Atelier Learning: My Month at the Angel Academy of Art in Florence
- May 5
- 4 min read
By Janelle Hatherly
The digital age has revolutionised access to the knowledge and techniques that underpin traditional art. At least 60% of artists are now self-taught and online tutorials reach millions monthly. However, it’s easy to miss fundamental concepts with discovery learning, and hours of misguided practice can cement bad habits that lead to frustration and anxiety.
In-person workshops with professional artists can help overcome these shortcomings. This approach, coupled with devouring Richard Shmid’s excellent book, Alla Prima: Everything I Know About Painting, is how I learned to paint reasonably competently in oils. Unfortunately, as a lover of realistic portraiture, this approach is no longer enough for me. I now need help to master drawing the human figure accurately and to mix paint of precise values to turn form more convincingly.
Everyone learns in different ways. As a former teacher and a highly motivated lifelong learner, I benefit most from scaffolded learning, as described in Vygotsky’s Zone of Proximal Development. I know that to develop skills one needs a plan and a process that can be relied on, and I like key information and practical instruction given to me in a prescriptive manner.
Structure like this brings me freedom from doubt, and when my brain knows what is coming next, I relax and grow in confidence. I replace hope with evidence and with repeated (good) practice, tasks that used to be hard become easy. This is how I learned landscape painting with Australian artist John Wilson. Thanks to him I find I can relax and can tackle painting any landscape with confidence.
The results are variable, but I feel I know what I’m doing and can work things out on my own. I’m now looking for the same clear guidance to fill in my gaps in figurative drawing and painting to help me tackle portraiture more confidently.
This is why I chose to spend a month at the Angel Academy in Florence, Italy. History is alive in this UNESCO World Heritage city, the birthplace of Renaissance humanities. Evidence of art in the traditional realism style is everywhere! This is also where linear perspective was formally developed and great artists like Leonardo da Vinci and Michelangelo thrived and created in ateliers (artist studios).
The atelier model of learning emerged during the Renaissance, and for more than 500 years, aspiring artists have been apprenticed in the ateliers of established artists. Here they are immersed in practice – observing the master at work, studying classical techniques and building their own skills through consistent repetition, feedback and mentorship.
Historically, students paid their way by performing all kinds of essential studio chores. Today’s modern ateliers charge fees. The best learning environments are those that are affordable, cater to a small number and allow plenty of time. Currently at the Angel Academy there are three established artists delivering tuition: Academy director and co-founder Michael John Angel (aka Maestro), his protégé Jered Woznicki and graduate student Valerio Testa.
Maestro regularly teaches pictorial composition and gives art history presentations, which add context to this indirect painting technique used by academic painters for centuries. Jered coordinates the three-year diploma program, where students’ skills are systematically developed. I attended an intensive month-long portrait course which many diploma students take before committing to the three-year program.
Around me were the diploma students at various stages in their personal development. Some were copying Bargue plates or the work of Old Masters, others were creating artworks from casts or composing still life arrangements. All of them spent part of every day working from life with posed models.
With Jered’s regular input, I was taught by Valerio to measure accurately and draw sight-size. I learned to mix paints systematically, laying in local, tonal colour shapes, focusing first on performing the big form modelling before addressing variations in the light and shadows. Specific concepts were explained and tackled one at a time. A degree of mastery was achieved before moving only a slightly more difficult scenario.
I consolidated my skills by repeating this process with three flesh coloured plaster casts (a planar head, a mannequin and a life mask) and two photographic images. This rough rendering is known as the first painting stage and took me the full four weeks to complete. It has provided a sound foundation for the second painting stage, where individual artists can decide how much detail to add, allowing for artistic expression.
Cast sculptures are an excellent teaching tool that can be worked on indefinitely, because they are three-dimensional and exhibit nuances in value shifts. Learning how to tackle the shortcomings of photographs is also useful. The first photograph was a reversed black and white image of a painting of the shoemaker, Salvatore Ferragamo by Pietro Annigoni (who Maestro studied under during the 1960s) and the second, a subtly coloured image of a posed Academy model.
I purchased a beautiful cast of a hand at Thor Larsen’s sculpture studio in Florence to take home to practice my newfound skills and consolidate my learning. By coincidence, Evert Ploeg has written a very informative article about How Cast Studies Benefit on page 8 of The Art of the Portrait journal (1st Quarter 2026).
I would love to return to Florence for further study, but sadly, the future of this great traditional art school is in peril. Might it be saved by a courageous new owner with supporters who are determined to see the grand old art they love live on to serve future generations? Alternatively, it may fracture into online learning by the Maestro and his tutors or develop into an independent art studio led by Jered Woznicki.
The future is uncertain, so we can but hope that the time-honoured principles and practices taught at the Angel Academy of Art will continue in one form or another. Visit the Angel Academy of Art website for more information on current courses and updates.
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