"Oregon landscape: macchia-based landscape"
Jerry Ross
Please consider joining me for a 13-day plein air painting workshop in Seggiano, Italy (Tuscany). My name is Jerry Ross and I have exhibited widely in Italy and am known for my "verismo" school of painting that promotes the painting theories of the I Macchiaioli (Tuscan School) who stressed "dal vero", painting from life, and the establishment of the foundational "macchia" (stain) as the compositional structure of a painting.
The cost $2950 covers transportation to Seggiano from Rome airport and all ground transportation to Tuscan hilltowns, room and board at a Tuscan B&B, and instruction. Students are welcome at any level, using any media although instruction will be in oil paints. Daily demos will inform students of how to begin a painting using the ideas of the I Macchiaioli school. The workshop will be limited to 17 students. Groups are welcome. Details:
http://jerryrosspittore.com/Workshop/Seggiano.htm
The Italian art critic Imbriani declared "the macchia is the sine qua non of the painting, the indispensible essential which can sometimes make one forgetany other quality that may be absent, and which can never be supplied by any other."
(19th Cenury Theories of Art by Joshua C. Taylor)
"Macchia sketch: The Gianiculum Veduta"
The emphasis on the immediate visual effect of a painting gave acceptance to the bold painting styles of Rembrandt and Rubens, "the picturesque and inexplicable quality" of19th century sketches, and the observations of Leonardo and Michelangelo that looking at stains on walls could actvate the imagination and provide ideas for compositions.
The emphasis on the immediate visual effect of a painting gave acceptance to the bold painting styles of Rembrandt and Rubens, "the picturesque and inexplicable quality" of19th century sketches, and the observations of Leonardo and Michelangelo that looking at stains on walls could actvate the imagination and provide ideas for compositions.
"Charcoal sketch: Macchia depicting Gianiculum Hill, Rome"
There is a story regarding Filippo Palizzi who spread his unused colors on his canvas both as an underpainting but also to produce interesting patterns (stains) that could be the starting point for the next day's work.
"The macchia is the pictorial idea, just as the musical idea is given accord of sounds that the maestro calls a motif...and this organization of light and dark, this macchia, is what really moves the spectator...the macchia is...the portrayal of the first faraway impression of an object, or rather, the scene , the first and characteristic effect that is impressed on the artist's eye..." (Imbriani).
"Macchia skech in burnt siena -- underpainting for a landscape"
"To this first indeterminate, distinct impression that the painter affirms in his macchia, there succeeds another, distinct, minute, particularized. The execution, the finishing of a painting is simply a continuous coming closer to the object, which extricates and fixes that which has passed under the eyes in a dazzing procession. But, I repeat, if it lacks that first fundamental harmonious accord, the execution, the finish, no matter how great, will never succeed in moving, in evoking in the spectator any sentiment, while on the other hand, the solitary, bare macchia, without any determination of objects, is most capable of arousing such sentiment."
"Macchia sketch in oil paint"
"At first, the Macchiaioli called themselves Effettisti, probably
deriving the term from the French effet, used to describe the results of
light and shade distribution in paintings and photographs. Their
painting technique eschewed half tones; they claimed that ‘effect’ was
achieved with broad patches of color, macchie, which moved abruptly from
dark to light.
Macchia translates as spot, blot or daub. In 1862 a
Florentine critic dubbed them Macchiaioli, or spot-makers, ridiculing
them as daubers who left their paintings unfinished; the name was then
adopted by the group.
Florentine critic dubbed them Macchiaioli, or spot-makers, ridiculing
them as daubers who left their paintings unfinished; the name was then
adopted by the group.
Because the theories of the Macchiaioli were not
written down until the 1870’s and 1880s, its contemporary historians,
Martelli, Signorini and Adriano Cecioni, may have shaped their
descriptions of the early movement to conform with later experiences;
thus Martelli saw Fattori’s works as ‘impressions’ after becoming
acquainted with Impressionism.
written down until the 1870’s and 1880s, its contemporary historians,
Martelli, Signorini and Adriano Cecioni, may have shaped their
descriptions of the early movement to conform with later experiences;
thus Martelli saw Fattori’s works as ‘impressions’ after becoming
acquainted with Impressionism.
According to Martelli, the Macchia was
‘the theory of chiaroscuro and the relationship of one color with
another, whether they were found next to one another on the canvas on
the same perspective plane or … juxtaposed on the canvas but in
different perspective planes’.
‘the theory of chiaroscuro and the relationship of one color with
another, whether they were found next to one another on the canvas on
the same perspective plane or … juxtaposed on the canvas but in
different perspective planes’.
Cecioni wrote: ‘Il vero [nature, as we
see it] results from macchie of color and of chiaroscuro, each one of
which has its own value, which is measured by means of relationship. In
every Macchia, this relationship has a double value: as light or dark,
and as color.’ Cecioni also spoke of the use of a black mirror, or
‘Claude glass’, to help establish color values and relationships.
see it] results from macchie of color and of chiaroscuro, each one of
which has its own value, which is measured by means of relationship. In
every Macchia, this relationship has a double value: as light or dark,
and as color.’ Cecioni also spoke of the use of a black mirror, or
‘Claude glass’, to help establish color values and relationships.
Such theories and research were inspired by two 19th-century concerns, the
search to understand color through science and the revival of interest
in the Italian artistic past.
"Macchia based painting: capturing Italian campagna from train"
"Macchia based under-painting interacting with plein air oil sketching"
http://www.wiw.net/pages.php?CDpath=3_5_6_237_420
search to understand color through science and the revival of interest
in the Italian artistic past.
"Macchia based painting: capturing Italian campagna from train"
"Macchia based under-painting interacting with plein air oil sketching"
http://www.wiw.net/pages.php?CDpath=3_5_6_237_420
I find invaluable the plein air (fast) sketch -- the "line and mass macchia" --. One should take this sketch into the studio and work directly from the sketch and memory. Here are some recent examples from a trip to Val d' Orcia, tTuscany.
"Valiano"
"Val d' Orcia"
