London is stealing the hearts of art lovers this summer. The city offers unlimited and worthy options to immerse oneself in the creative world of renowned painters.
My choice fell upon two eminent artists from the Renaissance era – Michelangelo di Ludovico Buonarroti Simoni (1475-1564) and Michelangelo Merisi (1571- 1610), better known by the name of Caravaggio – the name of his home town in Lombardy in Northern Italy.
The British Museum presented the drawings from the last three decades of Michelangelo’s life in Rome and the National Gallery showcased Caravaggio’s last painting “ The Martyrdom of Saint Ursula”.
Both Old Masters loved painting figures (including figures of handsome young boys). Yet, they depicted them using completely different techniques.
Michelangelo painted in a fresco manner.
Literally, fresco means fresh in Italian.
The artist pioneered a method of applying the paint straight on a still-wet wall plaster producing a result that was highly resilient to environmental factors.
The exhibition is a real eye-opener of the hard work involved in this technique.
Michelangelo set up a meticulous process of creating preparatory sketches.
He figured out the composition of the artwork by drawing a succession of studies.
In them he experimented with the figures, displaying remarkable precision in outlining the smallest details of human bodies.
Figures and faces were drawn again and again until the intended emotional intensity was achieved.
Then these studies were used to produce a full-size drawing called cartoon.
Patiently and accurately little holes were punched on the outlines of the cartoon, the drawing was then held against the wall while chalk was applied to it several times.
The chalk would go through the holes to the wall, creating guidance for the artist.
The exhibition displayed the cartoon Epifania, the only complete Michelangelo cartoon that has survived.
It is 2.32 metres tall,1.65 metres wide and contains 26 sheets of paper.
Eventually, Michelangelo abandoned the Epifania project but offered the cartoon to one of his pupils who completed the painting.
The exhibition presented the cartoon and the painting, reunited for the first time since the 1550s.
The other Michelangelo preferred oil painting on canvas. Caravaggio did not discriminate when it came to his canvases. He often painted on fabrics with already existing depicts.
The artist also did not execute a preparatory phase.
That does not mean he entirely skipped the step of detailed studies or drawings.
The truth is he developed a technique attuned to his artistic temperament and time management.
Probably he came about this method in his early years as a poor artist in Rome. At that time he worked for a painter from Sicily who paid him for “each head” drawn, so time was of the essence.
Caravaggio gradually mastered his ability to paint without preparatory drawings and employed this technique throughout his career.
His work began with painting the surface of the canvas with grey, brown or black colours.
Then he scratched fine lines on the suffice by using the handle of the paint brush to outline the most important details of his compositions.
Next, he painted directly with colour while the models posed in front of him.
It seems to me that both Michelangelos have put forward the idea that not originality but self-belief in “My Way” is a crucial ingredient in the mastery of making lemonade from life’s lemons.
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