OILS, VARNISHES, AND MEDIUMS USED IN THE 

 PAINTING OF PICTURES." 



By A. P. Laurie, M. A., D. Sc, 



PriiiciiKil of thr Hrriot-Wntf CoUefic, Edinbiirf/h. 



While in the past various mixtures were used by artists for paint- 

 ing, some of which are only obscurely understood, the necessary medi- 

 ums for modern painting are comparatively few. 



The old painting in beeswax, which has proved remarkably dura- 

 ble, is no longer practiced, and tempera jjainting with an egg medium 

 is only used now and then. There are in this connection certain 

 unsolved problems, such as the real nature of the medium used by 

 Van Eyck and his immediate successors, which are of historical inter- 

 est, but which I do not propose to discuss here. The medium in 

 wdiich the pigments are mixed must be closely related to the technique 

 adopted by the painters of the day, and it is not at all probable that 

 the medium used by Van Eyck, while united to his technique, would 

 be of the slightest practical use to the modern painter. An artist's 

 medium, then, has to serve more than one purpose. It must attach 

 the pigment to the paj^er or canvas on Avhich the picture is painted; 

 it must facilitate the use of the pigment by the artist, and it must 

 bring out all the qualities of translucency, and so on, which the pig- 

 ment possesses. It should also, as far as possible, protect the pigment 

 from change and injury, either mechanical or chemical. The sim- 

 plest example of such a medium is the mixture of gum arable and 

 water used in w^ater-color paintings. The gum arable serves to 

 attach the pigments to the paper, while the water gives the necessary 

 facility to the pigment under the brush, and the qualities of the pig- 

 ment are developed by thicker or thinner w^ashes on the wdiite paper 

 background. Such a medium, how^ever, does nothing to protect the 

 pigments used from change and has a limited though beautiful range 

 of expression. 



Painting in oil is practically the only other method used by the 

 present-day artist, and it is to painting in oil that this discussion will 

 be devoted. 



o Reprinted, by permission, from .Journal of the Society of Arts, London, No. 

 2837, Vol. LV, Friday, April 5, 1907. 



459 



