Home Forums Explore Media Oil Painting The Technical Forum Lefranc & Bourgeois Louvre, Fine and Extra-Fine Oil Colors

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  • #995338
    contumacious
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        Lefranc & Bourgeois Fine Artists’ Oil Color

        I found a few of these locally in 40 ml tubes at a heavily discounted closeout price and the cost per ml is less than I am paying for the Georgian oils in their 225 ml tubes, which have been the lowest cost paint I have found that are fairly decent for a student grade oil.

        I currently own only one tube in this brand – Mineral Violet Light. Seems like a pretty nice paint but one color is hard to judge the entire line on. I am assuming they will have a significantly higher actual pigment concentration than the Georgian colors. I don’t think they will last more than a day or two, otherwise I would buy a couple to test for a while. I am tempted to buy them all.

        If any of you have used or do use them please give me your thoughts, good or bad. Thanks!

        Edit: I forgot to add that they also have the student grade Louvre for the same discount. Has anyone compared the L&B Louvre to the Georgian? Also offering the Extra Fine top of the line but the discount is 10% less than the Fine series, still a pretty decent price for what is supposedly an artist grade at 70% off retail.

        #1272958
        ellef
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            Lefranc & Bourgeois Extra Fine is a good artist paint and at a discount I would seriously consider buying the colours I like. Their whites are my main white and occasionally I buy a colour I like from this series.

            Lefranc & Bourgeois Fine is a very decent student grade paint. I started oil painting with these and I really liked them. Although I’ve been using more heavily pigmented artist grade oils for years, every now and then I grab my old study paint and painting knives to apply thicker layers freely, without any financial guilt.

            I have never used Louvre. I’m not interested in finding the cheapest acceptable paint as I can afford to buy the paints that satisfy me.

            #1272959
            contumacious
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                Thank you ellef. Your response was very helpful.

                #1272960
                contumacious
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                    I forgot to note that these are for a student. The plan is to get a basic range of student grade and artist grade paints, using the cheaper stuff for studies and underpainting.

                    The place that is closing out the L&B also has Da Vinci artist oils on closeout at 80% off, so we decide to get those plus the same colors in the L&B Fine student grade.

                    #1272955
                    monet63
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                        Lefranc has always produced his oil paints without going down to a certain, minimum level of quality, even in the cheapest Louvre line (now discontinued).
                        The biggest differences are between the extrafine line and the other two: in fact, in the first one are present authentic cadmium pigments, cobalt and generally high price pigments, which are absent in the Fine and Louvre lines.
                        The difference in pigmentation, in certain colors, especially in Louvre and Fine lines, is so low that you can buy what costs less.
                        Here is a reference list:
                        – All the whites;
                        – Yellow ochre (in Louvre and Fine lines is PY42 and not PY43);
                        – Raw Sienna (*);
                        – Burnt Sienna (*);
                        – Raw umber (*);
                        – Burnt umber (*);
                        – Ultramarine blue;
                        – Cobalt blue hue;
                        – Prussian blue (*);
                        – Phtalo blue (*);
                        – Green earth;
                        – Red ochre (*);
                        – Ivory black (*).

                        Color with asterisk have similar pigment load in all three lines (extrafine, fine and Louvre), with small differences, and the use of one instead of the other will not get any real improvement in your painting pratice. The two Siennas and the two Umbers are (was?) slightly gritty.
                        If you – compared to the list – need different colors, leave the Louvre line out your palette, and take Fine line.
                        If you need opaque yellows and reds, will buy cadmiums in the extrafine line.

                        Unfortunately I don’t know Da Vinci line.:wave:

                        Mimmo Ceccarelli - Painter
                        https://www.facebook.com/ceccarellimimmo/

                        #1272961
                        contumacious
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                            Mimmo – Thanks for that very detailed information on the L&B paints. I will have to get a few tubes of the Extra-Fine as well. The price is hard to resist.

                            #1272956
                            monet63
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                                Mimmo – Thanks for that very detailed information on the L&B paints. I will have to get a few tubes of the Extra-Fine as well. The price is hard to resist.

                                Lefranc Extrafine was my oil paint for almost 20 years, it’s an excellent product.
                                Keep in mind that Lefranc is recently introducing an updated extrafine line. Take a look.
                                http://www.lefrancbourgeois.com/produit/huile-extra-fine/

                                Mimmo Ceccarelli - Painter
                                https://www.facebook.com/ceccarellimimmo/

                                #1272953
                                Gigalot
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                                    Lefranc Extrafine was my oil paint for almost 20 years, it’s an excellent product.
                                    Keep in mind that Lefranc is recently introducing an updated extrafine line. Take a look.
                                    [URL]http://www.lefrancbourgeois.com/produit/huile-extra-fine/[/URL]

                                    They have PY128 “Transparent Yellow” paint! :clap:

                                    #1272957
                                    monet63
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                                        They have PY128 “Transparent Yellow” paint! :clap:

                                        Rembrandt and Winsor&Newton Artists’ too!

                                        Mimmo Ceccarelli - Painter
                                        https://www.facebook.com/ceccarellimimmo/

                                        #1272954
                                        Gigalot
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                                            Rembrandt and Winsor&Newton Artists’ too!

                                            Good news for W.F.Martin.

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