The history of oil painting
The history of oil painting
As the origin of oil painting is controversial, our story begins in the 15th century, when oil painting was perfected by the Flemish painters, and it took the Van Eyck brothers several years of experimentation to develop a new texture, closer to our contemporary painting.
Three centuries later, Lefranc Bourgeois oil paints were born of the meeting between one of Europe's greatest painters of the 18th century, Jean Siméon Chardin, and his neighbour Charles Laclef, the ancestor of Lefranc Bourgeois. Laclef was a grocer who was the sole owner of the right to sell raw pigments, while only painters were allowed to grind and process them. The alchemy between the 2 men gave rise to the production of colours as we know them today, and in 1753 Jean Baptiste Laclef was appointed supplier of paints to the Château de Versailles. Only 35 years after its creation, its paints had achieved worldwide renown for their purity and incredible stability.
The queen of painting techniques in the West, oil paint reigned supreme from Antiquity until the Impressionist era in the 19th century. At the time, oil paint was made up of ground pigments and a binder - linseed oil - and dried through a process of siccativation (oxidation of the oil in the paint). Later, the addition of resins to the mixture of pigments and oil made it possible to speed up drying time and make it durable over time. It gradually replaced the tempera technique in the late Middle Ages, and its use spread throughout Europe. The basic composition of oil paint is still the same today! Linseed oil is the most common, but safflower oil, poppy seed oil and walnut oil are also used. Nowadays, pigments are no longer ground by hand, but by highly sophisticated machines. The fineness of the grinding, the selection of the binders and the pigment load will result in either a fine oil, slightly less concentrated in pigments, or an extra-fine oil with the highest pigment load. It is this ancestral know-how that gives Lefranc Bourgeois paints their unique quality.
In 1859, the destiny of the Lefranc company took another turn, with Alexandre Lefranc, a pioneer, visionary and enthusiast, putting the finishing touches to years of research into paint packaging. The development of the screw cap on paint tubes enabled painters to leave their studios. The development of photography and the democratisation of plein-air painting encouraged painters to move away from faithful representations of reality, by capturing the moment and natural light. Inspiration came from scenes of everyday life and landscapes, which broke with classical representations of Greek mythology and biblical scenes. This was the beginning of Impressionism. A veritable revolution in the history of art, this innovation gave rise to new techniques, and thus new paintings ...
La Fée Electricité, 1937, Raoul Dufy Renowned for his genius and passion for the arts, Marc Havel, the laboratory's chief engineer, was approached by the painter Raoul Dufy, who was planning to create the largest painting in the world: La Fée Electricité (10 metres high and 62 metres long) for the 1937 Universal Exhibition. The problem was to be able to complete this monumental work as quickly as possible. Lefranc Bourgeois therefore created a light, fast-drying paint, so as to be able to work transparently: the idea was to combine the oil paint with an emulsion-type medium (skin glue stretched out in water, in emulsion with the oil colour and 10% Dammar gum), allowing superimpositions in the cool, preserving transparency and mattness, while ensuring that the whole dried thoroughly. La Fée Electricité is now in the Musée d'Art Moderne in Paris, where it can still be admired today for its perfect preservation over time. Following this fruitful collaboration, Lefranc Bourgeois developed a range of transparent colours in 1950, specially designed for glazes and the forerunner of the iconic Flashe paint !
Painters have constantly transformed oil paint to adapt to major artistic movements, working with brushes or knives to create effects in the material, or adding additives to the paint. Flemish painters of the 15th century used an oil paint formula with a very glossy finish. In contrast, Italian painters of the Renaissance painted alla prima, with a single brushstroke, so they wanted to tone down the glossiness of the paint. They were looking for a rounder, more imprecise effect, and to achieve this they added beeswax to the oil paint. The use of oil paint additives has increased painters' creativity tenfold, offering them a multitude of possibilities. Depending on the degree of creativity required, the type of medium used will allow for viscosity, dryness, transparency, smoothness, shine... It may favour the inclusion of fillers or, on the contrary, favour thin layers and glazes. Lefranc Bourgeois has developed a complete collection of additives for oil paints: in 1954, the definitive formula for the Flemish medium was perfected to bring depth and luminosity to paintings, while the Venetian medium allows you to paint with the brushstroke and bring roundness to the colours.Discover all the mediums for oil paint, their effects and their uses.
In 1892, the painter Vibert worked with Lefranc to develop a number of varnishes and mediums. The benefits of these additives are not new: as far back as the 13th century, painters were looking for effects, and mixed their paints with balms, resins (amber) to transform them.later, Xavier de Langlais, also a painter and collaborator with chemists, developed the egg medium. In 1954, the definitive formula for the Flemish medium was developed to bring depth and luminosity to paintings, while the Venetian medium enabled him to paint with a brushstroke and bring roundness to colours.Discover all the mediums for oil painting, their effects and uses.
Innovation for DNAThe year 2017 was marked by an important innovation: after more than ten years of research, chemists succeeded in extracting cadmium from extra-fine oil paints. This heavy metal, which is responsible for bone and liver diseases and is ecotoxic, has been removed from 8 shades in the fine oil range, with no impact on the quality of the paint. Lefranc Bourgeois is committed to providing healthier and more environmentally-friendly paints that allow you to reveal your full artistic potential, while respecting tradition and innovation.
