The 10-day course “The Impact of Oil: Historical painting techniques in early Netherlandish paintings” was offered by the Amsterdam Maastricht Summer University. The course was co-organized with Esther van Duijn, and was attended by 16 participants (professionals in the art history or conservation field) from 23/08/11 to 01/09/11.

The aim of the intensive course was to introduce the participants to the technical properties of 15th and early 16th century oil paintings on panel from the Northern Netherlands
through a series of lectures, excursions and workshops.
The mornings were devoted to presentations by members of the research project The Impact of Oil, and a few excursions
to relevant museum collections. The lectures focused on the workshop practices in early Netherlandish painting and the technical aspects of the use of oil as a binding medium
and its potential to create illusionistic effects.
In the afternoons, a practical workshop (led by Abbie Vandivere and Esther van Duijn) was given, based on the study of original paintings from the Rijksmuseum collection, which were on hand in the studio. The participants prepared pigments, ground them with different types of oils, and use these paints to create a reconstruction of an area from one of the paintings. Special emphasis was placed on the various techniques used to depict specific fabrics: gold-brocaded velvets, shot silks, and translucent textiles. Oil paint lends itself well to producing different kinds of textural effects because of its relatively slow drying, blending ability and translucency.

Presentations given by Abbie Vandivere

• ‘Making historically appropriate materials from scratch’
• ‘Cornelis Engebrechtsz’s Christ in the House of Martha and Mary’
• ‘Techniques of the 16th-century Leiden school painters’
• ‘Changing draperies: recipes and practice'
• Practical demonstrations of reconstruction techniques

Click here to see more photos of the course.
For more information, please contact Abbie.