A Brief History of Aluminum Stearate as a Component of Paint

The earliest and simplest oil paints were mixtures of pigments and drying oils. Eventually driers, resins, fillers, sometimes adulterants and suspension aids were also added. Aluminum stearate was one of the components introduced in the 20th century. The gelling of oil solutions by aluminum soaps was known since at least the late 19th century but the use of aluminum stearate to alter the properties of paint did not come into use until much later. Church in 1901 mentions the use of "linoleate or oleate of alumina" to prevent the "subsidence" of vermilion in tubes (Church 1901), a comment not found in the 1890 edition (Church 1890). No further mention is made of this or similar materials until decades later even in Gardner's test protocols of 1911, the first of a series of books which would become the industry standard for paint analysis (Gardner 1911).