Relevant excerpts from MS Fr. 640
Distemper
56v_1 Heading - To Paint…
Someone who works <add> operates with</add> <m>oil</m> will not work properly with <m>distemper</m> if he has not been trained well during his youth. The manner of working is indeed very different because the brush point always has to be moisten for working with <m>distemper</m>. While when one cleans the brush in some <m>oil</m> to soften it, one should dry it well. Otherwise the work would drip and soon be damaged.</note>
... Later on same page...
With <m>distemper</m> do not mingle your various colors together for they will die but use each separately and in order to stop them from drying and to have time to soften, moisten the back of the canvas.</note>
58r:
<head>First whitening of the painting</head>
<ab>Apply two or three layers of <m>chalk</m> distempered with <m>glue</m> on the painting, not with a paintbrush but with a <sup>large<sup> brush as if you intended to rub it down, and leave to dry. And repeat this two or three times, then make the last layer quite even using a knife, <add>then apply a layer of <m>glue</m></add> upon which you will later be able to put your underlayer and then paint. But make sure that your first white layer is not too thick for it would break easily. Flemish painters have such paintings made by the dozen.</ab></div>
<id>p062r_1</id>
<head>Perspectives</head>
<ab>Painting perspectives in <m>oil</m> takes a long time because of the many lines that need to be drawn with a ruler, and for that reason one generally paints them in distemper. One chooses the <sup>vanishing</sup> points at will. The main thing is to know <sup>where</sup> the point is. One commonly sets two or three, sometimes <sup>up to</sup> five.</ab>
<id>p064v_3</id>
<head>Softening</head>
<ab>To soften well, you must not lay the colors thick, but rather lay them twice, except for </m>azure enamel</m>.</ab>
<note>
<margin>left-middle</middle>
All colors that lack body in <m>oil</m> also lack body in distemper. In distemper they even sink to the bottom. <m>Distempered colors</m> [Les couleurs a destrempe] want to be fat, which you can tell when they stick to the palette after being distempered in <m>oil</m>.</note>
<id>p064v_5</id>
<head>Distemper</head>
<ab>It is necessary that <m>distempered colors</m> are kept darker while you distemper them, because they become lighter when they dry. But <m>oil colors</m> remain the same colors.</ab>
<note>
<margin>left-middle</margin>
One cannot lay down <m>oil</m> on cut <m>paper</m> or make a stencil as in distemper because the colour will run. Thus, in order to <m>gild</m> with matte <m>gold</m>, one has to pounce and then lay in the colors with the brush.</note>
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<ab>Because it is quite unpleasant to paint in distemper on <m>wood</m> and difficult to paint a face well, some distemper their colors with <m>egg white</m> and apply it with a sponge, or mix it with the <m><sup>egg</sup> yolk</m>, <m>water</m>, and beat it strongly with the <m>bark of a fig tree</m>. With this they paint and blend on the <m>wood</m>, as in <m>oil</m>, and this holds the varnish. But this does not last.</ab>
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93v: <title id=“p093v_a1”>Faces [painted] with distemper</title>
<ab id=“p093v_b1”>Because colors [painted] with distemper dry quickly and one would not have enough time to complete the shadows and touches on the face, one wets the reverse of the face, on canvas, with a wet sponge. Then, with a small brush, one does the shadows, which don’t come off. Then one lays the flesh tones, which does not prevent the already painted shadows from showing [through]. And one touches again the more prominent areas with brighter flesh tones. And with another brush one does the shadows in hatching. The strokes [that make up] the shadows do not come off because they are [made] of bistre, which stains the canvas like rust. The said bistre is good for painting the shadows in distemper, for in oil it lacks body and would dry with great difficulty. One should mix the said bistre for shadows with ocher de rux and a little sap green. The best bistre is the fat shiny one from the fireplaces of large kitchens. It is difficult to grind and grates on the marble slab.</ab>
See this recipe:
<div> <id>p063r_5</id>
<head><m>Bister</m></head>
<ab>It is only used in distemper. One gets from it a <m>wood</m> color.</ab> </div>
Shadows
56_v_1<note>
<margin>left-middle</margin>
The Italians hatch with a flatten rough brush which makes some serration.</note>
<note> <margin>left-middle</margin>
And do not apply their shades at once like the Flemish but apply them by hatching from the lighter towards the light then a darker and then an even darker to make more contrast.</note>
<id>p057v_2</id>
You must make at least three layers of flesh color in order to paint faces in <m>oil</m>, and to begin, one places the black and shadow where it is appropriate. After, the highlighting with <m>lead white</m> must not be placed on the black. Where <m>ceruse</m> penetrates, the flesh colors and will yellow in five or six months, but the <m>lead white</m> does not change.</ab>
058v_2
’When you are making a painting with several persons shadows as well as skins have to be different.’
059r_1
‘First shadows which are closer to the daylight have to be light and very faint then the last ones very dark to enhance strongly the relief. The Italians usually make three shadows, the first one very faint, the second one darker and the third one very dark, then put these three shadows together by hatching them from the darkest to the lightest.’
063r_4
Shadows
‘German painters shade their flesh tones with jet, crushed with scudegrun and ochre’
065r_1
Shadows
‘Because blacks produce various colors, some reddish black, others bluish, and others greenish, choose those verging on yellow in order to obtain beautiful shadows in oil, for men’s shadows are similarly yellowish, and for this effect use very strongly crushed … which you mix with a bit of yellow ochre and white lead, that is after you have crushed your white lead and gathered with the (figure) crushed with the … This way it <sup> the black <sup> will be more desiccative, and on its own producing a yellowish black, when mixed with a bit of white it will be perfect for men’s shadows. Blacks which produced a greenish black are appropriate for women’s shadows. Take then some black of <a gap was left here as if he wanted to add something> a little sap green and some bistre, and you will have a perfect woman’s shadow in distemper.’
066r_2
Shadows
‘For woman: asphaltum, umber, and a bit of red lake.
p059r_1 <head>Shadows</head>
<ab>First shadows which are closer to the daylight have to be light and very faint then the last ones very dark to enhance strongly the relief. The Italians usually make three shadows, the first one very faint, the second one darker and the third one very dark, then put these three shadows together by hatching them from the darkest to the lightest</ab></div>
60r_3
<margin>left-middle</margin>
Do not apply color on color which are not similar like white on black. The same applies to skin color on flesh and the others. And leave empty space for the shadow or a different
color. By doing so, laying each colour on the underlayer, they will not damage each other and you will work precisely.</note></div>
<id>p060v_4</id>
and unite it well and being quite dry, they draw their portrait and apply their natural skin color, leaving the areas of shadow like the forehead and the of the cheek and the empty space around the eyes and drying until they have filled the rest. Afterwards they apply separately the shadows which they do not make as dark as they could naturally be. In sum, they don’t apply shadow on skin color nor skin color on shadow. So white is on white and black is on black and each <sup>color</sup> is separate, and in this way their work is neat and colors don’t fade away.</ab>
<id>p064r_1</id> <head>Working neatly</head>
<ab>Never apply, if you can, two colors one on top of the other. But after you make your drawing with great care, keep the shadowed areas separate for themselves and the lights and highlights as well, particularly without smoothly laying a color, then add to this highlighting or shading. And in this way, you further your hard work, spare your colours and work cleanly, which as a result, the colors are not muddled nor mixed together, they do not decay and you soften then better, thus finding it not so thick.</ab>
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Blacks
<id>p058v_1</id>
<head>Blacks</head>
<ab>Coal black, ordinary black lead black, burnt ivory black, peaches stones black,
black smoke, black light, burnt oxes’ feet bones black</ab></div>
063r_4
Shadows
‘German painters shade their flesh tones with jet, crushed with scudegrun and ochre’
065r_1
Shadows
‘Because blacks produce various colors, some reddish black, others bluish, and others greenish, choose those verging on yellow in order to obtain beautiful shadows in oil, for men’s shadows are similarly yellowish, and for this effect use very strongly crushed … which you mix with a bit of yellow ochre and white lead, that is after you have crushed your white lead and gathered with the (figure) crushed with the … This way it <sup> the black <sup> will be more desiccative, and on its own producing a yellowish black, when mixed with a bit of white it will be perfect for men’s shadows. Blacks which produced a greenish black are appropriate for women’s shadows. Take then some black of <a gap was left here as if he wanted to add something> a little sap green and some bistre, and you will have a perfect woman’s shadow in distemper.’
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<id>p038v_1</id>
<head>Black color for dyeing </head>
<ab>Take <m>lye made from quicklime</m> and <m>white lead</m>, mix and leave to soak and you will have a dark brown dye, and reiterating the same you will make black. Try other colours with the <m>lye made of lime</m>.</ab>
<id>p063r_5</id>
<head><m>Bister</m></head>
<ab>It is only used in distemper. One gets from it a <m>wood</m> color.</ab> </div>
<id>p063v_1</id>
<head><m>Velvets</m> and <m>blacks</m></head>
<ab>One must make the main layer very thick, and the folds and highlights of the lighten a lot with white and on the ends of its light, you apply a white line. For blue and green velvets, with coal made from peach pits which is very black. Concerning the <m>lacquer</m>, the <m>carbon black</m> that produces a reddish black on lacquer for velvets. The common charcoal produces a whitish black.</ab>
63_v_2
<head>Armour<head>
<ab>Soft wood charcoal appears bluish. It is for depicting armour.</ab> </div>
63v_ 5
<head>Snow-covered landscapes</head>
<ab>One only uses three colors: white, black and bister.</ab> </div>
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