Closer Look

Materials and working practices influence a painter just as much as contemporary intellectual and cultural developments. "Techniques of Painting" aims 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 Look" volumes, 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, including works by Duccio, Sassetta, Rubens, Rembrandt, Degas, Monet and Van Gogh, all from the National Gallery, London.