Behind the Canvas: Understanding the Painting Process of Old Masters vs. Contemporary Artists
By Emilia Novak
Across centuries, artists have continually refined their techniques and materials, shaping distinct painting processes that define their eras. This article explores the contrasting methods used by Old Masters—highlighted by Rembrandt van Rijn—and contemporary artists—represented by Gerhard Richter. We will examine the evolution of canvas preparation, the shift in paint chemistry from traditional oils to modern acrylics, and how conservation practices differ dramatically between historical and modern artworks.
Materials and Preparation: From Traditional Craft to Modern Convenience
Old Master Techniques
Preparing the canvas was a detailed and labor-intensive process for Old Masters like Rembrandt. The support—usually canvas or wooden panel—needed extensive preparation to ensure durability and visual quality. Canvas was typically sized using animal-skin glue, such as rabbit skin glue, to seal fibers against oil penetration. Once dried, artists applied multiple layers of handmade gesso, typically comprising chalk, glue, and pigments. Rembrandt preferred a double-ground approach, first using a brown-red pigment base coat, followed by a lighter mixture of lead white, charcoal, and umber. This two-layered, toned ground established the overall mood and chiaroscuro (dramatic contrast of light and dark) effects characteristic of his paintings.
Wooden panels underwent similar treatments, with glue-chalk gesso filling wood grain, sanded smooth, and a final coat of lead white and umber to set the color tone. These meticulous preparations provided a stable, subtly toned underlayer that guided subsequent layers of color.
Contemporary Simplifications
Modern artists benefit from streamlined preparation methods, significantly reducing time and effort. Pre-primed canvases are readily available, allowing artists to begin painting almost immediately. When custom preparations are desired, contemporary painters commonly use acrylic gesso, which combines primer and sizing into a single step. Acrylic gesso—a mixture of acrylic polymer, calcium carbonate (chalk), and titanium white—dries quickly and forms a flexible, durable, matte white surface. Unlike traditional gesso, acrylic primers resist cracking due to changes in humidity or temperature.
Today's artists typically start with a bright white or lightly toned ground, providing flexibility for color application. While some contemporary painters choose traditional preparation methods for aesthetic reasons, the ease of modern preparations allows greater focus on composition and creativity.
Paint Chemistry: From Traditional Oils to Acrylic Innovations
Traditional Oil Paints
The Old Masters, including Rembrandt, relied predominantly on oil paints made by grinding pigments with drying oils such as linseed. The slow drying times of oil paint facilitated meticulous blending and glazing techniques, enabling artists to achieve soft gradations and luminous depth. Rembrandt enhanced his oil paints with additives such as chalk and ground glass to adjust texture and drying time, producing distinctive impasto effects—thick, sculptural layers of paint.
The limited palette of natural pigments available during Rembrandt’s era included earth colors, lead-tin yellow, cinnabar red, and ultramarine (derived from lapis lazuli). However, these traditional paints came with disadvantages, notably darkening and yellowing over time due to oxidation and aging varnishes.
Acrylics and Synthetic Paints
The mid-20th century saw a revolution in paint chemistry with the introduction of acrylic paints, synthetic polymer emulsions that quickly gained popularity for their ease of use and versatility. Acrylics dry rapidly, are water-soluble, and resist yellowing significantly better than oils. These properties appealed greatly to artists experimenting with various techniques, from thin watercolor-like washes to thick impasto textures achievable with acrylic gels.
Artists today can select from numerous paint formulations, including synthetic oils (alkyds), enamels, and spray paints, vastly expanding creative possibilities. While acrylics dominate many contemporary practices, artists like Gerhard Richter still value oil paints for their blending capabilities and historical significance, often integrating traditional and contemporary media.
Case Study: Rembrandt’s Masterful Techniques
Rembrandt van Rijn (1606–1669) exemplifies the skillful manipulation of oil paint characteristic of Old Master traditions. His paintings typically began with loose underdrawings or sketches on a toned ground, establishing basic composition and tonal structure. He frequently employed monochromatic underpaintings known as grisaille—gray or brown layers defining the shadows and highlights before adding color.
Subsequent glazing layers, consisting of thin transparent applications of pigment-rich oil, provided depth and luminosity. Rembrandt innovated by combining glazing with heavy impasto highlights, sculpting thick paint applications using palette knives and brushes to achieve tactile textures. He often glazed over these textured highlights once dry, unifying textures and optical depth, as evident in famous works like “Self-Portrait with Beret and Turned-Up Collar” (1659) and “The Jewish Bride.”
Rembrandt’s evolving brushwork—from precise detail to expressive, loose applications—highlighted his mastery of oil paint’s expressive potential. The lengthy drying and meticulous layering processes defined Old Master paintings, resulting in rich, vibrant works requiring periodic cleaning and varnish restoration to maintain their appearance over centuries.
Case Study: Gerhard Richter’s Contemporary Approach
Gerhard Richter (born 1932) embodies a distinctly contemporary approach, blending traditional painting techniques with modern technologies and experimentation. Richter's photorealistic works often begin with photographic projections onto canvas, providing accurate outlines traced in pencil before painting. He then meticulously replicates photographic effects in oil paint, intentionally blurring edges to create ambiguity and depth reminiscent of photographic depth-of-field effects.
Richter’s abstract paintings represent another aspect of contemporary innovation, utilizing large squeegees and scrapers to manipulate layers of paint. This method allows chance and randomness to play significant roles, contrasting sharply with the careful planning typical of Old Masters. His process involves repeated applications and removals of paint, producing complex visual textures where underlying colors emerge through the scraped-away upper layers.
In terms of materials, Richter favors modern, archival-quality paints and supports. Unlike traditional Old Master practices, he often leaves paintings unvarnished, preserving the natural sheen and texture of the painted surface. Richter’s approach reflects a contemporary sensibility that integrates deliberate technique with spontaneity and technological aid, bridging historical traditions with modern artistic freedoms.
Conservation and Restoration: Historical and Modern Challenges
Old Master Conservation
Conserving Old Master paintings involves addressing centuries of aging and degradation. Rembrandt’s paintings commonly require the removal of yellowed varnishes and accumulated grime to restore their original vibrancy. Challenges include managing fine cracks (craquelure) due to paint brittleness and reinforcing weakened or sagging canvases through techniques like relining. Restoration practices focus on minimal intervention to maintain historical authenticity, relying heavily on advanced methods like UV imaging, microscopy, and solvent gels for precision treatments.
Contemporary Conservation
Conservation of contemporary artworks presents unique challenges due to the diversity and instability of modern materials. Acrylic paintings, while resistant to traditional problems like yellowing and cracking, can attract dust and dirt, complicating surface cleaning. Many contemporary works are unvarnished, making direct paint cleaning delicate. Additionally, mixed-media pieces incorporating unstable or organic materials (e.g., plastics, foam, food) require preventive conservation strategies, controlling environmental conditions like humidity and light exposure to slow deterioration.
Conservators increasingly collaborate with living artists to understand material composition and intent, guiding appropriate maintenance and restoration practices. Modern conservation emphasizes preventive measures rather than extensive restoration, reflecting a significant shift from historical practices.
Conclusion: Connecting Past and Present
Despite centuries separating them, Rembrandt and Richter exemplify the enduring ingenuity inherent in the art of painting. Rembrandt’s meticulous layering and innovative textures highlight the skill and patience required by traditional oil painting. Richter’s integration of photographic techniques, modern materials, and experimental approaches demonstrates contemporary artists’ creative freedom and technological adaptability.
Understanding these historical and contemporary painting processes enriches our appreciation of artwork across eras. The evolving techniques, from the painstaking preparations of Old Masters to the flexible materials and practices of modern artists, underscore a continuous dialogue between tradition and innovation. By examining these methods, we gain deeper insight into the creative processes that shape our visual heritage and contemporary artistic landscape.
By Emilia Novak
Across centuries, artists have continually refined their techniques and materials, shaping distinct painting processes that define their eras. This article explores the contrasting methods used by Old Masters—highlighted by Rembrandt van Rijn—and contemporary artists—represented by Gerhard Richter. We will examine the evolution of canvas preparation, the shift in paint chemistry from traditional oils to modern acrylics, and how conservation practices differ dramatically between historical and modern artworks.
Materials and Preparation: From Traditional Craft to Modern Convenience
Old Master Techniques
Preparing the canvas was a detailed and labor-intensive process for Old Masters like Rembrandt. The support—usually canvas or wooden panel—needed extensive preparation to ensure durability and visual quality. Canvas was typically sized using animal-skin glue, such as rabbit skin glue, to seal fibers against oil penetration. Once dried, artists applied multiple layers of handmade gesso, typically comprising chalk, glue, and pigments. Rembrandt preferred a double-ground approach, first using a brown-red pigment base coat, followed by a lighter mixture of lead white, charcoal, and umber. This two-layered, toned ground established the overall mood and chiaroscuro (dramatic contrast of light and dark) effects characteristic of his paintings.
Wooden panels underwent similar treatments, with glue-chalk gesso filling wood grain, sanded smooth, and a final coat of lead white and umber to set the color tone. These meticulous preparations provided a stable, subtly toned underlayer that guided subsequent layers of color.
Contemporary Simplifications
Modern artists benefit from streamlined preparation methods, significantly reducing time and effort. Pre-primed canvases are readily available, allowing artists to begin painting almost immediately. When custom preparations are desired, contemporary painters commonly use acrylic gesso, which combines primer and sizing into a single step. Acrylic gesso—a mixture of acrylic polymer, calcium carbonate (chalk), and titanium white—dries quickly and forms a flexible, durable, matte white surface. Unlike traditional gesso, acrylic primers resist cracking due to changes in humidity or temperature.
Today's artists typically start with a bright white or lightly toned ground, providing flexibility for color application. While some contemporary painters choose traditional preparation methods for aesthetic reasons, the ease of modern preparations allows greater focus on composition and creativity.
Paint Chemistry: From Traditional Oils to Acrylic Innovations
Traditional Oil Paints
The Old Masters, including Rembrandt, relied predominantly on oil paints made by grinding pigments with drying oils such as linseed. The slow drying times of oil paint facilitated meticulous blending and glazing techniques, enabling artists to achieve soft gradations and luminous depth. Rembrandt enhanced his oil paints with additives such as chalk and ground glass to adjust texture and drying time, producing distinctive impasto effects—thick, sculptural layers of paint.
The limited palette of natural pigments available during Rembrandt’s era included earth colors, lead-tin yellow, cinnabar red, and ultramarine (derived from lapis lazuli). However, these traditional paints came with disadvantages, notably darkening and yellowing over time due to oxidation and aging varnishes.
Acrylics and Synthetic Paints
The mid-20th century saw a revolution in paint chemistry with the introduction of acrylic paints, synthetic polymer emulsions that quickly gained popularity for their ease of use and versatility. Acrylics dry rapidly, are water-soluble, and resist yellowing significantly better than oils. These properties appealed greatly to artists experimenting with various techniques, from thin watercolor-like washes to thick impasto textures achievable with acrylic gels.
Artists today can select from numerous paint formulations, including synthetic oils (alkyds), enamels, and spray paints, vastly expanding creative possibilities. While acrylics dominate many contemporary practices, artists like Gerhard Richter still value oil paints for their blending capabilities and historical significance, often integrating traditional and contemporary media.
Case Study: Rembrandt’s Masterful Techniques
Rembrandt van Rijn (1606–1669) exemplifies the skillful manipulation of oil paint characteristic of Old Master traditions. His paintings typically began with loose underdrawings or sketches on a toned ground, establishing basic composition and tonal structure. He frequently employed monochromatic underpaintings known as grisaille—gray or brown layers defining the shadows and highlights before adding color.
Subsequent glazing layers, consisting of thin transparent applications of pigment-rich oil, provided depth and luminosity. Rembrandt innovated by combining glazing with heavy impasto highlights, sculpting thick paint applications using palette knives and brushes to achieve tactile textures. He often glazed over these textured highlights once dry, unifying textures and optical depth, as evident in famous works like “Self-Portrait with Beret and Turned-Up Collar” (1659) and “The Jewish Bride.”
Rembrandt’s evolving brushwork—from precise detail to expressive, loose applications—highlighted his mastery of oil paint’s expressive potential. The lengthy drying and meticulous layering processes defined Old Master paintings, resulting in rich, vibrant works requiring periodic cleaning and varnish restoration to maintain their appearance over centuries.
Case Study: Gerhard Richter’s Contemporary Approach
Gerhard Richter (born 1932) embodies a distinctly contemporary approach, blending traditional painting techniques with modern technologies and experimentation. Richter's photorealistic works often begin with photographic projections onto canvas, providing accurate outlines traced in pencil before painting. He then meticulously replicates photographic effects in oil paint, intentionally blurring edges to create ambiguity and depth reminiscent of photographic depth-of-field effects.
Richter’s abstract paintings represent another aspect of contemporary innovation, utilizing large squeegees and scrapers to manipulate layers of paint. This method allows chance and randomness to play significant roles, contrasting sharply with the careful planning typical of Old Masters. His process involves repeated applications and removals of paint, producing complex visual textures where underlying colors emerge through the scraped-away upper layers.
In terms of materials, Richter favors modern, archival-quality paints and supports. Unlike traditional Old Master practices, he often leaves paintings unvarnished, preserving the natural sheen and texture of the painted surface. Richter’s approach reflects a contemporary sensibility that integrates deliberate technique with spontaneity and technological aid, bridging historical traditions with modern artistic freedoms.
Conservation and Restoration: Historical and Modern Challenges
Old Master Conservation
Conserving Old Master paintings involves addressing centuries of aging and degradation. Rembrandt’s paintings commonly require the removal of yellowed varnishes and accumulated grime to restore their original vibrancy. Challenges include managing fine cracks (craquelure) due to paint brittleness and reinforcing weakened or sagging canvases through techniques like relining. Restoration practices focus on minimal intervention to maintain historical authenticity, relying heavily on advanced methods like UV imaging, microscopy, and solvent gels for precision treatments.
Contemporary Conservation
Conservation of contemporary artworks presents unique challenges due to the diversity and instability of modern materials. Acrylic paintings, while resistant to traditional problems like yellowing and cracking, can attract dust and dirt, complicating surface cleaning. Many contemporary works are unvarnished, making direct paint cleaning delicate. Additionally, mixed-media pieces incorporating unstable or organic materials (e.g., plastics, foam, food) require preventive conservation strategies, controlling environmental conditions like humidity and light exposure to slow deterioration.
Conservators increasingly collaborate with living artists to understand material composition and intent, guiding appropriate maintenance and restoration practices. Modern conservation emphasizes preventive measures rather than extensive restoration, reflecting a significant shift from historical practices.
Conclusion: Connecting Past and Present
Despite centuries separating them, Rembrandt and Richter exemplify the enduring ingenuity inherent in the art of painting. Rembrandt’s meticulous layering and innovative textures highlight the skill and patience required by traditional oil painting. Richter’s integration of photographic techniques, modern materials, and experimental approaches demonstrates contemporary artists’ creative freedom and technological adaptability.
Understanding these historical and contemporary painting processes enriches our appreciation of artwork across eras. The evolving techniques, from the painstaking preparations of Old Masters to the flexible materials and practices of modern artists, underscore a continuous dialogue between tradition and innovation. By examining these methods, we gain deeper insight into the creative processes that shape our visual heritage and contemporary artistic landscape.
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