For the first time in my life I think I begin to comprehend Ingres, David, and the French Neoclassical painters. And, perhaps, also, by extension, the work of Raphael who was very highly regarded by Ingres (a leading light in French Neoclassicism.)
Neoclassicism is essentially Apollonianism and operates in contrast to Romanticism or Dionysionism. Delacroix was the great Romanticist painter. (Much admired by Van Gogh, a Dionysianistic painter.)
In C19th France there was a great deal of fuss and furore concerning the place of colour in painting. For artists, such as Ingres, working in the Neoclassical or Apollonian style colour was of secondary importance. Drawing was all. And when a very precise drawing was made on a canvas colour became almost superfluous and paintings little more than tinted drawings.
Nice to discover stuff! The drawing I made on this canvas was precise and that precision has dictated the course of all that follows.
The piece is still in progress.
peter robinson fine art 