Monday, January 15, 2018

Renaissance and Baroque Figure-Drawing from Italy

Francesco Salviati
Figure Studies for David
ca. 1526-33
drawing
National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa

Domenico Beccafumi
Figure Studies for River Gods
ca. 1540-50
drawing
Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam

Michelangelo
Figure Studies
before 1564
drawing
Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam

Andrea Boscoli
Figure Study
ca. 1592-97
drawing
Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam

Annibale Carracci
Figure Study
ca. 1599-1604
drawing
Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam

"The best explanation of how the knave, and sometimes even the fool, nearly always make out better in the world than do the honest man and the man of intelligence, is that the knave and the fool have less difficulty keeping the pace and the tone of the world which, for the most part, is nothing but knavery and foolishness, whereas the honest man and the man of sense, unable to enter so unhesitatingly into commerce with the world, waste moments which, in matters of fortune, are priceless.  The former are merchants who, knowing the language of the country, sell and provide for themselves immediately, while the latter are obliged to learn the language from their buyers and sellers before they can display their merchandise and come to terms with them.  Often, indeed, they scorn to learn the language at all, and return without having struck a single bargain." 

Sisto Badalocchio
Figure Study
ca. 1602-1612
drawing
Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam

Pietro Sorri
Figure Study
ca. 1609-1614
drawing
Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam

Giuseppe Cesari
Figure Study, half-length
before 1640
drawing
Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam

Pietro della Vecchia
Figure Study, half-length
ca. 1643-63
drawing
Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam

attributed to Giacomo Cavedone
Figure Study
before 1660
drawing
Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam

"Society is not, as is commonly believed, the development of Nature, but rather its decomposition and total reconstruction.  It is a second building, constructed from the ruins of the first.  One discovers the fragments with a pleasure mingled with surprise.  It is the same feeling that is evoked by the naive expression of a natural sentiment, when anything of the kind occurs in society.  Sometimes indeed it is especially pleasing when the person who voices it is someone of high rank – that is, further removed from Nature.  It charms, in the person of a king, because a king is at the opposite extreme.  It is a fragment of the ancient Doric or Corinthian architecture in a crude and modern edifice." 

– this and the passage above are maxims from Products of the Perfected Civilization: Selected Writings of Chamfort, extracted from texts published posthumously in 1795, translated by W.S. Merwin (New York: Macmillan, 1969)

Francesco Montelatici
Figure Study
before 1661
drawing
Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam

Francesco Trevisani
Figure Study
ca. 1685-95
drawing
Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam

Baldassare Franceschini
Figure Study
before 1698
drawing
Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam

Ubaldo Gandolfi
Figure Study
before 1781
drawing
Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam