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Historical Oil Painting Varnishes and Mediums

Oil-resin varnish has always been created by combining a resin with an oil, often through high temperature heats. Most common varnishes utilized down through the ages were intended to coat and protect furniture, architecture, boat-hulls and implements. Such common varnishes were composed of mostly oil -generally three parts oil to one of resin. As there is already ample oil within oil paints, special varnishes that were high in resin-content while low in oil were preferred and sought after by painters. Western Maryland Gallery offers unique historically-accurate painting varnishes and mediums primarily intended for use with both handground oil paint and today's commercial 'tube' colors. Some of these varnishes have been used as far back as the 1400's. All of these varnishes/mediums allow certain desirable effects not attainable through the use of commonly-available varnishes or by straight oil-and-pigment paint, alone. These special varnishes produce proper effects when used within either an "all-oil" (no solvents) painting technique or within those methods involving turpentine, or other solvent-use. Oil paintings made with these same historical additives have shown excellence in craftsmanship and durability down through the ages. A properly-made oil varnish will not yellow to any noticeable degree, excepting with great age. These particular varnishes and mediums appear to have truly stood the test of time. These historical painting varnishes /mediums are made in small batches. As aging is often important to strength and painting performance, the copal and amber varnishes are allowed to 'sleep' several months before sale. These varnishes/mediums are very strong in effects and, when utilized as additions to oil-colors, a bottle of any will last through approximately 20 or more 24"x30" paintings. Our painting varnishes and mediums are contained in either 90 mil. tube-form, or attractive 60 mil. glass bottles that fit perfectly into artist's sketch boxes. Note: true hard copal and amber varnishes are rare in the world today. The ratio of resin-to-oil quantities (and the type of oil) as well as the length and degree of actual cooking of the varnishes, allow for noticeable differences in their ultimate characteristics when used with oil paint. Our varnishes are unique to our manufacture and perform like none other. Many recipes for amber and copal varnishes found in manuscripts and other textual sources are actually unfit for applications to oil painting. Varnishes that are too dark, too high in oil-content, or varnishes that dry too quickly are rather best suited for wood applications instead. With these considerations in mind I have, through much trial-and-error, selected only those varnishes that are suitable to oil painting. [Notice: Some of the following varnishes contain slight amounts of turpentine spirit. Before purchasing please inquire if you are allergic to solvents. Be aware that care should be taken that none of the painting varnishes and mediums become ingested.] James C. Groves

Click on each item's name for the complete historical and supporting research--includes method of use. Historical Oil Painting Varnishes



16th Century Amber Varnish -- $44.00 60 mil. Bottle. Our most popular Amber varnish; lightest in color; this version is composed of perfectly dissolved Baltic amber in combination with aged walnut oil. A very heavy Amber-to-oil varnish (50% resin to 50% walnut oil), the highest available in the realm. Held to the light, this Amber Varnish is very pale (yellow) in color. Perfectly clear; not cloudy. Can be easily utilized for making other mediums, wherein it combines readily with oils to form clear unions ; and with no heating required. This product was not formulated with a drying substance (lead, or cobalt, or manganese driers). By slight addition to paint, it neither retards nor speeds drying. A drop of this amber varnish firmly congeals handmade oil paint and keeps it perfectly tempered all day without slumping. This varnish is used by many painters as a final thin coating upon their finished works. A short "bath" in moderate sunlight or a fluorescent light-box will allow drying overnight. Once dried, this varnish can be polished. Note: Equal amounts of amber and oil cooked together creates a semi-solid ; and so this varnish is thinned with turpentine spirit to a brushing consistency. [For more info, click on the product name.] Ordering Online Venetian Amber Varnish -- $44.00 60 mil. Bottle. Generally-known historically as "Lutemaker's varnish". Similar to our 16th C. Amber Varnish but much darker in color as it is cooked with litharge and manganese as the drying agent. This is not intended as a final coating varnish for oil paintings; it is intended to be either mixed directly with the paints on the palette, or combined with walnut or linseed oils to form a painting medium. This varnish (and the paint or medium it is mixed-with) will typically dry indoors in one day. Many artists use/d this varnish to paint in a solvent-technique or 'tempera-like' manner; also to create marvelous fast-drying paintingmediums which enhance the paints brushability, durability, brightness, and helps guard against sinking. Allows works that have stood the test of time. Like the 16th C. Amber Varnish, this varnish contains a very heavy Amber-to-oil ratio. A drop of this VAV softly congeals handmade oil paint. Keeps the paint perfectly tempered all day without slumping. This varnish is used to create "Gentileschi's Amber Medium" (see below under "Other Mediums and Medium-Ingredients"). Due to its dark color and fast-drying, Venetian Amber Varnish is perfect as a violin varnish; it can be polished. Note: This varnish contains turps spirit.[For more info, click on the product name.] Ordering Online



Amber Oil of Venice -- $32.00 60 mil. Bottle. What is referred to in the DeMayerne Manuscript as "Huile d'Ambre de Venise". A very thick walnut-based amber varnish containing approximately 23% amber. Fast drying with excellent elasticity, this litharge-cooked and darker amber varnish is more of a medium than a varnish; it was found through a careful analysis and extensive trial-and-error formulations. Mayerne tells us this "amber oil" was well-known by the early 1600's, being commonly available "throughout Italy by all vendors of colours". Primarily utilized by oil painters of the 1600's as an all-around painting additive, a drop or more added to the rubbed-up paint on the palette engenders the recorded attributes noted by DeMayerne : it speeds drying, produces soft & easy brushing /blending and a bright and glassy optical brilliance throughout the work. Works nicely as a painting medium when thinned with unrefined walnut oil. This product should NOT be used for varnishing instruments; it cannot be polished.[For more info, click on the product name.] Ordering Online

Historical "Jelly" Mediums and "Gelling Varnishes" for Oil Painting



19th Century Meguilp 120 mil. (4 ounce) tube is 25.50. Meguilp is not an oil varnish; instead it is a once-exceedingly-popular spirit varnish & leaded oil painting medium. This "mastic jelly" medium in various forms dates back in use to at least the 1700's. Meguilp (or Megilp) was used by just about every major 19th Century oil painter. Masters such as Turner, Etty, Reynolds, Wilkie, Landseer --even J.S.Sargent -- used it; and within their very best productions. Meguilp has suffered condemnation but it is not the culprit to poor oil painting craftsmanship. That dishonor typically falls upon the miss-infomed practioner. For instance, paint passages that crack are due to overpainting upon an area that has not dried sufficiently. That is not the fault of meguilp. As for durability and supposed weakness in film-strength, though Meguilp contains a soft resin (mastic), that resin becomes polymerized to an amazing toughness due to the slight lead ingredient contained within the formula. Through many years I have sampled and tested various 19th Century formulas for this usefull and fast-drying painting medium. While similar in ingredients, some versions of Meguilp have 'stood-out', performing in my own hands in noticeably better ways than others. I am now offering true Meguilp in a 120 mil. tube using the all-around best formula uncovered. My chosen recipe contains a bit more mastic, more my own less-yellowing Heat-Processed Linseed Oil, and less solvent-- which allows a longer 'open' time for working. Make no mistake, this is the genuine article, conjured with a perfect ratio/balance of the exact traditional ingredients of litharge, linseed oil, turpentine spirit, and Greek mastic tears. Meguilp, when mixed in up-to-equal amounts with the paints on the palette, typically allows layers to 'keep their place' and dry overnight. [Click on the blue name for a revealing historical look at this ever-so-popular "painting jelly", how it compares to the current "Maroger's Medium", as well as cautionary rules for its use.] Bombelli 60 mil. glass jar is $21.50. The exact recipe known to some Italian painters in the 1600's. Similar to meguilp but with a noticeably thinner consistency and slower drying. This painting jelly is based on mastic resin, nut oil, litharge, and olio de sasso. Bombelli is very light in color and has a pleasant smell. Best used in a solvent technique. Produces soft luscious paint that holds its place to exhibit clever brushwork.Can be used with all oil paints. Does not produce either wrinkling or noticeable yellowing, even when used in approximately equal amounts with the dabs of color on the palette. [Click on the name for more info about this product.] Ordering Online

Roberson Medium (Copal Meguilp) Now in an even larger 140 mil tube (5 ounces). Price is $31.75. Popularized by the Pre-Raphaelites, this is the original formula of Roberson's famous "jelly" medium which was a 19th Century copal-and-mastic meguilp. The same easy and fluid application of traditional 18th-19th Century meguilp but with an increase in durability and brushstroke-retention and clever impasto-effects. Makes most commercially produced tubed oil paint dry overnight. Robersons Medium is typically used in amounts of 25%; even up to equal amounts with the paint without harming the colors.if used according to the rules for painting in layers, ie, the more the medium used, the thinner the application. Like tubed Meguilp, this medium is especially suited for plein air painting. Not prone to wrinkling or yellowing even when used in approximately equal amounts with the dabs of color on the palette. Excellent as an all-around painting and glazing medium. Ordering Online

Amber Gelling Varnish

fast-drying

slow-drying

New! Copal Jelly

ORIGIN Congealed Oil Varnish

Fir Wax Congealed Resin Varnish (for regular oil paints)

Other Mediums and Medium and Paint-Ingredients



Asphaltum ($19.50 for 37 mil. tube) This is the genuine oil paint that was used safely during the 1600's. This is not bitumen or made using bitumen! This is not an artificial mixture of pigments; nor is it one of those inferior pseudo-asphaltums such as Cologne earth, Cassel earth, or the so-called Vandyke or Rubens' browns, all of which contain vegetable humus which causes the resulting brown to remain soft and never harden. Real asphaltum does harden as it is conjured from the solid glass-y rock commonly known throughout the world today as Gilsonite. This original asphaltum is made using the crushed rock combined with a heat-processed and very drying linseed oil, which is according to the usual 1600's recipe. The brushed-on paint typically dries in a day. Contrary to what has been written through the intervening centuries, true asphaltum oil paint is not harmful to oil paintings, either when utilized in the under or the over-paintng. True asphaltum does have its own 'personality' -- it should be used very thinly applied; and never opaquely or thickly applied unless combined with a harder resinous gel-type medium. Ordering Online

Heat Polymerized Walnut Oil or Linseed Oil

1-Set of Eight Permanent Dry Pigments in 1-to-2-oz plastic containers

At this time we only offer these pigments as a set; not sold individually

Drying Walnut Heat-Bodied Oil

Though I no longer offer it, my own Walnut Drying HB-Oil was utilized in creating the following :

Rembrandt: An Attempt to Copy his Self Portrait using Resin varnishes and heat-bodied oil. Click here



19th Century Siccatif de Courtrai

Walnut 'Black Oil' $15.50 per 60 mil. bottle. Labeled as 17th Century Light Drying Oil to differentiate it from common black oil. Can be used in an all-oil-and-no-solvent manner; or used with a solvent, if desired. This oil is made from unrefined walnut oil cooked with lead. Known historically as "drying oil" until Jacques Maroger miss-named it, our "black oil" is anything but. It is a transparent golden-colored oil that will dry fast, increase lubricity; and, when combined with an equal amount of mastic spirit varnish, produces a fast and firm megilp jelly that has none of the faults of the linseed-based version. Ordering Online

Raw Walnut Oil 120 Mil. (4 -ounce) plastic bottle is $8.50. This pure nut oil contains no antioxidants. This lightly-colored oil provides excellent wettability and much faster drying than the commonly-available purified and refined walnut oil. Excellent for hand rubbing of pigments into paint. Ordering Online

Information for Modern Day Commercial 'Tube Paint' Enthusiasts



I have often been asked if the specialized varnishes we provide can be used with tube paints. Certainly, they can. In fact, as we have noticed over the years, most buyers of our varnishes and mediums are tube paint-users who have need for strengthening their " tube colors" so that a thinning with solvent (such as turps) can be effectively performed.

Painting by way of essential oils or spirits is a tried-and-true and very old manner of oil painting. Raw oil is used to rub up the basic paint, then a bit of varnish --usually a drop or two-- is added to stiffen or congeal the paint. This firm paint is then thinned for application using the chosen spirit, such as turpentine, paint thinner, or oil of spike. The paint is applied in thin translucent layers until the desired effect of realism is attained. The results are quite effective as, once given a slight dose of varnish, modern day tube paint will withstand much greater use of spirits, resulting in an almost egg-tempera-like manner of painting and building-up of layers ; promoting a quality of realism not nearly attainable without the varnish-addition. No other oil is incorporated with this manner.

The principle underlying the effective use of this technique derives from the exceptional binding-strength and congealing capabilities allowable through use of the varnish-addition. This is to say, basic oil and pigment paint (either "tube" or home-made), by itself, cannot be thinned much with a solvent without becoming poorly bound (underbound) or running, trickling, down the support. However, as early painters eventually found, by simply adding a drop or two of varnish, the binding-strength of the paint is much increased, resulting in a much firmer resistance against solvent-delivered overpainting, even when the underlying paint is wet ; additionally, the applied paint gains in translucency, delivering a final highly-keyed brightness not available to an all-fixed oil technique. BTW, of great benefit, the step known as "oiling out" ( which is so important to the all-fixed oil technique) is not required when using the spirit-use manner of oil painting. This combined spirit-with-oil technique was that of Rubens and other Northern painters (as well as many Italian painters at least dating back to some of Leonardo's works).

As for those tube paint-users today who prefer an all-fixed oil technique (no solvents such as turps, paint thinner, etc.), our unique Amber Gelling Oil works well with tube paints. So does the "Gentileschi's Amber Medium" made from the Venetian Amber Varnish and unrefined walnut oil. Ditto our Walnut Polymerized Oil, replacing standoil to good advantage.

However, the remarkable congealing (stiffening) abilities engendered by use of our amber, copal, and other varnishes were developed with hand-made oil paint in mind --like the stuff used by the olden painters. With handmade paint, these type high-in-resin oil varnishes provide character and interesting brushwork not found with modern day tube colors ; and this character is in addition to their lasting and optical qualities supplied to basic rubbed-up oil-and-pigment paint. By comparison, most tube paint today comes off the store-shelf already in a too-short condition. Adding our amber and copal varnishes will certainly toughen it--even optically brighten it-- but the consistency by that addition with some paint-brands may likely resemble window putty. All fine an proper if the painter wishes to then use spirit vehicles to subsequently apply the paint. But, excepting means of impasto, this stiff condition of the paint is not effective using all-oil, as the amounts of oil then added to make the paint easy of brushing would become excessive and troublesome. 'Oiling out' the ground before new paint-applications will help defray the problem. But, there is another way to incorporate these particular oil varnishes with tube paint in an all-oil manner.

First, realize, regarding an all-oil technique, modern day 'tube paint' behaves differently than the freshly rubbed-up oil paint made by the artist. Many believe what they are buying is a very pure form of basic pigment-and-oil in a tube, ready and waiting for their whim to create. Not so. Tube paint has a gelling substance added in to promote a short 'buttery' consistency and maintain shelf-life (meaning little-to-no separation and resultant slumping in the tube). Usually, this substance is an addition of extremely lightweight aluminum stearate ; and even 2% of AS will mean a substantiat amount has been incorporated into the paint. This gelled effect-- very much similar to adding wax to oil paint-- makes the paint seem ultra heavy in pigment-to-oil ratio and causes a 'short' and crisp brushstroke that bears essentially no appearance to what the old masters used in their day. Of course, some paints do perform better than others in this regard. But, overall, the store bought tube paint provides little resemblance to the freshly made oil paint ( or what was created 'yarns ago' on canvas or wood panel with the same).

Aluminum Stearate seems to date back to the 1930's but other tallow-type stabilizers very similar to it first came onto the scene in the late 1800's. In the 1940's, oil painters such as Frederick Taubes discovered that adding another 20th century product called "standoil" to tube paints overcame or balanced-out the aluminum stearate, easing or eliminating its short effect, allowing a "tall" or "long" (slightly more or complete enamel-like) effect -- quite similar to true basic all around handground paint. Taubes later created a copal varnish that relied heavily on standoil, and small additions of his copal varnish (called Copal Concentrate) would allow tube paint to behave much more like the old master-type paint. His product was marketed by the Permanent Pigments company and became quite popular.

I supply this information to those who wish to obtain the older-type copal and amber varnishes displayed herein, but who desire to incorporate them with modern day tube paint in an all-oil technique. Essentially, the secret is this: to create mediums that allow tube paint to resemble the older paint, a certain part of that medium should contain standoil--or other polymerized, or sun-thickened oil--in the mix ; and this is to overcome the too-short gel-effect of aluminum stearate. For simple example, the "Copal Concentrate" of Taube's make was said to be a 25% copal-to-75% standoil combination. I have since copied it nicely by taking two parts standoil and one part of our 19th C. Copal Varnish and heating the two together. Thus, a 50% copal resin-to-oil varnish (like our 19th Century Copal Varnishes) would require a good bit of standoil to garner the "copal concentrate" effect on tube paint. [In other words, you find a small medicine bottle and put therein one part of the copal varnish and then slowly add two parts stand oil or sun-thickened oil.] Such a mixed 'copal & standoil' varnish is VERY light in color and can then be added in slight amounts to tube paints, giving them a certain long-ish clever character (Taubes called this 'conditioning' the paint) that stays put and doesn't run down the canvas or support with gravity -- as would be the case with standoil alone. Various other and useful painting mediums for tube paints can also be made using this concocted copal-with-standoil varnish by adding in amounts of a preferred raw oil, turpentine, siccative drier, and/or other agents.

To satisfy some tube paint users who wish a true fossil copal varnish-made painting medium, please note that we do offer our DCV Copal Painting Medium (see above) which will produce excellent and lasting results.

What I write here notwithstanding, I understand there are some few paint-makers today who do make simple oil and pigment paint. Since there is no aluminum stearate or other gelling agent involved, these paints are perfectly suited to our straight varnishes for use in either a "spirit-technique" or an "all-oil" technique. Of course, for those painters who make their own paint, our varnishes--either alone or added to mediums --will provide all the tough and lasting optical qualities deemed desirable and necessary -- plus provide a shortening, chrispening character that is wanting to the basic handmade oil-and-pigment paint.





We offer artist's permanent pigments in a convenient 8-color set. $48.50 per set (Note: Pigments not sold individually). More info click here

















For further information or to place an order, please use our onlne shopping page or call (301)689-3389 8:30 am-4 pm EST Tuesday through Saturday. Shipping costs are calculated according to number of items ordered. We ship only by USPS Domestic and International Shipping. There are some world countries (such as Nigeria) we cannot ship to . If in doubt, please call or email us (wmg@jamescgroves.com) before ordering.

Or send your own ordered items list with personal check/money order to:

Western Maryland Gallery

11425 Upper George's Creek Road SW

Frostburg, MD 21532





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