American Painters on Technique – The Colonial Period to 1860

This title offers an original survey on Colonial artists' materials and techniques. This is the first comprehensive study of an important but largely anonymous part of the history of American art: the materials and techniques used by American painters. Based on extensive research including artists' recipe books, letters, journals, and painting manuals, much previously unpublished, the authors have also drawn on their many years as conservators of paintings for museums and collectors. Information is provided on the methods of painters such as Benjamin West, Gilbert Stuart, Washington Allston, Thomas Sully, Thomas Cole, and William Sidney Mount. It includes topics such as the quest for the 'secrets' of the Old Masters; how artists saw their paintings changing over time; the application of 'toning' layers; and, the evolving self-confidence of American experimenters and innovators.