Six formulas of Jacques Maroger

Portrait of Jacques Maroger




Through reading up on how Bernard Safran taught himself to make and use the black oil medium rediscovered by Jacques Maroger, I just had to feed my my curiosity and dig into finding out what these formulas really were. This is what I found.

Six formulas of Maroger taken from his book on painting formulas

1. Lead Medium - attributed to Antonello da Messina - One part litharge (yellow lead oxide) or lead white, combined by cooking with three to four parts linseed.
2. Lead Medium - attributed to Leonardo da Vinci - One part litharge or lead white, combined by cooking with three to four parts raw linseed oil, and three to four parts water.
3. Lead Medium - attributed to the Venetian painters - Giorgione, Titian and Tintoretto - One or two parts litharge or lead white, combined by cooking with 20 parts raw linseed or walnut oil.
4. Lead Medium - attributed to Peter Paul Rubens -This medium was allegedly based on the black oil of Giorgione with an addition of mastic resin, Venice turpentine and beeswax. One or two parts litharge or lead white, combines by cooking with 20 parts raw linseed. A little more than one spoonful of "black oil" combined with even one spoonful of mastic varnish resulted in the "jelly" medium thought to be Megilp (another name of Maroger media).
5. Lead Medium - (attributed to the "Little Dutch Masters") This medium was the same as the one used by Rubens, but did not include beeswax.
6. Lead Medium - attributed to Velázquez - One part verdigris (derived from copper - this material is substituted for the lead-based metallic driers), combined by cooking with 20 parts raw linseed or walnut oil.

The majority of these recipes are not employed today, as there are few companies to be found that produce them. The primary form of "Maroger medium" known today is black oil ("Giorgione's" medium) and mastic varnish combined in approximately equal parts to form a gel. "Read More" (Compliments: Wikipedia.org )

You can also see what one of his discoveries looks like Here

I wander if I can successfully create one of these. Not sure how good I am with sticking to recipes Lol! Well I am off again. Later!!

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Six formulas of Jacques Maroger