An exceptional painter: Nicholas Hilliard (c.1547-1619)
A few words about a copy started recently. It is also a story in episodes that I suggest you follow, on the extremely meticulous work carried out by Nicholas Hilliard.
This painter left a large body of miniature portraits, well-known in art history circles, of the late Elizabeth I - sovereign of England who reigned until 1603. Among the sumptuous paintings conceived by the artist, I have set my sights on the work - somewhat dissonant in its course since it measures 2235 x 1689 mm - which is exhibited on a wall of the castle of the famous Hardwick Hall collection, in Derbyshire. It is placed inside a wooden frame carved in high relief, decorated with pearl, egg and dart moldings.
To really immerse myself in the world of Nicholas Hilliard, some general reading was very useful to me beforehand: the works of Roy Strong, an eminent British art historian, and the wonderful little book by Mélanie Taylor, the Truth of the line (2013) which imagines the life of the miniaturist in his studio, during the Tudor era.
Why this work in particular? What I liked right away were the monstrous creatures and various animals mixed in with the folds of the dress. The variety of colors, the pearly reflections, the moiré effects of the fabric, the transition from white to ivory, not to mention the countless pearls covering the adornment. And this pale face of the queen squeezed into her ruff, her body held by her rigid majesty's outfit.
I finally decided to make a copy, in large format, and not a recreation , suspecting that this work would already be very long, that it would probably occupy me more than a year. Plenty of time to tell the adventures of workshops, day after day.
So I opted with the same care for a pre-glued and coated frame, 200 x 120 cm. I covered it with two undercoats tinted with red ochre, so as to obtain some transparency effects in the painting of the flesh tones and the red-orange hanging, hanging in the background. The application of these undercoats is not perfectly homogeneous. I wanted it that way. Firstly to save a little on my colours, but above all to have some irregularities and create reflections letting the white of the coating layer show through.
I will come back later to the reasons why I did not choose to undertake a recreation here. I will also mention the squaring, and the drawing!
Φ - Phi
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