PAINTERS' GUILD.

PAINTERS' GUILD. Gules, three inescutcheons argent. Mantling— Gn\es and argent. Crest — Out of a coronet, a demi-maiden proper richly habited per pale gules and argent between two fallow-deer's palmated attires proper.

[The three shields were the trading sign of the " shield workers " throughout Europe— in Germany the field being gules, and in France and the Netherlands azure, the escutcheons being usually argent, but sometimes or. From the decoration and painting of shields, to the shield workers came the general craft of painting. These shields appear in the arms of the Painters' Company of London. The crest consisted of dragons' wings, stags' antlers, fallow-deer's horns, and the figure was always a feminine one, though very often it is a negress who is placed between the horns. The crest was supposed to be an imitation of the so-called " lusterweibchen " (figures of women to hold lamps or lustres — compare the crest of the Wax-chandlers' Company), which were also made by the shield workers.]

Original Source bookofpublicarms00foxd_djvu.txt near line 19708.