Renaissance Italian Painting Workshop

[turlogh]

RENAISSANCE ITALIAN PAINTING WORKSHOP

The moderators of this forum have asked me to do a workshop. While much of the posting in the classical forum is devoted to the 19th century, I thought it would be worthwhile to go a bit further back in time, to when most of the methods and aesthetics of 19th century were first created: the Italian Renaissance.

The Renaissance was a period in which Europeans rediscovered and built upon the ideas and aesthetics of classical antiquity (i.e., Greek and Roman civilization). In Italy, in the midst of many other changes in such areas as writing, architecture, sculpture mathematics, politics, and science, groups of painters began to move beyond the traditional Medieval approach to visual art and develop a new aesthetic. Over time, the ideas and methods they created (in synergy with developments from other parts of Europe, particularly the Netherlands) resulted in what we think of as modern painting.

While there is no sharp delineation of when this period began, most sources place the initiation of Italian Rennaissance painting some time in the 1300’s. Before that time, late Medieval painting throughout Europe was derrived from the Byzantine tradition of religious icons. In icon painting, there is no attempt to create any kind of realistic scene. Shading is arbitrary and not indicative of any particular light source. There are no cast shadows. Figures relate to each other symbolically, with no attempt to indicate realistic gestures or emotions. Objects are not drawn with realistic scale or perspective. The background was often a decorative surface of gold leaf. While iconic painting was beautiful (and this tradition continues with the practice of Orthodox and Russian icon painting), by the time of the Renaissance it did not fit with the new humanist ideas then being promulgated. A group of painters in early 14th century Florence, stimulated by ideas from other disciplines, began to paint more realistically. The core innovator of this movement was named Giotto di Bodoni (1267-1337). In his paintings, and the paintings of those who followed, there are modelled figures who interact in a space defined by perspective. Close objects are large and far objects are small. Modelling is used to indicate volume and weight, with a consistent source of light. The background was often painted (with gold leaf halos) rather than gilded. In combination with the emotionalism evident in the work of the Sienese painter Duccio di Buoninsegna, a new tradition developed that was much closer to modern painting.

Over the course of the 14th, 15th, and 16th centuries, artists continued to innovate as the marketplace began to reward painters for excellence in rendering, composition, and use of color (before that, consumers of art were typically more concerned with how expensive the materials were than how skilled the artist was). In the early 15th century, Italian painters began to be influenced by Netherlandish artists, who were doing new things with oil paint. Artists learned anatomy, gesture, and facial expressiveness. They learned much more realistic approaches to rendering light, form shadow, and cast shadow. Great painters such as Botticelli, Bellini, Leonardo, Raphael, Michelangelo, and Titian set a new standard for magnificence to which artists have aspired ever since.

During this time, as artists developed new styles and learned how to render more realistically, they developed new materials and new painting methods. Oil painting changed from a secondary medium, used for certain special effects, to the primary painting material. Over the past 30 years, conservation scientists have learned a lot about how artists during this period did their work. In this workshop, I’ll focus on those materials and methods. In the process, I think that even those of you who are more interested in the paintings of Bougereau than those of Raphael may find it useful to know more about where the 19th century painting tradition came from.

What I will cover is the preparation of supports and grounds; working with underdrawings; making egg tempera, tempera grassa, and oil paint; and historical methods of working with those media. I won’t cover gilding, because my gilding skills are pathetic. I’ll skip two Renaissance painting media—fresco and distemper—because I don’t know enough about them to tell anyone how to use them.

[turlogh]

Although many of you will probably prefer to just follow along, I’ll provide a few exercises and projects for anyone who actually wants to get their hands dirty. Since this is a topic that potentially involves a lot of specialty materials, I’m going to start with a list of the stuff you might want to buy if you wish to follow along as we go. Some of these materials are potentially toxic (although I also include less problematic alternatives), and I will also review basic studio safety practices that allow this kind of stuff to be used without any health problems.

In the list below, I’ll divide things into a simple approach and a traditional approach. The simple approach is designed for maximum convenience, using materials that are readily available. The traditional approach uses the same or similar materials, for the most part, that Renaissance Italians used. I’ll deviate from that only when necessary, and I’ll let you know why. If you want to use the traditional approach and you don’t happen to live near a big art store, you’ll need to get some stuff on the internet. I’ll provide web sites where these materials are available.

1. PAINTING SUPPORT AND PRIMING

SIMPLE APPROACH

If you want to try tempera, you will need one or more panels that are are primed with traditional gesso. Don’t use panels primed with acrylic “gesso,” clayboard, or pastel board. The best sources I know are Real Gesso (www.realgesso.com) and True Gesso Panels (www.true-gesso-panels.com). Both of these companies will send free samples upon request.

Once we get to oil painting, you can use regular craft store acrylic primed canvas, or various kinds of acrylic panel. You can also use traditional gesso panels.

TRADITIONAL APPROACH

PANEL: the material used for this was wooden planks. These were typically cut and planed to size and then seasoned for at year or more, with further planing to correct for warping, until the panel demonstrated that it was dimensionally stable. So what we’re going to do is all go make some panels, and then I’ll continue the workshop in two years. I kid! I kid! Unless you happen to have seasoned panels hanging around, we’re going to have to cheat. What I suggest you do is go to your local home improvement store and buy some 1/4” hardboard. Get the nice folks at the store to cut it into several panels of whatever size you find comfortable to paint on. The reasons I want you to use panel are that (1) most of the surviving paintings from before 1500 are on panel; and (2) we’re going to cover egg tempera and tempera grassa painting, and those are not appropriate media for painting on canvas.

POWDERED GYPSUM: This is best ordered from Kremer (www.kremer-pigmente.de/englisch/homee.htm) or Sinopia (www.sinopia.com). It’s also called Bolognese chalk. Plaster of Paris is cooked (anhydrous gypsum) but the brands I’ve tried are too gritty for this purpose. An easier material to find is powdered marble dust, which most large art suppliers carry (www.dickblick.com, for example). Italians used gypsum (Northern Europeans in the Renaissance used the equivalent of marble dust), but they perform similarly.

HIDE GLUE/RABBITSKIN GLUE: Another art store item. You can substitute gelatin from the grocery store if necessary. I’ve heard of PVA glue being substituted for hide glue in making gesso, but I don’t know how well that works.

DENATURED ALCOHOL: Get this at the hardware store. You don’t need much. Rubbing alcohol from the drug store/chemist’s shop will do as well.

DOUBLE BOILER: Or any contraption that allows one pan to be placed in a warm water bath. I use a large cheap pan and a smal cheap pan, with the small cheap pan supported by an old tuna can.

GESSO BRUSH: You can buy brushes with this label in art stores. Any flat brush 1-3 inches wide will do, even a housepainting brush.

SANDPAPER: Several grades.

OIL PRIMER: In the later Renaissance, oil painters primed their supports with lead white. You can substitute titanium primer if you prefer.
Studio Products sells a lead oil primer and Williamsburg sells both lead and titanium oil primers. You could also use regular lead white or titanium white paint.

2. RENAISSANCE PAINTS AND PIGMENTS

IMPORTANT: Please do not get any of the pigments labelled “toxic” unless you know how to work with poisonous powders. Don’t handle any of the pigments without using a dust mask. I’ll be discussing studio safety issues later on.

SIMPLE APPROACH

If you don’t want to mess around with powdered pigments, is possible to make egg tempera paint using tube watercolor paints. There are also tube “egg tempera” paints. Those are actually egg-oil emulsions, which are like the tempera grassa paints used in the Renaissance.

Under no circumstances should you confuse egg tempera with notoxic “tempera” poster paints. Other than being kinds of paint, egg tempera and poster paints have nothing to do with each other.

You can use regular tube oil paints instead of making your own. Most Italian Renaissance painters used paint ground in walnut oil; the only company that does this is M. Graham. In a pinch, any oil paints will do.

The colors you get can be drawn from the list below.

TRADITIONAL APPROACH

You will need to get some pigments. These are available in larger art stores, or from various online suppliers. I’ve used pigments from Kremmer (www.kremer-pigmente.de), Williamsburg (http://www.williamsburgoilpaint.bizland.com/), and Sinopia (www.sinopia.com). It helps to have some small glass jars to put them in; I buy them from craft shops and art supply stores. Baby formula and baby food jars work great, but boil them in water for 20 minutes to make sure that they have no bacteria. If you will be doing tempera, then buy some distilled water from your local pharmacy or market.

A typical Renaissance palette contained very few colors. Here is a list of typical colors:

ULTRAMARINE BLUE: Get synthetic ultramarine; genuine ultramarine made from lapis lazuli is very, very expensive.

VERMILLION/CINNABAR: This is expensive and toxic. A good substitute is cadmium red light or cadmium vermillion.

FLAKE WHITE: This is toxic. A good substitute is a 50/50 mix of titanium white and zinc white.

LEAD TIN YELLOW (GALLORINO): This is toxic. A good substitute is Williamsburg’s Naples Yellow Italian, or a mixture of 3 parts yellow ochre with 1 part cadmium yellow.

VERDIGRIS: This is very difficult to work with verdigris in the manner that Italians did in the Renaissance: it required cooking with oil and resins. A good substitute is viridian.

RED LAKE: A modern red lake is alizarin crimson.

BLACK: Get vine black or ivory black. No Mars black.

TERRE VERTE: The best green earth I’ve seen is Williamsburg’s Italian terre verte.

OTHER EARTH COLORS: get at least a raw sienna, a yellow ochre, and a burnt sienna or red ochre. Umbers were not commonly used. There is a very wide variety of beautiful earth colors available in pigment form.

There are a number of less common Renaissance colors that you can get if you like, including smalt blue (ground cobalt glass), indigo blue, and malachite. You could also get toxic colors like minium (red lead), orpiment, or realgar.

3. OILS, BRUSHES, AND OTHER MATERIALS

To make egg tempera or tempera grassa, we will need hen’s eggs. Get them fresh from the market (or a chicken coop) and use them within a week.

The traditional approach to brushes would be to make your own. I don't know how to do that. Brushes were the equivalent of sable rounds and bristle rounds. Synthetics work OK, although I am very fond of Winsor Newton series 7 sable rounds. It’s not good for brushes to use them for both tempera and oil painting.

To make oil paint, you will need some oil (and pigment). Italians usually used walnut oil. You can get that from Kremmer or Doak. Some people recommend the stuff from grocery stores, but if you do make sure it doesn’t have anything added to it (anti-oxidants are good in human bodies, but oxidation is exactly what you want drying oils to do in paint). You can also use linseed oil. Italians did not, so far as I know, use safflower or poppy oil. To make oil paint, it helps to have a glass muller and a glass slab. You will also need carbonundrum powder to frost the muller and slab. Those can be gotten from Sinopia or Kremer.

Solvents were not common in this period. Leonardo is an exception; he probably used oil of spike (available from Kremer or from Studio Products; www.studioproducts.com). You can clean your brushes in mineral spirits or turps.

[turlogh]

Working with Renaissance materials is not dangerous if you use reasonable precautions. I recommend that, unless you have a separate studio and are prepared to be very careful, you not work with toxic powdered pigments such as lead white, orpiment, or vermillion. I do recommend that pregnant and nursing women have nothing to do with materials containing lead, cadmium, or mercury. That doesn't mean there is any reason to give up painting, just that you should avoid certain pigments.

Get a dust mask and disposable latex or nitrile gloves if you will be working with pigments. Wear these whenever you are around pigment that is in powder form. You can take them off once they are mixed with water or oil.

The oil in oil paint is natural and non-toxic. You can buy them in markets and health food stores. They are edible and have a pleasant, mild odor.

No matter what pigments you work with, you need to make sure that you don't ingest paint. That means that you must develop safe and consistent work habits. Never put brushes in your mouth. Never touch your face or hair while painting. Don't eat, drink, or smoke while painting. Use disposable gloves if you have cuts on your hands. Make sure your workspace has good ventilation. Wash your hands (including under your fingernails) and all of your tools thoroughly after painting. Clean up your work area when you are done. And always make sure that painting materials are inaccessible to children and pets.

Solvents such as spirits of turpentine, mineral spirits, denatured alcohol, and oil of spike should be used with some care. Because they are volatile and evaporate quickly, use them in areas with good ventilation. They are potentially flammable, so don't allow open flames where solvents are being used. Some people are very sensitive to the smell of spirits of turpentine. Keep any container with solvents covered when not in use—don't have jars of medium or brush washing solvent just sitting open when you paint. Instead, keep the jar closed when you're not using it and don't leave brushes sitting in solvent—it's not good for them anyway. Mineral spirits and other odorless thinners don't have a noticeable smell, but don't be careless with those, either. They can cause headaches (which you might not ascribe to a substance without a smell) and some people (including me) have skin sensitivities to them.

If you are sensitive to solvents, they are not necessary for painting in a Renaissance style.

[turlogh]

GENERAL READING

Cennini, Cennino d'Andrea. (Original ca. late 14th c., trans. 1954). The Craftsman's Handbook: “Il Libro dell' Arte,” translated by Daniel V. Thompson, Jr. New York: Dover. This is the best painting manual that has come down to us from this period. Cennini gives an extensive description of the tempera painting in the Italian tradition of Giotto.

Dunkerton, Jill, et al. (1991). Giotto to Dürer: Early Renaissance Painting in the National Gallery. London: Yale University Press. This is the best general description of early to middle Renaissance painting that I know of. If you want to read one book on the subject, this is it.

Dunkerton, Jill, et al. (2001). Dürer to Veronese: Sixteenth Century Painting in the National Gallery. London: Yale University Press.

Thompson, Daniel V. (1957). Materials and Techniques of Medieval Painting. London: Dover Publications. Although a little dated, this is a wonderful and inexpensive book on all sorts of painting materials.

Thompson, Daniel V. (1936). The Practice of Tempera Painting: Materials and Methods. New York: Dover Publications. This wonderful book covers not only tempera but also gilding, making gesso, and preparing panels.

ON THE INTERNET

*Dunkerton, Jill, and Carol Plazootta. (2001). “Vincenzo Foppa’s Adoration of the Kings.” Technical Bulletin #22. London: National Gallery. http://www.nationalgallery.co.uk/PDFs/TB22_chp2.pdf

*Roy, Ashok, and Dillian Gordon. (2001). “Uccello’s Battle of San Romano.” Technical Bulletin #22. London: National Gallery. http://www.nationalgallery.co.uk/PDFs/TB22_chp1.pdf

*Gordon, Dillian and Ashok Roy (2002). “Fra Angelico’s Predella for the High Altarpiece of San Do-menico, Fiesole.” Technical Bulletin #23. London: National Gallery.

Roy, Ashok, Marika Springm and Carol Plazzotta (2004). "Raphael's Early Work in the National Gallery: Paintings Before Rome." Technical Buletin #25: London: National Gallery. http://www.nationalgallery.co.uk/PDFs/TB25.pdf

Web Gallery of Art (web site, 2005): http://www.wga.hu/.

ADDITIONAL READING

Baldini, Umberto. (1986). Primavera: The Restoration of Botticelli’s Masterpiece. Trans. Mary Fitton, New York: Harry N. Abrams, Inc.

Baxandall, Michael (1984). Painting and Experience in Fifteenth-Century Italy. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Bomford, David, et al. (1989). Art in the Making: Italian Painting Before 1400. London: National Gallery.

Bomford, David, et al. (2002). Art in the Making: Underdrawings in Renaissance Paintings. London: National Gallery.

Da Vinci, Leonardo (original early 16th c.., trans 2002). A Treatise on Painting, translated by John Francis Rigaud. Amherst, New York: Prometheus Books.

Gordon, Dillian (2001). The Italian Paintings 1400–1460. London: National Gallery Company Ltd.

Mactaggart, Peter, and Ann Mactaggart. (2002). Practical Gilding. London: Archetype Publications.

Murray, Peter and Linda Murray. (1963). The Art of the Renaissance. New York: Thames & Hudson.

Stephenson, Jonathon. (1989). The Materials and Techniques of Painting. New York: Watson-Guptill.

Watrous, James. (1957). The Craft of Old-Master Drawings. London: University of Wisconsin Press.

[Nickel]

Thanks very much David !

This is going to be an awesome workshop!

Nickel

[CareyG]

This is going to be really interesting, David--thanks for doing this.

That book list alone is a gem--just as a clarification, these are all currently in print, yes?

~!Carey

[bjs0704]

David - This is really wonderful! There's just so much to work on!

Thanks for putting this class together. I'm looking forward to it!

Barb Solomon

[Wrichards]

EYES WIDE OPEN! very much looking to learn as my style leans alot toward this period....

[Queensoul]

Wonderful. Glad to see this workshop going on . Thanks

[Titanium]

Pulls up a chair.
Titanium

[rosebard]

Thanks for the workshop David. Very informative posts.

Looking forward to hear more and watch over your shoulder. Thanks for sharing with us.

[Nickel]

Hi David

What is a good size panel to order starting out with this method?

Here is a fix on the link for

http://www.true-gesso-panels.com

http://www.studioproducts.com

http://www.sinopia.com

http://www.kremer-pigmente.de

http://www.williamsburgoilpaint.bizland.com

Barb if you can fix, it just has like two dingies at the end that don't belong.


Thanks Nickel

[turlogh]

Originally Posted by Nickel

What is a good size panel to order starting out with this method?

It really depends on how ambitious you are. I've done projects between 7 x 7" and 16 x 20". In the Renaissance, Italian panels could be as large as 10 feet across or so. I wouldn't suggest that as a first step, though.

For learning purposes, I'd probably suggest a few small panels in the 5 x 7" range to try stuff out on, and a couple of panels in the 8 x 10" to 12 x 16" range to do actual projects with. But again, it really depends on what size you are comfortable doing relatively detailed work on.

Here is a fix on the link for

http://www.true-gesso-panels.com

http://www.studioproducts.com

http://www.sinopia.com

http://www.kremer-pigmente.de

http://www.williamsburgoilpaint.bizland.com

Barb if you can fix, it just has like two dingies at the end that don't belong.l

Sorry about any screwed up web addresses (note to self: mustn't rush these posts out). I'll try to be more careful in the future. Here is a post on how you can contact Robert Doak:

Robert Doak

So my plan is to do a post on preparing panels with real gesso fairly soon. Then I'll wait a week or so and start talking about how they did underdrawings back in the day.

If anyone has any questions, please post them or send me a PM.

[Nickel]

Thanks David.

[rosebard]

Originally Posted by Turlogh

HIDE GLUE/RABBITSKIN GLUE: Another art store item. You can substitute gelatin from the grocery store if necessary. I’ve heard of PVA glue being substituted for hide glue in making gesso, but I don’t know how well that works.

How one would prepare gelatin to use for this purpose?

Thanks in advance,
Rose.