Gouache (gwaash) (from the Italian guazzo, “water paint, or splash”) is a type of watercolor paint, made heavier and more opaque by the addition of a white pigment (chalk, Chinese white, etc) in a gum arabic mixture. This results in a stronger color than ordinary watercolor.   The term was originally coined in the eighteenth century in France, although the technique is considerably older, having been in use as early as the sixteenth century in Europe. In the seventeenth century, it became more widely used as a medium for painting by Italian and Dutch artists, including Zuccarelli and Van Dyck. Toulouse Lautrec produced some of his finest café paintings using gouache on scraps of brown paper and cardboard. Among contemporary artists, the gouache paintings by Keith Vaughan, Ceri Richards, Graham Sutherland, and Thomas Paquette are outstanding.   Gouache is a very adaptable medium with a wide range of colors available. The color can be used thickly or it may be watered down to a fine wash. The pigment dries slightly lighter than it appears when wet, which can make it difficult to match colors. The medium can be susceptible to cracking if applied too thickly; this problem can be alleviated to some degree by the use of thickening media such as aquapasto. It can be very effective when applied to colored paper, for example in works by J.M.W. Turner.   Today the term gouache can be used interchangeably with body color, although the latter is made in a slightly different way. It can also be used as a term for any painting produced entirely with gouache.