Oil painting is the process of painting with pigments that are bound with a medium of drying oil — especially in early modern Europe, linseed oil. Often an oil such as linseed was boiled with a resin such as pine resin or even frankincense; these were called 'varnishes' and were prized for their body and gloss. Other oils occasionally used include poppyseed oil, walnut oil, and safflower oil. These oils confer various properties to the oil paint, such as less yellowing or different drying times. Certain differences are also visible in the sheen of the paints depending on the oil. Painters often use different oils in the same painting depending on specific pigments and effects desired. The paints themselves also develop a particular feel depending on the medium.
Traditional oil painting techniques often begin with the artist sketching the figure onto the canvas with charcoal or a "clean", which is thinned paint. Oil paint can be mixed with turpentine or artist grade mineral spirits or other solvents to create a thinner, faster drying paint. Then the artist builds the figure in layers. A basic rule of oil paint application is 'fat over lean.' This means that each additional layer of paint should be a bit oilier than the layer below, to allow proper drying. As a painting gets additional layers, the paint must get oilier (leaner to fatter) or the final painting will crack and peel.
Oil painting dates in the West to at least ancient Roman times. Recent research supports the likelihood that it was spread to the West from South East Asia.[1][2] [3] [4][2] Surfaces like shields — both those used in tournaments and those hung as decorations — were more durable when painted in oil-based media than when painted in the traditional tempera paints.
Most Renaissance sources, in particular Vasari, credited northern European painters of the 15th century, and Jan van Eyck in particular, with the "invention" of painting with oil media on wood panel, however Theophilus (Roger of Helmarshausen?) clearly gives instructions for oil-based painting in his treatise, On Divers Arts, written in 1125. Early Netherlandish painting in the 15th century was however the first to make oil the usual painting medium, followed by the rest of Northern Europe, and only then Italy. The popularity of oil spread through Italy from the North, starting in Venice in the late 15th century. By 1540 the previous method for painting on panel, tempera had become all but extinct, although Italians continued to use fresco for wall paintings, which was more difficult in Northern climates.
Since the beginning of time, man has created paintings to express the beauty of real places and the triumph of real events. Oil painting, in talented hands, was a giant achievement in creating beautiful picture-like images. Paintings reveal what the artist feels about important holiday events. An artist uses oil painting to uniquely create an image completely from imagination. The artist can see something from one perspective, then recreate that event on canvas from a completely different perspective. The artist can portray human emotion, nature, the pleasure of everyday objects, customs and events.
