Inspired by a Master

Throughout history, artists and ateliers have promoted the challenge of painting a Master Copy as a tool for learning. The benefits, including technical and inspirational lessons, are numerous. For instance, the painter can actively focus on the Master artist’s thought process, problem solving and inspiration.

I describe my first experience in painting a Master Copy here at the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Art gallery. During that session, I learned about the mighty and magnificent master painter Cecilia Beaux.

It delights and amazes me to think of her unique and rich life as an accomplished painter and teacher in the late 1800s. Ms. Beaux was the recipient of numerous awards, honorary degrees, an invitation to submit her self-portrait to the Uffizzi Gallery in Rome, and a published author.

In spite of the accolades and recognition by her peers, history has not treated Ms Beaux well. Frankly, very few people know of her at all. When I was painting her painting of Mrs Clement Newbold, there were visitors to the gallery who assumed her painting was by John Singer Sargent. Imagine my delight when the same visitors would walk up to the painting and say her name out loud and then say “Huh, I’ve never heard of her!”

Now that I am finished with art school, it may seem unnecessary to do any more Master Copies. But I will tell you why I still see value in this exercise. I have several challenging projects coming up this year. They include portrait and figure posing sessions in my studio.

What better way to prepare for these sessions than to copy paintings I admire. In particular, I decided to focus on the head and face of Ms Beaux’s brother-in-law, Henry Sturgis Drinker.

I had several goals as I worked on this Master Copy:

1. Focus on Carriage, Construction and Character of the sitter
2. Evaluate and push the colors that Ms Beaux used in this painting (that red ear – ooohhh la la!)
3. Limit myself to up to but no more than 8 hours

The first goal is a reminder of the major focus of painting the planes of the head first before diving into the details. This is a mantra I heard over and over again at Studio Incamminati. I also read about the aforementioned 3 “C’s” in John Vanderpoel’s classic art school book entitled “The Human Figure.“

So I actually had to correct and adjust the head and shoulders after I started the painting as I thought of Mr. Drinker’s carriage (aka how is he sitting and carrying himself). It’s exciting to be able to see where I need to correct a painting and have these corrections actually take place sooner rather than later.

I do believe I pushed the colors but in future paintings I will be mindful to keep the colors I mix as clean and simple as possible.

I finished this study on Arches fine paper in about 6 and 1/2 hours. This is a speedy new record for me. I loved this experience and look forward to doing more Master Copies and applying all that I have learned to future painting projects.

What’s new in your world? Have you done a Master Copy in your area of specialty? What did you learn? Please share!