The word "varnish" comes from Latin vernix, meaning odorous resin, the etymology of which comes from the Greek Berenice, the ancient name of modern Benghazi in Libya, where the first varnishes were used and where resins from the trees of now-vanished forests were sold.
•
The source of shellac resin is a brittle or flaky secretion of the female lac insect, Kerria lacca, found in the forests of Assam and Thailand and harvested from the bark of the trees where she deposits it to provide a sticky hold on the trunk.
Olympic gold medalist Brett Aitken is arguably the sport's most famous export, with European gold medallist Jess Varnish linked to the sport through her father James 'Jim' Varnish.
However, as the paint is not commercially available, the artist must mix his own colours using pigment powders, oil, varnish, egg yolk and a preservative; uniquely, Ramsay discovered that Scotch whisky is an excellent preservative for the egg in the oil tempera mix!
He used a peculiar varnish on his pictures, which Murillo compared to crystal.
It is now in the Galleria degli Uffizi in Florence, where the most recent restoration by Daniele Rossi revealed a signature previously hidden under old varnish.