PROSPECTUS:_Like the painter’s apprentice, Vasari still carefully handcraft their colours in small amounts and even fill every tube by hand.
These traditional methods of paintmaking ensure the purity of colour and lush consistency, enabling Vasari to impart the secret of the Old Masters to the modern-day painter.
Working with only the best oil and the finest authentic pigments, Vasari passionately refuses to dull, stiffen, or weaken their colours with fillers such as chalk or wax.
Experience the effortless magic of Vasari Classic Artists’ Oil Colours in your brush and on your palette. It’s truly a painter’s paint…the one paint that will make you a painter’s painter.
- SELECTION_Perhaps 135_Many convenient colors
- PROPRIETARY COLORS_They have a line of greys that were inspired by Scott Christenson. Also, their hew Touch of Earth series shows promise. These are tints of classic earth pigments that at first glance would seem to be easy to mix oneself. That is rarely the case with convenience colors from the manufacturers. The chemistry of these recipes is intricate so unless one is an experienced painter these colors are very difficult to duplicate.
- PIGMENT LOAD_High
- CONSISTENCY AND TEXTURE_Like a number of other small manufacturers they do not appear to have the equipment to mill Extra-Fine. Not as creamy as Rembrandt or as stiff as Old Holland.
- BINDERS_Primarily Alkali Refined Linseed Oil
- ADDITIVES_They make very little mention of ingredients beyond binders but like all professional-grade paint manufacturers, we tested they only use modifiers required to make a pigment more usable.
- FINISH OR SHEEN_Semi-gloss
- PACKAGING_Some of the information on the label is missing or confusing
- TOXICITY_Lead Whites, Cadmiums, and other metals.
- TRANSLUCENCY_Limited number of Transparent Colours
- OPACITY/COVERAGE_Excellent_Range leans Opaque
- MIXABILITY/TINTING STRENGTH_Good but not as good as Extra-Fine brands
- INTENSITY_ Excellent
- LIGHTFASTNESS_Good
- DRYING TIME_ Normal
- AVAILABILITY_ Very limited presence at Retail
- GRADE_Professional
Synopsis:_Producing colours in SMALL AMOUNTS is a limitation, not an advantage. Each batch has a significant chance of being slightly different than the previous one. One of our first jobs was mixing paint for Autobody shops and we always mixed more than needed for precisely this reason. The SECRET OF THE OLD MASTERS this claim is often made by boutique brands to justify the particle size of their pigments. AUTHENTIC Pigments_this is just fluff marketing used in this context. Vasari passionately refuses to dull, stiffen, or weaken their colours with fillers such as chalk or wax. Most of the brands, if not all make this claim. It is up to the individual to determine rather it is good or bad. Each pigment has its own individual characteristics and may require additional ingredients for those pigments to perform well. None of the pigments tested were devoid of these ingredients. Below specified percentage ingredients are not required to be listed on the label. It should also be noted that formulating individual recipes for different pigments is a time consuming and expensive proposition. It requires having a staff of chemical engineers and years of experience. Like the other brands reviewed much of the PROSPECTUS is marketing hyperbole. Vasari seems to have patterned part of its line in the manner of Blockx, a good choice because Blockx makes an excellent part. Vasari has a strong following of professional painters and they make a Professional-Grade line of paints.