Alkyd resin medium for artists was first invented in the 1970s by Arthur DeCosta, a longtime professor at The Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts in Philadelphia.
Because Maroger medium must be cooked with lead, Turco lacked its inherent danger and had a similar, if not faster, drying time.
"The Kid," as DeCosta called the young man responsible for the manufacture of Turco, often made poor batches of the product and DeCosta, being a full-time professor as well as a prominent Philadelphia painter (notable for his portrait of former mayor Frank Rizzo), gave up on the enterprise sometime in the early 1980s.
This technique was first discovered by the artist Patrick Woodroffe and is outlined in his book A Closer Look (Paper Tiger, 1986, ISBN 1-85028-025-8).
It can also be used as a simple carrier base and, when compressed together with paint under a layer of plastic wrap, produces effective decalcomania.