Efficienza e Unione: Practical Considerations for Using Coloured Grounds in 16th-century Italy

Th is paper explores the practical and material aspects of the proposed Italian origin of coloured grounds – aside fromstyle, why might artists have chosen to adopt this technique? Sixteenth-century Italian technical treatises, including those by Giorgio Vasari, Raffaello Borghini and Giovanni Battista Armenini, were studied to gain information on how coloured grounds were applied and what issues (namely transportation and efficiency) could be solved with this technique. This knowledge was supplemented by16th-century records that demonstrated the increasing sizes of canvas as well as evidence of growing market demands for paintings and the efficient painting techniques required to meet them. In addition, receipts listing the relative costs of materials that may also have influenced the artist’s choices are considered. Over the course of the 16th century, the market for painting widened and trade in paintings and materials expanded. Within this environment, considerations such as lowering the costs of time and materials began to influence artistic decisions, and those hoping for an efficient and cost-effective method would have been drawn to painting on canvas with a coloured ground.