WorkArt & Culture

300 years before Pantone, an artist created his own 800-page index of colours

In 1692 a Dutch artist, known only as A. Boogert, put together a book about mixing watercolours. With helpful visual references and explanations of how to create each hue for painting, the 800-page index is incredibly detailed and certainly ahead of its time.

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Open pages from A. Boogert's 1692 colour index showing handwritten formulas on the left and colour swatches with notations on the right

Entitled Traité des Couleurs Servant à la Peinture à l’Eau, it was apparently intended as an educational guide, but there was just one single copy so it's unlikely many got the chance to see it. When you look at the pages of colour, with helpful rectangle references, you can't help but compare the book to its contemporary equivalent – the Pantone Colour Guide, which was first published in 1963.

If you want to see the entire book for yourself, then you can see it online in high resolution. The actual book is currently stored at the Bibliothèque Méjanes in Aix-en-Provence, France.

Via Artfido

Fifteen pages from A. Boogert's 1692 colour index showing handpainted watercolour swatches in orange, yellow, red, pink and brown tones arranged in rectangular grids on cream pages
Three pages from A. Boogert's 17th-century watercolour guide showing numbered colour samples in shades of blue and purple
Four pages from A. Boogert's 17th-century colour index displaying numbered watercolour samples in greens, yellows and oranges with handwritten page numbers and titles
Open pages from A. Boogert's 1692 watercolour mixing manual showing handwritten notes on the left and three numbered colour sample rectangles on the right
Two pages from A. Boogert's 17th-century colour treatise: the left shows a decorative title page with cherubs, and the right displays handwritten text with a painted peacock butterfly illustration below
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