Notes on Painting: Materials, Techniques, and Contexts

Zeuxis and Parrhasius anecdote

In Pliny the Elder’s Naturalis Historia, a painting contest between Zeuxis and Parrhasius is described to decide who is the greatest artist.
Zeuxis painted a still-life of grapes so real that birds tried to peck at them; Parrhasius concealed his painting behind a curtain and asked Zeuxis to unveil it.
When Zeuxis tried to pull the curtain, it proved to be a painted illusion; Parrhasius is said to have won.
Zeuxis allegedly exclaimed, “I have deceived the birds, but Parrhasius has deceived Zeuxis.”
The anecdote is probably not entirely true, but it indicates Zeuxis’s skill and hints at the development of painting in Greek art.
Surviving Greek painting is mostly on ceramics and wall frescoes in Pompeii and Herculaneum; descriptions of Zeuxis suggest advanced, innovative methods ahead of the Renaissance.
This chapter introduces painting materials and techniques, historical and contemporary.

Painting: definition and scope

Painting is the application of pigments to a surface (support) to create an image, design, or decoration.
In art, painting describes both the act and the result.
Most painting uses pigment in liquid form applied with a brush; exceptions include Navajo sand painting and Tibetan mandala painting, which use powdered pigments.
Painting as a medium is ancient and widespread across cultures; alongside drawing and sculpture, it is one of the oldest creative mediums.
Three iconic Western paintings show painting transcending mimetic function:
- Leonardo da Vinci, the Mona Lisa
- Edvard Munch, The Scream
- Vincent van Gogh, The Starry Night
The power of painting lies in expressing emotional, psychological, and spiritual dimensions of the human condition, beyond mere imitation.
Supports (surfaces) include paper, wood, canvas, plaster, clay, lacquer, concrete, and more.
Paint is often absorbed by porous supports; to prevent damage, a ground is applied to create a non-porous barrier.
Ground is typically a mixture of binder and chalk; a common ground is called “gesso.”
There are six major painting mediums, each with specific characteristics:
- Encaustic
- Fresco
- Tempera
- Oil
- Watercolor and Gouache
- Acrylic
All six share three basic ingredients:
- Pigment (color granules)
- Binder (vehicle; film-forming component)
- Solvent (controls flow and viscosity; dilutes paint before application)
Solvent ranges from water (water-based) to oil-based options like linseed oil, mineral spirits.
After solvent evaporation, the paint becomes fixed on the surface.

Ground and support basics

Supports can be porous; painting can weaken the support over time if not protected.
Grounding creates a non-porous barrier between support and paint.
Ground composition commonly includes binder and chalk; gesso is a typical ground.
The choice of support and ground influences durability, texture, and crack patterns.

Encaustic

Composition: dry pigment mixed with a heated beeswax binder.
Application: brushed or spread across a support; reheating allows longer manipulation of the paint.
History: dates back to at least the 1st century CE; prominent in Fayum mummy portraits in Egypt.
Characteristics:
- Strong, resonant colors
- Extremely durable
- Beeswax binder forms a tough surface crust as it cools
- Requires rigid supports (e.g., wooden panels) to prevent wax cracking
Modern practice and examples:
- Jasper Johns used encaustic techniques in works like the composition Flag (1954–1955), combining encaustic with oil and collage on fabric mounted on plywood; sometimes used crumpled newsprint soaked in encaustic to imply gesture.
Significance: encaustic’s durability and tactile surface influence artistic choices and allow for unique textural effects.

Tempera

Composition: pigment bound with egg yolk, thinned with water.
History: used for thousands of years; dries quickly to a durable matte finish.
Technique: applied in successive thin layers called glazes; built up with cross-hatched lines for fine detail.
Effects: high detail and crisp edges; remains stable due to multiple glaze layers.
Historical usage:
- Early Christian icons used tempera extensively.
- Duccio (c. $1255-1318$ ) exemplified tempera in religious works such as The Crevole Madonna, noted for sharp lines and skin-tones detail.
Contemporary practice:
- Koo Schadler uses traditional tempera methods, preparing surfaces with multiple gesso layers to create a velvety finish for egg-based tempera.
Significance: tempera’s precision and layering create meticulous, luminous images with durable surfaces.

Fresco

Overview: painting on plaster walls or ceilings; historically linked to Renaissance Christian imagery in Europe.
Forms:
- Buon fresco (wet fresco): pigment mixed with water is applied to a thin layer of wet lime plaster.
- Secco (dry fresco): painting on dry plaster; requires a binder.
Buon fresco details:
- Pigment becomes absorbed by the wet plaster as it dries; chemical reaction fixes pigment in the wall.
- No separate binder is required because the pigment binds with the plaster itself.
- More stable due to fusion with the wall.
Secco details:
- Binder is required since pigment isn’t integrated with wet plaster.
- Often used for touch-ups or repairs; Leonardo da Vinci’s The Last Supper is associated with secco usage.
Historical example:
- Domenico di Michelino’s Dante and the Divine Comedy ( $1465$ ) demonstrates buon fresco, with Dante depicted in relation to Florence and the cosmos, including multiple realms (mortal, heavenly, damned, and cosmic) depicted in one composition.
Practical notes:
- Secco technique can be used to modify or repair buon fresco, but may be less durable than buon fresco.
Binder in secco: commonly egg tempera is used as a binder in secco applications.
Significance: fresco remains a foundational wall-painting technique that integrates pigment with plaster, offering durability and a luminous color wash on large surfaces.

Oil

Composition: pigment bound with linseed oil; solvents include mineral spirits or turpentine; can be used thinly or in thick layers (impasto).
History: long-held view that oil painting developed in the $15$ th century in Europe, though evidence of oil-based techniques appears in 7th-century Afghan caves.
Key properties:
- Wide range of pigment choices
- Can be thinned to transparent glazes or used straight from the tube
- Impasto: thick layers create rich texture and form
- Very slow drying allows extended blending and detailed work over time
Impasto caveats:
- Thick paint can crack or develop cracking networks as the painting ages
Notable examples and artists:
- Rembrandt mastered oil handling; impasto used to create textured effects in portraits (e.g., self-portraits revealing weathered skin).
- Jan Brueghel the Elder demonstrated the richness of oil paint in still-life, with luminous light and deep darks.
- Richard Diebenkorn’s Cityscape #1 ( $1963$ ) shows oil used in a fluid, expressive manner with layered underpainting and a balance between realism and abstraction.
Contemporary context:
- Oil painting supported a broad range of styles, from meticulous realism to expressive abstraction; its long drying time accommodates fine detail and gradual changes.
Significance: oil remains the most versatile painting medium, enabling subtle glaze work, depth of color, and expansive tonal range.

Acrylic

Composition: pigment suspended in an acrylic polymer emulsion binder; water is the vehicle.
Key properties:
- Durable, fast-drying, and water-soluble while wet but water-impervious when dry
- Adheres to many surfaces; flexible and resistant to cracking or yellowing over time
- Emulsified polymer behaves like rubber/plastic, enabling varied textures and effects
Advantages over oils:
- Faster drying; less solvent use; lower toxicity concerns
- Can build impasto without long wait times
Notable examples:
- Beatriz Milhazes (Beatriz Milhaze in transcript) uses acrylics to create intricate patterned surfaces; she prints designs on plastic sheets and then presses them onto prepared canvas to create a layered, composite effect.
Contemporary practice:
- Mixed-media and experimental approaches often blend acrylic with other materials (e.g., plastics, collage, or textiles) to expand surface possibilities.
Significance: acrylics revolutionized the accessibility and speed of painting, enabling bold experimentation with texture, layering, and surface interactions.

Watercolor and Gouache

Watercolor overview:
- Uses pigment with gum arabic binder; relies on paper’s whiteness to reflect light through the color; no true white pigment in watercolor.
- Two main types of watercolor paper: hot pressed (smooth) and cold pressed (textured).
- Techniques include wash, wet-in-wet (colors flow into one another for soft transitions), and dry brush (little water, rough texture from the paper).
- Transparent watercolor builds color through layers; white highlights come from the paper or added white gouache later if needed.
- Subjects can inspire immediacy and portability of watercolor.
Gouache (opaque watercolor):
- Higher pigment-to-water ratio with inert white pigment (often chalk) added for opacity.
- Dried gouache remains water-soluble, but dries to a lighter tone and can crack in heavy impasto.
- Good for large areas and flat color fields; not ideal for fine details due to its opacity.
Notable examples and artists:
- Jacob Lawrence used gouache to define composition with strong color fields and distinct foreground/background separation.
- Zal Consults the Magi exemplifies gouache in illuminated manuscript traditions (16th‑century Iran) with bright colors, ink, silver, and gold.
- Paul Cezanne’s self-portrait demonstrates nuanced color and tonal balance in watercolor practice.
- John Marin’s Brooklyn Bridge ( $1912$ ) showcases wash techniques and the atmospheric use of watercolor, where the bridge becomes softened by mist.
- Cezanne’s approach emphasizes planar color and tone to define form in watercolor.
Significance: watercolor offers immediacy and translucency; gouache provides opacity for bold, flat color and strong visual impact, with distinct handling characteristics compared to transparent watercolor.

Other painting mediums (non-traditional or industrial variants)

Enamel paints:
- Form hard skins with high-gloss finishes; require strong solvents; extremely durable.
Powder coat paints:
- Pigment and binder suspended as a powder; applied to a surface and cured with heat to form a tough skin.
- Primarily used on metal surfaces; common in automotive and furniture contexts.
Epoxy paints:
- Polymers created by mixing pigment with resin and hardener; chemical reaction generates heat and bonds materials; highly durable in indoor and outdoor conditions.
Practical context:
- These industrial-grade paints are used for signage, marine environments, aircraft painting, and other settings requiring high durability.

Painting Beyond Painting: mosaics and tapestries

Historical alternatives to painting in religious and noble contexts: mosaics and tapestries.
Mosaic:
- Greeks and Romans decorated floors and basilicas with tesserae (small pieces of stone or glass) embedded in plaster, mortar, or cement.
- Byzantine churches featured intricate tesserae with gold leaf between layers.
- Renaissance artists like Ghirlandaio and Raphael designed mosaics, though workshop artists likely carried out much of the work.
Tapestry:
- Fabric wall-hangings rivaled paintings in detail and value; also served practical purposes (draft protection in castles).
- Cartoons (preparatory drawings) prepared the designs for tapestries by artists such as Raphael, Goya, and Charles Le Brun.
- Tapestries were exchanged as tokens of goodwill between royals; Gobelins in France were famous royal tapestry factories where weaving was done by specialists.
Modern fiber arts:
- Today, tapestry and fiber arts continue, with loom programming and digital processes expanding possibilities.
- Olek (Polish artist) creates crocheted coverings for existing sculptures, turning them into colorful hybrids displayed publicly (e.g., in front of the NuEdge gallery in Montréal).
Significance: mosaics, tapestries, and fiber arts demonstrate the breadth of artistic media used to decorate spaces and convey narrative and symbol, particularly in religious and courtly contexts, and highlight the evolution of material culture in art.

Historical and cultural context; cross-cutting themes

Ground and support choices influence durability and texture across media.
The relationship between medium, technique, and intention shapes the expressive possibilities of painting.
Technologies and materials evolve (e.g., from traditional grounds to acrylics and mixed media), expanding the vocabulary of art.
Ethnographic and gendered dimensions: fiber arts, weaving, and tapestry history reflect broader social roles and their revaluation in contemporary art discourse.
Real-world relevance: understanding materials informs conservation, restoration, and the sustainability of artistic practices.

Quick reference: key terms and concepts

Ground: protective layer (often gesso) between support and paint to reduce porosity and stabilize the painting surface.
Bind er (vehicle): the film-forming component in paint; examples include egg yolk (tempera), linseed oil (oil), gum arabic (watercolor), and acrylic polymer emulsion (acrylic).
Solvent: controls flow and viscosity; examples include water (watercolor), mineral spirits, and turpentine (oil-based).
Glaze: a thin, transparent layer of paint used to build depth and luminosity (temper a technique).
Impasto: thick paint buildup creating texture, visible brushstrokes, or relief in oil and acrylic.
Buon fresco: painting on wet plaster, pigment bound with water, becoming fixed in the plaster.
Secco: painting on dry plaster; requires a binder and is generally less durable than buon fresco.
Encaustic: pigment mixed with heated beeswax binder; highly durable and allows for extensive manipulation when re-heated.
Gouache: opaque watercolor with higher pigment load and inert white pigment; dries lighter and can crack with heavy impasto.
Mosaics: decorative technique using tesserae; durable wall decorations in antiquity and Renaissance.
Tapestry: woven textile art; historically integrated into royal and noble settings; modern fiber art expands the medium.

Connections to broader themes

Painting as a dialogue between illusion and reality, evidenced by Zeuxis and Parrhasius’s anecdote and the broad range of media used to achieve varied perceptual effects.
The interplay between technical constraints (support, ground, drying time) and expressive goals (detail, texture, luminosity, mood).
Evolution of materials reflects shifts in aesthetics, technology, and cultural value (e.g., the rise of acrylics, the revival of tempera, preservation concerns with fresco and oil).
Ethical and practical implications in modern contexts: mixed media and social commentary (e.g., The Black Body Problem) illustrate how materials and technique intersect with cultural discourse and representation.

Notable dates and figures (for quick study)

First century CE: encaustic in Fayum mummy portraits
$1255-1318$ : Duccio’s era; The Crevole Madonna (tempera) as a landmark example
$1465$ : Domenico di Michelino’s Dante and the Divine Comedy (buon fresco)
$1662$ : Rembrandt-era self-portrait (oil, impasto use)
$1912$ : John Marin, Brooklyn Bridge (watercolor, wash techniques)
$1954-1955$ : Jasper Johns, Flag (encaustic with mixed media)
$1963$ : Richard Diebenkorn, Cityscape #1 (oil, layered underpainting)
$ca. 1900$ : Early references to oil-based paints in cave murals in Afghani contexts
$ca. 1900$ : Max Planck’s work on black-body radiation (contextually linked to later discussions of color, light, and perception in art)
$1950s$ : Commercial availability of acrylic paints
$ca. 1900$ : Classic cross-cultural references to modern material discourse and social context