Painters and Painting Tools
in the Middle Ages and Renaissance

A demonstration of some of the tools used by limners and illuminators, via illustrations of them at work and relevant examples of the tools in museum collections and other websites with related artifacts. Different types of easels, palettes, and paintbrushes.

See also Cennini's Libro dell' Arte, and also these links.

• A painter (with a scrivener), Reiner Musterbuch (ÖNB 507, fol. 2v), c. 1200-1220
• A painter from a fresco at Taufers im Münstertal, c. 1218-1230
• Paint palettes made from oyster shells, London, 13th century
• Man mixing colored paint in Omne Bonum (British Library MS Royal 6 E. VI, fol. 329), 1360-1375

He þat portrayeþ ymages and liknesses of þinges ben y-cleped peyntours ... Peyntours draweth first lynes and liknesses of þe ymage þat schal be peynted and peynteþ þanne with dyuers colours. De proprietatibus rerum (British Library MS Add. 27944)

• Timarete (fol. 86), Eirene (fol. 92), and Iaia (fol. 100v), De mulieribus claris (BNF Fr. 598), beginning of the 15th century
• Timarete (fol. 68v) and Irene (fol. 73v), De mulieribus claris (British Library MS Royal 16 G. V), early 15th century
• Timarete (with an assistant grinding pigment) in a 15th century illustration from De mulieribus claris
• St. Luke, prayer book (Morgan Library M.944, fol. 75v), c. 1420
• Forese da Rabatta and Giotto, The Decameron (BNF Fr. 239, fol. 174v), second quarter of the 15th century
• St. Luke by Rogier van der Weyden, 1435
• A copyist-illuminator at work in the Mare historiarum (BNF Latin 4915, fol. 1), 1447-1455; see Copistes, enlumineurs et mécènes for discussion of the various details
• St. Luke in the Hours of Philip of Burgundy (KB 76 F 2, fol. 255r), c. 1450-1460
• Euphranor paints a statue, Facta et dicta memorabilia (BNF Fr. 289, fol. 395), second half of the 15th century
• The Children of Mercury, Biblia Pauperum (ÖNB 3085, fol. 25r), 1475
• Mercury and his children in The Housebook, c. 1475-1485
• St. Luke by Gabriel Maelesskircher, 1478
• St. Luke in The Golden Legend (BNF Fr. 245, fol. 141), c. 1480-1490
• St. Luke in a book of hours (Bibl. Mazarine, MS 0483, fol. 013v), c. 1490-1499
• St. Luke in a book of hours (KB 135 G 19, fol. 27v), c. 1495
• Timarete, De mulieribus claris (BNF Fr. 599, fol. 22v), 15th-16th centuries
• Artist painting with nude models in the Roman de la Rose (British Library Harley 4425, fol. 142), c. 1500
• Laodamia, Ovid's Heroides (BNF Fr. 874, fol. 105), beginning of the 16th century
• The wise man and the fool in a book of love poetry (British Library MS Stowe 955, fol. 9a), early 16th century
• St. Luke in a book of hours (MMW 10 E 3, fol. 19v), c. 1500-1525
• St. Luke by Niklaus Manuel
• St. Luke in a book of hours (MMW 10 F 33, fol. 15v) by Jehan de Luc, 1524
• St. Luke by Quentin Massys, c. 1530
• St. Luke by Maerten van Heemskerck, 1532
• Self-portrait of Caterina van Hemessen, 1548
• St. Luke by Maerten van Heemskerck, 1550-1553
• Self-portrait of Sofonisba Anguissola, c. 1556
• Bernardino Campi Painting Sofonisba Anguissola by Sofonisba Anguissola, 1557-1559
• St. Luke by Giorgio Vasari, after 1565
• St. Luke by El Greco, before 1567
• The painter, Eigentliche Beschreibung aller Stände auf Erden, 1568
• Oil colors: The famous Master Eyckius discovered oil as a convenience for painters, New discoveries; the sciences, inventions, and discoveries of the Middle Ages and the Renaissance as represented in 24 engravings issued in the early 1580's by Stradanus
• Otto Venius painting, surrounded by his family, 1584
• St. Luke by Marten de Vos, 1602
• Portrait of Jorge Manuel Theotokopoulos by El Greco, c. 1603