This 300-Year-Old Book Was the World's First Comprehensive Color Guide

"Traité des couleurs servant à la peinture à l’eau," discovered and translated by historian Erik Kwakkel, was probably meant for educational purposes.

Image via e-corpus

Hundreds of years before PANTONE created its infamous color matching guide, Dutch artist A. Boogert wrote a book about it in 1692.

Entitled Traité des couleurs servant à la peinture à l’eau, this incredible volume is an 800-page tome dedicated to the art of mixing watercolors. It comes with step-by-step instructions for creating different shades and hues using “portions of water,” and even includes corresponding color swatches. The book, discovered and partially translated by historian Erik Kwakkel, was probably meant to be an educational guide to colors.

Check out this amazing piece of history here.

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[via DesignTaxi]

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