My reproduction, "Girl Braiding Her Hair, After Anker," allowed me to delve deeply into the techniques of Albert Anker, a Swiss master renowned for his unsentimental depictions of everyday life. This painting beautifully captures a simple, universal human moment with warmth and dignity.
I began this studio piece with an "artist's envelope," a method I prefer over static grid lines for freely capturing the gesture and overall shape of the subject. Following a careful charcoal sketch, I created a burnt sienna underpainting to establish foundational forms, light, and shadow. This warm base was helpful, especially for subsequent greens and blues, ensuring vibrant depth and eliminating the distorting glare of a pure white canvas.
In this faithful copy, a girl of about 12 years old, with luminous golden blonde hair, wears a white blouse and a blue-grey dress. Her hands are delicately engaged in braiding her hair, which forms a focal point of the painting. Before her, on a wooden table, rest a golden ceramic bowl, a white cloth, and an open book, which she appears to be reading even as her fingers work. Anker's mastery of light is evident in the way he illuminates the girl's hair, making it glow against the somewhat muted background. Her expression is serene and focused, conveying quiet concentration. Colours were built up in careful, often thin and transparent layers. For the skin tones, I aimed for luminosity by layering washes of warm pinks, reds, and yellows over the monochrome base, using specific mixes like Naples yellow, cadmium red, and yellow ochre. Her face, with its subtle patchiness, benefits from this layered approach. A core principle in achieving this painting's depth was laying in the darks even darker than I initially perceived them, ensuring they wouldn't become pasty when blended with subsequent lights—this was particularly evident in the shadows of her sleeve. The background was built using multiple glazes of a rich, "illuminated black" (a mix of ivory black, alizarin crimson, and ultramarine blue), applied with a larger brush to create a deep, atmospheric feeling that makes the girl truly stand out. I employed techniques like scumbling, applying opaque and semi-opaque layers of lighter paint over darker areas, allowing subtle underlying colors to peek through. The paint is noticeably thick in areas, and energetic brushstrokes are visible throughout, adding to the drama and movement while allowing some of the warm burnt sienna underpainting to peek through, contributing warmth and depth. Edges, particularly where objects meet shadows, were kept soft to create seamless transitions and prevent elements from appearing disconnected.
The overall impression of "Girl Braiding Her Hair" is one of tranquility and domestic harmony. Witnessing this painting come to life was a rewarding experience. I'm very happy with how I was able to capture the quiet concentration and charm of Anker's original. This portrait resonates with themes of childhood and the quiet beauty of ordinary life. May you feel the same sense of nostalgia for simpler times that I do in viewing this painting.
Note: Canadian copyright laws permit sales of reproductions following 70 years after the artist’s death.