pour fairer lettre dargent sans argent. — Broyez alun
avec sel, puis.le leve pour oster le sel puis le destrempe a
gomme et escri et quant U est sec, si le poli du dent, si perdra
sa novete et ara couleur d'argent.
322. Pour or mouler recipe. — R. tres fin or lime bien menu
et le broyez en un mortier suzille tel que les appoticaires ont,
cilz de cuivre les trois pars et la quarte partie de staing ou de
plomb, tels sont leurs mortiers ; mais avant ce doit estre votre
limeure d'or bien lavee en un bachin ou en une conche de
limeterie a un pincel et en ce mortier dessus dit, molez tant
or que have qui y sera mise soit au departir clere. Et en telle
maniere pourrez molez cuivre argent loton estaing et tout
autre metail, mais gardez que lor ne se haerde car il le faul-
droit remouldre de rechief. Et quant ce sera fait, ostez liaue
et les ordures et laissiez lautre rasseoir, puis le metez sur les
charbons avec eaue et le chauffez et mouvez.

304 MANUSCRIPTS OF JEHAN LE BEGUE.
323. To grind gold, and how it should be softened. — Take
well-filed gold, grind it well on a porphyry slab with two
parts of sal gem [rock salt], a little yellow sulphur in a glass
vessel, changing it frequently from one vessel to another until
it is well washed and purified. Then put it into a horn, and
when you wish to use it, distemper it with gum arabic, which
must be put into a glass vessel with water and exposed to the
rays of the sun, until it is dissolved. When it is dissolved put
it into a saucer with as much silver as water, and let it be
tepid when you write with it, which you must do the same
day before the fire. When dry, let it be burnished with a
tooth. 324. To make what appear to be gold and silver letters, with
out the use of either gold or silver. — Make very thin plates of
fine brass for gold letters, of fine tin for silver letters, and
each separately ; and let the plates be as thin as gold leaf, and
let them be well ground and bruised with water and dried in
the sun, and then strained through a cloth ; afterwards regrind
the coarser portion which remains in the cloth in a mUl or
mortar of iron or copper, such as is used by the apothecaries.
Then fill the letters or portraits with minium, if you mean to
gild, but if you intend to lay on silver put no minium ; and when
the minium is dry, fill those letters or portraits, by means! of
an ass'-hair pencil, with a glue made in the following manner.
Boil some clean and white pieces of the leather of cows,
oxen, calves, or sheep, early in the morning, until two-thirds
have evaporated. Then pour off that water, add some fresh
water, and boil again for an hour. Then pour off one-third of
the water and let the rest boil for two hours more, when you
must take out the leather and keep it in a clean vessel ; and if
it is then thick and sticks to the fingers, it is good ; if it does
not do so, you must boil it again. Then take some of this glue
and put it into a vessel over the coals, and while hot or tepid,
lay it on those portraits or letters with the pencil. Afterwards
dust on to it the said brass powder or tin powder, and leave
it for a day to dry, then polish it with a tooth. Again, an-

MANUSCRIPTS OF JEHAN LE BEGUE. 305
323. Pour escrire dor et comment il se doit mollir. — Recevez
or bien lime, et le moulez tres bien sur une porfire avec ij pars
de salgemme et un poy de souffre jaune et moulez tout ce tres
bien ensamble avec lor puis en vaissel de voire, et le mettez
souvent de vaissel en autre tant qu'il soit fort bien lavez et
bien purifiez, puis le mettez en un cornet. Et quant vous en
vouldrez ouvrer si le destrempez de gomme arabic et lequel
mettez avec yaue en ung vaissel de voire au soleil afin quil
fonde. Et quant il sera fondu, mettez avec argent autant
comme et de leaue en une paeUe et faites que elle soit tiede
quant vous vouldrez escrire et escresiez ce jour devant le feu.
Et quant elle sera seche si le burnissez dun dent.
324. Pour faire lettre qui semble dor et dargent, qui na ne or
t ^ ne argent. — Face plattes moult tenues de fin loton pour lettre
dor, et de fin estaing pour lettre dargent, et chacun a part, et
soient les plates tenues comme feuiUe dor. a dorer, et soit molu
tres bien et crible avec yaue et laissie seichr au soleil et coule
par ung drapel et remoler le plus gros qui demorra en le
drapel et moule tous dits en ung moulin ou mortier de cuivre
ou de fer tel quil sont chieux les appothicaires, puis emplissiez
les lettres ou pourtraictures de mine, en cas que veuillez faire
dor ; et se dargent, ne y mettez point de mine, puis quant le
mine est mis et est sech, mettez a un pincel de poil dasne en
icelles lettres ou pourtraictures cole ou glus facte en tele
maniere. Faites boulir pieces de cuir de vaiche ou de bceuf ou de
veau ou de mouton purs et blans, du matin jusques a tierce,
pus ostez leaue et metez de lautre et faittes boulir une heure
puis ostez le tiers de leaue et laissiez boulir lautre encore
ii heures puis ostez les cuirs et gardez leaue en un vaissel pur
et net, et se lautre tour elle est expresse et que elle se tienne
aux doiz elle est bonne. Et se non faictes boulir de rechief
puis prenez une partie de ceste cole et la mettez en un vaissel
sur les charbons et la mettez chaude ou tiede a tout le pincel
sur iceUes lettres ou pourtraictures. Et tantost mettez dessus
de la dicte pouldre de loton ou de celle de estaing et laisstez
vol. i. x

306 MANUSCRIPTS OF JEHAN LE BEGUE.
other way, without using brass powder : boil parchment with
the said glue, then take out the parchment, and put much
saffron with the glue, and let them cool together. In the
morning give your parchment a coat of glue on a very smooth
table, lay your tin powder on it, and then leave it exposed
to the sun for four or five hours, that it may dry ; after this
Wou must polish it with a boar's-tooth, when it will be of the
^colour of gold. Or thus, scrape your parchment with a knife
where you wish to draw, and make the glue with the saffron
boil a little. Then put a little of this into an iron spoon, warm
it over the coals, and while tepid, lay it where you please, by
means of the pencil, having your powdered tin in the other
hand, which you must then apply all over it, and burnish it
with a tooth. Also, if you wish to make gold letters, put
saffron with your tin and glue ; but if you wish them to be
of the colour of silver, use no saffron; after this you may
put on other colours. And you must know that sometimes
the letters become pale ; this arises either from its not being
sufficiently polished, or from the too small quantity of saf
fron. 325. If you wish to make a water proper for distempering
all colours. — Take a pound of lime and 12 pounds of ashes ¦?
then take boiling water and put the whole together, making
them boil well ; after which let the mixture settle and strain
it through a cloth ; then take four pounds of that water, heat
it well, take about two ounces of white wax, and put this to boil
with the water ; then take about 1\ oz. of fish-glue, put it in
water, and leave until it is well softened, and as it were melted,
when you must manipulate it until it becomes like paste, and
throw it into the water with wax, and make all boil together ;
then add to it about an ounce and a half of mastic, and boil
it with tbe other ingredients. Take some of this water on a
knife-blade, or piece of iron, to ascertain whether it is done : if
it is hke glue, it is all right. Strain this water while hot or
1 I have no doubt that the word originally written was cendres, and not
Flandres.

MANUSCRIPTS OF JEHAN LE BEGUE. 307
secher par un jour, puis polissiez dun dent. Item autrement
sans pouldre de laton boulez parchemin avec la dicte cole et
ostez le parchemin et metez foison safran avecques la cole et
laissiez refroidier ensamble, et au matin faictes ou liniez le
parchemin de vostre eole sur une table bien pleine, et mettez
vostre pouldre destaing dessus, et puis le laissiez au soleil
secher par quatre ou cinq heures, puis le polissiez dun dent de
pore et sera couleur dor. Ou ainsi ; raez vostre parchemin
dun coustel la ou vous vouldrez pourtraire et faictes la cole
avec le safran un tant et boulir et en mettez un poy en une
cuiUer de fer et faictes a tiedir sur les charbons, et en prenez
tout tiede et en mettez au piheeau la ou vous voulez et tenez
la pouldre de vostre estaing en lautre main et le appliquez
¦ tantost dessus et laissiez secher et burnissez a un dent. Item
se vous voulez faire lettre dor mettez safran avecques vostre
estaing et vostre cole. Et se vous voulez dargent, si ny mettez
point de safran. Et apres pourrez vous mettre les autres cou
leurs, et est a savoir que la lettre aucune fois palist, et cest
quant elle nest mie bien polie ou quant on ni met pas le safran
a point. *
325. Se vous voulez faire yaue conosite a destremper toutes
couleurs. — Prenez une livre de chaux et douze de Flandres
puds prenez eaue boulant et metez tout ensamble et les faictes
assez boufir puis le laissiez bien reposer, puis le coulez bien
pariny un drapel et de celle yaue prenez livres quatre et la
faiefes bien ardoir, puis prenez cire blanche environ ii. onces et
la mettez boulir avec lyauc puis prenez cole de poisson environ
j once et J, et la mettez en eaue et li laissiez tant quelle soit
bien emoUie et si comme fondue puis la maniez tant que elle
soit comme paste puis la mettez en lyaue avec la cire et la
faites ensamble boulir, et mettez mastic dedens environ once et
demie et faictes boulir ensamble, puiz prenez de ceste eaue et
mettez sur un coustel ou sur fer pour savoir sil est bien cuit
ef sil est comme glue il est bien. Puis adonc coulez celle

x 2

308 MANUSCRIPTS OF JEHAN LE BEGUE.
tepid through a linen cloth, let it settle, and cover it well.
With tliis water you may distemper all kinds of colours.
326. To make skins and all other things qf a red colour, or
any other colour. — First put the skins in alum-water which has
been boiled with some bran, and then skim it well and let it
settle, and when the heat of the water is so reduced that it is
just tepid, so as not to burn the skins, throw them in. After
this you must dry them ; then boil some brazil wood in the
above-mentioned water, and when it is well boiled sew your
skins into the form of bags, and fill them with the said water
while tepid and not boiling, as in that case the skins would
burn : they will thus be well coloured. And in this manner
you may stain anything with any colour.
327. To gild copper or brass without gold. — Take clean and
pure brass or copper, and scrape it weU with a knife, and bur
nish it with a boar's tooth ; then grind some ox-gall or other
suitable thing ; then take your pen or pencil, soak it in the
gall, rub it on the above-mentioned brass or copper, and let it
dry. Do this three times and you will have a colour similar
to gold.
328. To make fine letters of gold.— Grind gold and mercury
together, put them into a crucible over the fire until the mercury
is evaporated ; then stir the gold well until it is reduced to
powder, when you must grind it up with saffron boiled in water,
and expose it to the sun in a phial with gum-water. When
you use it, take it from the sun and write with it.
329. If you wish to make three kinds of vestures on parch
ment, one purple or red, another violet, and another white. — Mix
together a green made from the juice of any herb with a little
ochre, and with this fill the vesture of the pourtrayed image.
As to the second mix a httle cinople with orpiment, and with
this fill the dress of the other image. For the third mix orpi
ment with the juice of a tree called in Latin sambucus, and in

MANUSCRIPTS OF JEHAN LE BEGUE. 309
yaue chaude ou tiede parmi ung drap linge, et laissiez reposer
et la covrez bien et de celle eaue povez destremper toutes
manieres de couleurs.
326. Pour taindre peaux et toutes autres choses en couleur
rouge, et en toutes autres couleurs. —Mettez les peaulx premiere-
ment en eaue alumee, qui soit boulie et du son dedens et puis
laissiez bien escumer et reposer, et quant leaue ne sera que
tiede tellement que en mettant les peaulx dedens elles nardent,
mettez lors dedens ceUe eaue les dictes peaulx puis les mettez
sechier, puis faictes boulir bresil dedens leaue dessus dicte et
quant elle sera tres bien cuite cousez vos peaulx en maniere
de sacz et mettez leaue dessus dicte dedens, tiede comme dit
est et non boillant afin que les peaulx nardent, et ainsi seront
eUes tres bien coulorees. Et par ceste maniere povez taindre
toutes choses et de toutes couleurs.
327. A dorer cuivre ou arain sans or. — Prenez arain ou
cuivre pur et net, et le reez bien dun coustel, puiz le burnissiez
dun dent de pore puis moulez fiel de torel ou autre chose con-
venable, puiz prenez vostre penne ou vostre pincel et le moil-
liez au dit fiel et en frotez sur le cuivre ou arain dessus dit, et
laissiez secher, et se faictes pour trois fois, si aurez couleur
semblable dor.
328. A faire lettre dor fin. — Molez or et vif argent ensamble
et mettez en un crosol sur le feu tant que le vif argent soit
evapore, puis le movez tres bien tant que ce soit pourre, puis
molez safran avecques et les cuisez en yaue, puis le metez en
yaue de gomme au soleil en un fiale, et quant vous vouldrez
escrire prenez la fiale au soleil et du dit or escrisiez.
329. Se vous voulez faire trois manieres de vestemens en
parchemin, lun pourpre ou rouge, lautre violet, et lautre blau.
— Mellez ensemble vert avec jus daucune herbe et y adjoustez
un po docre et emplissiez le vestement de limage pourtraicte.
Et en aprez pour le second, mellez un po de cinople avec or
piment et emplissiez le vestement de lautre ymage. Tierce-
ment mellez orpiment avec jus des feuilles dun arbres qui es

310 MANUSCRIPTS OF JEHAN LE BEGUE.
French seur,1 and fill the third dress with this. But these are
not good on walls.
330. To make a colour which is called venede or veneda? —
Take black, and mix white lead with it, if it is to be used on
parchment, but if it is to be used on walls employ hme instead
of the said white lead.
331. To make a green colour for writing. — Mix good vinegar
with sour honey, and put it in a [copper] vessel under very hot
dung. In 12 days it will be of a beautiful green.
332. To make a blood-like colour which is called lake. — In
the month of March cut some ivy, which in Latin is called
edera, and which climbs on the trees and forests, and put the
juice which exudes into a glass vessel every three days ;
then boil it in urine and use it in drawing with the pencU.
333. The following is for tempering iron and steel. — When
the he-goat is in heat take his blood and temper your iron or
steel in this ; it then becomes very hard. The he-goat is an
animal whose Latin name is hyrcus.
334. To make the colour of red roses. — Put some Brazil
wood raspings into an earthen vessel glazed with lead, adding
urine and powdered alum ; let it stand for a night, and in the
morning place it over the coals without flame and boil it well
for a little ; then take it off the fire, add a httle powdered
quick lime, and mix it well with the other ingredients ; then
pour off the clear part, and dry that which is thick so that you
may use it when necessary.
335. If you wish to redden tables or other things. — Take
linseed, or hemp-seed, or nut-oU and mix it with minium or
cinople on a stone without water ; then with a pencil illuminate
what you wish to redden with this.
336. To write with gold. — Grind gold with clear and pure
wine, then pour off the wine and distemper it with gum or ox
gall. When you desire to paint or write with it, you must stir
' The elder. a See Theophilus, lib. i. c. vi.

MANUSCRIPTS OF JEHAN LE BEGUE. 311
nomme en Latin sambucus, et en Francais seur, et emplissiez
le tiers vestement, mais en murs ils ne sont pas bons.
330. A faire une couleur qui se nomme venede ou veneda. —
Prenez couleur noir et y mellez un pou de blanc de plomb
avec pour mettre en parchemin, mais se vous voulez le mettre
en mur, mettez en lieu du dit blanc plomb de la chaux.
331. A faire couleur verde pour escrire. — Mellez bon vin
aigre avec miel aigre, et le mettez en un vaissel en fiens bien
chaut et li laissiez douze jours et sera bon vert.
332. Pour faire couleur sanguine qui est appelee laque. —
Trenchiez du mois de mars yerre, qui est une herbe en Latin
appelee edera, et rampe sur les arbres et forets, et recevez en
un vaissel de voirre le jus qui en ystra de iij jours en trois
jours, et le cuisiez en orine et puis en ouvrez au pinceau vos
portraictures. 333. Trempeure defer et dacier forte se fait ainsi. — Quant
le bouc est en amour, se on prent son sang, et on y trempe de
dens fer ou acier. II est moult dur, et le bouc est beste que
on nomme en Latin yrchus.
334. A faire couleur de roses vermeilles.—l&a,ez bresil en un
vaissel de terre plomme et y metez de lorine et aussi pouldre
damn, et le laissiez une nuit reposer, et a landemain le mettez
sur les charbons sans flambe, et le faites tres bien boulir une
onde ou deux, puis lostez du feu et mettez avec un pou de
chaux vive en pouldre, et mellez tres bien ensamble, et ostez
le cler, et mettez lespez secher pour garder et pour en ouvrez
quant est besoing.
335. Si vous voulez rougir tables ou autres choses. — Prenez
oile de lin ou de chanvre ou de noiz, et mellez avec mine ou
cinope sur une pierre sans yaue. Puis en luminez a un pincel
ce que vous voulez rougir.
336. Pour escrire dor. — Molez or avec vin cler et pur, puis
lostez du vin et le destrempez de gomme ou de fiel de torel,
et quant vous vouldrez paindre ou escrire, si le mouvez et en

312 MANUSCRIPTS OF JEHAN LE BEGUE.
it and use it with a pen or pencil, and when dry polish with a
boar's tooth.
337. Several modes of distempering saffron. — Saffron is
sometimes distempered with water, sometimes with egg, some
times with wine ; but the best way is to put the saffron
into a clean vessel with a great quantity of water until it is
soaked, and then to boil it over the coals. You may then write
or paint with it whatever you please, and you must know that
saffron is redder when distempered with wine.
338. To make green. — Boil the leaves of the Morelle [so-
lanum nigrum] with ochre and grind them on a stone. If you
were to put saffron instead of ochre, or saffron and ochre, the
colour would be very good.
339. To paint and write with gold on cloth, parchment, tables,
and everything else. — Fill a glass vessel with urine and let it
settle until it is clear, then take two parts of white of egg and
mix it with your fresh urine and put it with some dissolved or
ground gold into the horn ; and with this gold you may write as
with any other colour, and paint on cloths and all other things.
340. To make the colours of flowers. — At tbe rising of the
sun go into the fields and collect divers corn flowers and other
herbs ; bruise and grind each kind of flower separately with
well-baked gypsum, then dry them and keep each colour se
parately so as to be ready when wanted for use ; and if you
wish for a green colour mix quick lime with the flowers and
you will have a good colour.
341. To make a good liquid varnish for painters. — Take
glasse aromatique, which is dark or dull outside, and inside
when broken is clear and shining like glass ; put some of it in
a new jar, which must stand on the mouth of another jar,
which must be well luted to it. The upper jar must be well
covered so as to be smoke-proof, and its bottom must be
pierced. Then light a fire beneath it, and leave it until the
glasse is melted, when you must take two parts of linseed, or

MANUSCRIPTS OF JEHAN LE BEGUE. 313
ouvrez a la penne ou au pincel et quand il est sec pohssiez le
dun dent de sangler.
337. A destremper safran en plusieurs manieres. — Safran est
aucunefoiz destrempez dyaue aucunefois dceuf aucunefois de
vin, mais la meilleur maniere et de mettre le safran en yaue
en un vaissel bien net jusques a tant quil soit confis et fault
quil ny ait une grant quantite deaue, puis le mettez sur les
charbons boulir un po ensamble et puis en ecrisiez ou paindez
ce que vous vouldrez ; et est a savoir quant le safran est de
strempe de vin, il est plus rouge.
338. Pour faire vert. — Cuisez feuiUe de morelle avec ocre
puis le broyez sur la pierre. Et cui y mettroit safran en lieu
de locre, et autour avec locre, bon seroit.
339. A paindre et escrire dor sur telles, parchemins, ou tables,
et toutes autres choses. — Emphssiez de votre orine un vaissel de
voirre et si le laissiez reposer tant que elle soit bien claire,
puis prenez glaire doefs tres bonne deux parties et les meslez
avec vostre orine noveUe ensemble, et le mettez avec or solut
ou broye, dedens le cornet et de cest or povez escrire comme
dautre couleur, et paindre sur draps et toute autres choses.
340. A faire couleurs defieurs. — Alez au matin soleil levant
aux champs et assemblez diverses fleurs de bles et dautres
herbes, et criblez bien et molez chacun par soy avec gips bien
cuit, et mettez le sechier et gardez chascun par lui et en ouvrez
quant est besoing. Et quant vous vouldrez avoir couleur
verde, meslez chaux vive avecques les dictes fleurs, et avez
bonne couleur.
341. A faire bonne vernix liquide pour paintres. — Prenez
glasse aromatique qui est obscur par dehors et par dedens
quant on le brise il est clair et luisant a maniere de voirre et en
mettez une partie en un pot neuf qui soit assis sur la bouche
dun autre pot et aoient bien lute ensamble, et le pot denhault
bien couvert que fumee nen ysse et soit percie au fons et faites
feu dessoubz, tant que vous santez que la glasse sera fondue.
Puis prenez oile de lin, ou de chanvre, ou de noix deux parties,

314 MANUSCRIPTS OF JEHAN LE BEGUE.
hemp-seed, or nut-oil, and heat this oil slowly over a fire, not
making it too hot. You must then pour it on to the said
glasse, make the fire hotter, and let it boil for an hour, taking
care that the flame does not touch it. Then take it off the fire
and put it into a clean vessel, and when you wish to varnish
any dry painting take some of this liquid and spread it over
the painting with your fingers, for if you were to do it with a
pencil it would be too thick and would not dry. You will
thus have good varnish.
342. To make a yellow colour. — Cook some vernide well in
a clear ley, add to it a little verdigris, and distemper it with
black, and the more verdigris you add the redder it will be ;
for instance, 2 oz. of verdigris and 5 of vercande, put the
thread in while it is hot or boiling and it will give you satis
faction. 343. The nature and condition of minium, sandaraca,1 and
ceruse, and the way to distemper them. — They are all of the
same kind and nature, but when exposed to heat they change
their name, strength, and colour ; for that which is the most
heated is the reddest, and that which is the least heated is the
whitest or palest, and they should be distempered with water
for mason's work, with egg for parchment, and with oil for
wood. 344. To make a colour which is called pose for the undraped
parts of images. — Mix a little cynobre with simple flesh colour
and a little minium and you will have the said pose 2 colour,
with which you will redden teeth (gums), nostrils, mouths,
hands, the under part of necks, the wrinkles of foreheads, the
temples, and the articulations and other members in all the
undraped parts of painted and round figures.
345. To make two colours, one called lumine 3 and the other
cedre or excedre, for the undraped parts of figures. — Mix flesh
1 The colour here called sandarace appears from the description to have
been massicot.
2 See ante, p. 300, No. 315.
3 See Theophilus, lib. i. c. v. ix. and xiii.

MANUSCRIPTS OF JEHAN LE BEGUE. 315
et le chauffez au feu petit a petit et ne li laissiez pas trop
chauffer, puis le getez par dessus avec la dicte glasse, et faites
bon feu et le faites bien boulir par lespace dune heure, et
gardez tres-bien que la flamme ne la tourhe. Puis lostez du
feu et mettez en vaissel cler et net, et quant aucune euvre de
painture sera faite et seche et la voulez vernicier si prenez de
ceste liqueur et la tandez dessus la painture a voz doiz ; car
se vous le fasiez du pincel il seroit trop espez et ne pourroit
secher, et ainsi avez bonne vernix.
342. A faire couleur jaune. — Cuisiez bien vernide en lexive
clere et nette et y mettez un po de vert de gris et le de
strempez de seurs et quant plus y mettez du vert de gris et
plus sera rouge s. ij oz. de vert de gris et v de vercande,
puis mettez dedans le fil tiede ou boulant, et sera a vostre
plaisir. 343. La nature et condition de mine, sandarace, et ceruse, et
la maniere de la destremper, et que Us sont dune maniere et dune
nature, mais par feu ilz muent, noms, force, et couleurs. — Car
celui qui est plus cuit et plus rouge et, le moin cuit est le plus
blanc ou plus pale, et doivent estre destrempez deaue en ma-
connage et de oeufs en parchemin, et de oille en sustages.

344. A faire une couleur qui est appelee pose pour faire le
nus de ymages. — Mettez avec simple membrane un poi de
cynobre et un poi de mine, et vous avez la dicte couleur pose,
de laquelle vous rougirez dens, naselles, bouche, mains, col
par dessoubs, et les fronces du front, et les tremples, et les
articles. et les autres membres en tous nus dimages pourtraictes
et rondes.
345. Pour faire deux couleurs, lune appelee lumine et lautre
cedre ou excedre, pour le nud des ymages. — Mellez avec cynobre

316 MANUSCRIPTS OF JEHAN LE BEGUE.
colour, well-ground ceruse, and verblee [vertbleu] with cynobre,
and you will have a colour which is called lumine, with which
you will illuminate the eyebrows, the upper part of the nose,
and the nostrils with very fine lines. The other colour is made
by mixing red with a little* black, which produces a colour called
cedre or excedre, with which you will make the touches round
the pupils of the eyes.
346. To make a glue for flesh. — Take the root of the plant
which is called " stipatum," put it into a cauldron or kettle with
pieces of flesh boiled in water ; when cold, the water will coagu
late, and is called " gelantina." And pure water in which the said
roots are boiled is useful for distempering colours on account
of the glutinous properties which it takes from the root ; and
even if that root alone was left in water for a day and night
without being boiled it will be of equal value.
347. Water for tempering colours. — Water in which linseed-
oil has been steeped for a day and night receives a glutinous
quality from that seed, which makes it proper for distempering
colours. 348. To prevent anything made of burnished iron or steel
from rusting. — Take saltpetre, otherwise called afronitre,1 or
sal nitre, of the size of a nut, and half a goblet of olive oil,
distemper and boil the whole together, then strain through a
linen cloth and keep it clean, and anoint with it the said things,
or armour, or other works by means of a hnen or woollen cloth,
which must be moistened with the oil without laying it on too
thickly ; for it is better to lay it on thinly and then at any
time after two or three months the articles may be again
rubbed down with the oiled rag.
349. To make fine azure. — You must take the Indian or
Persian azure stone which comes from beyond the sea, and
which is kept by the apothecaries, who use it in some of their
medicines. That which has white veins is better than that
which has gold veins, and if you heat it over the fire on a hot
1 Froth of nitre. The saline excrescence which forms on walls.

MANUSCRIPTS OF JEHAN LE BEGUE. 317
membrane ceruse bien molue et verblee si avez couleur qui
est appellee lumine, de laquelle vous enluminerez les sourcils,
le nez au long, et sur les pertuis des narines, faisant les trais
soubtilz ; et lautre est se vous mellez avec rouge un po de noir
vous avez couleur qui est nommee eedre ou excedre, de quoi
vous ferez les trais environ les pupilles.
346. Ad gellantinam carnium faciendam. — Herba quaedam
stipatum vocata est, ejus radix in cacabo vel lebete posita cum
carnium frustris in aqua eoquentibus ea coagulat cum ad fri-
gidatem reducuntur quae sic gelantana vocantur, et aqua pura
in qua bulirentur ipsa? radices dicta? herbae utilis esset ad tem
perandum colores, pro ejus glutiniositate ab ibsa radice sumpta.
Ac etiam si solum radix ipsa in aqua staret per diem et noctem
saltim, absque quam bulita seque valeret.
347. Aqua hi qua semen lini diu per diem et noctem saltim
steterit, recipit ab ipso semine glutinositatem quae ipsam facit
aptam ad distemperandum colores.
348. Pour garder denreullir aucune chose defer ou dacier
burnies. — Prenez salpetre, autrement appellee assafetide [afro
nitre ?] ou salnitre, le gros dune noiz et la moitie dun gobelet
duille dolive, et deffaites tout ensemble, et le faites boulir, et
puis le coulez par un drapel de lin et le gardez nettement et
en oindez les dictes choses armoures ou autres besoignes a un
drapel de lin ou de laine qui seroit meilleur moillie en icellui
ihe sans le mettre trop gros, car il est mieulz a le mettre
delie, et puis aucune fois de deux ou troiz moiz les torcher et
remettre. 349. Pour faire fin azur. — Vous devez prendre la pierre de
lazur qui est Inde ou Pers, et vient des parties doultremer, et
se treuve sur les appothicaires qui en font aucunes medicines ;
et celle qui a vauies blanches vault mieulx que celle que les a
dor, et se vous le mettez ou feu recuire, ou sur une platine de

318 MANUSCRIPTS OF JEHAN LE BEGUE.
plate of iron and when cool find it of the same colour as before,
it is good. If you buy the said stone in powder, you must
prove it in this manner, and then pound and grind it well on a
flat piece of porphyry or other hard stone ; then make a
cement of turpentine and to a quarter of a pound of the said
powder by weight add 4$ ounces of turpentine, and mix and
incorporate together the powder and turpentine in a well-
glazed earthen vessel, the turpentine being tepid before the
powder is put into it. You must leave them in this state for the
space of sixteen hours or thereabouts ; then heat some water
until it is tepid, throw it into the pot until the said mixture is
covered with it, and stir the whole well together quickly and
for a long time with a stick ; then take the water, which will
be rendered opaque by the blue colour, let it clear, and throw
it into another new weU-glazed earthen vessel, and let it settle,
when the blue will fall to the bottom ; then pour some more
water on the mixture and stir it harder than before, and throw
the water, which will thus be full of the blue colour, into
another clean glazed vessel, and let it settle, when the blue will
fall to the bottom. Then pour in tepid water for the fhird
time, and stir the said mixture of turpentine and blue ; pour
off tbe water into another pot and let it settle, then pour the
water off all three vessels, dry the blue and keep it. The
first will be worth its weight in gold, the second its weight in
silver, and the third is good for making grounds. For this
reason eaeh sort should be kept apart.
350. When a horse has bad and troubled eyes. — Take three
or four leaves of waide [woad ?] and the white of an egg, with
salt of the size of a bean ; put all these things in an egg-shell ;
sweep the hearthstone clean ; put it on it, and let it dry until
it can be easily powdered, then apply to the eye of the horse.
351. To cure quartan fevers. — Take an herb which is
called "tettes de souris," ofthe size of a gall-nut,- distemper it
with white wine, and make the sick person drink it on the day
he expects to be seized with this fever : he will be immediately
cured.

MANUSCRIPTS OF JEHAN LE BEGUE. 31 9
fer chaude chaufer et puis le laissiez refroidier et il revient ou
est de telle couleur que devant il est bon. Et pareiUement
eprouverez au feu la poudre de la dicte pierre se vous lachetez
broye puis le devez bien broyer et mouldre bien sutil sur une
pierre platte de porfire ou autre bien dure. Puis faites siment
de termentina et pour un quarteron de la dicte pouldre a pois
fault iiij onces et demie de termentine, et doit on en une paelle
de terre bien plommee encorporer et mesler la dicte pouldre et
pierre ou azur, avec la termantine qui soit un pou tiede, avant
que la pouldre y soit mise et laissier ainsi par lespace de seize
heures ou environ ; et puis chauffez de leaue que elle soit tiede
et en boutez en la paelle grant foison tant que celle mixtion
soit couverte et remues ce bien et fort et hastivement et
longuement a un bastonnet. Et liaue qui lors sera bien,
trouble de lazur, purez et boutez en une autre paiellete de
terre neufve bien plommee et la mettez rasseoir et vostre azur
se traira au fons. Puis mettez encor sur la dicte mixtion de
leaue tiede et remuez plus fort que devant, et puis leaue qui
ainsi sera trouble de lazur et la boutez en une autre paelle
nette plommee et le laissiez aussi rasseoir et lazur descendre
au fons. Puis remettez la tierce fois de leaue tiede, et re
muez la dicte mixtion de trementine et dazur, et purez leaue
en une autre paeUe et laissiez rasseoir, et de toutes trois getez
leaue et sechez et gardez lazur. Le premier vault son poiz
dor, le second son poiz dargent, et le tiers est bon pour faire
assiete. Et pour ce chacune sorte soit tenue apart.
350. Quant un cheval a mauvais yeux et troubles. — Prenez
troiz ou quatre feuilles de waide et le blanc dun ceufs et du
sel le gros dune feve et mettez toutes ces choses en lescaille de
lcef et netoiez lastre du feu et le metez dessus, et le laissiez
tant secher que on en puisse faire pouldre et en mettez en leul
du cheval.
351. Pour garir defievres quartainnes. — Prenez dune herbe
que lon appelle tettes de souris, le gros dune noiz galle, et le
destrempez de vin blanc, et en faites boire le malade le jour
que les fievres le doivent pranre, et tantot garira.

320 MANUSCRIPTS OF JEHAN LE BEGUE.
352. To make cleret, which in Lombardy is called stellerie. —
Take an ounce of chauelle [canelle ?], half an ounce of ginger,
6 cloves, 8 grains of paradise grains, a httle nutmeg, all these
things well pulverized, half a pint of virgin honey, and a little
wine. Distemper all these things together and strain them'
through a bag, the bottom of which is pointed into the vessel
which contained the wine ; and if it is not clear the first
time of straining, replace it in the bag over the other, which
meanwhile has been dripping, and on straining it will become
clear.
THANK GOD.
This Book, is composed by Master Jehan Le Begue,
a Licentiate in the Law, Notary-General of the Masters
ofthe King's Mint, at Paris, Anno Domini 1431, when
he was 63 years of age.

MANUSCRIPTS OF JEHAN LE BEGUE. 321
352. Pour faire cleret qui en Lombardie est appelle stellerie.
— Prenez une once de chanelle et demie de gingembre et six
clox de girofle et viij grains de grainnes de paradis, et un po de
noiz muscade, tout broye en pouldre, et demie pinte de larme
de miel et un pot de vin, et les trempez tous ensamble, et puiz
les coulez par le sachet agu dessoubs en le pot ou estoit le vin ;
et se le premier qui descend nest bien cler, remetez le au dit
sachet sus lautre qui tondis coule et il revenra cler.
DEO GRATIAS.
Compositus est liber iste a magistro Johanne le
Begue, Licentiato in Legibus, Greffario Generalium
Magistrorum Monetae Regis Parisiis, anno Domini
1431, aetatis vero sua? 63.

END OF VOL. I.

VOL. I.

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