Oil Paint: A History

Art has long been the common thread that has defined many a generation. Great artist like da Vinci and Eyck made great improvements in the quest for color magnification and artistic expression. We, human spectators, stand in amazement as we see variations of this great planet sprawled upon canvass that gives this inanimate object the ability to speak and imitate wonder. Art is history as seen through the eyes of the artist.

The chemistry of art and the chemistry of medicine have always been closely related. The Greeks, Romans, and early Christian monks all used some form of oil painting. The recipes that they used have been kept throughout the centuries and passed down to generation after generation. Some oils previously used for the purpose of dying are walnut oil, poppy oil, hempseed oil, castor oil and linseed oil. When these oils are thickened they become resinous making there use as varnishes much more applicable. In early Greek times yellow pigments were added to the oil to mimic the appearance of a golden leaf. Of course this was a much more cost effective way to achieve the symbolism that marked the era.

Encaustic mineral pigments that were rich in bee wax were used extensively throughout the oldest Mediterranean civilization, Greek, Roman, and Egyptian time periods. Although vegetable oils like flax, walnut, and poppy seed were known to be used for the duration of these cultures there is no precise indication of their use in painting. Tempera was the technique traditionally used. This fluid mixture used an organic medium as a binder that would bind itself onto water and volatile additives like the different vegetable essential oils.

Beginning with the end of the Roman Empire and lasting throughout the Renaissance tempura became the oil paint of choice. The Italians and Greeks used olive oil to prepare pigment mixtures. This process worked well but was a tedious process that was very time consuming. Because of this a German monk by the name of Theophilus became opposed to this method of oil painting.

The modern technique of oil painting has been used from the fifteenth century until now according to Giorgio Vasari; (1511-1574) he thought that the art of oil painting had been invented by Jan van Eyck in the thirteenth century. Jan van Eyck, although not the first painter to paint with oils, is credited with the development of a stable varnish based linseed oil. The linseed oil was used as the binder of mineral paint and piled glass, calcined bones that were maintained at a long time at boiling temperature. This method would create oil that was much more usable and much less time consumable.

Other great inventors would add substantially to the recipe created by Van Eyck, one being Leonardo da Vinci (1452-1519), and would add bee wax to the mixture along with a varying temperature to make the oil even more colorful and less dark. This additive, however, was kept secret for nearly three centuries, thus warranting the European supremacy and radiance in artistic achievement.

Sources:

http://www.arcyart.com/history .htm
http://www.oil-painting-techni ques.com/art-supplies.html

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