brief history of oil painting

hey all
oil painting started way back in the day. oil painting that we think of got its start around the 13th century but did not really develop into what we now consider oil painting until the 15th century. what we consider oil painting was developed by jan van eyck (a flemish painter) who was one of the first people to create a stabel siccative(drying) oil mixture which he could use to bind pigments. this was then fixed by a man named antonello da messina who added lead oxide to the combination which made the paint more like honey and increased the drying properties. i would hazard to say that oil paintings prime was in the 16th through the 19th centuries but it still holds a place as a traditional media in art making today.
information is encoded in oil painting mainly through the mark making the artist uses to depict his/her image. the pigments used to create the images are bonded together by the oil medium. most oil paintings are characterized by multiple layers of paint. this is often done in order to create a sense of realism. some paintings are made with thick layers of paint almost creating a tactile surface. oil paintings usually last hundreds of years but sometimes the colors fade. oil paints are exceptionally usefull if one is trying to get a sense of realism in the image and are actually fairly portabel. not as portable as some media but more so than others. many famous landscapes were painted outdoors while directly observing the subject matter.
oil paintings have the greatest effect upon our sense of sight. they also have a moderate effect on our sense of smell because oil paints have a distictive odor. oil paintings generally fail to captivate our sense of hearing because they are generally flat 2-dimensional images that do not make sounds.
most oil paintings that anyone can see are in a museum setting. this setting limits the amount of auditory distractions and other visual distractions by keeping paintings fairly well separated and on neutral colored walls. this environment is generally thought of as the easiest way to view paintings and get a personal feeling or connection between viewer and painting. most painting now are funded by the artists or grants. used to be that oil paintings were funded by the patrons. these patrons usaully had control over the subject matter being depicted by the artist. now most paintings are controlled by the artist and then are sold via galleries.
oil paintings are not limited to specific creators or viewers. most people when asked to name a painting or a painter will name an oil painting or a practitioner of oil painting.


this brief history of oil painting was braught to you by my brain and http://www.wikipedia.org/, http://www.holday-art.com/, and http://www.encyclopedia.com/