plate no. 1013

African

oilRomanticismportraitportraitfigureclothingexpressionskin tonesfabric

recreation guide

Konstantin Makovsky’s 'African' (1882) represents a pivotal shift in the artist’s career, moving from strict realism toward a style that emphasizes color and shape, influenced by his travels to North Africa and Serbia in the mid-1870s (Source 8). As a member of the Peredvizhniki (Wanderers), Makovsky was known for opposing academic restrictions, yet his work during this period reflects a 'significant stylistic change' where he placed greater emphasis on the harmonic arrangement of form and color rather than mere documentary likeness (Source 8). The painting is an oil work, a medium that Makovsky, like his contemporaries, would have treated with the understanding that it possesses 'vital qualities peculiar to itself,' requiring the artist to express feeling through painted symbols rather than attempting a deceptive illusion of nature (Source 3).

estimated time

20-30 hours over 5-7 sessions

materials

6 items

steps

6 in sequence

materials

item	purpose	modern equivalent
Oil paints (artist grade)	Primary medium for the painting	—
Linseed oil	To mix with paint to adjust drying time and consistency	Refined linseed oil
Mineral spirits or turpentine	To thin paint for initial layers and clean brushes	Odorless mineral spirits (OMS)
Canvas	Support surface	Linen or cotton canvas, primed
Charcoal or thinned paint	For sketching the subject onto the canvas	Vine charcoal or raw umber thinned with solvent
Paintbrushes and palette knives	Application and scraping of paint	—

preparation

surface prep

The canvas should be prepared with a ground suitable for oil painting. While specific priming recipes for Makovsky are not detailed in the sources, traditional oil painting practice involves ensuring the surface is stable to prevent cracking. The artist must respect the 'limitations imposed by different mediums' and ensure the ground allows for the 'vital expression of nature' without the paint film becoming unstable (Source 3).

underdrawing

Traditional oil painting techniques often begin with the artist sketching the subject onto the canvas with charcoal or thinned paint (Source 2). Given Makovsky’s background in the Imperial Academy of Arts and his realist training, a precise underdrawing is likely, though the sources do not specify his exact preparatory sketches for this specific work. The drawing should establish the 'organization of an artwork' and the 'visual path that enables the eye to move within the piece' (Source 4).

underpainting

A grisaille (monochrome underpainting) is a recommended technique for this style. The artist should mentally extract red and yellow colors, translating what would be left in nature if these two colors were not present (Source 6). This monochrome layer establishes the values and forms before color is introduced. This method was 'practised by the old masters far more generally' and helps in achieving a 'grey bloom' or controlled tonal range (Source 6).

color palette

Ultramarine

Ultramarine pigment

General use in this artist's palette; specifically mentioned by Reynolds as a primary color for initial paintings (Source 6)

Black

Ivory black or lamp black

General use in this artist's palette; used for establishing dark values in the monochrome stage (Source 6)

White

Lead white or titanium white

General use in this artist's palette; used for highlights and mixing tints (Source 6)

Red and Yellow tones

Vermilion, cadmium red, yellow ochre, etc.

Applied via glazing and scumbling over the dry grisaille to introduce warmth and local color (Source 6)

composition

The composition should focus on the 'harmonic arrangement of form and color,' a principle emphasized by artists like Whistler who influenced the period's approach to portraiture (Source 7). Makovsky’s shift toward emphasizing 'colours and shapes' suggests that the composition should not rely solely on linear perspective but on the balance of visual elements such as line, shape, value, and texture (Source 4, Source 8). The portrait should serve as an 'expression of feeling' rather than a mere photographic record, using the medium's capacity to create 'painted symbols' (Source 3).

step by step

underdrawing→underpainting→first pass→refining→finishing→varnishing

underdrawing

step 01
Sketch the subject onto the canvas using charcoal or thinned paint to establish the basic forms and composition.
Tip — Ensure the sketch captures the 'visual path' for the viewer's eye.
Traditional underdrawing

underpainting

step 02
Create a monochrome grisaille using black, ultramarine, and white. Extract red and yellow tones to focus on value and form.
Tip — This layer should be quite dry before proceeding to avoid muddying the colors.
Grisaille

first pass

step 03
Apply glazes of red and yellow tones over the dry grisaille. Use oil as a medium initially.
Tip — Glazing is a transparent coat of color that allows the underlying painting to show through.
Glazing

refining

step 04
Use scumbling (semi-opaque painting) to adjust tones and create effects like a 'grey bloom' if needed.
Tip — Scumbling tends to coldness when employed over a darker ground.
Scumbling

finishing

step 05
Apply additional layers following the 'fat over lean' rule, ensuring each layer has more oil than the previous one.
Tip — Failure to follow this rule can cause the painting to crack and peel.
Fat over lean

varnishing

step 06
Once fully dry (up to two weeks), apply varnish if desired to unify the sheen.
Tip — Oil paint dries by oxidation, not evaporation.
Varnishing

critical techniques

Fat over Lean

A basic rule of oil paint application where each additional layer contains more oil than the layer below to ensure proper drying and prevent cracking.

Glazing and Scumbling

Glazing involves transparent coats of color, while scumbling is semi-opaque. These were used by old masters to build up color and tone, particularly useful for introducing red and yellow tones over a monochrome underpainting.

Monochrome Underpainting (Grisaille)

Painting the initial layers in black, ultramarine, and white to establish form and value before adding color.

common pitfalls

→Cracking and peeling due to violating the 'fat over lean' rule by applying lean layers over fat ones (Source 2).
→Attempting to deceive the eye with a meretricious illusion of nature rather than expressing feeling through the medium's vital qualities (Source 3).
→Over-modeling or being too tied down to the outline, which can be checked by studying works like Reynolds’s 'Portraits of Two Gentlemen' (Source 1).
→Smallness in execution, which can be avoided by selecting corrective copies that emphasize broad masses (Source 1).

what the sources don't tell us

Where the corpus is silent, we say so rather than guess. These are the gaps a complete recreation guide would normally cover that our source passages don't.

·Specific visual details of the subject in 'African' (e.g., exact clothing patterns, jewelry, facial expression) are not described in the provided sources.
·Makovsky's specific brushwork style for this particular painting is not detailed, only his general shift toward color and shape.
·The exact pigments used by Makovsky in 1882 are not listed, only general traditional pigments like ultramarine and black are mentioned in the context of Reynolds' method.

grounded in

The technical procedure in this guide traces to the following classical art-instruction texts.

The Practice of Oil Painting↗
- ON COPYING — applied to Advice on avoiding smallness and over-modeling
- COLOURING A MONOCHROME — applied to Grisaille, glazing, and scumbling techniques
The Practice and Science of Drawing↗
- XX MATERIALS — applied to Philosophy of medium and avoiding deceptive illusion

cross-referenced from

Named facts about this artwork and artist were checked against these reference pages.

Wikipedia: Oil painting↗
- Oil painting — part 2 — applied to Fat over lean rule, underdrawing, drying times
Wikipedia: Composition (visual arts)↗
- Composition (visual arts) — part 1 — applied to Elements of design and composition structure
Wikipedia: Portrait painting↗
- Portrait painting — part 16 — applied to Harmonic arrangement of form and color
Wikipedia bio — Konstantin Makovsky↗
- part 1 — applied to Artist's stylistic shift and biographical context