in the last 500(+) years humans have been working with oil paint; there exists a wealth of information on the subject. each generation absorbs existing knowledge and THAN GOES ON TO ADD THEIR OWN UNIQUE PERSPECTIVE...That lovely chain (from knowledge to creative insight) was broken around 1940 and only recently have artists been interested in learning from it again. I'm glad of that; "those who don't know history are doomed to repeat it" : In this age that prizes original thought more than anything.."repeating history" sounds like the antithesis of the creative insights we seek...