Sculptor, painter, architect, draftsman and poet, Michelangelo Buonarroti, better known as Michelangelo, was born in Caprese, Italy in 1475. His family foresaw for him a career as a civil servant. Encouraged, however, by one of his friends, he chose instead to become an apprentice at the studio of painter Domenico Ghirlandaio at the age of [Read more]

Oil paint is a thick colorant, composed of powdered pigments and a binding agent, originally natural linseed, walnut, or poppy oil. Its drying time is rather long, an inconvenience greatly compensated for by its capacity to blend well and mix colors. It thus enables the artist to create gradations and contrasts of great quality.

In [Read more]

Painting is one the richest forms of art and a vibrant witness of the past, a way of leaving one's trace over the span of time. Its evolution over the course of the centuries is impossible to describe in just a few words, due to its sheer dimension, longevity, and diversity.

However, it is possible to assert that the term [Read more]

Several steps are required for the preparation of the mortar used for fresco painting during the Renaissance. One first coats the wall with a mixture of one-third lime and two-thirds fine sand called "arriccio". The outlines of the drawing are then sketched onto the wall by a technique known as "pochoir" (stencil). The [Read more]

Before oil paint was adopted by many artists, the supports to paint on were highly varied, ranging from wooden structures to pieces of silk or even whole walls.

It was at the turn of the 16th century that artists began to use canvases stretched over a frame. Practical, they enabled painters to roll up their works to transport them more [Read more]