S. C. Arteni and M.

Sanchez-Posada

Grounds for Oil Painting. A Survey of Materials

14th I.S.F. Congress, Section Lipids in Art,
Brighton, England, 1978

Giuseppe Antonio Petrini (1677 - 1755),

Allegory of Painting (St Luke), oil on canvas
http://www.bigli.com/assets/images/quadri/Petrini_328M.jpg

SolInvictus Press 2018

 Alessandro Turchi (1578-1649), An Allegory of Painting,
oil on canvas
http://66.media.tumblr.com/69ac5079cb0ef35c144e9b0f9254c566
/tumblr_nt70nxTtaK1rrnekqo1_1280.jpg
 Mattia Preti (1613-1699), St Luke
https://ellenistico.files.wordpress.com/2014/03/mattia-preti-_san-
luca-pittore1.jpg
A comment on note 8

A few corrections were made in note 8 (page 76 of the printed

Proceedings.)

Cruzada Villaamil’s edition of Francisco Pacheco’s Arte de la

Pintura contained errors and misprints which were
perpetuated in subsequent editions based on Cruzada
Villaamil’s publication. For example, the quoted excerpt from
the 1968 edition of Pacheco’s Arte de la Pintura, published
by L.E.D.A., Barcelona, contains a passage that may suggest
an emulsion ground: …este barro que se usa en Sevilla
molido en polvo y templado en la cola con aceite de linaza…
Unfortunately, cola is a misprint for losa.

A page from the 1649 edition of Arte de la Pintura shows that

the description refers to oil primed canvas: …este barro que
se usa en Sevilla, molido en polvo, i templado en la losa con
Azeite de linaza…

The 1956 edition of Arte de la Pintura published by F. J.

Sánchez Cantón was based on the original manuscript. The
text reads: …este barro que se usa en Sevilla, molido en
polvo y templado en la losa con aceite de linaza…
Losa is the slab used for grinding paints.
 Francisco Pacheco, Arte de la Pintura, Simon Faxardo,
Sevilla, 1649
https://www.scribd.com/doc/130920580/pacheco-arte-de-la-
pintura-pdf
 Francisco Pacheco, Arte de la Pintura, Simon Faxardo,
Sevilla, 1649, Book III, p. 384
https://www.scribd.com/doc/130920580/pacheco-arte-de-la-
pintura-pdf
Francisco Pacheco, Arte De La Pintura, Vol II, Madrid, 1956,
editor F. J. Sánchez Cantón
Francisco Pacheco, Arte De La Pintura, Vol II, Madrid, 1956,
editor F. J. Sánchez Cantón (the footnotes mention errors
and misprints in the Cruzada Villaamil edition and in some
later editions based on Cruzada Villaamil’s publication)
Simone Cantarini (1612-1648), Allegory of Painting, oil on canvas,
111 × 99 cm
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/1f/Cantarini_P
ainting.jpg
Parmigianino (1503-1540), Mystic marriage of St Catherine,
oil on wood
http://www.wga.hu/support/viewer_m/z.html
 Domenico Tintoretto (1560-1635),
Personification of Fidelity, oil on canvas
http://ids.lib.harvard.edu/ids/view/43182167?width=3000&height=
3000
 Peter Paul Rubens (1577-1640),
The Discovery of Erichthonios by the Daughters of Cecrops,
oil on panel
http://www.galerieheim.ch/img/RUBENS_La-decouverte-
dErichthonios-par-les-filles-de-CecropsWG.jpg
Pieter Claesz (1596/97-1660), Still Life with Crab and Oysters,
oil on panel
(22.05http://www.franshalsmuseum.nl/nl/collectie/zoeken-de-
collectie/stilleven-met-krab-en-oesters-317/
ADDENDA
 Rogier van der Weyden
http://laurashefler.net/arthistory2010/wp-
content/uploads/2010/07/van-der-weyden-deposition.jpg
 National Gallery Technical Bulletin Volume 18, 1997
Methods and materials of Northern European painting in the National
Gallery, 1400–1550
Rachel Billinge, Lorne Campbell, Jill Dunkerton, Susan Foister, Jo
Kirby, Jennie Pilc, Ashok Roy, Marika Spring and Raymond White
…Nearly all the Early Netherlandish School panels were prepared with a ground of
calcium carbonate, almost certainly natural chalk, applied in several layers in a
medium of animal skin glue and then scraped or rubbed down until it was level… The
principal exceptions are the few paintings produced in Italy, such as the panels of
‘Music’ and ‘Rhetoric’, ascribed to the workshop of Joos van Wassenhove, which
have gesso (calcium sulphate) grounds. The Netherlandish School triptych, ‘The
Virgin and Child with Saints and Angels in a Garden’ … is unusual in having a lead
white ground.
Most of the German School panels have been prepared with natural chalk grounds…
…In the majority of the Early Netherlandish panels and many of the German a thin
layer of priming is present on top of the ground; sometimes it is so thin that it is
difficult to distinguish from the ground itself or from the paint layer above. In some
cases the discontinuities observed in very thin priming layers in cross-section
suggest that the application may have been quite streaky, and sometimes the
brushstrokes of the priming layer can be seen quite clearly in X-radiographs, infra-
red reflectograms, or even in raking light, running across the picture, bearing no
relationship to the forms depicted…
…Where the paint above contains oil, the use of a priming layer is more effective
than simply sealing the ground with a layer of size, although this, too, was frequently
(perhaps generally) done and has been observed in a number of paintings. In, for
example, Bouts's ‘Portrait of a Man’ … and the ‘Virgin and Child’ … from the
workshop of Hans Memling, the size layer could clearly be seen in paint cross-
sections stained with a suitable protein stain …
Netherlandish school, The Virgin and Child with Saints and Angels
in a Garden
http://www.bbc.co.uk/arts/yourpaintings/paintings/the-virgin-and-
child-with-saints-and-angels-in-a-garden-116010
…There is some evidence that some earlier fifteenth-century Netherlandish School
painters, such as Robert Campin, Rogier van der Weyden and Dieric Bouts, used
protein-containing underpaint, in some of their works at least ... In these
circumstances, a proteinaceous medium in the priming might be expected. It is
difficult to analyse the medium content of what is often a very thin layer, however: the
brown isolation layer present in ‘The Virgin and Child before a Firescreen’ … from
the workshop of Robert Campin, is only about 2µm thick ... Here, staining tests
suggested that the medium was proteinaceous. In the Bouts ‘Portrait of a Man’ it is
possible that the lead white-containing priming layer is in a medium of egg tempera,
but other paintings from the Bouts workshop (which in other respects are reasonably
consistent) gave more ambiguous results…

…In some cases, such as the Bouts ‘Portrait of a Man’ … the priming layer contains
lead white alone, but often it has been tinted with tiny quantities of other pigment,
usually red and black. The actual colour of this layer was often very pale: 'whitish' in
many cases, for example in the work of painters like Bouts, Memling and Rogier van
der Weyden …

…Pale grey primings (lead white mixed with a very little black) are found in another
painting by Bouts, ‘The Virgin and Child with Saints Peter and Paul’… in ‘Saint
Jerome in a Landscape’ … ascribed to Joachim Patinir; and in the ‘Portrait of a
Man’… by Hans Baldung Grien. Pale pink primings (lead white mixed with a very
little red pigment) occur in, for example, ‘The Virgin, Saint John, Mary Magdalene
and a Holy Woman’ … painted by Bartholomeus Bruyn the Elder, the portraits of ‘A
Man’ … and ‘A Lady’ … by Katharina de Hemessen, and Gossaert's ‘Man with a
Rosary’… in the three latter examples the pigment was identified as red lead
(minium, Pb3O4), which is, incidentally, a strong drier. Primings of lead white tinted
with both red and black to give a pinkish-beige to warm grey tint are commonly
found: Gerard David's ‘Deposition’ … and ‘Adoration of the Kings’ … two panels
probably from the same altarpiece, the Master of the Saint Bartholomew Altarpiece's
‘Saints Peter and Dorothy’ … and the ‘Portrait of a Girl’ … by Jakob Seisenegger are
only a few examples…

…Occasionally the drawing was applied over the priming layer, an example being
Jan Gossaert's ‘The Adoration of the Kings’ …
 Justus of Ghent, Music
http://www.bbc.co.uk/arts/yourpaintings/paintings/music-114782
 Justus of Ghent, Rhetoric
http://www.bbc.co.uk/arts/yourpaintings/paintings/rhetoric-115078
 National Gallery Technical Bulletin Volume 12, 1988
Two Wings of an Altarpiece by Martin van Heemskerck
Jill Dunkerton, Aviva Burnstock and Alistair Smith
Materials and technique
Jill Dunkerton and Aviva Burnstock

…Support and ground

Each panel consists of two planks of oak, approximately 8 mm thick and with a
vertical grain...

…The ground on both sides of the panels is the same chalk (calcium carbonate)…
bound in glue size…found on panels of the previous century…

…Underdrawing
Close examination of the infra-red photographs of both inner faces of the wings…
revealed faint and smudged traces of rectilinear grids as used in the enlargement
and transfer to the panel of preliminary drawings made on paper. These lines are
most clearly visible in the reddish brown background behind Saint John the
Evangelist and in the pale pink dress of Saint Mary Magdalene. A sample taken from
a point where a line runs out to the edge of the picture confirmed that the grids had
been drawn with charcoal... Most of this charcoal would have been dusted off, either
accidentally or deliberately, before the application of subsequent paint layers…
…The lines of underdrawing visible in the infra-red photographs, and, indeed, in
many places on the pictures themselves, have the rough, grainy appearance
associated with the use of a black drawing 'chalk' (actually a mineral form of
graphite)…
…Priming or imprimatura
In every cross-section examined, there occurs above the chalk ground and the
underdrawing (in the few instances where it is present in the sample) a layer of
variable thickness, rich in medium and coloured with a mixture of lead white,
charcoal or some form of vegetable black and an iron oxide pigment. This warm,
golden colour can be seen beneath the paint layers in very thinly-painted parts of the
picture, for example the Virgin's white veil. It was also visible in worn and damaged
areas before restoration. The appearance of this layer and its position in the layer
structure are reminiscent of the transparent, flesh-coloured priming (‘primuersel’)
over the ground and underdrawing described by Van Mander in his life of
Hieronymous Bosch... Thin and lightly pigmented priming layers to reduce the
absorbency and to modify the whiteness of the chalk ground have been identified on
paintings as early as those of Rogier van der Weyden… and continued in use into
the seventeenth century, notably in the panel paintings of Rubens… and
Rembrandt...
…The amount of pigment present in the priming and the relative proportions of each
colour vary considerably from sample to sample…. A tendency for there to be a
greater concentration of pigment and more black and iron oxide in samples from
areas in shadow suggests that the priming is not absolutely even and unmodulated
but that it has been used to supply some preliminary definition and modelling of the
forms and drapery folds…

The medium of the priming layers which occur on sixteenth- and seventeenth-
century panel paintings is generally assumed to be a drying oil... In the case of van
Heemskerck's panels it was uncertain whether samples taken for analysis of the
medium of the paint layers included any of the priming, so additional staining tests
were made on two cross-sections to try to establish the medium of this layer.
Surprisingly, while the stain used to identify drying oils produced a clear-cut and
unequivocal result on the actual paint layers (see below) it did not stain the priming
at all. Positive staining only occurred with the stain used for identification of collagen
deriving from animal-skin glues, so the medium of the priming would appear to be
the same glue size which binds the chalk of the ground...
http://www.bbc.co.uk/arts/yourpaintings/paintings/the-virgin-and-
saint-john-the-evangelist-116049
http://www.bbc.co.uk/arts/yourpaintings/paintings/the-donor-and-
saint-mary-magdalene-115560
 National Gallery Technical Bulletin Volume 4, 1980
Tintoretto's Paintings in the National Gallery
Joyce Plesters
…'Christ Washing His Disciples' Feet’…Canvas…
…Ground
A thin coat of gesso, just filling the interstices of the canvas, followed by a
layer of black ground consisting mostly of charcoal black…though one or
two samples show multi-coloured particles in the ground indicating the
addition of the presumed 'palette scraping' mixture…the black ground
exhibits dots or streaks of lead white within its thickness…
…The underdrawing appears to have been carried out on the black
ground in lead white paint…either indicating that Tintoretto began drawing
with the brush before the black ground was dry, or else that he corrected
some parts of the underdrawing by reapplying the black ground…

http://www.bbc.co.uk/arts/yourpaintings/paintings/christ-washing-the-
feet-of-the-disciples-114476
 An update on black priming
National Gallery Technical Bulletin Volume 24, 2003
‘Black Eaths’: A Study of Unusual Black and Dark Grey Pigments
used by Artists in the Sixteenth Century
Marika Spring, Rachel Grout and Raymond White

…evidence that the drying properties of coal were satisfactory is provided

by two paintings where it is used as the major ingredient in black priming
layers, Christ washing his Disciples’ Feet (NG 1130) by Tintoretto and The
Purification of the Temple by Jacopo Bassano (NG 228…)
…TABLE 1 Summary of EDX analysis
Sulphur-rich organic black: coal…
…Jacopo TINTORETTO, Christ washing his Disciples’ Feet (NG 1130),
c.1556, canvas, Venice.
Black priming; S-rich black, with some silicaceous particles.

Jacopo BASSANO, The Purification of the Temple (NG 228), c.1580,

canvas, Bassano.
Black priming; S-rich black, a little yellow earth, some K and Si, all
possibly associated with the black pigment…

https://artuk.org/discover/artworks/the-purification-of-the-temple-
115809/search/actor:bassano-the-elder-jacopo-c-15101592/page/2
National Gallery Technical Bulletin Volume 20, 1999: Painting
in Antwerp and London: Rubens and Van Dyck
Rubens’s ‘Peace and War’
Ashok Roy

…The support for ‘Peace and War’ is made up of seven separate pieces of canvas,
the largest of which are two central pieces each about 136 cm high, by 99 cm and
114 cm wide, joined vertically, on which the principal sections of the composition are
painted: the figures of Minerva, Mars, Pax, Hymen and most of the figure of the satyr
with the cornucopia at the left, as well as the children and the foreground putto, all in
half-length. The field of the composition is extended on to the additions arranged
around the central rectangular pair of joined canvases…
…Cross-sections from the central portion of the picture show that each of the main
centre strips of canvas bears the same double ground. This consists of a lower, fairly
thick reddish-brown translucent layer composed largely of calcium carbonate tinted
with red earth, and over this, a second exceedingly thin upper priming of a warmish
mid grey-brown, only just concealing the red-brown layer below. The ground layers
on the additions are consistent in constitution from place to place on the structure,
and, as on the centre, are made up of a double-layered system. The lower ground on
the canvas extensions is a moderately thick layer of earth pigment of a strong mid
red-brown and over this there is a substantial upper ground, light beige in colour.
This second ground, probably mainly responsible for the radio-absorbency seen in
the X-ray image, consists of lead white tinted with a little black pigment (mainly
lampblack) and a fine red earth; it also contains occasional clumps of aggregate
particles of yellow ochre ..
…The obvious inference is that the central core composition originally enjoyed an
independent existence, on a stretcher or strainer, and had been taken to some
degree of completion as a painting. This picture had then been demounted and new
canvas sewn around the edges, making use of the turnovers of the central portion to
attach the additions. The excess canvas at the back of the seams was trimmed away
at some stage, but it is not known when this was done. It remains to be established
whether the strips of canvas used to extend the field had the lower red-brown ground
in place before these were attached, but the cross-sections seem to suggest that
both stages of priming on the additions were carried out after they were in place
(note 10). The thick, upper beige-coloured ground was evidently applied in a single
layer over the lower ground on the additions, and spread across the seams to
disguise the joins…
…Ground layers
The central joined canvases carry a double ground consisting of a red-brown lower
layer of calcium carbonate and a red earth, with a very thin warm mid-grey-brown on
top. This upper layer consists of lead white and earth pigments. The canvas strips
that extend the field of the central ‘core’ also carry double grounds. Here the lower
layer is a darker red-brown containing red earth and calcium carbonate. A thick grey
ground over this consists of lead white, with a little lampblack, coarser black pigment,
fine red earth and yellow ochre…

…Note 10. Examination of cross-sections taken from the canvas additions shows
that the two layers of the double ground are often seen to merge. This implies that
the lower ground was still soft, or not fully dried, when the upper layer was applied,
and that they were, therefore, probably applied at the same time…

Peter Paul Rubens, Minerva Protects Pax from Mars (Peace and
War)
http://www.bbc.co.uk/arts/yourpaintings/paintings/minerva-
protects-pax-from-mars-peace-and-war-114757
http://www.kmska.be/export/sites/kmska/content/Documents/Colle
ctie/Rubensbulletin_2007/Rubensbulletin_-_1_5.pdf

…The Prodigal Son was painted on a well-constructed oak panel

which measures 109.75 x 158.2 cm. It is composed of 5
horizontal planks which are butt-joined…

…The panel was prepared with what looks like the traditional
chalk glue ground…It is off-white, thinly applied and is smooth
and hard…

…A pale grey stripey imprimatura is present but not easily

detected. Stripey imprimatura is characteristic of Rubens panel
paintings but it is most commonly seen in his sketches on panel…
 Peter Paul Rubens, The Prodigal Son
http://www.flickr.com/photos/van_zeldenrust/3433078597/sizes/o/in/
photolist-6enqEi-6Rti1i-aW3EQB-cCLnEj-doLYzt-9TrCaU-
dtLt7u/http://www.flickr.com/photos/van_zeldenrust/3433078597/siz
es/o/in/photolist-6enqEi-6Rti1i-aW3EQB-cCLnEj-doLYzt-9TrCaU-
dtLt7u/
…the ground is usually off-white, varying from light pinkish to
ochreous. This can reach a darker cool grey or brownish tone.
These slightly differing ground colors are achieved using a small
number of pigments. In most cases they comprise lead white
mixed with umber, sometimes with a small addition of red ochre,
bone black, charcoal, fine lamp black or chalk… Occasionally
chalk bound in animal glue is used in the ground and a toned
imprimatura laid on top…

…Oil-bound grounds are found on Hals’s earliest known panels.

For Zaffius…lead white, a little red ochre and fine black were
used…The pair of small portraits of Petrus Scriverius…and Anna
Van der Aar…are painted on similar ground layers, containing
lead white, a little red ochre and very little umber…
…in the panels by Hals of the 1630s…the traditional chalk ground
was found…(Nicolaes van de Meer, Cornelius Vooght and Jean
de la Chambre…) All three have a priming of chalk bound by glue
with an imprimatura laid on top. The imprimatura contains lead
white, a little umber and yellow ochre, and very little fine black,
which gives the ground a slightly yellowish appearance. Hals’s
chalk primings seem unusually thick…

…Perhaps more surprising than the use of oil-bound grounds on

some of Hals’s panels is the use of chalk grounds on some of his
canvasses. This is all the more peculiar, since, again, the chalk
priming is thickly applied…Hals applied a chalk ground to the
relatively large canvas of Paulus Verschuur…painted in 1643…
 Frans Hals, portrait of Jean de la Chambre
http://www.flickr.com/photos/100627767@N04/9735945145/sizes/
k/in/photostream/
 Frans Hals, Portrait of Paulus Verschuur
http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/works-of-art/26.101.11

…Another example of chalk ground on canvas is the Portrait of

a Woman…from the late 1630s, where the chalk is mixed with
a little lead white, umber, red ochre and fine charcoal black,
and has a greyish-brown imprimatura (lead white, chalk, umber,
very little fine charcoal black). The Portrait of a Woman holding a
Fan…also has a thick layer of chalk on the canvas, with the
addition of very little red and black…
 Frans Hals, Portrait of Claes Duyst van Voorhout
http://www.flickr.com/photos/maulleigh/3278030646/sizes/l/in/photolist-5ZELiL-64kXTB-69ihLz-
69iyMg-69iPM4-69q4YW-6f88yx-6jrR8f-6vEqhk-6weUCA-6weVhL-6DJF2L-6DJKVL-6DNjzZ-
6DNp8K-6DNYEc-6DSFMd-6DSJXw-6DSUBw-6YqpjZ-6YqqDM-6Yqsm2-6Yup3s-6YCbuG-
72SbX8-7iHLXQ-7iHM6A-7rxgxW-7tg7VF-7tk5SY-7tJNT6-7tJRqk-7tJRXX-7tJYge-7tNJSY-7tNKyo-
7tNLV1-7tNPWS-7tNR6Y-e9Bxan-9todEq-e9HceY-ftWE1m-bjsiTe-aXCLqa-9xAZiZ-btBsVq-
bScVh8-9r1cb9-eXMYhP-9DGP2L/
…The main component in twenty-seven of the thirty-five paint
samples of grounds which could be analyzed is lead white,
presumably oil bound. Seven of these oil grounds are on panel.
Umber is also nearly always present…
…Over a third of these grounds were ‘double’ grounds, that is to
say, there are two paint layers covering the canvas (the oil ground
on the panels consists of only one layer)…Lead white and umber
are present in both layers, which often show no clear division,
since one layer is applied over the other whilst it is still wet. The
second layer is sometimes deeper in tone because of a greater
quantity of umber present (Officers and Sergeants of the St.
Hadrian Civic Guard…c.1633), and sometimes lighter…Also, the
first layer can be made to look more greyish by the addition of a
little lamp black (Banquet Of the Officers of the St. Hadrian Civic
Guard…c.1627). For the first layer in Claes Duyst van
Voorhout…, the cheap alternative for lead white was used,
namely lead white diluted with chalk…In the militia piece of
c.1639…, the proportion of chalk in the first ground is very
high…Only in two instances did the two layers of ground have
distinctly different hues, in the Fitzwilliam Man…and in the Man in
a Slouch Hat…, both from the 1660s. On top of the first layer,
which consists of a cheap, bright red earth,… there is a cool grey,
made with lead white, charcoal black and umber…
National Gallery Technical Bulletin Volume 20, 1999; Painting
in Antwerp and London: Rubens and Van Dyck
The Rubens Studio and the ‘Drunken Silenus supported by
Satyrs’
Larry Keith
…The picture was painted over a double ground, comprising a grey oil-paint layer of
lead white and lampblack over a lower layer of chalk in oil (note 11). The grey tone
provided by the ground was used extensively in the final painting, either completely
covered or thinly veiled…

…Note 11. The use of an oil medium, rather than glue, for chalk [on canvas] has not
been extensively documented but may be more common than had been supposed. It
has been found on the National Gallery's ‘Portrait of a Woman and Child’ … by
Anthony van Dyck...

Studio of Rubens, Drunken Silenus Supported by Satyrs

http://www.bbc.co.uk/arts/yourpaintings/paintings/drunken-silenus-
supported-by-satyrs-114529
National Gallery Technical Bulletin Volume 20, 1999: Painting
in Antwerp and London: Rubens and Van Dyck
The National Gallery Van Dycks: Technique and Development
Ashok Roy
…‘Portrait of a Woman and Child’ Canvas…
…The ground of the present painting consists of two layers: a
semi-translucent lower layer, largely calcium carbonate, but
containing also a little red and brown ochre bound in a drying oil,
over which there is a warm mid-grey oil paint, mainly of lead
white, with wood charcoal and some brownish ochre…

http://www.bbc.co.uk/arts/yourpaintings/paintings/portrait-of-
a-woman-and-child-114958
…’The Balbi Children’ Canvas…
…The ground of the National Gallery picture consists of a single layer of a
brownish-cream colour, composed principally of calcium carbonate and
silica (silicon dioxide) bound in oil. There are also small amounts of
brownish earth and lead white present, but the main component may be a
pulverised silicaceous limestone or similar deposit… This constitution for
a priming is fairly common in seventeenth-century canvas painting both
in Italy and Spain and must be regarded as standard practice in a number
of locations, particularly in the earlier part of the seventeenth century
(note 22). There is reason to suspect that the ground now appears darker
than when it was originally applied, and this seems to be a general
phenomenon for grounds of this type…

http://www.bbc.co.uk/arts/yourpaintings/paintings/the-balbi-
children-115453
…‘Charity’ Oak panel…
…The ground layers are typical for an oak panel from Antwerp, and
consist of a natural chalk lower layer bound in glue, with a very thin light
greyish-brown ‘imprimatura’, probably oil-bound, on top. This ‘imprimatura’
was applied evenly over the chalk ground and does not show the streaked
appearance evident in many oil sketches and ‘modelli’ on panel, by
Rubens, for example…

http://www.bbc.co.uk/arts/yourpaintings/paintings/charity-
114416
…‘Carlo and Ubaldo see Rinaldo conquered by Love for
Armida’ Oak panel…
…Under the semi-monochrome paint layers, there is a pure white chalk
ground, and an exceedingly thin greyish ‘imprimatura’…

http://www.bbc.co.uk/arts/yourpaintings/paintings/carlo-and-
ubaldo-see-rinaldo-conquered-by-love-for-armida-114401
…‘The Abbé Scaglia adoring the Virgin and Child’ Canvas…
…The ground consists of a single coherent layer of lead white combined
with some charcoal black, Cassel earth and a little yellow earth. This
simple priming structure, the main components of which are lead white in
oil, is probably partly responsible for the very well-preserved state of the
picture…

http://www.bbc.co.uk/arts/yourpaintings/paintings/the-abbe-
scaglia-adoring-the-virgin-and-child-115384
…‘Lady Elizabeth Thimbelby and Dorothy, Viscountess
Andover’ Canvas…
…the ground is a double-layered system with a lower layer of a strong
red-brown comprising mainly red iron oxide combined with calcium
carbonate, over which a mid grey-brown priming was applied, consisting
of lead white, charcoal black and some red and brown earth pigment…
…The palette for ‘Lady Thimbelby and Viscountess Andover’ is fairly
standard for the period, and the following have been identified in samples:
smalt, azurite, ultramarine (in minor quantities), green verditer…
vermilion, red and yellow lakes, lead-tin yellow, a variety of earth pigments
including Cassel earth, black pigments and white. These pigments are
used singly and in mixture to form the paint layers; the binding medium
has been identified as linseed oil throughout the picture…

http://www.bbc.co.uk/arts/yourpaintings/paintings/lady-
elizabeth-thimbelby-and-dorothy-viscountess-andover-114658
…‘Equestrian Portrait of Charles I’ Canvas…
…The canvas bears a double ground: a thin red-brown lower layer,
principally reddish ochre and calcium carbonate… with a second oil-based
priming of a light, slightly brownish grey. This second ground is composed
of lead white with charcoal black and some brownish ochre or Cassel
earth. The thinness of the lower ground appears to be connected with the
tight patterned weave of the canvas, and it only just fills the interstices of
the grain. The upper light-coloured ground is thicker; it seems probable
that the primed canvas was made up specially in Van Dyck's studio for
this commission from the royal household…

http://www.bbc.co.uk/arts/yourpaintings/paintings/equestrian-
portrait-of-charles-i-114542
…‘Lord John Stuart and his Brother, Lord Bernard Stuart’
Canvas…
…a single layer of light biscuit-coloured ground made of lead white mixed
with a fairly small quantity of translucent brown earth…

http://www.bbc.co.uk/arts/yourpaintings/paintings/lord-john-
stuart-and-his-brother-lord-bernard-stuart-114724

Note 22. Other seventeenth-century canvas paintings with similar brown

single grounds include works by Cavallino, Reni, Caravaggio, Pietro da
Cortona, Salvator Rosa, Poussin, Sassoferrato, Velazquez and
Zurbaran…
 Vermeer
The Dutch and Flemish often prepared their canvases with two layered
ground, called the double-ground. Generally, the first coating of the
Netherlandish double-ground, sometimes applied directly on the canvas,
consisted of a mixture of earth pigments. Sometimes this first layer may
also contain palette scrapings or the sediments from the jar of turpentine
used to clean brushes. This produces a dirty grayish color, which may
contain a large variety of pigments from the cleansing oil; its purpose was
simply to provide a smooth surface economically. The second ground
layer, or imprimatura, usually consisted of a mixture of lead white and
carbon black providing a flat gray tone: to ensure optical neutrality, a small
amount of iron oxide reds and other earth pigments was almost always
added to the mixture, thus preventing "Raleigh scattering," an optical
effect which makes the light-toned charcoal black and lead white layer
over a darker priming appear a harsh, cool, bluish gray. AlI of the second
layers of of Northern European 17th-century grounds have some iron
oxide reds, ochres and umbers mixed in with charcoal and lead white.
Vermeer generally used light colored grounds composed of chalk (an
inert, inexpensive filler), linseed oil, white-lead and various combinations
of coloring pigments. For example, the ground of the Woman Holding a
Balance contains chalk, white-lead, black and an earth pigment, most
likely brown umber. The ground mixture was applied in one layer. The
grounded canvas had a warm buff tone that can be seen in various areas
of the painting where little or no paint was applied. It would seem that
Vermeer prepared his canvas in the conventional manner. There is no
evidence that he bought commercially prepared canvases although it is
not out of the question.
http://www.essentialvermeer.com/technique/technique_support.html
GIRL WITH A FLUTE
The vertically grained oak panel support has beveled edges on the back.
The panel has a slight convex warp, a small check in the top edge at the
right, and small gouges, rubs, and splinters on the back from nails and
handling. A very thin, smooth; white chalk ground was applied overall,
followed by a course textured gray ground.
http://www.essentialvermeer.com/catalogue/girl_with_a_flute.html
http://www.essentialvermeer.com/catalogue_xl/xl_balance.html
http://www.essentialvermeer.com/catalogue_xxl/flute_xxl.html
ROMANIAN PAINTERS
 Theodor Pallady (1871-1956), oil on wood,
17.5 × 27.5 cm
https://www.artmark.ro/licitatii-curente/licita-ia-colec-iei-ninette-
schapira-gheorghe-raut-259-2017/theodor-pallady-natura-statica-
cu-mere-si-cutit.html
Theodor Pallady (1871-1956), oil on cardboard, 27 × 20.5 cm
https://www.artmark.ro/licitatii-curente/licita-ia-colec-iei-ninette-
schapira-gheorghe-raut-259-2017/theodor-pallady-malul-
senei.html
 Theodor Pallady (1871-1956), oil on paper glued to cardboard,
66 × 40.5 cm
https://www.artmark.ro/licitatii-curente/licita-ia-colec-iei-ninette-
schapira-gheorghe-raut-259-2017/theodor-pallady-la-oglinda.html
 Theodor Pallady (1871-1956), oil on cardboard, 52.5 × 53 cm
https://www.artmark.ro/licitatii-curente/licita-ia-colec-iei-ninette-
schapira-gheorghe-raut-259-2017/theodor-pallady-dupa-baie.html
Theodor Pallady (1871-1956), oil on canvas glued to cardboard,
45.5 × 37.5 cm
https://www.artmark.ro/licitatii-curente/licitatia-de-mar-i-or-i-
pictura-i-sculptura-278-2018/theodor-pallady-turbanul-rosu.html
 Theodor Pallady (1871-1956), oil on wood, 18.5 × 24 cm
http://www.artmark.ro/licitatii-curente/licita-ia-de-primavara-199-
2016/theodor-pallady-pod-peste-sena.html
 Theodor Pallady (1871-1956), oil on canvas glued to cardboard,
60.5 × 49.5 cm
http://www.artmark.ro/licitatii-curente/licita-ia-unei-mici-colec-ii-de-
pictura-dintr-o-familie-ardeleana-206-2016/theodor-pallady-nud-
cu-voal.html
 Theodor Pallady (1871-1956), oil on cardboard, 43.5 × 31.5 cm
http://www.artmark.ro/licitatii-curente/licita-ia-de-toamna-top-100-
mari-mae-tri-ai-artei-romane-ti-223-2016/theodor-pallady-
trandafiri-si-evantai.html
Theodor Pallady (1871-1956), oil on canvas glued to cardboard,
46 × 38 cm
http://www.artmark.ro/licitatii-curente/licita-ia-de-vara-213-
2016/theodor-pallady-repaos.html#&gid=null&pid=1
 Theodor Pallady (1871-1956), oil on cardboard, 68.5 × 50 cm
https://www.artmark.ro/licitatii-curente/licita-ia-colec-iei-ninette-
schapira-gheorghe-raut-259-2017/theodor-pallady-natura-statica-
cu-flori-si-struguri.html
 Theodor Pallady (1871-1956), oil on cardboard, 53 × 68.5 cm
http://www.artmark.ro/licitatii-curente/licitatia-colec-iei-cella-
delavrancea-225-2016/theodor-pallady-femeie-in-interior-cella-
delavrancea.html
Theodor Pallady (1871-1956), oil on canvas glued to cardboard,
73.5 × 49.5 cm
http://www.artmark.ro/licitatii-in-curs/licitatia-de-vara-165-
2015/natura-statica-cu-flori-i-gazeta.html
 Gheorghe Petrascu (1872-1949), oil on canvas, 40.5 × 42 cm
https://www.artmark.ro/gheorghe-petrascu-femeie-in-interior.html
Gheorghe Petrascu (1872-1949), oil on canvas, 41.5 x 36.5 cm
http://alis.ro/images/products/original/74459_677.jpg
Gheorghe Petrascu (1872-1949), oil on wood, 33x24cm,
http://alis.ro/images/products/original/343164_360.jpg
Gheorghe Petrascu (1872-1949), oil on canvas, 35 x 46 cm
http://grimberg.ro/assets/images/img_catalog/large/dcd6e-
_C8T9537.jpg
Gheorghe Petrascu (1872-1949), oil on cardboard,
36 x 47 cm
http://www.artmark.ro/lucretia-in-interior.html
Leon Alexandru Biju (1880-1970), oil on cardboard, 40 × 29.5 cm
http://www.artmark.ro/licitatii-curente/licita-ia-de-iarna-inclusiv-o-
colec-ie-jules-pascin-i-secven-e-din-colec-iile-lucian-blaga-i-gen-
constantin-doncea-edi-ie-aniversara-artmark-8-ani-233-
2016/leon-alexandru-biju-egipteanca.html
 Leon Alexandru Biju (1880-1970), oil on cardboard,
70×43 cm
http://rotenberguzunov.ro/wp-content/uploads/2013/10/Leon-Biju-
Tataroaica.jpg
 Leon Alexandru Biju (1880-1970), oil on cardboard,
48.5 x 62.5 cm
http://alis.ro/images/products/original/44044_132.jpg
 Nicolae Tonitza (1886-1940), oil on cardboard, 40 × 19.5 cm
http://www.artmark.ro/licitatii-curente/licitatia-de-toamna-top-100-
mari-maestri-178-2015/nicolae-tonitza-
intimitate.html#&gid=null&pid=1
 Nicolae Tonitza (1886-1940), oil on cardboard, 51 × 43 cm
http://www.artmark.ro/licitatii-curente/licita-ia-de-iarna-inclusiv-o-
colec-ie-jules-pascin-i-secven-e-din-colec-iile-lucian-blaga-i-gen-
constantin-doncea-edi-ie-aniversara-artmark-8-ani-233-
2016/nicolae-tonitza-intimitate.html
 Nicolae Tonitza (1886-1940), oil on cardboard, 49.5 × 39.5 cm
http://www.artmark.ro/licitatii-curente/licita-ia-de-iarna-inclusiv-o-
colec-ie-jules-pascin-i-secven-e-din-colec-iile-lucian-blaga-i-gen-
constantin-doncea-edi-ie-aniversara-artmark-8-ani-233-
2016/nicolae-tonitza-schita-de-nud-catrina.html
 Nicolae Tonitza (1886-1940), oil on cardboard, 69 × 49.5
http://www.artmark.ro/licitatii-in-curs/licita-ia-3-colec-ii-i-3-colec-
ionari-colectia-lucia-si-dr-nicolae-ionescu-150-2015/baia-
suzanei.html
 Nicolae Tonitza (1886-1940), oil on cardboard, 34x24 cm
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/f5/Nicolae_Toni
tza_-_Nud_in_iatac.jpg
Nicolae Tonitza (1886-1940), oil on cardboard, 49.5 × 40.5 cm
http://www.artmark.ro/licitatii-curente/licita-ia-de-primavara-199-
2016/nicolae-tonitza-bluza-albastra.html