Historical Painting Techniques, Materials, and Studio Practice

palettes as described above, it is clear that the level of accomplishment required
was of a quite different nature to the methods of painters from the
later nineteenth and twentieth centuries, who, thanks to the full palette, could
now work on the whole painting at once. This fact clearly explains the somewhat
"muddy" effect, compared to earlier paintings, characteristic of Jozef
Israels and many of his contemporaries and successors.
Research into the borderline region between style and technique throws light
on unexpected aspects of seventeenth-century studio practice. It is clear, for
instance, that the view on the genesis of paintings presented here must have
implications for scientific research into Baroque paintings. Analytical studies
of the binding media used in the seventeenth century (e.g., by Rembrandt)
suggest that a different blend of media is likely to be found in every giornate
of the painting (25).
This study has produced a picture that may be relevant to the discussion of
the interrelation of style and technique, namely that of a development of
Baroque painting in which artists strove for a unified tonal image that did
not appear to be composed by additive methods. The fact that these additive
techniques were used gives a different picture of the artist at work, one in
which technical limitations actually constituted the "coefficient of friction"
(to use Riegl's term) that thwarted the artists in their pursuit of a new style.
It was even necessary for the seventeenth-century painters to introduce a new
art-theoretical concept, namely houding, to bring the discussion of these efforts
to a new level of abstraction. Only in the nineteenth century did the
technical materials and means arise-namely, the full color palette, paint in
tubes, and the associated large palette sizes-that made it possible to apply a
technique appropriate to the painter's stylistic aspirations (as exemplified by
Cezanne's remark, "You must understand that I handle the whole painting at
once, in its totality") (26). Semper appears to be borne out, on the other
hand, if one observes that a late Rembrandt, placed between a Raphael and
a nineteenth-century piece of "Rembrandtism" such as a late work by Jozef
Israels, shows closer kinship to the Raphael than to the Israels. Indeed, the
technique of additive painting has an unmistakable determinative effect on
the style of a painting.
Aclrnowledgll1ents
Thanks are hereby expressed to Jos Koldeweij , Hayo Menso de Boer, Paul Broeckhof,
Dieuwertje Dekkers, Karin Groen, and Charlie Srnid. Much of the research underlying
this study was carried out within the framework of the Rembrandt Research
Project, financed by the Netherlands Organization fo r Scientific Research, and also
received valuable support from the Director and the Head of the Art History Department
of the Central Laboratory for Research on Objects of Art and Science,
Amsterdam.
Notes
1. Vasari on technique. 1960. Ed. B. Brown. New York, 230.
2. van Mander, K. 1604. Den grondt der ede! vry Schilderconst. Haarlem, fol. 64r. P
Taylor of the Warburg Institute, London, is carrying out research on the concept
"glowing" in connection with the painting of flesh in the early seventeenth
century.
3. Semper, G. 1860-1863. Der Stil in den technischen und tektonischen KiJnsten. Frankfurt
am Main. See also Viollet-Ie-Duc, E. E. 1863-1872. L'entretien sur I'architecture.
Paris.
4. Riegl, A. 1893. Stilfragen. Berlin, v-xix, 20, 24. See also Kultermann, U. 1966.
Geschichte der Kunstgeschichte. Vienna, 288.
5. Giovanni Battista Volpato: Modo da tener nel dipingere. 1967. In Original Treatises
on the Arts oj Painting. Ed. M. P Merrifield. New York, 726-55, especially
746-48.
6. Mora, P, L. Mora, and P Philippot. 1984. Conservation oj Wall Paintings. London,
138-64.
7. van de Wetering, E. 1977. De jonge Rembrandt aan het werk. In Qud Holland
(91):7-65, especially 20-24.
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Historical Painting Techniques, Maten:als, and Studio Practice