Training Leonardo, Becoming Raphael: the training and formation of the artist
Training Leonardo, Becoming Raphael: the training and formation of the artist
Lecturer: Chantal Brotherton-Ratcliffe
Artists like Raphael, Leonardo and Michelangelo: each was clearly an outstanding genius, but they first had to learn their trade in the same way that the thousands of lesser artists did.
This lecture reconstructs daily life in the artist’s workshop. It examines the ways in which artists before the 18th century learnt their trade, and then unpicks the various pieces of advice given in the numerous “How To” books which were written and which provide us with a window into the practice of artists, as well as into the mindset of practitioners from the past.
Chantal Brotherton-Ratcliffe has an MA in History of Art from Edinburgh and a PhD from the Warburg Institute, London University. With 40 years’ experience as a lecturer, Chantal has taught at Sotheby’s Institute of Art on the MA course in Fine and Decorative Arts since 1989, and as a freelance lecturer for a number of societies in London, Italy and America.
Having also trained as a paintings conservator, she brings to her lectures and study sessions an understanding of the making of a painting, and the physical nature of what is involved.