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Jacques Maroger (1884 - 1962) was a painter and
the technical director of the Louvre Museum's
laboratory in Paris, France. He devoted his life
to understanding the oil-based media of the Old
Masters.

In 1907, Maroger began to study with Louis
Anquetin and worked under his direction until
Anquetin's death in 1932. Anquetin worked closely
and exhibited with the artists Vincent van Gogh,
Charles Angrand, Emile Bernard, Paul Gauguin,
Camille Pissarro, Georges Seurat, Paul Signac and
Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec. He was very active in
the impressionist movement of the time. In his
later years, Anquetin became very interested in
the works of the Flemish masters. As
Maroger’s teacher, Anquetin provided
guidance in the study of drawing, anatomy and
master painting techniques. Maroger began to
become famous around 1931, when the National
Academy of Design in New York, New York reported
Maroger's painting discoveries. 

From 1930 to 1939, Maroger started to work at the
Louvre Museum in Paris as Technical Director of
the Louvre Laboratory. He served as a professor at
the Louvre School, a Member of the Conservation
Committee, General Secretary of the International
Experts, and President of the Restorers of France.
In 1937, he received the Legion of Honor, and his
pride at the honor is reflected in his
self-portrait of the time, in which one can see
his Legion pin on his lapel.

He immigrated to the United States in 1939 and
became a lecturer at the Parsons School of Design
in New York. His New York students, Reginald
Marsh, John Koch, Fairfield Porter and Frank Mason
adopted his Old Master painting techniques, and
taught it in turn to their own students. 

In 1942, Maroger became a Professor at the
Maryland Institute of Art in Baltimore,
Maryland|Baltimore and established a school of
painting. At the Maryland Institute he led a group
of painters who came to be known as the Baltimore
Realists, including the outstanding painter Earl
Hofmann, and other members such as Thomas Rowe,
Joseph Sheppard, Ann Schuler, Frank Redelius and
Melvin Miller. 

Maroger published The Secret Formulas and
Techniques of the Old Masters in 1948. When
Maroger’s book became available, Reginald
Marsh drew on Maroger’s book-jacket an
airplane dropping an Atomic Bomb on the Maryland
Art Institute, a reference to the controversy
Maroger was causing in the local press over the
abstract art versus realism debate.

Maroger’s formula and techniques have been
studied by many modern painters who wish to obtain
the paint quality of the Old Masters. The "secret
formula" that Maroger devised during his lifetime
included the main ingredient white lead. White
lead when cooked into linseed oil acts as a drying
agent and preservative of the oil paint color
layers. If one examines the 17th century master
works closely you will find the paintings that are
in good to excellent condition, after 500 years,
contain the critical chemical white lead. Lead, or
litharge, in the Maroger medium acts in the same
way as lead paint used outdoors. It stands up to
dirt, weather, fading, humidity and other forms of
damage. A tour of any major museum to look at what
paintings are in good condition and which are not
can be directly related to how much lead was used
in the paint medium. 

Maroger introduced to the modern day artist what
the masters achieved centuries before in their
paintings, a way to ensure permanence and color
quality in oils without sacrificing fluid and
subtle paint handling. Equipped with these
formulas, the artist could once again blend his
paint easily without losing control of his brush.
The paint stays where it is applied and does not
run off the panel. It dries very fast so that he
can paint on the same areas the very next day,
which speeds up painting. Above all he enjoys the
permanency provided by the medium and avoids
cracking and discoloring. 

Unjustifiably, Maroger has been criticized by
modern writers on painting because of his bold
claims about having found the secret formulas of
the Masters. But modern day treatises on painting
do not recommended better replacement recipes for
paint mediums than those provided by
Maroger’s mediums. Although Maroger’s
paintings are only 50 years old, so far they look
as fresh as though painted yesterday, and they
closely resemble the technique and look of the
masters. They have held up far better than most
paintings a year old that were painted with
commonly used art supplies. 

==== LOST OLD MASTER FORMULAS BY MAROGER ====
SIX FORMULAS OF MAROGER TAKEN FROM HIS BOOK ON
PAINTING FORMULAS 
#Lead Medium - attributed to Antonello da Messina
- One part litharge (yellow lead oxide) or lead
white, combined by cooking with three to four
parts linseed. 
#Lead Medium - attributed to Leonardo da Vinci -
One part litharge or lead white, combined by
cooking with three to four parts raw linseed oil,
and three to four parts water. 
#Lead Medium - attributed to the Venetian painters
- Giorgione, Titian and Tintoretto - One or two
parts litharge or lead white, combined by cooking
with 20 parts raw linseed or walnut oil. 
#Lead Medium - attributed to Peter Paul Rubens
-This medium was allegedly based on the black oil
of Giorgione with an addition of mastic resin,
Venice turpentine and beeswax. One or two parts
litharge or lead white, combines by cooking with
20 parts raw linseed. A little more that one
spoonful of "black oil" combined with even one
spoonful of mastic varnish resulted in the "jelly"
medium thought to be Megilp (another name of
Maroger mediums). 
#Lead Medium - (attributed to the "Little Dutch
Masters") This medium was the same as the one used
by Rubens, but did not include beeswax. 
#Lead Medium - attributed to Velázquez - One part
verdigris (derived from copper - this material is
substituted for the lead-based metallic driers),
combined by cooking with 20 parts raw linseed or
walnut oil.
 
==External links==
*http://www.marogermedium.com
*http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0878172459
/qid=1006986783/sr=1-2/ref=sr_1_0_2/104-3996370-19
48740 book