CANVAS
The word '"canvas'" does not refer to any specific material in the field of textile fabrics, but is applied to a number of closely woven materials of relatively coarse fiber, such as are used for sails, tents, awnings, etc. In painting, the term "canvas'' generally implies a coated fabric, ready for use; the word is also employed by commentators to mean a finished oil painting.
Practically every closely woven textile has been utilized at some time as a support for paintings. Legend tells us that linen canvas stretched on wooden frames was first used for paintings of religious subjects to be carried through the streets in processions, especially in Italy. However, cloth as a support for painting was known to the ancients, and it was a logical material to turn to when artistic oil painting was introduced.
The best linen in the world comes from Flanders, Belgium, and the Netherlands as well as Eastern European countries. A variety of lesser quality is available from Asia. such as sailcloth and twill, came into occasional use as a flexible support for oil painting after the commercial production of cotton. entirely inferior to linen; they stretch poorly, they tend to give surface, and most of them do not take the size or priming well. the more expensive, closely woven, heavy cotton duck is suitable for the best natural material for painting, however, is a closely woven liñen with the threads of warp and woof equal in weight and strength. men cotton mixtures are not recommended; their unequal absorption and discharge of atmospheric moisture will cause variations in tension. Jute becomes very brittle and lifeless on short aging and should not be used.
Linen canvas is distinguished from cotton by its natural linen color (cotton is white or very pale) and by the irregular character of its weave, which is the result of the round shape of the linen fibers. This characteristic persists through the layers of paint, imparting a sense of depth which is desirable to many painters.
The cheaply prepared or primed cotton canvas presents a flat and flimsy surface; it could really be called an imitation of the original, and its use may possibly be justified only in cases of extreme economy, and shortage of supply. It is not particularly recommended for art school or practice sketches, as works of this nature often become valuable examples of the student's development as an artist. On the wall, and especially in the company of linen canvases, paintings done on this cheap grade of canvas can usually be identified at a glance.
Because of the high cost of pure linen, the canvas maker is encouraged to do the best job possible in priming, and not to lower the canvas's value for the sake of the small difference in cost of the coating. On the other hand, with the cheap cotton canvas and its low competitive selling price, the quality Painting is likely to be skimped; thus the average cotton canvas is usually a lower-quality product than the better grades of primed linen.
Both linen and heavy cotton duck are available already primed with either
Acrylic polymer ground. Ready-made canvas has the advantage of being prepared in shops that are in continuous operation and are well made by skillful workers so that a flawless, even product is better grades, the priming has just the right degree of absorption ability and is well attached to the linen by being forced into the weave.
Using a minimum amount of material. The homemade product also has its ages; the materials can be selected solely on the basis of the artist's permanence, suitability, etc., unhampered by certain considerations.
During the early nineteenth century a smooth canvas with a diagonal or twill weave was in wide favor, especially for portraits. The work of several of our most prominent early American painters can be recognized because they habitually used a canvas of a particular weave. Prior to the introduction of mechanically produced close weaves, a hand loomed square weave of coarse single strands was used; this was sometimes a very open weave and required a filling of thick glue.
Prepared oil-primed artists' canvas is sold in two grades, "single-primed and double primed," and the controversy as to which is the more desirable seems to be unending.
Double-primed is more expensive and more rigid and hence to the majority is considered better. Some painters, however, believe that the single-primed has greater longevity because it is more pliable and limber; old canvases with a thin coating of paint are frequently found to be much more supple and less subject to cracking when handled than those on which the coatings are thicker.