Historical Painting Techniques, Materials, and Studio Practice

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Figure 2. Charles Roberson's recipe fo r Roberson's Medium, originally in sealed envelope. Fitzwilliam

Museum, University of Cambridge.

The books also demonstrate a degree of experimentation in the fo rmulation

of artists' colors; the composition of mixed colors in particular, such as olive

green or neutral tint, was not absolutely fixed. Notes in the recipe books'

margins indicate that fo rmulae were not always successful, and in the later

recipes a degree of substitution was effected (16).

The recipe books show the importance given to secret recipes and trade

secrets. Many of the recipes are written in code or shorthand or have certain

portions in Greek. The fo rmula of Roberson's Medium, the company's most

successful product, has been struck out in a recipe book (17). It is contained

in a once-sealed envelope from Charles Roberson to his nephew Charles

Park that is marked, "To be opened when I am dead," and dated 1868, ten

years before Roberson's death (Fig. 2) (18). Roberson had reason fo r secrecy.

When a Mr. Ellis advertised in the Daily Telegraph of 1900 that he would sell

"the fo rmula fo r making this famous medium fo r imparting permanency to

oil paintings" at a price of seventy guineas, Roberson quickly threatened

prosecution. Ellis's solicitors responded the next day stating that he had "no

intention ... of selling the medium as 'Roberson's Medium,' " had effected

no sale of either the fo rmula or the medium, and would discontinue the

advertisement (19).

Personal accounts

The personal account books are among the most important records in the

archive. They are incomplete, but provide detailed information about the

materials and techniques of many of the most prominent nineteenth-and

twentieth-century artists in Britain. They list in most cases what an artist

bought and how much, and when he or she paid (Fig. 3). They also dem­

onstrate the range of services Roberson would perform, such as sending

workers to artists' studios to carry out a variety of tasks, transporting paintings

to and from exhibitions and loaning equipment to artists. William Holman

Hunt's accounts show that he frequently changed his mind as to the propor­

tions of his paintings, and that Roberson regularly sent workers to add strips

of canvas and enlarge stretchers, particularly toward the end of the artist's life.

Account holders were not only confined to artists living in Britain. Jozef

Israels in the Hague, Louis Raemaekers in Brussels, Fritz Voellmy in Basel,

and the American artist Wilton Lockwood all bought from Roberson.

The accounts record extensive use oflay figures, usually rented by artists from

Roberson, as their purchase price was very high (Fig. 4) There are a number

Historical Painting Techniques, Materials, and Studio Practice