Old Masters Drawing
Copies 2014
Copy of Michelangelo's
Profile of an incined headl
Red chalk on paper
12 x 14 inches
Michelangelo once recounted a story of one of his youthful indiscretions when he copied an original so perfectly that he returned the copy and kept the original. The purpose of copying at Old Masters Drawing.com is two fold. It is used to work out the drawing procedures of the masters and to verify that we can actually replicate the master's method by replicating the drawing. To the left is a copy of Michelangelo's "profile of an inclined head". The cap and chin are left unfinished.
Copies 2015
Prud'hon is not typically considered to be an Old Master. The designation of Old Master commonly ends with Goya (1746-1828). Prud'hon was selected for copy to determine if the academic method of drawing of the 1800s continued the traditions of the masters. The Fellowship believes that the French Academy in part institutionalized the drawing methods of the Old Masters.
The "nude man" in the Musee des Beaux-Arts was selected for copy because Prud'hon left it at several different distinct stages of completion: the contour and largest forms laid in and blended, the smaller forms delineated and worked into, and the final blend and verticle hatching applied. This allows one to see his working method as a sequence. The copy to the right has been stopped one step shy of each of these stages of completion. The verticle black parallel hatching was not applied nor was the final stumping so that the underlying forms could be seen. Thus the entire sequence (proposed) of his drawing process can be observed by comparing the original to the incomplete copy. The link to the original is above.
In the copy the torso is the most complete. Only the smallest forms have been omitted as well as Prud'hon's final black and white verticle hatching in the lights. The shadow decending the right side has also been left without the verticle black hatching. It was graded by stumping indicating the direction of the reflected light. Then the major forms were placed using their darkest boundaries. The torso in the copy has more definition in the ribs and abdomen then the original because Prud'hon appears to have softened the forms to his desired effect when finishing with his signature verticle black and white hatching which the copy has omitted.
On the head, legs, and arms the initial white chalk lines were left unblended unlike the original, so that one could still see the proposed first pass marking the morphology. It is not known how Prud'hon stumped or blended from this point. On the copy the white chalk on the torso and shoulders was simply worked into with a hard piece of vine charcoal to establish the forms
lying on top of the large masses. This blended or softened the bold white chalk delineations. The shadows under the chin and neck were also left without Prud'hon's signature verticle black hatches. One can see the separation of form and cast shadows before he blended (obscured) them with the verticle hatch. The hair was divided into its patterns and has the darkest accents applied, but not its local.
Prud'hon's academie is instructive on several accounts. First, in the "nude man" one sees the use of the "longest line" employed in the drawing of the figure. It may have been an innovation of the French Academy in the 1800s. The term "longest line" describes how to relate forms as they fall linearly along a imaginary guide line. It is a development of the concept of the "deviation from an average." In this case the average of a linear relationship is an alignment of boundaries of sucessive forms, as in the line running down from the contour at the top of the right leg proper inwards to the shin and ankle. It is speculated that the Old Masters accomplished a similar guide line using a stylus, but it has not been verified to date. Transfer lines though are commonly found in stylus on Old Master drawings.
Second, one observes that Prud'hon remained strictly Academic in his drawing method (the Fellowship used solely the French Academic method drawing the copy). He achieved his stylistic innovation by obscuring or contrasting form using the technique of verticle hatching. He produced a range of finishes from the softest lights and shadows to an "oak bark" like gain running down his academies by varying the length and thickness of the hatch. Regardless of the finish, his figures are strikingly beautiful.
Third, part of the arresting beauty of his finish is the extent to which he leaves the paper showing through the drawing as a ground. He achieved depth and a variety of subtle textures and complexion changes by using the paper to its fullest possibilities. The Fellowship initially assumed there would be more stumping and layering of the white chalk while copying, but when one worked black into white a subtle blue was created that was grayer then the paper. So one could identify the paper showing through as opposed to stumped suface.
Commentary:
Copying is normally used to verify the analysis of a master's procedure. If one can follow a formulated procedure while ostensibly replicating the drawing in its manner, that procedure should be very similar to the original, though it may not be in the same order.
Upon replicating the method of the master by copying, the same procedure is then used to drawing the cast or statue. Once that procedure is ingrained it is used to draw the figure. The drawing of the cast to the right was done using the procedure garnered from the study of Raphael's Cringing warrior in the Ashmolean's collection. The Cringing warrior is not typical of Raphael's style. It was selected to understand the handling of diffused light. We still have not completely analyzed Raphael's most recognized style.
Notes:
The paper that was too soft was used for the "inclined head" and paper that was too hard was used for "nude man."
The photograph to the left was taken in raking light so that the viewer would be able to see the bold white chalk on the horizontal bias before it would have been blended - see the right side proper.
Procedure:
Copy: the first pass was the black charcoal contour, widely spaced white hatching, boundaries of forms laid in in charcoal, and the shadows graded (as seen in the legs, arms, neck, lower adomen, and hair).
The second pass is with black charcoal and white chalk defining smaller forms or charcoal working into the white chalk on the large forms, gentle stumping with the finger (head, chest, and ribs). Charcoal was worked into the gradation of the shadows (under nose, chin, eyes, right pectorial, arm pit, and rib).
Original: The last pass is assumed to be gentle stumping to bring the forms back to their averages and a finish of verticle black and white hatching.
If the Fellowship is correct in its procedure, Prud'hon method of drawing was to maximize the projection of the forms and then to soften or reduce as desired..
Charcoal and white chalk on blue laid paper.
Close-up
