The Origin Of Canvas And Its Importance In The Creation Of Attractive Paintings

By Author: printism ism
Total Articles: 22
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Today, canvas provides the base for every type of paintings. However, this was not so from the beginning. From the origin of art (from Dark Age to Renaissance period) paintings were done on strong surface such as wood and plain stone. With the passage of time, as the Italian Renaissance came in to existence, the merchant shipping industry was developing rapidly and that development brought many technological advantages and inventions, which were mostly copied from eastern culture. At the same time the technology of canvas originated.

In the starting most of the canvases were made of hemp. Actually, ‘canvas’ got its name from the Arabic word ‘cannabis’ which means hemp in Latin. And soon art lovers show a great interest in large canvas prints. The strong base of canvas was made with tightly weaved cannabis fibbers together. Along with this, the material was also used as tents and sails. With this unimaginable development in merchant industry, canvas became readily available for the painters. This invention was firstly used in Venice near 1500 AD by portrait artists ...
... and the paintings gained immense popularity around the world. Almost all the painters preferred it and the more traditional or cumbersome wood boards lost their existence.

These hemp panels were light weighted and durable that is why these were able to provide an ideal base to paintings. Moreover, these were more portable, affordable and of different sizes and the artists were able to get much larger painting results from this freedom. In the late 18th and early 19th centuries American cotton was used in place hemp to make canvas yet painters still preferred the stronger linen for their oil paintings, despite the higher cost. Though cotton boards were more comfortable but weaker than either linen. But in the last hundred years, with the help of advanced technology, ultimately cotton canvas has overtaken the linen and hemp boards.

Thus modern canvas is made of cotton as well as synthetic material and people love to buy large canvas prints for their home interior decoration. In its natural state, cotton sacking is an off-white colour, and the finer linen one is a light brown. Both are available in varying qualities and weights. The primed, non stretched as well as canvas panels, which are already primed, and ready to paint also available in the market. The non-stretched canvases available in arts and crafts stores, some office stores, and department stores. In grounding for a painting, these boards are the first requirement. Painter needs to stretched and secured over a wooden stretcher frame before starting his work. There are several painters who sale their paintings on canvas at affordable prices. One can bought these to decorate his home as well as office interior in a unique way. These painters are also available online these days. People just need to search the painting on canvas vendor who can provide them desired piece of art for their home decoration.