ARTIST AND AUTHOR.
ii.
Continuing our examination of Cennino Cennini's Treatise on Painting, we come to still more precise advice for the aspiring artist, and we see that, according to Cennino, the pupils who crowd round the celebrated master were not merely to acquire proficiency in art, but were, or might be, greatly influenced, by the character of their hero.
' Your manner of living should be always regulated as if you were studying theology, philology, or any other science, that is to say, eating and drinking temperately, at the most twice a day,' and Cennino goes further, and warns these young men against frequenting too much the company of ladies.
Cennino now plunges into the subject of making colours : he tells us of twenty-four, but out of these twelve were his favourites, and he fm-ther instructs his pupils how most of them are to be made, and if lie does not quite know himself he guesses at it ; but this subject is too lengthy to enter into, except for a few quotations, which impress us with the idea of the tedious and thorough education needed by the artist in those days, and how it was not merely buying a few canvases and few tubes of colour which made the artist then, but much Libour was necessaiy even before the first necessaries were attainable.
For instance, one of the black colours is made ' of the tendrils of young shoots of the vine which are burnt, and when burnt thrown into water and quenched, and then ground like other black pigments.'
Another is made of the skins of almonds and the kernels of peaches ; another is simply the black from the students' midnight oil, and this last requires much of Cennino's explanation as to collecting it !
There is a 'red colour called cinabrese,' which the author thinks is only used in Florence ; another red is made by alchemy, performed in an alembic in a manner 'too long to explain,' which words make us suspect that Cennino, who is not usually sparing of words, did not know himself, but he honestly adds that the friars have many recipes for it, and if so, they most likely kept their little secrets for those who could afford to pay for them.
Now Cennino warns his pupils against the apothe- caries, because they adulterate red-lead, and, to avoid this, the student must bring home the natural lump of cinnabar, and if he grinds it for tn'cnty years it would only be the more perfect ! Patience was not only a virtue in those days, but a necessity.
The red colour called Dragon's Blood is to be let alone, 'for it will never do you much credit.' The very name, however, must have been inspiring to an enthusiastic pupil ; and actually Cennino advises him to buy lake ready made, a concession which must have been hard-wrung from him with difficulty, but at the same time he earnestly warns the pupil to be careful how he chooses his lake, — he must not take the one which is manufactured of shreds of cloth or stuffs, which is beautiful to the eye, but whose beauty hid deceit.
Of yellow ochre Cennino tells us that he found it one day when walking in the country with Andrea Cennino, his father. He saw black there too, when digging with his mattock, ' and these colom's were as visible in the earth as the features on the face of a man or woman.'
Of the pigment oppimcnl he says physicians use it in some diseases, but his pu])ils must beware of poi- soning themselves with it. We have, besides, a great deal about the white pigment ; when made into small cakes it is to be left on the roof of the house to dr_v ; but the constant advice to grind makes one realise what a grinding life the young pupils had. Some of them must have detested the drudgery, but the old master tries to .soften the labour by saying that they are to keep the mixing and grinding of ultra- marine a secret, for it is a great acquirement. He goes on to say, however, that it is more the work of youths than that of men, because the former remain continually in the house, and their hands are more delicate. Evidently ' our boys ' would never haxe made good disciples of Cennino, if remaining in tlie house were a sine qua non!
The instruction on the making of brushes is long and detailed. The tails of minevers come into use, not raw, but baked, and the handles must be quills of vultures, geese, hens, and the gentle doves, but the white pig's bristles are superior to those of the black pig. This reminds us of the pig wlio threw down Giotto, and whom he forgave because his bristles had made him earn so many gold ducats!
After this long jn-eamble, Cennino says, 'I will now teach you to colour,' and the impatient youth must have been glad to have reached this stage. But there must be no originality, because the plan which the author is teaching was the one adopted by 'Giotto, the great master who had Taddeo Gaddi, his godson, for his disciple twenty-four years,' and so on through the Agnolo and Cennino series again : it was in truth the ' house that Jack built.'
The proportions of the human figure of the man are also given ; ' I omit the woman, because there is not one
