BOUTET Claude L’école de la Mignature

A new, revised and expanded edition of this work devoted to learning painting and miniature painting.

First published in 1672, this treatise by Claude Boutet – a 17^th-century painter – follows in the tradition of technical treatises on painting intended for amateurs, and is presented as a practical manual enabling the reader to ‘learn to paint without a master’. The author details the fundamental principles of painting, the use and selection of colours, motifs, supports, and techniques for rendering skin tones, drapery, landscapes and ornamentation. He also devotes a section to working with burnished and shell gold.

The art of miniature painting was a widespread practice amongst both artists and amateurs, the latter being the primary target audience for these practical treatises, which became increasingly accessible from the 17^th century onwards. The numerous technical constraints specific to miniature painting make it a particularly demanding art form; in this context, ‘These texts represent a major innovation in the ways in which the practice of miniature painting was taught. Whilst they could not entirely replace instruction from a master, certain works enabled one to learn the basics independently.”

The original edition was devoted mainly to the art of miniature painting; it was revised and substantially expanded in 1679 to cover painting and its practical methods. Our edition is similar in content to that published in 1679 in Lyon by François Duchesne. It does, however, contain a few additions concerning painting on enamel—which was in vogue in European courts during the 17^th century—as well as glass, mosaics and fresco painting. The work was reprinted numerous times up until the 19^th century.

Provenance: Catalogue of the Frères Périsse booksellers, no. 15, 1806 (label affixed to the front endpaper).

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