When and how was oil paint developed? What are the unique characteristics of oil paint?

The Flemish artists Jan and Hubert van Eyck are sometimes (wrongly) given the credit for inventing oil paint in the early 1400s. They were possibly the first to perfect the technique for use in the painting of pictures,


Oil paint is unique in it's slow drying time (enabling blending and similar techniques) and it's translucence. The two main types of paint that were used before 1400 (egg tempera and fresco) allowed neither of these.


Acrylics can reproduce some of the qualities of oil paint but many artists find the fast drying time a problem.





http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jan_van_Eyc鈥?/a>


http://www.answers.com/topic/hubert-van-鈥?/a>





History of oil paint;


http://www.cyberlipid.org/perox/oxid0011鈥?/a>


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oil_paintin鈥?/a>