Nowadays, artists and designers refer to Pantone for an accurate description of a color, but what were people using before Pantone went into print? Well, as it seems, it was this color book by A. Boogert.
Written in 1692 (271 year before Pantone got published in 1963) by a Dutch artist known only as “A. Boogert”, Traité des couleurs servant à la peinture à l’eau, was the most comprehensive guide to paint and color.
All the colors were made be creating certain hues and tones and then adding one, two or three layers of water. Even though this may sound simple to today’s standard (after all, nowadays, all these colors are just a click away in Photoshop) but given the time this was printed, the result was simply amazing. (the article continues after the ad)
The book is 800 handwritten (and hand-painted) pages and its initial purpose was to be used as an educational guide. The book is currently kept at the Bibliothèque Méjanes in Aix-en-Provence, France.
Check out some pictures of the inside pages:
