A Rose is a Rose is a Rose?

We Compare Six Popular Oil Paint Colors Across Brands

It is not known exactly when oil paint was first developed, but the oldest known oil paintings were found in 2008 in a cave in Afghanistan and are estimated to date from 650 A.D. In Europe, oil paint was used initially as a decorative medium, and was not widely adopted for artistic purposes until the 15th century. The earliest painters could not just pop down to the local art supply store when they needed paint. They had to buy the raw pigments and laboriously grind them down into extremely fine powders. Then they had to obtain, or make, the binders and oils with which to mix the powdered pigment so that it would become a usable liquid paint. They also had to make paint dryers, and thinners of some sort to thin the viscous paint and clean up. In essence, they had to be chemists in order to have any colors with which to paint. It might take days or weeks just to prepare the materials before they even got started with the fun part. These were very determined people!

Until the portrait pa…