The History of Oil Painting
The use of linseed, poppy, walnut, and hempseed oil can be traced back to the thirteenth century. However much of this work was considered commonplace and no real thought of an individual style was given. We do see around this time in England the beginning of a demand for the medium. Tempera painting kept demand up until the fifteenth century when a demand for a new style arose that couldn't be recreated by any materials already in use.
Robert Campin
Merode Altarpiece (c.1427) Detail
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York.
Through the sixteenth century oil painting began to pick up a lot of steam and by 1600 it had become the principle medium of choice. Much of these painter are often cited for the final develop the medium, but its hardly fair considering the 300 years of development it went through to lead to this point.
Diego Velazquez
Portrait of Pope Innocent X (c.1650)
At first the gesso grounds of tempera where used, but by 1600 oil grounds and straight oil color was in full affect. While even to this day a lot of artists choose a more gesso method under the oil there are some who prefer the all oil method. The earliest linseed oil was pressed from flaxseed then heated usually by the sun to purify it. During the fifteenth century there where improvements made to the process in its purity and availability.
Jean-Honore Fragonard
A Young Girl Reading (c.1776)
National Gallery of Art,
Washington DC.
During the eighteenth and even through to the nineteenth century the study of art feel into kind of a dark age. While some of the highest craftsman focused on education it would be hard to say this was a general trend. The industrial and scientific advancements of this period alleviated most artist from the details of preparing their materials leaving them dependent on this industry to continue creating. The first affect this had on painting was the necessity for the basic knowledge of the hand made process it takes to create materials along with the properties of those materials and how that affects there implementation. Over time as trust has been placed on this industry and the subject almost completely ignored.
Jacques-Louis David
The Death of Marat (1793)
Musees Royaux des Beaux Arts
Thank you to those supporting me! My education within the arts is reaching a very interesting point an I'm very happy to share this experience with you.
Would really appreciate your upvote and resteem!!
Let me know what you think about continuing these posts and ill be sure to go check out yours.
Really interesting--would love to know more like what they used with these materials/ingredients to get different colours. I have taken a few art history courses, but I just realized I've never really thought about (or learned about) how the paint was made.
You may be interested in a book (somewhat related) that's written by an author in my city. It's called The History of Ink by Ted Bishop.
Will be making daily post as I educate myself of what I learn each day. Tomorrow might interest you as it will start hopefully be able to finish pigments. How and from what it was and is today made from.
Very, very interesting. The paintings you have selected for your post look very pleasing. I must admit when I had looked at art in the past I hadn't given much thought to what was used to create it. Of course I found some more aesthetically pleasing than others, but I never before focused on the materials used for the creation.
Most dont, kind of a lost idea. The proper use and knowledge of how and why the materials are made makes it much easier to pull off how it looks in your head ;)
i like the way you have styled the post. and yes it is of utmost importance to actually know your handywork/how to make your own materials to master painting different styles. i think its so interesting when you come over a new painter and you can see how he has tried to blend personality with craftsmanship. personally i always try to blend my own colours, but its quite hard to get just right. well well practice maes perfect, aye? :)
As sick as everyone gets of hearing that it's true. Practice and experimentation are crucial in developing a unique style that others have a hard time recreating.
Great post - up-Voted. I dabble in Oil, acrylic, watercolour and pencil .... I think pure Oil is my favourite at the moment. I will also Resteem for you.
Thank you so much!!! I'm currently using oil, I once tried oil over acrylic but IDK maybe I was doing it wrong lol. I kind of want to try oil over pastel.