The Composition of Art

Canvas

• Canvas: very durable plain-woven fabric used by artists as a painting surface, typically stretched across a wooden frame. 
• Modern canvas is usually made of cotton or linen, along with polyvinyl chloride (PVC), although historically it was made from hemp. 
• Canvas comes in two basic types: plain and duck. 
  • The threads in duck canvas are more tightly woven. The term duck comes from the Dutch word for cloth, doek. 
• In the United States, canvas is classified in two ways: by weight (ounces per square yard) and by a graded number system.
  • The numbers run in reverse of the weight so a number 10 canvas is lighter than number 4. 
• Canvas has become the most common support medium for oil painting, replacing wooden panels. 
• It was used from the 14th century in Italy, but only rarely. 
• One of the earliest surviving oils on canvas is a painting by Jean Malouel, Virgin and Child with Angels (French Madonna with Angels) from around 1410 in the Gemäldegalerie, Berlin. 

Oil Paint

• Oil paint: a type of slow-drying paint that consists of particles of pigment suspended in a drying oil, commonly linseed oil (flaxseed oil).
  • Oil paint = oil + pigment
• The viscosity of the paint may be modified by the addition of a solvent such as turpentine or white spirit (mineral spirit), and varnish may be added to increase the glossiness of the dried oil paint film. 
• Oil paints have been used in Europe since the 12th century for simple decoration, but did not begin to be adopted as an artistic medium until the early 15th century.

Gesso

• Gesso: a traditional mix of an animal glue binder (usually rabbit-skin glue – mainly collagen), chalk, gypsum, and white pigment.

• It is used in artwork as a preparation for any number of substrates such as wood panels, canvas and sculpture as a base for paint and other materials that are applied over it.

• It is frequently used as a base on three-dimensional surfaces, for example for the application of gold leafs.

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