Crazing

Crazing or craquelure is a term used to describe the appearance of very fine cracks throughout the surface of a painting, ceramic or sculpture. With Oil Painting, cracks are either a result of ageing as the paint responds to chemical and environmental stresses over the years and will be fine and angular or cracks that form as the paint layers dry at different rates and which, if very prominent, indicate that the artist used a faulty technique.

Crazing can be deliberately achieved with a glaze layer or Craquelure medium which gives newly painted artworks an aged or ‘old-fashioned’ look.