9 Comments

I tell my students that they can have this painting to themselves if they visit the Uffizi. It sits opposite Botticelli's Birth of Venus in the gallery. Everyone is huddled around Venus, ignoring a giant masterpiece 30' behind them.

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Art has suffered badly from the cult of celebrity.

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Splendid.

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Perhaps not directly relevant, but I remember walking at random into Chattanooga's art museum. They had a selection of the great masters of grisaille, including Martin Pape. He used a technique painting in a gray monochrome. Point being there were a handful of these smaller triptychs that illustrated this and that scene from the Bible, including John the Baptist's beheading and other scenes from Salome the opera.

All to say your content is lovely, and I appreciate how niche it is.

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Grisaille is part of the standard training for academic art. It's the stage between drawing in charcoal and painting in colours. It's crucial to train painters to see in values - the contrasts and gradients between dark shadows light highlights - which are in fact more important than colour. All the old masters would start with a grisaille, to get the values right, and then usually add colour in thin glazes over top. https://youtu.be/hoCpj0vwmHU?si=Vgs9RCDX4AtFsEaw

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Dec 24, 2023
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What on earth are you talking about this for?

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These are spectacular pieces! The details are incredible. Thank you for the post!

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Beautifully described, thanks Hilary this is a wonderful post. Wishing you a blessed and Holy Christmas. With prayers for you.

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Definitely eye candy. Thank you!

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