Art Library / Coloured vector SVG files
Coloured vector SVG files
Lifted from the page of historical books. Flat-colour vectors, for printing and layered art.
31 collections, 3,700 pieces in total. Pick a collection to see the art inside it.
Colour plate
Mira Calligraphiae Monumenta (The Model Book of Calligraphy) plate 5
From Georg Bocskay and Joris Hoefnagel, Mira Calligraphiae Monumenta (The Model Book of Calligraphy) (1596)
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Start with a subject or a set of historical plates.
Japanese Colour Prints
Birds, flowers and waves from Japanese colour-woodblock albums, printed flat rather than shaded.
Ornament Plates
Chromolithograph borders, panels and illuminated ornament from Victorian pattern books.
Birds in Colour
Hand-coloured ornithological plates: songbirds, waterfowl and the eggs that go with them.
Botanical in Colour
Colour botany plates: the whole plant with root, leaf and flower, painted from the specimen.
Shells
Conchology plates painted from the cabinet: whelks, cowries, scallops and nautilus.
Figures in Colour
People as the colour plates drew them: portraits, dancers, workers and studies of dress.
Fungi Plates
Caps, gills and spore drawings from the great mycological atlases, painted plate by plate.
Ruins and Views
Piranesi's Rome and the American picturesque: temples, aqueducts and river valleys drawn on the spot.
Herbals and Remedies
Medicinal plants cut for the apothecary, scanned from Blackwell's Curious Herbal and its kin.
Illuminated Lettering
Initials, alphabets and title panels laid out in gold and colour by illuminating manuals.
Insects in Colour
Butterflies, moths and beetles from hand-coloured entomology plates, wings at full colour.
Colour Borders
Chromolithograph border strips and running patterns, printed to frame a page in flat colour.
Costume Plates
Historical dress, uniforms and regional folk costume from hand-coloured costume albums.
Alchemy and Emblems
Hermetic emblems, allegories and alchemical figures, scanned whole from the emblem books.
Creatures in Colour
Beasts, fish and fabled animals printed in full colour from natural histories and bestiaries.
Anatomy and Diagrams
Anatomical figures and the earliest statistical charts, both coloured to be read rather than admired.
Artefacts and Antiquities
Gold masks, inlaid daggers and painted pottery, drawn as the excavation reports recorded them.
Butterflies in Colour
Hand-coloured lepidoptera plates: swallowtails, hawk moths and the caterpillars they came from.
Chinese Colour Plates
Peonies, dragons and lattice ornament from Chinese decorative albums and ornament books.
Minerals and Fossils
Crystals, ores and fossil impressions, hand coloured specimen by specimen for the cabinet.
Heraldry in Colour
Shields, crests and badges in their proper tinctures, which is the whole point of a heraldic plate.
Ephemera
Historical colour plates traced into flat-colour vectors for printing.
Textile Designs
Repeating florals, damask and printed cloth from textile and wallpaper sample books.
Nautical in Colour
Ships, rigging and harbour scenes in colour, from maritime albums and signal charts.
Leaves
Leaf and foliage studies printed in autumn colour, ready to scatter across a panel.
Flowers
Botanical colour plates of garden and wild flowers, drawn in full bloom from life.
Objects in Colour
Vases, clocks, lamps and household things, printed in colour from trade catalogues and design plates.
Star Charts
Constellation figures and planetary diagrams from the hand-coloured celestial atlases.
Machines and Engines
Screw presses, winches, mine engines and mills, scanned whole from Renaissance machine books.
Scenes
Historical colour plates traced into flat-colour vectors for printing.
Initials
Historical colour plates traced into flat-colour vectors for printing.
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