"I have made it my concern to hunt out this technique for your study as I learned it by looking and listening." On Divers Arts; c. 1122; is the oldest extant manual on artistic crafts to be written by a practicing artist. Before Theophilus; manuscripts on the arts came from scholars and philosophers standing outside the actual profession. On Divers Arts describes actual 12th-century techniques in painting; glass; and metalwork; which the Benedictine author wished to pass on to those gifted by God with a talent for making beautiful things. Theophilus teaches; with rigorous attention to fact but also with great reverence the making of pigments for fresco painting; the manufacture of glue; the technique of gold leaf on parchment (the first recorded European reference to true paper); how to blow glass and design stained glass windows; how to fashion gold and silver chalices; and how to make a pipe organ and church bells. Precise instruction on enameling; chasing; repousseacute;; niello; and beaded wire work prove Theophiluss first-hand knowledge of his craft.While 90 percent of Theophiluss writing is sound technical knowledge; medieval folk lore occasionally spices his text: "Tools are also made harder by hardening them in the urine of a small red-headed boy than by doing so in plain water." But the magnificent fact of On Divers Art remains its status as the first technical treatise on painting; glass; and metalwork; for which actual specimens still survive. The editors have taken care to ensure both philological and technological accuracy for this authoritative edition of a medieval classic; a manual of great importance to craftsmen; historians of art and science; and all who delight in the making of the beautiful.
#323315 in eBooks 2012-04-30 2012-04-30File Name: B00A735IT8
Review
0 of 0 people found the following review helpful. Weskers Political Plays. A good read for theatre loversBy Josephine MayThe theater is a pleasure for me on the stage. I prefer to see a play rather than read it; as the meaning comes through the Actors attitude rather than the explanations which one would find in other types of writing. However it was as I expected; some extra insight into the backdrop of the early years of Nazism and plenty of food for thought.