instruction manual in marking art

EARLY INSTRUCTION MANUALS IN MAKING ART
There were other and earlier accounts of what artists did. Cennino
Cennini’s (c.1370–c.1440) instruction manual The Craftman’s
Handbook (c.1390) looked at the physical process of actually making
a fresco or panel painting, including mixing the pigments and
preparing the ground. Taking an architectural example and using a
biological model of growth and decay, Antonio Manetti (1423–91)
traced its history from early Greece and Rome to its supposed
decline in the late Roman period (Kultermann 1993: 11).
Some of these early ideas and manuals were relevant for later art
historians and philosophers, who revisited issues of artistic meaning
and value. For example, the Italian art historian and antiquarian
Giovanni Bellori (1615–96) applied Plato’s idea of the existence of
perfect or pure forms as a basis for his theory of artistic beauty.
For Bellori, to capture an ideal form, the artist should observe and
select the best examples from nature. These could then be combined
to create a composite whole which was based on neither the inventions
of fantasy nor the imperfections of nature. Other classical
writers provided a source for Renaissance commentaries on art; for
example, Leone Battista Alberti (1404–72) drew upon the Roman
architect Vitruvius’ (c.80/70 BCE?–c.25 BCE) book De Architectura;
art theories and art histories 21
and the writings of Pliny the Elder (CE 23–79) provided a source for
Classical Greek artists such as Praxiteles (fourth century BCE).
Although Italian writers and artists dominated the early historiography
of art, there were exceptions. The Flemish painter and
writer Karel van Mander (1548–1606) published his Book on
Picturing in 1604. His treatise was instrumental in establishing the
canon for Dutch and Flemish painting from the fifteenth century,
central to which was Jan van Eyck’s (c.1385–1441) use of oil-based
pigments. In addition to painting, Mander recognised the contribution
of printing and drawing, including both within his categorisations.