Art materials

Explore definitions and selected portraits from the Gallery's Collections in relation to over 140 different terms in this glossary of medium and support relating to painting, drawing, sculpture, printmaking and photography.

Painting

Acrylic Airbrush Brush Canvas Cardboard Diptych Enamel Gesso Gilding Glaze Grisaille Ground Hardboard Impasto Linen Millboard Miniature Mixed media Oil Palette Palette knife Panel Pigment Plywood Polychromy Polyptych Stencil Stipple Tempera Triptych
The Brontë Sisters (Anne Brontë; Emily Brontë; Charlotte Brontë), by Patrick Branwell Brontë, circa 1834

Photography

Albumen print Ambrotype Autochrome Bromesco Bromide print C-type colour print Cabinet print Calotype Carbon print Carte-de-visite Chlorobromide print Cibachrome print Collotype Contact Print Cyanotype Daguerreotype Digital imaging Diptych Dye-transfer print Embellishment Glass magic lantern / slide Glass positive Hand-coloured Hologram Kodalith LCD screen Monochrome Negative Photo collage Photogalvanograph Photogravure Photomontage Platinotype Platinum print, Palladium print Polaroid Salt paper process Silver print or gelatin silver print Solarized print process Stereograph Vintage Print
Dame Elizabeth Taylor, by Angus McBean, 1966

Drawing

Biro Body colour Caricature Cartoon Chalk Charcoal Chiaorscuro Collage Conté crayon Crayon Goldpoint Gouache Hatching Heightening Indian ink Ink Paper Pastel Pen Pen, ink and wash Pencil Plumbago Pouncing Sanguine Sepia Sgraffito Silhouette Silverpoint Stencil Stipple Stump Tracing, Tracing paper Vellum Wash Watercolour Wax resist
William Roberts, by William Roberts, circa 1912-1913

Printmaking

Aquatint Caricature Chromolithograph Cigarette cards Drypoint Engraving Etching Ferrotype Gravure Intaglio Linocut Lithograph Lithographic chalk Mezzotint Platinotype Proof print Silk-screen printing Stipple Woodburytype Wood engraving Woodcut
Tomás Harris, by Tomás Harris, 1951

Sculpture

Assemblage Bronze Bust Cameo Carving Casting Ceramic Chasing Clay Cold cast Death mask Electrotyping Embossed Finishing Gold, Gold leaf Life mask Limestone Marble Medal Medallion Mixed media Modelling Mosaic Mould-making New materials Papier-mâché Parian ware Patination Plaque Plaster Plasticine Polyptych Relief Resin Sculptoon Statue Statuette Stone Terracotta Wax Wedgwood
Andrew Motion, by Jilly Sutton, 2000