Roman Forum

Artist Daily is a site that provides heaps of interesting & useful tidbits for the artist. A while ago I noticed this essay titled Being a Copycat is a Good Thing - it provided some technical insight into my project -

"..copying master drawings is something many artists have incorporate into their studies for centuries because it is an excellent way to study and evaluate incredible artwork. It was a widespread method during the 16^th and 17^th centuries, and allows artists now and then to demonstrate their growing ability to draw and render, or to create an homage honoring a revered artistic."

And now I would like to discuss a bit:
Title Forum Romanum, for Mr Soane's Museum
Date exhibited 1826
Medium Oil on canvas
Dimensions support: 1457 x 2363 mm frame: 1762 x 2740 x 156 mm
Collection Tate
Acquisition Accepted by the nation as part of the Turner Bequest 1856
Reference N00504
Display text on Tate site: "One of the most important locations in Rome is the Forum, an area of ruined temples and monuments which represents the heart of the ancient city. Over the centuries, the Forum had been allowed to decay. By the nineteenth century, however, excavations had begun in earnest on the site and the broken fragments of Roman architecture were slowly re-emerging into the light. This painting, designed for the architect Sir John Soane, captures the view looking towards the Capitoline Hill. On the left is the Arch of Titus, and on the right, the giant vaults of the Basilica of Constantine."


This particular piece was one I had to tweak through extending it laterally, for the piece of wood I was set on rendering this particular painting on was wider than the image as Turner originally painted it. This is where the 'reinterpretation' comes in - where the sense that the choice of wood, due to its curves and lines, is meant to contain this piece - and contain it, it did.

This is one of Turner's work which shows his mastery of perspective - the great arch shows 3 monks blessing a woman, three buildings and the famous three remaining arches vanishing into a distance. To the right of all this appears a religious procession, complete with flags & various mendicants. Here's where I manipulated the space available to me by expanding the plane through duplicating one of the towers of the basilica.

A great New York Times article documenting Turner's travels through, and influence by, Italy appears here: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/01/arts/design/01turn.html - a handful of paintings I have completed and will write about presently will go more into Turner's adventures in Italy, but meanwhile I leave with this from artchives:

"Exposure to the full force of Mediterranean light and the strong, contrasting colors of Italy’s land- and seascapes had dramatic consequences for Turner’s palette; he adopted a new range of vibrant yellows, blues and reds. Nor were these applied only to his Italian paintings, which he worked up from hundreds of often minutely detailed drawings and sketches into oils and watercolors when he returned home. The palette could also be seen in new works depicting his native land."

Am linking this to Paint Party Friday - please stop by to view all the other works by online painters - or, painters who gather online.