What`s Oil painting?
Oil painting is the process of painting with
pigments that bound with medium of drying oil ?especially in early modern
Europe, linseed oil. Often an oil, such as linseed was boiled with a resin
such as pine resin or even frankincense, these were called 'varnishes' and
were prized for their body and gloss. Other oils occasionally used include
poppyseed oil, walnut oil, and safflower oil. These oils give various
properties to the oil paint, such as less yellowing or different drying
times. Certain differences are also visible in the sheen of the paints
depending on the oil. Painters often use different oils in the same painting
depending on specific pigments and effects desired. The paints themselves
also develop a particular feel depending on the media.
History
Oil paint was probably developed for decorative or
functional purposes in the High Middle Ages. Surfaces like shields ?both
those used in tournaments and those hung as decorations ?were more durable
when painted in oil-based media than when painted in the traditional tempera
paints.
Most Renaissance sources, in particular Vasari, credited northern European
painters of the 15th century, and Jan van Eyck in particular, with the
"invention" of painting with oil media on wood panel, however Theophilus
(Roger of Helmarshausen?) clearly gives instructions for oil-based painting
in his treatise, On Divers Arts, written in 1125. Early Netherlandish
painting in the 15th century was however the first to make oil the usual
painting medium, followed by the rest of Northern Europe, and only then
Italy. The popularity of oil spread through Italy from the North, starting
in Venice in the late 15th century. By 1540 the previous method for painting
on panel, tempera had become all but extinct, although Italians continued to
use fresco for wall paintings, which was more difficult in Northern
climates.
Process of oil painting
The process of oil painting varies from artist to
artist, but often includes certain steps. First, the artist prepares the
surface of oil paintings. Although surfaces like linoleum, wooden panel, paper, slate,
pressed wood, and cardboard have been used, the most popular surface since
the 16th century has been canvas, although many artists used panel through
the 17th century and beyond. Before that it was panel, which is more
expensive, heavier, less easy to transport, and prone to warp or split in
poor conditions. For fine detail, however, the absolute solidity of a wooden
panel gives an advantage.
The artist might sketch an outline of their subject prior to applying
pigment to the surface of oil paintings. “Pigment?may be any number of natural substances
with color, such as sulfur for yellow or cobalt for blue. The pigment is
mixed with oil, usually linseed oil but other oils may be used as well. The
various oils dry differently creating assorted effects.
Traditionally, an artist mixed his or her own paints for each project.
Handling and mixing the raw pigments and mediums was prohibitive to
transportation. This changed in the late 1800’s, when oil paint in tubes
became widely available. Artists could mix colors quickly and easily without
having to grind their own pigments. Also, the portability of tube paints
allowed for plein air, or outdoor painting (common to French Impressionism).
The artist most often uses a brush to apply the paint. Brushes are made from
a variety of fibers to create different effects for oil paintings. For example, brushes made
with hog’s bristle might be used for bolder strokes. Brushes made from
miniver, which is squirrel fur, might be used for finer details. Sizes of
brushes also create different effects. For example, a "round" is a pointed
brush used for detail work. "Bright" brushes are used to apply broad swaths
of color. The artist might also apply paint with a palette knife, which is a
flat, metal blade. A palette knife may also be used to remove paint from the
canvas when necessary. A variety of unconventional tools, such as rags,
sponges, and cotton swabs, may be used. Some artists even paint with their
fingers.
Most artists paint in layers for oil paintings, a method first perfected in the Egg tempera
painting technique, and adapted in Northern Europe for use with linseed oil
paints. The first coat or "underpainting" is laid down first, painted
normally with turpentine thinned paint. This layer helps to "tone" the
canvas, and cover the white of the gesso. Many artists use this layer to
sketch out the composition. This layer can be adjusted before moving
forward, which is an advantage over the 'cartooning' method used in Fresco
technique. After this layer dries, one way the artist might then proceed is
by painting a "mosaic" of color swatches, working from darkest to lightest.
The borders of the colors are blended together when the "mosaic" is
completed. This layer is then left to dry before applying details. After it
is dry, the artist will apply "glaze" to the painting, which is a thin,
transparent layer to seal the surface of oil paintings. A classical work might take weeks or
even months to layer the paint, but the most skilled early artists, such as
Jan van Eyck, also used Wet-on-wet painting for some details. Artists in
later periods such as the impressionist era often used this more widely,
blending the wet paint on the canvas without following the Renaissance
layering and glazing method. This method is also called "Alla Prima." When
the image is finished and dried for up to a year, an artist would often seal
the work with a layer of varnish typically made from damar gum crystals
dissolved in turpentine. Contemporary artists increasingly resist the
varnishing of their oil paintings, preferring that the surfaces remain varnish-free
indefinitely.
Oil Painting Popularity Survey.
Below is a survey from art article about the most popular 225 artists.
225 out of over 5,000 of the top names in all of art history,
ARC
organization has tracked who people like and visit the most. The results are
sure to shock you and to shake up the art world and all of the preconceived
notions that the Modernist propaganda machine has tried so hard to establish
for decades.
THE ART RENEWAL CENTER is proud to share with its public, for the first
time, a list of the 225 most popular artists in the ARC Museum. The figures
below were compiled over 6 months, and represent the total number of times
any page in an artist's gallery was viewed over this period. We also hope to
list the totals for the most popular oil paintings in the ARC Museum - in
addition to the most popular artists listed here - at a not too distant
date.
Our visitors have overwhelmingly voted in favour of William Bouguereau as
the most popular artist in the ARC Museum, followed by Sir Lawrence
Alma-Tadema and Jean-Léon Gérôme, also Academic masters. Bouguereau received
more than three times the hits (or pages viewed) of the highest ranking Old
Master, Raphael; more even than Leonardo da Vinci, in a year when there has
been a resurgence of popular interest in his life and work. The top three
ranking artists are not Impressionists like Monet, Renoir, or Degas but
three of the greatest Academic painters of the 19th century. Conventional
wisdom has it that the Impressionists are the most well-known and loved
artists of the 19th century. These results suggest that preferences are changing.
The ARC staff believes that this result is a sign that people know quality
when they see it, irrespective of labels. As our Chairman put it, 'If you
build it, they will come.' We built the largest collection of high-quality,
high-resolution images devoted to great academically-trained artists - such
as Bouguereau, Gérôme, and Waterhouse - and these statistics indicate their
popularity with our viewers. An extraordinary result when considering that
art history students can still graduate today without ever being exposed to
the works of the major 19th century Academic artists.
Aside from celebrating the popular success of these artists, we hope that
this list of the 225 most visited artist galleries on ARC will inspire our
visitors to investigate other Masters in our collection they may yet have to
enjoy,or even to custom a nice museum quality oil painting reproduction.
|
Online
Catalogs
