|
DIVISIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP ENTRY: DIVISION 4, STUDIO ARTS: PAINTING Magazine Covers In the style of Sixteenth Century Calendar Paintings
1-4. The current entry is the two paintings done for the Winter issue of Tournaments Illuminated—as an aside, they will be used come next Winter issue. These paintings were done to deadline, and so compromises were made. These paintings were modeled after several winter scenes from Flemish calendar pages of the late 15th and early 16th century. These paintings would typically be done by the master painter and then later inserted into a high quality book of hours; for instance, the Hours of Simon de Varie (circa 1450) has six inserted paintings by the well-known painter, Jean Fouquet. These paintings are of considerably high standard, and are the only paintings by Fouquet in the book. Such paintings and books were typically purchased by very wealthy patrons; these paintings would be appropriate for the gentry or nobility. Books were expensive, and only those with plenty of income could afford them. 5. Items used in creating this piece include: Ferrogallic Ink: Typical ink made from oak galls and an iron source. Receipts for this sort of ink can be found in almost any book in the attached bibliography.. Mechanical Pencil: I was on too short a deadline to draw with any but the most speedy means. For me, that’s a pencil. I drew and inked a cartoon, and then placed the cartoon against a window, placed the bristol board over it, and traced the cartoon on to the bristol board. This allowed me to do all the erasing on the cheap bond paper, draw rapidly, and still get the actual outline to the painting in a period way—that is, tracing my drawing with ink to the painting surface. There are many examples of traced paintings; a quick example may be found in the Arte of Limming (Gullick), under the heading "A Pretty Trick to Take the Form of A Letter." See the annotation of Vasari’s On Technique for "cartoon" as an art term; see On Metal Pens for examples of leads held in holders, the period mechanical pencil. Straight edge: I used a square for this; there are many period depictions of this tool in illuminations of the era. See attached copy of one such illumination after the annotated bibliography. This was the only drafting tool that I used. Pen: The most frequently used writing implement in period was, of course, the ubiquitous quill. I was in too great a hurry to use one. I used a modern crow quill assembly. However, again, all is not lost! Quills, while the most ubiquitous of writing implements, were not the only things used! Bone, reed, and, yes, metal pens have been found in 15th century archeological finds; thus, the Mitchell nib serves as a modern equivalent. See the article "On Metal Pens" attached after the annotated bibliography if you would like more information. Paints: I used both commercially purchased paints and handmade paints; I haven’t enough money to purchase pigments in every shade I might need, so a compromise is necessary, alas. The hand made paints are gum arabic based; the document summery on page one specifically lists which paints are handmade and which purchased.. Brushes: used to apply the paint. While many period manuals give instruction for making brushes, I purchase mine; even if I could get sable for the making of the brush, I am not yet able to make brushes as nice as those I can purchase. So I used the instructions in Hilliard’s Arte of Limming to choose appropriate brushes. 6. I drew the design directly on to bond paper (that is, I made a cartoon for tracing), inked it, then traced the design to the art paper. I then used the crow quill and ink to outline the drawing. In both paintings, I painted background to foreground; this makes it much easier to paint the figures, et cetera. I found that I had to do a lot of paint mixing for these paintings, most particularly for the interior scene. After applying all the base colors, I just fiddled with shading the paintings until I ran out of time and had to send them off. I thought about correcting a few of the overpainting areas (for instance, a spot where the burnt sienna is painted out past the burnt umber lining), but decided to leave them, as so many of the Flemish paintings of this time have such small flaws, and they don’t really detract from the piece. Probably the most interesting thing I realized on this piece was how much colors can vary. I used two tubes of "indigo," one by Talens and one by Pelikan. While they seem a similar shade when just out of the tube, mixing them with white for lighter shades showed that I was actually using two different pigments. Now, I had known that this is often the case, that the color name doesn’t match the actual pigment, but this would be the first time that I’ve even seen such a notable difference. The Talens indigo is the blue and white mix making up the fireplace in the interior scene, and the Pelikan indigo is the blue and white mix that makes up the frozen river. Annotated References PRIMARY SOURCES Materials Borradaile, V. and R. The Strasburg Manuscript: A Medieval Painters Handbook. Tiranti, London: 1966. Translation of a fifteenth century anonymous manuscript on the art of illumination. Cennini, C. The Craftsman's Handbook. D. V. Thompson, trans. Dover, New York:1954.Translation of an early fifteenth century manuscript on painting. Gesner, Konrad. De Rereum Fossilium…Liber. 1565. Facsimile publication of page featuring the first recognizable lead pencil in Petroski, H. The Pencil: A History of Design and Circumstance. Alfred A. Knopf. New York:1990. The Gesner drawing is recognizable as a pencil: a wooden holder with a tip of graphite inserted. Although he was writing a book about fossils, Gesner was so enchanted with this newish drawing device that he dedicated a section of the book to it. The entire Petroski book, which contains the facsimile of of Gesner’s work, is a very interesting work with a nice summation of drawing tools of history, but it was clearly written by an engineer rather than an artist. There are a number of references in art manuals (like Ceninni, 15th century, or Vasari, prior to 1550) that refer to drawing with graphite prior to 1565, but Petroski appears unaware of them. Gullick, M, introduction. A Proper Treatise ... Arte of Limming. 1573. Facsimile printing. Society of Scribes and Illuminators. London:No date. Draft transcription: Boucher, E., 2001. This 16th century painters manual is my favorite place for period directions.
Hilliard, N. The Arte of Limning. Transcribed by A. Kinney, with commentary by L. Salamon.Northeastern UP, Boston: 1983. sixteenth century manuscript on the methods and materials of miniature painting. Documentary references to this work are indicated as "Hilliard." Lehmann-Haupt, H., translator. The Göttingen Model Book: A Facsimile and Translations of a fifteenth Century Illuminators Manual. U Missouri P, Columbia, MO: 1972. Merrifield, M., Original Treatises on the Arts of Painting. 1849. Reprint edition. Dover. New York:1967. A lengthy text on period painting practices plus a compendium of period (and a couple of post-period) painting manuals, including the original and Merrifield's translation printed side by side. Covers approximately 12 (yes, that's right, 12, with 8 of those being period instructional manuals) book. Slightly overwhelming, to tell the truth, but an excellent resource, nonetheless. Theophilus. On Divers Arts. C. Smith, translator. Dover. New York, 1979. Translation of a manuscript written C. 1122 regarding several crafts, including manuscript illumination and painting. Thompson, D. V., Translator. De Arte Illuminandi. Yale UP, New Haven, CT: 1933. Translation of an anonymous fourteenth century manuscript on illumination. Thompson, J., transcriber. A Booke Of Secrets. In J. Thompson, editor. Medieval Inks. Caber Press. Portland, OR:1996. Transcription of a sixteenth century manuscript on the making of inks and paints.
Vasari, G. On Technique. Maclehose, L., trans. Dover, New York: 1960. Translation of Vasari's sixteenth century writings on the techniques of painting, sculpture, and architecture. Interesting here for the explicit descriptions of how cartoons are made; often modern-era thinking leads us to understand "cartoon" as an animated film, but in period, cartoon was a preliminary drawing that was an intemediary step used to transfer a drawing to the surface to be painted. Design and Layout Arnould, A, et al. Splendours of Flanders: Late Medieval Art in Cambridge Collections. Cambridge, Cambridge UP, 1993. Because of the confusing way that the plates are identified in this book, I am indicating which plates I used as primary sources (facsimile published) for the paint-over detail—that is, examples where period painters did not remove areas of color that went beyond the clean-up lines. Plates are located on pages numbered : 186, 184, 183, 182. Also, upon page 102, two miniatures used for design detail. All plates are Flemish works from c. 1480-1520. Bening, S. April. Victoria & Albert Museum MS 2538. Detached leaf. (Salting Hours). c. 1500 (?). Facsimile publication in Books of Hours. Phaidon Press, LTD. London:1996. Interesting example of small painting meant to be inserted into book. Bening, S. Dining, DaCosta Hours. c. 1515. Facsimile publication in Voelkle, W & S. L’Engle, Illuminated Manuscripts: Treasures of the Pierpont Morgan Library. Abbeyille Press, New York:1998. Books of Hours. Phaidon Press, LTD. London:1996. Small, anaonymous book with about 80 plates in Nice little book. Da Vinci, L. Leonardo on Painting. Kemp, M., editor. Yale UP. New Haven, CT: 1989 Translation and anthology of Da Vinci's notes, published posthumously as the 'Treatise on Painting' Lots of instruction on perspective and so forth, although somewhat confusing to follow. December, Mayer van den Bergh Breviary. Flemish, about 1510. Facsimile publication in Smeyers, M. & J. van der Stock. Flemish Illuminated Manuscripts, 1475-1550.Ludion Press, Ghent: 1996. The Grimani Breviary. Flemish book of hours of the 1st quarter of the 16th century. January. Waddesdon Manor MS 26, Folio 1v. c. 1540. Facsimile publication in Books of Hours. Phaidon Press, LTD. London:1996. January: Supper by the Fire II. Book of Hours, Use of Rome. Flemish, c. 1500. Fitzwilliam Museum MS 1058-1975 folio 1r. Facsimile publication in Hen isch, B. The Medieval Calendar Year. Pensylvania State University Press, University Park, PA: 1999. Viator. De Artificiali Perspectiva. 1505 & 1509. Facsimile publication with notes by W. Irvin, Jr. Da Capo Press. New York:1973 First and second edition of a period manual on perspective drawing for art. Wilson, E. Bibles and Bestiaries: A Guide to Illuminated Manuscripts for Young Readers. Farrar Straus & Giroux. 1994. Contains two facsimile pictures for January that I used in designing this piece; unfortunately, I didn’t get the exact names of the two items before I had to return the book to the library. SECONDARY SOURCES Alexander, JJG. Medieval Illuminators and Their Methods of Work. Yale UP. New Haven, CT: 1992. Concise review and study of the methods used by medieval illuminators. Many examples of illuminations/paintings that are traced. Child, H., ed. The Calligrapher's Handbook. Taplinger, New York: 1985. Modern instructions for Medieval techniques. Farquhar, J. Creation and imitation: The Work of a Fifteenth Century Manuscript Illuminator. Nova/NYIT UP. New York:1976. Study of the work of a particular illuminator and discussion of some methods. Very helpful section detailing precise layouts and examples of the same layout being used through several works. Johnson, E. Writing and Illuminating and Lettering. Dover. New York:1995. Taubes, F. The Painter's Dictionary of Methods and Materials. Watson-Guptil, New York:1971. A concise dictionary of modern and historical items and practices used in painting. Used for the confirmation of facts and dates alluded to in other secondary sources, and definitions of some obscure terms not clarified elsewhere. Thompson, D.V. The Materials and Techniques of Medieval Paining. Dover, New York:1956. Contrast, comparison, summary, and study of the methods set forth in a vast array of period manuscripts regarding the work of the artist. Some of the information is dated, but the book is still basically sound.
Questions, suggestions, comments, concerns? I welcome email at merouda (at) hotmail (dot) com. Use your back button, or {Elyse Boucher} {Illuminated Manuscripts} {A&S Mania}{Heraldic A&S} {Poopie the Pirate} | ||||||||||||||||
