Traité théorique et pratique sur l'art de faire et d'appliquer les vernis: sur les différens genres de peinture par impression et en décoration, ainsi que sur les couleurs simples et composées ...

Abstract

“It is a comprehensive treatise on the preparation of varnishes, paints and colors. The author gives descriptions and results of his many experiments.” (Cole, 1287, note). It is given a longish analysis in Ruhemann/Plesters: “Older and inadvisable methods [of restoration]...for example flooding of the picture surface first with alcohol, then with water...Caution is advised in the use of alkalis. An innovation in this book is that of cleaning tests to be made in corners of the painting. White of egg is mentioned for a temporary varnish, while the recipe for ‘Varnish no. IV. For valuable paintings’ consists of mastic in turpentine, with minor additions of frankincense and camphor (the latter presumably as a plasticizer).” - The cleaning of paintings, pp. 381-2. Tingry (1743-1821) was a professor of chemistry and natural history at Geneva where he published numerous papers in those fields. There was an English translation published in 1804. Poggendorff II, 1110. (Charles Wood, Cat. 16:219)