ABSTRACT
The Painter’s Manual of Dionysios of Fourna, compiled on Mount Athos between 1728 and 1733, gives a very detailed account of the procedure for the production of a drawing from a prototype. This prototype could be an icon, a wall painting or a drawing. It is interesting to read the actual description by Dionysios of Fourna:Put some black colour into a scallop shell with some garlic juice and mix them; then go over the forms of the whole figure of the saint that you are copying. Then wet a sheet of paper the same size as the prototype, and put it between other sheets so that they can absorb some of the water, just ensuring that the paper remains a little moist; then place it on the archetype and press it down carefully with your hand in such a way as not to displace it.
