The Face That Launched 1000 Ships .......

The face that launched 1000 ships, was certainly not mine (unless they were trying to flee!) nevertheless this week I tried my first ever portrait in pastel. As a member of Gail Sibley's HowToPastel Facebook group we were set the challenge of painting a self portrait in profile and include something which was of personal importance, Piero della Francesca's painting of the Duchess of Urbino was sited as inspiration. Normally I wouldn't have touched this challenge with a barge pole but firstly I have always loved this portrait and secondly I was egged on by a lovely fellow artist who is also in this group. I decided to go full Duchess, and here it is my first ever portrait in pastel. 

The Ageing Duchess. 

I decided to go with the palette, composition and the jewels, the something personal was the landscape of Lower Saxony and additionally the jewels, as I have always loved viewing jewels both in paintings and museums. This passion nearly led to my arrest in the Tower of London. The fascination of Mary of Modena's ruby crown drew me back to view it again and again, after the fifth time a policeman who had been watching me closely walked over and asked me discreetly to move along! 

Here is the real thing, the Duke and Duchess of Urbino. 

This double portrait was painted around 1465, it was a diptych joined by hinges in tempera on a panel. The Duke and Duchess are painted alongside the view of Urbino, dressed in all their finery. Federico de Montefeltro's fascinating profile was caused by losing a part of his nose to a sword (his right eye was also lost), whether this is the reason for him facing left or whether it was to let this power couple look at each other isn't known. Federico was a bit of a lad, who led a group of mercenaries, the gains made from his ''business'' were then pumped into Urbino, transforming it into a great court; the beauty of which can be seen in the background.

Battista Sforza, the Duchess, is shown in the height of court fashion, regaled in magnificent jewels and showing off her extremely pale teint (aristocratic women did not work outdoors, therefore pale skin was a sign of wealth) and high forehead, if your forehead wasn't high enough you plucked away your hairline (well that's one beauty problem that I wouldn't have had!) Battista died of pneumonia after childbirth in 1472 at the age of 26. Due to various datings of this portrait this may indeed be a posthumous portrait of her, making the composition even more poignant. The portraits can be seen in the Uffizi in Florence. 

Piero della Francesca was a typical man of the Renaissance; humanist, mathematician, writer and painter who along with Fra Angelico started working with perspective, thus moving painting away from flat mural style to three dimensional representation. 

My version is tongue in cheek of course, but I'll be honest I really had a blast painting it, done in Unison soft pastels on Boesner pastel paper it took about an hour. I did learn one valuable lesson, ears are terrible things to paint! I think that is why Mr  della Francesca went for that fancy headgear, given more time I would've done that too!

All in all it was a new experience and took me way out of my comfort zone, portrait artists don't have to worry about the competition from my side, I'll be sticking to landscapes! 

One thing the duke and I have in common though is the missing part of our nose, his is the bridge, mine is further down (from minor surgery) and if you look closely enough you can see the little dent! Like Oliver Cromwell, my portrait is painted ''warts and all'', but perhaps with a little fudging on the jowls and double chin if I'm honest.