064v - - - - - Apprenticeship of the painter
First, one gives him an egg to do in which one has him make half a face, then a whole one with the ears, next the neck, then the parts of the body separately, next joined, then one figure, then two & three, finally a history, teaching him how to hold the charcoal by the end, & also the pinceau. Once he knows how to draw, one teaches him how to layer colors.
One also presents him with these strokes & lines
C The figure of the egg is the main pattern for faces and for bent bodies, as the cross is the model for a straight & whole figure. Without these strokes you will never do well.
Figure
Softening
To soften well, one ought not to layer the colors thickly, but rather layer them twice, except for azur d’esmail.
at left middle margin
All colors that have no body in oil have none in distemper, and but in distemper they sink to the bottom. Distemper colors want to be greasy, which is recognised when they gel on the palette once distempered in oil.
Straight lines
You can use the ruler, but do not lay it flat on the panel, but as if lifted off, & resting on the edges of the panel. Otherwise you would smudge everything, & also you would not see the stroke well.
Distemper
Distemper colors need to be kept darker pr while you temper them, because they whiten while drying. But oil colors remain the same in color.