Verdaccio, or the Venetian Method

[Mari DeRuntz]

I've learned a lot on this Forum, specifically from Michael Georges' posts on "verdaccio," so I thought I'd share an outline of the Venetian Method, based on notes I took from Richard Lack's On the Training of Painters.

If anyone has anything to add, please jump in!

Venetian Method:[list=1][*]Consists of first working out the basic ingredients of the design through separate drawings and oil studies in the usual manner.
a. Well-conceived color study
b. Several studies from nature
[*]Neutral gray underpainting with fully developed tone.
a. Solid, opaque and neutral
b. Flake white and raw umber
(Rembrandt greenish umber)
c. High degree of finish
d. Work out composition
e. Develop drawing
f. Establish values
g. excellent example here (courtesy Karin Wells)
[*]Overall values should be several steps lower than final piece to allow for buildup of glazes.
[*]On scale of one to ten, darkest darks should not be darker than five.
[*]Glaze with thin, translucent brown to

[Michael Georges]

Great post Mari:

The only thing I would add is a couple of words about glazing and this method.

To most, glazing is a method of mixing a transparent or semi-transparent color with which to tint, alter or modify another color - in other words, in most recent history, glazing has been taught as a special effect.

With the Venetian method, your intent when glazing is to let the underpainting show through and provide your detail. So the glazes build up like thin panes of colored glass, with the underpainting showing through them. For this reason, your underpainting is usually taken to quite a finished state.

The most recent proponent of the Venetian method, Frank Covino, teaches that if you only glaze over this technique, you don't get your best work. Thereby, he recommends analyzing the work and determining where you will glaze and where you will paint opaquely. As an example, here is a copy I did of a Holbein painting:

http://www.fineportraitsinoil.com/ThomasMore-Done1.jpg

You can see the drapery in the back was accomplished with glazes, and the fir on his cape is all glazes, as is the velvet of his sleeves. Again, the detail comes from the verdaccio.

Here is an in progress where you can see the verdaccio still on the face and hands:

http://www.fineportraitsinoil.com/Th...eprocess70.jpg

I paint flesh opaquely. This is because there is so much white in flesh that glazes just don't do skin justice. So I painted the face and hands opaque, but very thin as to let some of the gray-green show through:

http://www.fineportraitsinoil.com/TmoreHands.jpg

Hope that helps to clarify.

[Patt Legg]

Thanks Mari, that technique sounds great and also to you Michael---I really want to look more into this verdaccio technique. I now underpaint in an umber study entirely and carry it to the point that it looks ok in itself and then to the "dead color" or grayed down local color so to speak along with linseed and onion layering between drying stages. I have been doing this technique for about 2 years now unlike the direct painting method. I did not do a completed underpainting years ago and I am finding that I know my direction much better with an underpainting.

This Verdaccio method sounds really better to me than burnt umber underneith for the skin tones. I must get more information about that.

Thanks again.

[Enzie Shahmiri]

I can't believe it!

Mari, you put a title on the way I paint So often have I lost a finished underpainting (more like a detailed drawing) to paint application until I got fed up and decided to start glazing from the onset. Since everybody has been saying lean over fat, I felt like I was breaking all sorts of rules by going lean all the way. It does take a lot longer and some might say I should just stick to drawing, but I feel I am more in control and I really like the finished results. Thank you for your insightful article! I am working on such a painting right now and will post it soon.

Michael, you did a great job with your painting and the point on choosing to paint some areas in the traditional manner is well taken. I have looked at your site and will try your approach/choice of colors to see how it differs from mine. Thanks for sharing your technique!