The Second Part of Painting the Flesh

Nicole Moné
"A Lull in the Conversation"
Week 51 of The Skeleton Project
24 X 48 in. oil on canvas

Once the initial lay-in, or dead-colouring, of the flesh is dry, it is time to make the second painting pass of the skin.  William Pinnock and Thomas Bardwell, respectively, offer the following descriptions of the process:

Q.  What is the second part, or process, in the painting of flesh?

A.  The second painting begins with laying on a small quantity of poppy oil, and then wiping it nearly off with a dry piece of a silk handkerchief. 

Q.  What is the purpose of this?

A.  It is for the purpose of preparing the colours (which are now dry) to receive and unite with those which are now to be laid on.  The second part of painting the flesh is also divided into what is called scumbling and glazing. 

Q.  What is the meaning of these terms?

A.  Scumbling is when the colour is used nearly dry, with a stiff pencil, and often with a mixture of white, as it sometimes happens that a dark part is to be gone over for the purpose of making it lighter.  Again;  scumbling is the operation of going over the lights, when they are to be changed, with the light red tints, or some of their own colours, for the purpose of clearing and improving the complexion.

Glazing is always done with the transparent colours, and with more of the vehicle to make it liquid.  As scumbling is for the most part confined to the lights, so glazing principally belongs to the shadows, to which it gives a depth and a richness which no single colour can have. 

Q.  How are these two operations of scumbling and glazing applied after the first painting?

A.  The first painting presents you with the flesh lighter in the light parts, as well as in the shadows, than the life, and appears very little removed from black and white. 

In this state, you begin by scumbling with the light red tint over such parts as require to be changed to the ruddy part of the complexion;  and so of the other tints which belong to the lights, each with the colour that agrees with what is underneath, so as to approach that of the life.  The shadows may now be deepened and the drawing corrected with the shade tint, and the glazing applied to such parts as may only require this operation for the purpose of bringing them near to nature.¹

Nicole Moné
"Tiepolo Meets Busby Berkeley"
Week 52 of The Skeleton Project
20 X 20 in. oil on canvas

The Second Painting begins with laying on the least Quantity that can be of Poppy Oil;  then wipe it almost all off, with a dry Piece of a Silk Handkerchief. 

The Second Painting is also divided into Two Parts:  One I call the first Lay of the Second Painting;  which is scumbling the lights, and glazing the Shadows:  The other, finishing the Complexion, with short stiff Pencils;  but such Parts only as require it;  otherwise the Beauty of the first Painting will be spoiled, and we make ourselves double Work. 

The Light-red Teint improved, is the very best Colour that can be for Scumbling, and improving the Complexion in general.  Where the shadows and Drawings are to be corrected, we should do it with the Shade-Teint, by driving the Colour very stiff and bare, that we may the easier retouch and change it with the finishing Teints.  Some Parts of the Shadows should be glazed with some of the transparent Shadow-Colours, such as will improve, and come very near to the Life;  but be sure not to lay on too much of it, for fear of losing the Hue of the first Painting, the Ground of which should always appear through the Glazing.  Be very careful, in uniting the Lights and Shades, the more meally those Shades will appear.  Thus far the Complexion is prepared and improved, in order to receive the Virgin Teints and finishing Touches. 

The Second Part of the Second Painting, Is to go over the Complexion with the Virgin Teints:  These are the Colours which improve the Colouring to the Greatest Perfection, both in the Light and Shadows.  This should be done in the same manner as we laid them in the second Part of the First Painting;  that is, with the Reds, Yellows, and Blues;  blending them with the delicate light Touches of the tender middle Teints, without softening.  We should leave the Teints and their Grounds clean and distinct, and be content to leave off whilst the Work is safe and unsullied, leaving what is farther required for the next Sitting;  for, in attempting the finishing Touches before the other is dry, we lose the Spirit and Drawing, and dirty where-ever we touch.²

see also:  Dead-Colouring:  The First Painting of the Flesh
                Dead-Colouring:  Bardwell's "Second Part of the First Painting"
                A Catechism on Practice of Painting in Oil

¹ William A. Pinnock, A Catechism on the Practice of Painting in Oil, (Mentorian Press, London, 1817), pp. 15-16.

² Thomas Bardwell, The Practice of Painting, 1756, pp. 14-15.