Oil mediums and Solvents of the Masters
Throughout art history, mediums and solvents have played a critical role in the creative processes of painters. Peter Paul Rubens, Pieter Bruegel the Elder, and John Singer Sargent, three renowned artists (three of my favorite artists) from different eras, each utilized these materials in distinctive ways to enhance their masterpieces. Let’s explore the similarities and differences in their use of oil mediums and solvents.
A key similarity among Rubens, Bruegel, and Sargent is their use of linseed oil as a primary medium. Linseed oil, derived from flax seeds, was favored for its excellent binding properties and ability to form a strong, flexible film. In addition to linseed oil, all three artists occasionally used walnut oil. Walnut oil has a slower drying time and is resistant to yellowing, making it ideal for preserving the clarity and brightness of lighter colors. This choice was particularly helpful when used for intricate details and subtle color transitions in their paintings.
First, we’ll start with Pieter Bruegel the Elder. Born in 1525, Bruegel the Elder grew to be one of the most significant and inventive painters and draftsmen of the Northern Renaissance. He was a prominent member of a large, influential South Netherlandish family that had been active for four generations. Bruegel was renowned for his complex and highly detailed landscape paintings and his introduction of oil mediums into his practice. His use of sun-thickened linseed oil, which involved exposing the oil to sunlight to enhance its properties, enabled him to achieve the detailed textures and rich colors distinctive of his works.
He was trained in three painting techniques: illumination, oil on panel, and tempera on canvas. During the 15th and 16th centuries, tempera on non-prepared linen canvases was also used. Amid the revolutionary changes of the 1550s, Bruegel modernized traditional methods by using oil as a medium. An example of his work is “Peasants and Seasons,” which marked a significant shift in painting practices moving forward.
In other paintings, Bruegel is known for his unique visual effects, achieved through techniques like swift finger flicks, blotting with a cloth, and using the brush handle’s point. An example of his work where he blotted wet paint with sections of natural sponge on transparent or opaque color is “The Return of the Herd.” In this piece, Bruegel outlined the composition with a thin brush and then added thinly scratched areas of color within those outlines. He sometimes used a dry brush for this technique. In addition to these techniques, Pieter Bruegel used the impasto method, which involved a thicker, more textured painting style. He used linseed oil as a binding agent for the ground pigments.
Next we explore Sir Peter Paul Rubens. Born in 1577, Rubens was a Flemish artist known for his paintings, drawings, and diplomacy. He combined elements of the Italian Renaissance with naturalistic forms and landscapes. His artworks are renowned for their mastery of movement, color, and emotion. Rubens produced countless pieces, including multi-figural compositions, portraits, and landscapes depicting religious, mythological, and allegorical scenes.
Rubens’ unique oil mediums used in glazing allowed each brushstroke to be placed next to one another and on top of one another. His paintings are noted to contain various mediums, including linseed oil, walnut oil (often in his whites, blues, and light colors), turpentine, pine resin (some trace amounts often found in glazes, said to come from dipping his brush in turpentine), and egg whites and yolks (detected in some paintings). Though he often used many different mediums, it is said that Rubens preferred walnut oil to minimize yellowing.
Rubens’ “Samson and Delilah” used linseed oil mixed with pine resin in the paint layers. The mixture of oil and resin affected the painting’s texture, brightness, durability, and visual depth.
Another technique Rubens used was dipping the brush in turpentine to blend colors on the palette. This allowed for smoother blending and helped prevent the colors from “sinking.” The careful use of mixtures like linseed oil and pine resin and solvents like turpentine showcases the deep understanding and early chemistry knowledge of 17th-century Flemish painters. This method of combining oil and essential oil mediums represented a newly discovered process in painting during that era.
John Singer Sargent
The second artist is John Singer Sargent, an American painter and draftsman, born in 1856. In his time, he was the most successful portrait painter and also a talented landscape painter and watercolorist.
Sargent began his paintings by lightly sketching with charcoal. He placed only a few marks on the canvas, leaving most of it gray.
He started by using a bit of turpentine to apply a general tone to the background and outline the head. For the rest of the painting, he used his colors directly without adding any oil medium, including turpentine.
Additionally, Sargent studied with Carolus-Duran, who used the alla prima method, also known as “wet-on-wet.” This technique involves applying paint with a loaded brush directly onto the canvas and completing the painting in one sitting. Sargent never attempted to repaint an eye if he was not satisfied with it.
Further Reading:
Altamura, Maria Luisa, ed. Marco Ciatti “La tecnica artistica di Rubens nelle due grandi tele degli Uffizi.“ Rubens agli Uffizi: il restauro delle Storie di Enrico IV. (Florence, Edifir, 2001), 49-59
Brown, Christopher. Rubens’s Landscapes: Making and Meaning, London: National Gallery London, 1998.
Bruce-Gardiner, Robert and Helen Braham. “Rubens’s Landscape by Moonlight”, The Burlington Magazine, vol. 130, no. 1025, (1988), 579-596.
Buck, Richard. “Rubens’s The Gerbier Family; examination and treatment”, Studies in the History of Art (1973): 32-53.
Boersma, Annetje, Friso Lammertse and Alejandro Vergara. “Catalogue”, Peter Paul Rubens. The Life of Achilles, (Rotterdam: NAi Publishers, 2003).
Cardinali, Marco, Maria Beatrice De Ruggieri, Claudio Falcucci. “I dipinti di Rubens alla Vallicella: Studio della tecnica esecutiva” in La festa del colore: Rubens alla Chiesa Nuova, ed. Anna Gramiccia. (De Luca Editori d’Arte, 2005), 39-63.
Doherty, Tiarna, Mark Leonard and Jorgen Wadum. “Brueghel and Rubens at Work: Technique and the Practice of Collaboration”, Rubens and Brueghel a Working Friendship. (Los Angeles: The J. Paul Getty Museum and the Hague: Royal Picture Gallery Mauritshuis in association with Waanders Publishers, Zwolle, 2006), 215-251.
Feller, Robert L. “Rubens’s The Gerbier Family; technical examination of the pigments and paint layers”, Studies in the History of Art (1973): 54-74
Fisher, Sarah. “The Finding of Erichthonius”, Allen Memorial Art Bulletin, vol. 38, no.1 (1980-1981): 21-37.
Fabian, Daniel. “Wan eim ein geschossener Pfeil im Lieb ist plieben”, Hommage à Paolo Cadorin; l’amour de l’art, (1999), 117-126.
Goetghebeur, Nicole; Guislain-Wittermann, Régine; and Masschelein-Kleiner, Liliane. “Painting Technique”, Bulletin (Institut Royal du Patrimoine Artistique), vol. 24 no 182 (1992): 119-138.
Keith, Larry. “The Rubens Studio and the Drunken Silenius Supported by Satyrs”, National Gallery Technical Bulletin, vol. 20 (1999): 96-104.
Kirby, Joe. “The Painter’s Trade in the 17th Century,” National Gallery Technical Bulletin, vol. 20 (1999): 5-49.
Lammerste, Friso. “Small, larger, largest. The making of Peter Paul Rubens’s Life of Achilles”, Peter Paul Rubens. The Life of Achilles, (Rotterdam: NAi Publishers, 2003), 11-31.
Plesters, Joyce. “Samson and Delilah: Rubens and the Art and Craft of Painting on Panel”, National Gallery Technical Bulletin, vol. 7 (1983): 30-49.
Nykogosyan, Mariam. “Susanna and the Elders from the Rostov Regional Museum of Fine Arts; the lost painting of Rubens’ studio?”, VDR Beitrage zur Erhaltung von Kunst- und Kulturgut, (2005): 28-37.
Roy, Ashok. “Rubens’s Peace and War”, National Gallery Technical Bulletin, vol. 20 (1999): 89-95.
Saunders, Linnaea. “A Rubens Portrait Re-examined”, AIC Paintings Specialty Group Postprints, vol. 18 (Minneapolis: June 8-13, 2005), 76-83.
Stols-Witlox, Maartje, Tiarna Doherty and Barbara Schoonhoven. “Reconstructing seventeenth-centrury streaky imprimatura layers used on panel painting” inPreparation for Painting, the Artist’s Choice and its Consequences. (London: Archetype Publications, 2008), 79-89.
Von Sonnenburg, Hubertus. “Rubens Bildaufbau und Technik II. Farbe und Auftragstechnik”, Maltechnik Restauro, vol. 85, issue 3 (1979), 181-203
Wadum, Jorgen. “Latest News from Paradise a Preliminary Attempt to Identify Rubens’s Studio Practice, Part II”, Preprints of the ICOM Committee for Conservation 13th Triennial Meeting, (Rio de Janeiro, 22-27 September 2002), 473-448.
Wallert, Arie. Still Lifes: Techniques and Style, (Amsterdam: Rijksmuseum Amsterdam; in association with Waanders Publishers, Zwolle, 1999).
