Month: November 2022

Today was dedicated to painting the soldier’s helmet.

My initial plan for copying this painting by Caravaggio–just so you know–didn’t include the soldier. I had planned on painting the woman and Peter. But when I stood in front of the painting with a blank canvas, I decided to copy the entire painting.

What I didn’t realize at the time was the effort that I had to put into painting the helmet. Unlike other items in the painting, the helmet includes insane depth to it. I am convinced that the painting wouldn’t look complete–I am only referring to visually aspect of the painting here–without the helmet.

To develop the deep colors of the helmet, I had to work up to it using layers of paint, which I had built up over the course of several weeks. Caravaggio executed the details of helmet with the bare minimum essential brush strokes and colors.

After about 3 hours of continuous painting, I was satisfied with the outcome. Like it or not, I will have to move onto completing the painting after today’s session.

• Met Copyist Program – Week 1
• Copying Caravaggio – Week 2
• Painting at the Metropolitan Museum – Week 3
• Mastercopy: Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio – Week 4
• The Met: Gallery 601 – Week 5
• Painting the soldier’s helmet – Week 6
• Mastercopying Caravaggio at the Met – Week 7
• The Denial of Saint Peter: Woman, Life, Freedom – Week 8
• A Master Copy – Diego Velázquez- Done for now
• The Denial of Saint Peter (La Negazione di Pietro) is a painting finished around 1610 – Read More From Wikipedia

Today turned out to be hands and fabric day. I think it could have easily been a day to work on the soldier, but that will have to wait. 

I rushed to get to the Met, and I began painting shortly after 12 pm. To my surprise, I was able to get little closer to the painting than the other days, which was very nice.

Because there are so many visitors coming and going I have been setting up my Easel pretty far away from the original painting. It’s really hard to get at all the little details, but I decided that will paint what I can see. Besides, when really necessary, I can walk up to the painting and see what I need to see.

Reworking the hands took some time because the positions of them are slightly different the original. I also made some modification to Peter’s cloth to compensate for all the little changes that I have introduced.

I also realized that the lights in the gallery 601 are changing constantly. I noticed this when the entire room lit up. While the change was shocking, I was able to see much better. Some colors will need to be adjusted once again…

• Met Copyist Program – Week 1
• Copying Caravaggio – Week 2
• Painting at the Metropolitan Museum – Week 3
• Mastercopy: Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio – Week 4
• The Met: Gallery 601 – Week 5
• Painting the soldier’s helmet – Week 6
• Mastercopying Caravaggio at the Met – Week 7
• The Denial of Saint Peter: Woman, Life, Freedom – Week 8
• A Master Copy – Diego Velázquez- Done for now
• The Denial of Saint Peter (La Negazione di Pietro) is a painting finished around 1610 – Read More From Wikipedia

Today marks the 4 of 8 sessions of copying Caravaggio’s painting. It’s an important day because today is the day to prepare the painting for following 4 sessions. If any major change or decision needs to be made, today is the day.

Step 1 – I began the painting session by adding another layer of paint on the background, adding a good quantity of paint over the initial thin paint layer.

Step 2 – Position of all five hands were repositioned. This was one of the major decision that I had to make today. I liked the size of all the heads, but all five hands had to be adjusted very slightly so they all look good.

Step 3 – The majority of today’s session at the Metropolitan Museum of Art was spent on Peter’s head, and painting his wardrobe. I know I have to dedicate at least one session just on Peter, so this would be a preparation step for another day. I am hoping I would be able to get to him on week 7.

Step 4 – The remaining time today was spent on the woman’s face, focusing on colors under shaded areas. I might be able to get at this by glazing, but I decided stick to the direct painting method for now. Some likeness from the original was lost today, but I ran out of time.

In conclusion, all major tasks for today was completed as planned.

Related Links

• Met Copyist Program – Week 1
• Copying Caravaggio – Week 2
• Painting at the Metropolitan Museum – Week 3
• Mastercopy: Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio – Week 4
• The Met: Gallery 601 – Week 5
• Painting the soldier’s helmet – Week 6
• Mastercopying Caravaggio at the Met – Week 7
• The Denial of Saint Peter: Woman, Life, Freedom – Week 8
• A Master Copy – Diego Velázquez- Done for now
• The Denial of Saint Peter (La Negazione di Pietro) is a painting finished around 1610 – Read More From Wikipedia