Left: Vase of Flowers, Claude Monet, 1881–2. The Courtauld Gallery London
of the pieces selected was immediately apparent, and one of the show’s highlights was the captivating Perino del Vaga’s Holy Family with Saint John the Baptist, painted in c1528–37. During the Renaissance there was greater command of realism, of light and shadow and anatomical accuracy, and this work gives a rare insight into the early stages of painting
43
during this period. Some areas have been painted in minute detail, but in others the canvas has been left bare save for strokes marking features. As well as this glimpse into the artist’s methods and materials, the juxtaposition of finished and incomplete areas gives the work a beguiling quality. But as well as providing an
understanding of how pieces are produced, unfinished artworks raise many issues about artistic practice. And perhaps the most fundamental question is, “What is an unfinished artwork?”, and “If something is defined as unfinished, why wasn’t it completed?” The works most straightforward to classify as ‘unfinished’ are those that remain incomplete due to the
Through Our Hands Magazine, Issue 6 | august 2015