The Alchemy of medium & pigments – Laurence Caruana

In this lecture, Laurence Caruana talks about Alchemy and the evolution and the history of painting material. A very interesting video in my opinion. How medium and pigments was made before the industrial production it’s always a fascinating topic. 

This Seven-part Series of Lectures on ALCHEMY, VISIONS & ART begins with four presentations on ALCHEMY, followed by one presentation on alchemical themes in VISIONARY ART, and finally a two-part presentation on the Alchemy of Traditional ARTISTS’ MATERIALS:

ALCHEMY:
1. An Introduction to Alchemy (https://youtu.be/6o8ssoGh03g)
2. The Sources of Alchemy (https://youtu.be/GA9mD5ipgFg)
3. A History of Alchemy (https://youtu.be/SPBa8-_w3Jw)
4. The Alchemy of Colour (https://youtu.be/OnODcEAGNS4)

VISIONARY ART:
5. Alchemy & Visionary Art (https://youtu.be/VbKr1KcONU4)

ARTISTS’ MATERIALS:
6. The Alchemy of Painting Mediums & Pigments (https://youtu.be/yToRedCDziU)

BONUS LECTURE:
7. The Gnostic Worldview (https://youtu.be/RJBn6ZKrQKo)

Filmed at THE VIENNA ACADEMY OF VISIONARY ART during Laurence Caruana’s 2019 Winter Trimester on ‘The Alchemy of Paint’, the lectures give an increasingly in-depth understanding of Alchemy, including alchemical themes in Visionary Art and the alchemical nature of artists’ traditional Mediums and Pigments. A bonus lecture on The Gnostic Worldview completes the series.

More information on L. Caruana’s books:
https://www.amazon.com/L.-Caruana/e/B00J6ZRFO4?ref=dbs_p_pbk_r00_abau_000000

More information on The Vienna Academy of Visionary Art:
http://academyofvisionaryart.com

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6. THE ALCHEMY OF PAINTING MEDIUMS & PIGMENTS
– This TWO-PART lecture first presents the alchemy of Mediums and then of Pigments

PART 1 – ALCHEMY OF MEDIUMS
1:48 – A survey of all the arts that fixed pigments in a binding medium, such as wax encaustic, egg tempera, mosaic, fresco, polychrome sculpture, stained glass and illuminated manuscripts
12:46 – The invention of Oil Painting,
14:20 – Ernst Fuchs’ oil and egg tempera Mischtechnik and its alchemical qualities
21:38 – Oils, Varnishes and Turpentines are explored in light of their sources, refinement and qualities, using alchemical explanations

PART 2 – ALCHEMY OF PIGMENTS
35:40 – In the second part, traditional artists’ pigments are explored in depth, using timelines, artists’ palettes, refinement methods and examples from the Old Masters to explore many forgotten pigments such as orpiment, realgar, cinnabar, verdigris, smalt, azurite, etc
1:09:10 – This is followed by a section on dyes (woad, madder, carmine)
1:14:10 – Online resources for historical pigments
1:16:49 – We conclude with examples of historical pigments in alchemy, particularly the Basilica Philosophica
1:20:12 – Creating a Painitg as an Alchemical Work: we review the class project of creating a painting by using pigments that correspond to the seven planetary metals (lead, tin, copper, iron, mercury, silver and gold).

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