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How to Paint Like the Old Masters
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| | | | INCOMPETENT
The author of this book is incompetent in the matter of his subject.
As he admits in his introduction, he is not really interested in understanding the way the Old Masters treated their media, but he is merely trying to imitate certain visual effects by those which are "comparable to those produced by the masters". According to him, there are many ways of painting any single picture, and he claims to be able to show one of the many possibilities.
The first part of the book is concerned with the paint mediums. All recipes he mentions come from a single source: "The Secret Formulas and Techniques of the Masters" by Jacques Maroger. The simple "alternatives" (made with ingredients which you can obtain even in this country) are borrowed from Max Doerner. Three other respectable sources in Sheppard's bibliography are Cennino Cennini, Sir Eastlake and Ralph Mayer. The author is referring to these fundamental works as "just recipe works" which don't "show" how to work.
In the second (and the largest) part of his book Mr. Sheppard is trying to demonstrate various techniques used by the various masters. The choice of subject is delibirately "free", i.e. the author seriously believes that a painting technique can be treated independently from the subject. Subsequently, all the "techniques" shown are basically identical. This entire section could have been replaced with a simple explanation what imprimitura is and how paint layers effect each other. The reader can find it in any other painting book or free in the internet.
The figure drawings the author presents in his examples indicate a good knowledge of anatomy but betray poor drawing skills. As a result, a dreadful lack of any tension dominates his pictures. More than that, I believe the pictures were painted from photographs and not from life, so little they have to do with the reality! Ironically, the author explains the vivid tension in Rembrandt's works with his presumed lack of the drawing facility. Rembrandt's impact on the history of graphic arts was probably unknown to Mr. Sheppard.
The choice of colors is unfortunately wrong too. In this case, the distortion is partly delibirate (use of cheaper pigments) and partly erroneous. The claim the masters mixed gray out of black and white is wrong, as far as I know. No wonder the pictures look so lifeless, dull and disunified.
This book is not after understanding the art of the old masters but rather after a superficial imitation of glazing effects and producing ugliness and kitsch in the way the Old Masters didn't.
It is one of the worst books I have ever seen. I am sending it back.
| | Maltechniken
In diesem Buch geht es einzig und allein um verschiedene Techniken, mit Ölfarben ein realistisches Bild vom Menschen zu malen.
Zeichnerisches Können und halbwegs ein Gefühl für Farben sollte der Leser, wenn er denn vorhat so zu malen und nicht enttäuscht zu werden, allerdings schon mitbringen. Es geht, wie gesagt, primär um Maltechniken.
Zum (relevanten) Inhalt:
1. Materialien und verschiedene Arten Malmittel zu mischen
2. Mal-Techniken berühmter Maler werden Schritt für Schritt vorgeführt (wie auf dem Cover abgebildet!) mit Fotos von Sheppards Gemälden (die Material und Farbgebung weitgehend nachahmen) und einer kurzen Beschreibung
Die vorgestellten Stile: Dürer, Titian, Veronese, Carravagio, Rubens, Hals, Rembrandt, Vermeer
3. Begriffserklärung
Ob die vorgestellten Techniken tatsächlich den o.g. Malern entsprechen, weiß ich nicht. 100% lässt sich heute sowieso nicht mehr sagen, wie die Maler damals tatsächlich gemalt haben mögen. Doch dieses Buch ist definitiv empfehlenswert für alle Maler, die sich gern mit verschiedenen Techniken auseinandersetzen.
Joseph Sheppard ist zudem ein hervorragender Zeichner und Maler, was sehr erfreulich ist. Nicht selten werden Mal- und Zeichenbüchern von nicht besonders fähigen Leuten geschrieben.
Besonders interessant dürfte dieses Buch übrigens für (malende) Liebhaber der Stile "alter Meister" sein. Das Buch hält, was das Cover verspricht!
Wirklich sehr erfreulich.
| Book
Excellent book! ~the things they didn't teach you in art school. This book is mandatory for anybody who ever REALLY wanted to know how to paint. " It covers variations of the masters. " Life drawing skills are a must. It doesn't really touch on "alla prima" well... which is good because these master techniques are better to start with and use before moving to more immediate techniques. It is not to say this book isn't advanced, it is. The author goes step by step and shows you how forgiving and versatile the master's methods are. It helped me move from being stuck on underpaintings for ten years to finished pieces with consistency and confidence.
| | A Fascinating Look at Possibilities
Mr. Sheppard has turned his considerable talent and experience to recreating the materials and techniques that may have been used by the Old Masters of oil painting--Rubens, Rembrandt, Caravaggio, and Titian , to name a few. Rather than apply thick paint on the canvas, the Masters developed their works slowly, over a period of weeks or months, applying layer upon layer of translucent glazes to a gray or brown underpaining. The result is color that is more luminous and vibrant than paint straight from the tube. Mr. Sheppard also provides directions for recreating the Masters' painting medium, a mixture of oil and varnish with the consistency of jelly. I myself did not have the patience (nor, given the obvious health risks in using the powdered lead and high temperatures the recipe requires, the inclination) to create this medium at home, but I am told it is available commercially. Mr. Sheppard is also thoughtful enough to provide recipes for substitute mediums, for those of us of a less adventurous spirit. As for the techniques themselves, there is no denying the author's pure talent, and his prose is both engaging and informative, but make no mistake: this is not a book intended for the beginner. The reader can see the progression of each painting in a series of illustrations, but several crucial steps are completed in the space of a paragraph, and only a practiced eye can see precisely how the author has completed each step. I was also disappointed that Sheppard has chosen to create one or, at most, two paintings in the style of each Master. His Titian nude, for example, fairly glows on the page, and his sole Rembrandt recreation, that of an old man, rivals and perhaps exceeds many of Rembrandt's own paintings. I would relish the opportunity to see him create more. Still, in exploring the possibilities of the Old Masters (no records of their actual materials or techniques truly exist, so Sheppard has made at best an exceptionally educated guess), I realized the possibilities that can be achieved in my own painting, with patience, practice, and diligence. At the very least, check the book out of the library, get a fresh canvas, and explore the possibilities yourself. You will take something with you.
| A Fascinating Look at Possibilities
Mr. Sheppard has turned his considerable talent and experience to recreating the materials and techniques that may have been used by the Old Masters of oil painting--Rubens, Rembrandt, Caravaggio, and Titian , to name a few. Rather than apply thick paint on the canvas, the Masters developed their works slowly, over a period of weeks or months, applying layer upon layer of translucent glazes to a gray or brown underpaining. The result is color that is more luminous and vibrant than paint straight from the tube. Mr. Sheppard also provides directions for recreating the Masters' painting medium, a mixture of oil and varnish with the consistency of jelly. I myself did not have the patience (nor, given the obvious health risks in using the powdered lead and high temperatures the recipe requires, the inclination) to create this medium at home, but I am told it is available commercially. Mr. Sheppard is also thoughtful enough to provide recipes for substitute mediums, for those of us of a less adventurous spirit. As for the techniques themselves, there is no denying the author's pure talent, and his prose is bot engaging and informative, but make no mistake: this is not a book intended for the beginner. The reader can see the progression of each painting in a series of illustrations, but several crucial steps are completed in the space of a paragraph, and only a practiced eye can see precisely how the author has completed each step. I was also disappointed that Sheppard has chosen to create one or, at most, two paintings in the style of each Master. His Titian nude, for example, fairly glows on the page, and his sole Rembrandt recreation, that of an old man, rivals and perhaps exceeds many of Rembrandt's own paintings. I would relish the opportunity to see him create more. Still, in exploring the possibilities of the Old Masters (no records of their actual materials or techniques truly exist, so Sheppard has made at best an exceptionally educated guess), I realized the possibilities that can be achieved in my own painting, with patience, practice, and diligence. At the very least, check the book out of the library, get a fresh canvas, and explore the possibilities yourself. You will take something with you.
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