Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio was a notable Italian artist known to be the first great representative of the Baroque style. Caravaggio, despite the widely acclaimed artistry during his time, led quite an enigmatic and fascinating lifestyle that seemed to be a puzzle to many. He was famous and very influential when he lived but somehow was almost forgotten completely for many centuries until his artistic influences in the development of Modern Art was again rediscovered.
Caravaggio was born in Milan, Italy on September 28, 1571. His father, Fermi Merisi worked for the Marchese of Caravaggio while his mother, Lucia Aratori, came from a wealthy landowning family in the same district. The family relocated to Caravaggio in order to escape the plague that struck Milan in 1576. Sadly, Caravaggio’s father died the following year. It was known that the artist spent hie early years at Caravaggio.
In 1584, Caravaggio became an apprentice to Simone Peterzano, a Lombard painter who was a pupil of Titian. Caravaggio was influenced with Lombard art which valued simplicity and naturalistic details. Caravaggio eventually went to Rome sometime in 1592 where he surprisingly became an immediate favorite.
At Rome, Caravaggio initially became a part of the workshop of Guiseppi Cesari a highly successful painter who was the favorite of Pope Clement VIII. Through Cesari, Caravaggio was able to make very valuable friendships. In 1594, he left the workshop of Cesari to go out on his own. With his friendship with established painter Prospero Orsi, he was introduced to some of the influential collectors in Rome. Caravaggio began creating unique paintings that took on new themes which became popular and later on influenced other paintings.
Caravaggio also later on began doing paintings with religious themes, the first of which was the Penitent Magdalene. Realism was a noteworthy feature in his paintings that established his reputation that eventually led him to do rich commissions for the Church. By 1599, Caravaggio started doing work decorating the Contarelli Chapel. His works there such as the Martyrdom of Saint Matthew and Calling of Saint Matthew became immediate sensations. His works made him the most popular painter in Rome from 1600 to 1606 where his level of acute realism in his works brought them to a higher level of dramatic intensity.
But aside from enjoying a successful life as a painter in Rome, Caravaggio was also known for his troublesome lifestyle filled with endless street brawling. This usually found him being arrested until sometime in 1606, he unintentionally killed a young man. To escape prosecution, Caravaggio went to Naples where he was outside Roman jurisdiction. There Caravaggio began to become popular as a painter. But his penchant for trouble followed him and led him to go from one place to another just to evade troubles that he caused. Caravaggio eventually died of a fever on July of 1610.
One common technique that has been used in oil painting has been layering. It is a technique that is characterized by building up an artwork by placing repeated layers of oil paint into canvas. It is usually some glazes applied over thin layers of opaque oil paint. Oil paint dries slower and more evenly than tempera, giving the artist sometime to correct or even extend his work.
Layering is still considered as the best approach to oils painting. This method usually takes time and therefore is best suited for smaller works of art. Layering is also a good method to use for photo-realism and works that require a higher than usual degree of detailing and surface finish. Here are steps that are being followed in using the technique of layering in painting.
Step 1: Have an accurate image or sketch made ready.
The first step for the artist is to prepare an accurate drawing of a planned work. In the past, artists used camera obscura to project a certain scene on the canvas. This time, using a photograph would be a more convenient option.
Step 2: Begin with a thin layer.
The artist may try to apply a layer of thin paint similar to one of water color or with few pencil lines. Broad washes of paint thinned with turpentine may also do well.
Step 3: Let the first layer dry.
Step 4: Apply thin body color on the work.
The artists now tries to build the figure or image in layers. A basic rule being followed in the application of oil paints is “fat over lean”. This simply means that each layer of paint applied on canvas should be oilier than the one below it. This will allow proper drying.
Step 5: Let the layer of paint dry.
Step 6: Apply the second thin body color by painting over the first layer and just within its contours.
Step 7: Build up the painting layer by layer.
Continue building up layer upon layer of paint on the canvas using different painting techniques to capture the desired image. Building up over the underpainting can be a long process of trial and error. Since oil paints take longer to dry, it is possible for artists to correct or change paint texture or form of the work given a certain point while the paint is still wet. It might also be possible for an artist to remove an entire layer of paint and begin with the next layer anew.
Step 8: Dry the layers thoroughly.
Step 9: Apply thin coats of glazes or work wet into wet if needed.
Step 10: Let dry.
Step 11: Apply a ticker layer of glaze or modify previous glazes if needed.
Step 12: Apply another touch or layer of body color to recapture areas that may have been glazed heavily.
It is a good idea to apply a layer of color alternately to a layer of glaze instead of applying a thicker coat of glaze at the end. Shadow effects can be created with the use of glazes and help harmonize the resulting work of art.
Paul Cezanne was a noted French painter considered as one of the greatest of the Post-Impressionists. He was known to have led the way for the transition of Impressionism in the 19th Century to the styles the has been developing in the early 20th Century. He was one of the painters who challenged the conventional values of painting in the 19th Century which insisted on personal expression and integrity of the painting itself. Although his own works were discredited by the public for most of his life, he eventually was considered as the Father of Modern Painting.
Early Life
Paul Cezanne was born on January 19, 1839 in Aix-en-Provence in Southern France. His father, Louis-Auguste Cezanne was a prosperous banker. His mother was Anne-Elisabeth Honorine Aubert. Paul also had two other younger sisters named Marie and Rose. The family’s affluence afforded little Paul with the financial security that most of his contemporaries were not able to enjoy.
Young Paul started learning art at the age of ten while at Saint Joseph Boarding School> He first studied drawing under Joseph Gibert, a Spanish monk in Aix. In 1852, Paul entered College Bourbon where he stayed for six years. From 1859 to 1861, he followed his father’s wished and attended law school at the University of Aix. But his love for art made hi go against his father’s wishes and left for Paris in 1861. Eventually Paul’s father supported his career choice and both son and father reconciled. He was later given an inheritance of 400,000 francs, more than enough to give him financial security.
Life As An Artist
While in Paris, Paul Cezanne met with the Impressionists and formed a friendship with them. They became an influence to Cezanne especially in his first paintings which mostly consisted of figures in landscapes. Gradually, Cezanne developed a light and airy painting style that also influenced the Impressionists greatly. Cezanne later sought out to develop of representing the seen world into the canvas by the most accurate method possible.
Later on, Cezanne also became interested in simplifying his paintings, by creating naturally occurring forms into their geometric essentials. He wanted to paint forms as cylinders, spheres and cones. Cezanne became a unique painter in that he was equally proficient in painting different genres- still lifes, landscapes and portraits. In absence of the availability of models for his work, Cezanne was known to design from imagination.
His works were exhibited in some display in Paris. His paintings were shown in the first exhibition of the Salon des Refuses in 1863 but were not accepted by the jury of the Paris Salon. The salon continually rejected Cezanne’s subsequent submissions until 1869. His work was finally displayed at the Salon for exhibition in 1882. Cezanne’s “Portrait of Louis-Auguste Cezanne, Father of the Artist, reading ‘l’Evenement’, 1866 ” became his only successful submission to the Salon. He eventually enjoyed public recognition and some financial success as the admiration for Impressionist works began to grow. Cezanne later on died of pneumonia on October 22, 1906.
Impasto is one of the painting techniques that has been used even by the great painting masters. The term comes form the Italian word which means “dough” or “mixture”. As a painting technique, impasto refers to a method of painting where paint is laid on a canvas very thickly. The paint applied is usually thick enough that the strokes of the brush and painting knife are visible. Some techniques make use of impasto in order to mix paint right on the canvas itself.In using the impasto technique in painting, oil paint is usually used as it has a slow drying time and is relatively thick, making it ideal for using on canvas without dripping. Acrylic paint is another type of paint that may also be ideal for impasto. Watercolor or tempera may also be used if only a thickening agent is used because of the inherent thinness of these types of media.
There are several reasons why some painters make use of impasto in their artworks. First and foremost, impasto makes light reflect in a particular way unlike the usual style of painting. This allows the artist to incorporate the play of light into an artwork. Impasto can also add some form of added expressiveness to the artwork by letting the viewer notice the speed or the strength applies by the painter on the canvas. In a way, impasto can also allow the artwork be rendered in a somewhat partial three dimensional form.
The impasto technique was used by notable artists throughout history in order to provide a different texture to their paintings. Rembrandt and Titian used this technique in order to have better control of light that affects the whole artwork. This is more notable with these noted masters trying to represent folds in the clothes as well as the edges of jewels as depicted in some of their artworks.
Sometime later, impasto was used together with rich delicate paintings to present various textures. Much later, early Impressionists in France began creating entire canvasses using the impasto style solely on its own. Another noted artist, Vincent Van Gogh also made use of impasto for some of his artworks as a means of expression and aesthetics. Noted Abstract painter Willem De Kooning was also known to extensively use the impasto technique to create some form of “action” into his artworks.
Willem de Kooning is one of the noted modern artists whose work became prominent in the post World War II era. He was, first and foremost, known as an abstract expressionist painter, a style of which is usually characterized by an impression of spontaneity and that of an unplanned work. De Kooning was born on April 24, 1904 in Rotterdam, the Netherlands.
Early Years
Kooning grew up with his mother, Cornelia Nobel, with whom divorced De Kooning’s father, Leendert de Kooning when he was just five years old. He studied for eight years at the Rotterdam Academy of Fine Arts and Techniques, he studied at night while working as a apprentice for a commercial art and decorating firm during the day. He later on became an assistant to the art director of a Rotterdam department store.
Move to America
In 1926, De Kooning went to America as a stowaway on the British Freighter SS Shelly that made port in Newport News, Virginia. De Kooning found his way going to New Jersey where he settled in Hoboken. He initially worked as a house painter to support himself and went on to meet some artists and fellow painters in the area. He eventually moved to a studio in Manhattan in 1927.
In 1935, De Kooning started working with the Federal Art Project at the WPA or Works Progress Administration where he stayed for two years. It provided him with the opportunity of doing creative work such as doing easel paintings and murals. By 1938, De Kooning started working on a series of works with male figures as subjects. As his work progressed, he began to make his abstractions blend with some figurative works. This continued on until the 1940’s.
Later Works
The 1940’s saw De Kooning being largely identified by then with the Abstract Expressionism movement. A solo exhibit of his works in 1948 established his reputation as a major artist. He also began to paint works having women as his subjects for abstraction. It was in the 1950’s that De Kooning began to explore the subject more exclusively. With his interesting paintings of women subjects, De Kooning caused a sensation in 1953, primarily because most other Abstract Expressionists at that time were creating chiefly abstract works of art. De Kooning did his with a figurative flair along with the abstraction of the subject typical of the movement.
After garnering several accolades for his works, De Kooning ventured into other works of art which included making sculptures. By 1963, De Kooning permanently settled in East Hampton, Long Island where he also died on March 19, 1997.
Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio was a notable Italian artist known to be the first great representative of the Baroque style. Caravaggio, despite the widely acclaimed artistry during his time, led quite an enigmatic and fascinating lifestyle that seemed to be a puzzle to many. He was famous and very influential when he lived but somehow was almost forgotten completely for many centuries until his artistic influences in the development of Modern Art was again rediscovered.
One common technique that has been used in oil painting has been layering. It is a technique that is characterized by building up an artwork by placing repeated layers of oil paint into canvas. It is usually some glazes applied over thin layers of opaque oil paint. Oil paint dries slower and more evenly than tempera, giving the artist sometime to correct or even extend his work.
Paul Cezanne was a noted French painter considered as one of the greatest of the Post-Impressionists. He was known to have led the way for the transition of Impressionism in the 19th Century to the styles the has been developing in the early 20th Century. He was one of the painters who challenged the conventional values of painting in the 19th Century which insisted on personal expression and integrity of the painting itself. Although his own works were discredited by the public for most of his life, he eventually was considered as the Father of Modern Painting.
Impasto is one of the painting techniques that has been used even by the great painting masters. The term comes form the Italian word which means “dough” or “mixture”. As a painting technique, impasto refers to a method of painting where paint is laid on a canvas very thickly. The paint applied is usually thick enough that the strokes of the brush and painting knife are visible. Some techniques make use of impasto in order to mix paint right on the canvas itself.In using the impasto technique in painting, oil paint is usually used as it has a slow drying time and is relatively thick, making it ideal for using on canvas without dripping. Acrylic paint is another type of paint that may also be ideal for impasto. Watercolor or tempera may also be used if only a thickening agent is used because of the inherent thinness of these types of media.