268 REVIEWS AND PAMPHLETS ON ART

or in the sun before a second was applied, and the entire work before varnishing. The practice of carefully drying each coat was continued in the best periods of art, but the necessity of exposure to the sun intimated by Theophilus appears to have arisen only from his careless preparation of the linseed oil, and ignorance of a proper drying medium. Consequent on this necessity is the restriction in Theophilus, St. Audemar, and in the British Museum MS.,¹ of oil-painting to wooden surfaces, because movable panels could be dried in the sun; while, for walls, the colours are to be mixed with water, wine, gum, or the usual tempera vehicles, egg and fig-tree juice; white lead and verdigris, themselves driers, being the only pigments which could be mixed with oil for walls. But the MS. of the Eraclius and the records of our English cathedrals imply no such absolute restriction. They mention the employment of oil for the painting or varnishing of columns and interior walls, and in quantity very remarkable. Among the entries relating to St. Stephen’s chapel, occur-“For 19 flagons of painter’s oil, at 3s. 4d. the flagon, 43s. 4d.”² (It might be as well, in the next edition, to correct the copyist’s reverse of the position of the X and L, lest it should be thought that the principles of the science of arithmetic have been progressive, as well as those of art.) And presently afterwards, in May of the same year, “to John de Hennay, for seventy flagons and a half of painter’s oil for the painting of the same chapel, at 20d. the flagon, 117s. 6d.” The expression “painter’s oil” seems to imply more careful preparation than that directed by Theophilus, probably purification from its mucilage in the sun; but artificial heat was certainly employed to assist the drying, and after reading of flagons supplied by the score, we can hardly be surprised at finding charcoal furnished by the cartload-see an entry relating to the Painted Chamber. In one MS. of Eraclius, however, a distinct

¹ [The MS. above referred to (p. 260 n.); Sloane, No. 1754: author unknown.]

² [This entry from the records of Westminster Abbey (Sept. 19, 1352) is cited by Eastlake at p. 56; and the following entry at p. 57.]

[Version 0.04: March 2008]