underpainting

American  

[uhn-der-peyn-ting] / ˈʌn dərˌpeɪn tɪŋ /

noun

1. the first coat of paint, especially the initial painting painting on a canvas in which the major areas, tones, colors, and forms are indicated in mass.

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underpainting British  

/ ˈʌndəˌpeɪntɪŋ /

noun

1. the first layer in a painting, indicating the design and main areas of light and shade

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Etymology

Origin of underpainting

First recorded in 1865–70; under- + painting

Example Sentences

Their research was initially hobbled by the pandemic, and other factors, but last spring MacDonald-Korth used high-tech equipment to study the underpainting and trace the elements of the paints used in the original in Philadelphia.

From New York Times • Feb. 19, 2023

That underpainting, rather than continuous from edge to edge across the surface, is a concatenation of independent patches, all different.

From Los Angeles Times • Nov. 19, 2022

That’s a motif that runs through the book, the idea of the underpainting.

From Seattle Times • Sep. 30, 2022

Brummel’s exhibition explores technical methods used to learn more about Picasso’s underpainting, including advanced microscopy and spectroscopic imaging.

From Washington Post • Dec. 28, 2021

It is in fact a landscape, done in oils, with the blue water, the purple underpainting, the craggy rocks and windswept raggedy trees and heavy impasto of the twenties and thirties.

From "Cat's Eye" by Margaret Atwood