The TRUTH About So-called "Old Masters Secrets"

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About me (bio) :
Website :
www.florentfarges.com
I am an artist living and working in France. I learned the techniques of the Atelier of the Nineteenth century and now I try to share some of my knowledge with the rest of the world, because I think that beauty still has an important role to play in artistic creation. I do mostly drawing and oil painting, and my goal is always to provide techniques, thoughts and explanations that can be useful to anyone, from beginners to more advanced artists.
The material I use most of the time (not necessarily in this video) :
Drawing
✓ Kneaded eraser
✓ Plumb line (DIY)
✓ Small mirror
✓ An old synthetic brush
✓ Masking tape
✓ Cutter
✓ Sandpaper or sanding block
✓ Mahlstick or Hand rest (DIY)
✓ Level ruler
Graphite
✓ Pencils 2H, HB and 2B
Charcoal
✓ If available: Nitram charcoals (H, HB and B)
✓ Square charcoals
Black and white chalk
✓ Sketch pencil Conté white
✓ Square Conté noir : HB and 2B
✓ Chalk or pencil holder
✓ Pencil sketch Conté Pierre noire : H and HB
Sanguine
✓ Sketch pencil Conté : Blood and blood Medici
✓ Crayon Polychromos Faber-Castel : sanguine
✓ Sketch pencil Conté white
Oil painting
Palette
(Extra-fine paint, recommended brands depending on availability: Sennelier, Lefranc Bourgeois, Winsor and Newton, Royal Talens Rembrandt, Blockx, Michael Harding, Gamblin)
✓ Titanium White PW6
✓ Flake White (or substitute) PW1
✓ Cadmium Yellow light (or "lemon") PY35
✓ Yellow Ochre PY42
✓ Raw Umber PBr7
✓ Transparent Red Oxyde PR101
✓ Burnt Umber PBr7
✓ Venetian Red PR101
✓ Pyrrole Red PR255
✓ Quinacridone Rose PV19
✓ Quinacridone Magenta PV19
✓ Ultramarine Blue PB29
✓ Mars Black PBk11
✓ Cobalt Teal Blue (turquoise light) PG50
✓ Phthalo green warm PG36
Brushes
✓ Filbert hog bristle and Synthetic sizes n° 4, 6, 8, 10 and 12
✓ Flat Synthetic brushes (same size)
✓ Round sable brush or round Kolinsky sable n° 4, 8, 10, 12 (from the size of the nail (about one inch) or synthetic imitation
Medium
✓ Linseed stand oil
✓ Odorless mineral spirits
✓ Or Alkyd medium (Liquin, Galkyd, Flow'n'Dry etc.)
✓ Safflower oil
Surface
✓ Linen canvas, fine grain universal coating
✓ For studies : Canson oil-acrylic oil paper Figueras
Others
✓ Palette
✓ Sponge and spalter brushes
✓ Palette knife in the shape of a water drop, no souldering
✓ A few small pots, containers, jars...
✓ Paper towels
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#art #painting #inspiration
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Thanks for watching !

[@warpedweft9004]

I love your comment about it not being the materials used but the way the paint is laid down. I find the snobbery around 'archival' and 'professional quality' paints quite elitist. Not all of us can afford those materials, especially if we are just hobbyists. I paint on whatever surface I can get my hands on. I reuse stretchers and use mid weight cotton fabric as I don't like the heavy texture of canvas. My unloved paintings are removed from the stretchers after 12 months and hung up on trouser hangers for me to look back on down the track. My loved ones, after 12 months, I glue to MDF board. I've learned from bitter experience not to use dollar store paints as my only two cracked paintings were ones where I used that paint in part of the painting and that was the part that cracked. But I do use mid-range paints and there are a few student range ones I use because I just like their consistency and/or transparency. I don't paint to sell, but on occasions people have asked to buy my paintings. I'm upfront about the materials I've used and price them accordingly. No one has ever come back to complain.

[@fishypaw]

I see similar with electric guitar. Some people get obsessed with old guitars and components, trying to make exact copies of legendary guitarists' guitars, but they will never really sound like the legends they are trying to copy. Being a great guitarist, or artists, requires lots of practice, and less time worrying about materials. Jimi Hendrix would sound like Jimi Hendrix, no matter what guitar he picked up. I can only ever sound like me, and be the best version of me, by practising ... and I think it's similar with painting.

[@romulusbuta9318]

Not entirely true !!!! Back then they made some things BETTER.... Gibson guitar are just one of those things.......☝️☝️☝️☝️☝️☝️That's why a vintige Gibson costs 25,000 $ or more....and one new....3000 $- 5000 $..... It's not just "stupid fancy people" who wants to own an instrument for playing music , as close as old rock bands had....like a fetishism . NO .Some old guitars JUST SOUNDS BETTER .....WAY BETTER.... More....I BELIVE what Mattias Jobs from Scorpions says about vintige electric guitars says and not you.......😏😏😏😏😏☝️☝️

[@romulusbuta9318]

Also.....your last sentenceses tells me your hearing is not good enough ....to hear the very fine small diferences ........."Hendrix would sound like Hendrix don't matter what guitar he would pick "😃😃😃😃😃😆😆😆😆😆😆😀😀😂😂😂😂😂🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣😂😂😅😆😄😃🤯...FOR SHURE YOU DON'T KNOW ENOUGH ABOUT LIFE and things around you

[@palnagok1720]

Acrylic doesn't have the colour saturation of oil paint because ,besides the binder and pigment, it has a bactericide, a fungicide , a thermal stabiliser , a pH stabiliser, a surfactant , a defoamer , extenders and fillers and optical brighteners...how much room is left for pigment ?... Plus , you are breathing in all the water - soluble crap as it cures over a week. It still has VOCs for all the vegans out there . The only problem with modern-day oils is the oil itself. It just isn't cleaned properly of all the mucilage , which comes with the seeds. The oil doesn't turn brown over time , the mucilage does, as it was food for the early growth of the plant _ flaxseed. There is no such thing as a linseed plant. Linseed oil is the name of a product that has been through 6 industrial processes to make alkali refined linseed oil. The problem is , that it is inferior oil to what the old guys had. To clean the oil properly and naturally thicken it to where it dries quickly , is too expensive for big manufacturers. Also , they can then sell you other products to make up for the shortcomings of their inferior oil. Big win for them because most atrists are ignorant of their materials. In the old days , artists knew their materials. Just washing the oil properly , allows you to create all types of viscosity from the washed oil for different medium effects. Adding calcite to the oil strengthens and thickens it so much that it sticks like shit to a blanket . Check out Louis Velazquez books and videos. You can add this oil to your tube colours and have it dry in 14 hr. If you grind your own paints , it will dry in 9 hr _great for gkazing. Try and do this with the crap from... ( ...your fave mftr ) Tintoretto used to do 10 glazes per day , because art was a biz back then and the quicker the better_ onto the next commission. He used a special emulsion , I hear, check kremner pigments . Also , modern oil doesn't have the binding strength of the oil used by the old guys. Also , check out Robert c groves mediums and the Rembrandt research project with prof hans de wetering. Cheers.

[@Kliffot]

I made sun thickened linseed oil, it's nice and it does dry much quicker, but it's not a necessity. Why bother, nowaday we have various alkyd, simple strong and effective.

[@palnagok1720]

@@Kliffot you are right about alkyds_ CAS Alkyd Pro paints are highly pigmented and quick to dry...but they still have VOCs like any solvent based paints. The idea about CSO is that you will never have to use solvents , even when cleaning your brushes. You can use the thin versions of CSO to thin down the thick versions of CSO. ...no solvents , no varnishes , no resins , no driers. If you must clean your brushes, just use walnut oil in a tray ( cutlery ) and just wipe them on a rag. The old guys didn't really clean their brushes as they used them continually. Just change the oil occasionally.. Modern solvents like gamsol , will still have you breathing VOCs ; just as toxic as dist. turps and petroleum distillate but slower to evaporate. Alkyds are great for glazing but have proper ventilation. I get headaches if I don't. Rembrandt and Titian used to apply tens of glazes in a picture. If you were using modern stand oil medium , you could be waiting up to 2 weeks for 1 layer to dry. Multiply that by up to 60 glazes for Rembrandt and 30 - 40 for titian.and that is too long. These guys were working pros and were not going to wait that long to finish a pic. So , you can't use present day materials like that unless you use Alkyd which dries quickly. They didn't have alkyds but they had CSO + Titian used coloured glass as well. My point in all of this is that if you don't use alkyds or CSO based paint then modern materials can only copy OM technique. Try and paint like Rembrandt with WN , Sennelier , Gamblin, Michael Harding etc and you can't get that effect because modern paints are not the same. Let's not forget that the OMs used lead white which has quite different handling properties from titanium. These days people shit themselves when you mention pb white. They have turned it into the devil. And now the wokey people would love to ban cadmiums without knowing anything about materials. I am greatful I didn't go to art college but to app. science, so I don't live out all the arty farty myths. Just facts first , thanks. If you think of art as a trade then you learn about your materials. These days ,people just squeeze shit out of a tube and hope for the best and they wonder why their work is crap. Who can paint skin like a bouguereau? I hate his paintings ( too schmaltzy) but I love his technique__french classical method + lead white. Cheers.

[@Jules_Pew]

Van Dyke used lavender oil, which makes the paint dry quickly to get onto the next layer. I don't see problems with his paintings. I think we should just take what we can from the best of the survivors.

[@romulusbuta9318]

@@Jules_Pew "Van Dyck used lavander oil" 🤔...😃.... Something tells me that you found that Doctor's Emmett Brown DELOREN, you took a ride back in the 1600-es Low Countries or England and you realy SEEN van Dyck as man at work doing an oil painting......Then you turned back to tell us 😬😬😬😬😬😁😁

[@Splatterpunk_OldNewYork]

How do you wash your oil Sir? I tried with frankly disastrous effects. I guess I didn't wash it enough with water salt and sand or something. Made a bunch of works that darkened only 2 years after I sold them. My clients were not happy.

[@marlonbryanmunoznunez3179]

Artists during the Renaissance and beyond used the bleeding age on technology available at their time: optics (concave lenses/camera obscura), mathematics (theoretical and practical perspective), natural sciences (observations on anatomy/zoology/botanics), chemistry (new paints and painting processes). We would do good incorporating what science and technology has to offer us.

[@genevievedolan1288]

Bleeding age? I think the expression you are thinking of is ‘the cutting edge’ as in ‘the cutting edge of technology’ 😊

[@Eleziea]

Very good point.

[@joareza1915]

Sad story here: I knew this guy, good painter and friend, and he was stuck with some old masters technique, he mocked at me because I used liquin and he said there was nothing like venetian varnish, he worked with some really dangerous stuff like making his own white lead and used it to everything, also some medium (didn't got a chance to know what was inside but he said it was dangerous enough to instantly kill a mouse)... long story short: he died. By the time he passed we were no longer close but I heard he suffered early dementia and a stroke that made him stop painting. Can't tell for sure if the use of that materials were the reason he got sick but... could be.

[@FlorentFargesarts]

Wow, pretty sad story but thanks for sharing. Not sure the paint material was the cause but lead poisoning can be nasty, that's for sure. Sad for your friend.

[@Yatukih_001]

I try everything. If I want to make dangerous stuff there is a window and the dangerous stuff goes out, pollutes mostly nothing and that way does not enter my brain or the food or water supplies. Occasionally a nearer window is opened to make sure the stuff does not contact me or anybody else. Its supposed to be dangerous so that means no contact. This guy made a mistake. He was too close to the dangerous stuff. My stuff is at the attic or in the kitchen and sometimes its removed there and put to the attic to settle things down. Its used very rarely. Lead stuff and related is used minimum. I agree with you and Florent Farges. My art is not perfect and that is the point of art. Its to enjoy it for art´s sake.

[@atlantic_love]

Did his initials come after A and before S? I kid, I kid :D

[@KpxUrz5745]

All it takes is reasonable care to work with lead white or red lead to avoid any harm. In general, artists are not in danger from materials unless they are wild and literally eating the stuff. I'm quite tired of the Political Correctness of fretting over harm from time-honored art materials. There is far too much belief that the past masters succeeded because they had secret formulations. For the most part, no, they were just genius artists who worked mostly with ordinary materials. If artists had Rembrandt's EXACT formulations and materials, they still could not get even remotely close to painting a Rembrandt.

[@ivanmatveyev13]

This story never happened.

[@huberthanks3007]

So true. Old Masters used what was available and no question would have used many modern alternatives given the choice.

[@jordanmatthew6315]

Tbh i bet the old masters would love to use digital to go even further beyond. That would be dope.

[@FlorentFargesarts]

Surely !

[@amysbees6686]

The profession of art conservation is an enormous benefit to artists as well. Their use of technology to analyze paintings gives artists invaluable information on what materials/practices are d etrimental to a finished painting. This is how, for example, it was discovered the use of zinc white would cause the painting to completely crumble off it's substrate. I'm sure they must have also been the ones to discover how bitumen destroys the surface of a painting. There is more being discovered every day! Instead of "archival," I believe a better approach for artists seeking some longevity for their paintings is to consider whether it's what conservators recommended. There are papers available to the public on their findings, and this can be distilled for artists. George O'Hanlon at Natural Pigments (maker of Rublev Oil Paints) is an authority on this, as he gets his information through art conservators.

[@artofrav]

The old masters would have been incredibly enthusiastic seeing a drawing tablet.

[@Nancy-tr5fi]

Thank you for pronouncing words correctly. Many video makers do not bother to learn the names pronunciation. Yet they choose to speak either critically or admiringly of that person. No respect,,or lack of basic education. You sir, are respectful. Though I still think oil painting has something to it that acrylics do not achieve. But, I do concede this just may be how I started. I have learned to love watercolors. .

[@Ac-ip5hd]

I agree. I am glad to have learn to hone a quill though. Its so much more flexible then a metal point dip pin though. Not so much a painting thing though.

[@FlorentFargesarts]

I definitely think that it's good to know unique skills and techniques, for sure, if it serves your art ! I'm all for it.

[@shadowstarr7]

Another excellent video, Florent. Thank you!

[@ccoppola82]

Funny story about rabbit skin glue. When I was just staring I used it and was sizing canvas outside. I spilled some on the blacktop in the driveway. Within a couple days the blacktop literally PULLED UP where the RSG had dried. Crazy. String stuff

[@FlorentFargesarts]

WTF? Didn't know this could happen.😵‍💫😵‍💫

[@atlantic_love]

@@FlorentFargesarts That's why you NEVER hit a rabbit. It will take the tire off the wheel. True story. State law :D

[@KpxUrz5745]

"Pulled Up"??? You mean a 2 or 3 inch thick section of black asphalt literally broke away from the driveway just because some rabbit skin glue spilled on it??? Sorry, I don't buy that at all. Rabbit skin glue is a pretty harmless sizing material.

[@ccoppola82]

@@KpxUrz5745 not lying. I dumped it on the blacktop thinking it harmless and the surface of the blacktop pulled up a couple days later. Not an entire 2” thick chunk, but it literally pulled the surface of the blacktop up. Why would I make something like that up???

[@KpxUrz5745]

@@ccoppola82 Ok, friend. Having worked with rabbit skin glue, I just cannot view it as having the chemical composition to do much more than just be sticky until it dries. It's a pretty harmless water-based organic material.

[@iMakeThat]

Florents courses are amazing!!! ❤

[@FlorentFargesarts]

Thank you so much 😊😊🙏🙏✨✨🎨🎨

[@harshadk4264]

the lighting in your studio is impeccable

[@GnaReffotsirk]

I needed to hear this, as I am being sucked into the rabbit hole of finding the perfect medium.

[@cynthiamarston2208]

Ill add two cents. Medium should be the oil that the paint was made with. Different paints use different oils. Therefore my idea is use poppyseed oil to lengthen the amount of time before paint starts to get tacky….depends on how thick you prefer but always the top layer of a paint stroke left alone will get tacky and thats death to progress….so they go to three layers when that happens…..letting it dry for as long as it takes…a week to 6 months depending. I did try mediums and ultimately i found using the least absorbant canvas prep and poppyseed oil to change the paints spreadability if needed but keep in mind the fat over lean….just in case you have to do a three or so stages painting due to the paint going tacky….so no added medium first layer or only the slightest if needed for a too stiff tube…thats just me. I dont why I bothered to even writie it except im around the corner from a window of opportunity to paint again uninterrupted and all that. I

[@elleeo1495]

Very well said!

[@KengKoyArt]

Thank you, Sir.

[@ulfb5467]

No "secrets" with the Old Masters? Please describe Rembrandt's texture with his white color, how do you get that?

[@diegoallcore]

Someone said to me once that inspiration is really just a very exciting research haha. Thanks a lot

[@GnaReffotsirk]

Makes sense to me.

[@tkraid2575]

It is 😂 It's nothing super grand.

[@chetzar]

You are 100% correct.

[@mayarosexxx]

I'm a realism painter and used acrylics but yes I find realism is a lot easier with oils.

[@rutbrea8796]

Florent, I think you're right the worth of a painting is not the material one use but the quality of its work. One must struggle to make a good composition and likenesses of the subject the best possible to one's ability. Great advice. Your paintings are admirable and extremely appreciated. Thanks for sharing your talent and knowledge with us 🇺🇸🙏😊. Great teaching

[@svahas]

Synthetic instead of rabbit skin is also more ethical.

[@shuvoDhar.5537]

Very nice👍❤

[@fathernsonarttravel]

Thanks for the enligthenment

[@WeThePpleForThePple]

How true.

[@sebastiansahlin4472]

Is chalk in oil paint archival?

[@sandrajohnson2489]

I am a painter in various mediums and oils are my favorite. I love the old master's works but I am not interested in creating the products they used. I tend to be lazy and use tubes of paint.

[@sandrajohnson2489]

When you mentioned 'amber', what did you mean?

[@funlightfactory6031]

I am going to even go older! The real old masters! I am using oxblood, dirt and painting in caves! I am kidding, but the snobby-ness of some artists is ridiculous.

[@Randyrocker1]

You tell me what exactly Jan van Eyck used in his paintings, and I'll believe you. So far no one knows exactly, and I sight him because his paintings still hold up as being off the highest quality. Today's artists are too lazy to work as hard, or to dedicate their lives to finding what mediums to use to achieve their desired outcome. Both areas are of equal concern.

[@FlorentFargesarts]

Van Eyck paintings are awesome, it's true but his medium wouldn't be enough to make great paintings today.

[@Expressionistix]

I’ve done all the rabbit skin glue, black oil (lead carbonate, linseed or walnut oil with mastic varnish to gel) white lead priming, authentic traditional pigments, made my own paint, used the best linen… all that crap when I was younger - all those paintings are in the trash because they are bad paintings. Now today with more skill and work my paintings are much much better. I spend way more time painting than worrying about stupid prepping the surface. I don’t care if my paintings last 100 years once they’re sold I’m on to the next one and since I’m a professional artist cost is a huge issue for me and I won’t be wasting money on buying say Chemnitz white for $100 a tube when I can get titanium for $15.

[@palnagok1720]

@@FlorentFargesarts ...a simple test would be to paint with modern mediums and see if you can replicate his finish . I reckon that you couldn't do it. Do a video about it to shut the classical people up for all time. I think it would be very hard and you would be pushing shit up hill to do it. Sennelier has a " Van Eyck " medium, perhaps you could start there. It would make for an interesting video. Cheers.

[@atlantic_love]

@@Expressionistix If you're not willing to buy a $100 tube, and sell your work for $15 you're not a professional ;-)

[@romulusbuta9318]

@@Expressionistix your work with all thouse different materials gave you EXPERIENCE.......It is nothing , to know exactly what different materials can offers you when you work with them....?

[@patrickmcdaniel8123]

Love all the uneducated comments from all the lazy Sunday painters in the comment section. Makes me laugh and laugh. The more people dismiss the old masters techniques the less competition me and my friends have. LOVE IT!

[@goodvitamins6271]

Some artists have been able to make hyper realism with acrylic.

[@chelseal654]

I think keeping the traditional skills alive is important for research and posterity. But using it as part of your everyday practice is probably going to lead to less painting! Da Vinci might have painted more if he didn’t have to spend so much time making his materials…

[@Foervraengd]

da vinci would go bonkers with procreate

[@tatti966]

😮

[@williamschlenger1518]

WOW I cut this guy out quick. Rembrandt & many others were genius's.No electric,no clean water, no handy tubes of paint.

[@martmarriner6793]

disagree. white lead paint? for eg.

[@maralfniqle5092]

Nothing blends like oil

[@wowyummyyy]

LIKE 👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👏👏👏 💯💯💯😻😻😻😻

[@conoroconnell6885]

'Archival' is a totally overrated excuse in my opinion. As if most of these people's paintings will be viewed in galleries like Old Master works are today, in 500 years time. Also, most of these people are hung up on Renaissance techniques and even subject matter which will guarantee this fact. If Caravaggio or Rembrandt were looking back to history and painting like Giotto, of course their names would not be remembered today. I'm all for representational art but I think we've too many modern painters who's work is indistinguishable from 16th century paintings. If that's what someone loves doing for the process and that link with the past, which I can understand as an art/history lover, then go ahead, but I do think that serious art needs to reflect or comment on the contemporary in some way. I'm also of the opinion that a confidently painted alla prima work can look far better than a work that's been weeks in the making by layering and glazing etc. By the way, I mean 'archival' in the way some 'Old Master nerds' use it and of course everyone should use decent materials and techniques that will hold up- I'm not advocating for a burning of the rule book or anything :)

[@MrSilva960]

The old Masters mistakes, are known. We can forgive some of them, but are great paintings. Fat over lean had produce cracking, they didn`t know that, at that time. Today we can work with modern tints and made great paintings, if we use Oil or acrylic. In my opinion is the creation process what matters.

[@atlantic_love]

A little ocnfused as to what you're saying.

[@pedroclaudio3401]

I also was told before that oil painting was better for realism, and I took it for granted until I saw acrilyc paintings from the american artist Rod Penner. If you like hyper realism check him out

[@atlantic_love]

I did check him out, and am blown away with the realism. That being said, I'd never have any desire to get that detailed with my painting. He isn't even painting in the traditional sense, he's just showing everyone that he "can" do it. :D

[@romanusibeonwa-zn2yz]

I guess, knowing the chemistry of the materials and how compatible they are is the key to longevity; hence, every generation has their scientific breakthrough.

[@VincentNoot]

Real artists can use poop and turn it into art.

[@patrickmcdaniel8123]

Name one.

[@palnagok1720]

Babies do it all the time... anal abstracts