Medieval Mind

click image to enlarge

In the Middle ages all paintings were done on wood, and there was no such thing as a painting on canvas or linen. When artists wanted to do large paintings they had to glue wooden boards together along the edges. This arrangement was very precarious and it led to a practice called “cradling” where the entire back of a large painting would be covered over with a network of honeycombed slats which were interlocked. Supports on the back and cradling however, never prevented paintings on wood from bending and cracking along the glued seams.

One of the biggest problems with paintings on wood was their weight. On certain days of the year, the large religious paintings in churches were brought out and carried in procession through the town. It was because of the great weight and awkwardness of wooden paintings that led someone to suggest doing special paintings on canvas or linen, specifically to be carried in processions. This was the origin of painting on canvas, beginning in the early Renaissance.

When artists began to paint on canvas they always filled in the cloth texture with a scraper, and filler, and sanded down the surface so that the primed painting surface would be as similar to a wood panel as possible. Later artists realized the attractiveness and usefulness of the cloth texture and began to let it show, and utilized it in conjunction with the brush work. The weave of the canvas became for the painter, like rosin is to the bow of the violinist. This use of the canvas texture can be seen very clearly in the work of painters like Titian, and Giorgione.

For many years I painted only on wood, but at a certain point, I don’t know exactly how long ago, I switched to painting on canvas. My paintings on canvas have not been carried in religious processions. I always fill the canvas at least twice and sand it down so that the cloth texture won’t show, in this respect I want the painting to be as much like a wood panel as possible, but there is no cure for the medieval mind.

This painting measures 8” x 10”. It is painted on canvas which has been filled and sanded, the canvas has painted sides and is stapled in the back, so that framing is unnecessary. The painting is signed with an R on the front, and full signature and date on the back, Richard Britell, September 10, 2001