Art historians often wish that Renaissance painters could shell out secrets of the craft. Now, scientists may have cracked one using chemistry and physics. Around the turn of the 15th century in Italy ...

I once asked an artist I know what he did about varnishing his oil paintings. I had read about "varnishing day" at the great salon exhibits in Paris in the 19th century and wondered what it was like ...

Though the term is used interchangeably with oil-based paints for most practical purposes, alkyd paints are actually not oil-based but alkyd resins mixed in some sort of thinner. When most people ...

Researchers think old masters like Sandro Botticelli, who painted Lamentation Over the Dead Christ, may have mixed egg into their oil paints to alter certain qualities. Fine Art Images / Heritage ...

Editor’s Note: David Coles is the founder and head paint-maker of Langridge Artist Colours. This is an edited extract from “Chromatopia: An Illustrated History of Color,” published by Thames & Hudson.

Take a closer look at this original oil painting portrait and the details that bring the subject to life. A simple glimpse ...