Tag: India ink

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India Ink Drawing After Luca Cambiaso

India Ink Drawing of Cain and Abel Copied from Luca Cambiaso

Next up we have a copy of a drawing of Cain and Abel by Luca Cambiaso. The original was done in pen and wash. I made my copy with India Ink on watercolor paper. Right now you are probably wondering just who is this Luca Cambiaso person. Let us consult the Italian Art Society which sounds like an organization that should know what they are talking about.

Luca Cambiaso was born in Genoa, Italy on November 18, 1527. He was a top artist in Genoa during the middle and late 16th century and ran a big and productive workshop. In his childhood, he learned to paint with his father, Giovanni Cambiaso. Luca created his first works when he was only fifteen years old. At the age of seventeen, he began working with his father on the Palazzo Doria’s decoration. Additionally, Luca assisted Il Bergamasco with decorations for the church of San Matteo. Luca partnered with Giovanni Battista Castello on several projects in the 1550s. During 1560, Cambiaso completed frescoes for the Palazzo Imperiale in Campetto, Genoa, which brought him notoriety and additional commissions. FYI: Palazzo Imperiale means Imperial Palazzo in Italian. Cambiaso was asked to work for Philip II of Spain in 1583 and you don’t say no to Philip II. San Lorenzo’s church at the Hieronymite monastery of the Escorial was his first commission.

You don’t say no to Philip II

He studied Raphael and Michelangelo’s methods, and he was open to learning new ones. Luca was also impacted by the works of Titian and Veronese. In the mid-1560s, he developed a draughtsman style that incorporates geometric forms. By the 1570s, Luca’s works began to be more reflective, which he continued to develop during the rest of his career. He influenced a lot of painters, who analyzed his frescoes in Genoa. His followers became known as the Genoese School. Luca died in Madrid on September 8, 1585.

Here is a link to see a bunch of drawings by Luca Cambiaso.

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Drawing in India Ink After Jacopo Tintoretto

India Ink drawing of Atlas

The above is another copy of a Tintoretto drawing located in the Museum of Budapest and is titled “Two Studies after the so-called “Atlas” Statuette.” In the description section under the drawing, it states “This record is subject to revision due to ongoing research.” So what does that mean? As I’ve mentioned in a couple of other blog posts, sometimes a work of art is found to be by another lesser-known artist. It can create quite a brouhaha. So the original drawing might have been done by one of Tintoretto’s students or assistants. Or perhaps a follower of Tintoretto or maybe even ‘gasp’ a forger with a desceptive motive. Wow, things are really heating up, aren’t they? Who knows maybe by the time you read this we might find out what the museum staff discovered. Until then we will talk about the subject of the drawing.

The following information about the myth of Atlas was borrowed or taken from classicalwisdom.com

The story of Atlas may have been founded on a Pelasgian myth, a tale associated with the original residents of Greece. Atlas was extremely powerful and had a brother named Prometheus. I wrote about Prometheus in a previous post, I hope you were paying attention. Atlas was one of Zeus’ greatest rivals and Zeus was kind of a big deal. Zeus along with the rest of the Olympians greatly feared Titan and his fellow Titans. In the end, the Olympians prevailed and conquered the Titans. The other Titans were incarcerated by Zeus in Tartarus, which is the name for hell. Since the Olympians feared and hated Atlas, they devised a special punishment for him. Atlas was sentenced to stand at the western end of the earth. He was then forced to carry the sky on his shoulders forever. According to my research, forever is a very long time. Atlas suffered a great deal because he had to bear such a hefty load. Over the centuries, a misconception emerged that he was destined to hold up the entire world. This is probably a result of artworks created during the Renaissance that misinterpreted the original myths. The Greeks believed Atlas held up the sky over what is now the country of Morocco.

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India Ink Drawing After Aert de Gelder (formerly attributed to Rembrandt)

India Ink Drawing of a Nude Woman with Her Arm Raised

As I have mentioned earlier posts, I have been in the process of copying old master drawings from a book entitled “Anatomy Lessons by the Great Masters” by Robert Beverly Hale. The India ink drawing above is a copy of a work done in pen and wash by Rembrandt van Rijn. When I went to find information on the original drawing, I discovered that Rembrandt did not draw it. It had been reattributed to another Dutch painter named Aert de Gelder. You are probably asking yourself, who is this person named Rembrandt? Believe it or not, there is a lot of information on him everywhere in the form of articles, books, movies, etc. A much better question would be: who is this guy named Aert de Gelder? Let’s find out together. The following information is taken from the Thyssen-Bornemisza National Museum in Madrid, Spain. On their website it states that it is in fact ‘Everyone’s Museum’. So, in the interest of inclusivity we will rely on their information.

There isn’t a lot written about Aert de Gelder.

He began his training as an artist in his hometown of Dordrecht, Holland. In 1661, he moved to Amsterdam to complete his training in Rembrandt’s studio. Aert de Gelder was considered Rembrandt’s best and closest follower. De Gelder uses broad brushstrokes that are heavily pigmented, and he often applies the pigment with a spatula or his fingers. By using the other end of the brush, the artist could also create effects by scratching into the wet paint. The most distinctive aspect of De Gelder’s style was his use of color, especially from the start of the 18th century onwards, when he began to add whites, yellows, blues, greens, violets, and oranges. Like the color orange, not the actual fruit. Although maybe he did attach fruit to his paintings. There isn’t a lot written about Aert de Gelder.

Click here if you would like to see a digital copy of a drawing of a woman with her arm raised by Aert de Gelder.

If you would like to purchase the book: Anatomy Lessons of The Great Masters by Robert Hale click here.

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India Ink Drawing After Henry Fuseli

Copy of Henry Fuseli drawing of Polyphemus Hurling the Rock at Odysseus

This next post is a drawing done in India ink on 9″ x 12″ watercolor paper of Polypemus throwing a rock at Odysseus. I left out Odysseus and the rock that was being thrown. I’m not sure why. I just did. It was copied from a drawing by the Swiss artist Henry Fuseli. His was drawn in pencil with gray, blue and brown washes.

So who was the Swiss artist Henry Fuseli? Well I’ll tell you. Fuseli was born in Zürich, Switzerland in the year 1741. He was shaped in a spiral with a lot of grooves and crevices to catch extra sauce and dressings. He was sturdy enough to be tossed with a thick marinara or meat sauce. Most of the time he could be found in pasta salads. Wait a second, that is Fusilli the pasta shape. I meant to search for Fuseli. These things happen. They happen all the time. Apparently, there are over 600 different shapes of pasta from Angle Hair to Ziti. I think they can stop now. I mean I don’t want to put pasta designers out of work but there has to be more important things they can do like pressure washing the entire country of Italy.

Now, let’s learn about Henry Fuseli whose original name was Johann Heinrich Füssli. Why he would prefer a name without an umlaut to a name that had a umlaut is beyond me. Of course, being called Henry rather then Johann Heinrich would make you seem more amiable. Henry Fuseli, largely influenced by Michelangelo and classical art, was known for drawings and paintings of nude figures in intense and expressive poses. His subjects were usually taken from theater and literature. He would often illustrate scenes from works by Shakespeare. He also wrote reviews and essays on art as well as taught painting at the Royal Academy in London. He taught great artists such as John Constable and was a big influence on William Blake. He died in 1825 at the age of 84.

Click Here to see the original drawing by Henry Fuseli of “Polyphemus Hurling the Rock at Odysseus”