The Oil Painter's Bible - chapter 6
suddenly regarded as "old fashioned," “passé,” etc., and therefore of no further interest. Technical
development essentially ceased at that point. Fortunately, a few of the dedicated students of the
Academics carried on in obscurity, and passed what they had been taught on to their students.
There was also enough written documentation of the older techniques to enable this author, and a few
other similarly obsessed individuals, to gain some understanding of what was involved, undaunted by the
best efforts of several universities' art departments to discourage the pursuit of this knowledge. These
written clues made possible a more thorough reading of the paintings themselves, sought out in museums
across Europe and the United States over many years. Conservation scientists have also been able to
provide a considerable amount of extremely valuable information previously only guessed at, which has
helped to unravel the mysteries of the past, as technological advances and ongoing scientific inquiry
continue to provide an ever-sounder base of knowledge from which to operate. Only after considerable
practice in painting (below) can one fully understand what is there to be read in the paintings of the Great
Masters and in the books which attempt to explain the techniques (including this one).
The hope is that this book will prove a little less cryptic (and more accurate) than the old manuscripts
which the author was compelled to seek out and decipher in his own quest for knowledge. It is further
hoped that it will find its way into the hands of others sharing the same obsession, and help to reestablish
a link with the Great Art of earlier times.
THE FLEMISH TECHNIQUE
The earliest oil painting method evolved from the earlier discipline of egg tempera painting, as an
attempt to overcome the difficulties and limitations inherent in that medium. As this took place initially in
Flanders, the method is referred to as the Flemish Technique. Essential to this method of painting are a
rigid surface primed pure white, and a very precise line drawing. The Flemish painted on wood panels
primed with a glue chalk ground, which caused the transparent passages to glow with warmth from
beneath the surface of the paint. As this method did not easily accommodate corrections once the painting
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