The sight-size method in portraiture has the canvas placed on the easel beside the sitter - the painting is life-size.. The principle is straight forward, the artist and sitter agrees how and in which direction the to sit, and then marks approximately 10 paces back establishing the pose. This is important as the visual measuring and accuracy requires the same height, angle and distance to be constant. The sitter poses at the same time of day to achieve, as close as possible, the same light and shadows. This is Tomaso in Florence. He sat in the afternoons for 2.5hrs over 5 sittings, with several refreshment breaks.
The canvas is traditionally 50x60cms for head and shoulders. This is oil on linen canvas using a traditional Florentine palette. The painting starts as an under-painting, and builds day by day with the darkest shadows working towards the finer details. During this whole process the artist and the sitter develop a complex relationship of trust as the artist captures the unique character of the sitter..
Under painting to finished piece - the process