easel
(ˈiːzəl, ˈiːz(ə)l)
Also 7–8 easle, 8 ezel.
[ad. Du. ezel = Ger. esel ass. Cf. the similar use of horse.]
A wooden frame to support a picture while the painter is at work upon it; a similar frame used to support a blackboard, etc. (In quot. 1791 a blunder for palette.)
| 1634 J. B[ate] Myst. Nat. 119 Provide a frame or Easel called by Artists. 1688 R. Holme Armoury iii. 193/1 St. Luke, the Patron of Painters..is drawn at his Easle working. 1733 Belchier in Phil. Trans. XXXVIII. 196 The Trunk of a Skeleton fix'd to a Painter's Ezel. 1791 E. Darwin Bot. Gard. i. 7 Many of the unexpected changes in mixing colours on a painter's easle..may depend on these principles. 1859 Gullick & Timbs Paint. 199 The Easel is a frame which supports the painting during its progress. |
b. as the typical instrument of a painter.
| 1838–9 Hallam Hist. Lit. I. i. iii. 223 note, Some productions of his easel vie with those of Raphael. |
Hence ˈeaseldom (nonce-wd.), painting as a profession; the whole body of painters. easel-picture, easel-piece, a picture painted at the easel, or small enough to stand upon it.
| 1706 Art of Painting (1744) 308 He continued working on his easel-pieces. 1841 W. Spalding Italy & It. Isl. II. 396 His easel-pictures are perfect models of colouring. 1860 Sala in Cornh. Mag. I. 578 This grandee of easeldom. |