Episode 6 - How did painters turn natural materials from animal and mineral sources into the perfect preparation for their panel paintings? A look at Early Italian gesso grounds.

How does a tree become a support for a painting, and how does the memory of its life in the forest affect that support? A look at Early Italian panels.

How did European painters and patrons before about 1400  understand what paintings were and how did that affect how they were made? A look at Early Italian images of the Madonna and Child.

How have modern painters explored what a painting can be?  A look at the work of Frank Stella.

What clues about a painting's materials and history can you find just by looking? A look at Botticelli's Birth of Venus in the Uffizi Galleries, Florence.

What is the physical structure of a painting, and how does that relate to how a painting looks in person? A look at Rembrandt's Aristotle Looking at a Bust of Homer in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York.