More Medieval Painting Goodness...
Well, I hope it's goodness, anyway.
A few months ago a young model living in Modena, Italy contacted me and said she would be in the
Seattle area in August and would I consider shooting a classical painting theme with her. I of course wasted so very little time in saying yes, as you can imagine. We settled on Titian's Venus of Urbino as a likely project.
Well, she traveled from Italy as promised, even showing up at the studio with a little sleeping dog she had found in Modena that closely resembled the one in Titian's original painting. We had to make certain concessions...in the original, for instance, there's a little girl with her back to the viewer as she rummages in a trunk. CeCe was slated to fulfill that role, but she was in California that weekend attending a family funeral. So we improvised, in the very best traditions of Art, and substituted linens for the child. One thing that allowed me to do was to add some bright colors to the composition, especially since the handmaiden in the original was wearing a bright red skirt and our handmaiden model was wearing black, with a yellow under dress. It wasn't until post processing that I realized what Titian undoubtedly knew when he painted it...that all that white on the primary model's bed would need to be balanced by some white in the maidservant's clothing. So I changed the yellow under dress to white and voila...the balance worked.
Without further ado...
And here's the image of the original that I used as a master copy...
A few months ago a young model living in Modena, Italy contacted me and said she would be in the
Seattle area in August and would I consider shooting a classical painting theme with her. I of course wasted so very little time in saying yes, as you can imagine. We settled on Titian's Venus of Urbino as a likely project.
Well, she traveled from Italy as promised, even showing up at the studio with a little sleeping dog she had found in Modena that closely resembled the one in Titian's original painting. We had to make certain concessions...in the original, for instance, there's a little girl with her back to the viewer as she rummages in a trunk. CeCe was slated to fulfill that role, but she was in California that weekend attending a family funeral. So we improvised, in the very best traditions of Art, and substituted linens for the child. One thing that allowed me to do was to add some bright colors to the composition, especially since the handmaiden in the original was wearing a bright red skirt and our handmaiden model was wearing black, with a yellow under dress. It wasn't until post processing that I realized what Titian undoubtedly knew when he painted it...that all that white on the primary model's bed would need to be balanced by some white in the maidservant's clothing. So I changed the yellow under dress to white and voila...the balance worked.
Without further ado...
And here's the image of the original that I used as a master copy...
calm