MINIATURE PAINTING, adelicatekind of painting, consisting of little points or dots, usually done on vellum, ivory, or paper, with very thin, simple water colours. The word comes from the Latin minium, red lead, that being a colour much used in this kind of painting. The French frequently call it mignature, from mignon, fine, pretty, on account of its smallness and delicacy; and it may be ultimately derived from the Greek word μικ%ος, small.

Miniature is distinguished from other kinds of painting by the smallness and delicacy of its figures, and the faintness of the colouring.

- Of Drawing and Designing. —To succeed in this art, a man should be perfectly skilled in the art of designing or drawing; but as most people who affect the one know little or nothing of the other, and would have the pleasure of painting without giving themselves the trouble of learning to design, which is indeed an art that is not acquired without a great deal of time and continual application, inventions have been found out to supply its place, and by means of which a man may design or draw without knowing how to do either.

The first is chalking; that is, if yon have a mind to do a print or design in miniature, the back of it, on another paper, must be blackened with small coal, and then rubbed very hard with the finger wrapped in a linen cloth; afterwards the cloth must be lightly drawn over the side so blackened, that no black grains may remain upon it to soil the vellum you would paint upon; and the print or draught must be fastened upon the vellum with four pins, to keep it from shifting. And if it be another paper that is blackened, it must be put between the vellum and the print or draught, with the blackened side upon the vellum; then, with a blunted pin or needle, you must pass over the principal lines or strokes of the print or draught, the contours, the plaits of the drapery, and every thing else that must be distinguished, pressing so hard that the strokes may be fairly marked upon the vellum underneath.

Copying by squares is another convenient method for such as are but little skilled in the art of designing, and would copy pictures or other things that cannot be chalked. The method may be shortly described. The piece must be divided into many equal parts by little squares, marked out with charcoal, if the piece be clear and whitish, and the black can be fairly seen upon it; or with white chalk, if it be too brown and dusky. After which, as many squares of equal dimensions must be made on white paper, upon which the piece must be designed; because, if this be done immediately upon vellum (as one is apt to miscarry in the first attempt), the vellum may be soiled with false touches. But when it is neatly done upon paper, it must be chalked upon the vellum in the manner before described. When the original and the paper are thus ordered, observe what is in each square of the piece to be designed, as a head, an arm, a hand, and so forth; and place it in the corresponding part of the paper. And thus finding where to place all the parts of the piece, you have nothing to do but to form them well, and to join them together. By this method you may reduce or enlarge a piece to whatever compass you please, making the squares of your paper greater or less than those of the original; but they must always be of an equal number.

To copy a picture or other thing in the same size and proportion, another method is, to make use of varnished paper, or of the skin of a hog’s bladder, very transparent, such as is to be had at the gold-beater’s. Talc or isinglass will likewise do as well. Lay any one of those things upon your piece; through it you will see all the strokes and touches, which are to be drawn upon it with a crayon or pencil. Then take it off; and fastening it under paper or vellum, set up both against the light, in the manner of a window; and with a crayon, or a silver needle, mark out upon the paper or vellum you have put uppermost, all the lines and touches you shall see drawn upon the varnished paper, bladder, talc, or isinglass, you have made use of, and which will plainly appear through this window.

After this manner, making use of the window, or of glass exposed to the light, you may copy all sorts of prints, designs, and other pieces, on paper or vellum, laying and fastening them under the paper or vellum upon which you would draw them; and it is a very good and a very easy contrivance for doing pieces of the same size and proportion.

If you have a mind to make pieces look another way, there is nothing to be done but to turn them; laying the printed or drawn side upon the glass, fastening the paper or vellum upon the back of it, and remembering to let your lights fall on the left side.

A good method likewise to take a true copy of a picture in oil, is to give a touch of the pencil upon all the principal strokes, with lake tempered with oil, and to clap upon the whole a paper of the same size; then passing the hand over it, the touches of the lake will stick and leave the design of your piece expressed upon the paper, which may be chalked like other things. But you must remember to take off with a crumb of bread what remains of the lake upon the picture before it be dry. You must likewise make use of pounce, made of powdered charcoal put in a linen rag; with this the piece you would copy must be rubbed, after you have pricked all the principal strokes or touches, and fastened white paper or vellum underneath.

When the piece is marked out upon the vellum, you must pass with a pencil of very clear carmine over all the traces, that they may not be effaced as you work; then [7:15:269] clean your vellum with the crumb of bread, that no black may remain upon it.

The vellum must be pasted upon a plate of brass or wood, of the size you would make your piece, in order to keep it firm and tight. But this pasting must be on the edges of your vellum only, and behind the plate, for which purpose your vellum must exceed your plate above an inch on every side; for the part you paint upon must never be pasted, because it would not only give it an ill look, but you could not take it off if you would. Cut off the little shags and locks of the vellum, and, wetting the fair side with a linen cloth dipped in water, clap the other upon the plate, with a clean paper between them; let as much as hangs over be pasted upon the back of the plate, drawing it equally on all sides, and hard enough to stretch it well.

Of Materials. —As colours taken from earth and other heavy matter are always too coarse, be they ever so well ground, especially for delicate work, because of a certain sand remaining in them, the finest parts may be drawn out by diluting them with the finger in a cup of water. When they are well steeped, let them settle a while; then pour out the clearest, which will be at top, into another vessel. This will be the finest, and must be let dry; and, when it is used, it must be diluted with gumwater.

Some colours arc made clearer by fire, as yellow ochre, brown red, ultramarine, and umber; all others are darkened by it. But if you heat these colours with a sharp fire, they will change; the brown-red will become yellow, yellow ochre will become red, and umber will also redden. Ceruss, by fire, takes the colour of citron, and is often called mastieot. Observe, that yellow ochre heated becomes more tender than it was, and softer than brown-red; likewise brown-red heated becomes softer than fine yellow ochre. Both are very proper. The finest and truest ultramarine, heated upon a red-hot iron, becomes more glittering than before; but it wastes, and is coarser and harder to work with in miniature.

All these colours are diluted in little cups of ivory, made on purpose, or in sea-shells, with water in which gum-arabic and sugar-candy are put. For instance, in a glass of water put a piece of gum as big as a walnut, and half that quantity of sugar-candy. This last hinders the colours from scaling when they are laid on, which they generally do when they want it, or the vellum is greasy. This gum-water must be kept in a neat bottle corked; and you must never take any out of it with a pencil that has colour upon it, but with a quill, or some such thing.

Some of this water is put into the shell with the colour you would temper, and diluted with the finger till it be very fine. If it be too hard, you must let it soften in the shell with the said water before you dilute it. Afterwards let it dry; and do this with every colour, except lily-green, sap-green, and gamboge, which must be tempered with fair water only. But ultramarine, lake, and bistre, are to be more gummed than other colours.

If you make use of sea-shells, you must let them steep two or three days beforehand in water; then cleanse them in boiling-hot water mixed with vinegar, in order to carry off a certain salt, which otherwise sticks to them, and.spoils the colours that are put in them.

To know whether colours are sufficiently gummed, you have nothing to do but to give a stroke of the pencil upon your hand when they are diluted, which dries immediately: if they chap and scale, there is too much gum; if they rub out by passing the finger over them, there is too little. It may be seen likewise when the colours are laid on the vellum, by passing the finger over them. If they stick to it like a powder, it is a sign there is not gum enough, and more must be put to the water with which you temper them; but take care you do not put too much, for that makes the colour extremely hard and dry. It may be likewise known by their glueiness and brightness; for the more they are gummed, the darker they paint; and when you have a mind to give a greater strength to a colour than it has of itself, you have nothing to do but to give it a great deal of gum.

The use of good pencils is a great matter. In order to make a good choice, wet them a little; and if the hairs keep close together as you turn them upon the finger, and make but one point, they are good; but if they close not together, but make several points, and some are longer than others, they are good for nothing. When they are too sharp pointed, with only four or five hairs longer than the rest, yet closing altogether, they are, notwithstanding, good; but they must be blunted with a pair of scissars, taking care at the same time you do not clip away too much. It is proper to have two or three sorts of them; the largest for laying the grounds and dead-colouring, and the smallest for finishing.

To work well in miniature, you must do it in a room which has but one window, and fix yourself very near it, with a table and desk almost as high as the window; placing yourself in such a manner that the light may always come in upon the left side, and never forward or upon the right.

When you would lay a colour on all parts equally strong, as for a ground, you must make your mixtures in shells, and put in enough for the thing you design to paint; for if there be not enough, it is a great chance but the colour you afterwards mix is too dark or too light.

Of Working. —After having spoke of vellum, pencils, and colours, let us now show how they are to be employed. In the first place, then, when you would paint a piece, be it carnation, drapery, or any thing else, you must begin by dead-colouring; that is to say, by laying your colours on with liberal strokes of the pencil, in the smoothest manner you can, as the painters do in oil, not giving it all the force it is to have for a finishing; in other words, make the lights a little brighter, and the shades less dark, than they ought to be, because in dotting upon them, as you must do after dead-colouring, the colour is always fortified, and would at last be too dark.

There are several ways of dotting, and every painter has his own. Some make their dots perfectly round; others make them a little longish; others hatch by little strokes that cross each other every way, till the work appears as if it had been wrought with dots. This last method is the best, the boldest, and the soonest done; wherefore such as would paint h** miniature ought to use it, and to inure themselves from the first to dot in the plump and the soft way; that is to say, where the dots are lost, in a manner, in the ground upon which you work, and only so much appears as is sufficient to make the work seem dotted. The hard and the dry way is quite the reverse, and always to be avoided. This is done by dotting with a colour much darker than your ground, and when the pencil is not moistened enough with the colour, which makes the work seem rough and uneven.

Study likewise carefully to lose and drown your colours one in another, so that it may not appear where they disjoin; and to this end soften or allay your touches with colours that partake of both, in such sort that it may not appear to be your touches which cut and disjoin them. By the word cut, we are to understand what manifestly separates and divides, and does not run in and blend itself with the neighbouring colours, which is rarely practised but upon the borders of drapery.

When your pieces are finished, to heighten them a little, give them a fine air; that is to say, give, upon the extre[7:15:270]mity of the lights, small touches with a colour yet fighter, which must be lost and drowned with the rest.

When the colours are dry upon your pallet or in your shells, in order to use them they .must first be diluted with water; and when you perceive they want gum, which is seen when they easily rub off the hand or the vellum if you give a touch with them upon either, they must be tempered with gum-water instead of pure water, till they are in condition.

There are several sorts of grounds for pictures and portraitures. Some are wholly dark, composed of bistre, umber, and Cologne earth, with a little black and white; others more yellow, in which is mixed a great deaI of ochre; others grayer, which partake of indigo. In order to paint a ground, make a wash of the colour or mixture you would have it, or according to that of the picture or portraiture you would copy; that is to say, a very fight lay, in which there is hardly any thing but water, in order to soak the vellum. Then pass another lay over that, somewhat thicker, and strike it on very smoothly with large strokes, as quick as you can, not touching twice in the same place before it be dry; because the second stroke carries off what has been laid on at the first, especially when you lean a little too light upon the pencil.

Other dark grounds are likewise made of a colour a little greenish; and these are most in use, and the properest to lay under all sorts of figures and portraitures, because they make the carnation or naked parts of a picture appear very fine, are laid on very easily, and there is no occasion to dot them, as one is often obliged to do the others, which are rarely made smooth and even at the first; whereas in these one seldom fails of success at the first bout. To make them, you must mix together black, Dutch pink, and white, using more or less of each colour, according as you would have them darker or lighter. You must make one lay very light, and then put ∣on a thicker, as of the first grounds. You may also make them of other colours, if you please; but these are the most common.

For a day sky, take ultramarine and a good deal of white, and.mix them together. With this make a lay, as smooth as you can, with a large pencil and liberal strokes, as for grounds, applying it paler and paler as you descend towards the horizon, which must be done with vermilion or red lead, and with white of the same strength with that where the. ’ sky ends, or something less; making this blue lose itself in the red, which you bring down to the skirts of the earth, or tops of houses, and mixing towards the end gall-stone and a good deal of white, in such a manner that the mixture be still paler than the former, without any visible intersection or parting between all these colours of the sky.

When there are clouds in the sky, you may spare the places where they arc to be; that is to say, you need not lay on any blue there, but form them, if they are reddish, with vermilion, gall-stone, and white, with a little indigo, and if they are more upon the black, put in a good deal of the last; painting the lights of one and the other with mastico, vermilion, and white, more or less of any of these colours, according to the strength you would give them, or according to that of the original you copy, rounding the whole as you dot (for it is a difficult matter to lay them very smooth at the first painting); and if the sky is not even enough, you must dot it also. It is at your pleasure to exempt the places of the clouds, for you may lay them upon the ground of the sky, heightening the bright parts by putting a good deal of white, and fortifying the shadows by using less. This is the shortest way.

A night or stormy sky is done with indigo, black, and white, mixed together; and the composition is laid as for a day sky. To this mixture must be added ochre, vermilion, or brown red, for the clouds; the lights of which are to be of mastico or red lead, and a little white, now redder, now yellower, at discretion. And when it is a tempestuous sky, and lightning appears in some places, be it blue or red, it is to be done as in a day sky, drowning and losing the whole together at the first forming or dead colouring, and at the finishing.

Of Draperies. —To paint a blue drapery, put ultramarine near the white upon your pallet, and mix a part of the one with the other, till it makes a fine pale, and has a body. With this mixture you must form the brightest parts, and then adding more ultramarine, form such as are darker; and go on after this manner till you come to the deepest plaits and the thickest shades, where you must lay pure ultramarine; and all this must be done as for a first forming or dead colouring, that is to say, laying the colour on with free strokes of the pencil, yet as smooth as you can, and losing the lights in the shadows with a colour neither so pale as the light nor so dark as the shades. Then dot with the same colour as in the first forming, but a Small degree deeper, that the dots may be fairly seen. All the parts must be drowned one in another, and the plaits appear without intersection. When the ultramarine is not dark enough to make the deeper shadows, how well soever it be gummed, mix a little indigo with it to finish them; and when the extremities of the lights are not bright enough, heighten them with white and a very little ultramarine.

A drapery of carmine is done in the same manner as the blue, except that in the darkest places there is to be a lay of pure vermilion before you dead-colour with carmine, which must be applied at top; and in the strongest shades it must be gummed very much. To deepen it the more, mix a little bistre with it.

There is likewise made another red drapery, which is first drawn with vermilion, mixing white with it to deadcolour the bright places, laying it pure and unmixed for those that are darker, and adding carmine for the grand shades. It is finished afterwards, like other draperies, with the same colours. And when the carmine with the vermilion do not darken enough, work with the first alone, but only in the deepest of the shades.

A drapery of lake is made in the same manner with that of carmine, mixing a good deal of white with it for the bright places, and very little for those that are dark. It is finished likewise with dotting; but you have nothing to do with vermilion in it.

Violet draperies are likewise done after this manner, after making a mixture of carmine and ultramarine, putting always white for the bright parts. If you would have your violet be columbine or dove colour, there must be more carmine than ultramarine; but if you would have it bluer and deeper, put more ultramarine than carmine.

A drapery is made of a flesh colour, beginning with a lay made of white, vermilion, and very pale lake, and making the shades with the same colours, using less white in them. This drapery must be very pale and tender, because the stuff of this colour is thin and light; and even the shades of it ought not to be deep.

To make a yellow drapery, put a lay of mastico over all, then one of gamboge upon that, excepting the brightest places, where the mastico must , be left entire; then dead-colour with ochre, mixed with a little gamboge and mastico, putting more or less of the last, according to the strength of the shades. And when these colours do not darken enough, add gall-stone; and gall-stope pure and unmixed is used for the thickest shades, mixing a little bistre with it if there be occasion to make them still darker. You must finish by dotting with the same colours you dead-coloured with, and losing the lights and the shades in one another.

If you put Naples yellow, or Dutch pink, in lieu of mastico[7:15:271] and gamboge, you will make another sort of yellow.

The green drapery is made by a general lay of verditer, with which, if you find it too blue, mix mastico for the lights, and gamboge for the shades; afterwards add to this mixture lily-green or sap-green, to shadow with; and as the shades are thicker, put more of these last greens, and even work with them pure and unmixed where they are to be extremely dark. You must finish with the same colours, a little darker. By putting more yellow, or more blue, in these colours, you may make different sorts of green, as you please.

To make a black drapery, you dead-colour with black and white, and finish with the same colour, putting more black as the shades are thicker; and for the darkest, mix indigo with it, especially when you would bave the drapery appear like velvet. You may always give some touches with a brighter colour,, to heighten the lights of any drapery whatsoever.

A white woollen drapery is made by a lay of white, in which there must, be a very small quantity of ochre, orpiment, or gall-stone, that it may look a little yellowish. Then dead-colour, and finish the shades with blue, a little black, white, and bistre; putting a great deal of the last in the darkest. The light gray is begun with black and white, and finished with the same colour deeper.

For a brown drapery, make a lay of bistre, white, and a little brown red; and shadow with this mixture made a little darker.

There are other draperies called variable, because the lights are of a different colour from the shades. These are mostly used for the vestments of angels, for young and gay people, for scarfs and other airy attire, admitting of a great many folds, and flowing at the· pleasure of the wind. The most common are the violets, of which they make two sorts; one where the lights are blue, and the other where they are yellow.

For the first, put a lay of ultramarine and very pale white upon the lights; and shadow with carmine, ultramarine, and white, as for a drapery wholly violet, so that only the grand lights appear blue. Yet they must be dotted with violet in which there is a great deal of white, and lost insensibly in the shades. The other is done by putting upon the lights only, instead of blue, a lay of mastico; working the rest, as in the drapery, all violet, excepting that it must be dotted, and the light parts blended with the shadowy, that is, the yellow with the violet, and the latter with a little gamboge.

The carmine red is done like the last; that is, let the lights be done with mastico, and the shades with carmine, and, to lose the one in the other, make use of gamboge. The lake red is done, like that of carmine. The green is done as the lake, always mixing verditer with lily or sap green to make the shades, which are not very dark.

Several other sorts of draperies may be made at discretion, always taking care to preserve the union of the. colours, not only in one sort of cloth or so, but also in a group of several figures, avoiding, as much as the subject will allow, the putting of blue near the colour of fire, of green against black; and so of other colours which cut and disjoin, and whose union is not kind enough.

Several other draperies are made of foul colours, as brown, rod, bistre, indigo» &c. and all in the same manner; and likewise of other colours» simple and compound; the agreement between which is always to be attended to, that the mixture may produce nothing harsh and disagreeable to the eye. No certain rule can he laid down for this. The force and effect of your colours are only to. be known from use and experience,, and you must work according to that knowledge.

Linen cloths are done thus.: After drawing the plaits or folds, as is done in a drapery, put a lay of white over all; then dead-colour, and finish the shades with a mixture of ultramarine, black, and white, using more or less of the last, according to their strength or tenderness; and in the greatest deepenings put bistre, mixed with a little white, giving only some touches, of this mixture, and even of pure bistre, upon the extremities of the greatest shadows, where the folds must be drawn, and lost with the rest.

They may be done in another manner, by making a general lay of this mixture of ultramarine, black, and very pale white; and dead-colour, as has been said before, with the same colour, but a little deeper. When, the shades are dotted and finished, then heighten the lights with pure white, and lose them with the deepenings of the linen. But of whatever sort you make them, when they are finished you must give a yellowish tint of orpiment and white to certain places; laying it lightly on, and as it were in water, so that what is underneath may notwithstanding plainly appear, as well the. shadows as the dotting.

Yellow linen cloth is done by putting a. lay of white, mixed with a little ochre. Then form and finish the shades with bistre, mixed with white and ochre, and in the thickest shades use pure bistre; and before you finish, give some tints here and there of ochre and white, and others of white and ultramarine, as well upon the shades as the lights, but let them be very bright; then drown the whole together in dotting, and it will look finely. As you finish, heighten the extremities of the lights with mastico and white. You may add to this sort, of linen, as well as to the white, certain, bars from space to space, as in Turkey mantuas, that is, small stripes blue and red with ultramarine and carmine? one of red between two of blue, very bright and clear upon the lights, and deeper upon the shades. Virgins are pretty often, dressed with veils of this sort, and scarfs of this kind are put about necks that are bare, because they become the tint mighty well.

If you would have both these sorts of linen transparent, and the stuff or other thing that is beneath appear through them, make the first lay for them very light and clear, mix in the colour to shadow with a little of that which is underneath, especially towards the end of the shades, and only do the extremities of the lights, for the. yellow, with, mastico and white, and for the white, with pure white.

They may be done in another manner, especially-when you would have them altogether as clear as muslin, lawn, or gauze. To this end form and finish what is to be beneath, as if nothing was to be put over it Then mark out the light and clear folds with white or mastico; and a shadowy one with bistre and white, or with black, blue, and white, according to the colour you would make them of; making the rest somewhat fainter; yet this is not necessary except for the parts that are not to be so clear.

Crape is done in the same way, excepting that the folds of the shades and the lights, and the borders too, are to be marked out with little filaments of black upon what is underneath; which is likewise to be finished beforehand.

When you would make a stuff like a watered tabby, make the waves upon it with a colour a little lighter or a little darker in the lights and the shades.

There is a manner of touching draperies which distinguishes the silken from the woollen. The; last are more terrestrial and sensible; the others more light and fading. But it must be. observed, that this is an effect which depends partly upon the stuff and partly upon the colour; and, for the employing of these in a manner suitable to the subjects and the deepenings of painting, we shall here touch upon their different qualities.

We have no colour which partakes more of light, or which comes nearer the air, than white; which shows it [7:15:272] to be fickle and fleeting. It may, nevertheless, be held and brought to by some neighbouring colour, more heavy and sensible, or by mixing them together. Blue is a most fleeting colour, and so we see that the sky and the remotest views of a picture are of this colour; but it will become lighter and fickler in proportion as it is mixed with white. Pure black is the heaviest and most terrestrial of all colours; and the more of it you mix with others, the nearer you bring'them to the eye.

For the doing of lace, French points, or other things of that nature, put over all a lay of blue, black, and white, as for linen; then heighten the flowerwork with pure white, afterwards make the -shades above with the first colour, and finish them with the same. When they are upon the carnation or naked parts of a picture, or upon any thing else that you would show through another, finish what is beneath, as if nothing was to be put over it; and at the top, make the points or lace with pure white, shadowing and finishing them with the other mixture.

If you would paint a fur, you must begin with a kind of drapery, done, if it be dark, with bistre and white, making the shadings of the same colour, but with less white. If the fur be white, do it with blue, white, and a little bistre; and when this beginning, or first-forming, is done, instead of dotting, draw small strokes, turning, now in one manner, now in another, according to the course and flatting of the hair; then heighten the lights of dark furs with ochre and white, and of the other with white and a little blue.

For doing a building, if it be of stone, take indigo, bistre, and white, with which make the beginning or first form thereof; and for shading it, put less of this last, and more bistre than indigo, according to the colour of the stone you would paint. To these you may likewise add a little ochre, both for the forming and the finishing. But to make it finer, you must give, here and there, especially for old fabrics, blue and yellow tints, some with ochre, and others with ultramarine, mixing always white with them, whether before the first-forming, provided they appear through the draught, or after it, losing or drowning them with the rest when you finish.

When the building is of wood, as there are many sorts, it is done at discretion; but the most ordinary way is to begin or first-form with ochre, bistre, and white, and finish without white, or with very little; and if the shades are deep, with pure bistre. In the other, vermilion is sometimes added, sometimes green or black, according to the colour they would give it; and they finish with dotting, as in draperies and every thing else.

Of Carnations. —There are in carnations so many different colourings, that it would be a difficult thing to give general rules upon so variable a subject. Nor are they minded, when one has got, by custom and practice, some habit of working easily; and such as have arrived at this degree employ themselves in copying their originals, or else they work upon their ideas, without knowing how; insomuch that the most skilful, who do it with less reflection and pains than others, would likewise be more puzzled to give an account of their maxims and knowledge in the matter of painting, if they were to be asked what colours they made use of for such and such a colouring, a tint here, and another there.

Nevertheless, as beginners want some instruction at the first, we shall show in general after what manner several carnations are to be done.

In the first place, after having drawn the proposed figure with carmine, and ordered the piece, apply, for women and children, and generally for all tender colourings, a lay of white, mixed with a very little of the blue made for faces, of which we have mentioned the composition; but let it hardly be seen. For men, instead of blue, put in this first lay a little vermilion; and when they are old, a little ochre is mixed with it. Afterwards follow all the traces with vermilion, carmine, and white, mixed together; and begin all the shades with this mixture, adding white in proportion as they are weaker, and putting but little in the darkest, and almost none in certain places where strong touches are to be given; for instance, in the corner of the eye, under the nose, at the ears, under the chin, in the separations of the fingers, in all joints, at the corners of the nails, and generally in every part where you require to mark out separations in shades that are obscure. Neither need you fear to give to those places all the force and strength which they ought to have as soon as you begin or first-form them, because, in working at the top with green, the red you have put there is always weakened.

After having begun, or first-formed, or dead-coloured, with red, make blue tints with ultramarine and a great deal of white, upon the parts which fly from the eye.; that is to say, upon the temples, under and in the corners of the eyes, on both sides of the mouth, above and below, a little upon the middle of the forehead, between the nose and the eyes, on the side of the cheeks, and on the neck and other places where the flesh assumes a bluish cast. Yellowish tints are likewise made with ochre or orpiment, and a little vermilion mixed with white, under the eyebrows, on the sides of the nose towards the bottom, a little underneath the cheeks, and upon the other parts which rise and come nearer the eye. It is especially from these tints that the natural complexion is to be observed in order to catch it; for painting being an imitation of nature, the perfection of the art consists in the justness and simplicity of the representation, especially in face-painting.

When, therefore, you have done your first lay, your dead-colouring, and your tints, you must work upon the shades, dotting with green for the carnations or naked parts, mixing, according to the rule we have given for the tints, a little blue for the parts which fly from the eye; and, on the other hand, making it a little yellower for those which are more sensible, that is to say, which rise, and come nearer the eye; and at the end of the shades, on the side of the light, you must blend and lose your colour insensibly in the ground of the carnation, with blue, and then with red, according to the places where you paint. If this mixture of green does not work dark enough at first, pass over the shades several times, now with red, and now with green, always dotting; and this do until they are as they should be. And if you cannot with these colours give the shades all the force which they ought to have, finish, in the darkest, with bistre mixed with orpiment, ochre, or vermilion, and sometimes with pure bistre, according to the colouring which you would make, but lightly, laying on your colour very clearly.

You must dot upon the clear and bright places with a little vermilion or carmine, mixed with much white, and a very small quantity of ochre, in order to lose them with the shady, and to make the tints die away insensibly into one another; taking care, as you dot, or hatch, to make your strokes follow the turnings and windings of the fleshy parts. For although the rule be to cross always, this dotting or hatching ought to appear a little more here, because it rounds the parts; and as this mixture might make a colouring too red, if it were always to be used, artists work likewise in every part, to blend the tints and the • shades with blue and a little green, and much white, so mixed as to be very pale; excepting, nevertheless, that this colour must not be put upon the cheeks, nor upon the extremities of the clear parts, no more than the other mixture upon these last, which must be left with all their light, as certain places of the chin, of the nose, and of the forehead, and upon the cheeks, which ought nevertheless to be redder than the rest, as well as the feet, the hollows of the hands, and the fingers of both.
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Observe, that these two last mixtures ought to be so pale that the work shall hardly be visible; for they serve only to soften it, to unite the tints with one another, and the shades with the lights, and to drown the traces. Care must likewise be taken that you work not too much with the red mixture upon the blue tints, nor with the blue upon the others; but change the colour from time to time when you perceive that it works too blue or too red, till the work be finished.

The white of the eyes must be shaded with this same blue, and a little flesh colour; and the corners, on the side of the nose, with vermilion and white, giving them a little touch of carmine. The whole is softened with this mixture of vermilion, carmine, white, and a very small matter of ochre.

The apples or balls of the eyes are done with the mixture of ultramarine and white, the last prevailing a little; adding a little bistre if they are yellowish, or a little black if they are gray. Make the little black circle in the middle, called the crystal of the eye, and shade the balls, with indigo, bistre, or black, according to the colour they are of; giving to each a small touch of pure vermilion round the crystal, which must be lost with the rest at the finishing. This gives vivacity to the eye. ' The round or circumference of the eye is done with bistre and carmine, that is to say, the slits or partings, and the eyelids, when they"are large and bold, especially the upper ones; which must afterwards be softened with the red or blue mixtures we have mentioned before, that they may be lost in one another, and nothing seem intersected. When this is done, give a little touch of pure white upon the crystal, on the side of the lights. This makes the eye shine, and gives life to it.

The mouth is dead-coloured with vermilion mixed with white, and finished with carmine, which is softened like the rest; and when the carmine does not work dark enough, mix a little bistre with it. This is to be understood of the corners in the separation of the lips, and particularly of certain mouths half open.

The hands, and all the other parts of carnation, are done in the same manner as the faces, observing that the ends of the fingers be a little redder than the rest. When your whole work is formed and dotted, mark the separations of all the parts with little touches of carmine and orpiment mixed together, as well in the shady as in the light places, but a little deeper and stronger in the first, and lose them in the rest of the carnation.

The eyebrows and the beard are dead-coloured, as are the shades of carnations, and finished with bistre, ochre, or black, according to the colour they are of, drawing them by little strokes the way they ought to go; that is to say, give them all the nature of hair. The lights must be heightened with ochre and bistre, a little vermilion, and much white.

For the hair of the head, make a lay of bistre, ochre, and white, and a little vermilion; and when it is very dark coloured, use black instead of ochre. Afterwards form the shady parts with the same colours, putting less white in them; and finish with pure bistre, or mixed with ochre or black, by small strokes, very fine, and close to each other, waving and buckling them according to the curling of the hair. The light parts must also be heightened by little strokes with ochre or orpiment, white, and a little vermilion; after which, lose the lights and the shades in each other, by working sometimes with a dark and sometimes with a light colour.

And for the hair about the forehead, through which the skin is seen, it must be first-formed with the colour thereof, and that of the carnation, working and shading with one and the other, as if you designed to paint none; then form it, and finish with bistre. The lights are to be heightened as the other. Gray hair is dead-coloured with white, black, and bistre, and finished with the same colour, but deeper, heightening the bright and clear parts of the hair, as well as those of the eyebrows and the beard, with white and very pale blue, after having formed them, as the others, with the colour of the flesh or skin; then finish with bistre.

But the most important thing is to soften one’s work; to blend the tints in one another, as well as the beard and the hair about the forehead, with the other hair and the carnation; taking especial care not to work rough and dry, and not to intersect the traces, turnings, and windings of the carnation or naked parts. You must likewise accustom yourself to put white in your colours only in proportion as you work lighter or darker; for the colour you use the second time must always be a little stronger and deeper than the first, unless it be for softening.

Different colourings are easily made, by putting more or less of red, or blue, or yellow, or bistre, whether for the dead-colouring or for the finishing. That for women ought to be bluish; that for children a little red; and both fresh and florid. That for men should be yellower, especially when they are old.

For painting fire and flames, the lights are done with mastico and orpiment; and for the shades, vermilion and carmine are mixed. A smoke is done with black, indigo, and white, and sometimes with bistre; one may likewise add vermilion or ochre, according to the colour required for it.

Pearls are painted by putting a lay of white, and a little blue; they are shaded and rounded with the same colour, deeper; a small white dot is made almost in the middle, on the side of the light; and on the other side, between the shadow and the edge of the pearl, a touch is given with mastico, to make the reflection; and under the pearls is made a little shadow of the colour of the ground they are upon.

Diamonds are represented with pure black; then they heighten them with little touches of white on the side of the light. It is the same thing for any other jewels you have a mind to paint; there is nothing to be done but to change the colour. For making a figure of gold, put a lay of shell-gold, and shade it with gallstone. Silver is done the same way, excepting that it must be shaded with indigo.

One great means of acquiring a perfection in the art, is to copy excellent originals. We enjoy with pleasure and tranquillity the labour and pains of others. But a man must copy a great number before he is able to produce as fine effects; and it is better to be a good copyist than a bad original.

Of Landscapes. —In the first place, after having ordered the economy of your landscape in the same way as that of your other pieces, you must form the nearest grounds or lands, when they are to appear dark, with sap or lily green, bistre, and a little verditer, to give a body to your colour; then dot with this mixture, but a little darker, adding sometimes a little black to it. For such pieces of ground as the light falls upon, and as are therefore clear and bright, make a lay of ochre and white, then shade and finish with bistre. In some a little green is mixed, particularly for shading and finishing.

There are sometimes upon the fore part certain reddish lands, which are dead-coloured with brown-red, white, and a little green, and finished with the same, putting a little more green in them.

For the making of grass and leaves upon the foreground, you must, when that is finished, form with sea-green, or verditer, and a little white; and for those that are yellowish, mix mastico. Afterwards shade them with lily-green, or bistre and gallstone, if you would have them appear withered. The grounds or lands at a little distance [7:15:274] are formed with verditer, and shaded and finished with sap-green, adding bistre for some of the touches here and there. Such as are at a greater distance are done with sea-green and a little blue, and shaded with verditer. In a word, the farther they go, the more bluish they are to be made; and the farthest distance ought to be of ultramarine and white, mixing in some places small touches of vermilion.

Water is painted with indigo and white, and shaded with the same colour, but deeper; and to finish it, instead of dotting, nothing is done but making strokes and traces without crossing, and giving them the same turn with the waves when there are any. Sometimes a little green must be mixed in certain places, and the light and clear parts heightened with pure white, particularly where the water foams.

Rocks are dead-coloured like buildings of stone, excepting that a little green is mixed for forming and shading them. Blue and yellow tints are made upon them, and lost with the rest in finishing; and when there are small branches, with leaves, moss, or grass, when all is finished, they are raised at the top with green and mastieot. They may be made yellow, green, and reddish, for appearing dry, in the same manner as on the ground. Rocks are dotted like the rest; and the farther they are off the more grayish they are represented.

Castles, old houses, and other buildings of stone and wood, are done in the manner above mentioned; speaking of those things, when they are upon the first lines. But when you would have them appear at a distance, you must mix brown, red, and vermilion, with much white, and shade very tenderly with this mixture; and the farther they are off, the weaker are the strokes to indicate the separations. If they are covered with slate, it is to be made bluer than the rest.

Trees are not done till the sky be finished; one may, nevertheless, spare the places of them when they contain a good number; and, however it be, such as come near to the eye are to be dead-coloured with verditer, mixing sometimes ochre, and shaded with the same colours, adding lily-green. Afterwards you must work leaves upon them by dotting without crossing; for this must be done with small elongated dots, of a darker colour, and pretty full of it, which must be conducted on the side of the branches, by little tufts of a little darker colour. Then heighten the lights with verditer or sea-green, and mastico, making leaves in the same manner; and when there are dry branches or leaves, they are dead-coloured with brown-red or gallstone, and white, and finished with gallstone without white, or with bistre.

The trunks of trees are to be dead-coloured with ochre, white, and a little green, for the light and clear parts; and for the dark, black is mixed, adding bistre and green for shadowing the one and the other. Blue and yellow tints are likewise made upon them, and little touches given here and there with white and mastico, such as may ordinarily be seen upon the bark of trees.

The branches which appear amongst the leaves are done with ochre, verditer, and white, or with bistre and white, according to the light which they are placed in. They must be shaded with bistre and lily-green.

Trees which are at a little distance are dead-coloured with verditer and sea-green, and are shaded and finished with the same colours, mixed with lily-green. When there are some which appear yellowish, lay with ochre and white, and finish with gallstone. For such as are in the distances and remote views, you must dead-colour with sea-green, with which, for finishing, you must mix ultramarine; and heighten the lights of one and the other with mastico, by small disjoined leaves. It is the most difficult part of landscape, in the manner of miniature, to leaf a tree well. To learn, and break one’s hand to it a little, the way is to copy good ones; for the manner of touching them is singular, and cannot be acquired except by working upon trees themselves, in regard to which you must observe to make little boughs, which must be leafed, especially such as are below and toward the sky.

Of Flowers. —It is a general rule, that flowers are designed and laid like other figures, but the manner of forming and finishing them is different; for they are first-formed only by large strokes and traces, which you must turn at the first the way the small ones are to go, with which you finish, and this turning will aid much therein. And for finishing them, instead of hatching or dotting, you must draw small strokes, very fine, and very close to one another, without crossing; repassing several times, till your dark and your clear parts have all the force which you desire to give them.

Of Roses —After making your first sketch, draw with carmine the red rose, and apply a very pale lay of carmine and white; then form the shades with the same colour, putting less white in it; and lastly, with pure carmine, but very bright and clear at the first, fortifying it more and more as you proceed in your work, and according to the darkness of the shades. This is done by large strokes. Then finish, working upon it with the same colour by little strokes, which you must make go the same way with those of the engraving, if it be a print you copy; or the way the leaves of the rose turn, if you copy after a painting, or after nature; losing the dark in the clear parts, and heightening the greatest lights, and the brightest or most lightsome leaves, with white and a little carmine. You must always make the hearts of roses, and the side of the shadow, darker than the rest; and mix a little indigo for shading the first leaves, particularly when the roses are blown, to make them seem faded. The seed is dead-coloured with gamboge, with which a little sap-green is mixed for shading. Roses streaked with several colours ought to be paler than others, that the mixture of colours may be better seen; which is done with carmine, a little darker in the shades, and very clear in the lights, always hatching by strokes. For white roses you must put a lay of white, and form and finiβh them as the red, but with black, white, and a little bistre; and make the seed a little yellower. Yellow roses are done by putting in every part a lay of mastico, and shading them with gamboge, gallstone, and bistre, heightening the clear and light places with mastico and white.

The styles, the leaves, and the buds of all sorts of roses are formed with' verditer, with which is mixed a little mastico and gamboge; and for shading them, sap-green is added, putting less of the other colours when the shades are deep. The outside of the leaves ought to be bluer than the inside; wherefore it must be dead-coloured with sea-green, and sap-green mixed with that for shading, making the veins or fibres upon this side clearer than the ground, and those upon the other side darker. The prickles which are upon the styles and buds of roses are done with little touches of carmine, which are made to go every way; and for those which are upon the stalks, they are formed with verditer and carmine, and shaded with carmine and bistre, making the bottom of the stalks more reddish than the top, that is, carmine and pure bistre being mixed with the green.

Of Tulips. — As there is an infinity'of tulips, different from one another, we cannot pretend to mention the colours with which they are all done. We shall only touch upon the handsomest, called streaked, in which the streaks are dead-coloured with very clear carmine in some places, and with darker in others, finishing with the same colour by little strokes, which must be carried, the same way with the streaks. In others is put first a lay of vermilion; [7:15:275] then they form them by mixing carmine, and finish them with pure carmine. In some they put Florence lake over the vermilion instead of carmine, whilst others are done with lake and carmine mixed together, and with lake alone, or with white and lake for the first-forming, whether it be rose pink or Florence lake. There are others, again, of a purple colour, which are formed with ultramarine, carmine, or lake, sometimes bluer and sometimes redder. The manner of doing both one and the other is the same; there is no difference except in the colours. You must, in certain places, as between the streaks of vermilion, carmine, or lake, sometimes put blue made of ultramarine and white, and sometimes a very bright purple, which is finished by strokes like the rest, and lost with the streaks. There are some likewise which have sallow tints, that are made with lake, bistre, and ochre, according as they are found requisite; but this is only in fine and rare tulips, and notin the common ones. For shading the bottom of them, indigo and white are ordinarily taken for those whose streaks are of carmine; but for such as are of lake, black and white are taken, with which, in some, bistre is mixed, and in others green. Some are likewise to be shaded with gamboge and umber, and always by strokes and traces which turn as the leaves turn. Other tulips are likewise done, which are called bordered ; that is to say, the tulip is not streaked except on the edges of the leaves, where there is a border. It is white in the purple, red in the yellow, yellow in the red, and red in the white. The purple is laid on with ultramarine, carmine, and white, and the shading and finishing is done with this mixture. The border is spared; that is to say, let only a light lay of white be put there, and let it be shaded with very bright indigo. The yellow is formed with gamboge, and shaded with the same colour, mixing with it ochre and umber or bistre. The border is laid with vermilion, and finished with a very small matter of carmine. The red is formed with vermilion, and finished with the same colour, mixing with it carmine or lake. The bottom and the border are done with gamboge; and, for finishing, it is usual to add gallstone and umber, or bistre. The white is shaded with black, blue, and white. Indian ink is very proper for this. The shadings of it are very delicate; and it produces alone the effect of blue and white, mixed with the other black. The border of this white tulip is done with carmine. In all these sorts of tulips, a nerve or sinew is left in the middle of the leaves which are brighter than the rest, and the borders are drowned at the bottom by small traces, turning crossways; for they must not appear to be cut and separated, like the streaked or party-coloured. They are likewise represented of several other colours. When they happen to be of that kind the bottoms of which on the inside are black, as it were, it is usual to form and finish them with indigo, as also the seed about the nozzle or stalk; and if the bottom is yellow, it is formed with gamboge, and finished by adding umber or bistre. The leaves and the stalks of tulips are ordinarily formed with sea-green, and shaded and finished with lilygreen, by large traces all along the leaves. Some may likewise be done with verditer, mixing with it mastico, and shaded with sap-green, that the green of the shades may be yellower.

The Carnation and Pink. — It is with pinks and carnations as with anemonies and tulips; that is, there are some of mixed colours, and others of one single colour. The first are streaked and diversified, sometimes with vermilion and carmine, sometimes with pure lake or with white; certain streaks being very dark and others very pale. Their bottoms are ordinarily shaded with indigo and white. There are pinks of a very pale flesh colour, and streaked and diversified with another a little deeper, made with vermilion and lake. Some of them, which are of lake and white, are shaded and streaked without white; others, which are all red, are done with vermilion and carmine as dark as possible; others are all of lake; and, lastly, there are others, in which nature or fancy is the only rule. The green of one and the other is sea-green, shaded with lilygreen or sap-green.

Painting in oil has its advantages, were they only these: that it exhibits more work, and takes up less time. It is likewise better defended against the injuries of time; and the right of birth must be granted it, as well as the glory of antiquity. But miniature painting has likewise its advantages; and, without repeating such as have been already mentioned, it is neater and more commodious. You may easily carry all your implements in your pocket, and work whenever and wherever you please, without a number of preparations. You may quit and resume it as often as you please, and its elegance is only surpassed by its convenience.