Approaches to Underpainting

Underpainting is the foundational stage of a painting, setting up structure, value, and harmony before the final layers of color are applied. Throughout history, artists have developed a variety of approaches, each with its own character and purpose. Below are four key methods, with examples of their historical use: (Quick disclaimer: I never use the wipe out method)

1. The Grisaille

The grisaille is a monochrome underpainting executed in tones of black, white, and earth colors such as raw umber or Van Dyke brown. Its purpose is to establish value, modeling, and form with clarity before color is introduced. Typically painted over transferred drawing lines, it is most effective when preceded by an imprimatura—a thin wash of tone that softens the starkness of the white ground and unifies the surface. Historically, the grisaille was favored by Titian and the Venetian masters, including Veronese, and later adapted to dramatic effect by Caravaggio.

2. The Ébauche

The ébauche (French for “first attempt”) is a transparent, sketchy color underpainting. It is applied loosely, allowing the ground tone to remain visible and to collaborate with the paint above it. This approach avoids obliterating the ground and creates a lively, scratchy foundation. Its primary purpose is to set initial color relationships, which are later clarified with more opaque top layers. The method is quintessentially French, developed and refined by painters such as Jacques-Louis David, Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres, and later Adolphe Bouguereau.

3. The Wipe-Out

In the wipe-out method, the artist begins with a toned ground, often in raw or burnt umber. While the paint is still wet, lights are created by wiping paint away with rags, brushes, or even the hand, leaving the mid-tone ground as the middle value and the untouched paint as the shadow mass. This subtractive technique produces a dramatic chiaroscuro effect and is especially useful for studying strong value contrasts. The wipe-out became a hallmark of mid- to late-Barbizon practice in France, employed by artists such as Jean-François Millet.

4. The Single-Pass Layer

This method develops the painting directly in color, best applied over a mid-tone ground rather than a white surface. With transfer lines dry, the artist paints systematically, area by area, completing each section in turn—an approach sometimes called window-shading. Once dry, the painting can be refined through a secondary stage of glazing and scumbling to deepen, adjust, and harmonize the surface. The single-pass approach connects to the Italian phrase “a giornata” (“in one day”), used in fresco painting to describe work completed in a single session. It also reappears in the late 19th century with the Impressionists, who often pursued a direct, fresh handling of paint on canvas.