Masters / Methods index

How the masters painted

An index of how 86 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

13 masters
Albrecht DürerCut the image into copper with a burin→Andrea del VerrocchioRun one workshop across three crafts→Arnold BöcklinRefuse plein-air painting on principle→Artemisia GentileschiLet the dark brown ground stay as the mid-tone→Giovanni Battista TiepoloResolve the whole composition as a small oil modello first→Leonardo da VinciDrop the shadow value slowly, with no visible line→Michelangelo BuonarrotiFinish today's patch today, because tomorrow it is stone→Michelangelo Merisi da CaravaggioOne window, the rest blacked out→Peter Paul RubensDesign the whole picture as a small oil sketch→Pieter Bruegel the ElderUse the 1552 alpine trip as twenty years of capital→RaphaelDraw every figure many times before painting→Titian (Tiziano Vecellio)Turn the canvas to the wall for months→William BlakeRefuse oil paint outright→

Dutch Golden Age

8 masters
Anthony van DyckThe one-hour rule→Carel FabritiusReverse Rembrandt and start from a cool, light ground→Diego VelázquezTinted ground as the working middle value→Frans HalsDraw with the brush, no preparatory drawing on paper→Gerrit DouBuild the surface in many thin, finely ground layers→Johannes VermeerTwo or three finished paintings a year→Judith LeysterPut a visible light source inside the picture→Rembrandt van RijnPartition the studio with sailcloth, pedagogy as physical separation→

19th-century realists

23 masters
Anders ZornThe Zorn Palette, four pigments, full range→Carolus-DuranAttack au premier coup→Cecilia BeauxGet the character of the head, not the forms of it→Charles BargueTrain accuracy through the plates→Eugène DelacroixLay out the whole palette before the first stroke→Gustave MoreauTeach to liberate, not to replicate→Harold SpeedSeparate line drawing from mass drawing→Jan MatejkoBuild a personal seventeenth-century arsenal→Jean-Auguste-Dominique IngresDecide the painting in drawing, not in paint→Jean-Léon GérômeMaster the cast before touching the live model→Joaquín SorollaCarry monumental canvas onto the beach→John Singer SargentNo medium after the block-in→John William WaterhouseSquare brush, not sable→Katsushika HokusaiBegin every day with a dragon→Lawrence Alma-TademaBuild a five-thousand-photograph reference archive→Marie BashkirtseffBuild one finished figure from a week-long pose→Ogata KōrinTarashikomi (ink puddling)→Richard SchmidMaster the palette with colour charts→Solomon J. SolomonDraw by the masses and negative shapes→Thomas CoutureBuild the painting with a staged ébauche→Thomas EakinsLearn anatomy by dissection, not from a book→Utagawa HiroshigeWalk the road with a sketchbook→William-Adolphe BouguereauResolve everything before paint→

Russian realists

8 masters
Ilya RepinBuild the studio under top-down zenith light→Isaac LevitanWalk and memorize, paint later→Ivan KramskoyNorth light for tonal stability across long sittings→Ivan ShishkinTwo seasons, two practices→Mikhail VrubelConstruct the form from crystalline planes→Pavel ChistyakovAnalyse the form into planes from nature→Valentin SerovBuild the form in three staged steps→Vasily SurikovTreat the studio as a reconstruction site→

Post-Impressionists

6 masters
Claude MonetCarry multiple canvases to the motif and rotate as light shifts→Edgar DegasRefuse plein-air on technical grounds→Édouard ManetFirst-shot-or-scrape, destroy the failed canvas rather than correct it→Euan UglowPlumb line over freehand drawing→Henri MatissePhotograph at every stage, track the elimination→Vincent van GoghBuild a homemade perspective frame with iron spikes→

Vienna Secession

5 masters
Alphonse MuchaChoose the medium for the transport problem→Egon SchieleContinuous-contour drawing, never lift the pencil→Franz von StuckDesign the frame before the painting→Gustav KlimtCarry a cardboard viewfinder to crop the landscape→Oskar KokoschkaRequire the sitter to talk and move→

American masters

18 masters
Andrew LoomisBuild the head from a ball and a plane→Andrew WyethEscalate media as emotional commitment→Charles Webster HawthornePaint "mudheads" with a putty knife→Dean CornwellResolve the picture as abstract before any figure→Frank J. ReillyOrganise the palette with a nine-value gray scale→George BridgmanConceive the head, chest, and pelvis as blocks→Georgia O'KeeffeCrop the subject like a camera lens→Howard PylePersonal knowledge, wade into the icy creek before painting it→J.C. LeyendeckerThe chisel stroke, single-pass parallel directional marks→John VanderpoelSettle the large planes before any detail→Kimon NicolaïdesDraw the contour by touch, not sight→Maxfield ParrishBuild the painting through a complete grisaille first→N.C. WyethBuild a working artifact collection, flintlocks, tomahawks, colonial costume→Norman RockwellCast the cover from actual neighbors→Robert Beverly HaleTeach anatomy through the masters, not the cadaver→Robert HenriPaint fast to catch the life of the thing→William Merritt ChasePaint the demonstration as a performance→Winslow HomerRecover whites by lifting, not by adding paint→

Contemporary

5 masters
Frida KahloThe mirror under the canopy→Gerhard RichterThe squeegee, drag wet paint across the canvas→Gottfried BammesTeach anatomy as function, not inventory→Louise BourgeoisInsomnia drawings, every sleepless night, a sheet→Lucian FreudCremnitz white as the structural foundation→
Each method links to the full breakdown of how that painter worked.