Portraits In the Age of Giorgione
Practical Workshop
21 May 2016 10.30am - 5.30pm22 May 2016 10.30am - 5.30pm
The Life Room, Royal Academy Schools
£240 per day. £420 for two days. Includes all materials, lunch and drinks reception each day.
In the Age of Giorgione
Terms and conditions
Artist and painter Andy Pankhurst will lead an exciting workshop inspired by the ‘In the Age of Giorgione’ exhibition and the techniques of the Venetian Renaissance, in which participants work from costumed life models, both male and female, in a range of dry mediums within the Academy’s historical Life Room.
Working directly from life as Giorgione was reputed to do, this course explores the particular attributes of the Venetian School of painting and drawing from the beginning to the late Sixteenth Century which set it apart from the rest of the European Renaissance. In his famous Lives of the Artists, Giorgio Vasari, Aretine artist and art historian, singles out Giorgione da Castelfranco as at the forefront of some of the most important developments in Venetian painting. The importance of observation from life in achieving emotive and life-like portraits were noted by Vasari who wrote that Giorgione ' … fell so deeply in love with the beauties of nature that he would represent in his works only what he copied directly from life' (Vasari, 1550).
Known for his development of a new pictorial language, Giorgione’s novel approaches to light and colour, as well as innovative techniques for treating the human form was widely admired by connoisseurs and influenced generations of future artists. Upon his death in 1510, great patron of the arts Isabella D’Este expressed her pressing wish to acquire a Giorgione painting she had heard of, highlighting she was 'extremely desirous of owning it'. The reply she received mirrored the frustrations of future collectors when she heard that even though two similar paintings existed 'neither one nor the other [owner] is willing to sell at any price' (Facchinetti & Galansino, 2016, p20). Nearly four hundred years later, in his Notes on the Science of Picture-Making (1909), C. J. Holmes remained struck by the artist’s techniques and their widespread influence, explaining how:
'If we examine carefully a fine example of Titian or Gainsborough or Turner we shall be struck by the very low scale of relief which is employed. The sense of solidity always seems to be obtained with the smallest possible range of tone. Even painters like Reynolds, whose contrast of tones is forcible and who admit dark shadows, always take care that their lights shall incline to flatness, and shall be delicately modelled inside that apparent flatness.'
About the course
Join practising artist Andy Pankhurst – expert in the language of the Old Master's techniques and methods and the Venetian Renaissance period – for an intensive practical and art historical workshop inspired by portraits from the exhibition In the Age of Giorgione at the Royal Academy of Arts. Working from a choice of male and female life models dressed in period-inspired costume, the portrait poses are set each day for the duration of the day. Participants are introduced to a combination of various materials, including charcoal, conté, coloured pencils, chalk and oil pastels, while exploring concepts of perception, form and pictorial structure and picture-making. A visit to the In the Age of Giorgione exhibition included with this course will enable expert guided, direct and personal observation of techniques.
Participants can choose between either an intensive one-day, or a two-day weekend course which is recommended for mastering techniques and approaches. 10.30am – 5.30pm on both days.
This course is suitable for all levels, preferably with some prior experience of drawing, painting or creative practice in general.
This course is for you if:
• You have some prior knowledge of drawing and/or painting and would like to extend your skills in the practice of working from both perception and direct observation.
• You would like a new perspective in your approach to life drawing
• You are interested in methods and techniques of Renaissance artists and Old Master paintings and drawings
• You would like the opportunity to develop your skills and ideas in a small group setting in the historical setting of the RA’s Life Room
• You have no prior experience of life drawing but an interest in the history, theory and practice of art more widely.
The number of participants is strictly limited to 18 participants per day to enable detailed feedback from the Course Tutor for each participant on the work that they create.
Price per day: £240
Price for both days: £420
10.30am – 5.30pm on both days.
Includes:
• An introduction to the Academy with particular reference to the In the Age of Giorgione exhibition and relevant works in the Collection
• Entry to the In the Age of Giorgione exhibition
• The opportunity to work from different life models on each day
• All practical materials
• Lunch and refreshments
• A drinks reception at the end of each day.
About the Tutor
Andy Pankhurst
Upon graduation from the Slade School of Fine Art in 1992, Andy Pankhurst won First Prize for the Windsor and Newton Young Artist’s Award, and was represented by leading gallery Anthony Mould Contemporary Ltd. He was awarded the Richard Ford Scholarship through the Royal Academy in 1992 for travel in Spain and the study of the Old Masters at the Museo del Prado. He subsequently became a committee member of the Richard Ford Award in 2003, nominated by Christopher Le Brun PRA, alongside former Keeper of the RA Schools Maurice Cockrill RA (1936-2013). Further travels undertaken through the Boise Travel Scholarship in 1993 took him to the Veneto area of Italy where he lived for a year focussing his studies on Giotto & the Venetian School.
As a figurative painter, Andy Pankhurst is known both as a fine artist and a recognised teacher working primarily from the life model. Andy’s work is represented in various public, corporate and private collections and museums in the UK and USA. Andy currently exhibits with Browse and Darby in London, with his most recent show of paintings and drawings in November 2014. He is co-author with Lucinda Hawksley of What Makes Great Art, published 2012 by Apple Press.
About the space
The Life Room
Nestled deep in the heart of the RA Schools, the Academy’s historic Life Room is a unique and significant setting in which to explore the figure in the context of a purpose-built and exceptional studio.
Designed in the 1860s, inspired by the ancient structures and tracing its British History to the Hogarth’s Academy in St Martin’s Lane of the 1730’s, the RA Schools Life Room has been in continuous use by artists up to the present day. The natural as well as artificial, directional lighting enables delineation of the figure’s musculature and emphasises form, significantly enhancing the study of colour and light in painting and drawing.
Our courses and classes programme
Our programme of short courses and classes offers the opportunity to explore a range of subjects, led by expert tutors and practising artists.