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 enlarge | Author: Joseph Sheppard
Publisher: Watson-Guptill
Category: Book
List Price: $24.95
Buy New: $12.99
You Save: $11.96 (48%)
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Rating:  27 reviews
Sales Rank: 57128
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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| Customer Reviews:
 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.
 Excellent but might not be the whole story December 6, 2006
Brian Asquith
10 out of 10 found this review helpful
The first thing that struck me as I browsed the book is the woeful quality of many of the images, with some being out of focus. This problem is also apparent in the other two books by Watson Guptill that I think compliment this one well. Kreutz "Problem Solving for Beginners" and Cateura "Oil Painting Secrets from a Master". If you are looking to paint in a realistic style in the vein of Caravaggio, Rembrandt etc. then you will find plenty of information in these three books. br / br /However all three deal with technique and for me the ability to discern the brushstrokes is a critical part of the learning exercise i.e. is the artist using impasto or thinned paint? With these images it's impossible to tell. Hopefully WG will revisit each of these books and bring the images up to scratch. br / br /Joseph Sheppard provides "how to's" allowing the reader to emulate the techniques of: Durer, Titian, Veronese, Caravaggio, Rubens, Hals, Rembrandt and Vermeer. Information on how to create specific paint mediums used by that particular artist, mixing paints, painting surfaces etc. He makes no claims that any of the information offered is absolute. As well as conducting his own studies on how to achieve a certain painterly effect he has also drawn on technical information published by the various "art experts" (listed in the bibliography). br / br /Results of recent studies of old master paintings indicating that the current thinking on techniques might be wrong. The old masters would typically have a team of apprentices working alongside them, mixing paint, painting parts of the painting that the master was probably too bored to bother with (as well as good training for the apprentice) etc. The Master/Apprentice setup allowed for a continuous stream of knowledge being passed along the generations. However as oil paint technology advanced, in particular the ability to buy premixed paints off the shelf, the painter no longer needed a team of apprentices. He could pretty much get by on his own. Hence there was no longer anyone for the painter to pass on his knowledge to. This resulted in a considerable amount of technical knowledge being lost. (A good example is the recent theory promulgated by David Hockney that the old masters were able to paint such realistic paintings as they used rudimentary projection techniques to place a guide image on the canvas, overwhich they painted. No one knows if he is right or wrong). br / br /From the 1800's on, technical experts such as Charles Eastlake ("Methods and Materials of Painting") and Max Doerner ("The Materials of the Artist") began to impart their wisdom on how the old master paintings were created. But the techniques thay had available were very rudimentary, more often than not being a case of the expert trying to reproduce a certain style and looking at the painting surface close up. The experts proferred their theories and techniques, often with much aplomb leaving no room for doubt. Unfortunately they were often quite off the mark - they could emulate a style somewhat but never 100%. There are too many variables involved even for a discerning eye. It has only been with recent advances in scientific analysis, chemical and visual, that a truer understanding of the old master technique is finally being determined. Van Wettering's excellent "Rembrandt - the painter at work" book details the findings of extensive research carried out on a number of paintings considered to have been painted by Rembrandt. The book is 340 pages, and they still haven't got all the answers. But what they have done is to throw in to doubt the theories and techniques of the 19th/20th C experts. br / br /There is a welter of information in this book, but if you are trying to perfectly replicate a certain old master painterly technique, and failing to do so, then be warned the experts might not be such experts afterall. br / br /All said and done, I do recommend this book for the wealth of information it contains. Numerous recipes for mediums, varnishes, mixing paints, painting surface etc., along with a well presented demonstration of each painters technique. This book might not quite get you to a 100% replication of the desired technique but it will certainly get you close. And as science uncovers more knowledge about the "real" techniques they can be applied here accordingly. br / br /It is not a book for beginners - a rudimentary understanding of the oil painting process is reqd at minimum. Beginners might want to check out Brian Gorst's "The Complete Oil Painters" also.
 You can do much better November 16, 2006
David B. Jones (San Jose CA)
4 out of 18 found this review helpful
That aluminum woman on the front cover is ludicrous. What makes the author think any old master ever began that way? br / br /You will do better if you look for a book by a painter whose own work does not appear amateurish.
 Realistic painting for the beginners November 6, 2006
John Ng (Perth, WA Australia)
7 out of 13 found this review helpful
I beg to defer from the other reviews. Having bought the book on the basis of the reviews, I am quite disappointed. This is book IS for beginners who are interested in the first steps of realistic painting. It takes you through various Old Masters' techniques (or rather what the author THINKS is the Old Master's technique) without much explanation. The author's comments, as he takes you through a handful of development snaps of his painting, are scanty and non-helpful. Don't dream that you could paint like anything vaguely like the Masters; and in fact, the authors own painting is a poor, if any, semblance of a Master's work unless you are looking through the eyes of a beginner. br /The most interesting part of the book is the four stages on the cover, which is probably enough information without having to buy the book.
same old stuff November 2, 2006
Susan M. Richards
2 out of 3 found this review helpful
All the projects looked the same. it didn't go into a detailed description of the the techniques the different artists used.
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