Henry III. to the End of Henry VI. 45 



I fhall be told perhaps^ that this me- 

 thod was only ufed for painting on walls ^ 

 but, leaving out the plaifter, I fee nothing 

 to hinder the fame preparation from being 

 ufed on board. Of what mixture Cima- 

 bue, the reftorer of the art, made ufe, we 

 are told by the fame author. Multaeque 

 illius manu confefee non hidoriae minus, 

 quam imagines, in tabulis ligneis, colore 

 ovis vel glutine temperato f . 



Ciambue ufed yolk of egg or glue, which 

 I fuppofe means fize. 



Still the much more ancient ufe of oil, 

 were it but as a varnifh, leaves a doubt 

 whether John ab Eyck's difcovery was en- 

 tirely his own. The remarkable record 

 which I have fo often mentioned, dates 

 above an hundred years before the com- 

 mon aera of painting in oil. John ab 

 Eyck is allowed to have found it in fearch- 

 ing for a varnifh. Might he not have 

 heard that fuch a varnifh or compofition 

 was in ufe in England ? ^ Tlie very pic- 

 tures 



f Academ. pi(5lur. p. 94. 



J I cannot help hazarding a conjecture (though un- 

 supported by any of the writers on painting) . There 



