15th Century Colour Palettes

15th century Italian painting mastered the art of painting light in the world. As Leon Battista Alberti wrote in On Painting (1435), light has the power to vary colour , hence a rich palette of pigments and how to mix colors was necessary to capture every nuance. Countless recipes are provided by the anonymous author of Secrets for Colours (c. 1450), called the Bolognese Manuscript, intended for use in fresco and in oil on panel, accompanied by instructions on how to make varnishes for paintings. This book will be of interest to art historians, collectors, students, conservators, and museum-goers. AUTHOR: Patricia Railing (PhD, University of Paris ,Sorbonne, Philosophy of Art) is an art historian specialising in both the Russian Avant-Garde and the history of artists’ pigments. She has compiled this collection, Colour Palettes, from treatises, 1st century B.C. to the 19th century, which culminates in the Documentary Dictionary of Historical Pigments. The series is complemented by a website, www.painterspalettes.net. SELLING POINT: . Many recipes from 15th century Italian treatises for painting in fresco and oil on panel are included in this handbook.