Artists' treatises and recipe books: a discussion of authors, readers and users

This paper focuses on the authors, readers, and users of three Italian artist's treatises and recipe books: the De arte illuminandi, Francesco Bentaccordi's manuscript, and Divers Secrets, to investigate whether and how often in the late Middle Ages and early modern period collectors of recipes for pigments and colorants for book decoration and other artistic techniques were themselves scribes and illuminators, who would consequently be particularly suited to transmitting craftsmanship in written form.