Chiaroscuro Techniques

Dates: course calendar

Course Description:
Participants learn about the various tools and specific techniques of color mixing used to make convincing trompe l’oeil frames. The tradition of illusionistic wall painting to create faux architectural details , known as ‘quadraturismo’, was finely honed in Florence over the centuries in the renaissance, baroque and rococo periods. This course gives participants a rare opportunity to learn the true techniques passed down through generations of artisans. More advanced students will go beyond the creation of frames and moldings, to work on non-linear ornament.

Course Outline:
• Techniques for using the decorator’s ruler and liner brushes correctly
• Teaching of the classic approach to mixing an appropriate grayscale
• The study of classic forms of molding and how to create them
• The realization of a painted frame on a prepared canvas, with one light source
• The preparation of canvases will be discussed

Projects completed:
(Samples will be created on prepared canvases that the student can take away at the end of the course, supplied by the studio)
• 1 or more samples of painted chiaroscuro work, either linear or ornamental, depending on the level of the student