OF OIL PAINTS AND ‘TALENTS’: The Parable of the Talents by Willem de Porter

An image speaketh a thousand words

The art of painting for long has chiseled and enamored the heart, mind, soul and spirit of man. Paintings narrate stories sprinkled with colors and life. The material, style and technique have come a long way through the ages.

Essentially a painting involves applying pigment onto a supporting base. The pigment has to  be combined with a binding medium to prepare the paint. This medium could range from hot bees wax in encaustic painting, to egg yolk in tempera and oil in oil painting.

Prominent since the 1500’s, oil painting includes pigment mixed with linseed, poppy seed or walnut oil. A trump card indeed, the oil provides flexibility and depth to the color. In addition, since oil paint is slow to dry, it gives the painter the benefit of time.

Now the supporting base for an oil painting could be a canvas or a panel. Today’s painting in consideration titled ‘The Parable of the Talents’ by Willem De Porter is an oil on wood panel painting. What technique did the artist employ to accomplish this work of art?