Oil Paintings Take People Through History

The pursuit of art and culture often bring to mind visits to galleries and trips to museums. Anyone planning a touring vacation in Europe will set their sights on such places as must-see stops. Oil paintings are historic evidence of humanity's commitment to beauty and art.

Oil painting is the process of using oil based paints to create a work of art. Oil paints were once made from boiling a natural resin with oil. The oil came from natural sources, typically linseed but not excluding walnut or safflower oil as well as poppyseed oil. Using a resin such as frankincense would make a varnish that was highly prized as a medium because of its body and gloss.

When people consider the history of oil painting, they think usually of the 15th century. However, there is an actual treatise written by the pseudonymous author Theophilus Presbyter regarding the use of oil paints that is dated 1125. Indian and Chinese painters were using oil based paints in Afghanistan as far back as the fifth and ninth centuries.

During the 15th century when oil painting became popular in European countries, most pictures were of three types. There were the illustrious supernatural images taken from mythology or the bible, such as the Rape of Europa and the Raising of the Cross. Famous kings and queens appreciated portrait work and would often hire an artist to be in residence at court. Painters also enjoyed capturing common people, such as the picture The Blue Boy or another called Bust of an Old Man with Helmet.

Almost everyone knows about the infamous painting the Mona Lisa. Cloaked in intrigue for a very long time, the painting was not considered finished by the artist, Leonardo da Vinci, until just before he died in 1525. In 2005 a margin note was found that identifies the person in the image as Lisa Del Giocondo, a member of a prominent family that had the artwork commissioned in honour of the birth of her second son and the purchase of a new home.

The Mona Lisa is considered a beautiful portrait despite the unorthodox beauty of the sitter. Compared to women of the time, even in her period she was not considered attractive. It is believed that this is evidence of how very talented da Vinci was, painting her true to form. People believed for a long time that she had no eyebrows or eyelashes because women of her day plucked out what they considered unsightly hairs. However, further inspection shows remnants of such having existed in the original painting, and no likely wiped away from over cleaning since then.

In 1911, an employee of the Louvre museum stole the artwork during museum hours by hiding it under his jacket. His intention was to have it returned to its homeland of Italy. It was kept there for two years before its final return back to the Louvre, and the man served only six months for his crime but was considered a heroic patriot by his people.

Oil paintings have the ability to take people back to days when art was hard, when paints weren't water soluble, and artists had to work in their studios because they made their own pigments themselves. Now, modern art appreciation allows people to look back into history and see how things were done and how people lived. This is purely thanks to the painstaking work of famous painters, to whom modern art collectors owe, an immense debt of gratitude.

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