Changes

While the dating of oil paint's origins are still under scrutiny, the technique of oil painting became widely popular during the fifteenth century. The medium, which revolutionized painting, supplanted the previously popular medium of tempera paint and afforded artists with greater versatility in their compositions in terms of the coloristic effects they could convey.

<br>

Prior to the 1400s, the medium of egg tempera paint was the standard for professional painters. So called thanks to its typical use of egg yolk as the means of binding the paint pigment together, egg tempera painting was applauded for its ability to convey saturated and uniform fields of color within a composition. Tempera paint was also appreciated for its quick drying times and durability. <ref> Vytlacil, Vaclav and Rupert Davidson Turnbull, <i>Egg Tempera Painting, Tempera Underpainting, Oil Emulsion Painting: A Manual of Technique</i> (Oxford, New York, 1935), Introduction. </ref>

[[File:1920px-Sandro_Botticelli_-_La_nascita_di_Venere_-_Google_Art_Project_-_edited.jpg|thumbnail|left|300px|Sandro Botticelli, <i>The Birth of Venus</i>, c. 1486 - Tempura paint]]

For some artists working in the Italian peninsula, the technique of tempera reigned supreme well into the fifteenth century. One can look to Florentine painter Sandro Botticelli as a prime example. He is perhaps best known for his iconic duo of <i>Primavera</i> (1482) and <i>The Birth of Venus</i> (circa 1486), both tempera on canvas compositions that showcase the depth of color possible with the medium. One can also note that, similar to his predecessor Duccio, Botticelli continued to reinforce the crisp and clear contours of each compositional element. In other words, while shadow and contour is important, Botticelli seems to prefer in <i>Primavera</i> and <i>The Birth of Venus</i> a solidity of his forms.

[[File:Van_Eyck_-_Arnolfini_Portrait.jpg|thumbnail|left|200px|Jan van Eyck, <i>Arnolfini Double Portrait</i>, 1434 - Oil Paint]]

Though tempera paints enjoyed a remarkable longevity, artists outside of the Italian peninsula were, by the early fifteenth century, had grown tired of the medium's chief limitation of these coloristic effects. While tempera paint allowed rich color, it did not permit deeply saturated colors nor subtle tonal gradations. This limitation is what contributed to the solidity of forms seen in earlier paintings, but it did not afford artists the opportunity to convey subdued washes of color. So, even before Botticelli began works like <i>Primavera</i> and <i>The Birth of Venus</i>, Northern European artists started to experiment with oil paints. Earning their name as they are composed of pigment and drying oil, such as the most common linseed oil, oil paints afforded artists a new-found flexibility in coloring effects.

Archaeological research performed in the early 2000s in the Bamiyan Valley in central Afghanistan uncovered examples of wall painting executed in oil paint that date to perhaps as early as the fifth century CE. These caves were once lavishly decorated and accompanied two spectacularly colossal statues of the Buddha. Though these sculptures, once considered by most as truly exceptional representations of early Buddhist art, were demolished by the Taliban in 2001, the surviving art documented in these surrounding chambers updates the larger cultural history of the medium of oil paints to propose that their popularity in other parts of the world soared much earlier than previously believed. <ref> Morgan, Llewelyn, <i> The Buddhas of Bamiyan</i> (Harvard University Press, Cambridge, 2012). </ref>

In addition to its longer drying time, oil paints unfortunately suffer the test of time much more poorly than paintings rendered in other media. Oil paints, for instance, are much more susceptible to discoloration and oxidation, which can cause compositions over time to lose aspects of their appeal. <ref> Agoston, George A., "Acrylics, Oils and Encuastic: Experiences and Opinions of an Artist-Chemical Engineer" <i>Leonardo</i> Vol. 4, No. 3 (Summer 1971), pp. 211-219.</ref>This would have been an unknowable characteristic during the early days of the medium's use, but it has encouraged a greater study of conservation methods to both preserve and restore the colors to their original glory. As a result, the popularity of oil paint remains unfazed, its only modern competitor perhaps the realm of the digital.

<div class="portal" style="width:85%;">

*[[What if the Black Death Never Occurred?]]

*[[Why did the Italian Renaissance End?]]

</div>

<references/>