Old Holland is one of the oldest and most respected fine art paint companies in the world. The company's roots stretch back to 1664 and The Hague's guild system, which trained apprentices to mix colors for the growing community of artists, including Rembrandt and Vermeer. Old Holland's line of oil paint contains high amounts of stone-ground pigments mixed with cold-pressed linseed oil. The process gives Old Holland oil paint unique strength and brilliance. The company hand-packs each tube and attaches a hand-painted sample strip that shows the exact shade of paint in each individual package. Old Holland manufactures lines of watercolor and acrylic paint which also have reputations for superior quality.
Austrian immigrant Max Grumbacher began importing paints and brushes from Germany to New York in 1905. He parlayed the business into the first major art supply company in the United States. Grumbacher, which produces oil, watercolor and acrylic paint, has a long history of innovation. The company created colors for Walt Disney animation studios that eventually became industry standards. Grumbacher also developed paint made from milk proteins, oil colors that thinned with water and brushes that were taken to the moon to collect dust. Grumbacher also played a leading role in establishing quality standards for professional paint products and those marketed to students under their well-known "Academy" brand name. Grumbacher is now a division of Chartpak, Inc. which is based in Leeds, Massachusetts.
Winsor & Newton is a global leader in fine art supplies,and a leading manufacturer of watercolor, gauche and ink. Launched in 1832 in Henry Newton's home in the same London neighborhood where John Constable and J.M.W. Turner had studios, the company was among the first to mix glycerine with pigments to produce wet watercolor paint. Winsor and Newton also developed a zinc-based white paint that led to its line of opaque watercolors or gauche, used widely in graphic arts. The company emphasizes the clarity of its color and its high rating of lightfastness, or permanence, of its paint. Winsor & Newton also manufactures oil and acrylic lines as well as mediums, varnishes, brushes and other accessories.
Maimeri Fine Arts is a family-owned company that has been producing oils and watercolors since the 1920s. The company is based in Mediglia, a small city outside of Milan, and its various lines of oil paint, Artisti, Puro and Classico, are the leading brands of oil paint in Italy and top sellers throughout Europe. Maimeri blends pure pigments and oils according to traditional recipes. Watercolors are single pigments mixed with gum Arabic. Maimeri produces several specialized lines of colors, such as Rinascimento, made from pigments used by Renaissance painters, and Mediterraneo, which relies on native Italian pigment.