How to paint like Peter Paul Rubens

After studying the work of the seventeenth century Flemish painter Peter Paul Rubens in College, books and at the museums, one can conclude that there was not only one set of steps or fixed formula this particular Old master followed. In art school I was taught that he started out with a "grisaille" (underpainting with grays) and then glazed over this underpainting with transparent colors.  This seems to fit perfectly well  into the nineteenth century French Academic painting protocol but Rubens to me seems to be far more spontaneous and even less methodical.  Before the French Academy there was little or no systematic way of teaching painting. You learned how to paint becoming an apprentice to a master in his workshop and every master had a  different approach to their craft. Having a closer look at the work of Rubens at the Metropolitan Museum , National Gallery of the Philadelphia Museum of art, the work seems to reveal a different set of steps.  I had already thought about this debatable issue a time ago and devised for  my Old Master techniques class two useful demos. These demonstrate the two possible ways that someone like Rubens might have worked. The first follows the protocol I was taught at The Savannah College of Art and Design. The second derives from my own observations on the different noticeable layers Ive studied of Rubens work. Ive written many notes about how he worked by observing his work up front.  What I'm showing here is super simplified information. Both protocols should be valid approximations to the original. Of course there are many books on techniques of the old masters but they don't seem to agree all the time on how a particular painter from the past painted so most of the time I find it  even more useful to go on directly to the work of a painter I admire and see for myself what the painting has to say about how it was done.  Every time you go to a museum you should be able to learn something new about art. Take many notes and make the museum your school. That is my best advice. So here I share with you my two demos. Enjoy!

Note: I have substituted Flake white by Titanium White for those who are afraid of being poisoned with lead.

I myself use Lead white as it gives  a warm, metallic semi translucent  and fast drying quality that is so much appreciated in the work of Old masters.

Sharing my own approach to painting Sixteenth Century Venetian Way

Venetian painters at the time of Titian used a different technique from that of

later painters. The modern artist usually paints the forms directly on the canvas

with color mixed in his palette. This is essentially a one‐step method, although

the artist may paint over a preliminary sketch. By contrast, theVenetian painter

from the sixteenth century used  a two‐step method. First, he defined the forms

of his composition in monochrome, and only after that was completed he applied

color. When he applied color, he did so in translucent layers called glazes.

To demonstrate the Venetian method of painting for this book, I have illustrated a

step by step of the process. The intention is not to show how exactly someone like

Titian painted this picture (The Gipsy Madonna) but to illustrate the main steps of

work in a simplified demonstration of fundamentals. By emulating this process one

can understand the importance or order, structure, discipline and patience involved

in making a painting. Something that most of the contemporary art world has forgotten.

This is the original Gipsy Madonna  painted by Titian in 1510

The following is part of a demo I used in a class on how to paint like the Old Masters .I taught this class at the Maitland Art Center. 

Step #1: “Bozzetto” ( Preliminary Sketch)
Prepare a pencil preliminary study of the composition on paper

Step #2: “Disegno” (Drawing)
Transfer and draw the composition on to canvas with vine charcoal.

Step #3: “Sotto Disegno” (Underdrawing)
Draw and re‐define lines with Burnt Umber and Turpentine
(This is called “The Sauce”)

Step #4: “Imprimatura “(Toned canvas)
Over the underdrawing, apply a light tone of Venetian Red or Red
Ochre (PR101) with a mixture of linseed oil and turpentine.

Step #5: Togliere Strofinare” (Wipe out technique)
Wipe out the strongest lights in the composition. This is done with a dry
fine cotton rag and gently rubbing out the selected areas where the
lights are supposed to be.

Step#6: “Sotto Dipinto” (underpainting)

With black, white and yellow ocher paint and define values with grays

present in the composition.

Step #7 Velaturas (Color Glazing)

Thin color glazes are applied using the “motherload” glazing medium. Semi‐dry

paint scumbling is applied over the dry glaze. Additional elements in the

background are added to the composition. You may apply various layers of glazes.

Latest painting: El Juicio (The Judgement)

 

"El Juicio" 23" x 24" Oil and Goldleaf on Wood

In this latest piece titled "El Juicio" or "The Judgment" I am inspired on various old master compositions on "The Judgment of Paris" This famous episode from Classic literature tells the story that led to the Illiad by Homer, of young Prince Paris before he learns about Helen and abducts her to the city of Troy. In this scene he is accompanied by Hermes and holds a golden apple that reads καλλίστῃ (kalliste)"To the fairest". Hermes sent by Zeus, the king of the gods, gives Paris the task of choosing from three of the Olympian goddesses who is the most beautiful. The goddesses stand in front of Paris awaiting for him to judge who might be the winner. Each one of them bribes the prince with tempting rewards. Hera holds a scepter and offers him to become king of the known world. Athena offers him infinite wisdom and victory in war. Aphrodite offers him the heart of the most beautiful mortal woman living at that time, Helen. Paris chooses Aphrodite's gift and there after Homer's story of Troy begins. I have reflected much on the idea of this famous "apple of discord" and seen an interesting relation with the apple of the tree of knowledge in the book of Genesis. The apple in many ancient civilizations signified many different things but many coincide with the idea of being blessed and cursed at the same time with knowledge beauty or immortality by consuming a special fruit. There is also the theme of free will and choice. Today we have many beauty contests and juried art shows that seem to be very subjective in their means of defining whats beautiful and who deserves to be called a great artist or gorgeous Miss universe. The problem of judgment goes back to the story of Paris. Who is to decide? By bribing, how corruptible is the jury? Today the apple of discord may well be called money and still we fall for these shows where someone well respected and apparently "on top" decides what we should consider adorable and beautiful, what we should spend time looking at and consuming. This painting is not only a tribute to the classical theme of the Judgment of Paris but also an open reflection on the question of judgment. There are many symbols hidden and not so hidden in the work  and I could write a lot about the meaning of these. But  in the end all brought together in this context ask the same eternal question QUIDNAM JUDICARE (Who is the judge?)

"El Juicio" (triptych doors closed)