Rembrandt's sparkle effect

[Michael Georges]

Marble dust is also an age old additive in oil painting. The difference from what I have seen here however, is that most added the marble dust to their oil ground, not in the oil paint layers. That said, Karin if you decide to try some added to your whites, then be aware that it will add a body to the paint, but use it sparingly as it is very absorbent and too much will likely cause brittleness and cracks down the road. And depending on how fine it is ground, the same should go for the quartz powder.

I use a gesso that has marble dust added to it. It is like painting on hydrastone. You can build up impasto effects with it at the charcoal stage and have no fear of cracks down the road. You can sand it, carve it....works great for me.

As for the book mentioned on Rembrandt. I have it and it is a really great book. It wouldn't surprise me if he did add quartz powder, like any painter, he seemed to experiment a lot. But the point is, he certainly didn't need it. I agree with Karin that proper rendering in plain'ol oil paint is sufficient.