Grisaille

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Grisaille

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Published on before 2005

Alas, these are also matters of personal preference. The direct school would say the viewer should find the proper viewing distance (maybe 2.5 times the length of the longest side of the work) and all opinions of the work should be judged from there. They say one should not approach a figure in a painting any closer than one would approach a person one was looking at (as a whole).

I find that there are as few Bouguereaus now as there were then. In the grey/green school, I see as much mud as in the other (direct school) and maybe more. But I do agree the ability to paint is the essential thing and there is far too little deep knowledge about these days. The proof is in the pudding. I find (or feel) direct painters devote themselves more to their subject and underpainters to their method. Perhaps I'm wrong. The final result is all that matters.