Italian Renaissance Drawing: Design, Form and Function

This course will look at the powerhouse behind the Italian Renaissance – the drawing.

Looking at a variety of drawings across 300 years you will see examples of the practise from Verrocchio, Raphael, and Ghirlandaio. There will also be individual classes dedicated to Leonardo and Michelangelo. The course will demonstrate how behind every great Renaissance painting is an equally astounding drawing. Artists were judged firstly not by the quality of their paintings, but by their skill in drawing. We will bring together some of those paintings with their accompanying drawings to demonstrate the importance of drawing upon the Renaissance without which there could be no Renaissance. You will examine how these, at first purely functional objects, were made and how they would eventually be regarded as works of art in their own right. The 8 lectures will be complemented by 2 visits to the Prints and Drawings Departments of the Royal Collection, Windsor and the British Museum.

Model Books – Giovannino de Grassi to Giovanni Bellini: tradition & innovation

In this lecture you will see how drawing animals and complex decorative costumes especially ‘exotic’ costumes had always been a challenge for artists especially if they were unavailable. How could an artist include them in his works? But if animals were around, how could he keep them still enough to draw? You will see how this was achieved, including the use of model books, how they were used to populate works, and how this is evident when looking at paintings and fresco.

Register to tell a friend about this lecture.

Comments

If you would like to comment about this lecture, please register here.

©2003-2006 Niminim Limited. Created by

Any ad revenue is entirely reinvested into the Lecture List's operating fund