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WASHINGTON UNIVERSITY IN ST. LOUIS:
HISTORIC EUROPEAN PAINTING TECHNIQUES

INSTRUCTOR: Phoebe Dent Weil
phoebe@northernlightstudio.com

SYLLABUS Part III

Part I , II , VI

III: Experiment and flourishing in the South: from egg to oil, from panel to canvas, and from white to colored grounds: Venice, Florence and Rome

10/14: III.1

Lecture: Northern Italy in the 15th century: Mantegna, Correggio, Antonello da Messina, Bellini, Titian
Practicum: Preparation of colored grounds for paper; drawing in silverpoint; chiaroscuro drawing on colored grounds
Assignment: complete at least two drawings and at least one in silverpoint, one on colored ground; read Watrous, pp.3-43.

10/16: III.2

Lecture: Mantegna, Leonardo and tuchlein paintings
Practicum: Tuchlein painting
Assignment: Complete a small tuchlein painting after a detail from Mantegna;
Read, Dunkerton, Foister et.al. Giotto to Durer, pp. 187-188; 372-375 [on reserve]

10/21: III.3

Lecture: The technique of Titian and Veronese
Practicum: Canvas preparation, gesso ground with colored imprimatura
Assignment: Work on canvas and ground preparation; read J. Dunkerton, “Titian’s Painting Technique” in Titian, exh. cat. Nat. Gall., London, 2003, pp.44- 68.; and Dunkerton, et. al. Durer to Veronese . pp. 265-291 [on reserve]

10/23: III.4

Lecture: Titian and Veronese continued: underdrawing and underpainting
Practicum: Underdrawing and underpainting
Assignment: Work on your painting; complete underdrawing and underpainting

[Fall Break 10/24-26]

10/28: III.5

Lecture: Technical examination of paintings by Titian
Practicum: Glazing and highlights
Assignment: Completion of work on Venetian reconstruction

10/30: III.6

Lecture: Vasari: Disegno and the Florentine Academy—Leonardo and Michelangelo; Annibale and the Carracci Academy
Practicum: Drawing after antique sculpture using toned paper with black, white and red chalk—Preparation of a canvas with red ocher ground
Assignment: Completion of at least two chiaroscuro drawings; read Larry Keith, “Three Paintings by Caravaggio”, in Nat. Gall. Technical Bull., vol. 19, pp.37-51. [Xerox handout]

11/4: III.7

Lecture: Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio
Practicum: Begin reconstruction of a detail from a painting by Caravaggio
Assignment: Complete underdrawing and begin dead coloring

11/6: III.8

Lecture: Technical examination of paintings by Caravaggio
Practicum: Continue work on Caravaggio reconstruction
Assignment: Work on Caravaggio reconstruction; read (passim) Fels, Lost Secrets of Flemish Painting including the de Mayerne MS 2052 [on reserve]

11/11: III.9

Lecture: The De Mayerne and Symonds Manuscripts as sources
Practicum: Continue Caravaggio reconstruction
Assignment: Completion of Caravaggio reconstruction; prepare report on your work for oral presentation, write up your report

11/13: III.10

Presentation of Caravaggio reconstructions, and evaluation.