Flemish painting Rubens writing technology. "Flemish method of working with oil paints". Compiled on the basis of materials collected by V.E. Makukhin

Compiled on the basis of materials collected by V.E. Makukhin.

Consultant: V. E. Makukhin.

On the cover: Copy of Rembrandt's self-portrait by M. M. Devyatov.

Foreword.

Mikhail Mikhailovich Devyatov - an outstanding Soviet and Russian artist, painting technologist, restorer, one of the founders and director for many years of the restoration department at the Academy of Arts. Repin, founder of the Laboratory of Technique and Technology of Painting, initiator of the creation of the Restoration Section of the Union of Artists, Honored Artist, Candidate of Art History, Professor.

Mikhail Mikhailovich made a huge contribution to the development visual arts his research in the field of painting technology and the study of techniques of the old masters. He was able to grasp the very essence of the phenomena, and express it in a simple and understandable language. The Devyatovs have written a series of excellent articles on painting techniques, basic laws and conditions for the durability of a painting, on the meaning and basic tasks of copying. Also Devyatov wrote the dissertation "Preservation of works of oil painting on canvas and peculiarities of soil composition", which reads easily as an exciting book.

It is no secret that after the October Revolution, classical painting was severely persecuted, and a lot of knowledge was lost. (Although some loss of knowledge in the technology of painting began earlier, this was noted by many researchers (J. Viber “Painting and its Means”, A. Rybnikov Introductory article to “Treatise on Painting” by Cennino Cennini)).

Mikhail Mikhailovich was the first (in the post-revolutionary period) to introduce the practice of copying in educational process... This initiative was picked up by Ilya Glazunov at his academy.

In the laboratory of painting technique and technology created by Devyatov, tests were carried out under the guidance of the master. huge amount soils, according to recipes collected from the surviving historical sources and also developed modern synthetic soil. Then the selected soils were tested by students and teachers of the Academy of Arts.

One part of this research was the diary reports that students had to write. Since the exact evidence of the process of work of outstanding masters has not reached us, these diaries, as it were, open the veil over the mystery of the creation of works. It is also possible to trace the connection between the materials used, the technique of their use and the safety of the thing (copy) from the diaries. And also on them it is possible to trace whether the student has mastered the materials of the lectures, how they are applied in practice, as well as the student's personal discoveries.

Diaries were kept from about 1969 to 1987, then this practice gradually faded away. Nevertheless, we still have very interesting material that can be very useful for artists and art lovers. In their diaries, students describe not only the progress of the work, but also the comments of the teachers, which can be very valuable for the next generations of artists. Thus, reading these diaries, you can, as it were, "copy" best works The Hermitage and the Russian Museum.

Compiled by M. M. Devyatov curriculum, in the first year, students attended his course of lectures on painting technique and technology. In the second year, students copy the best copies made by senior students at the Hermitage. And in the third year, students begin to directly copy in the museum. Thus, before practical work a very large part is devoted to the assimilation of the necessary and very important theoretical knowledge.

To better understand what is described in the diaries, it would be useful to read the Articles and Lectures of M.M. Devyatov, as well as compiled under the leadership of Devyatov Toolkit to the course Painting Techniques "Questions and Answers". However, here, in the preface, I will try to focus on the most important points, based on the above books, as well as memories, lectures and consultations of Mikhail Mikhailovich's student and friend, Vladimir Emelyanovich Makukhin, who is currently teaching this course at the Academy of Arts.

Soils.

In his lectures, Mikhail Mikhailovich said that artists are divided into two categories - those who love matte painting, and those who love glossy painting. Those who love glossy painting, seeing matte pieces in their work, usually say: "it's gone!" And get very upset. Thus, one and the same phenomenon is joy for some, and sorrow for others. Highly important role soils play in this process. Their composition determines their effect on paints and the artist needs to understand these processes. Now artists have the opportunity to buy materials in stores, and not make them themselves, (as did the old masters, thus ensuring highest quality of his works). As many experts note, this opportunity, which seemingly facilitates the artist's work, is also the reason for the loss of knowledge about the nature of materials and, ultimately, for the decline of painting. In modern trade descriptions of soils, there is no information about their properties, and very often even the composition is not indicated. In this regard, it is very strange to hear the assertion of some modern teachers that an artist does not need to be able to make soil on his own, because you can always buy it. It is imperative to understand the composition and properties of materials, even in order to buy what you need and not be fooled by advertising.

Gloss (glossy surface) exhibits deep and saturated colors, which haze makes uniformly whitish, lighter and more colorless. However, gloss can interfere with seeing the big picture, as reflections and glare will interfere with seeing it all at the same time. Therefore, a matte surface is often preferred in monumental painting.

Generally speaking, gloss is a natural property of oil paints, as the oil itself is shiny. And the dullness of oil painting came into fashion relatively recently, in the late 19th and early 20th centuries (Feshin, Borisov-Musatov, etc.). Since a matte surface makes dark and saturated colors less expressive, usually matte painting has light tones, emphasizing their velvety advantageously. And glossy painting usually has rich and even dark colors (for example, the old masters).

Oil, enveloping the pigment particles, makes them glossy. And the less oil, and the more the pigment is exposed, the more it becomes matte, velvety. A good example is pastel. It is an almost pure pigment with no binder. When the oil leaves the paint and the paint becomes dull or "withered", then its tone (light-dark) and even color changes somewhat. Dark colors lighten and lose their sonority, while light colors darken somewhat. This is due to a change in the refraction of light rays.

The physical properties of the paint change depending on the amount of oil in the paint.

The oil dries from top to bottom, forming a film. The oil shrinks when it dries. (Therefore, you cannot use paint that contains a lot of oil for pasty, textured painting). Also, the oil tends to turn slightly yellow in the dark (especially during the drying period), in the light it is restored again. (However, the painting should not dry out in the dark, as in this case some yellowing is more noticeable). Paints on pulling primers (oil-free paints) turn yellow less, as they contain less oil. But in principle, the yellowing that occurs from a large amount of oil in paints is not significant. The main reason for yellowing and darkening of old paintings is old varnish. It is being thinned and replaced by restorers and usually underneath is bright and fresh painting. Another reason for the darkening of old paintings is dark soils, as oil paints become more transparent over time and the dark soil "eats" them, as it were.

Primers are divided into two categories - pulling and non-pulling (according to their ability to draw oil out of the paint, and, therefore, make it matte or glossy).

Drying can also occur not only from the pulling soil, but also from the application of a layer of paint on an insufficiently dry (formed only a film) previous layer of paint. In this case, an insufficiently dry bottom layer begins to draw oil from the upper, new layer. It helps to prevent this phenomenon by inter-layer treatment with compacted oil, and the addition of refined oil and resin varnish to paints, which accelerate the drying of paints and make it more uniform.

Oil-free paint (paint with little oil) becomes thicker (pasty), it is easier to make a textured smear with it. It dries faster (as it contains less oil). It is harder to spread over the surface (requires hard brushes and a palette knife). Deoiled paint also turns yellow less, since it contains little oil. The pulling primer, pulling the oil out of the paint, seems to “grab” it, the paint seems to grow into it and freezes, “becomes”. Therefore, a sliding, thin smear on such soil is impossible. On pulling soils, drying is faster also because drying goes both from above and from below, since these soils give the so-called "through drying". Fast drying and thickness of the paint make it possible to quickly gain texture. A vivid example of pasty painting on a pulling ground is Igor Grabar.

The complete opposite of painting on "breathing" pulling soils is painting on impenetrable oily and semi-oily soils. (An oily primer is a layer of oil paint (often with some additives) applied to the gluing. A semi-oily primer is also a layer of oil paint, but applied to any other primer. the artist wants to finish the time by applying a new layer of paint on it).

The dried layer of oil is an impermeable film. Therefore, oil paints applied to such a soil cannot give it part of their oil (and thus gain a foothold on it), and, therefore, cannot "dry out", that is, become dull. That is, due to the fact that the oil from the paint cannot go into the ground, the paint itself remains the same shiny. A layer of painting on such an impenetrable ground turns out to be thin, and the smear is sliding and light. The main danger of oily and semi-oily primers is their poor adhesion to paints, since there is no penetrating adhesion here. (It is known very a large number of works even famous artists of the Soviet period, from the paintings of which paint is crumbled. This moment has not been sufficiently highlighted in the education system of artists). When working on oily and semi-oily soils, an additional agent is required to adhere a new layer of paint to the primer.

Pulling soils.

Glue-chalk primer consists of glue (gelatin or fish glue) and chalk. (Sometimes chalk was replaced by gypsum, a substance similar in properties).

Chalk has the ability to absorb oil. Thus, the paint applied to the ground, in which chalk is present in sufficient quantities, seems to grow into it, giving off part of its oil. This is a fairly strong type of penetrating adhesion. However, often artists, striving for matte painting, use not only a very pulling primer, but also heavily de-oil the paints (by squeezing them onto absorbent paper beforehand). In this case, the binder (oil) can become so small that the pigment will not adhere well to the paint, turning almost into pastel (for example, some of Feshin's paintings). By running your hand over such a picture, you can remove some of the paint like dust.

Old Flemish painting method.

Pulling glue-chalk soils are the most ancient. They were used on wood and painted on them with tempera paints. Then, at the beginning of the 15th century, oil paints were invented (their discovery is attributed to Van Eyck, a Flemish painter). Oil paints attracted artists with their glossy nature, which was very different from matte tempera. Since only the pulling glue-chalk soil was known, the artists came up with all sorts of secrets to make it not pulling, and thus get their favorite shine and color saturation that oil gives. The so-called Old Flemish method of painting appeared.

(There is controversy about the history of the emergence of oil painting. Some believe that it appeared gradually: at first, painting, which began with tempera, was finished with oil, thus the so-called mixed technique was obtained (DI Kiplik "Painting Technique"). Other researchers believe that oil painting originated in Northern Europe simultaneously with tempera painting and developed in parallel, and in Southern Europe(centered in Italy) different options mixed technique appeared from the very beginning of the emergence of easel painting (Yu. I. Grenberg "Technology of easel painting"). Recently, the restoration of Van Eyck's painting "The Annunciation" was carried out and it turned out that the blue cloak of the Mother of God was painted in watercolors (about the restoration of this painting was removed documentary). Thus, it turns out that the mixed technique from the very beginning was in the north of Europe).

The Old Flemish painting method (according to Kiplik), which was used by Van Eycky, Durer, Pieter Bruegel, and others, consisted in the following: an adhesive primer was applied to a wooden base. Then a drawing was transferred to this smoothly polished ground, "which was previously made in full size of the picture separately on paper (" cardboard "), since they avoided drawing directly on the ground so as not to disturb its whiteness." Then the drawing was outlined with water-soluble paints. If the drawing is translated using charcoal, then drawing with water-soluble paints fixes it. (The drawing can be transferred by covering the reverse side of the drawing with charcoal where necessary, superimposing it on the basis of the future picture and drawing a circle around it). The drawing was outlined with a pen or brush. The drawing was transparently shaded with a brush brown paint"So that the soil shines through it." An example of this stage of work is Van Eyck's Saint Barbara. Then the picture could continue to be painted with tempera, and only completed with oil paints.

Jan Van Eyck. Saint Barbara.

If the artist wanted to continue working with oil paints after shading the drawing with water-soluble paint, then he needed to somehow isolate the pulling soil from the oil paints, otherwise the paints would have lost their sonority, for which the artists loved them. Therefore, a layer of transparent glue and one or two layers of oil varnish were applied over the drawing. Drying up, the oil varnish created an impenetrable film, and the oil from the paints could no longer go into the ground.

Oil varnish. Oil varnish is a thickened, sealed oil. As it thickens, the oil becomes thicker, becomes sticky, dries faster and dries more evenly in depth. Usually it is prepared as follows: with the first rays of the spring sun, put up a transparent flat container (preferably a glass one) and pour oil into it with a level of about 1.5 - 2 cm (covering it with paper from dust, but without interfering with air access). After a few months, a film will form on the oil. In principle, from this moment on, the oil can be considered compacted, but the more the oil is compacted, the more its qualities increase - the adhesive force, density, speed and uniformity of drying. (Medium compaction usually occurs after six months, strong - after a year). Oil varnish is the most reliable adhesive between the oil primer and the paint layer and between the oil paint layers. Also, oil varnish serves as an excellent means of preventing paint fading (it is added to paints and used for interlayer processing). Oil compacted in this manner is called oxidized. It is oxidized by oxygen, and the sun speeds up this process and at the same time brightens the oil. Oil varnish is also called a resin dissolved in oil. (The resin makes the sealed oil even more sticky, increasing the speed and uniformity of drying). Paints with compacted oil dry faster and more uniformly in depth, and have less burn through. (The addition of a resinous turpentine varnish, for example, dammar varnish, also acts on paints).

Glue-melted soils have a very important feature - oil applied to such a soil forms a yellow-brown spot, since chalk, combining with oil, turns yellow and turns brown, that is, it loses White color... That's why Old Flemish masters first, the soil was covered with a weak glue (probably not more than 2%) and then with oil varnish (the thicker the varnish, the less its penetration into the soil).

If the painting was only finished with oil, and the previous layers were made with tempera, then the pigment of tempera paints and their binder isolated the soil from the oil, and it did not darken. (Before working with oil, tempera painting is usually covered with an interlayer varnish, in order to develop the color of the tempera, and for better penetration of the oil layer).

The composition of the adhesive primer, developed by M.M. Devyatov, includes zinc white pigment. The pigment prevents the soil from turning yellow and brown from oil. The zinc white pigment can be partially or completely replaced with another pigment (then a colored primer will be obtained). The ratio of pigment to chalk should remain the same (usually the amount of chalk is equal to the amount of pigment). If only the pigment is left in the soil, and the chalk is removed, then the paint will not adhere to such a soil, because the pigment does not draw in oil as chalk does, and there will be no penetrating adhesion.

Another very important feature glue-chalk soils, this is their fragility, resulting from brittle skin and bone adhesives (gelatin, fish glue). Therefore, it is very dangerous to increase the required amount of glue, this can lead to ground craquels with raised edges. This is especially true for such soils on canvas, since it is a more vulnerable base than a solid board base.

It is believed that the old Flemings could have added light flesh-colored paint to this insulating layer of varnish: “on top of a pattern made with tempera, they applied oil varnish with an admixture of transparent flesh-colored paint, through which the chafed pattern shone through. This tone was applied to the entire area of ​​the painting, or to those only places where the body was depicted ”(DI Kiplik“ Painting Technique ”). However, in "Saint Barbara" we do not see any translucent flesh tone covering the drawing, although it is obvious that the picture has already begun to be worked out from above with paints. It is likely that for the Old Flemish painting technique, painting on white ground is still more characteristic.

Later, when the influence of Italian masters with their colored soils began to penetrate into Flanders, all the same, light and light translucent imprimatories remained characteristic of Flemish masters (for example, Rubens).

The antiseptic used was phenol or catamine. But you can do without an antiseptic, especially if you use the soil quickly and do not store for a long time.

Gelatin can be used instead of fish glue.

Similar information.

Studying the technique of some of the old masters, we come across the so-called "Flemish method" of oil painting. It's layered, technically difficult way writing, the opposite of the technique "a la prima". Layering implied a special depth of the image, shimmer and shine of colors. However, in the description of this method, such a mysterious stage as the "dead layer" is invariably encountered. Despite the intriguing name, there is no mysticism in it.

But what was it used for?

The term "dead paints" (doodverf - nid. Death of paint) first appears in the work of Karl van Mander "The Book of Artists". He could call this the paint, on the one hand, literally, because of the deadness that it gives to the image, on the other hand, metaphorically, since this pallor, as it were, “dies” under the subsequent color. These paints included whitened yellow, black, red colors in different proportions. For example, a cold gray is obtained by mixing white and black, and black and yellow, when combined, form an olive shade.

A layer painted with “dead ink” is considered a “dead layer”.

Transformation into a color picture from a dead layer thanks to glazing

Stages of painting "Dead layer"

Fast forward to the studio of a Dutch artist of the Middle Ages and find out how he painted.

First, a drawing was transferred to the primed surface.

The next step was the modeling of the volume with transparent penumbra, subtly passing into the light of the ground.

Then the imprimatura was applied - a liquid paint layer. It made it possible to preserve the drawing, preventing particles of coal or pencil from getting into the upper layers of paint, and also protected the colors from further fading. It is thanks to the imprimature that the rich colors in the paintings of Van Eyck, Rogier van der Weyden and other masters of the Northern Renaissance have remained almost unchanged to this day.

The fourth stage was the “dead layer”, in which bleached paints were applied to the volumetric undercoat. The artist needed to preserve the shape of the objects without disturbing the light-shadow contrast, which would lead to the dullness of further painting. “Dead paints” were applied only to the light parts of the image, sometimes, imitating gliding rays, they applied white with small dotted strokes. The picture acquired an additional volume and an ominous deathly pallor, which, already in the next layer, “came to life” thanks to multi-layer color glazes. Such a complex painting seems unusually deep and radiant, when light is reflected from each layer, as from a flickering mirror.

Today this method is not used often, however, it is important to know about the secrets of the old masters. Using their experience, you can experiment in your work and find your way in all sorts of styles and techniques.

Secrets of the old masters

Old techniques of oil painting

Flemish oil painting method

The Flemish method of painting with oil paints basically boiled down to the following: a drawing from the so-called cardboard (a separate drawing on paper) was transferred onto a white, smoothly polished ground. Then the drawing was outlined and shaded with transparent brown paint (tempera or oil). According to Cennino Cennini, already in this form, the paintings looked like perfect works. This technique in its further development changed. The surface prepared for painting was covered with a layer of oil varnish with an admixture of brown paint, through which the extinguished drawing shone through. Painterly work ended with transparent or translucent glazing or half-body (half-covering), in one step, a letter. The brown preparation was left to show through in the shadows. Sometimes, according to the brown preparation, they painted with the so-called dead paints (gray-blue, gray-greenish), finishing the work with glazes. The Flemish method of painting can be easily traced in many of Rubens's works, especially in his studies and sketches, for example, in the sketch of the triumphal arch "The Apotheosis of the Duchess Isabella"

To preserve the beauty of the color of blue paints in oil painting (blue pigments, rubbed in oil, change their tone), the places written in blue paints were sprinkled (over a not completely dry layer) with ultramarine or smalt powder, and then these places were covered with a layer of glue and varnish. Oil paintings were sometimes glazed with watercolors; for this, their surface was preliminarily wiped with garlic juice.

The Italian method of painting with oil paints

The Italians changed the Flemish method, creating a peculiar Italian way of writing. Instead of white soil, the Italians did color; or the white soil was completely covered with some kind of transparent paint. On gray ground1, they painted with chalk or charcoal (without using cardboard). The drawing was outlined with brown glue paint, shadows were laid with it and dark draperies were prescribed. Then they covered the entire surface with layers of glue and varnish, after which they painted with oil paints, starting with laying the lights with whitewash. After that, according to the dried whitewash preparation, they wrote corpuscularly in local colors; gray soil was left in the penumbra. Finished painting with glazes.

Later they began to use dark gray primers, performing underpainting with two paints - white and black. Even later, brown, red-brown and even red soils were used. The Italian way of painting was then adopted by some Flemish and Dutch masters (Terborch, 1617-1681; Metsu, 1629-1667 and others).

Examples of the application of the Italian and Flemish methods.

Titian originally painted on white soils, then switched to colored (brown, red, finally neutral), using pasty underpainting, which was done by grisaille. In Titian's method, a significant proportion was acquired by a letter at a time, in one step without subsequent glazing (the Italian name for this method is alia prima). Rubens mostly followed the Flemish method, greatly simplifying brown shading. He completely covered a white canvas with light brown paint and laid shadows with the same paint, painted on top with grisaille, then in local tones, or, bypassing grisaille, wrote alia prima. Sometimes Rubens painted in local lighter colors for brown preparation and finished painting with glazes. Rubens is credited with the following, a very fair and instructive statement: “Start painting your shadows easily, avoiding introducing even an insignificant amount of white into them: white is the poison of painting and can be introduced only in highlights. Once the whitewash breaks the transparency, golden tone and warmth of your shadows, your painting will no longer be light, but it will become heavy and gray. The situation is completely different in relation to the lights. Here, paints can be applied in hulls as needed, but it is necessary, however, to keep the tones clean. This is achieved by imposing each tone in its place, one next to the other in such a way that with a slight movement of the brush, you can blur them without disturbing, however, the colors themselves. Such a painting can then be passed with decisive final blows, which are so characteristic of great masters. ”"

The Flemish master Van Dyck (1599-1641) preferred corpus painting. Rembrandt most often painted on gray ground, working through forms with transparent brown paint very actively (dark), and also used glazes. Rubens applied strokes of various colors one next to the other, and Rembrandt overlapped some strokes with others.

A technique similar to the Flemish or Italian - on white or colored soils with the use of pasty masonry and glazing - was widely used up to mid XIX century. The Russian artist F.M. Matveev (1758-1826) painted on brown ground with grayish underpainting. VL Borovikovsky (1757-1825) painted with grisaille on gray soil. KP Bryullov also often used gray and other colored soils, painted with grisaille. In the second half of the 19th century, this technique was abandoned and forgotten. Artists began to paint without the strict system of the old masters, thus narrowing their technical capabilities.

Professor DI Kiplik, speaking about the meaning of the color of the ground, notes: Painting with a wide flat light and intense colors (such as the works of Roger van der Weyden, Rubens, etc.) requires a white ground; painting, in which deep shadows prevail, is of dark ground (Caravaggio, Velazquez, etc.). ”“ Light ground gives warmth to the paints applied to it in a thin layer, but deprives them of depth; dark soil imparts depth to the paints; dark ground with a cold tint - cold (Terborch, Metsu) ”.

“In order to induce the depth of the shadows on a light soil, the effect of a white primer on paints is destroyed by laying the shadows with a dark brown paint (Rembrandt); strong lights on dark ground are obtained only when the action of the dark ground on the paints is eliminated by applying a sufficient layer of white in the highlights ”.

"Intense cold tones on an intense red substrate (eg blue) are obtained only if the action of the red substrate is paralyzed by a cold tone preparation or cold paint is applied in a thick layer."

“The most universal in color primer is a light gray primer in a neutral tone, since it is equally good for all paints and does not require too pasty painting” 1.

Soils of chromatic colors affect both the lightness of the paintings and their overall chromaticity. The influence of the color of the ground in the case of corpus and forestry writing has a different effect. For example, green paint placed on a red ground with a non-translucent body layer looks especially saturated in its surroundings, but applied with a transparent layer (for example, in watercolor) loses its saturation or completely achromatizes, since the green light reflected and transmitted by it is absorbed by the red ground.

Secrets of making materials for oil painting

PROCESSING AND REFINING OF OIL

Oils from flaxseed, hemp, sunflower, and walnut kernels are obtained by pressing. There are two methods of squeezing: hot and cold. Hot when the crushed seeds are heated to produce a highly colored oil that is of little use for painting. The oil squeezed from the seeds by the cold method is much better, it is obtained less than with the hot method, but it is not contaminated with various impurities and does not have a dark brown color, but is only slightly yellow. Freshly obtained oil contains a number of impurities harmful to painting: water, proteins and mucus, which strongly affect its ability to dry and form strong films. That's why; oil should be processed or, as they say, “ennobled”, removing from it1 water, protein mucus and all kinds of contamination. At the same time, it becomes greasy and discolored. The best way to improve oil is to seal it, that is, to oxidize it. To do this, freshly obtained oil is poured into wide-necked glass jars, covered with gauze and exposed in the spring and summer to the sun and air. To clean the oil from dirt and protein mucus, rusks, well dried from black bread, are placed on the bottom of the jar, approximately enough so that they occupy x / 5 jars. Then cans of oil are placed in the sun and air for 1.5-2 months. Oil, absorbing oxygen from the air, oxidizes and thickens; Under the influence sun rays it whitens, thickens and becomes almost colorless. Crackers, on the other hand, retain protein mucus and various impurities contained in the oil. The oil thus obtained is the best painting material and can be successfully used both for erasing with paint substances and for diluting finished paints. When dry, it forms a strong and resistant film that is incapable of cracking and retains its gloss and shine upon drying. This oil dries in a thin layer slowly, but immediately throughout its entire thickness and gives a very strong shiny film. Untreated oil dries only from the surface. First, its layer is covered with a film, and completely crude oil remains under it.

OLIFA AND ITS COOKING

Drying oil is called boiled drying vegetable oil(linseed, poppy, nut, etc.). Depending on the cooking conditions of the oil, the cooking temperature, the quality and pretreatment of the oil, a completely different quality and properties of drying oil are obtained. drying oils: rapid heating of oil to 280-300 ° - hot method, in which the oil boils; slow heating of the oil to 120-150 °, excluding the boiling of the oil during its cooking, is the cold method and, finally, the third method is the simmering of the oil in a warm oven for 6-12 days. The best drying oils, suitable for pictorial purposes1, can be obtained only through the cold method and the simmering of oil. The cold method of cooking drying oil is to pour the oil into an earthen glazed pot and cook over moderate heat, slowly heating it for 14 hours and not letting it boil. The boiled oil is poured into a glass vessel and exposed in the open air and sun for 2-3 months to lighten and seal. After that, the oil is carefully drained, trying not to touch the formed sediment remaining at the bottom of the vessel, and filtered. The oil is melted by pouring the crude oil into an earthen glazed pot and placing it in a warm oven for 12-14 days. When foam appears on the oil, it is considered ready. The foam is removed, the oil is allowed to stand for 2-3 months in the air and the sun is in a glass jar, then it is carefully drained without touching the sediment and filtered through cheesecloth. durable and shiny films. These oils do not contain protein substances, mucus and water, since water evaporates during the cooking process, and proteins and mucus coagulate and remain in the sediment. For better precipitation of protein substances and other impurities during the settling of the oil, it is useful to put a small amount of well-dried black bread rusks. While cooking oil, you should put 2-3 heads of finely chopped garlic in it. Well-cooked drying oils, especially from poppy seed oil, are a good painting material and can be added to oil paints, used to thin paints in the writing process, and also serve part of oil and emulsion soils.

Created by 13 Jan 2010

"Flemish method of working with oil paints".

"Flemish method of working with oil paints".

A. Arzamastsev.
"Young Artist" №3 1983.

Here are the works of the Renaissance artists: Jan van Eyck, Petrus Christus, Pieter Brueghel and Leonardo da Vinci. These works by different authors and different in plot are united by one writing technique - the Flemish method of painting.

Historically, this is the first method of working with oil paints, and legend attributes its invention, like the invention of the paints themselves, to the Van Eyck brothers. The Flemish method was popular not only in Northern Europe.

It was brought to Italy, where everyone resorted to it. greatest artists the Renaissance up to Titian and Giorgione. There is an opinion that Italian artists painted their works in a similar way long before the van Eyck brothers.

We will not delve into the history and clarify who first applied it, but we will try to tell you about the method itself.

The van Eyck brothers.
Ghent altarpiece. Adam. Fragment.
1432.
Oil on wood.

The van Eyck brothers.
Ghent altarpiece. Fragment.
1432.
Oil on wood.

Modern studies of works of art allow us to conclude that painting by the old Flemish masters was always performed on white glue soil.

The paints were applied with a thin glazing layer, and in such a way that not only all the layers of the painting took part in the creation of the general pictorial effect, but also the white color of the soil, which, shining through the paint, illuminates the picture from the inside.

Also noteworthy is the practical absence of whitewash in painting, with the exception of those cases when white clothes or draperies were painted. Sometimes they are still found in the strongest lights, but even then only in the form of the finest glazes.

Petrus Christus.
Portrait of a young girl.
XV century.
Oil on wood.

All work on the painting was carried out in strict sequence. It began with a drawing on thick paper in the size of a future painting. It turned out the so-called "cardboard". An example of such a cardboard is a drawing by Leonardo da Vinci for a portrait of Isabella d'Este.

Leonardo da Vinci.
Cardboard for the portrait of Isabella d "Este. Fragment.
1499.
Charcoal, sanguine, pastel.

The next stage of work is transferring the drawing to the ground. To do this, he was pricked with a needle along the entire contour and borders of the shadows. Then the cardboard was placed on a white polished primer applied to the board, and the drawing was transferred with charcoal powder. The charcoal, falling into the holes made in the cardboard, left a light outline of the drawing on the basis of the painting.

To fix it, the trail of charcoal was outlined with a pencil, pen, or the sharp tip of a brush. In this case, either ink or some kind of transparent paint was used. Artists never painted directly on the ground, as they were afraid to violate its whiteness, which, as already mentioned, played the role of the brightest tone in painting.

After transferring the drawing, they proceeded to shading with transparent brown paint, making sure that the soil shone through its layer everywhere. Shading was done with tempera or oil. In the second case, so that the binder of paints is not absorbed into the soil, it is covered with an additional layer of glue.

At this stage of the work, the artist solved almost all the problems of the future painting, with the exception of color. In the future, no changes were made to the drawing and composition, and already in this form the work was a work of art.

Sometimes, before finishing a painting in color, the whole painting was prepared in the so-called "dead colors", that is, cold, light, low-intensity tones. This preparation took over the last layer of glaze paint, with the help of which the whole work was brought to life.

Of course we painted general scheme Flemish painting method. Naturally, every artist who used it brought something of their own into it. For example, we know from the biography of the artist Hieronymus Bosch that he wrote in one step, using a simplified Flemish method.

At the same time, his paintings are very beautiful, and the colors have not changed color from time to time. Like all his contemporaries, he prepared a white, non-thick ground, onto which he transferred the most detailed drawing. He brushed it off with brown tempera paint, after which he covered the picture with a layer of transparent flesh-colored varnish, which insulates the ground from the penetration of oil from subsequent paint layers.

After the painting had dried, it remained to paint the background with glazes of previously compiled tones, and the work was finished. Only sometimes some places were additionally painted with a second layer to enhance the color. Pieter Bruegel wrote his works in a similar or very close way.

Peter Bruegel.
Hunters in the snow. Fragment.
1565.
Oil on wood.

Another kind of Flemish method can be traced to the example of the work of Leonardo da Vinci. If you look at his unfinished work "The Adoration of the Magi", you can see that it was started on white ground. The image, translated from the cardboard, was outlined with transparent paint such as green earth.

The drawing is shaded out in the shadows in a single brown tone, close to sepia, composed of three colors: black, kraplak and red ocher. The whole work is faded, the white ground is not left unrecorded anywhere, even the sky is prepared with the same brown tone.

Leonardo da Vinci.
Adoration of the Magi. Fragment.
1481-1482.
Oil on wood.

In the finished works of Leonardo da Vinci, the lights are obtained thanks to the white ground. He painted the background of works and clothes with the thinnest overlapping transparent layers of paint.

Using the Flemish method, Leonardo da Vinci was able to achieve an extraordinary rendering of chiaroscuro. At the same time, the paint layer is characterized by uniformity and very low thickness.

The Flemish method was not used for long by artists. It existed in its pure form for no more than two centuries, but many great works were created in this way. In addition to the already mentioned masters, Holbein, Durer, Perugino, Rogier van der Weyden, Kluet and other artists used it.

The paintings made by the Flemish method are distinguished by their excellent preservation. Made on seasoned boards, solid soils, they resist destruction well.

The virtual absence of white in the painting layer, which from time to time lose its opaque power and thus change the overall color of the work, ensured that we see the paintings almost the same as they came out of the workshops of their creators.

The main conditions that must be observed when using this method are a scrupulous drawing, the finest calculation, the correct sequence of work and a lot of patience.

Today I want to tell you in more detail about the Flemish method of painting, which we recently studied in the 1st series of my course, and I would also like to show you a small report on the results and the very process of our online learning.

During the course, I talked about the old methods of painting, about primers, varnishes and paints, revealed many secrets that we applied in practice - we wrote a still life based on the creativity of the small Dutch. From the very beginning, we have been working, taking into account all the nuances of the Flemish painting technique.

This method replaced the tempera that was previously written. It is believed that, like the basics of oil painting, the method was developed Flemish artist early Renaissance- Jan Van Eykom. From here, oil painting begins its history.

So. This is the painting method that Van Mander says was used by the painters of Flanders: Van Eycky, Durer, Luke Leiden and Pieter Bruegel. The method is as follows: a drawing was transferred to a white and smoothly sanded adhesive primer with powder or in some other way, which was previously performed in full size of the picture separately on paper ("cardboard"), since they avoided drawing directly on the ground so as not to disturb its whiteness, which played great importance in Flemish painting.

Then the drawing was shaded off with a transparent brown so that the soil shone through it.

The named shading was made either with tempera and then it was done like an engraving, with strokes, or with oil paint, while the work was done with the utmost care and already in this form was a work of art.

After drying out on a drawing that was shaken off with oil paint, they painted and finished the painting either in cold halftones, then adding warm ones (which van Mander calls "Dead Tones"), or they finished the work with colored glazes, in one step, half-body, leaving the brown preparation to shine through in halftones and shadows. This is the method we used.

The Flemish paints were always applied in a thin and even layer, in order to use the translucence of the white soil and get a smooth surface, on which, if necessary, could be glazed many more times.

With the development of painting skills of artists the above methods have undergone some changes or simplifications, each artist used a slightly different from the others, his own way.

But the basis for a long time remained the same: the Flemish painting was always performed on white glue soil (which did not draw oil from paints) , with a thin layer of paints, applied in such a way that not only all layers of the painting took part in the creation of a general pictorial effect, but also a white ground, which was, as it were, a source of light that illuminates the picture from the inside.

Your Nadezhda Ilyina.