Flemish painting. Flemish painting technique

Flemish painting is considered one of the first experiences of artists in painting oil paintings. The authorship of this style, as well as the invention of the oil paints themselves, is attributed to the van Eyck brothers. The style of Flemish painting is inherent in almost all the authors of the Renaissance, in particular the notorious Leonardo da Vinci, Peter Brueghel and Petrus Christus left behind a lot of priceless works of art in this particular genre.

In order to paint a picture using this technique, you will need to first create a drawing on paper, and of course do not forget to buy an easel. The size of the paper stencil should exactly match the size of the future picture. Next, the drawing is transferred to a white adhesive primer. To do this, a lot of tiny holes are made around the perimeter of the image with needles. Having fixed the drawing in a horizontal plane, they take coal powder and sprinkle it with areas with holes. After removing the paper, separate points are connected with a sharp tip of a brush, pen or pencil. If ink is used, it must be strictly transparent so as not to disturb the whiteness of the ground, which actually gives the completed paintings a special style.

Transferred drawings must be shaded with transparent brown paint. Care must be taken during the process to ensure that the primer is constantly visible through the applied layers. Oil or tempera could be used as a shade. In order to prevent the absorption of oil shading into the soil, it was pre-coated with glue. Hieronymus Bosch used brown varnish for this purpose, thanks to which his paintings retained their color for such a long time.

At this stage, the largest amount of work is being done, so you should definitely buy a desktop easel, because every self-respecting artist has a couple of such tools. If the picture was planned to end in color, then cold, light tones acted as a preliminary layer. On them, again, oil paints were applied with a thin layer of glazing. As a result, the picture acquired vital shades and looked much more spectacular.

Leonardo da Vinci shaded the entire ground in the shadows in one tone, which is a combination of three colors: red ocher, kraplak and black. He painted the clothes and the background of the works with transparent overlapping layers of paint. This technique allowed the image to convey a special characteristic of chiaroscuro.

While studying the technique of some of the old masters, we come across the so-called “Flemish method” of oil painting. This is a layered, technically complex way of writing, the opposite of the "a la prima" technique. The multi-layered nature implied a special depth of the image, shimmer and radiance 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 colors” (doodverf - nid. death of paint) is first found in the work of Carl van Mander “The Book of Artists”. On the one hand, he could call paint like that, 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. Such paints included bleached yellow, black, red colors in different proportions. For example, cold gray was obtained by mixing white and black, and black and yellow, when combined, formed an olive hue.

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

Stages of painting "Dead layer"

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

First, the drawing was transferred to the primed surface.

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

Then imprimatura was applied - a liquid paint layer. It made it possible to preserve the drawing, preventing particles of charcoal or pencil from getting into the upper colorful layers, and also protected the colors from further fading. It is thanks to imprimatura that the saturated 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 underpainting. The artist needed to preserve the shape of the objects without violating the light-shadow contrast, which would lead to the dullness of further painting. “Dead colors” were applied only to the light parts of the image, sometimes, imitating gliding rays, white was applied in small dotted strokes. The picture acquired additional volume and an ominous deathly pallor, which, already in the next layer, “came to life” thanks to multi-layered colored glazing. 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 often used, 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.

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

On the course, I talked about the ancient methods of painting, about primers, varnishes and paints, revealed many secrets that we put into practice - we painted a still life based on the work of the Little 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, which was written before. It is believed that, like the basics of oil painting, the method was developed by the Flemish artist Early Renaissance - Jan Van Eyck. This is where oil painting begins its history.

So. This is the method of painting that, according to Van Mander, was used by the painters of Flanders: Van Eycky, Dürer, Luke of Leiden and Pieter Brueghel. The method is as follows: on a white and smoothly polished adhesive ground, a drawing was transferred with gunpowder or in another way, which was previously executed in full-size paintings separately on paper (“cardboard”), since drawing directly on the ground was avoided so as not to disturb its whiteness, which played great importance in Flemish painting.

Then the drawing was shaded with a transparent brown so that the ground 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.

According to the drawing shaded with oil paint, after drying, they painted and finished the painting either in cold halftones, then adding warm ones (which van Mander calls “Dead Tones”), or finished the work with colored glazes, in one step, semi-hulled, leaving the brown preparation to shine through in midtones and shadows. We used exactly this method.

The Flemings always applied paints in a thin and even layer in order to use the translucence of the white ground and get a smooth surface on which, if necessary, one could glaze many more times.

With the development of the pictorial skill of artists the methods described above have undergone some changes or simplifications, each artist used his own method slightly different from the others.

But the basis remained the same for a long time: the Flemings always painted on white adhesive ground (which did not draw oil from the paints) , a thin layer of paints, applied in such a way that not only all layers of painting, but also the white ground, which was like a source of light illuminating the picture from the inside, took part in creating the overall pictorial effect.

Your Hope Ilyina.

N. IGNATOVA, Senior Researcher, Department of Research of Artistic Works, All-Russian Scientific and Restoration Center named after I. E. Grabar

Historically, this is the first method of working with oil paints, and legend attributes its invention, as well as 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 all the greatest artists of the Renaissance up to Titian and Giorgione resorted to it. There is an opinion that Italian artists painted their works in this way long before the van Eyck brothers. We will not delve into history and clarify who was the first to apply it, but we will try to talk about the method itself.
Modern studies of works of art allow us to conclude that the painting of the old Flemish masters was always done on white adhesive ground. The paints were applied in a thin glazing layer, and in such a way that not only all layers of painting, but also the white color of the ground, which, translucent through the paint, illuminates the picture from the inside, took part in creating the overall pictorial effect. Also noteworthy is the lack of
in painting he whitewashed, 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 thinnest glazes.
All work on the picture was carried out in strict sequence. It began with a drawing on thick paper in the size of the future picture. It turned out the so-called "cardboard". An example of such cardboard is Leonardo da Vinci's drawing for the portrait of Isabella d'Este,
The next stage of work is transferring the pattern to the ground. To do this, it 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. Getting into the holes made in the cardboard, the charcoal left light outlines of the pattern on the basis of the picture. To fix it, a trace of coal 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 disturb its whiteness, which, as already mentioned, played the role of the lightest tone in painting.
After transferring the drawing, they started shading with transparent brown paint, making sure that the ground everywhere shone through its layer. Shading was done with tempera or oil. In the second case, in order for the binder of paints not to be absorbed into the soil, it was covered with an additional layer of glue. At this stage of work, the artist solved almost all the tasks of the future picture, 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 picture 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 final glazing layer of colors, with the help of which they gave life to the whole work.
Of course, we have drawn a general outline of the Flemish method of painting. Naturally, every artist who used it brought something of his own to it. For example, we know from the biography of the artist Hieronymus Bosch that he painted in one go, using the simplified Flemish method. At the same time, his paintings are very beautiful, and the colors have not changed color over time. Like all his contemporaries, he prepared a white, not thick ground, on which he transferred the most detailed drawing. I shaded it with brown tempera paint, after which I covered the picture with a layer of transparent flesh-colored varnish, which isolates the primer from the penetration of oil from subsequent paint layers. After drying the picture, it remained to register the background with glazes of pre-composed tones, and the work was completed. Only sometimes some places were additionally prescribed with a second layer to enhance the color. Peter Brueghel wrote his works in a similar or very close way.
Another variation of the Flemish method can be seen in 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 drawing translated from cardboard was outlined with transparent paint like green earth. The drawing is shaded in one brown tone, close to sepia, composed of three colors: black, crayon and red ocher. The whole work is shaded, the white ground is nowhere left unwritten, even the sky is prepared in the same brown tone.
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 uniform and very thin.
The Flemish method was briefly used 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, Dürer, Perugino, Rogier van der Weyden, Clouet and other artists used it.
Paintings made by the Flemish method are excellently preserved. Made on seasoned boards, solid soils, they resist damage well. The virtual absence of white in the pictorial layer, which from time to time lose their hiding power and thereby 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 should be observed when using this method are a scrupulous drawing, the finest calculation, the correct sequence of work and great patience.

of the past fascinate with their colors, the play of light and shadow, the appropriateness of each accent, the general condition, color. But what we see now in the galleries, which has survived to this day, differs from what the author's contemporaries saw. Oil painting tends to change over time, this is influenced by the selection of paints, technique of execution, the finish of the work and storage conditions. This does not take into account the small mistakes that a talented master could make when experimenting with new methods. For this reason, the impression of the canvases and the description of their appearance may differ over the years.

Technique of the old masters

The technique of oil painting gives a huge advantage in work: a picture can be painted for years, gradually modeling the form and prescribing details with thin layers of paint (glazing). Therefore, body writing, where they immediately try to complete the picture, is not typical for the classical manner of working with oil. A well-thought-out phased application of paints allows you to achieve amazing shades and effects, since each previous layer, when glazed, shines through the next one.

The Flemish method, which Leonardo da Vinci loved to use so much, consisted of the following steps:

• On a light ground, the drawing was written in one color, with sepia - the contour and the main shadows.
• Then a thin underpainting was made with volume modeling.
• The final stage was several glazing layers of reflections and detailing.

But over time, Leonardo's dark brown inscription, despite the thin layer, began to strongly show through the colorful image, which led to a darkening of the picture in the shadows. In the base layer, he often used burnt umber, yellow ocher, Prussian blue, cadmium yellow, and burnt sienna. His final application of paint was so subtle that it was impossible to catch it. Own developed sfumato method (shading) allowed this to be done with ease. Her secret is in highly diluted paint and dry brush work.

Rubens, Velasquez and Titian worked in the Italian method. It is characterized by the following stages of work:

• Applying colored primer to the canvas (with the addition of any pigment);
• Transferring the outline of the drawing to the ground with chalk or charcoal and fixing it with a suitable paint.
• The underpainting, dense in some places, especially in the illuminated areas of the image, and in some places completely absent, left the color of the ground.
• The final work in 1 or 2 steps with semiglazing, less often with thin glazes. In Rembrandt, the ball of layers of the picture could reach a centimeter in thickness, but this is rather an exception.

In this technique, particular importance was given to the use of overlapping additional colors, which made it possible to neutralize the saturated ground in places. For example, red ground could be leveled with gray-green underpainting. Work in this technique was carried out faster than in the Flemish method, which was more to the liking of the customers. But the wrong choice of the color of the ground and the colors of the final layer could spoil the picture.

Painting color

To achieve harmony in a painting, they use the full power of reflexes and complementarity of colors. There are also little tricks like applying a colored primer, as in the Italian method, or varnishing the painting with pigment.

Colored primers can be adhesive, emulsion and oil. The latter are a pasty layer of oil paint of the desired color. If the white base gives a glow effect, then the dark one gives depth to the colors.

Rembrandt painted on a dark gray ground, Bryullov on a base with umber pigment, Ivanov tinted the canvases with yellow ocher, Rubens used English red and umber pigments, Borovikovsky preferred gray ground for portraits, and Levitsky preferred gray-green. The darkening of the canvas awaited everyone who used earthy colors in excess (sienna, umber, dark ocher).

For those who make copies of paintings by great artists in digital format, this resource will be of interest, which presents web-based artist palettes.

Lacquering

In addition to earth colors that darken over time, resin-based topcoats (rosin, copal, amber) also change the lightness of the picture, giving it yellow tints. To artificially give antiquity to the canvas, ocher pigment or any other similar pigment is specially added to the varnish. But a strong darkening is more likely to cause an excess of oil in the work. It can also lead to cracks. Although such the craquelure effect is more often associated with work on half-wet paint, which is unacceptable for oil painting: they write only on a dried or still damp layer, otherwise it is necessary to scrape it off and re-register.