The National Galley in London holds one of the most important collections of Medieval and Renaissance art.

I have been spending time studying some of the Venetian masters; Titian, Bellini, Giorgione, Tintoretto and Veronese, by drawing first hand from their work and studying the methods and materials they used.

The Portrait of the Vendramin Family by Titian (Tiziano Vecellio) is one of the most significant works in the artists’ career (completed in the early 1540s). It shows the family venerating a Relic of the True Cross. This depicts a true story of a miracle in 1370-82 when the reliquary was accidentally dropped into a canal during a congested procession and did not sink, but hovered over the water, until Andrea Vendramin dived in and retrieved it.

I have used rabbit skin glue and powder based pigment for the under painting - a technique that would have been very familiar to the Venetian Master’s. I then built up layers of pigment mixed with walnut oil to create depth and richness. Very translucent layers are applied in the background whilst the foreground remains opaque.

Due to the high moisture content in Venice it was deemed unsuitable to work on wood gesso panels, as had been common in Florence and central Italy since the Middle Ages. The Venetian’s therefore moved into working on canvas. Here I have used a canvas stretched with a herringbone stitch and primed with gesso.