Joos van Cleve, Adoration of the Child, circa 1520-1530, Columbus Museum of Art, Ohio. Gift of Ferdinand Howald.
I was very happy to be part of the Columbus Open Studio and Stage’s inaugural studio tour. Planning is already underway for 2017’s tour, and CityScene Magazine is again slated to be a sponsor.
Many of the artists said one of the top questions was about the tools and methods that go into making their work. I also can tell you that more and more people are discovering the pleasures of painting, so I thought I would talk about the craft of painting this year.
I will be looking at works from Columbus museums and galleries and asking a number of Columbus artists to tell me about how they create a painting.
I chose this artist because he represents a nexus between all painting mediums that had come before. Until the 1400s, all painting mediums were water-based, and the newest technology was the introduction of oil paints.
He is also a good example of the “workshop tradition,” in which the crafting of the painting was given particular care. Traditionally, a boy – the business being considered too unseemly for women – would begin working in a studio at a young age, doing the most menial tasks, but learning just the same. After several years, he would move up to the apprentice level.
Now, the student is assisting on larger works, and is doing practice work as well. The apprentice might also oversee the younger workers. The apprentice would often strike out for a city such as Rome to study great works from the past. He might also be working in a workshop and honing his skills, the point being to make a “master piece” – a work he could present to the artists’ guild in any given region, to prove his work and imagination were up to the standard of a “master” and he could pursue commissions freely.
Joos van Cleve became a free master in the Antwerp Guild of St. Luke in 1511. He was co-deacon of the guild for several years around 1520, along with presenting pupils between 1516 and 1536. To make this jewel of a painting, he likely used a progression of steps.
On a carefully primed wood panel, a precise drawing would be made with ink. This would then be fleshed out using egg tempera paint, mostly in neutral tones. Using the binding power of egg yolk, plus pigment and water, you have a fast-drying paint capable of fine detail.
However, it was hard to get deep, rich colors like we see in this painting using egg tempera alone. It was the introduction of linseed and walnut oils in the 15th century that gave artists deeply saturating colors by applying thin layers repeatedly over the egg tempera underpainting.
Van Cleve also is noted in the Antwerp school as using sfumato (smoke-like), a technique for making soft edges and smooth transitions between tones in the manner first suggested by Leonardo da Vinci.
Michael McEwan teaches oil painting classes in his Summit Street studio. His paintings are available exclusively from Keny Galleries. Learn more at www.michaelmcewan.com.
