Master copies or studies are basically a study method in which you copy a painting with as much fidelity as possible.
The Original piece
Tepidarium is in public domain an can be found here.
It depicts a warm Roman bath, of the same name. The woman on the sofa holds a large strategically placed ostrich feather and a strigil, which was used for scraping the skin after soaping and oiling it.
Process
Using Photoshop, you can open the original painting side-by-side with your canvas to work on it. I strongly advise against tracing the images or using the color picker — although this can be done once your study is finished, to compare both images and see where you can improve.
More painting tips and insights that can help in studying master works.
Master study timelapse: Alma-Tadema
More master studies
I chose to only overlap both pictures when everything is finished, then decide whether I’ll fix the edges and proportions, or leave things as they are.
I enjoy keeping gifs with those comparisons for later references as well:
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