Sicily Herald and the Blazon of Colours (Renaissance Colour Symbolism I)

Book excerpt: 'Sicily Herald and the Blazon of Colours' brings together the original texts with original English translations of two closely related primary sources on Renaissance colour symbolism. 'Le Blason de toutes armes et scutz' (The blazon of all arms and shields) was completed about 1420 by Jean Courtois (c. 1375-1436), the Sicily Herald, and printed in Paris in 1495. The second, 'Le Blason des couleurs en armes, livr es, et devises' (The blazon of colours in arms, liveries and devices), by Gilles Corrozet (1510-68), was published in Paris in 1527 by Pierre Le Brodeur. They were first two books on colour to be printed in Europe, and are now available in English for the first time in five centuries. Roy Osborne is an artist, educator and historian, and author of books on colour. He was awarded the Turner Medal of the Colour Group (Great Britain) in 2003, and the Colour in Art, Design and Environment Medal of the International Colour Association in 2019.