Oil on Copper

About Oil on Copper

Copper gave painters a perfectly smooth, rigid surface that would not crack like wood or slacken like canvas. Its use for oil painting took off in the last decades of the 16th century, helped by the plates made for the engraving trade, and it flourished in Rome, Venice, Antwerp and Prague for about a hundred years, lasting longer in Spain and its American territories. Paint sits on the metal without soaking in, so colours stay saturated and detail crisp.

The format suited cabinet pictures made for close inspection. The German painter Adam Elsheimer, working in Rome, painted nocturnes and small landscapes on copper; the Flemish Paul Bril, also in Rome, produced airy landscapes; and Jan Brueghel the Elder filled coppers with flowers and crowded scenes. In Venice, Hans Rottenhammer painted small mythologies in the same way. Look for surfaces with no weave or wood grain and a jewel-like finish.