Winsor & Newton Archive: Items of Intrigue - Portable paint, from pig bladders to paint tubes

Winsor & Newton's history is filled with innovative products. William Winsor invented the collapsible screw-cap tube for portable paints, specially developed for artists painting outdoors. Before this, glass syringes were used to transport paint. But what did artists use before these? It was nothing other than pig bladders.

When naturalism grew as an art movement, artists increasingly wanted to paint directly from nature. Transportable paints were essential to painting outside, and reliable vessels were needed to bring the paint out of the studio. Before transportable paint tubes were invented, many artists relied on vessels like pig bladders to carry paints. But why?

Since medieval times, sap green had been reduced to a sticky syrup and sold in pig bladders. This leant sap green the unfortunate nickname, ‘bladder green’. The pigment became popular with landscape watercolourists in the 17^th and 18^th centuries, as artists could carry this sticky substance around with them in the pig bladders themselves. For centuries, artists would store and carry their paint in these vessels, and then puncture holes in them and squeeze out the paint for use, before patching it up again.

Recognising the need for a better solution, William Winsor set to work inventing a portable paint tube. The collapsible tube was safer to carry than glass. And unlike an organic material like pig bladders, it was non-reactive with the paint inside. This revolutionised the way artists could work. And so, the pig bladder samples were consigned to the Winsor & Newton archive, where they can be found on display to this day.