I have a cousin, Sondra Johnson, whom I've never met in person, but only through emails and newsletters.  She is a great sculptor and does a lot of religious figures for the Catholic church. One church is in the middle of a remodel and is having her do a bas-relief of DaVinci's "Last Supper" which will be just in front of the altar.  The wall behind the altar is blank.  After looking at a lot of different works, the priest decided he wanted a copy of Tiepolo's "The Immaculate Conception" which is hanging in the Prado in Madrid.  Sondra called me to see if I wanted to paint this.   The final version will be slightly larger than the 8' x 6' that is hanging in the Prado.  What a great project!!

Tiepolo used exquisite drawing to define the angels and tuttis and only hinted at the form.  All of the emphasis is on Mary's stong and glorious presence and her billowing blue robe while standing on the serpent.  In looking at the painting, one can feel the wind and clouds and strength through the upward gestures of the clouds and robe, yet we are brought back down by Mary's view down as well as some of the angles.  Other angels and tuttis point us back up again.  It is truly one of the most masterful and beautiful works I've seen.

I was given the OK to start with the study.  First, I wanted to be sure I could do this, even at a small scale.  Second, the priest will have to OK the next phase after this part.  Third, I needed to work out the colors that Tiepolo might have used for this.  The Gamblin web site has some wonderful information on Old Master Palettes and I have enough facility with color that I was pretty confident in identifying what Tiepolo might have used.  

Venetian painters had access to a wide range of materials for their palette. For white they used lead white. For red it was vermilion, carmine, sometimes with realgar, an Asian gum resin called 'dragon's blood' and various earth reds. For blue it was ultramarine and the less expensive azurite and 'Egyptian blue'. For purple they used indigo. Green was given by verdigris, green earth and malachite. Yellows came from gamboge resin, lead oxide, lead antimoniate, orpiment and lead-tin compounds. Browns were made from various clays, and black was carbon black.

Before I could start, I needed a large scale image.  Sondra sent me a beautiful poster which I took to Kinkos to enlarge to about 38" tall.  I had them make me 2 copies:  one black and white and one in full color which I then had them laminate so I could lay paint on the poster without damaging it and so I could put in graphing lines where necessary with a wipe-out marker.  The black and white was my working cartoon.  I sprayed graphite on the back so I could transfer it to the linen.  After transferring it I drew over those lines with umber and let it dry.  I was torn as to whether to tone the linen before I did this but I was afraid the graphite wouldn't be dark enough so I toned the linen after the paint dried.  Then I started to underpaint in 4 values of Tuscan Red Mary and her robe.  

At this point, both Mary and the angels are fighting me.  Or maybe me them.  Regardless, Tiepolo had the most exquisite and nuanced way to draw with a brush that I just don't have, yet.  So decided to ignore them for now and continue on the rest of the work.  It's like watching a large jigsaw puzzle come together.  When this is all dry I will re-establish where I'm missing, use the graph and pray that Tiepolo's spirit will guide me.  

Here is where I am now on the piece and if we do get the go ahead I'll let you know how it's coming along.