The History, Definitions, and Techniques
of Oil Painting
with emphasis on its development in the 15th century
|
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Notes from Methods and Materials of Painting of the Great Schools
and Masters, Vol. 1, (formerly titled: Materials for a History of Oil
Painting) by Sir Charles Lock Eastlake, one-time President of the Royal
Academy of England. Originally published in 1847. Republished by Dover
Books 1960. [Currently out of print.]
Definitions and technical information also acquired from The Random
House College Dictionary, Revised Edition;
The 1999 WorldBook Encyclopedia CD-ROM;
The Artists' Handbook, the complete practical guide to the tools,
techniques and materials of painting, drawing and printmaking
by Ray Smith (ISBN 0-394-55585-6) 
Buy the Book
The Painter's Guide to Studio Methods and Materials by Reed Kay
(ISBN 0-13-647941-3 and 0-13-647958-8) [currently out of print]
Artists' Handbook of Materials and Techniques
by Ralph Mayer, 5th Edition, Revised and Updated.
(ISBN: 0-670-83701-6)
Buy the Book
Artists' Pigments:
A Handbook of their History and Characteristics Vol. 1
Robert L. Feller, Editor. Published by the Cambridge University Press in
cooperation with the National Gallery of Art, Washington D.C. (ISBN 0-521-30374-5,
and 0-89468-086-2)
Buy
the Book
Industrial Organic Pigments:
Production, Properties and Applications
W. Herbst and K. Hunger (ISBN: 3527288368)
Buy the Book
Looking Through Paintings:
The Study of Painting Techniques and Materials in Support of Art Historical
Research.
Editor: Erma Hermens - Associate editors: Annemiek Ouwerkerk and Nicola
Costaras. © 1998
(ISBN 90 6801 575 3 and 1 873132 56 5)
And through phone discussions with representatives of pigment manufacturers
Ciba Specialty Corp. and Engelhard Corp.,
Ron Harmon, paint chemist for Daniel Smith Artists' Materials of Seattle,
WA
Chemistry professors at Indiana/Purdue University, Fort Wayne Campus
Mark David Gottsegen, Chairman, Artists Paints and Related Materials, Department
of Art, University of N.C., Greensborough, and
Catherine Metzger, Conservator at the National Gallery of Art, Washington,
D.C.
A BRIEF HISTORY
From the time of the Greeks the chemistry of art and the chemistry of
medicine were closely related and the recipes used for both were frequently
written in the same books. These recipes were kept throughout the early
centuries of Christianity by monks until their broader use outside of the
monasteries in the middle ages. The use of drying oils is recorded among
these recipes, listing walnut oil, poppy oil, hempseed oil, castor oil,
and linseed oil as varnishes to seal pictures and protect them from water.
Adequately thickened, they became resinous in and of themselves and therefore
worked as varnishes quite well. Later on, yellow pigments were added to
the oil and it was spread over tin foil to mimic the look of gold leaf,
but at less cost. And as early as the thirteenth century oil was used for
painting details over tempera pictures. Cennini describes the preparation
and use of oils in painting on all surfaces.
Oils were purified and bleached in the sun, and drying time was decreased
by the addition of metallic oxides such as Litharge or White Lead. Other
methods of preparing oil by boiling and mixing with various substances
is recorded throughout the middle ages, into the Renaissance, and beyond.
The procedures involved in making a usefully fluid medium with which
to paint entire pictures in great detail were perfected by the brothers
Van Eyck in the first half of the fifteenth century. From these Flemish
artists and their students it is rumored that the new methods were spread
to Italy by Antonella da Messina where, "once adapted to Italian taste,
subjects, and dimensions, (the new way of painting) was received with enthusiasm."
DEFINITIONS
| Alla Prima Painting |
Painting, usually from life, in a direct manner: Completing
a painting in a single session or while the paint is still wet. In past
eras used primarily as a means of sketching, but which became a means of
producing finished works of art by the impressionists. |
| Chiaroscuro |
A method of painting that represents boldly contrasting
lighting, usually drawing highlights out of a dark scene. Also an element
of this effect in any picture. |
| Chroma |
The degree of brilliance of color away from neutral
value. [color saturation] |
| Double Ground |
Two superimposed paint layers of distinct color
covering a sized panel or canvas as a surface upon which to paint. |
| Fat |
Containing a large amount of oil |
| Fat-Over-Lean |
The rule of painting in layers in which each successive
layer of paint should have more oil than the preceeding layer. By increasing
the oil content, top layers have increasing degrees of flexibility, reducing
the risk of cracking or flaking. |
| Gesso |
Gypsum (calcium sulphate) mixed with animal glue
and applied as a ground to a wood substrate. Used in Southern Europe (primarily
Spain and Italy). Northern Europeans used a similar ground of chalk (calcium
carbonate) in a glue binder.
A first, coarse layer was known as gesso grosso.
While a smooth top layer which could be polished to a fine tooth was called
gesso sottile. Some later artists applied only one layer of gesso
sottile. |
| Glaze |
A film of transparent color laid over a dried underpainting. |
| Grisaille |
Monochromatic painting usually in various tones of
gray. Traditionally the underpainting of a work, where local color is applied
over the grisaille as opaque, semi-opaque or transparent color. Often shadows
are colored with transparent colors and highlights are built up with increasing
thickness of opaque paint. |
| Ground |
The primary surface on which color is applied.
Usually refers to an opaque coating rather than the support. Traditionally
opaque white oil priming on canvas and chalk or gypsum mixed with animal
glue (gesso) on wood panel. White acrylic polymer can be used on either
surface.
If a colored isolation layer (imprimatura) is used
as the primary surface, it can be considered the ground. (see also "Toned
Ground") |
| Highlight |
The lightest tone in a painting. |
| Hue |
The simple color of a substance, for example: red,
bluish red, or yellow-red. |
| Impasto |
Painting thickly with a bristle brush or palette knife
in order to create surface texture. |
| Imprimatura |
An isolation layer consisting of pigments bound
in an oil medium and applied over chalk or gesso grounds to prevent the
medium in the subsequent paint layers from being absorbed by the ground.
Could be bright to dark, transparent or non-transparent. Color provides
a middle tone from which one can quickly move between lights and darks to
produce a full value painting. Should be mid-tone or lighter -- extremely
dark underpainting can show through top layers as the work ages, especially
when using lead white.
In modern usage on oil primed canvas, "imprimatura"
is often used to describe a transparent stain of oil color that is applied
to the entire surface to create a unifying midtone.
Most common colors: brown, earth-red, grey, or
grey blue. |
| Lightfast |
Resistant to fading when exposed to sunlight. Absolute
measurement in artists' pigments; relative measurement when applied to industrial
coatings applications. Example: a ten-year house paint would be considered
lightfast if it resisted fading for ten years. Artists' pigments are judged
in terms of centuries. |
| Local Color |
The true or actual color of an object
(as compared to the color effect it produces when viewed as part
of a whole composition or when influenced by light or atmospheric conditions
in nature or by the technique and intentions of the painter in a work of
art.) |
| Medium |
A liquid additive used to control the application
properties of paint, its drying time, and the elasticity of paint film when
dry. In oil painting this usually contains combinations of drying oils,
varnishes, balsams, essential oils or solvents, and driers. |
| Modeling |
Indicating the three-dimensional form of an object
by the appropriate distribution of different tones. Creating the illusion
of volume by painting the effects of light and shadow on form. |
| Monochromatic Underpainting |
A preliminary painting in tones of one color. Overpainted
with transparent, semi-opaque, and / or opaque color. See Grisaille above. |
| Palette |
The implement upon which a painter holds or mixes
his colors. Or a selected assortment of colors chosen for use in a painting
technique. |
| Pentimento |
The visibility of line or color through the increasingly
transparent overpainting which was originally used to conceal it. Ghost
image. A characteristic of linseed oil since its refractive index increases
with age. |
| Polymerization |
An internal molecular realignment brought about by
external force which changes the properties of a substance and increases
its molecular weight without the addition of any new ingredients.
Example: the external force of oxygen upon a drying oil. |
| Prime / Primer |
To cover a surface with a preparatory coat of color.
A first coat or layer of paint, size, etc., given to any surface as a base,
sealer, or the like. Often used to describe a pigment and oil (paint) ground
applied to cloth such as canvas or linen. (see "Ground" above)
In 15th century Europe, the guilds of St. Luke
recognized the profession of the panel maker as an independent craft within
the guild. Artists could purchase panels "primed and prepared"
with an imprimatura from such workshops, eliminating this slow and dirty
job from their studios. |
| Scumbling |
Scraping or scrubbing or dragging a thin layer of
lighter opaque or semi-opaque color over a dark underpainting with a bristle
brush, allowing the underpainting to show through. |
| Tone |
The degree of lightness or darkness of a color. |
| Toned Ground |
Where color is mixed with white as a primer to provide
a uniform opaque ground. |
| Underpainting |
Preliminary painting, over which successive layers
of color are added. Can be monochrome or colored. |
| Value |
Degree of lightness and darkness. |
| Varnish |
Protective surface film imparting a glossy or matt
surface appearance to a painting. |
| Vehicle |
The liquid into which a pigment is ground in order
to turn the dry powdered pigment into a liquid paint. The carrier of pigment. |
| Verdaccio |
Greenish underpainting |