Finding Old Master artists to learn from
“Learn from the Old Masters.”
This is a common piece of advice I’ve seen or heard that is shared by professional artists, particularly painters, when beginners ask how they can become a better artist.
As someone who had little formal study in art, I wasn’t sure where to start. Leonardo daVinci, Monet, and Van Gogh were the three most prominent names I would often hear mentioned. However, when I would look at their artwork, I didn’t feel inspired to study from them.
No shade toward these three painters. They are recognized Old Masters for a reason. However, their styles didn’t match up with the type of art I envisioned creating. It took me some years to admit that this is okay and that I should seek out other master artists whose work does inspire me.
The question is: where to start? A simple Google search will list the names of master artists, as well as artists from other art periods. It was overwhelming searching each name and looking at artwork before deciding if the artist is one I want to learn from. I needed to start small, and then expand on my knowledge of older artists. So, how did I begin?
I looked at the contemporary artists I was already following on social media and YouTube. Since I was following them because I loved their artwork, a quick search into any interviews or posts they’ve made gave a good indication of which master artists inspired them or who they recommended to study.
If you’re learning to paint in oil, it may come to no surprise that one of the most common names mentioned is: John Singer Sargent. At first glance, the subjects of his paintings didn’t interest me too much. However, as I watched and listened to interviews of my favorite artists talk about why they love Sargent, I took a closer look at the painter’s works. His brushwork is often talked about and I could see why. The way he is able to depict fabric and other shapes with what appears to be simple brushstrokes (not so easy to do as one would think!) captivated me.
Here’s an interesting piece of information. The technical definition of an Old Master refers to “distinguished painters of the 16th, 17th, or early 18th century”. By this definition, artists like John Singer Sargent and Joaquín Sorolla miss the mark by at least half a century. (Sargent was born in 1856 and Sorolla was born in 1863). However, their painting skills have reached enough recognition over the past century that they are often considered with similar respect as the Old Masters. Both of them have also been influenced by the Old Masters, such as Diego Velázquez.
Other “Old Masters” (officially and of recognized skill) I discovered that were mentioned by contemporary artists and illustrators I follow include: Diego Velázquez, Rembrandt, Artemisia Gentileschi, Peter Paul Rubens, John William Waterhouse, and many, many more.
The next method I employed to find master artists to study from was much simpler than poring over Google search results: ask artists in my community. I had joined an online Discord group after taking an online gouache course made up of previous and current students, and they shared resources, tips and tricks, and other useful information about developing one’s art skills. I asked for recommendations on painters (portrait and landscape) to study to improve my own work and the recommendations varied depending on the person’s interests. Through this group I learned about Artvee, a website that provides high-quality, public domain artwork. After a brief search of recommended artists, I began creating a collection of Master Artists folders and added my favorite artworks by the artists I found.
The next steps: study their works and apply what I learn to my own painting process. I’ll talk about how I do that in a future post.
Here are some other resources for high-resolution images of artworks, most of which are in the public domain (Exception: See WikiArt)
Who are your favorite master artists, whether old, contemporary, etc.? What medium(s) do they use?