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Best resources to learnOil Painting

Study sheet

Oil painting is the medium of the old masters. You will learn materials and safety, colour mixing, fat-over-lean layering, alla prima and glazing, and study from the classical tradition.

5 resources · · How we curate

📚Books(3)

bookPaid

Traditional Oil Painting: Advanced Techniques and Concepts from the Renaissance to the Present

Virgil Elliott's account of indirect oil painting methods, from the Flemish and Venetian traditions to modern practice. It covers grounds, imprimatura, underpainting, glazing and scumbling, fat-over-lean layering, mediums, pigment properties and archival permanence.

advanced🇬🇧
bookPaid

Alla Prima II: Everything I Know About Painting – And More

Richard Schmid's treatise on direct, wet-into-wet oil painting. It covers palette setup, colour mixing and colour charts, values, edges, and painting from life across still life, landscape and portrait, with many demonstrations.

intermediate🇬🇧
book

The Science and Practice of Oil Painting

Harold Speed's 1920s manual on oil painting practice, covering tone, colour, brushwork, mediums and grounds, with analyses of old-master methods. The full 1926 Chapman and Hall edition is free to read and download at the Internet Archive.

beginner🇬🇧

🌐Websites(1)

website

Studio Safety Guide: Create Without Compromise

Gamblin's practical guide to a safe oil painting studio. It covers solvent choice and aromatic content, ventilation rates, pigment toxicity (cadmium, cobalt, lead white), solvent-free painting, and preventing spontaneous combustion of oily rags. The manufacturer mentions its own products (Gamsol), but the guidance applies to any brand.

beginner🇬🇧

📄Papers(1)

paper

National Gallery Technical Bulletin (free archive)

The National Gallery London's journal of scientific examination of paintings, published since 1977. The archive offers free PDFs analysing grounds, pigments, layer structure and working methods of painters such as Titian, Rembrandt and Van Eyck. It shows through cross-sections and pigment analysis how the old masters actually built their paintings.

advanced🇬🇧
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Frequently Asked Questions

What are the best free resources to learn Oil Painting?

Dantes has curated 5 resources for Oil Painting, including 3 books, 1 websites, 1 papers. All resources are hand-picked for quality — no algorithmic filler. Browse the full list above to find the format that works best for you.

Is Oil Painting hard to learn?

Oil Painting is approachable at the beginner level — there are resources here specifically for those starting from scratch. As you progress, intermediate and advanced material is also available to take your skills further.

What types of Oil Painting learning resources are available on Dantes?

For Oil Painting, Dantes has curated 3 books, 1 websites, 1 papers. Each resource type serves a different learning style: videos and YouTube for visual learners, books for depth, courses for structured progression, and websites for quick reference.

How does Dantes select Oil Painting resources?

Dantes is an algorithm-free learning directory. Resources are hand-curated based on quality, accuracy, and usefulness — not engagement metrics or paid placements. The goal is to surface the best learning material for Oil Painting, whether it's a free YouTube series, a classic textbook, or an open courseware from a top university.

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