This watercolor study of an ornate church doorway is by Giovanni Boldini. I like the way he decided to focus on the extreme detail of the carved saints and the gothic arch, but he barely suggested the stairway and the lancet windows.
That selective focus makes the detail area even more satisfying.
I'm impressed with how Boldini chose to paint the most difficult part of the scene because that was the part that interested him. You don't have to paint everything equally!
Quite bold;-)
ReplyDeleteGives it an enhanced interest: The way this wonderful piece grows out of "shades-of-grey"-Chaos.
Wow
ReplyDeleteI always thought Boldini's portraits were a little over the top at times but i really like this - i think in his portraits this kind of flourish and detail was everywhere and that became overwhelming.
Didn't know he was such an accomplished watercolorist!
Right above the monitor I'm typing this at sits a poster of "Lady Colin Campbell" by Giovanni Boldini (I believe the original is still in the National Portrait Gallery, London). I'd never really thought about the use of detail in this portrait but it uses much the same approach. The face and upper torso is highly detailed. The rest of the figure is much looser, with the background almost ghost-sketched in. I'm pretty sure the original portrait is in oil, so it's fascinating to compare the approach to an architectural watercolour with another medium.
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