Thomas Bardwell (1704-67), an English portrait painter, wrote a technical treatise entitled <i>The Practice of Painting and Perspective Made Easy which was published in 1756. The section on painting deals exclusively with the oil technique and may be considered one of the most original productions of its kind written in England. A total of 153 paint samples were taken from 15 of Bardwell's paintings dating between 1740 and 1766, the better part of his active career. Through cross-sections, and likewise numerous analyses, made from these paint samples it was possible to reconstruct Bardwell's actual practice. This in turn could be compared with the suggested technique as explained in his book. Bardwell's actual practice follows his written advice rather closely; however, in general it was discovered to be less complicated.