Oil Painting On Copper Plate

Copper also served as an engraving plate for etchings and prints by master artists.

Oil painting on copper plate.

Copper based pigments were an important ingredient in ancient paints and the metal itself was frequently employed as a canvas on which renaissance artists painted. The flemish masters and other artists including jan breughel the elder claude el greco guido reni guercino rembrandt carlo saraceni ambrosius bosschaert ii copley fielding and vernet painted on copper. Oil on copper paintings were prevalent in the mid sixteenth century in italy and northern europe. Depending on the plate s preparation the reddish orange metal can also provide a warm tonality to the finished painting much like other supports including wood or other paintings.

The usefulness of copper in metalwork is known to all but few people realize how much it has contributed to art and painting throughout history. Hammered or rolled metal provides a non absorbent surface that can increase color saturation. Oil painting is the process of painting with pigments with a medium of drying oil as the binder commonly used drying oils include linseed oil poppy seed oil walnut oil and safflower oil the choice of oil imparts a range of properties to the oil paint such as the amount of yellowing or drying time certain differences depending on the oil are also visible in the sheen of the paints. How to prepare a copper panel for oil painting.

Paint on the prepared copper plate. Painting on or with copper has a long history. The use of copper as a substrate for an oil painting dates back to medieval times.