Jacques Maroger
Encyclopedia
Jacques Maroger was a painter
and the technical director of the Louvre Museum's laboratory in Paris
. He devoted his life to understanding the oil-based media of the Old Masters.
In 1907, Maroger began to study with Louis Anquetin
and worked under his direction until Anquetin's death in 1932. Anquetin worked closely and exhibited with the artists Vincent van Gogh
, Charles Angrand
, Emile Bernard
, Paul Gauguin
, Camille Pissarro
, Georges Seurat, Paul Signac
and Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec
. He was very active in the impressionist movement of the time. In his later years, Anquetin became very interested in the works of the Flemish masters. As Maroger's teacher, Anquetin provided guidance in the study of drawing, anatomy and master painting techniques. Maroger began to become famous around 1931, when the National Academy of Design
in New York, New York reported Maroger's painting discoveries.
From 1930 to 1939, Maroger started to work at the Louvre Museum in Paris as Technical Director of the Louvre Laboratory. He served as a professor at the Louvre School, a Member of the Conservation Committee, General Secretary of the International Experts, and President of the Restorers of France. In 1937, he received the Légion d'honneur
, and his pride at the honor is reflected in his self-portrait of the time, in which one can see his Legion pin on his lapel.
He emigrated to the United States in 1939 and became a lecturer at the Parsons School of Design in New York. His New York students, Reginald Marsh
, John Koch
, Fairfield Porter
and Frank Mason
adopted his Old Master painting techniques, and taught it in turn to their own students.
In 1942, Maroger became a Professor at the Maryland Institute College of Art
in Baltimore and established a school of painting. At the Maryland Institute he led a group of painters who came to be known as the Baltimore Realists, including the outstanding painters Earl Hofmann
, Thomas Rowe, Joseph Sheppard, Ann Didusch Schuler, Frank Redelius, John Bannon, Evan Keehn, and Melvin Miller.
Maroger published The Secret Formulas and Techniques of the Old Masters in 1948. When Maroger's book became available, Reginald Marsh drew on Maroger's book-jacket an airplane dropping an atomic bomb on the Maryland Art Institute, a reference to the controversy Maroger was causing in the local press over the abstract art versus realism debate.
Maroger's formula and techniques have been studied by many modern painters who wish to obtain the paint quality of the Old Masters. The "secret formula" that Maroger devised during his lifetime included the main ingredient white lead
. White lead when cooked into linseed oil acts as a drying agent and preservative of the oil paint color layers. If one examines the 17th century master works closely you will find the paintings that are in good to excellent condition, after 500 years, contain the critical chemical white lead. Lead, or litharge, in the Maroger medium acts in the same way as lead paint used outdoors. It stands up to dirt, weather, fading, humidity and other forms of damage.
Maroger claimed to have introduced to the modern day artist what the masters achieved centuries before in their paintings, a way to ensure permanence and color quality in oils without sacrificing fluid and subtle paint handling. Equipped with these formulas, the artist could once again blend his paint easily without losing control of his brush. The paint stays where it is applied and does not run off the panel. It dries very fast so that he can paint on the same areas the very next day, which speeds up painting.
Frank Redelius, one of Maroger's proteges from the Baltimore Realists group, wrote a book that updates, builds upon and revises Jacques Maroger's research of the painting techniques and formulas of the Old Masters. Redelius was assisting Maroger with a revision of The Secret Formulas and Techniques of the Old Masters before his death in 1962. Frank Redelius' book, published in 2009, is titled The Master Keys: A Painter's Treatise On The Pictorial Technique Of Oil Painting.
", also known as "macguilp", "meglip", "meguilp", and a variety of other names. Megilp/maroger medium is simply the thixotropic gel resulting from the equal combination of mastic varnish and black oil. Megilp and related media have been in use for centuries, and such media were readily available from many artists' colormen during the time of Maroger's research.
The archival quality of the medium itself is controversial in art circles, in part because its documented use dates back less than a century. This is from Michael Skalka, Conservation Administrator,
National Gallery of Art, Washington, DC.:
This criticism can be misleading, however. Many of the media involved in Curry's work (and other followers of Maroger) bear no resemblance whatsoever to the modern mastic varnish/black oil recipe. Maroger medium which is not made properly may contain a large amount of dirt and impurities from improperly filtered mastic varnish, or the black oil may be overcooked, both of which would contribute to darkening and weakening of the work. In addition the overuse of megilp media (or any medium for that matter) tends to create weak paint films. It is in fact more likely that a properly made megilp which is employed with a sound technique and in reasonable proportions would be quite archival. There are extant pictures of at least two centuries painted with the documented use of Maroger medium that have been very well preserved, something probably attributable to the presence of lead in the paint film.
The majority of these recipes are not employed today, as there are few companies to be found that produce them. The primary form of "Maroger medium" known today is black oil ("Giorgione's" medium) and mastic varnish combined in approximately equal parts to form a gel.
While Maroger medium is usually mixed directly with oil paints, its proportion should be kept to no more than 20% of the mixture. A useful technique is to rub a very thin film of Maroger medium over the area to be painted and paint into that—known as "painting into the couch." This lubricates the brush stroke. Maroger medium (or any other painting medium, for that matter) should never be used as a final picture varnish, as Maroger requires reaction by admixture with oil paint in order to dry.
The reduced availability of lead, combined with injunctions against lead use in household products and other factors has caused most major paint makers to discontinue the production of Maroger's medium. Many paint makers now offer faux-maroger's media or faux-megilps, generally made by substituting inferior materials such as lime for genuine lead, or (as in the case of Gamblin's Neo-Megilp) by creating a completely unrelated product out of specially thickened alkyd medium. None of these pseudo-Maroger's products produce effects which are at all related to those of real Maroger medium, which depends on specific chemical reactions between leaded oil, mastic resin, and turpentine (the mastic varnish vehicle). Furthermore, alkyds can cause delamination of paint layers when combined with drying oils such as linseed, walnut and safflower oils—all of them used as the primary vehicle in oil paint.
and is used for drawing
and painting
courses. The building, created in the style of a Parisian studio, is aptly called the Maroger Art Studio.
Painting
Painting is the practice of applying paint, pigment, color or other medium to a surface . The application of the medium is commonly applied to the base with a brush but other objects can be used. In art, the term painting describes both the act and the result of the action. However, painting is...
and the technical director of the Louvre Museum's laboratory in Paris
Paris
Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
. He devoted his life to understanding the oil-based media of the Old Masters.
In 1907, Maroger began to study with Louis Anquetin
Louis Anquetin
Louis Anquetin was a French painter.Anquetin was born in Étrépagny, France and educated at the Lycée Pierre Corneille in Rouen....
and worked under his direction until Anquetin's death in 1932. Anquetin worked closely and exhibited with the artists Vincent van Gogh
Vincent van Gogh
Vincent Willem van Gogh , and used Brabant dialect in his writing; it is therefore likely that he himself pronounced his name with a Brabant accent: , with a voiced V and palatalized G and gh. In France, where much of his work was produced, it is...
, Charles Angrand
Charles Angrand
Charles Angrand was a French artist who gained renown for his Neo-Impressionist paintings and drawings. He was an important member of the Parisian avant-garde art scene in the late 1880s and early 1890s.-Early life and work:...
, Emile Bernard
Émile Bernard
Émile Henri Bernard is known as a Post-Impressionist painter who had artistic friendships with Van Gogh, Gauguin and Eugene Boch, and at a later time, Cézanne. Most of his notable work was accomplished at a young age, in the years 1886 through 1897. He is also associated with Cloisonnism and...
, Paul Gauguin
Paul Gauguin
Eugène Henri Paul Gauguin was a leading French Post-Impressionist artist. He was an important figure in the Symbolist movement as a painter, sculptor, print-maker, ceramist, and writer...
, Camille Pissarro
Camille Pissarro
Camille Pissarro was a French Impressionist and Neo-Impressionist painter born on the island of St Thomas . His importance resides in his contributions to both Impressionism and Post-Impressionism, as he was the only artist to exhibit in both forms...
, Georges Seurat, Paul Signac
Paul Signac
Paul Signac was a French neo-impressionist painter who, working with Georges Seurat, helped develop the pointillist style.-Biography:Paul Victor Jules Signac was born in Paris on 11 November 1863...
and Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec
Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec
Henri Marie Raymond de Toulouse-Lautrec-Monfa or simply Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec was a French painter, printmaker, draughtsman, and illustrator, whose immersion in the colourful and theatrical life of fin de siècle Paris yielded an œuvre of exciting, elegant and provocative images of the modern...
. He was very active in the impressionist movement of the time. In his later years, Anquetin became very interested in the works of the Flemish masters. As Maroger's teacher, Anquetin provided guidance in the study of drawing, anatomy and master painting techniques. Maroger began to become famous around 1931, when the National Academy of Design
National Academy of Design
The National Academy Museum and School of Fine Arts, founded in New York City as the National Academy of Design – known simply as the "National Academy" – is an honorary association of American artists founded in 1825 by Samuel F. B. Morse, Asher B. Durand, Thomas Cole, Martin E...
in New York, New York reported Maroger's painting discoveries.
From 1930 to 1939, Maroger started to work at the Louvre Museum in Paris as Technical Director of the Louvre Laboratory. He served as a professor at the Louvre School, a Member of the Conservation Committee, General Secretary of the International Experts, and President of the Restorers of France. In 1937, he received the Légion d'honneur
Légion d'honneur
The Legion of Honour, or in full the National Order of the Legion of Honour is a French order established by Napoleon Bonaparte, First Consul of the Consulat which succeeded to the First Republic, on 19 May 1802...
, and his pride at the honor is reflected in his self-portrait of the time, in which one can see his Legion pin on his lapel.
He emigrated to the United States in 1939 and became a lecturer at the Parsons School of Design in New York. His New York students, Reginald Marsh
Reginald Marsh (artist)
Reginald Marsh was an American painter, born in Paris, most notable for his depictions of life in New York City in the 1920s and 1930s. Crowded Coney Island beach scenes, popular entertainments such as vaudeville and burlesque, women, and jobless men on the Bowery are subjects that reappear...
, John Koch
John Koch
John Koch was an American painter, and an important figure in 20th century realist painting. His early work may be considered Impressionist...
, Fairfield Porter
Fairfield Porter
Fairfield Porter was an American painter and art critic. He was the brother of photographer Eliot Porter and the brother-in-law of federal Reclamation Commissioner Michael W. Straus....
and Frank Mason
Frank Mason
Frank Herbert Mason was an American painter and teacher.Mason was born in Cleveland, Ohio. He attended the Music and Arts High School in New York until he was awarded a scholarship to study at the Art Students League of New York with Frank DuMond...
adopted his Old Master painting techniques, and taught it in turn to their own students.
In 1942, Maroger became a Professor at the Maryland Institute College of Art
Maryland Institute College of Art
Maryland Institute College of Art is an art and design college in Baltimore, Maryland, USA. It was founded in 1826 as the Maryland Institute for the Promotion of the Mechanic Arts, making it one of the first and oldest art colleges in the United States. In 2008, MICA was ranked #2 in the nation...
in Baltimore and established a school of painting. At the Maryland Institute he led a group of painters who came to be known as the Baltimore Realists, including the outstanding painters Earl Hofmann
Earl Hofmann
Earl Hofmann was one of Baltimore's realist artists who studied with and assisted Jacques Maroger at the Maryland Institute College of Art. He was a major part of the Baltimore art scene of the mid-twentieth century...
, Thomas Rowe, Joseph Sheppard, Ann Didusch Schuler, Frank Redelius, John Bannon, Evan Keehn, and Melvin Miller.
Maroger published The Secret Formulas and Techniques of the Old Masters in 1948. When Maroger's book became available, Reginald Marsh drew on Maroger's book-jacket an airplane dropping an atomic bomb on the Maryland Art Institute, a reference to the controversy Maroger was causing in the local press over the abstract art versus realism debate.
Maroger's formula and techniques have been studied by many modern painters who wish to obtain the paint quality of the Old Masters. The "secret formula" that Maroger devised during his lifetime included the main ingredient white lead
White lead
White lead is the chemical compound 2·Pb2. It was formerly used as an ingredient for lead paint and a cosmetic called Venetian Ceruse, because its opaque quality made it a good pigment. However, it tended to cause lead poisoning, and its use has been banned in most countries.White lead has been...
. White lead when cooked into linseed oil acts as a drying agent and preservative of the oil paint color layers. If one examines the 17th century master works closely you will find the paintings that are in good to excellent condition, after 500 years, contain the critical chemical white lead. Lead, or litharge, in the Maroger medium acts in the same way as lead paint used outdoors. It stands up to dirt, weather, fading, humidity and other forms of damage.
Maroger claimed to have introduced to the modern day artist what the masters achieved centuries before in their paintings, a way to ensure permanence and color quality in oils without sacrificing fluid and subtle paint handling. Equipped with these formulas, the artist could once again blend his paint easily without losing control of his brush. The paint stays where it is applied and does not run off the panel. It dries very fast so that he can paint on the same areas the very next day, which speeds up painting.
Frank Redelius, one of Maroger's proteges from the Baltimore Realists group, wrote a book that updates, builds upon and revises Jacques Maroger's research of the painting techniques and formulas of the Old Masters. Redelius was assisting Maroger with a revision of The Secret Formulas and Techniques of the Old Masters before his death in 1962. Frank Redelius' book, published in 2009, is titled The Master Keys: A Painter's Treatise On The Pictorial Technique Of Oil Painting.
Critics of Maroger
Maroger has been criticized by some modern writers on painting because of his bold claims about having found the secret formulas of the Masters. The most commonly used of Maroger's recipes today is in fact nothing other than a renamed version of the ages-old "megilpMegilp
Megilp is an oil painting medium consisting of a mixture of mastic varnish and an oil medium: walnut,linseed,safflower, poppy, black oilMegilp is an oil painting medium consisting of a mixture of mastic varnish and an oil medium: walnut,linseed,safflower, poppy, black oilMegilp is an oil...
", also known as "macguilp", "meglip", "meguilp", and a variety of other names. Megilp/maroger medium is simply the thixotropic gel resulting from the equal combination of mastic varnish and black oil. Megilp and related media have been in use for centuries, and such media were readily available from many artists' colormen during the time of Maroger's research.
The archival quality of the medium itself is controversial in art circles, in part because its documented use dates back less than a century. This is from Michael Skalka, Conservation Administrator,
National Gallery of Art, Washington, DC.:
This criticism can be misleading, however. Many of the media involved in Curry's work (and other followers of Maroger) bear no resemblance whatsoever to the modern mastic varnish/black oil recipe. Maroger medium which is not made properly may contain a large amount of dirt and impurities from improperly filtered mastic varnish, or the black oil may be overcooked, both of which would contribute to darkening and weakening of the work. In addition the overuse of megilp media (or any medium for that matter) tends to create weak paint films. It is in fact more likely that a properly made megilp which is employed with a sound technique and in reasonable proportions would be quite archival. There are extant pictures of at least two centuries painted with the documented use of Maroger medium that have been very well preserved, something probably attributable to the presence of lead in the paint film.
Six formulas of Maroger taken from his book on painting formulas
- Lead Medium - attributed to Antonello da MessinaAntonello da MessinaAntonello da Messina, properly Antonello di Giovanni di Antonio was an Italian painter from Messina, Sicily, active during the Italian Renaissance...
- One part litharge (yellow lead oxide) or lead white, combined by cooking with three to four parts linseed. - Lead Medium - attributed to Leonardo da VinciLeonardo da VinciLeonardo di ser Piero da Vinci was an Italian Renaissance polymath: painter, sculptor, architect, musician, scientist, mathematician, engineer, inventor, anatomist, geologist, cartographer, botanist and writer whose genius, perhaps more than that of any other figure, epitomized the Renaissance...
- One part litharge or lead white, combined by cooking with three to four parts raw linseed oil, and three to four parts water. - Lead Medium - attributed to the Venetian painters - GiorgioneGiorgioneGiorgione was a Venetian painter of the High Renaissance in Venice, whose career was cut off by his death at a little over thirty. Giorgione is known for the elusive poetic quality of his work, though only about six surviving paintings are acknowledged for certain to be his work...
, TitianTitianTiziano Vecelli or Tiziano Vecellio Tiziano Vecelli or Tiziano Vecellio Tiziano Vecelli or Tiziano Vecellio (c. 1488/1490 – 27 August 1576 better known as Titian was an Italian painter, the most important member of the 16th-century Venetian school. He was born in Pieve di Cadore, near...
and TintorettoTintorettoTintoretto , real name Jacopo Comin, was a Venetian painter and a notable exponent of the Renaissance school. For his phenomenal energy in painting he was termed Il Furioso...
- One or two parts litharge or lead white, combined by cooking with 20 parts raw linseed or walnut oil. - Lead Medium - attributed to Peter Paul Rubens -This medium was allegedly based on the black oil of Giorgione with an addition of mastic resin, Venice turpentine and beeswax. One or two parts litharge or lead white, combines by cooking with 20 parts raw linseed. A little more than one spoonful of "black oil" combined with even one spoonful of mastic varnish resulted in the "jelly" medium thought to be Megilp (another name of Maroger media).
- Lead Medium - (attributed to the "Little Dutch Masters") This medium was the same as the one used by Rubens, but did not include beeswax.
- Lead Medium - attributed to VelázquezDiego VelázquezDiego Rodríguez de Silva y Velázquez was a Spanish painter who was the leading artist in the court of King Philip IV. He was an individualistic artist of the contemporary Baroque period, important as a portrait artist...
- One part verdigris (derived from copper - this material is substituted for the lead-based metallic driers), combined by cooking with 20 parts raw linseed or walnut oil.
The majority of these recipes are not employed today, as there are few companies to be found that produce them. The primary form of "Maroger medium" known today is black oil ("Giorgione's" medium) and mastic varnish combined in approximately equal parts to form a gel.
While Maroger medium is usually mixed directly with oil paints, its proportion should be kept to no more than 20% of the mixture. A useful technique is to rub a very thin film of Maroger medium over the area to be painted and paint into that—known as "painting into the couch." This lubricates the brush stroke. Maroger medium (or any other painting medium, for that matter) should never be used as a final picture varnish, as Maroger requires reaction by admixture with oil paint in order to dry.
The reduced availability of lead, combined with injunctions against lead use in household products and other factors has caused most major paint makers to discontinue the production of Maroger's medium. Many paint makers now offer faux-maroger's media or faux-megilps, generally made by substituting inferior materials such as lime for genuine lead, or (as in the case of Gamblin's Neo-Megilp) by creating a completely unrelated product out of specially thickened alkyd medium. None of these pseudo-Maroger's products produce effects which are at all related to those of real Maroger medium, which depends on specific chemical reactions between leaded oil, mastic resin, and turpentine (the mastic varnish vehicle). Furthermore, alkyds can cause delamination of paint layers when combined with drying oils such as linseed, walnut and safflower oils—all of them used as the primary vehicle in oil paint.
Home and Studio
The white gingerbread cottage that was Maroger's home in Baltimore is found on the east campus of Loyola College in MarylandLoyola College in Maryland
Loyola University Maryland is a Roman Catholic, Jesuit private university in Baltimore, Maryland, United States. Established as Loyola College in Maryland by John Early and eight other members of the Society of Jesus in 1852, it is one of 28 member institutions of the Association of Jesuit Colleges...
and is used for drawing
Drawing
Drawing is a form of visual art that makes use of any number of drawing instruments to mark a two-dimensional medium. Common instruments include graphite pencils, pen and ink, inked brushes, wax color pencils, crayons, charcoal, chalk, pastels, markers, styluses, and various metals .An artist who...
and painting
Painting
Painting is the practice of applying paint, pigment, color or other medium to a surface . The application of the medium is commonly applied to the base with a brush but other objects can be used. In art, the term painting describes both the act and the result of the action. However, painting is...
courses. The building, created in the style of a Parisian studio, is aptly called the Maroger Art Studio.
External links
- The Secret Formulas and Techniques of the Masters by Jacques Maroger ISBN: 0-87817-245-9
- How to Paint Like the Old Masters by Joseph Sheppard ISBN: 0-8230-2672-8
- The Master Keys: A Painter's Treatise on the Pictorial Technique of Oil Painting by Franklin H. Redelius ISBN: 978-1-4401-2195-1
- The Schuler School of Fine Arts, Baltimore, MD, USA http://www.schulerschool.com/