History of Oil Colours

Have you ever wondered about the history of Oil Colours, namely pigments in drying oil? How did this happen? And when? By whom? (Part1)

We have researched the existing scholars’ literature and here we present our findings:

Vasari’s approach (mid-16th century A.D.)

Giorgio Vasari (1511–1574), whose celebrated work Lives of the Artists (1560) remains an important source of information on the leading artists of the Italian Renaissance, identifies Jan van Eyck (1390–1441)¹ as the father of oil painting.

According to Vasari, artists had long sought a technique that would allow them to achieve the soft transitions and delicate layering that tempera could not readily provide. Van Eyck, having developed a special varnish for his own use, began experimenting in search of a solution. By grinding pigments with his oil-based varnish, he succeeded in overcoming this limitation—and, as Vasari recounts, oil colours were born.

Van Eyck kept his discovery secret until he was advanced in age. Eventually, however, news of the new technique spread throughout the artistic world. Antonello da Messina (1430–1479), eager to discover its secrets, travelled to Flanders. According to Vasari, he gained van Eyck’s confidence through friendship and valuable gifts, thereby mastering the technique. He subsequently returned to Italy and settled in Venice, where he was held in high esteem for having brought the knowledge of oil painting from Flanders and made it available to Italian artists.

The French writer, painter, and chemist Jean-François Léonor Mérimée (1757–1836) fully endorses Vasari’s account. Indeed, he goes so far as to challenge alternative theories based on the writings of Theophilus Presbyter and Cennino Cennini, which we shall examine later, maintaining that the brothers Hubert and Jan van Eyck were the inventors of oil painting².

Cennino di Drea Cennini (14th century A.D.)

Cennino Cennini (c. 1370–1440), an Italian painter from Florence who helped preserve the artistic traditions of Giotto, is best known for his work Il libro dell’arte (The Book of Art), written around 1437. This work is among the most valuable sources for understanding the materials, methods, techniques, and working practices of medieval artists³.

Throughout its pages, Cennini describes the use of linseed oil, particularly in connection with grinding pigments for application to walls, panels, and other suitable surfaces. Several chapters deal explicitly with the preparation and use of oil colours⁴, such as:

Chapter 89: “How to paint in oil on walls, panels, iron, or whatever you please,” in which Cennini notes that the technique was widely practised by German artists.
Chapter 90: “How to begin painting in oil on walls.”
Chapter 91: “How to make oil fit for tempering colours, and also for mordants, by boiling over the fire.”
Chapter 93: “How to grind colours in oil and to use them on walls.”

These are only a few examples of the many  passages  in which Cennini⁵ discusses linseed oil, the preparation of oil colours, and their practical application in painting. He even explains how colours mixed with linseed oil could be stored in small vessels for later use.

Such detailed instructions suggest not an experimental or newly discovered practice, but an established technique familiar to the artisans of his time.

Oil colours, therefore, were certainly known and widely practiced by the time Cennini wrote his book.

Theophilus Presbyter (11th century A.D.)

Theophilus Presbyter (c. 1070-c.1125) was a Benedictine monk traditionally associated with the treatise De diversis artibus (On Various Arts), also known as Schedula artium diversarum (List of Various Arts), circa 1100-1125. The work provides a remarkable collection of recipes, instructions, and practical knowledge, documenting how artisans of the period went about their work⁶.

For the purposes of our investigation, it is of secondary importance whether Theophilus was the author’s actual name or a pseudonym. Some scholars have associated the text with Roger of Helmarshausen, a German Benedictine monk renowned for his metalwork⁷. What matters most here is the evidence contained within the treatise itself.

After describing the preparation of the painting surface, Theophilus gives the following instructions:

“Ac deinceps accipe colores quos imponere volueris, terens eos diligenter oleo lini sine aqua, et fac mixturas vultuum ac vestimentorum sicut superius aqua feceras, et bestias sive aves aut folia variabis suis coloribus, prout libuerit.”

Translated into English:

“And then take the colours which you wish to lay on, grinding them carefully with linseed oil, without water, and make tints for faces, and for draperies, as you before made with water, and you will vary beasts, or birds, or leaves, in their colours, as it may please you”⁸.

The significance of this passage is unmistakable: it explicitly describes grinding pigments with linseed oil, without water, for the purpose of painting. In other words, it documents the use of pigments bound in oil – namely, Oil Colours.
Therefore, they were already in use by at least his contemporary artists of the 11th century.

Heraclius (Eraclius) (10th century⁹, 11th century¹⁰ or 12th century¹¹ A.D.)

De coloribus et artibus Romanorum is a treatise attributed to Heraclius (or Eraclius), a mysterious figure whose precise identity and date remain uncertain. The work is generally associated with the medieval period and contains valuable information about the preparation and use of artistic materials.

Several passages are particularly noteworthy, as they refer directly to the combination of pigments and drying oils¹².

• XXIV. [268] “How wood is to be prepared before painting on it” describes the application of lead white pigment mixed with linseed oil to a wooden surface. The passage indicates that the pigment was ground to a consistency suitable for preparing the wood before painting.
• XXV. [262] “How a column is prepared for painting” similarly describes the preparation of a stone surface using white pigment mixed with oil. The text then states: “Tunc vero poteris desuper de omnibus coloribus cum oleo distemperatis pingere.”, in English words “you will then be able to paint upon it with all colours mixed with oil”

The evidence therefore supports the conclusion that the practice of combining pigments with linseed oil was already known.

Afghanistan’s Bamiyan Valley (mid-7th century A.D.)

At the Bamiyan Valley in Afghanistan, two monumental standing Buddha statues, measuring approximately 55 and 38 metres in height, occupied separate niches carved into the valley’s cliffs. Both were destroyed by the Taliban in 2001, along with the loss of important cultural heritage associated with the site. Nevertheless, surviving wall paintings have continued to provide invaluable evidence of the artistic techniques practised in the region.

Since 2005, when UNESCO initiated safeguarding efforts in the area, scientific investigations have contributed to a deeper understanding of these paintings and the materials used in their creation.

Analyses of the wall paintings in Cave N(a), dated to the mid-7th century A.D., revealed the use of horse glue as a sizing material and drying oils—including poppyseed, walnut, and perilla oils—as binders¹³.

A study published in 2021 reported that its findings “confirmed the Buddhist paintings of mid-seventh century Bamiyan as the world’s earliest examples to use drying oil as binding media. In addition, the creation of the paintings is distinguished by other complex technologies, including the skilful use of earthen materials; and the sophisticated application of multiple colour layers and finishing techniques”¹⁴.

These findings demonstrate that drying oils were being used as binding media in paintings as early as the mid-7th century A.D. And since geographically, the region being “located at a cultural cross-roads between Iran and the Mediterranean to the west, China to the east, India to the south, and nomadic cultures to the north”¹⁵, it is therefore plausible that knowledge of artistic materials and techniques travelled between neighbouring regions through contact among these civilisations.

As archaeological and scientific research continues to benefit from increasingly sophisticated analytical methods, new discoveries may further expand our understanding of these early practices—provided, of course, that sufficient material evidence has survived to be examined.

1. Burroughs, B. (Ed.), “Vasari’s Lives of the Artists”, Murray printing Co., Mass, USA, 1946
2. Mérimée, J. F. L., “The art of painting in oil and in Fresco”, Whitaker and Co., London, 1839
3. Britannica Editors, "Cennino Cennini." Encyclopedia Britannica, February 21, 2024, https://www.britannica.com/biography/Cennino-Cennini, accessed 23.9.2026
4. Cennino Cennini, “The Book of the Art”, Herringham, C.J. (translation and notes), George Allen & Unwin Ltd., London, 1899
5. ibid (Cennini)
6. Theophilus Presbyter, “De diversis artibus “, Hendrie, R. (translation and notes), George Woodfall and Son, London, 1847
7. Tschan, F. J., “Early eleventh century bronze casting”, Archaeology, 3(1), pp. 47–52, 1950
8. ibid (Theophlius Presbyter), Book 1, Chapter XXVI
9. Richards, J.C., “A New Manuscript of Heraclius”, Speculum, 15 (3), pp. 255-271, 1940
10. Bolman, E. S., “De coloribus: The Meanings of Color in Beatus Manuscripts”, Gesta, 38 (1), pp. 22-34, 1999
11. Schramm, P. E., “Kaiser, Rom und Renovatio: Studien und Texte zur Geschichte des römischen Erneuerungsgedankens vom Ende des karolingischen Reiches bis zum Investiturstreit”, B. G. Teubner, Leipzig, 1929
12. Merrifield, M.P., “Original Treatises dating from the XIIth to XVIIIth centuries in the Arts of painting”, John Murray, London, 1849
13. Taniguchi, Y., Kawahara, K., Takashima, M., Cotte, M., Mazurek, J., Kumazawa, Y., Taga, Y., Nakazawa, T., “Organic Materials Used for Giant Buddhas and Wall Paintings in Bamiyan, Afghanistan”, Applied Sciences, 12, 9476, 2022
14. Taniguchi, Y., “Materials and Technologies of the Bamiyan Wall Paintings”. In: Aoki, S., et al. Conservation and Painting Techniques of Wall Paintings on the Ancient Silk Road. Cultural Heritage Science. Springer, Singapore, 2021
15. ibid (Taniguchi et al. 2021)