Monday, November 4, 2019

Loading Lights

Detail of a portrait by Peder Krøyer
The term "loading" is sometimes used to refer to the application of a thick impasto on the light areas of a painting. According to an 1845 painting manual:

"Loading—is a term applied to laying colours in thick masses on the lights, so as to make them project considerably from the surface, with the view of their being strongly illuminated by the light that falls on the picture, and thus mechanically to aid in producing roundness and relief, or in giving a sparkling effect to polished or glittering objects; this artifice however, must be had recourse to sparingly, otherwise it defeats its own object, and gives the execution a coarse and vulgar air."

2 comments:

  1. When I stood before the original of Norman Rockwell's "Freedom From Want" at the Rockwell Museum -- the image of a family gathered around a dinner table -- I was struck by how thick the white paint was in several passages. Reading this post, that is the painting that springs vividly to mind.

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  2. I visited the Sorolla exhibit in Dublin, and this effect - literally - stood out to me!

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