A Treatise Concerning the Arte of Limning: A More Compendious Discourse Concerning Ye Art of Liming

'To proceed & beginne wth ye Coullers, Whitt ffor its Virgin puritie is the most Excellent To proceed and begin with the colours: white for its virgin purity is the most excellent, viz. ceruse and white lead; both are subject to inconveniences, and are thus prevented: the ceruse, after you have wrought it, will tarnish, and many times look of a reddish or yellowish shine; the white lead, if too much ground, wiull glister or shine, and if you grind it too coarse will be unfit to work, and so unserviceable. There is but one way to remedy, which is to lay them in the sun two or three days before you grind them, which will exhale and draw away those salt and greasy mixtures that starve and poison the colours. ' Treatise on the Arte of Limning is one of the most important documents in the history of English art. Published in paperback for the first time, this edition provides a transcript of the original manuscript copy facing a modernised version, extensively annotated. The substantial introduction explores the history of the Treatise, the life of its author, its historical and artistic context, and the technique of limning. The Treatise combines elegance, information, personal forthrightness and spirited observation.

Nicholas Hilliard (1546-1618), the first major painter whose name we know, painted the minature portraits from which we recognise many of the people of the court of Elizabeth I. His technique 'limning' which utilised water-based pigments, was considered among the highest pictorial arts.