Decovering Muckley in Lockdown

As well as the joy of buying, collecting and selling antique art materials to artists, there is also pleasure to be had when researching these items and the way they were used.

I never tire of finding a vintage art materials catalogue and pouring over the contents.

Victorian line drawings of art equipment are a particular delight to me. Such images immediately transport one to another time, so much so that I can also picture myself inside an artists’ colourmans’ shop (think Cornelissen today), with the wonderful smells of oil paint and linseed oil.

Another important part of running The Arqivist is learning about how these materials were used at the time they were produced.

As with many other industries, the Victorian era was a time of massive research and development. Companies were expanding, experimenting and trying to produce paints that would match the artists of the day’s ambitions.

A particular book that fun to read (and that I recommend) was William J Muckley’s Handbook for Painters and Art Students. Muckley a respected artist in his own right, uses his experience to give patrician advice to his fellow painters. It is interesting to read about the styles and tastes of the time, and how painting techniques were being developed.