Flower Painting using Seventeenth Century Dutch Technique
Cleo Nisse

Canvas Preparation

Date: Monday 15th February 2016
Location: Laboratory in Chandler

We have begun to prepare canvases according to instructions given to us by Erma Hermens.
I was given a piece of linen (unbleached?)

I pinned down a hem of c. 2 cm around the edge of the linen, running a piece of string along the inside of the hem as instructed. I then stitched around the circumference. I used threads I had taken from a scrap piece of linen by pulling them out with a pin.

Date: Monday 15th February 2016
Location: My apartment

I put the small wooden stretcher together with the brand marking facing the reverse. There was no configuration in which the members of the stretcher fit perfectly without some gaping at the corners. However I tried different possibilities until I found the arrangement that offered the best fit.

I used a yarn needle to lace the canvas to the stretcher, using the same kind of string as used through the hem. As instructed I kept approximately 3cm space between each hole in the canvas. I kept the lacing quite loose, as I interpreted the instructions as indicating that we should not pull it too tight.

Size Layer
Date: Friday 19th February 2016
Location: Laboratory in Chandler

We are preparing our canvases for painting using a rabbit skin glue size layer.
The rabbit skin glue was heated in a double-boiler to between 50 and 55 degrees celsius.

I found, in discussion with other members of the Making andKnowing team, that I had left my canvas too loose on the stretcher. So before applying the glue layers I tightened it as much as possible. It would have been possible to tighten it still further had I left less space between the string holes in the canvas - I wonder if this would have given a better overall result?

I applied the first layer of rabbit skin glue using a small, flat head, paintbrush. I painted it out in horizontal and vertical lines endeavouring to keep the layer even. When I had finished, I held it up to a raking light and found that there were some areas of uneven glue application and I tried to brush these out. I then stood the canvas in a fume hood to allow the first glue layer to dry.

After approximately thirty minutes, the first glue layer was sufficiently dry to apply the second layer. I followed the same procedure, and found it easier to make the layer even in the second application, probably because I had become more used to the process. I left the canvas standing in the fume hood once again to dry.

Ground Layer
Date:
Location: Laboratory in Chandler

Following a typical seventeenth century Dutch practice we are making a ground layer to fill in the interstices of the canvas with pigments that were inexpensive in the early modern period. Often these cheap pigments were earths, such as burnt Siena, which we are using today. Making a ground layer of earth pigments in oil creates a smoother layer to paint on and seals the canvas, preventing later oil paint layers from being absorbed into the canvas.

Initially we planned to use burnt Siena tube oil paint from Kremer. But the consistency seemed wrong for the thin layer we wanted to achieve. So instead I used burnt Siena pigment from Kremer and cold pressed linseed oil which I ground on a glass plate with a glass muller. Whenever grinding pigments I listen carefully because once a gritty, scratching sound has disappeared one can be sure the paint has become quite smooth. I ground the mixture and added oil until it was approximately the same consistency as double cream.

I then applied the mix with a palette knife, and my fingers, pushing it into the interstices. The layer I achieved was very thin and smooth. I left it to dry.

Second Ground Layer
Date:
Location: Laboratory in Chandler

Following a typical seventeenth century Dutch practice a second ground layer was applied over the red/brown ground.
This layer was predominantly lead white with some addition of lamp black.
We used 'flake white' tube paint - a lead white purchased from a paint supplier. This must have various additions different to those of a seventeenth century paint, most likely extenders and binders of various kinds. It would be useful to look up the exact composition of this paint.
This layer was allowed to dry.

Underdrawing
Date:
Location: Laboratory in Chandler

A black and white photocopy of a flower from a Dutch still-life painting was selected as a basis for this painting.
I traced the photocopy, thinking that the process of tracing would allow me to abstract to a linear form more easily.
I then pricked holes through the traced lines, making sure to go all the way through with the pin to make the holes large enough.
After this, I pounced through with black charcoal on a piece of cloth.
I then took away the ‘cartoon’ and was left with pounced lines and some excess charcoal dust which I blew away.
I followed the pounced lines with yellow-ochre and linseed oil paint to fix them.
I had tried to do a small number of pounced lines to avoid having too many dark lines showing through in the final work but on reflection I don’t think I traced enough lines.

Dead Layer
Date:
Location: Laboratory in Chandler

For the paint layers we used William Beurs treatise 'The big world painted in small...' 1692 as a guide, along with advice from our expert maker Dr Erma Hermens.
Wilhelmus (Willem) Beurs (Dordrecht, 1656 - Zwolle, 1700) was a Dutch painter. He trained in 1671-1672, together with Arnold Houbraken, in the studio of Willem van Drielenburg. In Amsterdam he worked mainly on landscapes and portraits. In 1687 he moved to Zwolle where he became a teacher. In 1692 Beurs published The Large World, Painted in small, which he dedicated to his pupils Aleida Greve, Anna Cornelia Holt, Sophia Holt en Cornelia van Marle.

Following this systematic method of painting, we ought to apply a 'dead colour' oil paint layer to our paintings. Due to concerns about drying times we have been instructed to do this layer in acrylic paint instead. This will provide a fast-drying, opaque, base colour for the rest of our work in oils.
Using red (precise? ) acrylic paint chosen for its similarity to the colour vermillion, I applied a reasonably thick but smooth layer all over my flower. While I covered the whole underdrawing with paint, it still showed through to some extent.

Upper layers
Date:
Location: Laboratory in Chandler
Subject: Upper layers
The acrylic dead layer dried very quickly so we were able to proceed with later stages of the painting on the same day.
I was copying a tulip that had yellow stripes. In the seventeenth century these stripes would have been made with King's Yellow which is an arsenic pigment and therefore toxic. Instead, therefore, we used a cadmium yellow even though cadmium pigments were not invented until the nineteenth century. We mixed some cadmium yellow tube paint with flake white (lead white) tube paint until we had a hue that we were happy with for the 'day' tones.
I then put in some highlights in lead white.
I was impressed with how quickly this schematic layering method functioned to produce an acceptable looking painting of a tulip.