Atelier

[2] Although the methods vary, most painting ateliers train students in the skills and techniques associated with creating some form of representational art, the making of two-dimensional images that appear real to the viewer.

[citation needed] One goal for sight-size students is to gain enough skill to transfer an accurate image to the paper or canvas without the aid of a mechanical device.

"[citation needed] Darren R. Rousar, former student of Richard F. Lack and Charles Cecil as well as the author of Cast Drawing Using the Sight-Size Approach, agrees and defines measuring in broad terms.

The sight-size method also lends itself to styles of portraiture in which the artists desires an accurate, natural, true to life, or even near photographic image of the sitter as is evident in the work of Bouguereau.

[citation needed] The comparative measurement method requires proportional accuracy, but allows the artist to vary the size of the image created.

In the early training period students may be aided by a pencil, brush or plumb line to make comparisons, but there is no transfer of 1:1 measurements from subject directly to paper.

Since it is not necessary to copy the subject accurately to achieve a successful illusion, this method allows the artist to experiment with many options while retaining what appears to be a realistic image.

In one example, the Study of a male figure, for Mercury descending (c. 1613–1614 (drawn), in The Education of Marie de' Medici[6]), Rubens has obscured the point where the legs attach to the torso.

In the referenced exercise it is possible to experiment with numerous manipulations regarding the size and placement of each part of the body while at the same time using a collection of two-dimensional foreshortening illusions to retain the appearance of realism.

Julius Kaplan characterised Bonnat as "a liberal teacher who stressed simplicity in art above high academic finish, as well as overall effect rather than detail.

"[10][11] Some of Bonnat's more notable students include: Fred Barnard, Georges Braque, Gustave Caillebotte, Suzor-Coté, Raoul Dufy, Thomas Eakins, Aloysius O'Kelly, John Singer Sargent, Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, and Marius Vasselon[11] [12][13]