Vendangeuse after Bouguereau

Steven Sweeney · 03-30-2004, 07:45 PM

Marvin Mattelson could likely cite some resources for us . . .

Marvin Mattelson · 03-30-2004, 10:19 PM

I wish I could offer up some suggestions here but unfortunately Bouguereau was pretty tight lipped because most of what is written seems to be based on conjecture. No one even knows with any certainty which colors he had on his palette. The only one of his students that was able to closely replicate the quality of his work was his second wife, Elizabeth Gardner Bouguereau. So I wouldn't bet the farm on what is written on ARC.

I have read that Bouguereau used glazes, an opinion which I never agreed with. I've probably seen close to one hundred originals and always felt he scumbled and this was how he arrived at the translucency in the skin tones.

Several months ago I had the opportunity to see a badly cleaned Bouguereau which had the top layer removed by a heavy handed restorer. This was bad for the painting but a great opportunity for me to learn about my hero's secrets. The color intensity in his under layer was overstated. It was obviously Bouguereau's finishing technique to scumble over and reduce contrast and intensity.

That very same day I had the opportunity to meet Damian Bartoli who is authoring Bouguereau's catalog raisonne, rumored to be released next year. At any rate, we discussed the aforementioned damaged painting and he agreed with my assessment. It seems the French use the same word to describe both glazing and scumbling and apparently that is the source of much confusion.

With regards to your drawing, there are a lot of nice things going on. The main thing you are missing is the cohesiveness that distinguishes his genius from the works of all others. You are not alone.The problem that most artists have to overcome is keeping the smaller aspects relative to the large planes. You have rendered the smaller areas without considering their location on the ball of the head with relationship to the light source. For example, compare the values on the chin in your drawing with the example posted by Steven.

Unity must always be the goal. I am constantly striving to make my students aware of this very fact.

I hope this helps.

Marvin Mattelson · 03-31-2004, 11:11 AM

It occurred to me that some people may not understand exactly what scumbling is. On my website I have posted a step by step demo I painted in my Atlanta workshop in August 2003. This August I'll be doing a two week long workshop there so I'll have a demo to post that is much more finished.

The right hand image on the next to bottom row shows the result of scumbling over the light areas. The result is a unification both in color and modeling. The scumble is created by thinly applying opaque paint over an area. Depending on how thinly it is applied and how light or dark it is, the scumble will alter the values accordingly and move them closer together. Had I the time to continue the demo I would have scumbled over the last step as well.

Geary Wootten · 03-31-2004, 02:10 PM

Hi Marvin,

I guess I'm a little confused on the whole scumbling/glazing thing. Mainly because I picked up on stuff 'here and there' and then just push things around until I get what I want. (that sounds like a bad description of me....I'm really a very nice guy) I was taught in school and by reading a book by Ken Davies that glazing was actually a part of scumbling......or is it the other way around?

I actually use a version whereby I "scumble" on transparent layers in the finishing touches of my work. I do this with degrees of glazing medium. I find that I use variants of this as well, ie., different grades of opacities, if you please.

Would you, in your wonderful mentoring mode, please explain exactly what glazing is and where it came from. Oh, and scumbling..... what is the origin of that technique?

Your students await with Liquin in one hand and "dry" paint in the other........

Geary

Allan Rahbek · 03-31-2004, 07:37 PM

Hi Geary.

Scumbling is said to have been invented by Leonardo Da Vinci. In italian it

Marvin Mattelson · 03-31-2004, 10:03 PM

Good answer Alan. I wasn't aware of the historical facts regarding either.

Geary the primary difference is that glazing is done with transparent colors and scumbling is using paint with white added. Scumbling doesn't darken the way glazing does. You can scumble on any type of paint and that is what Ken Davies is referring to, scumbling the application and not scumbling the technique.

Jeremiah White · 04-01-2004, 01:51 PM

I'm surprised that there isn't much in depth information on scumbling on the internet.

One thing I'm confused on is that with scumbling, an opaque layer of paint is meant to cover the underpainting. Does this cover the underpainting completely or mostly so it's used more as a guide for the upper layers? How much of the painting underneath supposed to show? Is the under painting meant to be a grisaille or is it just exaggerated color that's toned down with the scumble?

Thanks for the info on this Marvin. I did look at that demo on your website and I think that I'm getting confused since you have a grisaille layer and also the overstated layer. With the scumble, is medium used to thin it so it goes on easier or is it just straight from the tube and worked outward?

Another thing I was wondering is if the process of painting as shown on your website helps you to complete a piece faster then common painting techniques used today? On average, how long does it take you to complete a painting?

Thanks again.