Saturday, June 17, 2017

Preparatory Drawings for Fresco Painting - early 17th century

Annibale Carracci
Studies of Putti for Naples fresco
before 1605
drawing
Royal Collection, Windsor

Francesco Albani
St John the Evangelist with Eagle
study for fresco
ca. 1605
drawing
Royal Collection, Windsor

Francesco Albani
Fall of Phaeton 
study for fresco in Palazzo Giustiniani, Rome
ca. 1609
drawing
Royal Collection, Windsor

"Once the artist had drawn the cartoon, he had two options for transferring the design to the painted support.  The first involved pricking tiny holes into the drawing with a pin or stylus, along the outlines and contours.  The cartoon was then held up to the painted surface and the holes were tapped with a muslin bag filled with charcoal dust.  This is called pouncing.  When the cartoon was removed, tiny dots of black charcoal replicating the design were left on the painted surface to serve as guidelines for painting.  The second method of transfer was by incision.  This technique was most useful for frescoes.  The cartoon was held up to the moist plaster wall and its outlines were traced with a stylus, leaving an imprint of the design on the wall.  Pouncing was a laborious process, while incision was much faster.  The only problem with incision was that it cut the cartoon to shreds.  Pouncing did not destroy the cartoon.  Cartoons were also destroyed when they were cut up into sections that could be painted in a day's work.  The best way of preserving a cartoon was to put an identical, blank sheet below the drawing during the pricking.  This produced a substitute cartoon that had no drawing on it but that could be used for pouncing.  This is undoubtedly what happened to leonardo's Portrait of Isabella d'Este, which was copied on more than one occasion in Isabella's lifetime.  Renaissance cartoons are now very rare.  Even if they survived the transfer process, their very scale made them difficult to preserve."  

 from Master Drawings of the Italian Renaissance by Clair Van Cleave (Harvard University Press, 2007)

The Italian "studies for frescoes" grouped here from the British Museum and from the Royal Collection at Windsor are clearly products of an earlier stage of composition than the full-size, finished cartoons discussed above by Clair Van Cleave. Instead, these smaller sheets embodied compositional options and ideas, some of which were eventually modified and endorsed and enlarged and refined and used.

Agostino Tassi
St Peter on Malta with Serpent
study for fresco
ca. 1615
drawing
British Museum

Giambattista Crespi
Contorted Figure of Bearded Man
study for fresco
ca. 1618
drawing
Royal Collection, Windsor

Andrea Sacchi
Midas and Bacchus supporting Silenus on a Donkey
study for fresco
ca. 1622-24
drawing
British Museum

Andrea Sacchi
Mocking of Christ 
study for fresco
ca. 1635
drawing
British Museum

Giovanni Lanfranco
St Matthew surrounded by Angels
study for pendentive fresco
ca. 1634-35
drawing
British Museum

Giovanni Lanfranco
St John the Evangelist surrounded by Angels
study for pendentive fresco
ca. 1634-35
drawing
British Museum

Domenichino
Head of St Luke
study for fresco at Sant'Andrea della Valle, Rome

ca. 1624
drawing
British Museum

Domenichino
St Matthew and the Angel
study for fresco at Sant'Andrea della Valle, Rome

ca. 1624
drawing
Royal Collection, Windsor

Domenichino
St John the Baptist revealing Christ to St Peter and St Andrew
study for fresco at Sant'Andrea della Valle

ca. 1625
drawing
Royal Collection, Windsor

Domenichino
Christ in Glory 
study for fresco
ca. 1631-33
drawing
Royal Collection, Windsor

Domenichino
Three Male Figures supporting Two Poles
study for fresco
ca. 1633
drawing
Royal Collection, Windsor

Domenichino
Crouching Lion 
study for fresco
ca. 1638
drawing
Royal Collection, Windsor