6.4 Conclusion
Of the three art terms discussed in this study, only the Dutch origination of glowingness can be traced widely. The definite roots of stet remain uncertain, as do the first uses of the phrase broken colours. All three expressions are centred on essential problems of colouring in portrait painting. While the effects caused by steting are described as something to be avoided, the glowingness of a healthy flesh colour and the gradual colour modulations of broken colours are proposed as desirable accomplishments in the instructions of the manuscript. They can be used to carry out aesthetic judgements, but they can as well be employed as technical terms. The effects of glowingness in a portrait, for instance, can be singled out, but blue or black pigment left on the brush can spoil the glowingness of the paints. Broken colours can be praised for producing colour harmonies, but instructions for breaking colours can be given. The effects of steting can be criticised and practices of steting can be described in detail. None of these terms became part of the conceptual art theoretical vocabulary, yet there are strong indications that artists spoke of broken colours in their workshops. They probably discussed glowingness, too. How many painters were able to engage in a discourse about steting without using the one-worded glossary and the explanations of our anonymous writer, however, is debatable.
The anonymous manuscript is a unique record of uses of art terminology with Netherlandish origins or associations in London. It suggests that an oral tradition of an Anglo-Dutch art language was common in the workshops in parallel to a more sophisticated language of the virtuosi and connoisseurs that was developed with the help of written sources drawing on French and Italian terminology. Romance languages, of course, were associated with their Latin origin and learned humanist traditions. Besides, Italy had the art that was admired, and the circles of the French Academy produced a high output of novel art literature. For these reasons, terminology with romance roots was often stressed visually in the texts. The opposite seems to be true for Dutch terms that were used in British workshops: they were integrated in English art discourse without much emphasis on their roots. The examples of steting, glowingness and broken colours also suggest that oral terminology was transmitted quicker than written words. In fact, they were adapted so firmly that the knowledge of their origin had been lost after a few decades. The same can be observed for many technical terms or tools, also those with French roots, for instance, terminology related to engraving. It is easy to imagine that these words quickly found their place in the daily routine of the workshops. In spoken English, there might have been more than a handful of art words with Dutch origin. Some of them may have merged into the English art vocabulary, others may have been lost in translation.