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A 900-page watercolor manual made by A. Boogert in 1692 is available to view in complete, high-resolution scans through the Bibliothèque Méjanes in France. The handwritten Dutch volume includes more than 700 pages of color swatches and instructions for mixing watercolor, but there is little evidence it circulated widely or influenced artists at the time.
A 900-page color manual made by the artist identified as A. Boogert in 1692 can now be examined in complete, zoomable, high-resolution scans held online by the Bibliothèque Méjanes in Aix-en-Provence, France. The handwritten Dutch volume contains more than 700 pages of color samples and instructions for preparing watercolor paints, offering a rare look at how a painter approached color before printed guides and modern standards.
The book is known by its Dutch title, Klaer Lightende Spiegel der Verfkonst, and by the French title Traité des couleurs servant à la peinture à l’eau, which refers to water-based painting. According to the Open Culture report, Boogert describes how to make watercolor paints and adjust shades by adding different amounts of water. The manual is handwritten, and the scans let viewers enlarge its pages to inspect the color charts and text.
Medieval historian Erik Kwakkel found the volume in a French database. He described it as an unusual view into the working practices of 17th-century painters and illustrators. The online images are held by the library in Aix-en-Provence, where the complete digitized book can be browsed page by page.
The report says there is little evidence the single known copy had broad influence during Boogert’s lifetime. Its intended audience appears to have been watercolorists, but it is unclear whether many working artists ever saw it. The work’s availability online is a modern development, not evidence that the manual was widely used in 1692.
A Workshop Manual Before Color Standards
The scans make a substantial historical object accessible without requiring readers to visit the French library in person. The pages show color as a practical craft problem: a painter could mix pigments and alter their appearance with measured additions of water. That approach differs from later efforts to organize color through broader theories and standardized systems.
The book also gives historians and readers a primary source for studying the techniques and visual vocabulary of watercolor work in the late 17th century. Its 700-plus pages of swatches are visually striking, but the manual’s importance should not be overstated: the available account does not establish that it shaped later color theory or influenced a generation of artists. Its value is both documentary and visual, with its circulation at the time still uncertain.
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From Boogert to Pantone
Boogert’s manual appeared in 1692, before Isaac Newton’s account of the color spectrum was fully presented in Opticks, published in 1704. The Open Culture report places the book at a point when older systems of color thought remained in use even as scientific explanations were changing. It says the manual drew on Aristotle’s system rather than the later understanding of the spectrum.
Printed guides on color became more prominent in the following centuries. The report points to Johann Wolfgang von Goethe’s Theory of Colours in 1810 and Abraham Gottlob Werner’s Nomenclature of Colour in 1814, followed much later by the launch of Pantone in 1963 and its color-standardization work. Boogert’s book predates those publications and systems, but the source does not establish a direct line of influence between them.
“It turns out to be quite special”
— Medieval historian Erik Kwakkel, as quoted by Open Culture
How Widely Did the Manual Travel?
The surviving account identifies one known copy, but does not explain whether other copies once existed or how the volume reached the collection in Aix-en-Provence. It is also unclear whether Boogert’s intended readers used the guide, or whether the book had any measurable effect on painting practice or later color systems. The available report says there is little evidence of broad influence; it does not establish that no one encountered the manual.
The source describes the scans as complete and high-resolution, but does not provide technical details such as file formats, digitization date, or reuse permissions. Those questions would need to be answered by the library or its catalog.
View the Library’s Digitized Pages
The immediate next step for readers is to browse the Bibliothèque Méjanes’ online scans, which can be enlarged to view the pages. The Open Culture report directs readers to the library’s digital copy; it does not announce a new print edition, exhibition, or research project tied to the digitization.
Further information about the manual’s provenance, intended use, and place in the library’s holdings would depend on catalog records or additional research. For now, the scans provide direct access to the object, while the question of its historical reach remains open.
Key Questions
What is the 1692 color manual?
It is a 900-page handwritten book attributed to A. Boogert, titled Klaer Lightende Spiegel der Verfkonst in Dutch. It describes making and mixing watercolor paints.
What can readers see in the scans?
The digitized copy includes the book’s pages, with more than 700 pages of color swatches and handwritten instructions. The library’s scans are described as zoomable and high-resolution.
Did Boogert’s manual influence later color systems?
The available report gives little evidence of broad influence and does not establish a direct connection to later color guides or Pantone. The extent of the book’s circulation in 1692 is unclear.
Where is the original book held?
The volume is held at the Bibliothèque Méjanes in Aix-en-Provence, France. The library makes its digitized pages available online.
Source: hn
