What Is a Painting?
What Is a Painting?
Jean
What do you see when you look at a painting? You see the subject and the style of the work but also the materials and technologies used to create it and the traces of everything that has happened to it. Professional paintings conservator Jean Dommermuth considers how all of those factors contribute to what a painting is. You don’t need to know anything about art history to enjoy this podcast, but no matter what, you’ll never look at a painting the same way again. You can find images and related materials at jeandommermuth.com/podcast
Episode 29 - Unwanted Material
What is meant by "cleaning" a painting? What materials can be removed from a painting and how is that done?
Jun 13
35 min
Episode 28 - The Tears of Trees
How did painters use natural resins to varnish their paintings?
Jan 9
33 min
Episode 27 - Higher Ground
How did 16th century Venetian painters vary their ground layers to create different effects?
Oct 10, 2025
27 min
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?
Jul 25, 2025
33 min
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?
Jun 10, 2025
36 min
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?
Apr 24, 2025
29 min
Episode 23 - Glue and Blues
How does paint made from animal glue and different blue pigments work, look, and age?
Feb 3, 2025
31 min
Episode 22 - A Little Cloth
What is the canvas of a canvas painting, and why and how was it used?
Nov 24, 2024
34 min
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?
Sep 20, 2024
34 min
Episode 20 - A Missing Piece: The Ghent Altarpiece, Part 3
Where is the Just Judges panel of the Ghent Altarpiece?
Jul 23, 2024
26 min
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