The Secret is the Paint

The paint itself, not an obscure medium or oil, is the true secret of the Old Masters. Using coarsely ground natural earth colors, masters such as Rembrandt, employed the natural luminosity of these larger particle size pigments to create stunning illusions of brocaded fabrics or gleaming embellishments of gold in their paintings.

*Isaac and Rebecca, Known as “The Jewish Bride,”* by **Rembrandt van Rijn**, c. 1665-1669, oil on canvas, 47.8 x 65.5 inches, Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam.

Detail of *“The Jewish Bride”* showing the paint scratched into in the shadow area and then thickly layered in the highlights to create textures, suggest dimension and build form. Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam

Not only were the earth colors unique, but also the amount of pigment in the paint gave the artist the lush consistency needed to brush out or manipulate the paint with various painter’s tools and even fingertips. Paint was handcrafted enabling a wetter more fluid consistency where desired in a painting.

In the following still images, a historian from the Rembrandt Research Project hand grinds natural yellow earth pigment with linseed oil to the same consistency that Rembrandt would have used. He notes that the resulting “paint is long but it has a certain flow, collapses down and doesn’t keep its form.”

from the documentary *Rembrandt and His Paints*…

…demonstrating the loose consistency used where desired in Rembrandt’s painting.

Color and Nuance

We are delighted to offer authentic natural earth pigments from older sources in France, Italy and Cyprus. Because they have a larger particle size and varied natural mineral compositions, including elements like clay, quartz, or even mica, these imported natural earths offer more variation in their mixing characteristics.

An introductory selection of our imported natural earths mined from old world quarries! Containing eight primarily transparent and semi-transparent natural pigments, with their characteristic nuance, including Ochres from France, Red and Green Earths from Italy and France, and several Umbers from Cyprus. Visit this link for our Ancient Earth Set.

These imported traditional earths can enable delicate nuances of color and give a painter greater control to modify other mixtures. Natural earths from domestic sources are more uniform and refined with less variation in texture. The modern man-made iron oxide pigments, such as Mars colors and Transparent Iron Oxides, are even more concentrated and intense, with pronounced color strength. Here are a few comparisons:

**Cyprus Umber Deep**, at top right, is mixed into our Video Blue Extra Pale. As a natural earth, this warm deep Umber easily creates a delicate complement as it gently warms the cooler blue into a subtle gray.

Modern **Transparent Brown Oxide**, a man-made iron oxide pigment, shown at top right, is also mixed into our Video Blue Extra Pale. Because it is so vibrant and strong, it is harder to control to create a nuanced tone as it easily exaggerates a mixture with its intense warmth.

**Italian Rosso Ercolano**, at top, is tinted with our Flake White, at bottom. Notice the texture of this natural red earth, its semi-transparency, and the reflective surface its particle size creates even in a mixture.

**Mars Orange** is shown here at top and with our Flake White mixed into it at bottom. Its color strength is overwhelming the more delicate white since Mars Orange is a very clean and concentrated man-made iron oxide pigment. Notice how much smoother its surface is compared to the **Rosso** **Ercolano** in the above image, and much more opaque.

It’s About the Paint

In handcrafting our earth colors, whether domestic or imported, traditional or modern, we manipulate the pigments as little as possible to allow the natural beauty of the pigments to shine through. We leave it up to you to decide what your earths should be!

It’s not about the oil, it is not about the medium, but it is about the paint!

*Self-portrait in a Velvet Beret*, by **Rembrandt van Rijn**, 1634, oil on oak panel, 22.9 x 18.6 inches, Gemäldegalerie, Berlin

Visit our website here to see the full collection of our Imported Traditional Earths.

To learn more about our imported traditional ochres, visit two previous posts to this blog:

Yellow Ochre: Hidden Light and Ochres with a Hint of Color.

To view the documentary Rembrandt and His Paints, by The Rembrandt Research Project, and published by Classdemos, visit this link.

2 Comments

Beverly Brodsky
July 18, 2019 at 12:02 pm · Reply

Beautiful presentation of extraordinary pigments. wish I could afford all of these delicious
colors!
- Gail Spiegel
  August 9, 2019 at 5:24 pm · Reply
  
  Hello Beverly,
  Thank you for your visiting the blog and sending us your valuable feedback.
  -Gail