The practice of texturing the support or ground of panel paintings has been attributed in the literature to Gilbert Stuart. His purpose was supposedly to simulate his favorite English twilled canvas, which was in short supply due to an embargo preceding the War of 1812. Examples of textured ground and support by other artists indicate the practice was not limited to Stuart. As these examples date at least through the first four decades of the 19th century, the scarcity of imported canvas probably was not the rationale for texturing panels. -- CAL