Discover the secrets of traditional oil paints in this article, which delves into the enduring qualities of lead white paint. Learn how its unique mechanical properties, such as flexibility and drying time, are influenced by factors like temperature and humidity, and why it remains a preferred choice for artists despite modern alternatives.
White is the lightest color and is achromatic (having no hue). White reflects all the colors of the visible light spectrum to the eyes. But in a technical sense, white is not a color like black; it is a shade. Black and white augment colors. White is not simply white. Each different white oil paint has a hue bias, often called ‘temperature’ by artists. Each white oil paint also has other properties, such as hiding power or opacity and tinting strength and how it flows or behaves under the brush or palette knife, known as rheology. This guide to white oil paint for artists can help you select the right white for your painting.
Lead white is the most important white pigment used in painting throughout history. It was known to the ancient Egyptians, Greeks, and Romans and was commonly used in the preparation of ointments and plasters, as well as cosmetics. It was first identified in the literature as a pigment by Pliny, who mentions it, among other colors, as used by the ancients to paint ships.
White pigments consist of natural or synthetic inorganic pigments. Inorganic pigments are easier to disperse in most paint vehicles than organic pigments. Nevertheless, many white pigments undergo treatment to improve their dispersibility, lightfastness, and weather resistance. White pigments are used for white colors, tinting colors, and covering tones in paint.
Making stack process flake white (or lead white made according to the "old Dutch method") is time-consuming and prone to variations in the resulting pigment. These variations are not surprising and were well known from literature and historical documents of the process by manufacturers of lead white. It was a major issue of the process that manufacturers dealt with in various ways. This article describes the reasons for the variations and how these may be useful to artists.
Lead sulfate (British spelling, sulphate) formed the basis of several white pigments that were made on a large scale in the 19th and 20th centuries and sold under a variety of names, such as "Patent White Lead," "Non-poisonous White Lead," "Sublimed White Lead," etc. Some of these pigments did not consist entirely of lead sulfate but contained other minerals, such as zinc oxide, barite (barium sulfate), magnesia (magnesium carbonate), etc., in varying quantities.
Rublev Colours lead whites are made with basic lead carbonate (made according to modern processes) ground in oil without additives (such as stearates, a common pigment stabilizer found in all other commercial brands) to alter the characteristics of the pigment. As a result, you get a higher pigment volume concentration (PVC) than other brands of lead white (flake white). This means most brands of flake white in oversized tubes do not weigh nearly as much as Rublev Colours lead white in our standard 50-milliliter tube. Yet, Rublev Colours Lead White is not overly stiff and mixes well with all other oil colors.
The recent shortage of lead white (flake white) oil paint by many artists’ material companies has created a panic among many artists. Understandably so because lead white is the most useful color on the artist’s palette for oil painting and many artists are dependent upon a steady supply. Much wild speculation has become rampant about this situation, so we want to help dispel the growing number of myths surrounding lead white. Here is the situation regarding lead white oil paint.
Rublev Colours Stack Process White Lead is made in small amounts according to the 16th-century Dutch method, differing little from the historical “stack process.” It is a basic carbonate of lead and usually contains about 70% lead carbonate and 30% lead hydroxide. This grade of white lead is composed of the actual flakes that fall off the corroded lead coils of the stack process and the white lead that is mechanically removed. It is washed and ground, ready to be mixed with a paint binder.
Since the 1970s, it has become difficult to buy lead white in linseed oil to prime canvases and panels. As a result, artists who wish to use oil priming for their supports usually must substitute other materials for the lead white in linseed oil. Read this article on preparing canvas and wood panels with lead white oil primer. Some manufacturers of artists' materials still sell lead white oil paint in cans and large-capacity tubes. It should be noted, however, that most, if not all, of these lead white artists' oil colors are ground in safflower oil or poppy seed oil and not in linseed oil.
