Hockney sets forth his thesis in Secret Knowledge (New and Expanded Edition): Rediscovering the Lost Techniques of the Old Masters. According to the Amazon.com review:
British painter David Hockney, well known for his cool and lovely paintings of California pools, has taken on the new role of detective. For two years Hockney seriously investigated the painting techniques of the old masters, and like any admirable sleuth, compiled substantial evidence to support his revolutionary theory. Secret Knowledge is the fruit of this labor, an exhaustive treatise in pictures revealing clues that some of the world's most famous painters, Ingres, Velázquez, Caravaggio (just to mention a few) utilized optics and lenses in creating their masterpieces. Hockney's fascination with the subject is contagious, and the book feels almost like a game with each analysis a "How'd they do that?" instead of a whodunit. While some may find the technical revelation a disappointment in terms of the idea of genius, Hockney is quick to point out that the use of optics does not diminish the immensity of artistic achievement. He reminds the reader that a tool is just a tool, and it is still the artist's hand and creative vision that produce a work of art. (296 pages, 460 illustrations, 402 in color.) --J.P. Cohen --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
Nowadays, we don't have to use camera obscura to achieve the sort of techniques that Hockney ascribes to the Old Masters. Rather, by using digital photographs, Adobe Photoshop, and Corel Painter, we can follow essentially the same steps.
In this blog, we shall adapt Old Master techniques into equivalent Photoshop or Painter techniques, thereby practicing what Hockney preaches.
Is Hockney historically accurate? I don't know and - frankly - who cares? What matters is that by using his thesis as a sounding board and combining it with available software, we ourselves can achieve interesting and worthwhile effects.
So let's go.
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