During the Swindon Open Studios, Swindon Viewpoint went around and interviewed artists taking part in the event. In this 3 minutes Artpoint interview, I talk about my painting Relaxing at Mevagissey.
Wednesday, 14 October 2009
The Artpoint interview
During the Swindon Open Studios, Swindon Viewpoint went around and interviewed artists taking part in the event. In this 3 minutes Artpoint interview, I talk about my painting Relaxing at Mevagissey.
A “new” Leonardo da Vinci
A picture executed in chalk, pen and ink and previously known as Young Girl in Profile in Renaissance Dress (33 x 23cm or 13 x 9in) has been identified as a work by Leonardo da Vinci, thanks to a fingerprint in the top left corner of the vellum.
Peter Paul Biro, a Montreal-based forensic art expert, found the fingerprint when he examined the work using a multispectral camera. The fingerprint matches one on Leonardo’s St Jerome in the Vatican. Carbon-14 analysis of the vellum gave a date range of 1440-1650, consistent with an attribution to da Vinci.
Martin Kemp, Emeritus Professor of History of Art at the University of Oxford, has rechristened the picture, La Bella Principessa. He has identified the women as being Bianca Sforza, daughter of Ludovico Sforza, Duke of Milan (1452-1508). He has written a book about the discovery (to be published)
Leonardo da Vinci is known for using his palm and finger to blend colours in his works.
Timothy Clifford, director-general of the National Galleries of Scotland from 1984 to 2006, commented: “What is so exciting is that no drawings by Leonardo on parchment are known, although we do know from the Codex Atlanticus that Leonardo was interested in the technology of drawing, in colour, on vellum.”
In the paper version of his article “How I know the new portrait is by Leonardo”, he details “A six-point Leonardo test”, he also made an interesting point: “Leonardo, unlike any of his contemporaries, was left-handed and so shaded from the top left to the bottom right.” This somehow corroborates the conjecture I made in my previous article “The left-handed conjecture ”
Read the press articles
Related blog articles
Peter Paul Biro, a Montreal-based forensic art expert, found the fingerprint when he examined the work using a multispectral camera. The fingerprint matches one on Leonardo’s St Jerome in the Vatican. Carbon-14 analysis of the vellum gave a date range of 1440-1650, consistent with an attribution to da Vinci.
Martin Kemp, Emeritus Professor of History of Art at the University of Oxford, has rechristened the picture, La Bella Principessa. He has identified the women as being Bianca Sforza, daughter of Ludovico Sforza, Duke of Milan (1452-1508). He has written a book about the discovery (to be published)
Leonardo da Vinci is known for using his palm and finger to blend colours in his works.
Timothy Clifford, director-general of the National Galleries of Scotland from 1984 to 2006, commented: “What is so exciting is that no drawings by Leonardo on parchment are known, although we do know from the Codex Atlanticus that Leonardo was interested in the technology of drawing, in colour, on vellum.”
In the paper version of his article “How I know the new portrait is by Leonardo”, he details “A six-point Leonardo test”, he also made an interesting point: “Leonardo, unlike any of his contemporaries, was left-handed and so shaded from the top left to the bottom right.” This somehow corroborates the conjecture I made in my previous article “The left-handed conjecture ”
Read the press articles
- Unrecognised Leonardo da Vinci portrait revealed by his fingerprint by Ben Hoyle, Arts Correspondent
- How I know the new portrait is by Leonardo by Timothy Clifford
Related blog articles
Monday, 12 October 2009
Canvas formats
Before I came to England, it was obvious to me that canvasses came into three types of formats: Landscape (“Paysage”), Portrait (“Figure”) and Seascape (“Marine”). Then I realised that this classification was very French and that different countries had different formats.
Nowdays, with global trade, you can find or get these various formats in pretty much all countries.
Canvasses formats in France
You can see that, for a given canvas numbers, the longer side is common to the three formats (Landscape, Portrait and Seascape). There is a practical reason for this: it reduces the number of off-cuts in a roll of canvas (see below the first figure showing the three formats one on top of the other).
The interesting point is that these formats give you a different feel:
Winsor & Newton offers stretched canvasses
It would be interesting to see how the size of canvasses has evolved over time and when canvas sizes became standardized.
Nowdays, with global trade, you can find or get these various formats in pretty much all countries.
Canvasses formats in France
You can see that, for a given canvas numbers, the longer side is common to the three formats (Landscape, Portrait and Seascape). There is a practical reason for this: it reduces the number of off-cuts in a roll of canvas (see below the first figure showing the three formats one on top of the other).
The interesting point is that these formats give you a different feel:
- Landscape: Rectangle
- Portrait: Rectangle going towards a square format
- Seascape: long format ideal for pamoramas. This format is the less usual one
In Belgium, Germany and Italy, you find some «metrics formats»:
Winsor & Newton offers stretched canvasses
It would be interesting to see how the size of canvasses has evolved over time and when canvas sizes became standardized.
Friday, 9 October 2009
Last summer walk - oil painting
I started this oil painting during the Swindon Open Studios and just finished it.
The last summer walk - Oil painting on canvas (20 x 16) by Benoit Philippe
Monday, 5 October 2009
Degas’ small wooden horses
This quote was first published in my newsletter "Notes From My French Easel" – September 2009. Follow the link to receive this free monthly newsletter.
Vollard, in his book “Recollections of a picture dealer” reports the following conversation he had with Boussod about Degas:
“- But how does Degas manage to set-up his easel in the middle of the crowd?
- Him, it’s on the third floor he paints, with small wood horses as models.
And as I was stupefied:
- Degas, without doubt, goes to the races, at Auteuil, at Longchamp; but it’s in the studio, while rotating his model horses in the light, that he reconstructs nature.”
Degas Vollard Recollection of an art dealer Art history Impressionism
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