Schematic cross-section of a panel painting, bottom to top: wood panel, white gesso ground, a thin underdrawing line, red paint layers and a pale varnish on top.

Concept · Paint and Its Surface

Grounds

A ground is the coat laid on the wood or canvas before any paint, giving the paint a smooth, even surface to hold on to.

Its color glows through thin paint and affects the colors laid over it.

  • Gesso: white gypsum and glue, the Italian panel ground, sanded glass-smooth.
  • North of the Alps, chalk and glue did the same job.
  • From about 1600 many painters chose warm brown or red grounds instead of white.
  • In the 1800s some painters, the Impressionists above all, preferred white.

See

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