Tag: Signorelli

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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.

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Graphite Drawing After Signorelli

Graphite Drawing after Signorelli of Hercules and Antaeus

This next post is a graphite drawing of Hercules and Antaeus copied from a work in black chalk by Luca Signorelli. Signorelli who’s full name is Luca d’Egidio di Ventura de’ Signorelli, was referred to as Luca da Cortona because he was from, you guessed it, Cortona, Italy. According to my research, Signorelli was born sometime between 1445 and 1450. So apparently the record keeping was not very good in Cortona or women spent incredibly long periods in labor. Signorelli died in Cortona on October 16, 1523, so apparently record keeping greatly improved during his lifetime or perhaps deaths were considered more important than births. I’m not trying to judge anyone’s culture. I’m just trying to keep an open mind. I mean they know the exact date of his death but… I’m going to have to move on from this.
Luca Signorelli was known for his frescoes, most notably the series based on the end of the world in the Orvieto Cathedral. These frescoes were even praised by Michelangelo, whom he greatly admired. Signorelli worked in an intense and dramatic style. Raphael admired and was influenced by his work.

I’m just trying to keep an open mind.

Now let’s talk about Hercules and Antaeus of the ever popular Greek mythology. I have said this before but it bears repeating. I often start to doze off when I read or write or even think about any type of mythology so I’ll try to keep this brief. The giant Antaeus was the son of Gaea, the goddess of earth and Poseidon, the god of the sea. Antaeus was considered invincible due to the fact that his strength was renewed when his feet touched the ground. He would often challenge strangers to fight him. Kind of like those guys that still live at home and take martial arts classes all day then go out at night and pick fights with people. You know the type. Getting back to Mythology. One day Antaeus got into a fight with Heracles, who figured out that Antaeus got his strength from touching the earth. So Hercules lifted Antaeus from the Earth then crushed him to death. Wild stuff indeed.