Bathing Nymphs

Toussaint Gelton painted this panel, titled *Bathing Nymphs*, sometime in the 17th century. It is made with oil paint on a wooden support. The wood grain is clearly visible, especially in the sky. This texture works against any illusionistic effect that Gelton may have been aiming for; you feel the painting as a constructed object, not simply a window onto a scene. As for the pigments, these would have been ground by hand, or by workshop assistants - strenuous labour, now completely obscured by the seemingly effortless scene of nymphs bathing in the sun. This is a good example of the way that materials, and processes, can give us insight into the social conditions of art production, even in a genre as seemingly detached from everyday life as mythological painting.