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The pastel medium was mentioned by Leonardo da Vinci, who learned of it from the French artist Jean Perréal after that artist's arrival in Milan in 1499. [14] Pastel was sometimes used as a medium for preparatory studies by 16th-century artists, notably Federico Barocci. The first French artist to specialize in pastel portraits was Joseph Vivien.
Pastel is usually drawn on paper, which must have a slight texture or “tooth” to grab and hold the medium on its surface. Prized for its brilliant color, pastel was first used in the sixteenth century, notably by Leonardo da Vinci. It flourished in the eighteenth century, again in the late nineteenth century, and remains popular today.
In the Renaissance, pastel was used sparingly, adding highlight or color to drawings usually executed in natural chalks. Over the course of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, pastel was more widely used; no longer restricted to finishing touches, it was employed more liberally by French artists such as Robert Nanteuil (1623–1678) and over larger areas.
Pastel on paper; 25 1/2 x 21 3/4 in. (64.8 x 55.2 cm). Private collection. Pastel was praised in the eighteenth century because of the lifelike quality, or "bloom," it conferred upon its subjects. This distinctive appearance results from the physical characteristics of the medium and the way in which it reflects light.
Natural chalks continued to be used for both sketching and, on occasion, finished works, well into the 18th century, but a number of artists simultaneously became interested in extending the scope and use of so called ‘dry colour’. The portrait painter Sir Peter Lely (1618–1680) is the first British artist known to have used fabricated chalk.
Discovered during the Renaissance, pastel was first used to enhance preparatory studies for paintings with color. In the 18th century, it became an artistic form in its own right and was then mainly associated with the art of portraiture, as it lends itself wonderfully to the rendering of skin tones and fabrics and to the expression of the models' eyes and bodies.
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Aug 26, 2017 · Joseph Vivien (1657–1734) was one of the first successful pastel portraitists of the eighteenth century, producing superb works such as this portrait of an unknown man from about 1725. For this, he used other innovations, laying his pastels down on blue paper, and working in large format, here 90 x 66 cm.
