Cesare Mussini - famous painter and guardian of the old masters formulations

200 years Cesare Mussini (1804 - 1879)

Schmincke is celebrating this special anniversary to honour Cesare Mussini. MUSSINI® finest artists resin oil colours the very first product of H. Schmincke & Co. - have been named after him.

Cesare Mussini, born June 9th, 1804 in Berlin, has been a famous painter who mainly did portrait and religious paintings. Some of his works, for example a self portrait can be admired in Florence, Italy (Gli Uffizi, Accademia di Belle Arti and Galleria d arte moderna di Palazzo Pitti.

In 1820 he started his studies at the Academy of Florence; later on he also worked as professor at this Academy.Cesare Mussini died May 24th, 1879 at the age of 75 years in Florence. Professor Mussini sold the formulations to Hermann Schmincke and Josef Horadam, founders of H. Schmincke & Co. This has been the basis for the foundation as well as the success of the Schmincke company. Before the tube was invented, the old masters formulations of resin-oil colours have almost been forgotten because the traditional colours have not been suitable for long-term storage in leather and hide pouches. Cesare Mussini was the guardian of the formulations of resin-oil colours and did use them for all his works. MUSSINI® - the basis for the company H. Schmincke & Co. H. Schmincke and J. Horadam examined and improved these precious formulations and succeeded in filling these resin-oil colours into tubes. This has been the basis for the foundation of the manufacturer of finest artists' colours H. Schmincke & Co as well as for the worldwide commercialisation of MUSSINI®.

MUSSINI® - the perfect link between tradition and modern business

During the decades, the famous MUSSINI® finest resin oil colours have continuously been improved in the Schmincke lab always taking care of the results of modern research and development.

MUSSINI® - unique throughout the world

Finest pigments, extra-ordinary brilliance, highest possible light resistance, colours of superior quality that is MUSSINI®. All 102 shades of this unique natural resin-oil colours do meet the artists highest requirements as we do use only finest artists pigments in highest concentration and pureness.

However, the real secret is the combination of well-chosen painting oils with best Indonesian dammar natural resin. The brilliance and the effects of depth of the colours are unique as parts of natural resin replace parts of the fat oils which normally tend to yellow. By doing so, the refraction properties as also improved. The optimised combination of natural resins and oils has a direct positive effect on the drying properties of MUSSINI®. The increase in volume, resulting from the chemical drying process which begins on the surface via oxygen uptake, is largely compensated by the solvent content in the dammar solution with evaporates from inside.

The balanced drying process provides tension-free and durable colour layers. MUSSINI®, based on the old masters formulations, guarded by Cesare Mussini and optimised by means of modern techniques and raw materials, is a traditional and a modern finest artists resin oil colour at the same time. The character and the quality of MUSSINI® is unique throughout the world and meets the requirements of demanding artists.