248 PAINTING MATERIALS
using raw hemp for the pulp, and Rene Antoine Ferchault de Reaumur suggested
to the French Royal Academy (November 15, 1719) that wood or plant fibres
would be suitable for the purpose. This suggestion was carried further by Dr
Jacob Christian Schiffer (1718-1790)5 a citizen of Regensburg, who wrote a six-
volume treatise on the subject. It was well into the XIX century, however, when
wood-pulp was used on any extensive scale for paper-making. The paper machine
was invented in France in 1798 by Louis Robert and was developed there and in
England during the early years of the next century.
Through all of its history paper has been used primarily as a writing material,
but probably parallel to that has been its employment as a support for drawing
and for painting. It stands with silk and linen in the scroll paintings of China and
Japan. An early mention of it in connection with the arts of Europe occurs in the
MS. of the monk, Theophilus (XI-XII century), where there is a reference to
*. . . Greek parchment, which is made from linen cloth' (i, XXIV). By the
time of Cennino Cennini, paper was a regular material in the workshop of the
painter. He speaks of its use for drawing (chaps X and XII), about methods for
tinting it (chaps XV, XVI, XVIII, and others), and of how to make tracing papers
(chaps XXIII-XXVI). From this time, c 1400, it had an established place in the
making of European works of art. Those preserved from the Renaissance are largely
prints or drawings but some paintings are found, notably a head attributed to
Memling and now in the Louvre, 2028 A. This is a sketch in color on paper that is
tinted red-orange. It is probably from the development of such sketches and of
drawings with added color that paper came to be used so extensively in the XIX
century as a support for the so-called * water color' painting. Besides its use
independently, paper has now and then been made a part of a more rigid, com-
posite support. The small cardboard panels -(see also Artificial Building Boards
and Academy Board) are really made of paper-pulp, but aside from these, sheet
paper is frequently combined with wood or with cloth. A number of such construc-
tions can be found dating from the XVI century in Europe.
Papyrus (see also Paper). This ancient writing .material was made from the
strips of a reed, Cyperus papyrus. They were crossed on boards and then were
soaked, hammered, and dried.
Parchment (see also Leather). The distinction between parchment and vellum
is a difficult one to draw. According to some authors (for example, Johnston, p.
173) vellum is a name which belongs to calfskin only, but is generally given to any
moderately good skin that is used for writing or painting. At times Vellum' is made
to designate what is more exactly called * uterine vellum '—the delicate skins of
new-born or still-born calves, kids, or lambs. Practically, it is impossible to main-
tain the distinction in any general description of these materials; one term can
conveniently be made to apply to both, for the materials are similar and the
preparation is the same. The skins best for use are those of calves, sheep and lambs,
goats and kids. They are prepared by washing, liming, unhairing, and scraping;