Oil
Oil paint consists of pigment mixed with an oil medium, usually linseed, and can be diluted with spirits. Because of its versatility, flexibility and rich and dense colour, oil has become the most popular painting medium for important works since the sixteenth century. It dries slowly, rather than sets, and can be painted over to create a great variety of effects from enamel smoothness to violent impasto. Both minute detail and subtle blending of tones can be achieved in a way no other painting technique can rival, the closest being acrylic.
Henry Howard, Earl of Surrey
after William Scrots
circa 1570-1580s, based on a work of 1546
NPG 4952
William Shakespeare
associated with John Taylor
circa 1610
NPG 1
Thomas Howard, 14th Earl of Arundel
by Sir Peter Paul Rubens
1629
NPG 2391
George Romney
by George Romney
1784
NPG 959
Sir Edwin Landseer
by John Ballantyne
circa 1865
NPG 835
Queen Alexandra
after Luke Fildes
1920, based on a work of 1894
NPG 1889
Coventry Kersey Deighton Patmore
by John Singer Sargent
1894
NPG 1079
Harold Wilson
by Ruskin Spear
exhibited 1974
NPG 5047
Mo Mowlam
by John Keane
2001
NPG 6468
Lindsay Quartet (Peter Cropper; Ronald Birks; Robin Ireland; Bernard Gregor-Smith)
by György Gordon
2003
NPG 6649
Ken Dodd
by David Cobley
2004
NPG 6702
Akram Khan
by Darvish Fakhr
2008
NPG 6847