Before you read. Discuss these questions

Discuss these questions:

1. What does tempera mean? What is gesso?

2. What main instruments does the artist use to express his ideas in painting?

Vocabulary:

· resinous – смолистый

· trace – след, запись

· milestone – веха

· reign – правление, править

· wax – воск

· coat – слой, покрывать краской

· subtle – тонкий, едва уловимый

· glaze – глянец, глазурь, лессировка

· meticulously – тщательно

· obscure – мрачный, неопределенный

· assign – назначать срок, определять работу

· imply – подразумевать

· intractable – неподатливый

· clement – милосердный

· prominence – выступ известность

· consistent – стойкий

· opaque – непрозрачный

· transparent – прозрачный

· bulk – объем, основная часть

· discern – распознавать

· loaded – весомый, плотный

The practice of easel painting in oil paint on canvas has been universal since the XVIIth century; it did not arise as a sudden invention but was result of a long development. Scholars have traiced this development in considerable detail through the various schools of art. There are several milestones or turning points in the history of European easel painting which can be noted briefly as follows:

The early tempera paintings, notably those of Italy, were done on gesso grounds on wood panels. Working under the patronage of the Church or the regning families, the artists reflected the artistic tastes of their times. The results achieved were exactly what the painter desired; rather limited effects and the rather intractable materials were manipulated by developing superior skill and craftsmanship rather than by adopting more fluent or easily handled materials. Giotto is an outstanding example of the early Italian painters in this tradition; the works of Botticelli and Fra Angelico exemplify the high point of technical achievement in pure egg temperas.

A subtle change then followed; as small amounts of waxy, oily, or resinous materials began to be introduced into the tempera in various ways, paintings showed a definite degree of technical change. These were characterized by a somewhat more fluent command of brushwork and a trace of softening or blending of colors, but for the most part they rerained the same dry, linear quality of the earlier type. The culmination of this later type of tempera painting may be seen in the work of the Venetian painters of the XVth century – such as Antonello, Domenico Veneziano, and Andrea del Castagno – who refined their tempera paintings throughout with oily or resinous transparent glazes. Also, in the Northern countries, following the innovations of the Van Eycks and others at Bruges, the works of van der Weyden, van der Goes, and Memling show the use of oil glazes over trmpera and sometimes oil underpaintings carried on the highest degree of jewel-like perfection.

The artist has two instruments which he uses to express his intentions in paint; they are line and color or tonal masses. In their importance to painting techniques neither one can be rated above the other, and when discussing them the same general terms are applied to each. Two completely different technical approaches may thus be distinguished. In the first, line predominates and the painters cited above always retained completely and meticulously their original draftsmanship. Underpainting was never entirely obscured by the final painting; its effect had a strong and direct influence on the finished work.

The next great change was the tendency to techniques in which the tonal masses could be made to contribute a greater influence toward the final effect so that they might be used to play a part equal to that of the linear draftsmanship, or if desired, to dominate the total effect. This change was made possible by the adoption of oily mediums as opposed to the aqueous tempera, which is more suited to the linear or “drier” kind of painting. Blending of tones and also a looser, more fluent stroking may be used if desired, and the final coasts of paint can be made to contribute the major part of the total effect, whereas in the earlier method, the underpainting or drawing predominates.