Preparatory coating or foundation layer on a SUPPORT that renders it more suitable for the application of paint or other artists' media. The term is also used in a more general sense to refer to the background of a painting or drawing. Where no special preparation is required, the surface of the support may itself be regarded as the ground. In the term's historical usage the notion of the ground as a background or foundation is sometimes extended to incorporate underpainting and dead-colouring within its meaning; the term then refers to isolated areas of preparatory colouring, instead of the preliminary overall covering normally implied.
See the Abbreviations for further details.
