of images that are on museum
websites is that it broadens your
knowledge and understanding of
the huge range of artistic styles and
compositions that have been made
and preserved from the past.
You might even find yourself
thinking that some of the work is less
good than others. The tendency to put
paintings and drawings from the past
on a pedestal and to then feel that
you can never be as good an artist as
the Old Masters were, is dispiriting
and unhelpful. Becoming aware of the
great range of styles and success of
execution among the work of the
Old Masters should encourage your
own unique practice.
MASTERS COPYING
MASTERS
Before I show you a step-by-step
example of making a quick oil sketch
after the Masters, I want to illustrate
to you how copying shows the copier
how he or she is different from the
artist who made the original work.
This is one of the most useful results
of copying.
On the previous page are two similar
paintings by Peter Paul Rubens and
Eugène Delacroix. The copy by
Delacroix is much smaller than the
original painting by Rubens, which
was part of a series of twenty-four
monumental paintings commissioned
by Marie de Medici to celebrate the
struggles and triumphs of her life.
It is revealing to compare them.
Rubens’s brushstrokes are finely
blended, giving an impressive
imitation of shiny smooth cloth.
Delacroix’s brushstrokes are clearly
left showing as simply brushstrokes
on the other hand, while at the same
time suggesting luscious cloth.
Delacroix’s impetuous, passionate
character shows clearly in his copy
when you look at it next to the
Rubens. If you saw Delacroix’s copy
with nothing to compare it to, you
would not have such a clear sense
of Delacroix’s particular style.
It is not surprising that his paintings
inspired Cézanne. Delacroix’s lively
and expressive brushstrokes shocked
the public in his own time as they
were used to the smooth look that
you see in Rubens’s work, which was
employed by the critically acclaimed
artists of the time such as David
and Ingres.OIL SKETCH OF
THE FEAST OF THE GODS
The Feast of the Gods was painted by
three different artists. Giovanni Bellini
was commissioned by the Duke
Alfonso d’Este to paint it, finishing it
in 1514, two years before his death.
Some years later, the Duke
commissioned Dosso Dossi to repaint
some of the landscape and then he
asked Titian, who had been a pupil
of Bellini, to put in the mountainous
landscape behind the figures. I was
attracted to this composition because
of the rich colours and the complexity
of the crowd of figures, who are all
linked across the picture plane.
It is always a good idea to make
a thumbnail drawing first in order
to understand the compositional
structure of a painting, and then a
small, more detailed drawing. In the
photo opposite you can see a series of
four thumbnail sketches that I made,LEFT Giovanni Bellini
and Titian, The Feast
of the Gods, 1514 -’29,
oil on canvas,
170x188cm