17th century book of watercolour paints by A. Boogert
Eric Kwakkel found this extensive 800-page book on how to prepare and mix watercolour paints in an online library in France.
It was published in Dutch in 1692 by one A. Boogert:
He explains how to mix the colours and how to change their tone by adding “one, two or three portions of waterâ€. To illustrate his point he fills each facing page with various shades of the colour in question […]. To top it he made an index of all the colours he described, which in itself is a feast to look at.
The book is called ‘The Clear Bright Mirror of the Art of Painting’ (‘De Klaerlighte Spiegel der Verfkonst’) and is written in plain Dutch. Unfortunately I keep tripping over Mr Boogert’s handwriting, otherwise I might have treated you to a couple of paragraphs. Due to the nature of the work (three colour printing wasn’t available until the late 19th century), it is likely that the author produced only a single copy. And it’s very cool is that this copy survived.
Shown here are two opposite pages of the index (“blatwijser of regisster”).
Tags: DIY, paints, Pantone, pigments, watercolour