

Such treatment was necessary to close the structure of the weave and make the canvas texture more even. Stretched canvas was sealed with glue (such as a rabbit-glue) and rubbed with a pumice stone while damp – the same way we do it with sandpaper. Often, the canvas would already be stretched on its own strainer and tacked conventionally around the edges. Such frames served the temporary purpose of holding a canvas during painting, and later, an artist (or most likely a framemaker) assembled a painting in the proper frame. A long cord could be wrapped around the battens and passed through holes or over nails. Instead, canvas was laced to a bigger wooden frame. In the 17th century, canvas stretchers were different from modern ones with wedge-shaped keys. Tulp, Man in Oriental Dress, and Portrait of Cornelis Anslo and His Wife – were painted on relatively fine weave canvases, but the smaller size Entombment was done on a very coarse canvas. For example, very large paintings – such as The Anatomy Lesson of Dr. It is surprising that there is no correlation found between a painting’s size and the density of canvas in Rembrandt’s case. The majority of canvases used by Dutch artists in the 17th century were made of tightly-woven linen however, looser density was also in use. Support sizes were standardized and frames were also made to such dimensions. Painting on ready-made supports was a common practice that was regulated by guilds. Eventually, he started painting on canvases that were also ready-prepared for painting by canvas-makers or supplied by clients who commissioned artworks. Such panels were ready-made and sold by special craftsmen of the framemakers and cabinet-makers’ guild.


In his early career, Rembrandt mostly painted on wood panel supports. « Back to the Art Lessons List What Canvases and Supports Rembrandt Used for his Paintings Unlimited tutoring by the Academy teachers
