Renaissance Drawing, its function and historical background

Drawing played a crucial role in any creative process during the Renaissance and many artists defined it as a cornerstone of the visual arts. Giorgio Vasasri defined drawing [or design, as the Italian word disegno means both design and drawing] as the parent of Architecture, Sculpture and Painting and the first-fine arts Academy in history, founded by Vasari was given the name of “Accademia delle Arti del Disegno“.

§ 74. The Nature and Materials of Design or Drawing.

Seeing that Design, the parent of our three arts, Architecture, Sculpture, and Painting, having its origin in the intellect, draws out from many single things a general judgement, it is like a form or idea of all the objects in nature, most marvelous in what it compasses, for not only in the bodies of men and of animals but also in plants, in buildings, in sculpture and in painting, design is cognizant of the proportion of the whole to the parts and of the parts to each other and to the whole. Seeing too that from this knowledge there arises a certain conception and judgement, so that there is formed in the mind that something which afterwards, when expressed by the hands, is called design, we may conclude that design is not other than a visible expression and declaration of our inner conception and of that which others have imagined and given form to in their idea.

Giorgio Vasari (1511-1574), Vasari on technique; being the introduction to the three arts of design, architecture, sculpture and painting, prefixed to the Lives of the most excellent painters, sculptors, and architects

As you can see, Vasari defines drawing as a way to visually communicate ideas. In practice though, drawing had a variety of applications in the creative process. With help of Drawing a Renaissance artist would:

• Study the nature and masterpieces of past and contemporary artists
• Exercise to improve ability of the hand and precision of the eye
• Design and develop elaborate artworks (architecture, sculpture, painting, etching, illumination etc.)
• Develop a painting on wall or panel with help of cartoon and underdrawing techniques
• Teach and expand production: typically, a bottega (studio) had a collection of designs by the studio master that were used by apprentices in the atelier to study and produce bigger quantities of artworks.

The drawing practice was back in the Renaissance and still is the primary way for figurative artists to study and analyze nature, learn from other masters, memorize objects enriching their visual “vocabulary” and of course improve their drawing and painting abilities.

§ 76. Of the Nature of Painting.
[…] Design cannot have a good origin if it has not come from continual practice in copying natural objects, and from the study of pictures by excellent masters and of ancient statues in relief, as has been said many times. But above all, the best thing is to draw men and women from the nude and thus fix in the memory by constant exercise the muscles of the torso, back, legs, arms, and knees, with the bones underneath. Then one may be sure that through much study attitudes in any position can be drawn by help of the imagination without one’s having the living forms in view. […]

Giorgio Vasari (1511-1574), Vasari on technique; being the introduction to the three arts of design, architecture, sculpture and painting, prefixed to the Lives of the most excellent painters, sculptors, and architects

Studying from ancient Roman and Greek sculptures as well as from famous artists of the near past was a very common practice in the Renaissance. An entire generation of High Renaissance Florentine artists was trained on studying Masaccio’s frescoes in the Brancacci Chapel, including the young Michelangelo:

Leonardo advocated for the direct study from the nature itself, putting it way above the study from other artists. When reflecting on Leonardo’s words, we should keep in mind the excellent training he received in a very young age in the number 1 art studio of his time: Andrea Verocchio’s workshop. In fact, people often tend to underestimate how much Leonardo owes to his master and the Florentine artistic culture of his times.

[…] The painter will produce a work of little value if he takes the works of others as his model, but if he studies and follows the creations of nature he will have good results. […] About our studies of mathematics I wish to say that those who study only the masters and not the works of nature are in art the grandsons and not the sons of nature, mistress of all good masters. […]

Leonardo on art and the artist by Leonardo da Vinci, 1452-1519, Dover Publications

In any case, from the above citations from Michelangelo, Donatello, Leonardo and Vasari you can see how much the everyday practice of drawing was fundamental for any Renaissance artists.

Sketch

§ 77. Sketches, Drawings, and Cartoons of different kinds.

SKETCHES, of which mention has been made above, are in artists’ language a sort of first drawing made to find out the manner of the pose, and the first composition of the work. They are made in-the form of a blotch; and are put down by us only as a rough draft of the whole. Out of the artist’s impetuous mood they are hastily thrown off, with pen or other drawing instrument or with charcoal, only to test the spirit of that which occurs to him, and for this reason we call them sketches. […]

Giorgio Vasari (1511-1574), Vasari on technique; being the introduction to the three arts of design, architecture, sculpture and painting, prefixed to the Lives of the most excellent painters, sculptors, and architects

What rules to give to apprentices.
[…] Have you never seen poets compose their verses? They do not become tired of writing beautiful letters and do not object to crossing Out certain verses in order to write them again better. Therefore, painter, compose the limbs of your figures in general terms, and first see to it that the movements are appropriate to the state of mind of the beings who occupy your composition, and only then think of the beauty and the quality of the details.

For you must understand that if this unfinished sketch does happen to agree with your idea, it will be all the better when it is enhanced by the perfection of all its parts. […]

Leonardo on art and the artist by Leonardo, da Vinci, 1452-1519, Dover Publications

Preparatory study

§ 77. Sketches, Drawings, and Cartoons of different kinds.

[…] Later on, having measured them with the compasses or by the eye, he enlarges from the small to a larger size according to the work in hand. Drawings are made in various materials, that is, either with red chalk, which is a stone coming from the mountains of Germany, soft enough to be easily sawn and reduced to a fine point suitable for marking on leaves of paper in any way you wish; or with black chalk that comes from the hills of France, which is of the same nature as the red. Other drawings in light and shade are executed on tinted paper which gives a middle shade; the pen marks the outlines, that is, the contour or profile, and afterwards half-tone or shadow is given with ink mixed with a little water which produces a delicate tint: further, with a fine brush dipped in white lead mixed with gum, the high lights are added. This method is very pictorial, and best shows the scheme of colouring. Many work with the pen alone, leaving the paper for the lights, which is difficult but in effect most masterly; and innumerable other methods are practiced in drawing, of which it is not needful to make mention, because all represent the same thing, that is drawing. […]

Giorgio Vasari (1511-1574), Vasari on technique; being the introduction to the three arts of design, architecture, sculpture and painting, prefixed to the Lives of the most excellent painters, sculptors, and architects

Cartoon

§ 77. Sketches, Drawings, and Cartoons of different kinds.

[…] The designs having been made in this way, the artist who wishes to work in fresco, that is, on the wall, must make cartoons; many indeed prepare them even for working on panel. The cartoons are made thus: sheets of paper, I mean square sheets, are fastened together with paste made of flour and water cooked on the fire. They are attached to the wall by this paste, which is spread two fingers’ breadth all round on the side next the wall, and are damped all over by sprinkling cold water on them. In this moist state they are stretched so that the creases are smoothed out in the drying. Then when they are dry the artist proceeds, with a long rod, having a piece of charcoal at the end, to transfer to the cartoon (in enlarged proportions), to be judged of at a distance, all that in the small drawing is shown on the small scale. In this manner little by little he finishes, now one figure and now another. At this point the painters go through all the processes of their art in reproducing their nudes from the life, and the drapery from nature, and they draw the perspectives in the same schemes that have been adopted on a small scale in the first drawing, enlarging them in proportion. […]

Giorgio Vasari (1511-1574), Vasari on technique; being the introduction to the three arts of design, architecture, sculpture and painting, prefixed to the Lives of the most excellent painters, sculptors, and architects

Underdrawing

§ 85. Drawing, by transfer or directly.
[…] Thus it is seen that the artist, after the priming is dry, either tracing the cartoon or drawing with white chalk, makes the first sketch 4 which some call ‘imporre’ (getting it in). And having finished covering the whole the artist returns to it again to complete it with the greatest care: and here he employs all his art and diligence to bring it to perfection. […]

Giorgio Vasari (1511-1574), Vasari on technique; being the introduction to the three arts of design, architecture, sculpture and painting, prefixed to the Lives of the most excellent painters, sculptors, and architects

Prior to late XIV century, drawings had mostly a functional aspect, as something to be used inside the bottega (workshop), and in fact only a very few of these survived until our days.

But in XV and XVI century, when artists like Michelangelo, Leonardo, Raphael and many others became actual stars known to every educated individual in Italy and beyond, their artworks got in such a high demand, that even their drawings and cartoons were desired and valued as artworks in their own right.

Giorgio Vasari, the grand-father of Art History was also a pioneer drawing collector. His amazing Libro de’ Disegni (Book of Drawings) contained graphic works by most of the important Italian artists of Tre-, Quatro- and Cinquecento.

Check out this video to get an overview of drawing, its role and function in the Renaissance art: Renaissance Art Exposed: Leonardo da Vinci and the Secrets of Drawing