What Is a Painting?

Episode 30 - A Subject of Controversy, Part 1: The Consecration

What is the story of one painting whose cleaning was objected to?

Episode 29 - Unwanted Material

What is meant by "cleaning" a painting? What materials can be removed from a painting and how is that done?

Episode 28 - The Tears of Trees

How did painters use natural resins to varnish their paintings?

Episode 27 - Higher Ground

How did 16th century Venetian painters vary their ground layers to create different effects?

Episode 26 - Particular Magic

How did Venetian painters of the 16th century use canvas supports and oil medium to create a new kind of painting?

Episode 25 - A Big Cloth

How have natural aqueous media been used over the centuries, including by one of the most famous artists of the 20th century?

Episode 24 - Reinforcements

What can be done to reinforce a degraded canvas support of a painting, and how can that change that painting's look?

Episode 23 - Glue and Blues

How does paint made from animal glue and different blue pigments work, look, and age?

Episode 22 - A Little Cloth

What is the canvas of a canvas painting, and why and how was it used?

Episode 21 - A Copy of a Copy: The Ghent Altarpiece, Part 4

What's the story of the painting of the Just Judges panel now on display in Ghent?

Episode 20 - A Missing Piece: The Ghent Altarpiece, Part 3

Where is the Just Judges panel of the Ghent Altarpiece?

Episode 19 - The Sum of Many Parts: The Ghent Altarpiece, Part 2

What happened to the Ghent Altarpiece between 1566 and 1934?

Episode 18 - A Complex Whole: The Ghent Altarpiece, Part 1

What is the Ghent Altarpiece, how was it created, and what changes did it undergo in the first 125 years of its existence? 

Episode 17 - A Changing Landscape

How did Early Netherlandish painters use different materials to create different kinds of landscapes, and how have those paintings changed over time?

Episode 16 - Translucent Color

How does the use of different media affect the look of paint?

Episode 15 - An Elaborated Sketch

How were the underdrawings of Early Netherlandish paintings made and how can we see them?

Episode 14 - More Memories of the Forest

Why are the oak panels of Early Netherlandish paintings good supports, and what can they tell us? 

Episode 13 - A Dark Mirror

How do Early Netherlandish paintings differ from Early Italian paintings - in how they look, what they mean, and what they are?

Episode 12 - A Survivor of the Flood, Part 2

What's the story of the Cimabue Crucifix at Santa Croce, Florence?  From 1966 until now.

Episode 11 - A Survivor of the Flood, Part 1

What's the story of the Cimabue Crucifix at Santa Croce, Florence?  From the thirteenth century until 1966.