Oil Paintings Take People Through History
The pursuit of art and culture often bring to mind visits to galleries and trips to museums. Anyone planning a touring vacation in Europe will set their sighs on such places as must-see stops. Oil paintings are historic evidence of humanity’s commitment to beauty and art.
The art form of using a medium such as oil to make art is based on how the paints are made. A natural resin would be mixed with an oil, and pigment would then added. The oil was chosen from walnuts, safflower or even poppy seeds. If a resin like frankincense were chosen for the oils, they would come out as a varnish, having high and valuable gloss and body.
When people look back through the history of oil painting, they usually settle on the 15th century as where it originated. In truth, Indian and Chinese painters were using this type of paint as far back as the fifth through ninth centuries. There is also an important treatise written by Theophilus Presbyter dated in 1125 all about how to use oil based paints.
European artworks that were popular in the 15th century were typically comprised of three subject matters. One was that of the common person. There is a painting called Bust of an Old Man with Helmet that is very popular. Another is simply called The Blue Boy. Painters were also commissioned by royalty and nobility to be in residence in order to paint portraits of famous people. The third most popular type of oil painting was that of mythological scenes such as the Rape of Europa or religious scenes from the bible, such as the infamous Raising of the Cross painting.
Hardly anyone wouldn’t recognize the Mona Lisa painting upon seeing it. Cloaked in the unknown for hundreds of years, Leonardo da Vinci didn’t consider himself finished with it until near his death in 1525. People now know that the sitter was not an unknown woman but a wealthy lady named Lisa del Giacondo, thanks to a margin note located in 2005. The painting was in celebration of the family’s newest home and the birth of their second son.
Looking on the Mona Lisa, people always call her beautiful. However it’s also true that she is not an orthodox type of beauty, not even in comparison to women of the era of the painting. The reality is that da Vinci was an honest painter who was true to his subject matter. People thought that the sitter had plucked out her eyelashes and eyebrows as many women of the time did, but in truth a closer look has revealed that these were once evident on the painting. It’s likely that over cleaning has since wiped them off.
This infamous painting was stolen in 1911 from its location in the Louvre. An employee of the time walked out with it simply tucked under his coat, and the painting was taken to its homeland of Italy. The man always intended that it be shown there but the painting was returned two years later and he served six months for his crime. He was considered a patriotic hero by his people for his actions.
Once upon a time, paints couldn’t be taken very far from the artist’s studio because they had to be made by the artist on the spot. Making great artworks in those days was hard, and paints weren’t water soluble and required patience. Nowadays, people do not take this effort for granted by any means. The oil paintings of old are looked upon with great gratitude and appreciation.
To find out everything about Oil painting, visit Arold’s website at http://www.great-artworks.com.
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