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The Anatomy of Paint: Pigment and Binder

"For the twentieth-century painter, who normally regards paint as a pasty substance of a certain color that can be squeezed from a tube, it is hard to imagine that to artists not only of the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, but also of the seventeenth, the eighteenth and the first half of the nineteenth century, each pigment presented its own inherent possibilities and limitations. Some pigments could not be worked-up with oil; some pigments could only be safely mixed with one or two other pigments; some pigments could only be used transparently and yet others only opaquely. Other properties, too, such as color permanence, workability, drying qualities, and so on, could differ so strongly from one pigment to another that it was normal to use a given pigment in pure form or mixed with a limited number of other pigments when modifying tone and color."Wetering, Ernst van de. Rembrandt: The Painter at Work. (Berkeley: University of California Press, 2004) 142.In fact, the paint mixtures in Vermeer's works usually contain no more than two or three different pigments.

An artist's paint primarily consists of two components: pigment and binder. In order to produce paint, pigment and binder are ground into a stiff paste which must have three requirements: it must be brushable, it must adhere permanently to the surface of the support and it must remain stable over time. In the Netherlands, canvas and panel were the preferred supports, although copper was also used for fine work, such as flower painting and small-scale genre scenes. Chemical analysis suggests that Vermeer used the same materials to produce his paints as did his contemporaries.

Pigment

raw umber and natural ultramarine pigments
Raw umber and synthetic ultramarine
pigments in powder form

Pigment is the actual coloring substance of paint. Unlike purely visual color, pigment has physical substance, often referred to as "body." Pigments usually have a mineral or organic origin, although some, like the crucial lead white, are artificially produced. Pigments vary considerably in weight, transparency and physical structure. For example, alizarin comes in the form of an extremely fluffy, light-weight powder, one pound of which will almost fill a half-gallon can. A pound of vermilion can fit into a four-ounce jar. In contrast, earth pigments and touchstone lead white are so bulky that their granular structure is easily visible to the naked eye.

Looking Over Vermeer's Shoulder

Enhanced by the author's dual expertise as both a seasoned painter and a renowned authority on Vermeer, Looking Over Vermeer's Shoulder offers an in-depth exploration of the artistic techniques and practices that elevated Vermeer to legendary status in the art world. The book meticulously delves into every aspect of 17th-century painting, from the initial canvas preparation to the details of underdrawing, underpainting, finishing touches, and glazing, as well as nuances in palette, brushwork, pigments, and compositional strategy. All of these facets are articulated in an accessible and lucid manner.

Furthermore, the book examines Vermeer's unique approach to various artistic elements and studio practices. These include his innovative use of the camera obscura, the intricacies of his studio setup, and his representation of his favorite motifs subjects, such as wall maps, floor tiles, and "pictures within pictures."

By observing closely the studio practices of Vermeer and his preeminent contemporaries, the reader will acquire a concrete understanding of 17th-century painting methods and materials and gain a fresh view of Vermeer's 35 masterworks, which reveal a seamless unity of craft and poetry.

While the book is not structured as a step-by-step instructional guide, it serves as an invaluable resource for realist painters seeking to enhance their own craft. The technical insights offered are highly adaptable, offering a wealth of knowledge that can be applied to a broad range of figurative painting styles.

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LOOKING OVER VERMEER'S SHOULDER
author: Jonathan Janson
date: 2020 (second edition)
pages: 294
illustrations: 200-plus illustrations and diagrams
formats: PDF
$29.95



CONTENTS

  1. Vermeer's Training, Technical Background & Ambitions
  2. An Overview of Vermeer’s Technical & Stylistic Evolution
  3. Fame, Originality & Subject Matte
  4. Reality or Illusion: Did Vermeer’s Interiors ever Exist?
  5. Color
  6. Composition
  7. Mimesi & Illusionism
  8. Perspective
  9. Camera Obscura Vision
  10. Light & Modeling
  11. Studio
  12. Four Essential Motifs in Vermeer’s Oeuvre
  1. Drapery
  2. Painting Flesh
  3. Canvas
  4. Grounding
  5. “Inventing,” or Underdrawing
  6. “Dead-Coloring,” or Underpainting
  7. “Working-up,” or Finishing
  8. Glazing
  9. Mediums, Binders & Varnishes
  10. Paint Application & Consistency
  11. Pigments, Paints & Palettes
  12. Brushes & Brushwork

lapis lazuli
A piece of unprocessed lapis lazuli from which the pigment natural ultramarine is made.

After initial separation from gross impurities, the raw pigment must be thoroughly cleansed and carefully ground to the proper coarseness. Some pigments must be finely ground, while others lose their color if over-ground. A large portion of artists' paints were historically made with earth pigments, or natural inorganic pigments—simply put, colored clumps of earth, each with its own hue. An example of a natural mineral pigment is the popular yellow ochre, which is made from extracted earth. An example of a modern manufactured mineral pigment is cobalt blue, which is made from oxidized cobalt compounds.

Earth pigments were the first to be used by humans and include such colors as the siennas, the umbers, green earth and a wide range of ochres. These pigments are usually heavy in weight and lightfast. They possess good wetting properties and yield opaque, solid colors. Another advantage of earth pigments is their stability in all painting media; they do not chemically interact with sensitive pigments, making them suitable for mixing with almost any pigment available to artists.

Artificial inorganic pigments, in contrast, are manufactured rather than naturally occurring. Many of these pigments were created and discovered by ancient alchemists. This category includes pigments like verdigris, Naples yellow, and the crucial lead white.

Natural organic pigments are sourced from either plants or animals, rather than from earth or minerals. Organic pigments can either be natural, derived from plants, or synthetic, made from complex hydrocarbons. Examples of ancient organic pigments include indigo, red madder, Indian Yellow (derived from the urine of Indian cows fed solely on mango leaves),Indian Yellow is a historical organic pigment that was traditionally made in rural India. It's known for its vibrant yellow hue and was used in various art forms, including miniature paintings and textiles. The pigment was originally produced from the urine of cows that were fed exclusively on a diet of mango leaves. The urine would be collected and processed to produce the pigment. However, the practice of making Indian Yellow this way was eventually considered inhumane and unsustainable, as the diet was not healthy for the cows. As a result, the traditional method of producing Indian Yellow has been largely discontinued. sap green, Sap Green is a traditional green pigment that was originally made from the juice of buckthorn berries. The berries would be fermented and then pressed to extract the juice, which was then thickened and used as a pigment. The color can vary from a yellow-green to a deeper, bluish-green depending on the specific preparation and the berries used. Sap Green has been used for centuries and was particularly popular in watercolor painting. However, like many organic pigments, traditional Sap Green has some limitations. It tends to be less lightfast than many modern synthetic pigments, meaning it can fade over time when exposed to light. and bone black (from calcinated bones). Modern manufactured organic pigments, having been originally derived from coal-tar based dyes, now include almost any shade of color imaginable. The majority of pigments used in modern artists' paints are synthetic chemicals, often developed as substitutes for rare, expensive, or unstable natural colorants derived from plants, animals, or minerals.

Binder

The binder, commonly called the vehicle, is the film-forming component of paint. A pigment should neither dissolve in nor be affected by the binding medium. Many colors, such as lead white or umber, accelerate the drying of the oil; others, such as the lakes and vermilion, retard this process. Generally, dense, heavy pigments dry well and quickly because they require little oil.

Although egg tempera was the exclusive painting medium in medieval times (and is still used by some specialists), it presents serious limitations for painters used to the flexibility of oil painting. By the time Vermeer began painting, tempera had largely been abandoned due to its many shortcomings.

Tempera paint could not be stored; each color had to be mixed as needed, and once it dried on the palette, it couldn't be reused. Because it dries very quickly, artists had to paint small areas of the composition one at a time. The fast drying time made smooth blending difficult if not impossible and painters had to use time consuming and problematic techniques to paint over a dried layer of tempera without disturbing the underlying one. Generally, tempera painting must be executed quickly and lightly, making it exceedingly tedious compared to oil painting. Although paintings executed with tempera have a lively, colorful appearance, when dry, the dark passages appear significantly lighter in tone giving a total impression of diffused daylight. Therefore, it's impossible to achieve the strong contrast needed to convincingly depict form and light, which are perhaps the foremost concerns of sixteenth- and seventeenth-century painting.

The advantages of oil painting over tempera are so numerous that they are almost impossible to enumerate. Oil paints can be blended to create infinitely fine gradations even with ordinary brushes. It is possible to overpaint as many times as is necessary covering entirely the lower paint layers. The natural opacity of some pigments and the transparency of others can be exploited to create a wide array of optical effects. Furthermore, great quantities of oil paint can be applied to obtain textured surfaces while at the same time it permits the accomplished artist to create the finest details imaginable with ease. Unlike tempera, dark tones remain dark and a painting properly executed in oils has an agreeable glossy or semi-glossy appearance. Oil paint allowed the artist to develop rich colors, depth and shading from light to dark creating outstanding atmospheric effects. Painters could rework their initial ideas and dramatically change the compositions—there seemed to be no limit to the range of expressive possibilities that the oil paint medium could afford. Therefore, it is not surprising that today oil paint is universally considered the most flexible technique for artistic expression and has largely supplanted techniques of the past.

To produce high-quality oil paint, pigment and binder are ground into a stiff paste that must meet three requirements: it must be brushable, it must adhere permanently to the support's surface and it must not alter significantly in time. Some pigments, like the noble ultramarine, produce a stringy paint that can be difficult to work with, although additives like wax, alum, chalk, or dryers can be introduced to correct deficiencies or enhance properties. Pigments shuch as the noble ultramarine, produce a fastidious stringy paint although additives may be introduced such as wax, alum, chalk or dryers to correct deficiencies or augment inherent properties. Linseed, nut and poppy oil were by far the most popular binders.

Through countless hours spent grinding pigments with a muller on a slab, Medieval and Renaissance painters gained invaluable insights into their materials, aiding them in creating the masterpieces of their era. Although much of the knowledge gained through direct experience has been lost, it is still possible to make suitable paints in the studio without excessive difficulty, provided one understands the fundamental requirements of fine art paint.

Vermeer's Binding Medium

Data thus far gathered indicates that Vermeer painted entirely with oil paints. Although there is evidence of a sporadic presence of a water-based protein medium in connection with two specific pigments (azurite and smalt), these paints occur only in the lower layers of the paint surface and seem to have been used primarily for economic rather than aesthetic purposes. In any case, due to the limited sampling opportunities inherent in working with such precious objects, there is scant information that might indicate which drying oils Vermeer used to bind his pigments but it is very likely he employed only materials widely known among his contemporaries. He may have also followed the practice of using different binding material for different pigments as was recommended at the time. Lighter cool tints were ground with walnut or poppy oil, which tend to yellow less than other oils, and warmer and darker tints were ground with linseed oil.

"Recent analysis of paint samples by researchers in the Scientific department at the National Gallery using a technique known as gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS) has shown that the binding medium of the ground layer in Young Woman standing at a Virginal is a heat-bodied linseed oil. A sample of dark-colored paint obtained from the background to the right of the chair at the lower right-hand edge of the picture was also bound with a heat-bodied linseed oil. In fact, linseed oil is by far the most common binder found in seventeenth-century Holland and has been identified at the National Gallery in works by Jan Steen and others."Howard, Helen, David Peggie, and Rachel Billinge. "Binding medium." In Vermeer's Palette. National Gallery website. https://www.nationalgallery.org.uk/research/about-research/the-meaning-of-making/vermeer-and-technique/vermeers-palette. In The Art of Painting, walnut oil was identified as the binder in a sample of white paint, while linseed oil was identified in a paint sample described as blue-green in colour.Boon, J., and E. Oberthaler. "Mechanical Weakness and Chemical Reactivity Observed in the Paint Structure and Surface of 'The Art of Painting'." In "Vermeer, 'The Art of Painting': Scrutiny of a Picture," exh. cat. Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna, 2010, 328–35. No white paint was analyzed during the examination of Girl with a Pearl Earring, but linseed oil was identified as the binder in both a sample from the ground layer and from the dark background.Groen, K. M., I. D. Van Der Werf, K. J. Van Den Berg, and J. J. Boon. "Scientific Examination of Vermeer's 'Girl with a Pearl Earring'." In Vermeer Studies, edited by Ivan Gaskell and Michiel Jonker. National Gallery of Art Washington D.C. New Haven and London: Yale University Press, 1998, 169–183.

Transparency & Opacity

Today's artists are sometimes surprised to see how variable pigments can be in opacity. Some pigments produce a glass-like effect which barely hides the underdrawing while other seemingly opaque ones do not fully cover it. Other pigments completely mask what is underneath. These differences are experienced by painters of the past and present because each pigment, depending on its chemical properties and methods of production, has its own character that must be reckoned with.

"The ways paint and color were handled showed even greater variety. Oil painting allowed colors to be mixed on the canvas and blended while wet, so artists could use gentle gradations in tone to create chiaroscuro and the effect of sfumato. Translucent paints could be prepared, and colors adjusted using thin glazes or 'veils' of color to build rich tones and subtle shading. In the sixteenth century, artists explored and exploited the full potential for creating color and texture through the use of different pigments and brushwork, employing impasto strokes and scumbles of opaque color in addition to glazes  Even the most adventurous artists were, however, limited by what was available to them."Berrie, B. H. "Mining for Color: New Blues, Yellows, and Translucent Paint." Early Science and Medicine 20, no. 4-6 (2015): 308-334. https://doi.org/10.1163/15733823-02046p02.

An opaque paint is one that transmits no light and can readily be made to cover or hide what is under it. Semi-transparency and semi-opacity are collectively known as translucency., but is incapable of concealing dark colors and strong markings under it unless an unusually heavy coat is applied. A transparent material transmits light freely; when a transparent glaze of oil color, for example, is placed over another color, it produces a clean mixture of the two hues without much loss of clarity. A semitransparent paint transmits much light, but is not clear; a semitransparent glaze, when placed over another color, will produce a pale or cloudy effect because of the reflection of light from the surface. Semi-transparency and semi-opacity are also known as translucency. Pigments are categorized as opaque, semi-opaque, and transparent.

In painting techniques, opaque and transparent pigments produce color effects in two different ways: Watercolor employs transparent color and relies on brilliant white paper for whites and pale colors. Casein, gouache, and pastel are completely opaque and use white pigment for whites and pale colors. Tempera is semi-opaque and combines the effects of both systems. Oil painting can utilize opaque, translucent, and transparent effects, sometimes all in the same painting.

The hiding strength of paint is largely influenced by the relative refractive indices of the pigment and the medium, as well as the particle size and distribution of the pigment, the proportion of pigment in the vehicle and the thickness of the applied film. Transparency depends largely on the physical characteristics of the pigment itself rather than how it is bound to the vehicle. Good red madder will always be transparent, no matter how it is bound or applied except, of course, if it is mixed with white which provides an excel­lent pink hue. And On the other hand, vermilion will always be one of the most opaque pigments and it is precisely in its opacity that the Great Masters found it most useful. These paints must be used according to their intrinsic qualities.

Many inexperienced painters would prefer to have paints of all the same opacity. This is a mistake. The breadth and depth of the masters' works are as much a consequence of the varying transparency of their pigments as the way these pigments are applied to the canvas. Launch video

† FOOTNOTES †

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If you discover a or anything else that isn't working as it should be, I'd love to hear it! Please write me at: jonathanjanson@essentialvermeer.com