A Closer Look; Techniques of Painting

Materials and working practices influence a painter just as much as contemporary intellectual and cultural developments. Techniques of Paintingaims to help readers develop a painterly eye by learning to recognize different materials and methods of application and to appreciate how these features contribute to how a painting looks. Like all Closer Lookvolumes, this is a "how-to-look" guide, rather than a "how-to-do" guide, enabling readers to identify different types of painting in all collections. The pictures illustrated range from 13th-century panel paintings in egg tempera to 19th-century oils on canvas, all from the National Gallery, London.

Jo Kirby works in the Scientific Department of the National Gallery, London, and is a world-renowned expert in pigments and paint materials.