Dark side of the moon?

We all know the thick heavy biographies of old masters. Unfortunately, ten books about Picasso consist of the same 100 reproductions of his paintings. You cannot easily see behind, into the master`s kitchen. Or can you?

Here is your chance to break through the door of perception. Here is the place to see the rare works of art, look closer on the hands of the famous gigants. Discover the construction of their top masterpieces.

Let`s begin with some sketches by ink or sepia stick. Well, the first place here is taken by master Rembrandt van Rijn. For years he was creating a large and heavy canvases with thick layers of colors. On the contrary, mostly as a mature old man he created quite a lot of ink drawings, with excelently mastered northern (and typically Flamish) style. He reduced complicated technique used in oilpaintings to a few brushstrokes with ink and water. And a few lines of pen.





Now follows a unique study drawing of italian landscape. It was created by a monk Fra Angelico. There is really little known of him.



Equally unique is a drawing by G. D. Tiepolo. You do not meet such an artwork everyday. It discloses his way of building the composition and light and darkness contrast.



Claude Lorrain is known by his aerial perspective landscapes. We know the Lorrain`s mirror. Of course, we know mostly his oilpaiontings. But look closer at his ink drawings. He carefully prepared many such a studies before he painted final oilpainting. Anytime you get an opportunity to see the exhibition of his ink drawings, do not miss it!





Something similar by J. L. David. In his oilpaintings you cannnot observe this mechanism so easily.



Sepia stick drawing by Fragonard. Young Renoir was fascinated a lot by his works.



Where are the limits of a pencil in the hand of Ingres? Do you feel the same?



Finally comes Raphael and his excelent drawing. Florence was strongly focused on fine, gentle drawing style. Michelangelo absolutelly disregarded artists, who did not focus on drawing. Especially he disregarded venetian painters. In Venice of those times the painters did not consider drawing to be very important. Michelangelo carefully praised Tizian only as an old crock.