What is Oil Paint

What is oil paint?

Oil paint contains three components: pigments, binder, and thinner. The pigment is what provides the colour, whereas the binder is the oil which acts as a liquid carrier. The thinner is added to make the paint more viscous which allows for the paint to apply well from the brush to the canvas. In order to dry, the oil paint reacts with oxygen and changes physical states from a liquid, to a gel-like substance, to finally a dry solid.

What are the advantages of oil paint?

 There are many advantages to using oil paint as an art medium, the majority being related to its flexibility, depth, and colour. The paint may be diluted with a substance known as turpentine to have a thin layer of paint or can be applied thickly with the addition of impasto. The drying time for oil paint is longer than most, and thus allows artists to have extended periods of time for layering and and blending. This medium is also rich in colour and can provide a large variation in tonal transitions.

Early History of Oil Painting

The time in which oil painting was first invented is unknown. However, oils have been mixed with paint even before the creation of oil paint itself. The 11^th century was the first recorded example of oil painting, though oil painting on canvases grew popularity during the 15^th century. This was mostly due to advancements in better refining linseed oil and increased access to new colour pigments during the 14^th century.

Flemish artists, known as Jan van Eyck and Hubert van Eyck, have been accredited in the past for being the first to use oil paint.  They had great skills in using this medium and it is said that these artists influenced the Dutch, Venetians and other Italians that oil paint was a superior art medium to egg-yolk tempera. With this said, Jan van Eyck and Hubert van Eyck did not invent oil painting as this art medium has been dated as far as the 11^th century.

Early Renaissance painting was largely influenced by the introduction of oil paint. Numerous artists working in Northern Europe and Italy caused oil paint to become a significant art medium during the early half of the quattrocento. Artists implemented oil to work as a pigment binder and this allowed for more advantages than with tempera. As a result, more artists began to rely on oil paint as their primary art medium. During the late 15^th century, oil paint had almost completely replaced the use of tempera. It was only a dominant medium in frescoes, since tempera better suited their hot and dry climate. When Leonardo Da Vinci presented his High Renaissance art piece the Mona Lisa, oils were the typical medium of choice for easel pieces. On the contrary, some Italian artists still preferred to use a mix of tempura and oils for their artworks, such as Raphael and Leonardo Da Vinci, though this was not always the best from technical aspect.

Some well-known early oil painters from the Norther Renaissance (Flanders, Holland, and Germany) include Robert Campin, Jan van Eyck, Roger van der Weyden, and Dieric Bouts.

Early Oil Painters

Many of their pieces falls under the category of Christian art. In Italy, during the Early Renaissance, some famous oil painters include Gentile da Fabriano, Fra Filippo Lippi, Piero della Francesca, and Giovanni Bellini.

During the 15^th century, many oil painters predominantly focused on panels in the traditional tempera-style of linear draughtsmanship. However, during the 16^th century, specifically in Renaissance Venice, artists had developed their skills in successive layers of glazes. At this time, linen canvases were used to replace wooden panels as a more common support, as well.

Oil Paint Pigments from 1400-1600

From 1400-1600, there were not many changes in colour pigments. The pigments used in the Renaissance period was even carried out in the 17th century. Red pigments were in the colour palette such as Vermilion, Carmine, “lac” and the vivid “Dragons Blood”. For Earthy colors

a Venetian Red, a bluish tone of Red Oxide was often used. Blues had the following, Ultramarine, Azurite, Egyptian Blue, and also Indigo and Madder. Green oil pigments included Verdigris, Green Earth, and Malachite, whereas yellows were Gamboge, Naples Yellow (Giallorino), and Orpiment. Clays were used to create brown pigments such as Sienna and Umber, whites from Lead White, Gypsum, and Chalk and blacks from Carbon Black.

Oil Painting in the 17^th Century

The 17th century had various schools for oil painting. There was the dramatic Baroque style that was used throughout Europe. This style was used by history and mythological narrative painters, for instance, Peter Paul Rubens, Diego Velazquez. Another school of oil paint is Dutch Realism, which is a much quieter school used in easel-painting. This style demonstrated by the chiaroscuro as well as the ‘personality’ of Rembrandt’s portraits. In addition, another style of Baroque painting is known as classicism, which focussed on Rome and was done by artists such as Nicolas Poussin and of Claude Lorrain. Caravaggio created a unique naturalist style known as of Caravaggism, which centred on down to earth imagery.

Each one of these artists were able to successfully utilize the advantages and merits of oils to the full extent. Rubens used long brushstrokes, unique take on compositions and a realistic anatomy to create his work. Velazquez was able to form pieces using a great mix of grandeur, realism, and intimacy, whereas Vermeer used cool colours and brought about feelings to his narrative pieces. In addition, Poussin created realistic figures using colours that looked true to the figure itself. It seems that oils could be the only possible medium to create work by these talented artists, as it best captures the still lifes and land intimate interiors of the Dutch Realist School. 

Oil Paint Pigments from 1600-1700

During the Baroque period of the mid-seventeenth century, colour-makers found an enhancement in the pigment Egyptian Blue, when replacing copper with Cobalt. Apart from this enhancement, there were no other major changes in the making of oil paints.

Oil Painting During the 18th Century

The major schools of the oil painting in the 18th century includes the carefree Rococo school, which was often represented by artists Jean-Antoine Watteau, Giambattista Tiepolo, Francois Boucher, and Jean-Honore Fragonard, as well as the Neoclassical art school. The Neoclassical art school was serious and heroic style, which was often seen in art pieces by Jacques-Louis David. Both styles found it advantageous to have the luminous glow and realist effects caused by oil paint. Also, landscape painting was a significant genre of artwork during this time, and was seen in 18th century oil painting by the artists such as Venetian Canaletto, who painted many architectural perspectives of Venice while using a green-blue palette of colours. Oil paints provided a certain realism, which was useful for portraitists like Joshua Reynolds and Thomas Gainsborough, during the 18^th century.

Oil Painting During the 19th Century

The 19^th century is often considered the beginning of modern art. It was here that new styles of oil painting were developed, due to the improvements in quality, range, pigments and better manufacturing methods of oil paint. There are major three examples that can be used to describe for this time period. The first example is outdoor painting movements such as the Hudson River School, which occurred from 1820-75, Luminism, from 1850-75,  and Impressionism, in the 1870s. This style greatly benefited from the creation of the tin paint tube, which was invented by American artist John Rand. With this invention, artists were introduced to pre-mixed paints, making it increasingly easier for plein-air painting.  Second, Impressionists and other painters were able to improve their artwork sweeping brushstrokes as a result of higher quality oils. Third, colour began becoming a more significant part of artwork, especially in fin-de-siecle movements such as Fauvism and Expressionism. Artists known for their use of colour, like Van Gogh, Paul Gauguin, and Henri Matisse, only succeeded due to the advancements in pigments and synthetic colorants.

Oil Painting During the 20th/21st Century

Now, after over six hundred years, oil paint still remains the common medium for both pleinairism and studio painting. Oil paint is used in various genres, such as portratiture, history, landscape, and still life.

Acrylic paint, which began appearing in the 1940s, is a competing art medium to oils and are also popular with today’s artists. However, the gloss shine and workability of oil paint does give it an advantage.