3 Chapter 2 The Art Studio

Chapter 2 The Art Studio During the 1400s, Florence was the most important, most exciting city in all the world. It was one of five city-states in what is now Italy. Being a city-state meant Florence had its own government. It was called the Signoria. But for many years the city was really ruled by one very rich, very powerful family called the Medici.

The Medici men were art lovers. They built beautiful homes and churches and libraries in Florence. They wanted works of art to go inside all those buildings. Andrea del Verrocchio was one of the most famous artists working in Florence at the time. He had plenty of jobs. Leonardo was very lucky to study under such a master. Leonardo was an apprentice. He was twelve at the time he went to Verrocchio's studio. All apprentices were boys. No girls were allowed. The apprentices were not paid. But they were given free room and food and a little money. At the studio they learned to become artists. For the first year, they had classes in drawing. After about seven or eight years they knew how to paint

pictures, create frescoes (paintings done directly onto walls), make statues out of marble or bronze, design pottery, silverware, objects of gold, and even design buildings. Apprentices started at the bottom and worked their way up. They swept the studio, ran errands for the older artists, and cleaned up at the end of the day. There were no art supplies stores. So Leonardo and the other apprentices learned to make paintbrushes and paints. For the brushes, hairs from different animals were stuck into wooden handles. Hog bristles, for instance, made good, hard brushes. Squirrel fur was used for

softer brushes. The artists painted with a kind of paint called tempera. Its base was egg, not oil. (Painting with oil paints first started in the Netherlands; in Italy, artists did not start using oil paint until the 1470s.) Leonardo was taught to make colors. Blue came from grinding a stone called lapis lazuli into dust. Red came from crushing tiny beetles. Yellow came from the juice of one kind of berry.

At that time, canvas was not used for paintings. An artist painted on a flat panel of wood instead. But the wood had to be prepared first. Boiling kept it from splitting or cracking later on. Then glue was brushed on. After that, a coat of fine plaster called gesso was put on. This gave the panel a nice, smooth surface for painting. All these steps were jobs for the apprentices. Verrocchio's studio was always busy. RISING UP THE LADDER

VERROCCHIO'S STUDIO WAS TYPICAL OF ITS DAY. APPRENTICES WERE AT THE VERY BOTTOM OF THE LADDER. ABOVE THEM WERE WORKERS CALLED JOURNEYMEN. THEY HAD MANY YEARS' EXPERIENCE AND HELPED TEACH THE APPRENTICES. THEY WERE ABLE WORKERS BUT WERE NOT GOOD ENOUGH YET TO JOIN THE GUILD OF PAINTERS. LIKE A UNION, THE GUILD WAS A GROUP THAT PROTECTED THE INTERESTS OF ITS MEMBERS. THERE WERE GUILDS FOR MANY DIFFERENT PROFESSIONS SUCH AS LEATHER WORKERS, DRUGGISTS, AND WEAVERS. VERROCCHIO'S BEST ASSISTANTS WERE ALREADY MEMBERS OF THE ARTISTS' GUILD AND THUS WERE