Flemish painting. "Flemish method of working with oil paints" Flemish painting technique

Secrets of the old masters

Old oil painting techniques

Flemish writing method oil paints

The Flemish method of painting with oil paints basically boiled down to the following: a drawing from the so-called cardboard (a separately executed drawing on paper) was transferred onto a white, smoothly sanded primer. Then the drawing was outlined and shaded with transparent brown paint(tempera or oil). According to Cennino Cennini, even in this form the paintings looked like perfect works. This technique in its further development changed. The surface prepared for painting was covered with a layer oil varnish with an admixture of brown paint, through which the shaded drawing showed through. The pictorial work ended with transparent or translucent glazes or half-body (half-covering), in one step, writing. The brown preparation was left to show through in the shadows. Sometimes they painted on the brown preparation with so-called dead paints (gray-blue, gray-greenish), finishing the work with glazes. The Flemish painting method can be easily traced in many of Rubens' works, especially in his studies and sketches, e.g. triumphal arch“The Apotheosis of Duchess Isabella”

To preserve the beauty of blue paints in oil painting(blue pigments rubbed in oil change their tone), recorded blue paints the places were sprinkled (over the not completely dry layer) with ultramarine or smalt powder, and then these places were covered with a layer of glue and varnish. Oil paintings sometimes glazed with watercolors; To do this, their surface was first wiped with garlic juice.

Italian method of painting with oil paints

The Italians changed Flemish method, creating a unique Italian way of writing. Instead of white primer, the Italians made colored primer; or the white primer was completely covered with some kind of transparent paint. They drew on the gray ground1 with chalk or charcoal (without resorting to cardboard). The drawing was outlined with brown glue paint, which was also used to lay out the shadows and paint the dark draperies. Then they covered the entire surface with layers of glue and varnish, after which they painted with oil paints, starting with laying out the highlights with whitewash. After this, the dried bleach preparation was used to paint in corpus in local colors; Gray soil was left in partial shade. The painting was completed with glazes.

Later they began to use dark gray primers, performing underpainting with two paints - white and black. Even later, brown, red-brown and even red soils were used. The Italian method of painting was then adopted by some Flemish and Dutch masters(Terborkh, 1617-1681; Metsu, 1629-1667 and others).

Examples of the use of Italian and Flemish methods.

Titian initially painted on white grounds, then switched to colored ones (brown, red, and finally neutral), using impasto underpaintings, which he made in grisaille2. In Titian's method, writing acquired a significant share at a time, in one step, without subsequent glazing (the Italian name for this method is alia prima). Rubens mainly worked according to the Flemish method, greatly simplifying the brown wash. He completely covered a white canvas with light brown paint and laid out shadows with the same paint, painted on top with grisaille, then with local tones, or, bypassing the grisaille, painted alia prima. Sometimes Rubens painted in local lighter colors over a brown background and finished painting work glazes. The following, very fair and instructive statement is attributed to Rubens: “Begin to paint your shadows lightly, avoiding introducing into them even an insignificant amount of white: white is the poison of painting and can only be introduced in highlights. Once whitewash disrupts the transparency, golden tone and warmth of your shadows, your painting will no longer be light, but will become heavy and gray. The situation is completely different with regard to lights. Here the paints can be applied body-wise as needed, but it is necessary, however, to keep the tones pure. This is achieved by placing each tone in its place, one next to the other, so that with a slight movement of the brush you can shade them without, however, disturbing the colors themselves. You can then go through such painting with decisive final blows, which are so characteristic of great masters.”

The Flemish master Van Dyck (1599-1641) preferred corpus painting. Rembrandt most often painted on gray ground, working out the forms with transparent brown paint very actively (darkly), and also used glazes. Rubens applied strokes of different colors one next to the other, and Rembrandt overlapped some strokes with others.

A technique similar to the Flemish or Italian - on white or colored soils using impasto masonry and glaze - was widely used until mid-19th century. The Russian artist F. M. Matveev (1758-1826) painted on brown ground with underpainting done in grayish tones. V. L. Borovikovsky (1757-1825) underpainted grisaille on a gray ground. K. P. Bryullov also often used gray and other colored primers, and underpainted with grisaille. In the second half of the 19th century, this technique was abandoned and forgotten. Artists began to paint without the strict system of the old masters, thereby narrowing their technical capabilities.

Professor D.I. Kiplik, speaking about the importance of the color of the primer, notes: Painting with wide, flat light and intense colors (such as the works of Roger van der Weyden, Rubens, etc.) requires a white primer; painting, in which deep shadows predominate, uses a dark primer (Caravaggio, Velasquez, etc.).” “A light primer imparts warmth to the paints applied to it in a thin layer, but deprives them of depth; the dark primer imparts depth to the colors; dark soil with a cold tint - cold (Terborkh, Metsu).”

“To create depth of shadows on a light ground, the effect of the white ground on the paints is destroyed by laying out the shadows with dark brown paint (Rembrandt); strong lights on a dark ground are obtained only by eliminating the effect of the dark ground on the paints by applying a sufficient layer of white in the highlights.”

“Intense cold tones on an intense red primer (for example, blue) are obtained only if the action of the red primer is paralyzed by preparation in a cold tone or the cool-colored paint is applied in a thick layer.”

“The most universal color primer is a light gray primer of a neutral tone, since it is equally good for all paints and does not require too impasto painting”1.

Grounds of chromatic colors affect both the lightness of the paintings and their overall color. The influence of the color of the ground in corpus and glaze writing has a different effect. So, green paint, laid as a non-transparent body layer on a red ground, looks especially saturated in its surroundings, but applied with a transparent layer (for example, in watercolor) loses saturation or becomes completely achromatized, since the green light reflected and transmitted by it is absorbed by the red ground.

Secrets of making materials for oil painting

OIL PROCESSING AND REFINING

Oils from flax seeds, hemp, sunflower, and kernels walnut obtained by squeezing with a press. There are two methods of squeezing: hot and cold. Hot, when crushed seeds are heated and a strongly colored oil is obtained, which is of little use for painting. Oil squeezed from seeds using the cold method is much better; it is obtained less than with the hot method, but it is not contaminated with various impurities and does not have a dark brown color, but is only slightly colored yellow. Freshly obtained oil contains a number of impurities harmful to painting: water, protein substances and mucus, which greatly affect its ability to dry and form durable films. That's why; the oil should be processed or, as they say, “ennobled” by removing water, protein mucus and all sorts of impurities from it. At the same time, it can also be discolored. In the best way The refining of oil is its compaction, that is, oxidation. To do this, the freshly obtained oil is poured into wide-necked glass jars, covered with gauze and exposed in the spring and summer to the sun and air. To clean the oil from impurities and protein mucus, well-dried crackers from black bread are placed at the bottom of the jar, approximately enough so that they occupy x/5 of the jar. Then the jars of oil are placed in the sun and air for 1.5-2 months. Oil, absorbing oxygen from the air, oxidizes and thickens; under the influence of sunlight it bleaches, thickens and becomes almost colorless. Rusks retain protein mucus and various contaminants contained in the oil. The oil obtained in this way is the best painting material and can be successfully used both for erasing with paint substances and for diluting finished paints. When dry, it forms strong and durable films that are incapable of cracking and retain gloss and shine when drying. This oil dries slowly in a thin layer, but immediately in its entire thickness and gives very durable shiny films. Untreated oil dries only from the surface. First, its layer is covered with a film, and completely raw oil remains under it.

Drying oil and its preparation

Drying oil is called boiled drying vegetable oil(flaxseed, poppy seed, nut seed, etc.). Depending on the conditions for cooking the oil, the cooking temperature, the quality and pre-treatment of the oil, drying oils that are completely different in quality and properties are obtained. To prepare good-quality painting drying oil, you need to take good linseed or poppy oil that does not contain any foreign impurities or contaminants. There are three main methods of preparation. drying oils: rapid heating of oil to 280-300° - hot way, at which the oil boils; slow heating of the oil to 120-150°, preventing the oil from boiling during the cooking process - cold method and finally, the third method is to simmer the oil in a warm oven for 6-12 days. The best drying oils suitable for painting purposes1 can only be obtained through the cold method and simmering the oil. The cold method of cooking drying oil consists of pouring the oil into a glazed clay pot and boiling it over moderate heat, heating it slowly for 14 hours and not letting it boil. The cooked oil is poured into a glass vessel and open form Place in the air and sun for 2-3 months to lighten and thicken. After this, the oil is carefully drained, trying not to touch the formed sediment remaining at the bottom of the vessel, and filtered. Simmering the oil involves pouring the raw oil into a glazed clay pot and placing it in a warm oven for 12-14 days. When foam appears on the oil, it is considered ready. The foam is removed, the oil is allowed to sit for 2-3 months in the air and the sun in a glass jar, then carefully drained without touching the sediment and filtered through cheesecloth. As a result of cooking the oil using these two methods, very light, well-compacted oils are obtained, which when dried give durable and shiny films. These oils do not contain protein substances, mucus and water, since the water evaporates during the cooking process, and the protein substances and mucus coagulate and remain in the sediment. For better sedimentation of protein substances and other impurities during the settling of the oil, it is useful to put a small amount of well-dried black bread crackers in it. While cooking the oil, you should put 2-3 heads of finely chopped garlic into it. Well-cooked drying oils, especially from poppy oil, are a good painting material and can be added to oil paints, used to dilute paints during the writing process, and also serve as a composite part of oil and emulsion soils.

"The Flemish method of working with oil paints."

A. Arzamastsev.
"Young Artist" No. 3 1983.

Here are works by Renaissance artists: Jan van Eyck, Petrus Christus, Pieter Bruegel and Leonardo da Vinci. These works by different authors and different in plot are united by one writing method - the Flemish method of painting.

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 everyone resorted to it greatest artists the Renaissance until Titian and Giorgione. There is an opinion that in this way Italian artists wrote their works long before the van Eyck brothers.

We will not delve into history and clarify who was the first to use it, but we will try to talk about the method itself.

Van Eyck brothers.
Ghent Altarpiece. Adam. Fragment.
1432.
Oil, wood.

Van Eyck brothers.
Ghent Altarpiece. Fragment.
1432.
Oil, wood.

Modern studies of works of art allow us to conclude that painting in the old Flemish masters always carried out on a white adhesive primer.

The paints were applied in a thin glaze layer, and in such a way that not only all layers of painting, but also White color primer, which, shining through the paint, illuminates the picture from the inside.

Also noteworthy is the virtual absence of white in painting, with the exception of those cases when white clothes or draperies were painted. Sometimes they are still found in the strongest light, but even then only in the form of the finest glazes.

Petrus Christus.
Portrait of a young girl.
XV century.
Oil, wood.

All work on the painting was carried out in strict sequence. It began with a drawing on thick paper in the size future painting. The result was the so-called “cardboard”. An example of such cardboard is Leonardo da Vinci’s drawing for the portrait of Isabella d’Este.

Leonardo da Vinci.
Cardboard for the portrait of Isabella d'Este. Fragment.
1499.
Coal, sanguine, pastel.

The next stage of work is transferring the drawing 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 sanded primer applied to the board, and the design was transferred with charcoal powder. Getting into the holes made in the cardboard, the coal left light outlines of the design on the basis of the picture.

To secure it, the charcoal mark was traced with a pencil, pen, or the sharp tip of a brush. In this case, they used either ink or some kind of transparent paint. 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, we began shading with transparent brown paint, making sure that the primer was visible through its layer everywhere. Shading was done with tempera or oil. In the second case, to prevent the paint binder from being absorbed into the soil, it was covered with an additional layer of glue.

At this stage of work, the artist resolved almost all the tasks of the future painting, with the exception of color. Subsequently, no changes were made to the drawing or composition, and already in this form the work was piece of art.

Sometimes, before finishing a painting in color, the entire painting was prepared in so-called “dead colors,” that is, cold, light, low-intensity tones. This preparation took on the final glaze layer of paint, with the help of which life was given to the entire work.

Of course, we have drawn a general outline of the Flemish painting method. 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 step, 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, thin primer onto which he transferred the most detailed drawing. I shaded it with brown tempera paint, after which I covered the painting with a layer of transparent flesh-colored varnish, which insulated the soil from the penetration of oil from subsequent paint layers.

After drying the painting, all that remained was to paint the background with glazes of pre-composed tones, and the work was completed. Only sometimes some places were additionally painted with a second layer to enhance the color. Pieter Bruegel wrote his works in a similar or very similar way.

Pieter Bruegel.
Hunters in the snow. Fragment.
1565.
Oil, wood.

Another variation of the Flemish method can be traced through 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, transferred from cardboard, was outlined with transparent paint such as green earth.

The drawing is shaded in the shadows with one brown tone, close to sepia, composed of three colors: black, speckled and red ocher. The entire work is shaded, the white ground is not left unwritten anywhere, even the sky is prepared in the same brown tone.

Leonardo da Vinci.
Adoration of the Magi. Fragment.
1481-1482.
Oil, wood.

In the finished works of Leonardo da Vinci, the light is obtained thanks to the white ground. He painted the background of his 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 not used for long by artists. It lasted for pure form no more than two centuries, but many great works were created precisely in this way. In addition to the already mentioned masters, it was used by Holbein, Dürer, Perugino, Rogier van der Weyden, Clouet and other artists.

Paintings made using the Flemish method are distinguished by their excellent preservation. Made on seasoned boards and strong soils, they resist destruction well.

The practical absence of white in the painting layer, which loses its hiding power over time and thereby changes the overall color of the work, ensures that we see the paintings almost the same as they came out of the workshops of their creators.

The main conditions that must be observed when using this method are meticulous drawing, the finest calculations, the correct sequence of work and great patience.

N. IGNATOVA, Senior Researcher of the Department of Research of Artistic Works of the 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 resorted to it, right down to Titian and Giorgione. There is an opinion that Italian artists painted their works in a similar way long before the van Eyck brothers. We will not delve into history and clarify who was the first to use it, but we will try to talk about the method itself.
Modern studies of works of art allow us to conclude that painting by the old Flemish masters was always done on a white glue ground. The paints were applied in a thin glaze layer, and in such a way that not only all layers of the painting, but also the white color of the primer, which, shining through the paint, illuminated the painting from the inside, took part in creating the overall pictorial effect. Also noteworthy is the practical absence
in painting whitewash, with the exception of those cases when white clothes or draperies were painted. Sometimes they are still found in the strongest light, but even then only in the form of the finest glazes.
All work on the painting was carried out in strict sequence. It began with a drawing on thick paper the size of the future painting. The result was 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 drawing 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 sanded primer applied to the board, and the design was transferred with charcoal powder. Getting into the holes made in the cardboard, the coal left light outlines of the design on the basis of the picture. To secure it, the charcoal mark was traced with a pencil, pen, or the sharp tip of a brush. In this case, they used either ink or some kind of transparent paint. 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, we began shading with transparent brown paint, making sure that the primer was visible through its layer everywhere. Shading was done with tempera or oil. In the second case, to prevent the paint binder from being absorbed into the soil, it was covered with an additional layer of glue. At this stage of work, the artist resolved almost all the tasks of the future painting, with the exception of color. Subsequently, no changes were made to the drawing or composition, and already in this form the work was a work of art.
Sometimes, before finishing a painting in color, the entire painting was prepared in so-called “dead colors,” that is, cold, light, low-intensity tones. This preparation took on the final glaze layer of paint, with the help of which life was given to the entire work.
Of course, we have drawn a general outline of the Flemish painting method. 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 step, 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, thin primer onto which he transferred the most detailed drawing. I shaded it with brown tempera paint, after which I covered the painting with a layer of transparent flesh-colored varnish, which insulated the soil from the penetration of oil from subsequent paint layers. After drying the painting, all that remained was to paint the background with glazes of pre-composed tones, and the work was completed. Only sometimes some places were additionally painted with a second layer to enhance the color. Pieter Bruegel wrote his works in a similar or very similar way.
Another variation of the Flemish method can be traced through 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, transferred from cardboard, was outlined with transparent paint such as green earth. The drawing is shaded in the shadows with one brown tone, close to sepia, composed of three colors: black, speckled and red ocher. The entire work is shaded, the white ground is not left unwritten anywhere, even the sky is prepared in the same brown tone.
In the finished works of Leonardo da Vinci, the light is obtained thanks to the white ground. He painted the background of his 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 not used for long by artists. It existed in its pure form for no more than two centuries, but many great works were created precisely in this way. In addition to the already mentioned masters, it was used by Holbein, Dürer, Perugino, Rogier van der Weyden, Clouet and other artists.
Paintings made using the Flemish method are distinguished by their excellent preservation. Made on seasoned boards and strong soils, they resist destruction well. The practical absence of white in the painting layer, which loses its hiding power over time and thereby changes the overall color of the work, ensures that we see the paintings almost the same as they came out of the workshops of their creators.
The main conditions that must be observed when using this method are meticulous drawing, the finest calculations, the correct sequence of work and great patience.

I’ll say right away that I painted this small, first still life (40 x 50 cm) for about 2 years. I was in the workshop only on Saturdays, plus not always, with breaks for the summer, which is why it took so long. And the first job itself takes much longer than subsequent ones. As a standard, you should budget only six months for work.

I’m adding photos of other works to make it clearer, plus we worked synchronously with my sister (there are shots when two canvases are standing next to each other, different hands are visible :)

There are a lot of nuances that cannot be covered in one article. This is an overview master class for those who have already taken oil into their hands.

So. A still life is being put up, drawn with a pencil on plain paper (a state sign will do). It’s not just painted, it’s built. All axes are checked with a ruler, verticals must be vertical, ellipses must be perfectly round, no fractures. All the flaws in the drawing will come to the surface, and it will be impossible to correct anything without consequences.

This layer-by-layer type of painting is very similar to watercolor - all the blots of the lower layers are visible. What adds further responsibility is that in a few hundred years the paint layer will thin out and our descendants will see the imperfections and bugs that you supposedly covered. Conclusion: you need to work efficiently at any time.

The pencil drawing is ready, now you need it transfer to primed canvas(more on this below).

To do this, the entire drawing is pierced along the lines, creating a gunpowder (stencil).

The back side looks like this:

The stencil is applied to the canvas and either sanina powder or graphite is rubbed in with a fluffy brush, depending on the color of the imprimature.

Let's go back a little, canvas by this point it should already be prepared and dried. If you need a quick option, then a regular purchased canvas, primed with white, is suitable, onto which natural umber evenly diluted with turpentine is applied.

If you need the “real” option, then the canvas is stretched by hand, glued and primed with a thick layer of a mixture of titanium white and lamp black, smeared with a thick rectangular spatula and sent to dry for a year. Next it is sanded by hand. The imprimatura in both cases should have a middle tone.

In my photos there is a variant of umber imprimatura everywhere.

After the drawing is “spilled” onto the canvas, all the dots are carefully connected with gray ink and the entire drawing is restored.

I’ll say in advance that 10 days should pass between prescribing the same place (technological drying).

After comes the stage grisaille. A black and white gradation with warmth and coldness is mixed (at the bottom right there is a board from lights to shadows).

The layout begins with the lights (don’t touch the highlights). White + lamp black + natural umber to neutralize the violet from the black. Closer to the shadows, burnt umber comes in (white is, of course, excluded) and steel de grain.

We remember: pasty lights, but we practically don’t touch the shadows (our previous umber glows).

Next stage: color underpainting.

Since the entire environment is gray, any color entered will appear very bright, so there will be several of these stages in order to later achieve the desired colors.

At this stage, each object is registered as a “blank” with just a shape (almost a repetition of grisaille) without textures or anything else.

And one more colored underpainting (and maybe more than one)...

And only after this is the completion stage (detailing and highlighting).

After completion, we dry it for 3 months and patch it up :)

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