Adrian Gottlieb's Verdaccio Technique

Adrian Gottlieb's Verdaccio Technique

Anticipation
oil on belgian linen
26 X 20 inches

California-based artist Adrian Gottlieb has always been gracious in sharing his knowledge of painting.   His original website was filled with information he had amassed during his period of study at the Florence Academy of Art, and included recipes and procedures for making higher-quality and more archivally-sound materials than were then commonly available on the market.  For those seeking education in traditional painting techniques, his website was a treasure trove of instruction (much of this information has now been transferred to the website dedicated to Gottlieb's Atelier).

In October of 2010,  Gottlieb further shared his methods in an article which appeared in The Artist's Magazine.  Written by Daniel Brown, the article focussed on Gottlieb's verdaccio technique, and also explored the artist's feelings behind the psychology of the painted portrait.  Portions of the article were reprinted online at the Artist's Network, and the following excerpts are from that site.

1. "After I do a drawing and color study, I draw in paint, working on top of a warmimprimatura (first layer, the underpainting) that is closest to burnt umber in color and actually rather dark in value. I try for the color/value of the imprimatura to be the approximate color/value of the shadows of my main subject. When the imprimatura is fully dried, I draw in a similar color."

(For this demonstration, Gottlieb used a heavy linen canvas primed with five layers of acrylic gesso.)

imprimatura - Italian for first paint layer;  the initial stain of color painted on a ground and left visible in areas over subsequent transparent layers;  usually made with an earth color like burnt umber.

2. "In this step I build up the piambura, or white base, thinly so that the finished painting will have a luminous and translucent effect. It’s important that I create a good value relationship and blueprint of the form right from the beginning."

(Gottlieb uses mongoose and bristle filbert brushes from Rosemary & Co..  His medium is a mixture of sun-thickened oil and Canadian balsam.  For oiling out, he uses copal retouch varnish.)

piambura - the lead white base that gives faces their luminosity.

3. "The Verdaccio technique, which uses a verdaccio layer is particularly advantageous for a bright figure against a relatively dark background. I fully model the forms, using temperature variations (cool and warm) between blue-greens and reds. I keep the painting too light (in value) so when I glaze the piece, the tone will fall back down."

(For the verdaccio technique, Gottlieb recommends his students use Sinopia and Chrome Oxide Green from Blue Ridge Oil Colors.  He also suggests using permanent rose from Winsor & Newton, and Indian yellow from Schmincke Mussini.)

verdaccio -  is a style of underpainting, which uses green-grey colours to establish values for later layers of paint. The technique is renowned for being particularly effective when painting flesh tones. As such, it was popular amongst Renaissance artists, and Leonardo da Vinci used verdaccio underpainting in his masterpiece, the Mona Lisa.

Portrait of Gregg
oil, 26 X 20 in.

4. "You can see the results of the primary and secondary glazes, executed in thin layers, using lakes of color that are similar in degree of transparency and tint. I then apply straight color to work out the exact color notes and establish the relationship between figure and ground in Portrait of Gregg (oil, 26×20)."

(On his personal website, Gottlieb lists his color palette as the following colors: lead white, lead tin yellow, yellow ochre, vermilion, transparent red oxide, pyrol ruby red, cobalt blue, transparent sepia, olive green, and ivory black.  When mixing his colors, Gottlieb limits the number of source colors to four or less, and never mixes his colors directly on the canvas.  The student materials list on Gottlieb's Atelier website goes into much greater detail.)

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The piambura stage of Gottlieb's paintings shows the tonal sensitivity the artist has, and are so beautiful, that many of his portraits are left at this level of finish.

Piambura of Danni
oil on Belgian linen
20 X 16 in.

Piambura of Heather #3
oil on Belgian linen
20 X 16 in.

Piambura of Heather #1
oil on Belgian linen
20 X 16 in.

Piambura of Heather #2
oil on Belgian linen
20 X 16 in.

Piambura of Heather #4
oil on Belgian linen
20 X 16 in.

Piambura of Heather #5
oil on Belgian linen
20 X 16 in.
*(Taken from www.underpaintings.blogspot.com)