The development of painting on coloured surfaces in sixteenth-century Italy

AbstractPaint samples from nearly 140 sixteenth-century Italian panels and canvases in the National Gallery, London, have been examined to determine the nature of their preparatory layers. The results are presented in tables organized by colour. These tables are subdivided into three geographical regions, roughly equivalent to the established art-historical division into the Florentine and Roman, the North Italian and the Venetian Schools. By organizing the results in this way, it is possible to distinguish patterns of development and usage. These appear to contradict many traditional assumptions about the introduction of painting on coloured surfaces.