One extraordinary aspect of drawings by the old masters is the quality of the lines they use to describe the planes and roundness of surfaces.
It is rare ever to see a squiggle. Every line is drawn deliberately. It has a clean beginning and a clean end. There are no lumps, no smudges, no tick marks left by the pen as it goes back to produce the next stroke. Where the lines are meant to be parallel they are parallel. Where meant to be curved they are all curved with regularity. Above all, every one of those lines is doing its own job of work, no more and no less.
The preceding example was by Grunewald. My next example contradicts what I said about it being rare to see a squiggle, that each line has a clean beginning and end, and no tick marks left by the pen as it travels back for the next stroke.
The example is a sketch by Michelangelo.
Despite it contradicting some of what I said observe the regularity of the lines. The lines have been drawn quickly but each is deliberate. Notice how on the right arm of the lower figure its roundness is described by short rounded strokes. Note that there are two muscle groups described by those strokes! Look at the way in which, on that figure’s upper inner thigh the planes of the muscles are precisely defined. See how much care is taken to describe the three dimensional character of these figures.
There might even be a good reason why Michelangelo used a squiggle to describe the tree trunk: it represents shadow which when combined with our knowledge of trees causes us to think of it as a cylindrical shape. Because this is only suggested and not actually stated, i.e. it is not drawn but squiggled, it causes the form of the tree to recede with respect to the legs, most especially the upright leg whose roundness is emphasised. Notice that the strokes denoting the leg’s roundness also suggest its being in shadow, in the shadow of the main trunk. But for this to happen the trunk must be somewhat behind the leg thus further emphasising its in-frontness. Similarly the branch that goes behind the main figure’s torso is not represented as round, on the contrary the lines are ones used to denote flat surfaces. And that has the effect of creating a surface which comes sweeping out from behind the torso, pushing the torso forward in pictorial space. Clever stuff.
Here is another Michelangelo.
Again Michelangelo is out to contradict my assertions of neatness! Like the previous drawing it has been done with pen and ink. He would have used a quill. Just think of the dexterity, the control necessary to achieve this quality of stroke making! Observe how rounded lines shape the buttocks, he draws both the convex shapes and the concave. The concave may be seen on the lower part of the scapula where the very short lines describe the bottom of the bulge where the latissimus dorsi cuts beneath the teres major. That is very skilfull.
In general convex shapes, bulges, are easier to draw than concave shapes, dips and hollows in a surface. Mixing them can confuse the viewer. Here Michelangelo is making use of our tendency to see a dark area coming beneath a bright area as shadow, and therefore indicative of an overhang. It is clever stuff difficult to do.
Observe the base of the head where it joins the neck: those beautifully drawn long S shapes describing the change of planes. Again I emphasise, everything is dedicated to showing the three dimensional geometry of the figures.
I think this next example is pretty much perfect as far as my exhortations of care and deliberiteness are concerned.
Next is someone quite different: Tintoretto, one of my favourite artists. A more energy filled painter is hard to find. Contrast the two drawings of his below.
The first is this head. I think it must be one his drawings from statuary. He drew from the antique incessantly, over and over, drawing after drawing. learning.
Again look at the regularity of line. Now this is a painter of passion. A fiery energetic emotional individual. Despite this energy look at the discipline of his line. Look at the precision with which the lines are placed. Look how groups of two or three or four lines describe a plane or a bulge. He even produces a beautiful convex shape just beneath the edge of the jaw as it descends from the ear. Fantastic. He is here not just describing the shape as three dimensional object. He is also describing subtleties of lighting but above all the rhythm of his lines makes music.
This second Tintoretto is a study for a figure. Like the previous drawing it is done in crayon. Crayon is is a great medium because it’s softness allows for a lot of experimentation and for a lot of delicacy in handling. It is as sensitive as touch. And that is what Tintoretto does with it. He metaphorically runs his fingers over the figure. The forms come out by virtue of the way the bulges are drawn and the planes defined. Just try that for yourself, to get that torso to twist back the way it does, and what a terrific three dimensional leg is that! Brilliant.
Now here is an absolutely fabulous set of drawings by Procaccini.
I know next to nothing about this painter and have only just looked at a few of his paintings to be found on the web. These are clearly working drawings. I don’t think they were drawn from anything other than the imagination, though there is such a sense of softness, of relaxation in the muscles of what I suppose must be the brachialis, that it is almost inconceivable it could be thought of unless looking at a model.
He may well have made a speciality of this contrast in the state of activity or repose of a muscle, for instance the torso of Christ in his Ecce Homo at the Dallas Museum
In his drawings he’s obtaining his effects not just by his use of lines but also of a fine wash. This enables him to get into the fine detail of the musculature without loosing the overall form of the main body. This one must always remember: texture like colour destroys the illusion of 3D. I will have more to say about this later.
Again notice the regularity and precision with which the lines are formed. Notice how everything is devoted to making the figures three dimensional.
Let’s finish with the magic of Leonardo.
As all who have tried to represent the muscles will know, it is hard to make them distinct and keep the three dimensional shape of the whole. What a fantastic drawing this is. Notice yet again how his lines define the planes of the body, the roundness of the overall form. Later I’ll write about how Leonardo is able to draw forms held within larger forms, held within larger forms yet. His technique, of which I think we may be seeing a little in this drawing relates to the curvature of the mass of the deltoid and the shapes of the individual muscle bundles which form it.
Here is a fantastic drawing of the torso, again by Leonardo da Vinci.
Again I must emphasise how all the effort here has gone into showing the location of the individual muscle groups and their three dimensional shape within the form of the torso and how this is done with an exactness of line, precision, clarity and care of construction.
I finish with this last drawing by Leonardo. Look at those lines and marvel.
