Saturday Art: 'The Painting Lesson' by Anton Müller

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 'The Painting Lesson' by Anton Müller

It is unusual for an artist to  choose a subject like a painting lesson to paint. I am thinking it may be autobiographical, probably remembering the days he gave painting lessons to survive. The setting is definitely not a studio, so the master was likely giving the lessons visiting his students' homes. The lesson is also rudimentary being taught the thumb-and-pencil method for finding proportions. The subject being painted looks makeshift, the student too is obviously a novice considering the smaller canvas used and her stiff and intent posture learning the basics, rather than a relaxed one when  one is refining and improvising. She is also holding what is termed as the Mahl stick, that is generally held across the painting to steady the  hand or even to provide protection against the dreaded “palm touchdown” on the painting's surface.

Interesting addition to the painting is what looks like a folder containing the student's paintings kept on the chair at the table. 

The artist has excelled in the way he has done the drapery all over the room. The distressed look on the carpet is beautiful. It is hard to get this effect of ageing so well.

One other thing worth mentioning is the effect of daylight on all objects in the room streaming through the unseen window at the back of the girl. Most good artists handle the effect of light well. The artists secures the position and axis of the dominant light and creates an illusion of depth, volume and mass by his treatment of the cast and form shadows. Good masters even consider the effect of reflected light of a surface and shadow cast by it if any. The light in this case is a single natural daylight and it seems to be coming from a high window considering the short shadows. It shows 5:05 on the clock, so with the strong light coming in it must be summer time. 

Just thinking that if the artist has used models for painting, they are in a very awkward position to maintain the pose for a long time. Quite likely the figures are from memory giving further credence to the theory that it may be autobiographical.

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