Los Angeles-based oil painter Aaron Nagel returns with his latest classically inspired “Lady With Sphinx.” Pulling inspiration from Leonardo da Vinci’s “Lady With An Ermine” Nagel updates the weasel in this modern take of the master’s work. Nagel has been with 1xRUN since his own 2012 classic RUN #00148 “The Calming” and his oil paintings have long been a collector favorite. Read on as Aaron Nagel breaks down “Lady With Sphinx” from his upcoming release on Friday September 11th at 12pm EST.
1xRUN: Tell us a little bit about this piece, anything immediate you would like us to highlight about this piece?
Aaron Nagel: I actually wrote a rather comprehensive blog entry on my site about this one, handy right? “Lady With a Sphinx” was humbly modeled after the Leonardo DaVinci painting, “Lady With An Ermine.”
This is my second attempt at a painting modeled after a classic, the first being my version (of Bouguereau’s version) of the Piéta. That one didn’t come out so good. Of course it doesn’t help that the originals, in both cases, are amazing. But of course they are. I have always liked “Lady With An Ermine;” the lighting on the figure, the stark background, the lettering in the upper left hand corner, and of course, the Ermine (because what the fuck is an ermine?!). Thankfully, we have Wikipedia, and a wealth of probably true information on Da Vinci’s original piece. To start, an ermine is “…a stoat in its winter coat…” and “…[they were] a traditional symbol of purity because it was believed an ermine would face death rather than soil its white coat.” Cool right? (A stoat is a type of weasel by the way, I had to look that up too.)
I thought it would be fun to redo the piece with a Sphinx, and I happen to know a model named Margarita that I painted for a small piece a few months back that had one — and a particularly weaselly one at that. So, perfect!
Trying to get the reference photo looking similar was a challenge, but an enjoyable one, as I never have a concrete idea of how I want reference to look, so there tends to be a lot of trial and error. This time, I messed with it until the pose and lighting was right, then just took a few hundred pictures there, with very subtle pose and expression changes. I ended up doing a bunch of work in Photoshop post as well, especially because we shot the cat first, then worried about the figure — so I had to combine elements from 3 or 4 different shots. I obviously took some liberties with the costume and hairstyle — not exactly because I didn’t care to get that specific, but I didn’t feel those elements were necessities (and I’m no stylist or hairdresser.) Margarita also has normal shoulders and collar bones, so the giant-trap/broken-shoulder look the “Lady With An Ermine” has wasn’t gonna happen.
One interesting aspect I learned during the research (Wikipedia, again…hopefully mostly true) is that not only is the black background on the “Lady with an Ermine” not original, but the lettering in the top left corner isn’t either. Conservation is one thing, but adding text to a Da Vinci?! Pretty nuts. Also, whoever added the text, “LA BELLE FERONIERE. LEONARD DAVINCI” mistook the subject for the Belle Ferronière, which “…is the Leonardo portrait in the Louvre, whose sitter bears such a close resemblance…” That piece is also known as “Portrait of an Unknown Woman,” so when it came to adding text to my version, I went with “LA BELLE INCONNU”, roughly translated as “The Beautiful Unknown.” I decided against writing a Polish phonetical transcription of my own name.
1x: When was this piece drawn and created and what materials were used?
Nagel: This piece was done in May of 2014 using oils on linen mounted to wood panel.
1x: Did this piece come from a larger series/exhibition, if so how did this piece fit into the series ?
Nagel: This piece was painted for the “Three Figures” exhibition at Maxwell Alexander Gallery in June of 2014. It was a 3-man show, with Jeremy Mann, Sean Cheetham, and myself. They are two of my favorite artists, so it was a huge honor to show with them. The four paintings I contributed were all portraits, although the other three were smaller and a little more straightforward.
1x: How long did this piece take?
Nagel: 2-3 weeks I think.
1x: What is unique about this piece compared with your other work?
Nagel: I’ve only done two pieces based off of classic paintings, and like I said, this one was much more successful. It’s a super fun process though, I hope to do more in the future.
1x: Why should people buy one of these prints?
Nagel: Same answer as always; because you need to have one — unless of course you buy the original.
1x: Describe this piece in one gut reaction word.
Nagel: Skin.
1x: What else have you been up to since our last release?
Nagel: Lots of painting! I’ve taken some time in between shows to work on some new stuff. I’m trying some new things, and just started some much larger pieces. I’ll probably start working on my next solo show soon, which will probably open fall of next year.
1x: How is the rest of your year shaking out as summer turns into fall here?
Nagel: Not too bad thanks, although I’m very ready for summer to be over. I live in LA, and August and September here are just brutal — it’s way to hot for a kid from the Bay Area. We don’t have much of a fall either, so I’m excited for winter. I’ve been working in a sealed room with an air conditioner going for the last month or two — it really can’t be good for breathing.
1xRUN: Where else can people find you?
Aaron Nagel: Website – Blog – Twitter + Instagram@aaronnagel
-1xRUN