Almighty painter

Chapter 84 The Old Church Drawn by a Female Painter

There are three paintings in total in the black painting tube.

The moment Gu Weijing touched the inside of the painting tube with his hands, his brows frowned.

There is a problem with the way these paintings are preserved - they are rolled inwards, and there is no filling in the middle of the scroll painting tube.

"Very low-level error."

A thought immediately came to Gu Weijing's mind.

Oil painting is a three-dimensional art, and paint is not a simple two-dimensional plane.

It has volume and thickness.

If you touch a piece of drawing paper with your own hands, you will feel very intuitively that the surface of the picture is as uneven as a rough particle board.

This is the mark left by the painter's brush on the canvas.

The pigment solidifies on the surface of the canvas layer by layer, forming the unique luster and texture of oil painting.

These pigments are relatively fragile.

So after the painting is finished, proper preservation is also very important.

In general, in order to avoid weathering and cracking of the paint on the surface of the oil painting, a layer of varnish is sprayed on the surface of the canvas, and then fixed in a dark place with a frame.

If you really dislike the space occupied by the picture frame, it is not impossible to roll it up with a picture tube for storage.

It is just for better preservation so that the paints will not squeeze each other. Even if you want to use a paint tube for storage, one of the most basic principles is that the direction of rolling the oil painting should be the side with the paint facing outward, not like Gu Weijing Fold the picture to the inside like the painting tube in your hand.

Normally, a thicker paper tube should be placed in the center of the painting tube to prevent the painting from being accidentally crushed.

These are the basic common sense of oil painting preservation, not complicated nor technically difficult.

You can't go wrong with dim sum.

These three paintings were treated so hastily, there are only two possibilities.

Either the person who handled these works was a layman, or they felt that these three paintings were not worthy of being valued, and they were regarded as ordinary garbage.

Or both.

Gu Weijing's heart sank at that time, he knew that if it was a high-quality oil painting, he would never be treated like this.

He still had patience, and unfolded three dirty canvases in front of him one by one.

These oil paintings seem to have once been furnishings and decorations in the rooms of the Dawenhao Hotel.

The first picture on the top looks brighter, but Gu Weijing just glanced at it and lost interest.

No wonder the people who handled these paintings were so flippant.

This is really not a good work.

Even, this is not an oil painting at all, but a print.

Modern oil paint is a dense paste, and the printed matter is a layer of colored dots attached to the surface of cotton cloth or plastic paste.
As long as you casually glance at the side light, it is easy to know the authenticity of this painting.

This is also normal. Looking at the labels on the booth, Gu Weijing shouldn't have too much expectation in his heart.

Most of the art displays in hotels in the world are such things.

Printed products are not a little cheaper than hand-painted oil paintings, and more than 70.00% of tourists do not have enough ability to distinguish the difference between the two.

"Exquisite old paintings of the [-]th century... really dare to brag."

Gu Weijing complained speechlessly.

The second painting is exactly the same bold and unsurprising work, and then the third painting, still the same dirty, still the same...

wait!
Gu Weijing, who was already overwhelmed by disappointment, realized something was wrong as soon as he got the drawing paper.

My eyes haven't landed on the drawing paper yet, but my sense of touch has already sent the information back to my mind.

The feeling of this canvas is obviously different from the previous two.

The first two paintings are paintings, no, printed on cotton.

The advantage of using cotton cloth as an oil painting substrate is that it is cheap.

The downside is everything but cheap.

Cotton is too smooth, has no elasticity, and will be attacked by acid pigments.

As for this canvas, it is soft and elastic within reach.

There is a unique texture style on the base material of the cloth surface, which can feel the feeling of vertical and horizontal weaving of plant fibers.

This is a pure linen canvas.

This is a rare good, especially for old paintings.

Even in the contemporary era when the textile industry is highly developed, a roll of natural rain and dew hemp canvas known as the "fiber queen" costs hundreds of dollars.

Many painters can't afford high-grade pure linen canvas, and will use cotton cloth or semi-linen blended cloth instead.

The price of a pure linen canvas is several times that of cotton cloth, which is not a small expense for a painter, especially the early painters.

Gu Weijing lifted his spirits,
He looked down at the canvas carefully.

This look.

He was stunned again.

Gu Weijing never expected that he could see such an unusual work.

This is a dark oil painting.

Since its birth, Impressionism has entered the stage of fine arts with the attitude of overthrowing classicism and romanticism.

It opposes any religious and mythological works and gray-brown colors in the picture.

This painting obviously adopts the techniques of Impressionism, but the theme is the opposite.

What the painter depicted was the old church in a thunderstorm.

The whole painting uses a lot of dark light spots, and the picture is not well preserved and dirty.

Many traces of paint weathering and cracking have destroyed the original coordination of the picture.

It looked like it was fished out of the dirt.

When Gu Weijing took this painting into his hands, his first impression was a strong sense of disobedience.

It is completely different from any impressionist work I have come into contact with before.

When I first came into contact with this work, at first glance it looked like some clumsy unknown painter, far-fetched and forced to use Impressionist techniques to create incongruous creations.

But in the next second,

When Gu Weijing admired the painting from beginning to end, he realized that he was wrong.

Because the light and shadow of this painting gave him a familiar feeling.

Of the two paintings, one is bright in color and the other is gloomy in light and shadow, but the temperament of this painting reminds him of the "Ball at Pancake Mill" that he just saw before.

This is a kind of sixth sense somewhere.

It’s unclear, but it really exists.

He has always had this feeling, ever since he appreciated the "Dance at the Pancake Mill" that day, when he saw the dreamy Paris brought by the picture.

When Gu Weijing looked at other Impressionist works on the calligraphy and painting market, he felt a dull and dull feeling.

Those who are lucky enough to have seen the gluttony of the gods, even if it is just a moment of fragrance between their lips and teeth, it is difficult to be fascinated by the delicacies of the mortal world.

And this painting... actually brought Gu Weijing a little similar feeling to "The Ball at the Pancake Mill".

Although the themes are vastly different, the painter's unrestrained expression of emotions and his condensed brushwork are very similar.

On the surface, the subject matter and the color matching used in this work seem to be a very non-impressionist approach.

But ordinary people look at the appearance,
Experts look at the connotation.

After appreciating the famous paintings handed down by Ray Noir, Gu Weijing has somewhat understood the connotation of Impressionism.

"The so-called Impressionism is nothing more than the pursuit of inner emotions and pure visual enjoyment. We don't portray gods, we just record sunlight and air. We don't follow dogma, because beautiful things will stay, and pain will eventually pass away. "

At this time, Gu Weijing thought of the confession of that honest and powerful French man again.

If we talk about the pursuit of inner emotions and pure visual enjoyment——

Although the painting in front of me depicts a church, it is by no means a rigid and dogmatic religious preaching painting of the medieval church.

Although the sky is thunderstorm, but the color is dark but not depressing.

Those who saw the different colors on the screen, messy and boring dots, combined together, the picture changed magically.

The originally loose points converge into light, color and shape, giving people a good impression.

In particular, the dimly lit candlelight in the window of the church seems to have dispelled the dark flames, and even brought substantial warmth to people.

such a painting,

If not Impressionism, then what is?

I really found a treasure!

Gu Weijing judged that this is definitely the best impressionist oil painting he has seen today.

Even if it looks dirty it's unremarkable.

But it is still good enough to instantly kill the popular "Mountain in the Snow" surrounded by people.

The only question is, how good is it really?
Gu Weijing stood leaning against the booth, and then activated the calligraphy and painting identification technique.

Ding……

The vague illusion reappeared in Gu Weijing's mind again.

An invisible pen began to draw rapidly on the light curtain in his mind.

The roof of the church, the stained glass windows, the shining candles...

When the last stroke on the screen fell, a melodious church bell rang.In the wind and rain, the floating hymns spanned time and space, came from a hundred years ago, and reflected in Gu Weijing's heart.

"Young man, you have a nosebleed, are you okay?"

Gu Weijing felt that someone was patting him on the shoulder.

Only then did he recover from his trance.

A middle-aged man next to him with a thermos cup kindly handed over a roll of paper, and then looked at Gu Weijing with sympathy for such a weak body at such a young age.

Gu Weijing couldn't care about the stinging pain in his head.

He first pushed the oil painting in front of him away to prevent his nosebleed from dripping onto the drawing paper.

Then he took the toilet paper handed over by the uncle and blocked his nose.

Fortunately, I didn't faint this time.

He rejoiced in his heart.

"Young man, you don't know how to do it. In the calligraphy and painting industry, what matters is that you would rather eat a bite of fairy peaches than a basket of rotten peaches."

The thermos cup uncle stuck out his head, and looked curiously at the dirty canvas in front of Gu Weijing.

The uncle suddenly lost interest, and shook his head disdainfully, "This kind of rags, no matter how low the price is. If you buy it back, you won't be able to sell it. It's just a trash."

Gu Weijing watched with a complex expression as the thermos mug uncle strolled to one side with his figure-of-eight steps like a master.

He bowed his head,

The detailed information of the painting has emerged on the virtual panel.

【Title of the work: "The Old Church in the Rain"】

[Sketch technique: lv.7 master level [-]]

[Oil painting technique: lv.8 master level two]

【Emotion: I feel something in my heart】

"Second level master... is even more highly rated than Ms. Tangning's picture of hundreds of flowers, and even the sketching technique has reached the level of a master... Who is the author of this painting? With such superb drawing skills, it shouldn't be in the public eye. It is right to borrow nameless in history."

"And that church? Why is it a bit familiar, as if..."

Just now in the illusion, he saw the church lit up with candlelight, and he suddenly felt that this scene seemed a little familiar.

Gu Weijing had seen a similar scene before—it was the [Lucky Orphanage] that he visited every weekend.

When he first saw the painting, he felt that the scene in the painting looked familiar.

It’s just that oil paintings with church as the theme are too common, and Impressionism doesn’t focus on depicting details like photos like pure realism, but emphasizes expressing inner subjective feelings with passionate brushwork.

Although the skeleton of the main building of the Lucky Orphanage has not changed, many of the original small furnishings and decorations have long since disappeared.

This made Gu Weijing unable to react for a while.

Think carefully at this time,

The photos in the oil painting are basically the same as the general structure of the orphanage in my impression.

The biggest difference is the two statues of the Madonna at the entrance of the building in the oil painting.

This is something that the real Lucky Orphanage doesn't have.

In other words, it's not that there is no such thing, but that the two original statues of the Virgin Mary at the entrance of the orphanage have long been lost in the turmoil of history.

Gu Weijing vaguely remembered that the female director of the Lucky Orphanage mentioned the history of the orphanage to herself.

It used to be a church almshouse called "Mother Teresa Church". There were indeed two statues of the Virgin Mary at the gate of the courtyard.

However, with the beginning of the Anglo-Burmese War in the 90s of the [-]th century, the church forces and nuns withdrew.One of the two Madonna statues was damaged by shelling during the war, and the other was moved into the courtyard by volunteers.

That is, Gu Weijing has seen the statue with the bronze medal of "You should love your neighbor as yourself".

"Count the time..."

Gu Weijing's heart skipped a beat.

If the subject of this painting is really Good Luck Orphanage.

Then it's fun.

He might really have found a big fish.

This means that the painting was created not in the twentieth century, but in the nineteenth century, or even before the 90s of the nineteenth century.

Half a century earlier and half a century later,
This has a completely different meaning for Impressionist works.

In the painting industry, the first batch of real masters to stand up to the pressure of public opinion and the ridicule of the art critics to set up their own way and walk out of their own way.

The second batch is the warriors.

The third and fourth batches can only be craftsmen.

Whenever a painting trend rises and the market value is gradually recognized, a group of followers will immediately appear to seize the market.

Impressionism is the foundational school of modern art, and many painters followed suit.

If it is the twentieth century, there are plenty of painters imitating the Impressionist style.

But in the second half of the nineteenth century, Impressionism was still the work of a niche circle.

Most nineteenth-century painters who worked in the Impressionist style, with the exception of a few unlucky ones, left their names in the history of fine art.

The prices of the two cannot be compared at all.

Whether it is technique or emotion, this painting is an excellent masterpiece.

Could it be that the author of this painting belongs to the unlucky few?
Gu Weijing carefully checked the paper of the oil painting. Many painters would sign their names or their own special marks on their official works.

Of course, there are many exceptions.

For example, the artist signed his signature on the frame, or this is a practice work and there is no signature at all.

Originally, Gu Weijing didn't expect too much to find the imprint to identify the artist's identity. After all, no matter how unprofessional the second-hand dealers who dealt with before, it is impossible to leave a work signed by a famous artist alone.

did not expect,
He did find the identity information of the painter of this painting.

On the back of the drawing paper, the artist signed his own name—Coral (Carol)—in black ink that is completely consistent with the tone of the main body of the painting.

"A female painter?"

The confusion in Gu Weijing's heart was immediately answered.

Why is this painter unable to leave his name in history despite his superb skills?

Because she is a woman.

Historically, the social status of female painters has been very low for a long time. It is almost after World War II that there are a large number of female artists who are truly famous.

The daughters, sisters or wives of many painters in history actually possessed superb painting skills, but only a handful of them left their names in history.

And the stories of these painters are often accompanied by tragic elements such as being raped by teachers or patrons.

Gu Weijing kept the artist's name firmly in mind, and planned to check whether he could find relevant information later.

If he can verify the origin and source of this oil painting, the value of this painting may be doubled.

Even if you can't find it, such a painter with superb painting skills will definitely respect you.

Gu Weijing took out his bidding card and filled in the amount of [-] U.S. dollars in the bidding box on the side.

It's all the cash you have on you.

Although the package price of this set of miscellaneous items is only 150 US dollars, if he has the opportunity to pick up such a treasure, if he misses it because he wants to be cheap.

Gu Weijing will never forgive himself.

(End of this chapter)