“Attributs du Peintre en Bâtiment” (Attributes of the Painter-Decorator)Plate XXVI, Album du peintre en bâtiment: Travaux élémentaires. Troisième sérieParis: Ducher & Cie, 1883

Author Nicolas Glaise French

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The training of a French painter-decorator of Braque’s generation involved an apprenticeship with an established master, who introduced the novice to the specialized branches of the trade. Plates published in manuals and portfolios, such as these chromolithographs, supplemented practical experience. Accompanied by instructions, they demonstrate how to imitate varieties of wood, the veining of marble, and the convex and concave profiles of architectural moldings, while simultaneously providing models of finished work.
“Attributes of the Painter-Decorator” summarizes the entire trade by depicting its essential tools and materials. Emulating seventeenth- and eighteenth-century trompe l’oeil paintings that symbolize the visual arts, the print also claims high status for decorators trained in the art of deception.

“Attributs du Peintre en Bâtiment” (Attributes of the Painter-Decorator)
Plate XXVI, Album du peintre en bâtiment: Travaux élémentaires. Troisième série
Paris: Ducher & Cie, 1883, Nicolas Glaise (French, 1825–1888), Chromolithograph

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