The following is a list of recommended reading & reference for all students of oil painting. Though some titles are recommended more highly than others, this working-list is currently ordered alphabetically.
I plan to add commentary and develop a relevancy rating system, eventually.
Feel free to contact me with any questions.
Book List:
Arnheim, Rudolf
The Power of the Center (1988)
Bridgman, George B.
The Book of a Hundred Hands (1920)
Brown, Christopher (van de Wetering, Ernst, et al)
Rembrandt: The Master and His Workshop : Paintings/Drawings and Etchings (1991)
Cole, Rex Vicat
Perspective for Artists (1921)
Cox, Kenyon
What Is Painting? Winslow Homer & Other Essays (1988)
Eastlake, Sir Charles Lock
Methods and Materials of Painting of the Great Schools and Masters (Two Volumes) (1847)
Elkins, James
Pictures & Tears: A History of People Who Have Cried in Front of Paintings (2001)
Elkins, James
The Object Stares Back (1996)
Elkins, James
What Painting Is (2000)
Goldfinger, Eliot
Human Anatomy for Artists (1991)
Hale, Robert Beverly
Drawing Lessons from the Great Masters (1964)
Hawthorne, Mrs. C. W.
Hawthorne on Painting (1960)
Hockney, David
Secret Knowledge (2001)
Lampert, Catherine (& Kendall, Richard)
Euan Uglow: The Complete Paintings (2007)
Mayer, Ralph
The Artist's Handbook of Materials and Techniques (1940)
Munsell, Albert (Long, Jim & Luke, Joy Turner)
The New Munsell Student Color Set (Ring-bound) (1946/1996/2001) [Can be found <$20, new.]
Nerdrum, Odd (& Bj0rn, Li)
Odd Nerdrum: Themes (2007)
Parkhurst, Daniel Burleigh
The Painter in Oil (1903) [Available Free, online at ARC: link -or- Google: link]
Protter, Eric
Painters on Painting (1971)
Simpson, Marc (et al)
Like Breath on Glass: Whistler, Inness, and the Art of Painting Softly (2008)
Speed, Harold
Oil Painting Techniques and Materials (1944)
Speed, Harold
The Practice and Science of Drawing (1917)
Stiles, Kristine (& Selz, Peter)
Theories and Documents of Contemporary Art (1996)
van de Wetering, Ernst
Rembrandt: The Painter at Work (2000/2009)
Vine, Richard (& Nerdrum, Odd)
Odd Nerdrum: Paintings, Sketches, and Drawings (2001)