How to Paint Like the Old Masters: Watson-Guptill 25th Anniversary Edition | 
 enlarge | Author: Joseph Sheppard
Publisher: Watson-Guptill
Category: Book
List Price: $24.95
Buy New: $12.92
You Save: $12.03 (48%)
New (22) Used (14) from $10.87
Rating:  26 reviews
Sales Rank: 85176
Media: Paperback
Pages: 144
Number Of Items: 1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1.5
Dimensions (in): 11.9 x 9 x 0.6
ISBN: 082302671X
Dewey Decimal Number: 751.45
EAN: 9780823026715
ASIN: 082302671X
Publication Date: September 1, 1983
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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Product Description
25th Anniversary Edition! * Classic painting book reveals the techniques of the Old Masters * Packed with full-color demonstrations of 16th- and 17th-century oil painting techniques Generations of artists have learned from How to Paint Like the Old Masters, the classic volume that explores the techniques used by the great artists of the 16th and 17th centuries. Now Watson-Guptill proudly presents the 25th Anniversary Edition. Each chapter is devoted to a different Old Master--Durer, Titian, Veronese, Caravaggio, Vermeer, Hals, Rubens, and Rembrandt--and is divided into two sections. The first part describes the artist’s techniques and discusses how artists can incorporate these methods within their own personal style. The second part is a full-color demonstration. Author Joseph Sheppard traces the artist’s working sequence, colors and mediums, surfaces and tools, as he creates a new painting. With today’s resurgence of interest in Old Master techniques, this unique, practical, and inspiring book is sure to teach countless artists exactly How to Paint Like the Old Masters.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 21 more reviews...
Very Interesting, Helpful Content August 15, 2008
Erin M. Peavler (Austin, TX)
I consider myself a successful painter. I've sold paintings, I've had exhibits, and more importantly, I love to paint... but I am self-taught and even with all the information online, this book still provided excellent detailed descriptions into the full process of the masters. From which brushes to use to how to mix paints and thinners. This book was very helpful for me in trying to fine tune effects I want to achieve in a painting. For instance, if I'm doing a portrait and want it to be a little Rembrandt with a hint of Titian (whatever that means to me at the time) this book gives me the tools to accomplish this.
 Interesting, to a point March 31, 2008
Bullwinkle495 (California)
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
The book first goes into an in-depth discussion of the various mediums, varnishes, and colors used by Titian, Rubens, Durer, Veronese, Hals and Rembrandt. The author advises us to use Lead white, and to also make our own mediums using a messy boiling method. Several "examples" follow to fill out the book, where he does several paintings, in phases, to suggest perhaps how the old masters painted. It is a unique book, because there is a dearth of books out there on what techniques and materials the old masters really used. And Shepherd is a decent draftsman, as witnessed by his several excellent figure drawing books. However, I only recommend buying or borrowing this book if you are completely clueless on the topics of grisailles, glazes, lead white, and how blues and grays can be used in underpainting to bring out realistic flesh tones later when lighter
glazes or scumbles are applied. It is an introductory book only.
The big problem is that there is virtually nothing really written down by the old masters on what their techniques really were, other than anecdotal evidence. So the author is really guessing, and certainly says nothing about how these artists set up their compositions, or their use of models. Shepherd talks only about the mixtures and drying times. Watteau was said to have worked very quickly, finishing a painting in a day-- with a very dirty palette with lots of turps dripping all over--yet his paintings are gorgeous. Rubens, besides having assistants, apparently had some original ideas on how to paint "transparent" shadows, which gives his work a special glow. Titian said that he used "20 to 30" glazes (it's important to realize that the famous Venetian colorists always painted grisailles first). Certainly, the color mixtures that Shepherd employs should be taken with a grain of salt, because a sense of color is an intuitive, naturally-developed thing, and so it is only useful to know that they MAY have used madder and ocher to get a sort of flesh tone-we don't KNOW that they did.
The part about boiling mediums is too labor-intensive, expensive to order, and impractical to experiment with, and worse, there is no evidence that boiling your own mediums, mixing your own paint, or esp. using white lead will make your paintings "glow" like the old masters!
I used Titanium white and it is fine--Lead white is chalky and hard to mix without lots of medium, too much of which can make your work too wet
or sticky. It is also poisonous, and can seep into your skin. It's covering power and mixability is in no way superior to Titanium white, in my view (but better than other whites). Shepherd does, however, mention Maroger medium (Neo Megilp is the modern alternative), which is a sort of varnish-smelling "jelly" which allows a certain mixture and buildup of effects very attractive to certain artists who want their work to look like Rembrandt's. But Velazquez worked very thinly, using no such jelly at all, if you see his work close up (The Technique of Genius book).
In general, I give this book a low rating, because it is less helpful than simply LOOKING at close-ups of old master works. By looking at the surface of great paintings, you can discover many tricks, see how loose, crafty and bold they were, and then go back to your studio and try to keep that in mind when you paint. I certainly do not recommend seriously following Shepherd's step-by-step methods! which I think could actually be discouraging and harm your art, being so dogmatic and narrow. But as a book to simply peruse and familiarize yourself with perhaps how some of these old masters painted, it is fine.
A useful overview December 26, 2007
Jodi-Hummingbird
I bought this book based on the reviews here and I wasn't disappointed.
What was really good about the book was that the images shown are of a reasonable size. In many books the images are too small to really see the painting technique clearly. Each painting is also shown in quite a few stages of completion so you can really clearly understand the painting process being demonstrated. The descriptions given of each technique were also very clear and well written.
What I most disliked about the book was that many of the paintings in the book were done in the 1970s and so looked quite dated.
This is a great book, but I wouldn't recommend it for beginners - you need to know the basics of painting and colour mixing etc. first.
It doesn't give the final word on painting like the masters, I'm still interested in reading more about it, but this book was a great starting point and well worth buying.
 Wonderful 'how to' book on painting December 19, 2007
Daniel Foster
This is the only book I've every come across that completely demonstrates the techniques of several masters. The graphics are amazing and I like the fact that there are several sequential illustrations for each painting. Wonderful 'how to' book on painting like the masters.
 Shepard's Old Masters came from the 1970s March 17, 2007
K. Cavanaugh (San Diego, CA USA)
1 out of 3 found this review helpful
Joseph Sheppard's How to Paint Like the Old Masters is a good visual reference book especially for procedural figure painting techniques used by historical painters. The book explains how to start from a tinted or warm background, and the correct layering of highlights and colors, etc. Unfortunately, the author's illustrative examples are mostly of 1970-esque nudes that give little inspiration for painters to aspire toward.
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