A No-lead Maroger medium?

I have recently tried the Neo-Meglip, and while I thought it was a decent alkyd medium, a maroger or meglip it is not...

It is tacky and sticky, and while true Maroger can be like this as well, it is not to the same extent. None the less, for those not wanting to work with lead compounds, it's a decent quasi choice on limited levels. It definitely drys with a similar glossy and slick finish ala Maroger, but not as glossy and to my eye, it has that slight "plasticy" look that the highly processed alkyd mediums have.

Also one of the great advantages of a true jelly Maroger is the fact that once you stop moving it around with your brush on your ground , it sets up rather quickly (thixotropic), often allowing you to make fast layers over another, while still wet, within even minutes at times (although a few hours is more like it); I found this harder with the Neo-Meglip, as it seems tackier and stickier even though it sets up like a classic Maroger. But when I tried to layer over the Neo-Meglip after a few hours, the lower layer would come up and create a mess, negating the best reason to use a jelly medium in the first place. Quick layering with a jelly medium (which is why Rubens was so fond of this medium) was much harder with Gamblin's Safe And Friendly Maroger in my opinion. Wet on wet layering is one the strongest reasons to use a Maroger medium.

I have been using a pre-made Maroger--LeFranc & Bourgois's Flemish medium, in conjunction with their black oil mixed into the paint nuts on my palette and WOW... I can see now, as much as I HATE the phrase, "Secret of the old masters", why it is used for this medium so much...

My paintings with this combination have wonderful depth, gloss and a certain scintillation that was lacking previously (although a good stand oil/Venice turps medium comes close, but takes FOREVER to dry). Of course this is not JUST as a result of the medium; the planning and execution of many layers and glazes, and always utilizing light and transparent darks and opaque heavy lights is a huge factor as well (not to mention paying attention to edges...!)

But this last weekend, at the Getty Museum here in L.A., as I stood before Rubens and many of the Flemish masters works (Jan Van Huysen in particular), a certain little bit of the mystery of how they did what they did was suddenly freed in my mind--particularily Rubens who loved to paint alla prima-ish as much as possible, avoiding a heavy layered classical approach.

Although it certainly isn't the safest thing in the world, if your really interested in painting like the great artists of the 16th and 17th centuries, I would recommend you check out Maroger and Black oil mediums, as well as Mastic varnish in a medium combination. There is just something to it that is hard to describe...

Best,
Todd