Each volume in this four-volume set concentrates on different pigments. The series is an Encyclopedic Reference intended for:
- The practising artist to learn a pigment’s color, hiding power, lightfastness, toxicity, compatibility;
- The art historian to know how an artist worked, what pigments were used, whether they were pure or mixed, opaque or transparent, layered or not;
- The conservator to devise techniques necessary for the care and conservation of works of art, to determine what is original, to repair damages, to compensate for missing portions of a painted surface;
- The curator and the connoisseur to know the history of manufacture and use of pigments, to authenticate and assign probable dates to works of art;
- The conservation scientist to learn identification methods used, including optical microscopy, microchemical tests, X-ray diffraction, infrared and reflectance spectrophotometry, and electron microscopy.
This volume has been reprinted without modification in the form first published in 1993.