Bodycolor: Any type of opaque water-soluble pigment.

Chalk: Natural chalks of various colors are derived from the earth. Natural gray chalk is obtained from brick clay, red (or "sanguine") from the ochre variety of haematite, white (used for highlights) from the chalk variety of calcite or soapstone, and black from carbonaceous shale.

Cartoon: A drawing of the principal forms of a composition, made to the same scale as the painting or fresco for which it is preparatory. For some frescoes the cartoon was applied in sections to the wall and the outlines cut through on the wet plaster, destroying the cartoon in the process. The cartoon was sometimes preserved by transferring its design onto a secondary cartoon, a sheet of paper placed beneath the first, by pricking or indenting it with a stylus. This secondary cartoon would be placed on the wall.

Fresco: A highly skilled method of wall or ceiling painting of ancient origin, perfected during the Italian Renaissance. The paint was of the tempera type, in which the colors are mixed with some binding substance soluble in water and usually applied to fresh plaster. As the plaster set, the pigment became sealed within it. Paint could also be applied to the plaster when dry (a secco) which was easier, but less durable.

Metalpoint: A technique used frequently in the 15th and early 16th centuries in Italy, almost exclusively in Florence and Umbria. An instrument with a point of gold, silver or other metal was used for drawing on a prepared paper. A ground composed of powdered bones or lead white mixed with gum-water or other glutinous material was applied to the paper in several coats. This ground was naturally off-white, but colored pigments were often mixed in. The metal point reacted chemically with the ground on the paper, thus producing a line. Highlights were brushed in with white bodycolor.

Pounce: A fine powder used in the transference of the principal outlines of a drawing, usually a cartoon, to another support such as a wall or another sheet of paper. Small prick-holes were made in the paper along the lines, and dust (usually from pumice) was "pounced" or dabbed through these holes, leaving a dotted outline of the design on the surface beneath.

Stylus: A drawing instrument usually of cast metal, with a point often at either end. It was used to impress lines into paper and was frequently employed by artists beginning to work out a composition, in order to avoid the need to rub out incorrect lines. It was also used to transfer the main lines of a composition drawing, as from a cartoon to a fresco.

Wash: When used in connection with watercolor, this term denotes a covering with a broad layer of color by a continuous movement of the brush. When applied in ink drawing the term often means the use of a diluted ink or an ink of a different color.