“In this field-defining work of technical art history, Marjolijn Bol makes an original argument for a combined material, technical, and cultural revolution in the art of image making. With stunning illustrations and prose as lucid as the precious gems she examines, Bol demonstrates a fifteenth-century transformation in systems of depicting optical reflection and refraction across media—in goldsmithing, manuscript illumination, panel painting, and tapestry weaving—as art making shifted from mimesis of materials to include the whole of the visible world.”

Pamela H. Smith, Columbia University

“The Varnish and the Glaze is a rich and well-researched dive into an understudied aspect of the intersection among art history, material studies, and the history of science. Bol’s focus on varnishes and glazes as integral parts of both the material fabrication of paintings and the chromatic properties of paintings is particularly novel. Unlike many other texts, this book does not look at ‘color’ per se. Rather, the book suggests that the colors used in paintings cannot be understood outside of the wider cluster of material techniques that artists used to make colors brighter, more durable, and at times even deceptive. And transparency, Bol argues, is one of the most important material techniques. In other words, by focusing on color and colorants alone, scholars have missed a large part of the intellectual work of painters in the early modern period.”

Michael Rossi, University of Chicago

“This brilliant book demonstrates how the fifteenth-century panel painter’s techniques of varnishing and glazing were foreshadowed in the Middle Ages by media such as stained glass, enamels, and metalwork. Combining the skills of a cultural historian and conservator, Bol offers fresh analysis of medieval sources and their terminology, tries out their recipes, and documents the results with exemplary clarity. Superb color plates not only reproduce the artworks in stunning detail but also record the author’s hands-on research into pigments and binding-media. The Varnish and the Glaze will inform and delight all who are interested in the history of color in the Middle Ages and Early Renaissance.”

Paul Hills, The Courtauld Institute of Art

“A wonderfully fresh, fascinating book. The science is explained clearly and simply, images are analysed with keen-eyed intelligence, and beautiful photographs, taken by the author, show how varnishes and glazes are made. A book from which any reader, student, or expert, will learn a great deal, with great pleasure.” 

Paul Taylor, the Warburg Institute

"This valuable book is a rarity in its ability to bridge gaps between disparate fields of specialty in art historical research."

A. V. Coonin | Choice