Italian Wax Medium
The Medium of the Venetians
A variation on the Maroger medium, this medium was used by earlier masters such as Titian and Tintoretto. Containing beeswax instead of mastic, this medium is perfect for those artists who prefer a thicker painting consistency and faster drying time.
"The fluid black oil and the addition of wax to the pigments, which gave them a somewhat fluffy, spongy texture, made possible many different ways of using this subtle technique. In addition to the mat quality, [the artist] now also possessed the means of the still more rapid execution, necessitated by the new conceptions of drawing that had but recently been brought about by the genius of Michelangelo Buonarotti.*"
Italian Wax Medium
Using Italian Wax Medium with Flemish Maroger
The
Italain Wax Medium is perfectly compatible with Flemish Maroger. Many artists
mix the Italian medium into the light pigments (White, Naples Yellow, Yellow
Ochre, etc.) to give these paints more body and a thicker consistency. This
helps to "build up the lights" and adds luminosity and "impasto"
for the brightest passages of a painting.
* "Secret Formulas and Techniques
of the Masters,"
by J. Maroger.