Copying from the round

Stage two in the traditional drawing curriculum

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

    Studies of Michelangelo’s Lost Group of Samson Slaying Two Philistines, School of Jacopo Tintoretto, 16th century. Museum no. Dyce 237

    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.

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  • Six Studies from Different Viewpoints of an Armless Female Statue

    Six Studies from Different Viewpoints of an Armless Female Statue, Domenico Garguilo, 17th century. Museum no. 2291

    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, late 17th century. Museum no. 8675b

    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, first half of 19th century. Museum no. D.2269-1885

    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, 1800. Museum no. 6000

    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, 1863. Museum no. E.1951-1909

    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.

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