Il Libro dell'Arte

"Cennini wrote his ‘Book of the Art’ around 1390 or so. It seems that he really had tried things out himself. I chose a new translation by Lara Broecke, who has been very careful in her work. There was no single, original manuscript of Cennino Cennini’s work, only a number of copies. What Broecke did was to look at them all, and work out the best translation of elements from each, and to be quite precise about these recipes. “I used Cennino’s recipe exactly, using authentic materials, which included lye, which I had made myself. To my astonishment, it actually worked.” It’s quite exciting actually for a lot of painters to suddenly have a new translation. The previous edition was from 1954, The Craftsman’s Handbook by Daniel Thompson; and for a long time I used one from 1899 by Christiana Herringham. Both good, but Broecke is a conservator herself, and this really comes through. In my first efforts at extracting ultramarine out of lapis lazuli, I used Cennino’s recipe exactly, using authentic materials, which included lye, which I had made myself. To my astonishment, it actually worked. There are so many other useful lessons, that are historically significant in Cennino’s book. If you want to know how to put gesso down on a board; how to grind paint; Cennino will tell you. He takes you by the hand and shows you how."