Club Caravaggio is the impetus for this website. It was formed in 2019, and emerged quite spontaneously, from a simple request by interested work colleagues that wanted to learn how to draw/sketch. This innocent act morphed into group discussions on pencil sketching, and before long, more formal presentations were needed to explain certain fundamentals of line, tone, value, gradation, light, shadow, and “art tricks” to make a 2 Dimensional object seem like 3 dimensions. Soon the club began to intensely focus on traditional working methods and realism (realistic representation of objects or persons that are seen), as well as deep tissue dissection of human anatomy. There is no abstract impressionistic art here, and the focus is on a more technical and historically accurate approach to painting, founded upon hundreds, if not thousands of years of Greco-Roman figurative art that sparked the Renaissance, Mannerism, Baroque and Neo-Classicism.
The club uses only natural, historical pigments that have been used since Antiquity, some dating to over 40,000 years ago, like bone black and earth pigments (red and brown ochres and umbers). Other pigments, such as lapis lazuli and cinnabar, come from precious stones and regions of the world that were prized for their rare and precious stone deposits, such as Afghanistan and China, which is the source of Cinnabar. Due to extraction method of Cinnabar, it is also quite toxic. Cinnabar at one point was so highly prized by Romans that the Emperor had to fix the prize of this luxury to stabilize Roman economy. Lead White also has ancient origins and is quite toxic. If artists have a reputation for being crazy, that is because we ARE! Lead poisoning used to lead artists to dementia and other mental health problems (such as Caravaggio, Rubens, Goya, Van Gogh, Renoir, and Frida Kahlo). Care is taken to teach appropriate handling techniques of these colors.
Painting is executed using the Old Master method, consisting of 3 stages: 1) Campitura, 2) Imprimatura, 3) Brounaille/Grisaille. The club's mission is to rediscover Old Master techniques and to reclaim a historical patrimony (inheritance) that is of a great and intangible cultural value. There are very few universities and academies that teach these methods due to focus on “modern” abstract art.
PROJECT CARAVAGGIO (Coming Soon)….
Project Caravaggio was conceived in 2019. Its aim is to execute historically accurate reconstructions of Caravaggio's works at a scale of 1:1.