(...)" PREFACE.
The following work was undertaken with a view to promote the objects of the Commissioners on the Fine Arts. It professes to trace the recorded practice of oil painting from its invention; and, by a comparison of authentic traditions with existing works, to point out some of the causes of that durability for which the earlier examples of the art are remarkable. It was considered that such an inquiry, if desirable on general grounds, must be especially so at a time when the best efforts of our artists are required for the permanent decoration of a national edifice.
The want of a sufficiently extensive investigation of original authorities relating to the early practice of oil painting has led to various contradictory theories; and the uncertainty which has been the result has too often induced an impression that the(...)".
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