by Mark Bornowski
9/10/07
 

For the first time in my life, I had the privilege of visiting with some of Rembrandt Harmenszoon van Rijn’s paintings located in the Portland Art Museum. The work traveled to Oregon in July from the Rijks Museum in Amsterdam. When I was there the exhibit was full of curious people grouped around portraits and scenes of Dutch life. The work was in good condition, colorful and rich in detail. Everyone seemed entertained by the rare paintings.

Rembrandt has wide spread admiration and is considered one of the greatest classical painters of all times. He painted in oil, in the studio tradition of chiaroscuro. At a young age he apprenticed with painter Jacob van Swanenburgh and painter Pieter Lastman in Amsterdam. His palette was a composition of reds, blues, yellows and earth tones made by mixing together raw pigments and linseed oil. The paintings he produced represented the very best in extraordinary draftsmanship and a masterful manipulation of complex layers of illusionary space and sculpted light.

Today it is difficult to find artists painting in this classical tradition. Ralph Mayer in his book The Artists Handbook, explains many of the secrets and classical processes have been lost or forgotten because artists don’t use the same classical methods and materials. Also artists like Rembrandt are often an enigma because scholars reconstruct hypothetical, incomplete but plausible information. The task of finding lost techniques is a road filled with conflicting notes. Not to mention paintings of this age chemically change making them difficult to analyze without special equipment. The work darkens, varnishes crystallize and become soiled, and cracks develop across the face of the pictures.

As the popularity of an artist grows it perpetuates an influx of visual information in various forms. Before you know it articles, brochures, books, and photographs become the means to see the work. More graphic then the original work these expertly produced images garish maximum appeal for the latest mass marketing propaganda supports.
So the argument is made; Do we really need to see the original work to appreciate it? Yes. Reproductions represent only a tease, a sound bite, part of the story, where textures, light reflections, organic and dimensional qualities are not present. The down side to all this mass marketing is that sometimes we are mislead. Author Edmund Carpenter once wrote from his book They became What They Beheld, “Utilizing existing channels can wipe out a statement. There is a widely accepted misconception that media merely serve as neutral packages for dissemination of raw facts. Unwittingly they contribute a message far removed from the one they intended.”

There are many examples of artist’s popularity built on advertising, stories, opinions and pictures that emphasize snap shot substitution for the original work. I suppose this is one of many visual traps. Vijai P Sharma PH.D wrote, “As we look for evidence to support our assumtiopns, we also tend to ignor evidence that contradicts them. This in psychology literature, is referred to as the law of cognitive dissonance.” Discoveries are only possible by over-riding familiar views and perspectives. Reproduction material is a completely different medium and is removed from the original process so our primary source of facts are based on graphic design literature and not the painting. Like a tourist in a foreign land, we see according to our perspective and us special materials that are made to entertain us.

A good example of an artist and his work that we all have come to appreciate and know through mass media is artist sculptor Michelangelo. A lot of the information about him come out during the restoration of the Sistine Chapel 17 years ago. The work was published in articles and magazines announcing important discoveries. Cleaning all the dirt and grim revealed bright colors. An interesting fact about Michelangelo’s work, it is difficult to move. You have to go to Italy to see the original artwork. Even then much of it is roped off or too far from the public for us to really examine. We then must research Michelangelo through books, articals, and the internet. He is one of those artists that live on through second hand information. A fabrication equavalent to a very good story. We can’t touch, look carefully or examine in detail, we only look at pictures and read about his work. This is totally counter to what artist’s work is really about.

Michelangelo di Lodovico Buonarroti Simoni ranks among the most important artists in the world. An estimated million visitors with maps gather every year to visit his frescos in the Sistine Chapel located in the Apostolic Palace, the official residence of the Roman Catholic Pope in Vatican City. The chapel setting serves two functions. To host important papal services which includes the papal conclave and a museum featuring some of the greatest Italian renaissance artists in the world. Michelangelo’s frescos are the most popular in the group. Michelangelo’s art consists of eight webs containing the Ancestors of Christ, four pendentives episodes of the miraculous salvation of the people of Israel, twelve Prophets and Sibyls seated on monumental thrones and nine stories of the Genesis. All are sectioned into three parts relative to the origin of the universe, man and evil.

Between 1989 and 1994 his work was restored and new information was uncovered. The Vatican’s good intensions to clean a dirty old painting revealed a surprisingly bright fresco. In light of Michelangelo’s cleaned painting our previous ideas about the renaissance are transformed and we see him and the work in a whole new way. We have to rethink the use of his vivid colors compared to the dark gloomy figures of the past. Still, the new look does not convince everyone. The critics say a layer (secco fresco) was lost in cleaning, originally meant to tone down the colors. This is not the first attempt to restore or repair his work. Years of restoring and cleaning may have changed too much. We may never know the exact details or how the mural was originally seen. But most agree Michelangelo’s colors do reveal a side to his painting that needs further study.

Today when you visit the Sistine Chapel you bend your neck and look 30 meters and more to see a beautiful fresco in browns, reds, blues, greens, yellows and white that radiate into an astonishingly balanced environment of grandeur that is rarely equal anywhere else in the world. For a closer examination, you can purchase the many books and articles located in the gift shop or any bookstore.
Michelangelo was an abstinent artist eating only to calm his stomach pain. His social graces, savoir vivre, good manners and courtesy to others were poor at best. He was fully engaged in his work, a gifted person, a renaissance man, an architect, engineer, poet, painter and sculptor. From an early age of twelve he studied as an apprentice for renowned painter Domenico Ghirlandaio and attended Lorenzo de' Medici’s Neo-Platonic Academy headed by Marsilio Ficino. Later by the age of twenty-nine he completed several important commissions, one in particular a monumental masterpiece named “David” which symbolized the Florentine Republic, unveiled onto Piazza della Signoria, Florence September 8th 1504. His sculptural career by then was established; he was the greatest sculptor in Italy.
In 1508 his life turned a corner, he traded in his chisel and hammer for a trowel and brush. After many discussions with his benefactor he surrendered to a new commission, but only this time the contract was to paint a large mural. He was out of his element. He would work in Rome for Pope Julius II on the Sistine Chapel ceiling project. The decision to go down an unfamiliar road would cause a momentarily loss of confidence and almost cost him his standing as a great artist.
It was the high renaissance a period of chaos, enlightenment and change. Nobel ideas were in the air like platonic realism, proportion, light, beauty, perspective and creativity. They were classical models of a new age, uplifting men and their work to a level that was meant to mirror God’s glory. It was a time when mere servants of materials were transformed into individuals, noble practitioners of ideas and divine projects.

Michelangelo’s project was not going as intended, problems began with the first section “The Creation of Eve”. Mold appeared, covering the surface, the result of too much water in the plaster. The entire section had to be reworked and Michelangelo began to question his abilities. His limited fresco painting experience was a weak spot that would cause tremendous apprehension and self-doubt. He had a moral obligation to make it right, two choices really, quit or continue to learn from his mistakes. After realizing his mistakes would ruin his reputation he requested to be released from the project. Pope Julius II refused to let him give up. The situation was desperate; an anxious moment equal to feeling total disaster was about to happen. How do you save a failing project? He needed temporary help. Fresco painters from Florence where asked to assist. The assistants struggled to please him revealing the correct fresco painting process. They where eventually let go. The fresco painting process solidified in Michelangelo’s mind and the project regained significance, giving him the courage to continue.

It was not easy, the project was overwhelmingly physical and mentally challenging. Michelangelo worked alone in very difficult positions, slinging mud and paint above his head in poor lighting conditions during the winter’s cold and in the summer’s heat. He painted one figure after another 300 figures in all. It was the kind of project that had all the right elements to seal his place in history and only a skilled genius could pull it off.

The region was a blaze with conflict, marking a difficult period to conduct trade especially for art materials. Religious and political persecution imprisoned and killed many people as Italian states waged war against each other in the advent of being united. The region was divided into states, republics and kingdoms fighting to expand their territories. The Republic of Venice was one of them, an important trade port to most of the region and at one time the enemy to the Papal States.

It was a time when the country was clouded with smoke and deception. In Rome art was passionately collected luring artists away from Florence, decentralizing the art center of the world. Competition for jobs was an ugly sport and it was common for competitors to eliminate the opposition by any means possible. As in Michelangelo’s case his destiny was set; the ceiling project was hatched by an idea to discredit Michelangelo, a plot created by architect Donato Bramante and painter Sanzio Raphael to secure their position with the Vatican. The two of them would convince Pope Julius II to have Michelangelo paint the ceiling, which almost certainly would fail, and the Pontiff’s lust for pompous grandeur would set it in motion.

According to Cennino D' Andrea Cennini 1370-1440 there are several things to consider when fresco painting, color selection, painting techniques and the processes to render materials for quality results. All of which were standard for fresco painting on vertical walls. Michelangelo’s work however would take place on a ceiling where gravity and painting positions magnafided the difficulty two fold. In October 1512 Michelangelo completed the painting of the Sistine Chapel ceiling.
Michelangelo’s talents where truly special and painter, architect, biographer Giorgio Vasari put it, he was the divine one, the pinnacle of artistic achievement. He was a man devoted to his craft and gifted beyond the everyday Joe.
The architecture of the Sistine chapel was not particularly an impressive building. The rectangle shape evokes an Old Testament Temple, something simple and straightforward. The decoration inside is what sets it apart showcasing religious themes by many artists, Perugino, Botticelli, Ghirlandaio, Rossellini, Signorelli, Pinturicchio, Piero di Cosimo and Bartolomeo della Gatta. Originally Michelangelo was only tasked with painting 12 Apostles but he expanded the project to a grand scale instead. Why?

We know he used special art materials like Lapis lazuli a semi precious stone for the blues, a very expensive color and a means to explore a colorful palette. Using the very best art materials can improve the artists results. However I have a sneaky suspicion that his rivalry with architect Donato Bramante and painter Sanzio Raphael motivated Michelangelo to pull out all the stops. Michelangelo saw himself as a sculptor and not a painter. The carrot the Pontiff dangled in front of him was a promise to sculpt the tomb of Pope Julius II, which was on hold until he first painted the ceiling. He must of felt he was being tested for future commissions.

Michelangelo had a deep religious conviction and philosophy, a mindset really that sent him on his path to portray the Sistine Chapel in a very complex composition that he could not otherwise have created in stone. Some of these ideas most likely originated in Lorenzo’s school where Michelangelo's theory of the concetto (art forms) and intelleto (harmony and beauty) were formed. These where ideas imbedded in Platonic Realism. As an artist he must of felt curious to see if he could go beyond stonework and create beautiful color combinations which took his concepts of the figure beyond anatomy and interesting poses.

Although he was enamored with the male nude his compositional concerns revealed his philosophy also discovered in his drawings for the Tomb of Pope Julius II. The spirit’s position whether animal, slave or man had a specific relationship to God and heaven. The figures represent a physical perfection and positive connotation within the iconographic tradition. Human beauty reflects God’s beauty and the inner self. It was about the struggle of the soul to find God’s perfection and freeing ones-self from the matter that binds it. He was quoted as saying; he carved the stone to release the figure from within, to free it.
He did not make faithful representations of his subjects. Instead he chooses an intuitive approach to create the figure, its trunks always appears to be twisted. He looked for the form; the essence or spirit of the individual and produced what he thought was beautiful. It was a spontaneous act of seeing the whole figure in the material. His work was based in his understanding of the figure. He studied of the figure by creating many figure drawings before starting the art project. A complete knowledge of the subject allowed his subconscious mind to take hold of feelings in a solid way. So he made many drawings using models.

It started with Michelangelo understanding how to draw. Michelangelo understood the Drawing Proportion Method: (EMPHASIS ON PROPORTION) This is a method to establish propositions, negative and positive shapes in a composition. Using this method an image is placed in an exact location. In Michelangelos case he defines the entire figure first by drawing to establish the correct pose. The figure is then transferred either by a cartoon (stencil) or by plotting proportions on a support using charcoal or sinopia (ochre mixed with water). Using the plotting method the artist marks the support to indicate the outside dimensions of the subject with short marks for the top and bottom. Between these lines the subject is placed.

Plotting measurments are found when drawing the model. The arm is extended, the artist compares the entire length of the subject to the drawing instrument length, and notes the size on the drawing instrument by marking the spot with the thumb. This measurement is transferred to the support and corresponds to the figure in correct proportions. The middle of the subject is found by extending the arm and the drawing instrument aliened with the figure and marking ½ between the top and bottom of the figure (possibly the genitils area). The middle is indicated on the drawing between the top and bottom lines. This approach is continued by measuring and dividing the subject into smaller sections ¼ of the figure and so on, recording the parts of the body as they relate to the figure. The sequence of plotting shapes begin with the outer limits of the figure, the bigger shapes first, then smaller parts.

The artist will find a dominant shape like the head and compare it to the rest of the body. For example the artist measures the head and divids the body into head sizes, the head being 1/7 of the figure. How many heads does it take to create a figure? Three heads measure to the waist and so on. Once you have the head ratio, the artist can enlarge or shrink the figure to any size by scale. Michelangelo created his figures according to how he thought they should look. He drew figures on paper using the proportions method and enlarged them on the support by using the proportion method. Drawing and plotting skills are seen as preliminary steps to painting and sculpting. After many drawings are made the artist intuitively recreates the head to body relationship without measuring.

Making preliminary drawings was the way the ceiling project was planned, but as the artist worked on the fresco, it was modified as Michelangelo was inspired to do so. If we examine the first section (The Creation Of Eve) some of the figures are too small and difficult to see. Examining the rest of the fresco the figures appear larger and easier to see from the floor. Michelangelo must have seen his work from the floor after moving the scaffolding to the next section and decided to correct the proportions.

Michelangelo’s palette was chosen for its stability in lime, calcium carbonate and calcium hydroxide, also called slaked lime used as mortar. Not all pigments work with the fresco process so his colors where limited to primaries, compliments, earth tones, black and white. The relationship between these colors took place by mixing them physically or mixing them visually side-by-side on the support. Mixing colors involved primaries to make compliments, tones, tints and shades. By adding white you tint the color and the color will appear lighter. By adding black changing you create a tone and the color will appear darker. By adding black and white in different proportions, you will produce shades of the color. Some colors where added in their pure form and mixed by adding another hue on top of the color using the secco method.

When mixing colors visually the unique combination creates differences in the overall colors using hue contrast, complimentary contrast, light-dark, cold warm, simultaneous contrast, saturation contrast and extension. To compare colors is to think in situations in harmony or tension. Michelangelo’s colors where painted to balance lights and darks and primary hue contrast.

Once there is more than one color on the support colors influence each other and visually change according to the relationship. Certain colors are hard to change while others are more susceptible to change. All colors are subject to the proportion and combination of any given relationship. Most of Michelangelo’s colors are seen according to light–darks, nuances and contrasts, how they are alike, or different. Shape is a better means of identification monochromatically but when colors are used we identify color in terms of brightness. Color brightness and the combination of those colors in a composition create a type of connection. In music, we could say the combination creates harmony in regards to tectonic, melodic and rhythmic values and relative weight. These are voices that add up to an organized whole and not a senseless, chaotic, incomplete jumble. Some color combinations make the union brighter and others take away or are subtractive making the combination less bright. Michelangelo’s colors are seen as bright because of the pure color combinations. Some areas are seen as primary subjects while other areas are secondary. Michelangelo’s primary colors blue, red and yellow set the tone within a backdrop of ivory white or the look of marble. Unfortunately, when we look at his fresco today some colors are faded or not equally balance in the fresco. I guess the ultramarine blue faded and the secco layer of ultramarine blue was cleaned off leaving these parts of the fresco less intense. I base this option on examples of Raphael’s work created during the same time. I must assume Michelangelo’s sense of color would have made the blue more intense thus balancing out the work. Ultramarine blue is such a bright color and very expensive it stands to reason the he would keep its brightness as well as keep the other colors balanced in comparison.

According to Cennino, a fresco painter palette included the following colors a list of pigments believed to not change do to alkaline in the mortar, Giallorino, Lime white, lamp black, ochre, cinabrese, sinoper, terre-verte, hematite. This list does not include ultramarine blue, which he instructs is to be applied during the secco fresco process. Lapis lazuli (ultramarine blue) is applied with glue once the buono fresco process is dry.

1. Giallorino: Yellow, Obsolete term for Lead Tin Yellow or Naples Yellow or Massicot, processed glass frit, chemical composition is Pb(SbO3)2/Pb3(Sb3O4)2.
2. Lime White: White, calcium hydroxide, calcium carbonate pure lime.
3. Lamp Black: Carbon black, linseed oil soot,
4. Light to Dark Yellow brown, (Raw Sienna, Burnt Sienna, Raw Umber, Burnt Umber, Yellow Ochre). Clay hydraded iron oxide, chemical composition is Fe2O3 • H2O
5. Cinabrese: Red, or Cinnabar, sometimes written cinnabarite, is a name applied to red mercury(II) sulfide (HgS), or native vermilion, the common ore of mercury
6. Sinoper: Red color mixed with White, clay, red iron oxide, rust, Fe2O3.
7. Terre-Verte: Earth Green, Verona, Italy Holly Green. Native clay with small amounts of iron oxide. Best know are Bohemian pure green tone.
8. Hematite: Purplish Red, Hematite, or haematite, is the mineral form of Iron (III) oxide, (Fe2O3),

Ultramarine blue and Azurite where used in fresco painting since the 13th century by many artists. As far as I have learned Michelangelo applied Lapis Lazuli both in the buono and secco process counter to the advise of Cennino. I assume it may have been thought safe by the time Michelangelo started using it and deemed safe to experiment with. I believe more importantly Michelangelo was using its royal status (bright blue nature) to create a very colorful painting. He may have been experimenting, hoping it would stay stable.

Two blue colors that could be used in the secco fresco process. (Once the mortar was dry.)
A. Utramarine Blue: Lapis Lazuli, occurs in Persia, Afghanistan, China, Chile and a few other countries, feldspathoid silicate mineral composed of sodium, aluminium, silicon, oxygen, sulfur, and chlorine,(Na,Ca)8. To prepare this mineral it needed to be run through a fine covered sieve to help remove the gray rock that is associated with it.
B. Azurite: Azurro Della Magna from italy, mountain blue, blue copper mineral, also known as Chessylite, contains malachite used during Roman times.

In Michelangelo’s case he was a sculptor taking on a painters role. We also can assume that Michelangelo needed to seek out most of his painting supplies. So what did he do? First he needed to gather pigments, mortar and advise on what supplies where available. We can assume he was familiar with the fresco process because of his younger experiences, but as a sculptor some things where probably lost. Advice would come from the merchants trading in art supplies as well as painter friends and assistants. In any case he probably needed large qualities of everything and help.

Michelangelo’s color choices where also determined by his ability to find and trade for the pigments. In all intents and purposes it must have been difficult at times to find the right pigments as well re-supplying the same quality materials. Once Michelangelo found the pigment he then spent a great deal of time converting the material into a suitable paint. Some pigments required a great deal of grinding and according to Cennino the longer the better. He writes in his book that some pigments are better when ground for 25 years. This meant that an artist would grind paints continually making this process part of the daily ritual.

The kind of fresco process is defined by painting while the mortar is still wet or dry. The buono fesco process is defined by painting while the mortar is fresh or wet in the following steps.
1. Arricco, Work the wall with very fat, fresh lime and sand. Let it cure for a day or two. Cracks will appear once the heat goes out. Formulated, One part slaked lime and two parts sand.
2. Sweep and wet down. Trowel lime mortar one or two times until the surface is flat. When you are ready to work rough up the surface.
3. When the mortar is dry start to draw using charcoal plotting larger shapes and boundaries.
4. Next a new thinner layer of mortar is applied ointment .5-1cm thick
5. Detailed incising line and shadowing is laid in using sinopia.
6. Painting is worked in all areas for at least nine hours before the mortar dries. If it is cold then the mortar will dry slower. If it is a large mural then sections are worked on called giornata, one days work 3-5 meters. If additional details need to be applies then this can be made after the mortar has dried using a pigment with a suitable binder like egg or glue. This is called the secco fresco process.
All great things take time but in Michelangelo’s case this commission helped him realize the use of many figures otherwise would of taken to long in stone. We really only know his work by the assumptions, descriptions and stories. Much of his work can be seem only from a distance and on a level that does not incorporate close examination. Michelangelo’s work is lost to aging, restoration practices and the government’s policies enforced to protect a valuable heritage.



It is a bit ironic that Michelangelo’s work has become a block and anchor for the Italian renaissance and part of a trend that restricts us from seeing for ourselves what is really there. Artists in the area are suffocated from the overwhelming importance of art history. Without question seeing or having the ability to observe reality is one of the most important functions we possess. It is an ever-growing problem we choose not to see the real thing. Examining second hand information makes for an interesting story, but is any of it true?


1. Cennino D' Andrea Cennini 1370-1440. The Craftsman's Handbook. The Italian "Il Libro dell' Arte." Translated by Daniel V. Thompson, Jr. New York: Dover Publications, Inc. 1933, by Yale University Press
2. Ralph Mayer The Artist’s Handbook of Materials and Techniques by The Viking Press
3. Dr. Deborah Vess The Influence of Neoplatonism on Michelangelo, Georgia College and State University.
4. Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. WWW.wikipedia.org, General information on Michelangelo
5. Edmund Carpenter, They Became What They Beheld. An Outerbridge Ballantine Book, Intext Publisher New York