Oil Painting Medic is a practical guide to oil painting techniques, materials and troubleshooting. NOTHING ON HERE IS AI. Begin with Home or Start Here. Browse my Artbooks and Whats Trending. With copious articles covering portraiture, landscapes, still life, and problem solving, this blog helps artists improve technique and overcome challenges. Navigate by theme in the sidebar.

The Most Difficult Portrait Painting in the World: A Lesson in Portraiture after Da Vinci in Oils

Some argue that Leonardo da Vinci’s angel within the Virgin of the Rocks is more difficult to paint than the Mona Lisa. One only has to view the latter of his two versions, housed in the National Gallery to see why.  See exquisite sfumato shadows over the face, ghostly highlights on the cheekbones, translucent eyes and hair like spun gold. And the face in three-quarter view poses a further quandary for the portrait painter.

How can the oil painter capture these Renaissance effects?
I have dedicated a hub-page to other matters of portraiture to guide the artist.

An Artbook on How to Paint a Challenging Old Master

Well, my book, Oil Painting the Angel within Da Vinci’s the Virgin of the Rocks
Unleash the Right Brain to Paint the Three-quarter Portrait View might help.

The Virgin of the Rocks painting demonstration
Paint Da Vinci's Angel step by step

This book offers practical advice on how to paint this most difficult portrait. Each stage is broken down into manageable pieces, which makes this Renaissance painting more achievable.

The first part of this book aims to unleash the right side of the brain in order to render a portrait in three-quarter view, avoiding common pitfalls in drawing the face. Art materials and the under painting is also explained.

Learn how sfumato of the Renaissance style can be achieved with modern art materials and a compact space, without the use of a studio or bulky easels.

The chief section of this book comprises numerous step by step images and instructions on how the angel was completed. Learn about glazing in oils, color blending, applying detail and smooth shading. A troubleshooting guide and glossary can also be found.

How to paint Leonardo Da Vinci's Angel in stages
Images within this portrait painting book

A challenging yet rewarding project on achieving Da Vinci’s early Renaissance style by the use of modern and simple art materials. With color illustrations throughout.

Paperback book’s dimensions: 8x10in and 48 pages. Also available on Kindle, Kobo, Google Play and Apple.

Further Reading on this Blog

Painting shadows on portraits
How to paint skin tones on portraits
Read my focus page: Focus on Portraiture
Browse the archive: Articles on portraiture

For more inspiration, browse my trending posts
Or Buy my artbooks

Comments

Anonymous said…
Nice post keep doing on it
Oil Portrait Artist
1 August 2017 at 12:13
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