Introduction
This chapter is to cover drawings over the 15th and 16th Century. During this period the drawings seem to change from a workman's guide and tool being re-used and discarded to collectible items in their own right.
Drawing and Workshop Practices
Catherine King states she will be considering drawings between 1420 and 1520 divided into two 50 year periods.
In the first 50 years she selects Gentile da Fabriano, Jan van Eyck, Antonio Pisano and Rogier van der Weyden. These are compared with Leonardo and Durer from the next 50 years.
1) Defining drawings and underdrawings
The term 'drawings' covers a range of different media and functions and different styles.
Underdrawings usually applied to panels or walls are the outline that are later painted in. These usually show some evidence of alteration or experimentation as the work has developed.
2) The survival of drawing and changes in their use
Prior to the 1420's fewer drawings have survived, and drawings seem to have been confined to stored pattern books and linked to legal contracts. This cannot be taken as evidence that drawings were not used, but just that they have not survived. It could also be that artists worked more directly from imagination and not from previously prepared sketches. Fewer drawings survive from the earlier of our 50 year periods (1420-1470), and again this could be that they were not produced in retainable form but on reusable items such as wooden panels. With the increased availability of paper and an increased interest in nature, proportion, and perspective more detailed research and preparation appears to be undertaken in the later 50 years (1470-1520).
Archival evidence and the advent of collecting
This section lists a number of bequests proving that drawings were valued items passed on from father to son or master to pupil. These were used as aides or tools in their paintings. These became collectible as signature works by artists and as showing the process of the individual artists thoughts. Vasari collected and bound five albums of drawings linked to his book 'Lives of the Artists'. In 1521 Durer records that he sold drawings as portraits to patrons in Antwerp.
3) Teaching apprentices in working practice
A review of the way particularly Cennini Cennino (1370-1440) recommends the training of apprentices so as to be able to acquire fundamental skills and develop their own style or maneria.He published The Craftsmans Handbook written probably in Padua in the late 1390's.
4) Theoretical advice on drawing for apprentices: continuity and change
This section focuses on the writings of Leonardo da Vinci (1452-1519) written primarily in note form in the 1490's which were never published, and on the published treatise entitled On Painting by Leon Battista Alberti, published in Italian in 1436 both of which reinforce practices promoted by Cennino but which also emphasize 'the importance of learning the rules of perspective, anatomy and proportion' (C.B.1,p.30).
5) Drawing and workshop practices c.1420-70
Overview using plate references of the ways in which drawings and underdrawings were collected, filed, made, used, reused and adapted within the workshop as both tools and samples.
Jan van Eyck
A study of two works follows showing how drawing was used as observation for the Portrait of Niccolo Albergati c.1435 Plates 1:2 and 1:3 pages 32 and 33, and for design, and Saint Barbara Seated before her Tower 1447 Plate 1:4 page 34. Further use of underdrawings are revealed by the reflectogram Plates 1:5 and 1:6 The Virgin and Child with Chancellor Nicolas Rolin c.1436.
Pisanello
Antonio Pisano (before 1394-1455). Mention is made in this section of Pisanello's works including his commemorative medals which he produced in the antique style and particularly his murals. Several plates show sketches made and collected by the artist that relate directly to his work in both of these mediums. Underdrawings for murals allowed use of both the file drawings and improvisation. Mural painting entailed plastering the wall with a relatively rough layer on which the underdrawings were made. The final painting was made on fresh plaster that had to be used on the day it was applied, hence the term 'fresco'. Once this had dried further painting could take place with colours which were not water soluble. The dried plaster was known as 'secco' surface.
Rogier van der Weyden (c.1399-1464)
This is the last artist considered for the first half of the period. No drawings of his survive although there is evidence that drawings by him were still being used by his grandson Goswijn in 1510. Comparison of work produced however shows repetition that suggests use of blue prints that could possibly also have been used as samples. He portrayed Saint Luke Drawing the Virgin c.1435-40 (Plate 1.13 p.42) using paper and silverpoint which supports knowledge of this working method by the artist. Reflectograms also show detailed underdrawings and evidence of improvisation at this time of painting.
6. Drawing and workshop practices c.1470-1520
Leonardo da Vinci
A detailed review of Leonardo's drawings and techniques, particularly his study and cartoon for Virgin and a Child with Saint Anne, Saint John the Baptist and Christ c.1500-16 (Plate 1.22 p.50 and Plate 1.23 p.51) and Adoration of the Magi 1483 (Pl.1.21,p.49). His body of work 'presents evidence of innovations in media associated with his and his teachers workshop which seemed to be related to interest in new design emphasis: representing drapery as if in three-dimensional relief and in conveying the movements of the human body' (c.b.1,p.50). He also investigates perspective anatomy and proportion.
Albrecht Durer
Like Leonardo, Durer was a prolific draughtsman and produced a large amount of drawings. In common with Leonardo he explored the notion of proportion of the human body (but not the anatomical studies). He produced project sketches, copies of other artists work and there is evidence Plate 1.27,p.54 Self-Portrait of him training and drawing from a young age. By the end of his life Durer was using drawings as means of payment and selling drawings to sitters on the spot.
Conclusion
This chapter has shown evidence of increasing use of drawings throughout the 15th Century as means of training oneself or as treatise for the training of others in workshops or even for the public. Drawings also show increased research and experimentation in perspective, anatomy and proportion. Drawings were also becoming desirable and collectible.
This chapter is to cover drawings over the 15th and 16th Century. During this period the drawings seem to change from a workman's guide and tool being re-used and discarded to collectible items in their own right.
Drawing and Workshop Practices
Catherine King states she will be considering drawings between 1420 and 1520 divided into two 50 year periods.
In the first 50 years she selects Gentile da Fabriano, Jan van Eyck, Antonio Pisano and Rogier van der Weyden. These are compared with Leonardo and Durer from the next 50 years.
1) Defining drawings and underdrawings
The term 'drawings' covers a range of different media and functions and different styles.
Underdrawings usually applied to panels or walls are the outline that are later painted in. These usually show some evidence of alteration or experimentation as the work has developed.
2) The survival of drawing and changes in their use
Prior to the 1420's fewer drawings have survived, and drawings seem to have been confined to stored pattern books and linked to legal contracts. This cannot be taken as evidence that drawings were not used, but just that they have not survived. It could also be that artists worked more directly from imagination and not from previously prepared sketches. Fewer drawings survive from the earlier of our 50 year periods (1420-1470), and again this could be that they were not produced in retainable form but on reusable items such as wooden panels. With the increased availability of paper and an increased interest in nature, proportion, and perspective more detailed research and preparation appears to be undertaken in the later 50 years (1470-1520).
Archival evidence and the advent of collecting
This section lists a number of bequests proving that drawings were valued items passed on from father to son or master to pupil. These were used as aides or tools in their paintings. These became collectible as signature works by artists and as showing the process of the individual artists thoughts. Vasari collected and bound five albums of drawings linked to his book 'Lives of the Artists'. In 1521 Durer records that he sold drawings as portraits to patrons in Antwerp.
3) Teaching apprentices in working practice
A review of the way particularly Cennini Cennino (1370-1440) recommends the training of apprentices so as to be able to acquire fundamental skills and develop their own style or maneria.He published The Craftsmans Handbook written probably in Padua in the late 1390's.
4) Theoretical advice on drawing for apprentices: continuity and change
This section focuses on the writings of Leonardo da Vinci (1452-1519) written primarily in note form in the 1490's which were never published, and on the published treatise entitled On Painting by Leon Battista Alberti, published in Italian in 1436 both of which reinforce practices promoted by Cennino but which also emphasize 'the importance of learning the rules of perspective, anatomy and proportion' (C.B.1,p.30).
5) Drawing and workshop practices c.1420-70
Overview using plate references of the ways in which drawings and underdrawings were collected, filed, made, used, reused and adapted within the workshop as both tools and samples.
Jan van Eyck
A study of two works follows showing how drawing was used as observation for the Portrait of Niccolo Albergati c.1435 Plates 1:2 and 1:3 pages 32 and 33, and for design, and Saint Barbara Seated before her Tower 1447 Plate 1:4 page 34. Further use of underdrawings are revealed by the reflectogram Plates 1:5 and 1:6 The Virgin and Child with Chancellor Nicolas Rolin c.1436.
Pisanello
Antonio Pisano (before 1394-1455). Mention is made in this section of Pisanello's works including his commemorative medals which he produced in the antique style and particularly his murals. Several plates show sketches made and collected by the artist that relate directly to his work in both of these mediums. Underdrawings for murals allowed use of both the file drawings and improvisation. Mural painting entailed plastering the wall with a relatively rough layer on which the underdrawings were made. The final painting was made on fresh plaster that had to be used on the day it was applied, hence the term 'fresco'. Once this had dried further painting could take place with colours which were not water soluble. The dried plaster was known as 'secco' surface.
Rogier van der Weyden (c.1399-1464)
This is the last artist considered for the first half of the period. No drawings of his survive although there is evidence that drawings by him were still being used by his grandson Goswijn in 1510. Comparison of work produced however shows repetition that suggests use of blue prints that could possibly also have been used as samples. He portrayed Saint Luke Drawing the Virgin c.1435-40 (Plate 1.13 p.42) using paper and silverpoint which supports knowledge of this working method by the artist. Reflectograms also show detailed underdrawings and evidence of improvisation at this time of painting.
6. Drawing and workshop practices c.1470-1520
Leonardo da Vinci
A detailed review of Leonardo's drawings and techniques, particularly his study and cartoon for Virgin and a Child with Saint Anne, Saint John the Baptist and Christ c.1500-16 (Plate 1.22 p.50 and Plate 1.23 p.51) and Adoration of the Magi 1483 (Pl.1.21,p.49). His body of work 'presents evidence of innovations in media associated with his and his teachers workshop which seemed to be related to interest in new design emphasis: representing drapery as if in three-dimensional relief and in conveying the movements of the human body' (c.b.1,p.50). He also investigates perspective anatomy and proportion.
Albrecht Durer
Like Leonardo, Durer was a prolific draughtsman and produced a large amount of drawings. In common with Leonardo he explored the notion of proportion of the human body (but not the anatomical studies). He produced project sketches, copies of other artists work and there is evidence Plate 1.27,p.54 Self-Portrait of him training and drawing from a young age. By the end of his life Durer was using drawings as means of payment and selling drawings to sitters on the spot.
Conclusion
This chapter has shown evidence of increasing use of drawings throughout the 15th Century as means of training oneself or as treatise for the training of others in workshops or even for the public. Drawings also show increased research and experimentation in perspective, anatomy and proportion. Drawings were also becoming desirable and collectible.
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