Second Video Update

On The Portrait

An interesting thing to note regarding the Rokeby Venus is that the image portrayed in the mirror is not faithful to the laws of optics. Given the position of the mirror, Venus should not have been able to see herself. In her place, one should see the observer or the painter standing behind her. It is also interesting to note that the face in the mirror is not reduced in size. Mind you, having a 1:1 ratio is possible if the mirror being used happens to be concave and not the standard flat face mirror. By including a mirror, one can only conjecture that Velazquez wanted to form a complete idea of the woman’s beauty and by taking liberties with the optics, he was able to do so.

For my part I wanted a faithful portrait of the woman as well, yet I did not wish to make the same concessions that Velasquez had. To this end I have decided to abandon the mirror concept altogether and in its place have the lady in attendance holding a painting of my Venus. Now, this presents two very interesting challenges.

Firstly, it is usually the artists endeavour to try and create the illusion of a three dimensional quality on a two dimensional surface and so we work with tone, light, values and colours in order to achieve our effects. It is an entirely different thing to paint a painting in a painting and have it look like a three dimensional form locked onto a two dimensional surface. In a sense I am trying to make the internal portrait less real than the reality of the Venus contemplating it.

The next and perhaps most daunting task is to make the image conform to a second perspective. Not only do I have to do a portrait, but a portrait (with its own set of perspectives) conforming to an environment involved in its own set of vanishing points.
Sounds like fun, doesn’t it?

On a personal note, I find this more challenging than just painting the reverse of my Venus’s face. So, with brush and paint to hand, once more into the breach!

My previous post included drawings what I thought might look nice as a portrait. Again, drawing is where all the problems and possibilities have their say. I always find it interesting when the time arrives to actually throw it on the canvas to see how it fares!

The Attendant

Here are a few more drawings for those of you interested in having a look at the on-going sketching process. I have a detail of the hands holding the picture frame as well as two ideas for the actual picture that she would be holding. More will be on their way but I’m leaning towards the second portrait drawing as I feel the first one may detract a little from the main theme.

I really like this pose of Venus’s attendant and so I did a drawing of it, stood back from the canvas (which already had the selected pose worked out on it), held it up to where she would be posed and had a look at how the overall relationships worked. Again, the picture she is holding in the drawing is at too slight an angle for my purposes and although I had her back in the studio to repose, it was impossible for her to hold the same position and have the frame at the angle I wanted it. Ah well, we do our best! At least I got a lovely drawing out of it!

Starting on the Canvas

The Composition

I cannot overemphasise the importance of drawing. Not only does it readily familiarize you with whatever subject you are dealing with, but it also establishes what will and won’t work visually. Pencil also allows you to work out the tonal qualities that your colours will take on. It is also a good place to work out your alternatives and visual conjectures.

In this first drawing above, I took it upon myself to depart from the original “Venus” composition. I was really pleased with the angle and the figure holding the frame. The drawback here is that the nude is no longer the centre of attention. She has been demoted to a compositional element, helping to hold the picture together with the woman holding the frame as the new centre of interest. I needed something that would bring my Venus more to the fore and so I proceeded with another drawing.

This second picture works well enough. The “Venus” is more prominent and the frame a greater interest to the eye. The lady holding the frame is not as interesting visually as she is in the previous image but for all intents and purposes, she will do. The only problem now was that I had accomplished an even greater departure from the Velasquez painting and now had to ask myself some very serious questions. Did I want to paint this image? I was still not entirely convinced about the position of the nude. There is more loveliness and sensuality in Velasquez’s nude. Is the bird’s eye view appropriate? Perhaps I should frame the composition a little lower; something more in line with the original composition.

The final sketch achieves what the Velasquez image accomplishes compositionally. I did, however, tighten the image by bringing the girl holding the mirror closer towards the centre and by leaning the framed picture in and at a greater angle and hence I was able to achieve a balance of shapes. This composition also ensured that I was able to use a horizontal canvas with measurements that were consistent with the Rokeby Venus, though it’s a pity I had to lose the wings.

Of course, these drawings are by no means the last word on image making and many a change can happen between pencil and paint brush! I have yet to do studies for the specifics such as the hands, feet or head but I do have enough information to draw and flesh out most of what I intend to do on the canvas. The canvas I am using is fine linen (cotton can lose its shape over time so I tend to avoid it when I want to do a major work). My next update will include a short video clip of the beginning of the canvas.

Venus at the National Gallery, London

Well here I am in the National Gallery in London. The purpose of this trip was to get a good look at the painting on which my work will be based. This proved necessary as every reproduced image of Velasquez’s Rokeby Venus I have acquired through prints and books or have seen to date has proved so varied in their representation that I found myself hesitating before my own canvas. The last thing I wanted to get caught up in is false starts so it was time to get the image sorted out in my own head.

I had a difficult enough time trying to get a picture of the painting with my model as the anti-camera police were in full force. I had managed to get about six pictures, all of them with a very nervous Spanish model smiling hesitatingly whilst the Gallery’s staff intoned with profound gravity and seriousness “no cameras, no pictures”! By the end, it was all very cloak and dagger, I with my camera, she with her embarrassment as I whispered, “go and stand beside it now, they’re not looking” and they with their sudden appearances and no small amount of frowning and censuring. Yet, here is the picture and a few close ups for my own look at how Velasquez handled the brushwork.

It’s a fantastic painting to see in life. It is far more impressive by far to see it to scale than it is in reproduction. There’s a lot to be said for how the size of a canvas can contribute to the overall effect of an image. They have it framed behind non-reflective glass now and given its history, it’s easy enough to see why. I will post the article regarding its 1914 attack at a later date.

My model, who is herself from Seville, got it into her head to buy a puzzle of the painting. She believes she can finish putting it together before I finish my painting and she is probably right! It made me smile to see that the image portrayed on the puzzle box she had just bought is one of the best reproductions of the Venus I have seen.

So, back to Dublin, the studio and my paint brushes!

Thanks for reading!

About the Velasquez Venus Project

Welcome all to the first update of what I hope will be many.

For those of you who know me and my work, it may not surprise you to learn that I have recently got it into my head to paint my own “Venus with a Mirror” or what is more popularly known as Velasquez’s “Rokeby Venus”. Why this painting? I suppose it has been a fascination of mine for a long time now. I remember looking at it many years ago and thinking how absolutely beautiful the woman was. She seemed set apart from any woman I had ever seen in life. I was essentially captivated by the painting. I believe it can be safely said that by looking at the woman in this painting I had experienced my first intimation of the existence of what is more popularly known as the muse.

Gabriel Garcia Marquez probably summed it up best when he wrote:

“That night I discovered the improbable pleasure of contemplating the body of a sleeping woman without the urgencies of desire or the obstacles of modesty.”

I suppose the lasting impression this painting made in part explains why I paint women or the idea of women. So here I am, many years later attempting to produce a work that will hopefully stand.

I shall do my best. I hope to include an on going blog detailing the progress of the painting. I hope to include a few video feeds as well as preliminary sketches and notes. I hope everything runs smoothly enough. Cross your fingers!

Just to say, Velasquez was from Seville in Spain and auspiciously enough, so is the girl I am using as a model for this painting. I take it as a good sign that all will go well, hoping that talent and hard work doesn’t fail me.

A point of interest regarding the history of the painting is that it was mutilated in 1906 by the Suffragist Mary Richardson in protest for the wrongs done to a Mrs. Pankhurst.