MITRA Forum Question Details

This has become a common misconception amongst artists that can be easily explained. Most paints containing fatty acids (oils, alkyds, and egg tempera) can become more transparent as they age. The predominant effect is caused by the conversion of higher refractive index pigments (such as lead white, zinc white, etc.) into soaps, stearates, and other complexes that have a lower refractive index, and therefore create a more transparent paint layer that eventually exposes the underlying paint layers or underdrawing. In oil paintings, this is further compounded by a slight increase in refractive index that occurs in oil binders over time. This given the optical impression that an underdrawing (done in graphite, for example) is “migrating” to the surface when in fact it is simply a natural chemical change that has occurred in the overlying paint layers. This phenomenon is also associated with the term “pentimenti,” as the increased transparency of the uppermost paint layers can reveal earlier compositional changes and even unrelated paintings or sketches.