Oil Grounds: Traditional Techniques for Painting Surfaces

Introduction to Oil Grounds for Painting

While waterborne gesso and chalk grounds dominated European painting on wood panels from the 13th to the 15th centuries, the development of oil painting techniques in the 16th century brought about new demands on preparatory layers. Oil grounds emerged in response, offering a more flexible and compatible base for oil media, especially on canvas and rigid supports. These oil grounds quickly became a foundational element in traditional oil painting techniques. They marked a major technical shift from earlier waterborne grounds by accommodating the flexibility and optical richness required by oil paint.

Copper, in particular, gained increasing popularity as a support in the 16th and 17th centuries. Its unique qualities require specialized preparation methods, which are discussed in a dedicated section below.

This article, based on the analysis in The Grounds in Pictures by Philip Hendy and A. S. Lucas (1968), examines the composition, preparation, and performance of traditional oil grounds. A separate section also addresses the preparation of copper supports, which gained popularity in the late 16th and 17th centuries. It is Part Two of a series; Part One reviewed glue-based gesso and chalk grounds on wooden panels.

The Rise of Oil Grounds

The adoption of oil grounds marked a significant shift away from traditional gesso and chalk grounds. These earlier waterborne grounds, while ideal for panel painting, were too brittle for flexible supports and often failed under environmental stress. Oil grounds, by contrast, offered greater elasticity, making them better suited to canvas and other flexible or semi-rigid supports. This flexibility proved especially useful in regions with high humidity, such as Venice, where large-scale canvases were prone to expansion and contraction due to frequent temperature and moisture fluctuations.

Oil grounds—typically a mixture of lead white pigment and drying oils, such as linseed—were also used on rigid supports, including wood panels, millboard, and strawboard, from at least the 17th century onward. These grounds could vary in thickness and sometimes served as opaque priming layers applied over existing gesso grounds. Their versatility, adhesion, and ability to modulate absorbency helped lead grounds gradually supplant gesso and chalk in most oil painting contexts.

As oil paint gained favor for its versatility and durability, traditional glue-based grounds proved too absorbent or brittle when applied to canvas, often leading to cracking or instability due to their inability to flex with the movement of the support. Oil grounds offered a more suitable alternative. Their flexibility reduced the risk of cracking on fabric supports, and their lower absorbency enhanced the saturation and flow of oil-based paints.