Master copy of Edwin Landseer painting

Master copy of Edwin Landseer painting

I thought you might enjoy seeing one of the paintings from the master copy workshop. Julie Beck is copying the painting Dignity and Impudence,

1939 by Sir Edwin Henry Landseer. The original is part of the Tate Collection in Britain.

Landseer was one of the best-known and popular British animal painters in the 19^th century. He was a prodigy, already exhibiting drawings of animals at the Royal Academy by the age of 13. It is said that Landseer could paint with both hands at the same time.

Here you see Julie’s painting in two stages – the first is the dry brush stage. It was done primarily to establish the drawing on the canvas. She also used it to mass in a few of the value notes. This was done in burnt umber (one of the fastest driers on her palette).

In the second photo you see Julies painting during the “first painting” stage. Here Julie is using mosaic-like patches of paint to describe the form. The idea with this stage is that there is no blending. The edges are soft and the paint notes are organically shaped. As the viewer stands further back from the painting these patches should blend optically and the painting should look exactly like the subject. In this stage of our layered painting method students can easily correct and adjust any passages that are out of context – the drawing is easily adjusted as are color or value notes. Next Julie will go on top of this layer and make all her fine blendings and add the calligraphic strokes that describe the hair of the dogs.

I have also included Julie’s palette showing the value strings she mixed (as described in the last post). Her palette consisted of Cremnitz White, Cadmium Yellow, Yellow Ochre, Raw Umber, Cadmium Orange, Cadmium Red, Venetian Red, Alizarin Crimson, Burnt Umber, Ultramarine Blue and Ivory Black (all greens are mixed).