The subject of the workshop painting in the 19th century at the Teekenschool at the Rijksmuseum is a painting in the style of the Dutch painter Breitner. George Hendrik Breitner was a Dutch painter known for his depiction of Amsterdam city life.
When photo cameras became more portable and cheaper towards the end of the nineteenth century, Breitner began to experiment with this medium. With the camera, Breitner had an instrument in his hands with which he could capture reality and use it as an aid to his paintings. Many of his urban paintings, as well as his series of seven paintings and studies of the girl in kimono, are based on photographs. His use of photos was also criticized. Today using photos as a starting point for paintings has become just common practice, at that time people apparently did not think so. While in that time in Dutch cities it was forbidden to paint your painting outside on the street. To do this it required a special permission from the city. Painting therefore mainly took place in the studio, or occasionally from a location with a view outside. All the more convenient to have a photo as an example.
From the many options I can choose I pick a picture from Breitner with a naked lady in front of a mirror. The photo is in black and white and some research suggests that the lady depicted here is Mina Otten. Breitner has often photographed Mina and there is certainly some resemblance with that pictures.
In accordance with Breitner's method, the photo is first transferred or canvas using the grid method. I use boxes of 10 x 10 cm on a canvas of 40 x 60 cm. The next step is the underpainting which I paint with brown umber. The details don't matter yet, but especially the contrast between light and dark play a role.
The next step is now to add the color in the painting. Because it is difficult for me to read the details of her face from the photo, I later make some sketch study’s of here face. Hopefully this will give me a better feeling about the next step when I get to work on this later. We'll see what happens next.
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