From drawers to da Vinci

While I wouldn’t use poplar as a primary wood unless it was to be painted, it’s my absolute favorite secondary wood. Its tight grain and stable characteristics make it outstanding for drawer boxes, internal cabinet components, shop furniture, jigs and fixtures.

Outside the woodshop, it’s also a go-to species for matchsticks, paper and wood pulp, food packaging and even some things you might not expect, like medical prosthetics and tongue depressors. But there was a time when it was also the wood of choice for famous artists. Not for picture frames, as you might imagine, but for the artworks themselves.

Canvas has been the standard medium for oil and other paintings for centuries but didn’t really become commonplace until the late 1500s. Before that, poplar panels were preferred, and for many of the same reasons it’s used today: tight grain, smooth surface, stability and availability.

Other woods were also used (my favorite da Vinci painting, “Lady with an Ermine,” was done on walnut), but poplar was the leading medium until canvas took over in later centuries. Its fine surface texture made it especially desirable for portraits.

Leonardo da Vinci’s “Mona Lisa” — probably the most famous portrait of all time — was painted from 1503-1519 on a smaller-than-you-probably-thought 30" x 21" poplar panel. Raphael’s “Self-Portrait” (1504-1506) was likewise on the small side at about 19" x 14". Don’t let the sizes fool you, though. Much larger works were also done on poplar.

For example, Botticelli’s “La Primavera,” painted around 1480, was done on a massive 81" x 125" poplar panel, while the panel for his “Adoration of the Magi” (1470-1475) measured a respectable 44" x 54".

I’m generally proud of the woodworking I’ve done but would never consider my output to be works of art in the common sense. Still, sharing a fondness for poplar with the greatest grandmasters of the art world is a connection that appeals to me very much.