Masters / Methods index

How the masters painted

An index of how 61 master painters actually worked, each distilled to one signature method and linked to the full breakdown. Organised by tradition, the techniques behind the names.

Renaissance

11 masters
Albrecht DürerCut the image into copper with a burinArnold BöcklinRefuse plein-air painting on principleArtemisia GentileschiLet the dark brown ground stay as the mid-toneGiovanni Battista TiepoloResolve the whole composition as a small oil modello firstLeonardo da VinciDrop the shadow value slowly, with no visible lineMichelangelo Merisi da CaravaggioOne window, the rest blacked outPeter Paul RubensDesign the whole picture as a small oil sketchPieter Bruegel the ElderUse the 1552 alpine trip as twenty years of capitalRaphaelDraw every figure many times before paintingTitian (Tiziano Vecellio)Turn the canvas to the wall for monthsWilliam BlakeRefuse oil paint outright

Dutch Golden Age

7 masters
Anthony van DyckThe one-hour ruleCarel FabritiusReverse Rembrandt and start from a cool, light groundDiego VelázquezTinted ground as the working middle valueFrans HalsDraw with the brush, no preparatory drawing on paperGerrit DouBuild the surface in many thin, finely ground layersJohannes VermeerTwo or three finished paintings a yearRembrandt van RijnPartition the studio with sailcloth, pedagogy as physical separation

19th-century realists

13 masters
Anders ZornThe Zorn Palette, four pigments, full rangeCarolus-DuranAttack au premier coupEugène DelacroixLay out the whole palette before the first strokeJan MatejkoBuild a personal seventeenth-century arsenalJean-Auguste-Dominique IngresDecide the painting in drawing, not in paintJoaquín SorollaCarry monumental canvas onto the beachJohn Singer SargentNo medium after the block-inJohn William WaterhouseSquare brush, not sableKatsushika HokusaiBegin every day with a dragonLawrence Alma-TademaBuild a five-thousand-photograph reference archiveOgata KōrinTarashikomi (ink puddling)Utagawa HiroshigeWalk the road with a sketchbookWilliam-Adolphe BouguereauResolve everything before paint

Russian realists

5 masters
Ilya RepinBuild the studio under top-down zenith lightIsaac LevitanWalk and memorize, paint laterIvan KramskoyNorth light for tonal stability across long sittingsIvan ShishkinTwo seasons, two practicesVasily SurikovTreat the studio as a reconstruction site

Post-Impressionists

6 masters
Claude MonetCarry multiple canvases to the motif and rotate as light shiftsEdgar DegasRefuse plein-air on technical groundsÉdouard ManetFirst-shot-or-scrape, destroy the failed canvas rather than correct itEuan UglowPlumb line over freehand drawingHenri MatissePhotograph at every stage, track the eliminationVincent van GoghBuild a homemade perspective frame with iron spikes

Vienna Secession

5 masters
Alphonse MuchaChoose the medium for the transport problemEgon SchieleContinuous-contour drawing, never lift the pencilFranz von StuckDesign the frame before the paintingGustav KlimtCarry a cardboard viewfinder to crop the landscapeOskar KokoschkaRequire the sitter to talk and move

American masters

10 masters
Andrew WyethEscalate media as emotional commitmentDean CornwellResolve the picture as abstract before any figureGeorge BridgmanConceive the head, chest, and pelvis as blocksGeorgia O'KeeffeCrop the subject like a camera lensHoward PylePersonal knowledge, wade into the icy creek before painting itJ.C. LeyendeckerThe chisel stroke, single-pass parallel directional marksMaxfield ParrishBuild the painting through a complete grisaille firstN.C. WyethBuild a working artifact collection, flintlocks, tomahawks, colonial costumeNorman RockwellCast the cover from actual neighborsWinslow HomerRecover whites by lifting, not by adding paint

Contemporary

4 masters
Frida KahloThe mirror under the canopyGerhard RichterThe squeegee, drag wet paint across the canvasLouise BourgeoisInsomnia drawings, every sleepless night, a sheetLucian FreudCremnitz white as the structural foundation
Each method links to the full breakdown of how that painter worked.