pastel

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In art, chalky material consisting of ground pigment bound with gum. Pastel is a form of painting in dry colours and produces a powdery surface, which is delicate and difficult to conserve. Artists renowned for their use of pastel include Rosalba Carriera (1675–1785), La Tour, Chardin, Degas, and Mary Cassatt.

The use of coloured chalks has a long history, and many European old masters used them to heighten the effect of a drawing (for example Holbein in his portrait drawings). Red, black, and white chalks were used with beautiful effect by Watteau. The more elaborate pastel painting was popularized in 18th-century France by the Venetian painter Rosalba Carriera. Quentin de la Tour was the most notable user of the medium, though Chardin used the medium with great effect. J E Liotard was another practitioner of note. In England John Riley was noted for his crayon painting, but the art, as in France, was developed more fully there in the 18th century, notably by Francis Cotes. In more modern times it has been practised by Degas, Toulouse-Lautrec, Millet, and Whistler, Degas finding pastel especially congenial in some of his most beautiful ballet scenes and in his nude studies, on account of the swift and free handling it allowed, and the fresh and luminous effects it produced.

Oil pastels are a fairly recent medium. In this case oil is used to bind the pigment instead of gum.

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