Painting In The Chapel

Details, Details, Details!

At last, Dear Readers, The Noah paintings are finished! You may recall that I promised I would show you the original versions I used as a models for these two versions of the Noah story. When last you saw these paintings they were nearly complete.... or done enough to fool anyone who had not seen the originals. The version below is the mostly done... all but the DETAILS version.
If you poke the picture it will enlarge it so you can see some of the missing details.....

The upper portion of the painting is copied from one of my all time favorite manuscripts... the Visconti Hours, made in the late fourteenth century for Giangaleazzo Visconti who ruled Milan with a tyrant's fist, but was a patron of the Arts as well. The manuscript is one of the most ornate and original and visually complex of any I have seen. Here below you can see the version I have copied from.... adorning an initial letter "D"... itself only a fraction of the illumination of the page........

For my version I had to invent the portion that extended outside the oval on the bottom edge.... I did my best to just continue what he had started..... but as usual, my version doesn't come close to faithfully reproducing the original! But at least I CAN say that mine is recognizable as a copy!

It took me several days of painting to get all the details I felt were necessary.... the shadows, the spots, the eyes, the feathers, the flowers, the waves, the flooded buildings.... oh, and the trees and the antlers and Noah himself........ the more I look, the more I see to copy.... But I have decided that I have done enough and will call it finished!

And the little painting at the bottom that shows the After the Flood scene... needed as much if not more..... in part because it is smaller so each part stands out more..... Here is the version I used as the model. In its original form it is quite large at 9 x 13 inches..... so MY version at 1.5 x 4.5 is Tiny in comparison! The colors were more muted and the detail less obvious.... but just as difficult to imitate!

Here you can see a close-up of the bottom portion NEARLY completed........

And here's a view of the entire panel.....

In spite of how long it has taken to complete the Noah paintings, that is not the only work I have done on the Chapel. I finally took the ENORMOUS step of fastening the ornate candlesticks to the floor and running the wires out through the walls behind the Altar! I cannot believe it took me so long to get around to that.... but I wanted to countersink a "spike" into the floor that the candlesticks would slide onto for added stability. It seems to be working just the way I wanted!
And if you look closely you will see that I added a gilded fringe to the ends of that beautiful Altar Cloth I got from Sans!

And believe it or not, that is not all I have accomplished! I also started painting more of the Ceiling panels with Heavenly illuminations! I started with the Archangel Michael battling the demons and chasing them from Heaven...... It is not even nearly complete.... but I wanted to show you anyway.......

And the smaller panel over the entrance doorway is showing the Last Judgement....

also a long way from done......

A closer view of some of the details.......

And even Closer!

And MORE......

This is the original manuscript illumination I used as a model for the St. Michael. It is from a twelfth century Missal ... the Stammheim Missal. I had to take considerable liberties with the composition to make it work in a triangular space... so I have moved some of the Angels and Demons around... but I have tried to keep their original shapes and colors. I have a LONG way to go with the DETAILS on this one!

With the ceiling panel removed you can see the beginnings of the drawing below.

I did a freehand copy for this as I was moving so many of the parts around......

And the beginning of adding the colors.......

And more of the base layer of color.... not many DETAILS added yet........

Here you can see the beginning of the Last Judgment painting as well......

Yes I started the next before finishing the first....!

Here below is the Original manuscript version I used for the model....

again, rather loosely copied....

This is from the St. Omer Psalter, an early fourteenth century manuscript from England.

Sorry about the reflection... the page is glossy.... Below is a closer view of the Beginnings of my version. I have had to alter almost everything.... so it is really inspiration more than copy......

And a LONG way to go!

Here you can see how these ceiling panels relate to the wall paintings already in place.....

And closer....

So That's what I've been doing... my FAVORITE thing........

MORE Painting In The Chapel!