How to Paint a Masterpiece

Interesting online lecture from the National Gallery looking at how Italian early altarpieces were made.

Artist and gallery educator Nick Pace guided us through the various stages of making one of these beautiful altarpieces with a gold background using the gallery’s Jacopo de Cione Coronation of the Virgin polyptych work from 1370-71 as an example. He had fascinating examples of where he had tried out the various techniques and insights into the materials and pigments used as well as how the studio would have operated. It was particularly good to get an artist’s insight into these works.

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