At Janus Collaborative School of Art, where I’m currently doing my art training, we work directly from the figure, under a gorgeous skylight/north light. As beautiful as it is to paint under natural light, I sometimes miss the dramatic contrast of light and shadow.
Caravaggio was a master of chiaroscuro and his naturalistic painting style was in direct contrast to the idealistic views during the Renaissance. This was quite effective in his religious, narrative paintings as the apostles and disciples were depicted as human instead of “godly” or mythical beings.
Sometimes he controlled the light source and light direction by blocking much of the strong light flooding in through a window or a door. Other times, he used candles to light his subjects. The areas of the subject nearest to the candlelight are very brightly lit and everything else rapidly turns into the shadow (since the light dissipates very quickly). Notice how the reflective light is minimized. Caravaggio often surrounded his subjects with dark cloth or dark walls in order to diminish any bounced light onto his subject.
This type of set-up is a very effective way to create a strong design and lead the viewers eye across the tableau. James Gurney writes more about chiaroscuro in his wonderful blog (which you should be following if you’re not already doing so). I’m far from a narrative painting (though sketchbooks are a great way to work out some of these ideas), but I’m using the opportunity of having access to such a wonderful studio to paint some subjects under dramatic lighting this summer. Plus, there are no city or street lights to get in the way of my shadows up here!
Not only was Alfons (also spelled as Alphonse) Mucha an excellent draughtsman, but he excelled in design and the decorative arts. Though he is more notably known for his work in poster design, illustration and advertising, his brilliant eye for design and composition paired with exquisite line work in both his more traditional paintings and drawings and in his illustrative posters allowed him to successfully merge the two areas of art and design in the style we now know as Art Nouveau.
France Embraces Bohemia, oil painting by Mucha
Just like many artists of the time, he travelled to Paris in 1887 to further develop his art training in one of the many Parisian academies or ateliers alongside with some of the best artists in the 19th Century.
Self Portrait, oil
He became a student at the Academie Julien and the Academie Colarossi (sculpture based training).
painting in oil, Mucha
oil painting, Mucha
During his studies, Mucha produced magazine illustrations and advertising most likely to help pay for his studies and living expenses in Paris. Not only did he create a multitude of posters and advertisements for the theatre, but this prolific Czech painter produced numerous works of art and continues to influence generations of artists, painters, graphic designers, designers, lettering/typography and draughtsmen today.
Milan born painter Pietro Annigoni studied and lived most of his life in Florence where he studied at the Accademia delle Belle Arti taking classes in painting, sculpture and engraving. Though he was popular for his evocative landscapes, he enjoyed great success as a portrait painter painting prominent figures such as Pope John XXIII, John F. Kennedy, Lyndon B. Johnson and Queen Elizabeth II.
Annigoni’s style is greatly influenced by the great Old Masters of the Italian Renaissance though he learned the art of painting in tempera grassa (ie, “fatty tempera”) while studying under the Russian painter Nikolai Lokoff. What makes the tempera paint fatty are particles of oil mixed in with the egg tempera. The oil allows the paint to have slightly more blending effects though the medium remains to follow the drying properties of pure tempera rather than oil paint.
I am not sure whether these portraits were painted in pure tempera grassa, pure oil paint or a mix of both mediums, regardless they are exquisite.
Born in 1910 and being a realist painter at a time when realism and traditional painting was a dying art form, Annigoni signed the manifesto of Modern Realist Painters in 1947. The group consisted of 7 painters who were openly opposed to abstract art and other styles and movements of art in Italy at the time. Despite representational art’s fall from grace, Annigoni continued to produce work that bore the style of Italian Renaissance portraiture executed with technical bravado and enjoyed worldwide success in the face of modernism and post-modernism. Nelson Shanks of Studio Incamminati in Philadelphia and Michael John Angel of the Angel Academy in Florence were both Annigoni students.
