TOOLS AND EQUIPMENT

287

carries. Since it was not a silvered mirror, much of the detail of a landscape was
merged together by the relatively weak reflection, and convexity brought a large
scene down to a very small area. Sketches and drawings were done from the
reflections in the glass. It was much used in the XVII and XVIII centuries and
is still occasionally seen in the studios of painters and etchers, Mrs Merrifield
(cxxv) reports that an eminent Italian painter of the XIX century spoke of

FIGURE 7. Tools for use with charcoal and crayon: (a) a crayon holder of modern
type, so made that the jaws at either end are tightened by a sliding ring and grip the
crayon between them; (£) a similar holder as shown in a drawing by Bouchardon (Meder,
p. 118, fig. 45); (c) a lead pencil, apparently a holder for a metallic stylus, described by
Konrad Gesner in 1565 (Meder, p. 140, fig. 50); (d) willow twigs set in a lump of clay
for burning into charcoal by the method described in the Mt Athos MS. (Meder p.
102, fig. 42).

having a black mirror once owned by Bamboccio in which the subject was re-
flected exactly like a Flemish landscape. It was said to have gone from Bamboccio
to Gaspar Poussin and on to others.
Cloths. The common paint cloth or paint rag of the modern studio has prob-
ably come in largely with the development of broad-scale oil painting. Frequently
they are called palette cloths, and J. S. Templeton in The Guide to Oil Painting
(London, 1845) speaks of using old linen in order to avoid lint. De Mayerne,
writing in the XVII century (MS., p. 90; Berger, IV, 261)5 speaks of holding
paint cloths with the little finger of the left hand and of using them to squeeze
out and clean the paint brushes. A cloth for ordinary cleaning purposes must
have been used from very early times. Pliny, however (XXXV3 103), tells how
Protogenes got the effect of foam on a dog's mouth by throwing his paint-soaked
sponge at the picture.
Compass, the usual drawing instrument for circles (figure 9). This probably
became a painter's tool during antiquity. It is made of two straight legs, usually
pointed at the tip and hinged at the other end. Meder (p. 187) says that it was