Simplistic and paradoxically expressive, drawings and the merits of the craft have recently been showcased in many art institutions around the world. From the exhibit Michelangelo: Divine Draftsman and Designer at The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York to the UK tour of Leonardo DaVinci’s drawings, these exhibitions serve to highlight the importance of drawing in the art world and its usefulness to artists in developing their craft.
In the span of two centuries, from 1420 to 1640, drawing developed to its zenith in terms of an independent art form, which was able to convey the imagination in new ways. The doodles, sketches, and drafts of the period give us an insight into the minds of the working artists as they used the medium to lay plans, scribble thumbnails for large canvases, or study the designs of nature and the human figure.
‘The First Fruits of the Earth Offered to Saturn’ by Giorgio Vasari (1511–1574). Renaissance artists looked back to the ancient classic themes to express the nuances of the human condition. (Image: via The Metropolitan Museum of Art)
At the same time, the arts shifted from the church as the center of learning for the visual language to studios and academies. With this shift, art moved from being iconographic in nature to being capable of exploring and expressing the infinite nuances of the human condition.
But also, paradoxically, an interest in revealing the sacred in the arts blossomed to full flower. Led by the reverence for the Hellenic culture and classical studies, the Italian Renaissance saw the flourishing of self-exploration and aesthetics along with the development of the sacred sciences. Italian culture at its height put spirituality and morality at its foundation, and these, in turn, were reflected in innovations in the arts. The deep understanding of the divine imbued some artists’ works, like those of Michelangelo, with vitality and sacredness that could not be conveyed by skill alone.
‘An Angel’ by Bartolomeo Passarotti (1529–1592). Pen and brown ink, over traces of black chalk, on beige paper. Rogers Fund, 1964. (Image: via The Metropolitan Museum of Art)
True mastery: Cultivating a gracious style
The “gratiosa aria,” or gracious style, was an Italian concept for an artist’s own unique, personal expression developed through years of study. Included in the meaning is the idea that the artist has mastered the ability to depict subjects with grace and beauty.
Cennino Cennini, in his Craftsman’s Handbook or Libro dell’Arte, discusses the emulation of other artists to learn from their cultivated personal style and their sense of beauty to grasp what choices they made to render subjects in a certain way. “If you follow the course of one man through constant practice, your intelligence would have to be crude indeed for you not to get some nourishment from it. Then you will find if nature has granted you any imagination at all, that you will eventually acquire a style individual to yourself.”
In addition, before gratiosa aria could be fully cultivated and before being able to reproduce its qualities externally, the artist had to develop his or her own character.
‘Madonna and Child With the Infant Saint John the Baptist’ by Raffaello Sanzio da Urbino (1483-1520). Red chalk (recto); pen and brown ink. Rogers Fund, 1964. (Image: via The Metropolitan Museum of Art)
The motive or intent in pursuit of the arts is most important. Cennini also stated: “It is the impulse of a noble mind which moves some toward this art, pleasing to them through their natural love … There are some who follow the arts from poverty and necessity, also for gain, and for the love of the art; but those who pursue them from the love of the art and true nobleness of mind are to be commended above all others.”
Cennini basically stated that an artist’s pursuit of fame and gain for their sake alone should be tossed out the window. Without a proper state of mind, one would be too insecure and full of worldly emotion to fully consider the intricacies of rendering subject matter beyond one’s own immediate, unstable state.
Frank Zöllner’s extensive book on Sandro Botticelli states that “individual style was gaining ground in the 15th century as an identifiable mode of personal composition.” Thus, artists had more freedom to portray the depths of character, emotion, and personality.
Drawing of Minerva, attributed to Sandro Botticelli’s workshop. The drawing emphasizes the flowing feminine lines Botticelli was known for. (Image: via Public Domain)
Specifically, Botticelli’s “maniera,” or individual style, had adapted to his subject matter — often women — to embody the calm and nurturing energy of the feminine archetype. Botticelli’s refined use of lines characterized the inner strength and airy qualities of the feminine, with refined, wavy, yet confident lines. Many of the women in Botticelli’s paintings offer a salve for chaos with a calm, nurturing, and elegant presence.
The Italian Renaissance artists understood that aesthetics can produce a sensation or a feeling in the viewer and society in a positive way. The benefits of manifesting grace in the arts were intrinsically understood. With an understanding of grace and noble characteristics, artists could not only render their works to be aesthetically pleasing, but also harmonize them and bring serenity and dignity to an entire nation.
‘Paradise’ by Federico Zuccaro (1540/42-1609). Pen and brown ink, brush and brown wash, watercolor, gouache, highlighted with white gouache, left and central sections squared in red chalk, on three sheets of brown paper, joined vertically. A piece of brown paper with figures of Christ, the Virgin, and St. John the Baptist has been affixed at the center of the drawing. Rogers Fund, 1961. (Image: via The Metropolitan Museum of Art)
Drawing tools of the trade
Drawing, in its early days, required a lot more than just putting charcoal to paper. It was an undertaking that saw artists literally clambering over the landscape for the materials they needed, and discriminating among a vast array of variables in terms of the consistency and quality of the materials.
Often, natural black and red chalk are unreliable for making a consistent line because it varies so much in how dense or porous it is. The black chalk dug from quarries in Germany had been prized by Giorgio Vasari as having the best quality, though other artists preferred chalk from other regions.
When found, good quality chalk, for example, was purchased by artists in large blocks at quarries and chiseled to the right size for drawing. In fact, many of the original tools, including brushes, pencils, gessoes, mediums, and fixatives used by the early artists, were crafted by the artists themselves. Nothing was a straightforward process.
‘Studies of Hands’ by Andrea del Sarto (1486-1530). Red chalk, lined. Bequest of Walter C. Baker, 1971. (Image: via The Metropolitan Museum of Art)
According to Master Drawings of the Italian Renaissance by Claire Van Cleave, the ink Leonardo DaVinci preferred for his note-taking and sketches came from iron gall procured from oak trees, mixed with wine and gum arabic. It was a witch’s brew that artists learned to concoct themselves.
The crude materials for drawing also impacted how artists developed their drawings. Ink, chalk, and charcoal were very difficult to erase. Lines, compositions, and the images one wanted to produce had to be clearly established in the mind before an artist executed a piece. Thus, the intimate relationship the artists had with their materials, and the benefits to their craft provided by that relationship, enforced foresight and economy.
As a result, artists would train themselves to hold an image in their minds and then execute it. It is the same technique of repetition an actor would use in learning lines in a script. Through a continued process of strengthening their mental faculties, artists would be able to hold images in their minds and achieve greater detail and accuracy in their work.
Seated Goddess Diana recto Studies of a Nude Male Torso Seen from the Rear, and a leg verso ca. 1522 Parmigianino Girolamo Francesco Maria Mazzola Italian. The softly rendered drawing on the recto of this early sheet was clearly inspired by Correggio s Diana, frescoed around 1518-19 above the fireplace in the Camera di San Paolo in Parma. (Image: via The Metropolitan Museum of Art)
The methods
The methods artists favored in their craft varied considerably. Many artists used rapid sketches and slowly refined a composition as they progressed, a method called “primo pensiero.” Some artists completed refined studies of figures, with all of the information included for the final composition or painting, as in the case of the detailed drawing by Raffaello Sanzio da Urbino (known as Raphael).
Whatever purpose drawing eventually served, the craft had to be learned first. In one sense, drawing can be described as reverse-engineering the world and transcribing it into a visual form. Anatomy, the study of drapery, the properties of light and their interpretation through the line, foreshortening, and shadows all had to be meticulously studied in order to directly engage the world analytically and then be reproduced on paper.
‘The Virgin and Child With Saint Martina’ by Pietro da Cortona (1596-1669). Pen and brown ink, over black chalk. Gift of Cornelius Vanderbilt, 1880. (Image: via The Metropolitan Museum of Art)
In order to develop accuracy, the eyes had to be retrained. Almost all artists know that the eyes deceive. The eyes and their connection to the brain can be counterintuitive and mysterious. Our brain condenses the nearly infinite amount of information into easy-to-understand symbols to quickly process the world around us.
We see humans every day, but drawing people accurately requires an in-depth study of anatomy. Such a study breaks down the natural inclination of the brain to overly simplify a scene. This not only helps the artist more accurately portray the human form, but it also helps to draw the human body without a reference. When unhindered by references, artists can easily recreate anything from their imaginations.
Yet, on the whole, drawings should not be confused with finished works. Before his death, Michelangelo Buonarroti burned many of the drawings he used in preparation for his works, possibly so no one in the future would confuse them with his finished works. In some of his practice drawings that remain, we can see his procedures, anatomical renderings, and even glimpses into his thought process in executing his works.
‘Sketches of Figures of the Virgin Kneeling,’ attributed to Francesco di Simone Ferrucci (1437-1493). Pen and brown ink, over leadpoint or black chalk, on rose-washed paper. Bequest of Walter C. Baker, 1971. (Image: via The Metropolitan Museum of Art)
And, sometimes we even see beyond the artists’ working methods to their personalities. In a sketch of a face and eyes in the profile that Michelangelo made for his students to copy and study, he added a note at the bottom of the drawing. Michelangelo encouraged his student with “patience Andrea.” In the looser and unedited realm of drawing, the trials, tribulations, and the human element emerge more strongly than in a finished piece. Perhaps this is the most valuable quality of these drawings.
Tim Gebhart is an artist and teacher living in Portland, Oregon.
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