Francisci Junii F. F. De pictura veterum libri tres, tot in locis emendati, & tam multis accessionibus aucti, ut plane novi possint videri: accedit Catalogus, adhuc ineditus, architectorum, mechanicorum, sed praecipue pictorum, statuariorum, cælatorum, tornatorum, aliorumque artificum, & operum quæ fecerunt, secundum seriem litterarum digestum.

A variant title is given on the added engraved title-plate, 'Fr. Junius De Pictura Veterum'. The second work in this publication, the Francisci Junii F.F. Catalogus Architectorum ..., has its own title-page and pagination, although it is prepared for by the catchword 'Francisci' at the foot of the preceding page. It reads in full: 'Francisci Junii F.F. Catalogus Architectorum, Mechanicorum, sed præcipue Pictorum, Statuariorum, Cælatorum, Tornatorum, aliorumque Artificum, & Operum quæ fecerunt, quorum Index separatim præmittitur, secundum seriem litterarum digestus, nunquam antehac editus. Roterdami, Typis Regneri Leers. MDCXCIV.'

Franciscus Junius had become librarian to the Earl of Arundel in 1621, and first published his De pictura veterum in 1637. In 1638 he published his own English translation, The painting of the ancients; and in 1641his Dutch version. The text draws heavily on ancient authors, and is divided into three books: Book I, on the fundamentals of art, Book II on the history of ancient art, and Book III on the 'parts' of art, i.e. 1. invention, idea or content; 2. design or drawing; 3. color; 4. expression, action and passion; 5. composition; 6. grace (sometimes in the seventeenth century called the 'je ne sais quoi'). The analysis of the 'parts' of art draws on Renaissance theorists, and similar analyses may be found in Fréart de Chambray, Bellori, Du Fresnoy, Shaftesbury and Reynolds. In Book I Junius argues that the principal concern of art is imitation - not merely copying, but using the imagination or 'phantasy' and so making the visual arts the equivalent of poetry. The judging of art, too, he argues, is an intellectual, learned, imaginative and moral pursuit.

The present edition includes the responses of Rubens and Van Dyck to the first edition. Rubens, while grateful that now we can respond in imagination to 'this immense treasure from all antiquity', with its illuminating admonitions, rules, judgments and examples, urges that we need a 'similar treatise on the paintings of the Italians ... which are in the public's eye today. One can point at them with one's finger, and say "Here they are!"'.