Engraving of a canvas stretched on a wooden frame, seen from the back at an angle: four bars form the frame, a crossbar runs across the middle, and short diagonal braces are pegged across each corner. Labeled fig. 2.

Concept · Paint and Its Surface

Canvas

Canvas is a tough cloth, usually linen, pulled tight over a wooden frame.

It weighs less than wood and can be rolled up. Venice switched to canvas from panels and walls between about 1450 and 1550; damp air and the sailcloth trade are the usual reasons given, though recent research doubts any single one.

  • Seen from the back: a crossbar and corner braces keep the frame square.
  • Until the 1800s, big canvases were usually sewn from strips; the Titian on the next page is an exception.

See

Image: Internet Archive (Smithsonian Libraries, Biodiversity Heritage Library) · Public domain

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