Walnut Oil: Prefered Medium of the Renaissance

I may be more of a renaissance woman than I thought. I was running out of painting medium when I bought a bottle of walnut oil at the grocery store to tide me over and I’ve never gone back. Walnut oil cleans my brushes without drying them out and is not toxic or stinky like turpentine.

 “Grind the colors with walnut oil or linseed oil, 
though walnut oil is better because it yellows less over time.”
Vassari on Techniques, 1550

M. Graham & Co. Makers of Professional Artists' Colors and Mediums, create their oil paints with walnut oil... “Preferred by artists for over five centuries oil color ground in walnut oil provides rich, vibrant color with greater freedom of control over all types of painting application. Free flowing and slower drying, walnut oil enables delicate passages of finely blended color, rich jewel-like glazes or juicy full brush application with no addition of solvents. Because of walnut oil's unique refractive index and non-yellowing nature, colors ground in this fine oil are naturally more alive and brilliant. They retain their clarity and are free from the discoloration associated with other drying oils."
 

 Did Raphael achieve his juicy jewel like colors with walnut oil?

The Great Raphael Shows Up Unexpectedly

Today I began working on panel two of my Triptych for Thornbush Hall. On an Ampersand panel I made preliminary marks with graphite pencil then painted over them with a ground of iron oxide yellow blended with zinc white and walnut oil. I cover the board and then blend and blend with a fan brush and feathery brush strokes until it takes on a warm golden glow with a texture like doe skin.

 Yellow Ground - Triptych for Thornbush Hall

Even while I am in the process of downloading the sixth and final episode of the BBC's Desparate Romantics television series about the Pre-Raphaelites, I find evidence that although they made their mark the Pre-Raphaelites never could supplant the great Raphael. Here today, in the year 2010 on the packaging of my Ampersand panel are the words, Raphael painted his masterpiece La Fornarina on panel in 1519. And yes, according to Ampersand's packaging, it seems La Fornarina herself, Raphael's own mistress, extols the virtues of painting on panels.

Ampersand packaging with Raphael's La Fornarina