Traité de la peinture en mignature, pour apprendre aisément à peindre sans maître

Abstract

First appearance of the colour wheel. The text stresses pigment and colour recipes (most of the book is devoted to them) but there are also sections on drawing, use of the compass, preparation of vellum, etc. Professor Herbert comments on this book, stating "It consists largely of recipes for pigment mixtures and, typically of seventeenth-century manuals, these are subordinated to the images the painter creates. One finds advice on pigments for tan architecture, red drapery, blue skies, rather than on the colors themselves. (Ursus Rare Books catalogue 313)