16th Century Colour Palettes

Railing Patricia

Three texts by two Italian Renaissance painters – Leonardo da Vinci and Gian Paolo Lomazzo – and a compendium of the 53 standard pigments commonly found on artists' palettes for painting in oil on panel and on canvas as outlined by the writer, Raffaello Borghini, make up this 16th century collection of pigments. Leonardo's studio advice on the use of colours for capturing light and dark picks up this theme from Italian 15th century and classical painting and lays the foundation for this practice as it would develop in European painting. The plates are of works by Titian found in the National Gallery in London, whose pigments have been identified and matched to the paintings.

About the 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.

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