Tag: Italian Renaissance

Posted on by

Graphite Drawing After Domenichino

Pencil drawing of a Foot after Domenichino

The next drawing on my old master copy marathon is a graphite pencil drawing of a foot. If it does not look like a foot then I have failed unless I wanted to confuse you then I succeeded. If I was trying to confuse you about what the drawing was but you could tell it was a foot then I have failed. My drawing is a copy of a work done in chalk by the 17th century Italian Master Domenico Zampieri or as he was known, Domenichino. Domenichino means little Domenico because, according to my well researched research he was a small guy. Yet he was a giant when it comes to 17th century painting. From the 17th through the 19th centuries, he was considered one of the greatest painters of all time, second only to Raphael. Domenichino studied art in Bologna under Annibale Carracci and became Carracci’s favorite student and assistant.

Domenico Zampieri, I feel strange calling him Domenichino, maybe he didn’t like that nickname. Moving on, Domenico was an excellent draftsman who carefully studied nature as well as ancient sculpture and then idealized his forms making them nearly flawless. He also created idealized landscapes that later influenced the great landscape painters such as Claude Lorrain and Nicolas Poussin. Domenichino was also a talented musician and architect. He was also incredibly well read. He believed art is a type of poetry. Some of his greatest work is at The Church of St. Louis of the French which is a Roman Catholic church in Rome, and also the The Last Communion of Saint Jerome altarpiece which can be found in the Vatican. Later in his life he was bullied by younger and perhaps jealous artists and he is believed to have committed suicide because of it.

Posted on by

Graphite Drawing After Michelangelo

Michelangelo Copy of a Man Looking Back

The next old master copy is of a black chalk drawing by Michelangelo Buonarroti. However, there is some doubts about whether it was actually drawn by Michelangelo himself. The drawing is a study for the central part of a fresco of the ‘Battle of Cascina’. Unfortunately, the work was never realized which I guess means it was never started or perhaps it was started and never finished. In the book I copied the drawing, it says it was done in black chalk. The British museum, where it is on display, states that it was done in pen and brown ink, brown and gray wash, and then heightened with white over leadpoint and stylus. It also states that the white is somewhat discolored. So either the book titled “Anatomy Lessons From the Great Masters: 100 Great Figure Drawings” is being overly simplistic or the British museum is being very British. It is really hard to say. Wait a second, I think I found out what the confusion is about. The drawing at the British Museum says the it was an experiment with different mediums that didn’t work out very well. It goes on to say that Michelangelo created other studies of the same subject in black chalk. I know what your thinking. I am writing about the wrong drawing. And you would be correct in your thinking. But in all fairness it does look very similar to the one I copied. Nonetheless, I made my copy with a pencil or to be more exact, a few different types of pencils. Moving on. The fresco was to celebrate the ‘Battle of Cascina’ and was to be displayed on a wall in the Great Council’s Florentine Room of the Palazzo Vecchio. Leonardo da Vinci was suppose to paint another work on the other side of the room to celebrate the ‘Battle of Anghiari’ which was another victory for the Florentine army. Leonardo’s painting was done with an experimental method that failed and was unable to be salvaged. Speaking of salvaged, I am unable to salvage this poorly written blog post.

Posted on by

Graphite Drawing After Luca Signorelli

Graphite Pencil Drawing after a work by Luca Signorelli

Next up on the old master copy marathon, we have another work after the Italian Renaissance master Luca Signorelli, who created his drawing in red chalk and colored wash. The medium colored wash is rather vague. I can’t just go to Blick Art Supply store and ask for colored wash. It could be embarrassing. Anyway I did mine in pencil. I think like a number 2 pencil and maybe a darker one. That is rather vague as well. I have talked somewhat about Signorelli in my last post so I think I’ll write about the Museé Bonnat which houses the original drawing. According to the internet the museum is temporarily closed. Is it because of the Covid pandemic? or remodeling? or perhaps something more sinister is going on? Let’s investigate.

It could be embarrassing.

The Musée Bonnat art museum was opened in 1901 in Bayonne, Nouvelle-Aquitaine, France. It is named after the hometown painter, Léon Bonnat. Bonnat donated his collection of paintings as well as a large number of drawings to the City of Bayonne. This doesn’t explain why the museum is closed. So I consulted a 2019 entry from Wikipedia and DBpedia. The DBpedia might just copy information from Wikipedia or perhaps the other was around. Anywho, the Museé Bonnat closed it’s doors in April of 2011 for an extension renovation. The project will double the size of the art museum. It says the work will begin in early 2018 and then will open towards the end of 2019. So that explains why the museum is closed now. Wait, it does not explain that. It also doesn’t explain why the museum would close in 2011 if the renovation wasn’t going to even start until 2018. So I thought I would visit the actual Museé Bonnat website which is where I should have probably started by investigation. Apparently the museum will remain closed to the public until 2024. So if you are the public and would like to see the drawing by Signorelli you will have to wait a few more years but since you have already waited 10 years I guess is won’t seem like that much longer. If you want to see my copy, you can stop by anytime, I’ll put out some chips and salsa.