Fine painters from the Low Countries …

…The fine painters of the 17th century tried hard to reproduce the outer reality as exactly as possible through their painstaking painting technique. The top layer of the paint is a smooth glaze without any trace of brushstrokes left.

….As early as in Jan Van Eyck (1390-1441) we can witness the careful construction of the total picture from the meticulous reproduction of the detail. He yields the effect of naturalness by joining patiently detail to detail, until his painting has fully turned into a faithful copy of reality.

…It took Gerard Dou several days to reach perfection; illusion of a single broomstick. In many regards it is possible to call the art of fine painters, in the 17th century to a great deal a specialty of Leyden and Delft, a manifestation of the cultural identity of the Netherlands. First of all by its realism indeed.

…The perfect reproduction of the materiality of things by a smooth painting technique reminds of the amazing analytical perfection of Jan Van Eyck. Each detail of perception is given ample attention. The material world is being reproduced with precision up to its tiniest details. Nothing escapes from the analytical eye of the painter. The pleats of the robes, the rich texture of the fabrics, the splendour of the jewels, the designs of the carpets, they are all copied to reality.

…The brilliance of pearls, the lustre of brocade or the shine of a silk sleeve are depicted accurately.

…From a comparison with the Mediterranean art it has appeared that the amazing thing about the Flemish Masters lies in their analytical realism.

…Ever since the fifteenth century the art of the Netherlands has been fundamentally analytical, where as Mediterranean art proves to be synthetical.

…The artist from the North is painting what he sees. The Mediterranean artist is painting what he knows.

…Northern art excels in its refined perception and precise reproduction.
…This difference between northern and southern art has remained obvious throughout the centuries.

…A work that excels by the detailed reproduction of tissues, materials, jewels, utensils, is bound to be made by an artist from the North.

(Source : Pr.Dr.LUDO BEHEYDT, Een en toch apart. Kunst en Cultuur uit de Nederlanden, Davidsfonds – Leuven. ISBN: 90-400-8722-9)
Pr. Dr. Ludo Beheydt teaches Dutch linguistics and Dutch culture at the Catholic University of Louvain-La-Neuve and at the University of Leiden).

Contemporary fine painters

For present-day fine painters too, like for their historical Flemish and Dutch examples, the painting technique remains of major importance. And it takes extremely fine sable’s hair pencils indeed.
The high level of precision and subtlety of the details elaborated in oil requires a big skill to perform and with the aid of the finest sable’s hair pencils they are almost verging on the microscopic.

Realistic fine painting takes a lot of time, the subtlety of its method makes it most time-consuming and labour-intensive and therefore the paintings cannot be achieved but through a saint’s patience. You need to have a steady hand, to be precise, observant of details, skilled at drawing; you must blend colours thoroughly, work in layers, patiently wait until the ground layers are well dry before proceeding to adding new colour. In short: it takes a patient and disciplined process where holds: the more speed, the less refined the outcome.
Fine painters aim at painting so accurately, even from much close, that the brushstroke is invisible, or nearly, and the paint represents nothing but the subject to the full.

So, art, indeed, in the footsteps of the Old Masters, but contemporarily, and belonging to the world of “beauty”, for sure.
Art, performed by some of us with a great deal of verve and skill, but qualified by those many ‘ignorant’ as it were a mere trade, just a trick, pencil acrobatics, and even as ‘old-fashioned’.

As if, all of a sudden, all those Old Masters would no longer be Artists with capital letter.
Meanwhile, Van Eyck, Memling, Van der Weyden, Van der Goes, Dürer, Dou, van Mieris, Coorte, Floris Van Dijck, Kalf, de Heem, Heda and so many more wonderful fine painters, may have turned in their graves.

Guy De Jaegher