Ateliers in Florence, Italy?
 

Dear Forum:

I travel to Florence, Italy for 10 days of painting in October. While the trip is primarily a plein-air-landscape vacation, I would, of course, love to find a portrait studio or two to visit. Any ideas in addition to The Angel and Florence Academy of Art recommended by ARC? I do plan to visit these for future reference. Their enrollment appears more involved than my visit allows time for.

Grazie mille,
Giannina

Oh, they would be silly not to welcome you with wide arms if only for a long tour. You'll love it.

Also check out Charles Cecil Studios

Buon lavoro!

Ritornata
 

Dear Forum:

It pleases me to report that Florence is as beautiful as ever. During our visit, we painted nearly every day en pleine aire.

On day one, we visited Cecil Studios (thank you Mari!) for a free slide show and lecture on the pre-Renaissance influence of Giotto given by Charles Cecil.

We sketched from the model at the Florence Academy. Pictured here with me (on the left)is my collegue, Sophia James. How happy are we? Very!

On the day before departing, we toured the impressive Angel Studios.

All three ateliers have much to offer the student looking to learn Renaissance methods of portrait painting. The process is often painstaking with the first of three years dedicated to drawing and learning sight-sizing.

Summer workshops and studio sessions are available for visitors.

Florence Academy
 

A peek to the gallery.

Angel Studio Year One
 

Pencils are shaved to long, lean points. Red thread is used to check measurements of classic paintings of classic sculptures which are copied by first year students.

I was taught never to copy a copy. This system reportedly works well for the school, however.

Will the Real Bust Please Stand Up?
 

Can you guess which one is the sculpture and which is the painting at Angel Academy?

Angel Palette
 

The artist, Dan Perry, at Angel Studio shows the palette he used to create the bust portrait above.

Bravo!

Very cool
 

I note that these schools and artists are getting tons of press right now with a show in NYNY and write ups in magazines...deservedly so.

They do indeed deserve all that publicity.

I was teaching at the Florence Academy in 1999 and was very pleased to see what I saw: the total dedication to the academic school. Very fine group under the lead of Dan Graves - my hat is off to him, for starting that school.

I wrote an article (probably, one of the first articles of that kind at that time) about the valuable assets of the academic program at the Florence Academy. I even compared it to the old European academies, including the one I graduated from, the Surikov Academy in Moscow. They would have that article on the Art Renewal Center website ("Articles" section). Or if you subscribe to the International Artist, it is in the Feb/March 2000 issue. It's called "Why we must keep the traditions alive". To make it easier to identify that magazine issue, please see below the cover.

My very best to all,