Re: Rembrandt's mysterious impastoes


In Reply to: Re: Rembrandt's mysterious impastoes posted by Will on 08/25/00 at 7:21 AM:

: I failed to mention that small amounts of egg have been found in Rembrant's thick white emulsions. He also used a very thick carmine emulsion which shows no trace of proteins but appears to contain cherry gum. The heavy texture of the man's sleeve in the Jewish Bride appears to have been produced with skin fragments from partially dried white paint. At least one passage using smalt (from the Syndics' tablecloth I believe) shows the presense of a hide glue.


: : : It's been a while since I read Rembrandt: The painter at Work by van Wettering but I believe it was suggested that it was a simple emulsion- possibly just oil and water. If I recall correctly (slim chance) the book made a connection with this emulsion and the fact that the lead would have been stored in water.

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: : : : Has anyone out there experimented in the creation of an impasto white that resembles Rembrandt's? Recent research has suggested that Rembrandt although not using wax, as Reynolds had believed, may have added heat thickened oils, chalk, crushed glass, or even egg to his whites to create the thick putty-like substance we see in his late paintings. Jerry Farnsworth in a book on portrait painting written in the 1940s includes a recipe for Rembrandt's white consisting of lead white and chalk (as in old fashioned putty) mixed with marine spar varnish (yuck!) which he claimed resembled Rembrandt's white. The trouble with this is that this varnish is extremely dark and becomes more so with time, but I think he may have been on the right trail. Rembrandt certainly may have mixed certain inorganic additives such as chalk and crushed glass to his white to bulk it up and, as Taubes observed, he most certainly must have used a heat thickened oil of some sort which may have had a dark color. I have gotten similar heavy
: : : : impastoes by mixing traditional putty with heavily cooked oil (without metallic driers) with Oleopasto which I believe is a paste consisting of alkyd and silica (as in crushed glass). Anyone tried any other recipes?

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: : Yes, I have read that bit about the water droplet voids in the impastoes, but my problem with this is that it could just be a result of the traditional storage of white lead under water and not be the causal factor in the creation of the distinctive impastoes. Water can change the handling properties of oil paint as I recall from painting landscapes in the open during a rainstorm. Has anyone out there tried painting with water and oil emulsion?

 
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