Drawing in the workshop and academy

Study of Two Male Nudes

Study of Two Male Nudes, after Michelangelo
Baccio Bandinelli (1493-1560)
Italy
First half of 16th century
Ink and wash on laid paper
Width 27.6 cm x height 33.3 cm
Museum no. Dyce 163

Baccio Bandinelli ran his own drawing classes. The work of Michelangelo was much copied and he was one of the most assiduous copiers after Michelangelo’s cartoon for the Battle of Cascina.

Examples From 162 Drawings of Details of the Raphael Cartoons

Examples From 162 Drawings of Details of the Raphael Cartoons, after Raphael
James Thornhill (1675-1734)
Britain
1729-1731
Black chalk, ink and wash on laid paper
Size of volume width 30 cm x height 41 cm
Museum no. E.495 -497-1912

Thornhill was active in the struggle for the foundation of a formal Academy of Art in Britain. In 1716 he became governor of the country’s first Academy of Drawing and Painting from Life, set up in 1711. For a short time from 1724 he also ran a free school in his own house. He made large and small sets of copies of Raphael’s cartoons and these studies of details with the intention of publishing them for the use of students. The publication never appeared.

Drawing Book Composed of Alternate Drawings by Master and Pupil

Drawing Book Composed of Alternate Drawings by Master and Pupil
Mr Ryland and Mrs Hughes
Britain
1766
Pencil on laid paper
Size of volume width 16.1 cm x height 20.6 cm
Museum no. E.554-1975

This book is inscribed began to learn to draw with Mr Ryland Dec 8th, 1766. It provides an example of the first stage of drawing tuition.

Poetry; Two Putti in a Cloud

Poetry; Two Putti in a Cloud, after Boucher
Unknown
France
About 1780
Red chalk on laid paper
Width 25 cm x height 17 cm
Museum no. D.1907-1885

This copy was made from the engraving by Hertel after Boucher. Engravings of the great masters were one of the main sources of images for copying. Although the engraving was in black, the aspiring artist will have known that Boucher’s drawing would have been rendered in red chalk and has therefore used red chalk in emulation of the original.

La Poésie

La Poésie
George Leopold Hertel (worked c.1740-c.1778)
German
Engraving
Cut to width 29.6 cm x height 19.2 cm
3rd quarter of 18th century
Museum no. 24864.4

Study of the Head of St Michael

Study of the Head of St Michael, after Reni
Jacques-Louis David (1748-1825)
France
1775-80
Black Chalk on laid paper
Width 14 cm x height 15.5 cm
Museum no. 5944

Although David already had a reputation when he came to Rome in 1775 he stopped painting because he thought he drew badly and ‘set about drawing eyes, ears, mouths, feet and hands’. This copy was made from a detail in the painting by Guido Reni in S.Maria della Concezione, Rome, and is inscribed ‘colere noble et elevee’ (noble and heroic anger).

Diego de Acedo ‘El Primo’

Diego de Acedo ‘El Primo’, after Velazquez
Francisco de Goya y Lucientes (1746-1828)
Spain
Late 18th century
Black chalk
Width 15 cm x height 19 cm
Museum no. CAI 836

Goya made this drawing when he was working under the direction of Mengs at the Santa Barbara tapestry factory on cartoons for tapestries with which to decorate the royal residences. Mengs greatly admired Velasquez and urged the younger painter ‘not only to copy (his works) but above all to imitate them.’ Goya made this copy from a painting recently installed in the King’s apartments. It and other such drawings were subsequently used to provide the guidelines for a set of etchings.

Studies of Michelangelo’s Lost Group of Samson Slaying Two Philistines

Studies of Michelangelo’s Lost Group of Samson Slaying Two Philistines, after Michelangelo
School of Jacopo Tintoretto (1518-1594)
Italy
16th century
Black chalk heightened with white on faded blue laid paper
Width 28.3 cm x height 36.1cm
Museum no. Dyce 237

Tintoretto’s studio was stocked with casts of sculpture and he and his school drew regularly from them.

Six Studies from Different Viewpoints of an Armless Female Statue

Six Studies from Different Viewpoints of an Armless Female Statue
Domenico Garguilo (Micco Spadaro) (about 1612-about 1675)
Italy
17th century
Ink on laid paper
Width 25 cm x height 18 cm
Museum no. 2291

The artist was a painter who specialised in inserting figures into architectural settings.

Study After an Antique Base Relief

Study After an Antique Base Relief
Probably Antonio Domenico Gabbiani (1652-1726)
Italy
Late 17th century
Red chalk on laid paper
Width 23.3 cm x height 37.4 cm
Museum no. 8675b

From late in the 15th century artists excitedly attended excavations in their search for newly-discovered antique sculptures as models of excellence. This drawing of a damaged relief would have been a routine exercise for a 17th century painter such as Gabbiani during his attendance at the Florentine Academy in Rome.

Study of the Laocoon

Study of the Laocoon
Filippo Agricola (1776-1857)
Italy
First half of 19th century
Red chalk on wove paper
Width 29.5 cm x height 38 cm
Museum no. D.2269-1885

The Laocoon was found at the baths of Titus in Rome in 1506 and was much admired by Michelangelo and his school who studied nearby. It was still popular with artists 250 years later. Agricola made this study while at the Academia di S.Luca. There are five other studies after the antique by him in the V&A’s collection.

Study of a cast of the Roman sculpture ‘Pancrastinae’ or ‘Wrestlers’

Study of a cast of the Roman sculpture ‘Pancrastinae’ or ‘Wrestlers’
William Mulready (1786-1863)
Britain
1800
Black and white chalk on green-grey wove paper
Width 33 cm x height 36 cm
Museum no. 6000

The rules relating to the Royal Academy Schools, London, stated 'Each student...shall present a drawing or model from some plaister (sic) cast to the Keeper, and if he thinks him properly qualified he shall be permitted to make a drawing or model of some cast in the Royal Academy, which will be approved by the Keeper and Visitor for the time being, shall be laid before the Council for their confirmation, which obtained he shall receive his letter of admission....Where he shall continue to draw after the plaister (sic), till the Keeper and Visitor...judge him qualified to draw after the living models...’ This drawing, which is inscribed 'for permission to draw from the living model', was Mulready’s submission at that point in his training.

Study of a Plaster Cast of a Foot

Study of a Plaster Cast of a Foot
Luke Fildes (1843-1927)
Britain
1863
Black heightened with white chalk on buff wove paper
Width 45.4 cm x height 67.4 cm
Museum no. E.1951-1909

Fildes drew this study shortly after entering the British National Art Training School (Now the Royal College of Art) with a scholarship after three years training at a provincial school of art. At first British state-run schools, in opposition to the Academy Schools, did not permit drawing from casts although the syllabus was, nevertheless, based on drawing from other approved models. By the time the Schools of Design had evolved into the Schools of Art, such academic training was, as is shown by this drawing, encouraged.

Five Studies of Male Nudes, on One Sheet

Five Studies of Male Nudes, on One Sheet
Bartolomeo Passarotti (1529-1592)
Italy
16th century
Ink on laid paper
Width 26 cm x height 41.9 cm
Museum no. Dyce 159

The sheet is an example of the artist exploring the musculature of the same model in a variety of poses.

Seven Studies of a Foot

Seven Studies of a Foot
John C.D.Engleheart (1784-1862)
Britain
1799
Ink and black and red chalks on laid paper
Width 48 cm x height 20 cm
Museum no. E.171-1939

These studies made when the artist was 15, are typical of the piecemeal approach towards the human figure that was encouraged by formal art teaching at this time. There are two further studies of legs done by the artist at the same time in the V&A’s collection.

Study of a Seated Male Nude

Study of a Seated Male Nude
John Constable (1776-1837)
Britain
About 1800
Charcoal heightened with white chalk on brown wove paper
Width 41 cm x height 53 cm
Museum no. 42-1873

Constable attended the Royal Academy Schools in London from 1799 and is likely to have made this drawing there. Although one of Britain's greatest landscape painters he continued to draw from the nude throughout his career.

Half-length Anatomical Study of a Man Drawn from a Dissected Corpse

Half-length Anatomical Study of a Man Drawn from a Dissected Corpse
John Gibson (1790-1866)
Britain
About 1815
Pencil on wove paper
Width 34 cm x height 24.5 cm
Museum no. D.1306a-1898

Gibson began work as a sculptor without any formal training and then was taken up by the banker and connoisseur, William Roscoe, who encouraged him to copy works by Renaissance artists from his collection and as the artist recalled, to study anatomy ‘from the subject itself. Knowing what an anatomist Michel Angelo was, I was most eager to begin. Dr Vose of Liverpool was giving lectures on anatomy to young surgeons at that time, and he generously admitted me into his school gratis. With his instruction, and close devotion to the dissecting room, I became well versed in the construction of the human body, and could detect at a glance any anatomical error in a work of art’.

Écorché Study of a Horse

Écorché Study of a Horse
John Gibson (1790-1866)
Britain
About 1815
Pencil on wove paper
Width 34 cm x height 24.5 cm
Museum no. D.1316-1898

Gibson began work as a sculptor without any formal training and then was taken up by the banker and connoisseur, William Roscoe, who encouraged him to copy works by Renaissance artists from his collection and as the artist recalled, to study anatomy ‘from the subject itself. Knowing what an anatomist Michel Angelo was, I was most eager to begin. Dr Vose of Liverpool was giving lectures on anatomy to young surgeons at that time, and he generously admitted me into his school gratis. With his instruction, and close devotion to the dissecting room, I became well versed in the construction of the human body, and could detect at a glance any anatomical error in a work of art’. The anatomy of the horse has been second only to that of the human figure in the attention that artists have paid to it.

Studies of a Human Skeleton from an Écorché Cast

Studies of a Human Skeleton from an Écorché Cast
William Edward Frost (1810-1877)
Britain
Second quarter of 19th century
Pencil and chalk on wove paper
Sheet size, width 36.3 cm x height 52.5 cm
Museum no. E.424-1948

Frost studied at Henry Sass’s School and then at the Royal Academy, both in London. Skeletons and écorché casts showing the musculature of the body such as these were standard props in workshops and art academies from the 17th century. Both drawings were inscribed 'for a Student’s Ticket' and may have been prepared to help his admission to the Academy.

Study of the Muscles of a Male Figure from an Écorché Cast

Study of the Muscles of a Male Figure from an Écorché Cast
William Edward Frost (1810-1877)
Britain
Second quarter of 19th century
Pencil and chalk on wove paper
Sheet size, width 36.3 cm x height 52.5 cm
Museum no. E.425-1948

Frost studied at Henry Sass’s School and then at the Royal Academy, both in London. Skeletons and écorché casts showing the musculature of the body such as these were standard props in workshops and art academies from the 17th century. Both drawings were inscribed 'for a Student’s Ticket' and may have been prepared to help his admission to the Academy.

Three Studies of a Female Nude on One Sheet

Three Studies of a Female Nude on One Sheet
Henry Tonks (1862-1937)
Britain
About 1917-30
Black and red chalk on pale blue wove paper
Width 39.4 cm x height 47.9 cm
Museum no. E.357-1937

Tonks was Professor at the Slade, a leading art school in London, from 1917-1930. He encouraged all his students to draw and drew assiduously from the figure himself.