Artists who paint with oil use brushes made of different materials to express varying degrees of intensity in their oil paintings. Somebody used a brush made with a hog’s bristle when he wanted his strokes to appear bold. Somebody used a brush made of squirrel fur when he wanted to paint finer, softer strokes. Somebody used what was called a filbert, or a pointed brush, for detailed work, and a fan brush when he wanted to apply large swaths of paint. Sometimes they even used their fingers.

While each painter’s brushes varied depending on the character and intensity of their oil paintings, most artists painted in layers while making an oil painting. They first laid the background and left it to dry. Next, they painted the main characters in rough tones. When this second layer dried, the artists brightened the oil painting with bolder colors, shadows and light effects. In the end, they coated the oil painting with varnish, which served as a sort of seal that held everything together.