Sargents hero

Everybody has heroes, John Sargents hero was Velazquez (1599-1660). He inherited that fondness from his teacher Carolus-Duran. In fact Duran used his own recreation of Velazquez's methods as the basis for the curriculum in his atelier. Velazquez was a Spanish court painter who painted the denizens of the court of Philip IV. The painting above is the Daughters of Edwin Boit, which lives in the Boston Museum which also owns the two enormous blue and white vases in the painting. The painting bears more than a passing resemblance to the Velazquez's masterpiece below, Las Meninas.


Above is Aesop, painted by Velazquez, and below a full sized copy of the head by Sargent. Sargent didn't slave over the painting and make an exact copy but did this in order to study the original.
Sargent was studying the way that Velazquez expressed the forms in this head. The planar structure that Sargent used so well was derived from his study of the great Spaniard.



Above is a Velaquez and below a Sargent. Notice how the thought process is similar. Most painters choose a hero in their learning process and make an in depth study of that artist. Who is your painting hero?


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Announcing a three day workshop to be held in Charleston, South Carolina. It will be fun to meet those of you who read this blog from the low country. As usual the workshop is open to all levels of experience and will run from Saturday, December 11 until Monday the 13th. I will teach outside and will demonstrate in the morning and then run from easel to easel teaching for the afternoon. I can save you years of screwing around learning to paint outside.
Here is the link to sign up. Class size is limited to 10 and given the short notice on this one might be very small indeed. People are starting to sign up, so reserve your spot.