Until 1880, varnishing oil paintings was standard practice, but three completely different types of varnish were used. A journey through names like sandarac and colophony.
Category Archive: General
This PDF contained 161 scanned pages from a book, but not one word could be accessed as text, despite using OCR on them. What can you do?
So into the first terrace of Purgatory proper, for those who suffered from pride. On up to the second, for the envious, whose eyelids are sewn shut.
Canals from Sisley at the end of the 19th century, and paintings of Venice by Canaletto, Rico, and of course John Singer Sargent.
From Hobbema in 1663 to Sisley in 1884, here are views of the canals of Europe carrying commercial traffic, and in their later decline.
He continued to exhibit at the Salon until he was almost 94, and was one of the leading painters of trees of his time. Celebrating his bicentenary today.
Perhaps it was a mistake to include Arthur Rimbaud and his lover Paul Verlaine in this group portrait. Rimbaud had just wounded a friend with a sword in a fight after dinner.
Paintings from 1893-95 feature predominantly women, and explore the theme of womanhood. Bonnard, Vuillard, Sérusier and others.
A great idea: tag blocks of text in a PDF and build them into reading order, so that they can be read out loud. How well does that work, then?
Never shown to the public in traditional paintings, a vital layer which goes between paint and the support. White, colour, chalk or oil.
The Eclectic Light Company 