AFTER BOUGUEREAU PRAYER

This is my second portrait completed under the guidance of master painter Frank Covino. Covino teaches his students to copy five to ten masterpieces by great portrait artists before attempting original compositions. This approach mirrors the training of aspiring musicians, who first master the works of composers like Beethoven and Bach before composing their own pieces. Covino calls this the “Classical Academic Method,” a time-honored practice rooted in the Renaissance, when young artists apprenticed for up to eight years under an established master.

The painting is a faithful copy of William-Adolphe Bouguereau’s (1825–1905) Prayer (also known as La Prière, 1865). I selected this work not only because Bouguereau was an exceptional realist and master of portraiture, but also to study how to paint children with sensitivity and precision. Additionally, I wanted to explore the dramatic Rembrandt-inspired “low key” technique, where most values remain in deep, shadowy tones, with only select areas illuminated at the high end of the light spectrum. This contrast powerfully directs the viewer’s eye to the focal point, making it highly effective for portraiture.

Prayer is painted on un-tempered masonite prepared with five coats of Renaissance marble gesso. The underpainting uses a ten-value verdaccio (green-gray) palette, which imparts remarkable lifelike quality to Caucasian skin tones as the translucent colored flesh layers are applied over it.

The completed painting was finished with an oil medium. After one year of drying, it received five coats of Damar varnish. With proper care—kept away from direct sunlight—it should endure for hundreds of years.