When I was twelve years old I was sent to learn the techniques required to be an artist from a .
During my six years with him we lived in the home of Salvestro de"Medici in a .
studio the Medici had provided him. I got the opportunity while living there to meet and learn from some.
of the greatest artists in the world including poets, sculptors, architects, and painters. The most important .
knowledge I gained while living there though was from my master about the techniques used in all the .
different art disciplines, the different philosophical influences, and about how the history of art influences .
our work.
When he was teaching me about technique, he had me start with an easel and sketch simple scenes. He taught me about colors, how to blend them, and what colors to use to capture certain moods or tones. But the most interesting lessons were about the innovations that had just come about. Including canvas, a new medium with which to put art on, and oil paints which don't dry so quickly so it allows you more time with your work. A type of painting called Fresco which uses plaster and is applied to a wall little by little over the course of a few days. He also taught me about a new technique called chiaroscuro which is the careful use of light and shadow. He also used science and math to show me how to draw the human anatomy more accurately and to show me how to represent objects in relative sizes so that smaller objects appear to be farther from the viewer than larger objects and allow for everything to fit into its space which is a technique called linear perspective. .
When it came to teaching techniques for architecture we did a lot of traveling, all of which was funded by the Medici family. We traveled to the Middle East, Greece and Rome and looked at the ancient structures to analyze the techniques that they used. We also spent time studying the dome that tops the Santa Maria del Fiore, which my master calls an architectural marvel.
