Oil painting
“Oil on canvas” redirects here. For the album, see Oil on paint eventually became the principal medium used for
Canvas.
creating artworks as its advantages became widely known.
Oil painting is the process of painting with pigments The transition began with Early Netherlandish painting in
Northern Europe, and by the height of the Renaissance oil
painting techniques had almost completely replaced the
use of tempera paints in the majority of Europe.
In recent years, water miscible oil paint has come to
prominence and, to some extent, replaced traditional oil
paint. Water-soluble paints contain an emulsifier that allows them to be thinned with water rather than paint thinner, and allows very fast drying times (1–3 days) when
compared with traditional oils (1–3 weeks).
1 Techniques
Mona Lisa, Leonardo da Vinci, c. 1503–06
with a medium of drying oil as the binder. Commonly
used drying oils include linseed oil, poppy seed oil, walnut
oil, and safflower oil. The choice of oil imparts a range
of properties to the oil paint, such as the amount of yellowing or drying time. Certain differences, depending
on the oil, are also visible in the sheen of the paints. An
artist might use several different oils in the same painting depending on specific pigments and effects desired.
The paints themselves also develop a particular consisSelf-portrait, at work, Anders Zorn, 1897
tency depending on the medium. The oil may be boiled
with a resin, such as pine resin or frankincense, to create Traditional oil painting techniques often begin with the
a varnish prized for its body and gloss.
artist sketching the subject onto the canvas with charcoal
Although oil paint was first used for Buddhist paintings or thinned paint. Oil paint is usually mixed with linseed
by Indian and Chinese painters in western Afghanistan oil, artist grade mineral spirits, or other solvents to make
sometime between the fifth and tenth centuries,[1] it did the paint thinner, faster or slower-drying. (Because these
not gain popularity until the 15th century. Its practice solvents thin the oil in the paint, they can also be used to
may have migrated westward during the Middle Ages. Oil clean paint brushes.) A basic rule of oil paint application
1
2
3
is 'fat over lean'. This means that each additional layer of
paint should contain more oil than the layer below to allow
proper drying. If each additional layer contains less oil,
the final painting will crack and peel. This rule does not
ensure permanence; it is the quality and type of oil that
leads to a strong and stable paint film. There are many
other media that can be used with the oil, including cold
wax, resins, and varnishes. These additional media can
aid the painter in adjusting the translucency of the paint,
the sheen of the paint, the density or 'body' of the paint,
and the ability of the paint to hold or conceal the brushstroke. These aspects of the paint are closely related to
the expressive capacity of oil paint.
Traditionally, paint was transferred to the painting surface using paintbrushes, but there are other methods, including using palette knives and rags. Oil paint remains
wet longer than many other types of artists’ materials, enabling the artist to change the color, texture or form of the
figure. At times, the painter might even remove an entire
layer of paint and begin anew. This can be done with
a rag and some turpentine for a time while the paint is
wet, but after a while the hardened layer must be scraped.
Oil paint dries by oxidation, not evaporation, and is usually dry to the touch within a span of two weeks (some
colors dry within days). It is generally dry enough to be
varnished in six months to a year. Art conservators do
not consider an oil painting completely dry until it is 60
to 80 years old.
2
History
INGREDIENTS
Although the history of tempera (pigment mixed with
either egg whites or egg yolks, then painted on a plastered section) and related media in Europe indicates
that oil painting was discovered there independently,
there is evidence that oil painting was used earlier in
Afghanistan.[2][3][4][5] Outdoor surfaces and surfaces like
shields—both those used in tournaments and those hung
as decorations—were more durable when painted in oilbased 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 supports (“support” is the
technical term for the underlying backing of a painting).
However, Theophilus (Roger of Helmarshausen?) clearly
gives instructions for oil-based painting in his treatise, On
Various Arts, written in 1125. At this period, it was probably used for painting sculptures, carvings and wood fittings, perhaps especially for outdoor use. However, early
Netherlandish painting in the 15th century was the first
to make oil the usual painting medium, and explore the
use of layers and glazes, followed by the rest of Northern
Europe, and only then Italy.
Early works were still panel paintings on wood, but
around the end of the 15th century canvas became more
popular as the support, as it was cheaper, easier to transport, allowed larger works, and did not require complicated preliminary layers of gesso (a fine type of plaster). (This style was known as a fresco painting: applying gesso, then painting over with tempera paint) Venice,
where sail-canvas was easily available, was a leader in the
move to canvas. Small cabinet paintings were also made
on metal, especially copper plates. These supports were
more expensive but very firm, allowing intricately fine detail. Often printing plates from printmaking were reused
for this purpose. 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
less successful and durable in damper northern climates.
Brands of oil paint include: Winsor and Newton, Gamblin, Rembrandt, Lukas 1862, Lukas Studio, Old Holland, Michael Harding and Charvin. It is important that
artists understand that not all oil colors are created equal.
Many “student” brands on the market are really “hobby
colors”. Water-soluble oil colors include: Winsor and
Newton Artisan, Lukas Berlin and Woil water mixable oil
colors.
3 Ingredients
Self-portrait of Rembrandt, 1630. An example of oil painting on
copper.
The linseed oil itself comes from the flax seed, a common
fiber crop. It is interesting to note that linen, an impor-
3
Flax seed is the source of linseed oil.
tant “support” for oil painting (see relevant section), also
comes from the flax plant. Safflower oil or the more traditional walnut or poppyseed oil are sometimes used in formulating lighter colors like white because they “yellow”
less on drying than linseed oil, but they have the slight
drawback of drying more slowly and may not provide the
strongest paint film. Linseed oil tends to dry yellow and
can change the hue of the color.
Recent advances in chemistry have produced modern
water miscible oil paints that can be used and cleaned up
with water. Small alterations in the molecular structure
of the oil creates this water miscible property.
An even newer type of paint, heat-set “oils” (which are actually thermoplastic) remain liquid until heated to 265–
280 °F (130–138 °C) for about 15 minutes. Since the
paint otherwise never dries, cleanup is not needed (except
when one wants to use a different color with the same
brush). Although not technically true oils (the medium
is an unidentified “non-drying synthetic oily liquid, embedded with a heat sensitive curing agent”), the paintings
made with this paint resemble oil paintings and are usually shown as such.
4
Supports for oil painting
Splined canvas
Modern acrylic "gesso" is made of titanium dioxide with
an acrylic binder. It is frequently used on canvas, whereas
real gesso is not suitable for canvas. The artist might apply several layers of gesso, sanding each smooth after it
has dried. Acrylic gesso is very difficult to sand. One
manufacturer makes a “sandable” acrylic gesso, but it is
intended for panels only and not canvas. It is possible to
make the gesso a particular color, but most store-bought
gesso is white. The gesso layer, depending on its thickness, will tend to draw the oil paint into the porous surface. Excessive or uneven gesso layers are sometimes visible in the surface of finished paintings as a change that’s
not from the paint.
Standard sizes for oil paintings were set in France in the
19th century. The standards were used by most artists,
not only the French, as it was—and evidently still is—
supported by the main suppliers of artists’ materials. Size
0 (toile de 0) to size 120 (toile de 120) is divided in separate “runs” for figures (figure), landscapes (paysage) and
marines (marine) that more or less preserve the diagonal.
Thus a 0 figure corresponds in height with a paysage 1
and a marine 2.[6]
Although surfaces like linoleum, wooden panel, paper,
slate, pressed wood, Masonite, 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. Panel is more expensive, heavier, harder to transport, and prone to warp or split in poor
conditions. For fine detail, however, the absolute solidity
of a wooden panel has an advantage.
Traditional artists’ canvas is made from linen, but less expensive cotton fabric has gained popularity. The artist
first prepares a wooden frame called a “stretcher” or
“strainer”. The difference between the two names is
that stretchers are slightly adjustable, while strainers are
rigid and lack adjustable corner notches. The canvas is
then pulled across the wooden frame and tacked or stapled tightly to the back edge. Then the artist applies a
"size" to isolate the canvas from the acidic qualities of the
paint. Traditionally, the canvas was coated with a layer 5 Process
of animal glue (modern painters will use rabbit skin glue)
as the size and primed with lead white paint, sometimes Oil paint is made by mixing pigments of colors with an
with added chalk. Panels were prepared with a gesso, a oil medium. Different colors are made, or purchased premixture of glue and chalk.
mixed, before painting begins, but further shades of color
4
5 PROCESS
mongoose hair brushes are fine and smooth, and thus answer well for portraits and detail work. Even more expensive are red sable brushes (weasel hair). The finest quality
brushes are called "kolinsky sable"; these brush fibers are
taken from the tail of the Siberian weasel. This hair keeps
a superfine point, has smooth handling, and good memory
(it returns to its original point when lifted off the canvas),
known to artists as a brush’s “snap.” Floppy fibers with no
snap, such as squirrel hair, are generally not used by oil
painters.
A traditional wood palette used to hold and mix small amounts
of paint while working.
In the past few decades, many synthetic brushes have been
marketed. These are very durable and can be quite good,
as well as cost efficient. Brushes come in many sizes and
are used for different purposes. The type of brush also
makes a difference. For example, a “round” is a pointed
brush used for detail work. “Flat” brushes are used to apply broad swaths of color. “Bright” is a flat brush with
shorter brush hairs. “Filbert” is a flat brush with rounded
corners. “Egbert” is a very long, and rare, filbert brush.
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 to apply or remove paint.
Some artists even paint with their fingers.
are usually obtained by mixing small quantities together
as the painting process is underway. An artist’s palette,
traditionally a thin wood board held in the hand, is used
for holding and mixing paints of different colors. Pigments may be any number of natural or synthetic substances with color, such as sulphur for yellow or cobalt
for blue. Traditional pigments were based on minerals or
plants, but many have proven unstable over long periods
of time; the appearance of many old paintings today is
very different from the original. Modern pigments often
use synthetic chemicals. The pigment is mixed with oil,
usually linseed, but other oils may be used. The various
oils dry differently, which creates assorted effects.
Traditionally, artists mixed their own paints from raw pigments that they often ground themselves and medium.
This made portability difficult and kept most painting activities confined to the studio. This changed in the 1800s,
when tubes of oil paint became widely available following
the American portrait painter John Goffe Rand's invention of the squeezable or collapsible metal tube in 1841
(the year of Claude Monet's birth). Artists could mix colors quickly and easily, which enabled, for the first time,
relatively convenient plein air painting (a common approach in French Impressionism).
A brush is most commonly employed by the artist to apply the paint, often over a sketched outline of their subject
(which could be in another medium). Brushes are made
from a variety of fibers to create different effects. For
example, brushes made with hog bristle might be used
for bolder strokes and impasto textures. Fitch hair and
Tubes of paint
Most oil painters paint in layers known as “glazes”, a
method also simply called “indirect painting”. This
method was first perfected through an adaptation of the
egg tempera painting technique, and was applied by
the Flemish painters in Northern Europe with pigments
ground in linseed oil. More recently, this approach has
been called the “mixed technique” or “mixed method”.
The first coat (the underpainting) is laid down, often
painted with egg tempera or turpentine-thinned paint.
This layer helps to “tone” the canvas and to cover the
white of the gesso. Many artists use this layer to sketch
out the composition. This first layer can be adjusted before proceeding further, an advantage over the “cartooning” method used in Fresco technique. After this layer
5
dries, the artist might then proceed 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, and then left to dry before applying details.
Artists in later periods, such as the Impressionist era
(late 19th century), often expanded on this wet-on-wet
method, blending the wet paint on the canvas without
following the Renaissance-era approach of layering and
glazing. This method is also called "alla prima". This
method was created due to the advent of painting outdoors, instead of inside a studio, because while outside,
an artist did not have the time to let each layer of paint dry
before adding a new layer. Several contemporary artists
use a combination of both techniques to add bold color
(wet-on-wet) and obtain the depth of layers through glazing.
When the image is finished and has dried for up to a year,
an artist often seals the work with a layer of varnish that
is typically made from dammar gum crystals dissolved
in turpentine. Such varnishes can be removed without
disturbing the oil painting itself, to enable cleaning and
conservation. Some contemporary artists decide not to
varnish their work, preferring the surface unvarnished.
6
Examples of famous works
• Arnolfini Portrait, Jan van Eyck, 1434 (on panel)
• La donna velata, Raphael, 1516
• The Rape of Europa, Titian, 1562
• The Raising of the Cross, Peter Paul Rubens, 1610–
11
• The Anatomy Lesson of Dr.
Rembrandt, 1632
7 See also
• Faux painting
• History of painting
• Lists of painters
• Oil sketch
• Old Master
• Paper marbling
• Reverse glass painting
8 References
[1] Barry, Carolyn. “Earliest Oil Paintings Found in Famed
Afghan Caves”. National Geographic Society. Retrieved
7 January 2013.
[2] “Rediscovering treasures of Bamiyan”. BBC News. 17
July 2008. Retrieved 20 May 2010.
[3] Afghan caves hold world’s first oil paintings: expert –
ABC News (Australian Broadcasting Corporation)
[4] Earliest Oil Paintings Discovered
[5] Sciencemage.org, Science Magazine 2 May 2008
[6] Haaf, Beatrix (1987).
“Industriell vorgrundierte
Malleinen. Beiträge zur Entwicklungs-, Handels- und
Materialgeschichte”. Zeitschrift für Kunsttechnologie und
Konservierung 1: 7–71.
9 Further Reading
Nicolaes Tulp,
• Innocent X, Velázquez, c 1650
• The Milkmaid, Johannes Vermeer, 1658-1660
• The Toilet of Venus, François Boucher, 1751
• The Blue Boy, Thomas Gainsborough, 1770
• Battle of Somosierra, Piotr Michałowski, 1837
• Woman with a Parasol - Madame Monet and Her
Son, Claude Monet, 1875
• Le Moulin de la Galette, Pierre-Auguste Renoir
1876
• Reply of the Zaporozhian Cossacks, Ilya Repin, 1880
• Portrait of Dr. Gachet, Vincent van Gogh, 1890
• The Cardplayers, Paul Cézanne, 1892
• Composition VII, Wassily Kandinsky, 1913
• Bella with White Collar, Marc Chagall, 1917
• Chieffo, Clifford T.:Contemporary Oil Painter’s
Handbook, Prentice Hall, 1976.
• The Artist’s Handbook of Materials and Techniques,
comprehensive reference book by Ralph Mayer
(1940)
6
10
10
10.1
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