The Bumper Book of Things That Nobody Knows by William Hartston

Author:William Hartston
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Atlantic Books

24. Did Thomas Gainsborough use skimmed milk in his Study of a Cow?

In the 1770s Thomas Gainsborough experimented with unusual innovative techniques to improve the pictorial quality of his drawings on paper. According to the 1772 Royal Academy exhibition catalogue, his drawings were ‘in imitation of oil painting’. Gainsborough himself, in 1773, revealed ‘my secret of making those studies’ when using chalk for his drawing, telling how he would dip his paper in skimmed milk to adhere the white chalk to it, thereby building up layers of chalk and colour. Finally, he would complete the work with varnish or, as he put it, ‘float it all over with Gum’.

The collection at Tate Britain includes Gainsborough’s Study of a Cow in a Landscape, which it dates to 1758–9. This is a pencil drawing on paper which, according to the Tate’s own description of the work, ‘has been coated with a layer of fixative which has subsequently discoloured’. They go on to say: ‘Gainsborough recommended “skim’d milk” for fixing chalk, but whether he used the same substance for fixing pencil is not known.’

Using skimmed milk to fix a drawing of a cow would have been somehow appropriate, but whether Gainsborough would have let such a thing influence him is unlikely.

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