[TOC] | [diplomatic]

BlackPainting of armory

Charcoal black mixed with a little lead white is very appropriate to make armory, mixing in a little of azure if you wish. Charcoal black by itself is as if bluish.

Painting of crêpe

First one needs to make the background greyish with charcoal black mixed with lead white & a little azure. Then, resu after it is dry, highlight with strokes & lines in lead white.

Folds in clothing

One needs to take care that none are made which are false, but that only that which happens naturally is imitated. A thick cloth hardly makes any folds, taffetas & silk cloth make more, & crêpe more still. Make Observe which ones should go lengthwise & others across.

Desiccative

Lead white & massicot are the most desiccative, nevertheless they need a good two days. If you want to prove whether an oil is desiccative, temper lead white with it, & if it produces a crust in a day soon it means that it will dessicate.

Double layers

Azures, flesh tones and reds are layered twice. The others not.

Mending cracks in a panel

If a painted panel breaks you can glue it well on the reverse, but to fill in the cracks well in order to paint on it & repair it, it ought not to be with glue , which rots in damp weather & would swell when touched with the oil of the painting. But take white wax, which is harder than the other kind. The oil mixed in among the wax prevents it from melting in the sun. The wax ought not to be hard, but soft as if recently cooled. Apply it on cracks & crevices with the tip of a knife, then scrape.

[continued]