“ View of Callian , France ” ( 1985 ), watercolor on paper
“ A Model City ” ( 1997 ), oil on linen , 12 x 32 ” frame 23 x 41 ”; Photo by J . Craig Sweat Photography
I also learned how to make Congo varnish , some aspects of which appear in “ Elements of Varnish Making ” ( which was in my Frye show ). One outgrowth of all these studies was the discovery , in what is known as the “ De Mayerne Manuscript ,” of a purported use of a certain “ amber oil of Venice ” by Italian artists of the 17th century . Theodore de Mayerne , First Physician to Charles I , was a member of court . His hobby was collecting any and all information on the practices of artists . He knew Van Dyck . The “ amber ” connection involved Orazio and Artemisia Gentileschi who used said “ amber oil ” ( varnish ) in two ways . Orazio added it to his colors directly on the palette . His daughter Artemisia mixed it with walnut oil for “ oiling out ” the paint surface when beginning a new session , enabling an imperceptible blending with the underlying work , as if all of a piece . Interestingly , the Artemisia information came through Nicholas Lanier , Master of the King ’ s Music , who had known Artemisia in Venice .
My paper “ Amber Varnish and the Technique of the Gentileschi ” was published as Appendix IV in my friend R . Ward Bissell ’ s “ Artemisia Gentileschi and the Authority of Art : Critical Reading and Catalogue Raisonné ” ( Pennsylvania State University Press , 1999 ). Curiously , records of exact studio practices among the Old Masters are very rare , but the Gentileschi allusion is highly credible and amusingly telling . Maybe Ruddick and Taubes were right , after all .
14 ART CHOWDER MAGAZINE