Chapter 6 : Manufacturer, Supplier and Advisor

Clotilde Roth-Meyer described Sennelier at this time as “the sole merchant who published his own book.” “The Chemistry of Colors was much more than just a sales “puff” written by a salesman in search of publicity. What’s more, this scientific work was addressed particularly to professional artists. The objective was two- fold: to raise the level of awareness about elementary chemistry, about compounds that the artists did not always understand, and to pre- vent disastrous consequences for their work if certain precautions were not taken. Hence, this ‘color merchant’ could demonstrate to his artists that he was a professional they could trust.” Sennelier put a shot across the bows of the traditional schools and Academies of Art by specifying, in his concluding passage, “What an artist needs to know,” that “before placing a brush in the hands of the future artist “they should first teach him the basics of chemistry. They should understand first that colors” are not created simply by a mixture of pigments but are the results of chemistry” and that while there are a small number of primary colors found in nature, the large number of tones that they give rise to “are the creations of a chemical industry determined to meet all an artist’s needs.” Gustave Sennelier envisaged his role as an adviser who gave to the artist the means to elaborate and re ne their own recipes in complete confidence as to the end result.According to the P.Richard's Book