HOCKNEY David Secret Knowledge

 

Secret

Knowledge

rediscovering the lost techniques of the old masters

david hockney

ill Come with

David Hockney on an enthralling journey as

he rewrites the story of how the art were created.

National Gallery that

in

London's

how the artists of the

wi

lt\

Hockney became gripped by a

managed to

past

i'

depict the world so accurately and vividly. As a painter constantly faced with similar technical problems, he

He

asked himself:  How did they do this?

set aside his

brushes, stopped painting and, for the next sacrificed his trail,

own time

as

an

artist to

two years,

follow this mystery

obsessively tracking-down the hidden secrets of the

Old Masters. As news of his investigations spread,

became the

sensational discoveries

art historfans

and museum

his

subject of headlines,

media attention and debate among prominent

scientists,

directors worldwide.

Now, for the first time, Hockney recounts the story of his

quest as

it

unfolded.

He explains how he uncovered

piece after piece of scientific and visual evidence, each

one yielding further

revelations about the past. With the

benefit of his painter's eye, he examines the major works

of art history and unveils the truth of

how artists such

as

Caravaggio, Velazquez, van Eyck, Holbein, Leonardo and Ingres used mirrors and lenses to help

them

create their

famous masterpieces.

—

Hundreds of paintings and drawings among them the best known and best loved works in the history of Western

art

— are reproduced and accompanied by-

Hockney's close, passionate and accessible descriptions. His

own photographs and drawings

used ed by past methods us likenesses

artists to

and present the

illustrate

the various

capture accurate

results

 

I

1

It was after a chance observation

desire to find out

J,h

masterpieces of Western

they would have continued on back flap

illustrations, 402 in color

I

1

m

li

i

«;

 

rediscovering the lost techniques of the old masters

David Hockney

 

•I

I

m

VIKING STUDIO

 

rediscovering the lost techniques of the old masters

'$&

§9

H ''' 'H

:

'*-.. '..,•„

 

*2k>

-

%^^^

^S^

'»ifef' '%Sei

^^_^R^

•

.V

.:'•.;.

.' '

v-^3^i^ -•'..*.-• %tv-

''V*

-

->>   -MfcJ^i'

i^jp.   '.';'

 

''/

~3

-:•:*'.

 

VIKING STUDIO Published by the Penguin Group

Penguin Putnam

Inc.,

New York, New York

375 Hudson

10014, U.

Penguin Books Canada

Ltd,

Toronto, Ontario, Canada

Penguin Books

Street,

S. A.

10 Alcorn Avenue,

M4V 3B2

Ltd, Registered Offices:

Harmondsworth, Middlesex, England First

published

in

the Unit United ed Kingdom

by Thames & Hudson First

published

in

Ltd,

in

2001

London

the United States

in

2001

by Viking Studio, a

member of Penguin Putnam Inc.

13579

10

8642

Copyright © David Hockney, Hockney, 2001 All rights

reserved.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Hockney, David Secret knowledge: rediscovering the lost techniques of the Old Masters /

David Hockney. Hockney.

cm.

p.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN 0-670-03026-0 (hardcover) 1

.

—Technique— History. Drawing —Technique— History. —Technological innovations— History. Optics and

Painting

3.

Painting

5.

Camera

2.

4.

lucidas. 6.

Camera obscuras.

I.

art.

Title.

ND1471 .H63 2001

751.409—dc21 Printed and

bound

2001026022 in

Singapore

Without limiting the rights under copyright reserved above, no part of this publication

may be reproduced,

system, or transmitted,

in

stored

in

or introduced into a retrieval

anyform or by any means

(electronic,

mechanical,

photocopying, recording or otherwise) wise), , without the prior written permission of both the copyright owner and the above publisher of this book.

 

contents

12

<

introduction

18

<

the visual evidence

200 < the textual evidence

226 < the correspondence

287 < bibliography

290 <

295

list

of illustrations

< acknowledgments

296 < index

a  

^tV^-/'* to*

>

--

.j

^

i

i

®i^PI K»; 1

~^J

AT-/';'

•Jll

i

»c>z-

~i-

SI

m

A*

M> »3*

  I

I

.

«,.

 

^5

/

I

^

s*~*L V -'•v

-

i

y

29 March

I

his

book

three parts. The

in

is

30 April

first is

the visual presentation of a thesis

developing over the past two years. The second the documents

came

I

across during

essays and letters wri writte tten n to clarify

30 April

my

my

is

research.

have been

I

a collection of extracts

And the

third

is

from some of

a selection of notes,

ideas as they developed and as part of a dialogue

with wit h Ma Mart rtin in Kemp, Charles Falco, John Walsh and other experts. This correspondence tells

the story of

The Western

thesis

I

artists

my

am

investigations.

putting forward here

used optics - by which

the two) - to create living projections. to produce drawings

- had

that certain painters used the

were used In

a

hunch

used I

1

999

I

in

this little optical

went

I

made a drawing

that Ingres,

Some artists used these

the

my

am

in their

new way of depicting art historians

I

It

was an experiment, based on

of the nineteenth century,

how he had done

found the camera lucida very

of the subject, but an illusion of

moves with

it,

and the

artist

one

must

in

have hav e arg argued ued

arguing here.

curiosity

may

know how

It

it is

to achieve

led to this book.

doesn't project a real image

When you move

make

was struck by how

difficult

What followed

difficult to use.

the eye.

learn to

it.

I

have occasionally

had been aroused when

to an exhibition of his portraits at London's National Gallery and

first,

the world

work - Canaletto and Vermeer,

decades device, then newly invented. My

such precision, and wondered

12 <

projected images directly

knowledge, no one has suggested that optics

small the drawings were, yet so uncannily 'accurate'.

At

this

using a camera lucida.

first

many

mirrors and lenses (or a combination of

camera obscura

as widely or as early as

early

mean

become widespread. Many

are often cited - but, to

in particular,

fifteenth century that from the early fifteenth

before e lon long g and paintings, and befor

new way of seeing

- this

I

is

your head everything

very quick notations to

fix

the position of

the introduction

 

'

1

May

1

the eyes, nose and

mouth

May

to capture

use the the method for the continued to use

likeness'.

'a

rest of

It is

care with lighting the subject, noticing

when

using optics, just

how a good

their

I

shadows were. Optics need strong

light

all

makes

lighting,

and strong

I

most

painters,

painted as 'what'

I

imagine,

when

saying or 'w 'why hy' '

it is

it

look at paintings

I

artists

- and as far back as the

century that this has to see

it.

a great

become

1

visible.

care other artists -

years ago, mos most t were were

still

in

and how

am

I

lighting creates

I

my surprise,

430s,

it

seemed

I

New technology,

it is

only

last fifteen

years

in

black and white).

it

was

related).

new way.

at pictures in a

could see them

think

I

deep

as interested in 'how'

the work of

in

the late twentieth

in

mainly the computer, was needed

Computers have allowed cheaper and higher-quality colour

improvement in the

a big difference

carefully.

found was now looking

identify fy optica optical l characteristi characteristics cs and, to could identi

other

began to take

I

was painted (these questions are, of course,

Having struggled to use optics myself, I

I

persevered and

lighting their subjects,

in

shadows. was intrigued and began to scrutinize paintings very Like

I

the time.

how much

with photography. also saw

Caravaggio and Velazquez, for example - had taken

deep

concentrated work.

the year - learning

more

like

May

3

printing, leading to

the standard of art books (even twenty

And now with colour photocopiers and

desktop printers anyone can produce cheap but good reproductions

at

home, and so

place works that were previously separated by hundreds or thousands of miles side by side. This

is

what did I

in

my studio, and

was only by putting pictures together

it

allowed

in this

me to

way that began

sure these things could have only been seen by an

from

practice, or

from science, as an

once knew how to use

a tool,

I

artist, a

art historian. After

and that

this

see the whole

all,

knowledge was

sweep

of

and

to notice things;

mark-maker,

who

it all. It

I'm

not as far

is

I'm only saying that artists lost.

the introduction

 

I

.