Historical Painting Techniques, Materials, and Studio Practice

Abstract

French publications on painting ma­
terials and techniques before 1800
include books of "secrets," treatises
written by artists themselves or
about their practice, articles from
learned journals, dictionaries, and
encyclopedias. The traditional meth­
ods of painting listed in these publi­
cations include dhrempe (a reference
to a water-based media, which can
be glue, gum, or egg tempera), fres­
co, miniature, and oil painting,
enamel and glass painting, as well as
painting on porcelain. Some of the
more unusual techniques are out­
lined: encaustic, eludoric, and glass
painting, including glass transfer
techniques, and finally a satirical
contribution, "peinture en fromage
ou en ramequm."

20

From. Books of Secrets to Encyclopedias: Painting

Te chniques in France between 1600 and 1800

Ann Massing

Hamilton Kerr Institute

Whittlesford

Cambridge CB2 4NE

United Kingdom

Introduction

Until the mid-seventeenth century, the business of painting in France was

strictly regulated by guilds. The skills of the painting craft, handed down from

master to apprentice, were treated as valuable personal possessions and pro­

tected by secrecy (1). Few records of the painting techniques themselves were

published before the mid-eighteenth century. The first information contrib­

uting to the history of painting materials and techniques in the French lan­

guage is fo und in books of "secrets," collections of recipes on various topics,

often compiled from diverse authors. The "secrets" of the earliest such books

were not contemporary recipes, however, but translations from Italian or Latin,

often with reference to ancient Greek or Roman authors.

Books of secrets

The first of the books of "secrets," Les secrets de reverend Alexis Piemontois (Paris,

1557) was a compilation, translated from the Italian, that included remedies

fo r illness, wounds, and accidents, as well as instructions on how to make

perfumes,jams, dyes, and pigments. The book was reprinted in 1573 and was

expanded to include recipes from Dioscorides, Galen, and others, as well as

some recipes relating to the history of painting techniques such as gilding,

pigments, inks, and the making of varnishes. It was republished several times

during the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, as were other secret books,

such as Les secrets et merveilles de nature (Lyon, 1586) by Jean Jacques Wecker,

a doctor from Colmar. We cker's recipes fo r magic and sorcery, health, cooking,

beauty, and the manufacture of pigments, "des secrets des fa lseurs et vendeurs

de couleurs et peintures," were also taken from Latin sources; he credits sev­

enty-five authors from Aristotle onward. Fortunately, the book includes a

table of contents, fo r the recipes are not arranged alphabetically but in a

systematic order that reflects Wecker's vision of the universe and places pain­

ter's secrets on the same level as recipes fo r cooks, druggists, carpenters, and

Jomers.

Several books of secrets were published in the seventeenth century, but per­

haps the most popular and the most relevant to our topic was Le Sieur

D'Emery's Recueil des curiositez rares et nouvelles des plus admirables iffets de la

nature re t de l'art] (Paris, 1674) (2). Included were many recipes related to the

history of painting techniques, recipes on how to copy drawings, make pastels,

imitate marble, stain wood, gild, and make engravings look like old master

paintings.

Books of secrets continued to be written and reprinted throughout the eigh­

teenth century and beyond. In the eighteenth century, the two compilations

most frequently reissued were Secrets des arts et metiers (Brussels, 1755) and

L' Albert moderne ou nouveau secrets eprouves et licites (Paris, 1768). This "modern"

Albert was a revision of "old" Albertus Magnus, with the superstitions and

enchantments deleted, keeping only "useful" advice, such as how to cure a

toothache with two live moles. (The method begins by holding a mole in

each hand and squeezing gently, without letting go, until they die; this process

should take about five hours.) Large sections are devoted to medical and

agricultural recipes; the third section includes "divers moyens de se fa ire une

Historical Painting Tech niques, Materials, and Studio Practice