Historical Painting Techniques, Materials, and Studio Practice

Figure 3. Personal account book, 1881-1894, MS 250- 1993, 37-8. Fitzwilliam Museum, University
of Cambridge.
of both full- and child-size figures in the archive; their composition-stuffed
knitted textile over a wooden and metal frame with papier-mache and gesso
heads-helps to explain why they were so frequently sent fo r repair and why
Roberson entered into disputes with artists over damage sustained in use (20) .
Despite this, they were probably cheaper and more reliable than living models,
of which Roberson kept a register to assist customers (21).
The accounts also show the range of Roberson's customers from wealthy,
well-established painters to professional graphic artists, scene painters, and
others. Many amateur artists also held accounts with Roberson, including
several members of royalty, both in England and abroad. Roberson appears
to have been supplying the upper end of the market and although it did not
hold the royal warrant fo r Queen Victoria, Roberson supplied the Queen
with sketching materials during her reign and was granted the royal warrant
to Queen Alexandra in 1912 and to King Vittorio Emanuele III of Italy in
1903. In 1949, Gerald Kelly remembered in a letter to Roberson, "When I
first started painting I could not afford to deal with what I was then told was
the best firm in London, but as soon as I got a little money I got my things
from you, and gradually I have bought more and more ..." (22).
Figure 4. Lay figure: Child no. 98. Fitzwilliam
Museum, University of Cambridge.
Some artists had their materials specially made to their own recipes or to a
formula supplied in the past which they particularly liked. Leighton asked for
his paints to be made "extra stiff," a preference alluded to in a letter from a
fellow artist in 1888: "I have used your colours fo r several years, and I can
with the greatest confidence say that they have given me every satisfaction.
There is one quality which is greatly esteemed-and this Sir Frederick Leighton
says is a great desideratum, that is stiffness" (23).
Roberson, however, did not always think the customers' demands were advisable.
A notebook entry dated 27 November 1882 records, "Sir F. Leighton
P. R. A. in 1881, 82, had canvases prepared with different grounds made to
his order & warranted not to stand; plaster of Paris &c. with Lac Varnish over
&c. &c." (24). In June 1888, Millais is also recorded as having "canvases prepared
thickly with one coat of turpentine color to his order, also prepared
his own canvases. Not warranted to stand" (25).
Woodcock 33