The Art of Ft. Worth

 I have mentioned before that I am in a special interest group (the art of Ft. Worth) offered by the University where Tom and I take classes.

Today we met at the Kimbell Museum of Art for a special tour with an art historian. She was very informative and one of the many things she explained how artists  painted on wood before before the sixteenth century using natural elements to make their paints by grinding them to a fine powder, and mixing them with of all things egg yolks.

Some colors were very expensive like Ultramarine which was ground lapis from Afghanistan. It was so expensive that painters would only mix up what they could use up in one day. To keep the compounds moist some artists would keep their paint in a pig's bladder and dip the brush in to apply the paint.

The lecture was very informative calling to attention things you wouldn't notice. Like this painting by Diego Velazquez done on canvas in 1632. The artist wiped the prep off of his hand onto the canvas since he knew it would be covered up by the oil paint. Problem is, substances under oil paintings eventually bleed through over time, so to the right of his right shoulder you can see where the painter wiped his hand.

It was also surprising to me that we thought that it was a new thing to photo shop pictures, but this painting of Don Pedro done in oil in 1632 was edited to make the subject look thinner…..since over time the shadow of the original painting that was reduced around the stomach and the calves has become obvious. I guess humanity being vain is not something new!