Impasto is a method of painting where pigment is applied thickly and directly onto a painted surface, giving a heave and rough texture to the painting. This technique suggests that Italian artists of the renaissance era employed it to provide detail, expressiveness, and volume to form the stroke or consitency of paint visable on the piece. Famous paintings of Rembrandt van Rijn’s portraits which were rendered in impasto richer in flavor and tangible qualities because of the artst's painstakingly slow method of placing paint on the canvas. Others of course like Vincent van Gogh also used this medium albeit in a more dynamic and forceful way. Its peak usage is attributed to the ubiquity of Impressionist, more so Monet and in turn Claude, who sought to express the imaginative elements of earth's appearance enlisted it in his projects to immortalize beautiful light and atmospheric phenomena.