Publisher's Synopsis
" 'The art of painting in oils, ' says the author of this little handbook, "is a very difficult one, and not the least of its difficulties consists in the great uncertainty that exists as to the proper methods to be pursued." So far as results recommend a particular method, Mr. Collier's modus operandi is abundantly recommended. His system, as set forth here, is a modification of Mr. Poynter's, from whose teaching in the Slade School it is directly derived. But Mr. Collier does not restrict students to his own method, and in this manual he gives those of other artists, as well as his own, and the rules in force in the South Kensington Schools. His own method is a direct one, and beginners in the art of oil painting will receive valuable assistance from the suggestions he gives. The work is divided into two parts, dealing respectively with practice and theory. The second part is as interesting to the general reader as it is helpful to the student; for, besides containing the rules governing aerial perspective, it includes a very lucid description of Young's undulatory theory of light; -- a theory which explains Achromatopsia and other puzzling anomalies in colour sensation."
--The Ruskin Reading Guild Journal, Volume 1
