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 When I first started painting, I was surprised at how difficult it was to find a skilled instructor. Painting is truly both an art and a craft and one must learn both aspects equally.  My beginning attempts to learn brought me into many local classes.  Here I was told to just express myself and make it bigger.  I never really felt like I was learning anything and I was very unhappy with the results.  Kind of like if you were just learning to speak and you were told to just speak louder or scream and somehow people would be interested in what you were trying to say.  As my journey progressed I began to realize that the great art of the past, the Old Master work that I so admired was more a cultivation and a nurturing of skill, taste, understanding and intelligence.   Michelangelo started as a young boy copying the art around him. This practice brought him to the attention of the Medici Court where he would be surrounded by the great minds of his time, and his talent would be nurtured.    

Later the hub of art would move to France and artist for the next 300 years would develop their talents and taste via  Académie Royale de Peinture et de Sculpture and and École des Beaux-Arts. An important part of this training was the copying Old Master paintings. 

With the internet able to give us such great resolution images, even people in very remote parts of the country and world can try their hand at being a copyist.  Of course it is always best to observe the work in person, the subtlety and texture will always be lacking in any computer image but so much can be learned anyway.  

Museums like the Louvre started as training grounds for artist and have continued their commitment to training through their copyist program.  It has changed and become much more restrictive over the centuries but is available to those who meet the requirements and are able to navigate the complicated application process. Many other Museums have programs as well.

 While attending The Florence Academy of Art I had the opportunity to copy from one of our wonderful exhibitions of 19th Century Art. While I have done so much coping at the Louvre with drawing, I loved being right in front of a painting with my full set of paints.    My greatest take away was the amazing compression of values in the lights, and the unity and structure of the shadow shapes and the subtle beauty of their design.  Exploring the anatomy and interior transitions, they were so, so subtle.  Also I observed that very clean edge shapes worked to appear as value transitions without hardly any change in value.    I hope to do more in the future as I continue along this beautiful path, following in this honored tradition.