DRAWING.

Drawing is the art of representing forms upon a flat surface, by means of any sort of instruments, such as pencils, chalks, and the like. It is also a word used to denote the forms or contours of the figures in compositions, or in sculpture generally. Thus we say that the drawing in a picture, or the drawing of a statue, or any other figure, is of a high or an inferior kind, good or bad.

This art is well known to be of the most remote antiquity, and it has been in use amongst the most barbarous and most civilized nations for a variety of purposes. The hieroglyphic figures, whether carved or painted, upon the ancient Egyptian obelisksand temples, the ornaments of the same description upon their buildings and sarcophagi, together with the like productions amongst the Mexicans, prove the ancient origin of the art. Some of the purest and best of the Egyptian sculptures, and particularly the figures of the harpers, described and illustrated by Bruce the traveller, exhibit a knowledge and correctness of taste in the art far surpassing what is usually admitted, and show that the Greek school in this, as well as in their other acquirements, was greatly indebted to the Egyptians for pointing out the road to that excellence of form and dignity of character and expression which their matchless works possess.

Although examples of drawings by the Greeks have not come down to us, their magnificent statues assure us that their proficiency in the art must have been of the highest order; and certain expressions of Pliny, in describing their pictures, evidently indicate that the Greeks must have attained to the utmost excellence in drawing, at the period of their glory as a nation. It is not our intention to load this article with ancient historical information respecting the fine arts, otherwise many curious anecdotes might be introduced; but we cannot pass over the mention of Alexander’s emotion on seeing a picture of Palamedes when betrayed by his friends, which forcibly reminded the hero of his own treatment of Aristonicus; nor can we refrain from noticing the picture of Agamemnon and Iphigenia by Timanthes, so highly extolled by Cicero Quintilian, Valerius Maximus, and Pliny, as satisfactory proofs of the excellence of the ancients in drawing and painting, as well as in their scupltures and architecture. From the emotions which the higher excellencies of the pictures by the Greek artists produced in these gifted men, a fair inference may be drawn as to the perfection to which the art must have attained at the period of Grecian glory; and consequently drawing, even in the confined sense of the word, must have also been in a corresponding state of advancement. Their principal schools were at Sicyon, Rhodes, Athens, and Corinth; and when Greece was subdued by the Romans, the conquerors, alive to the benefits to be derived from the sciences and arts, encouraged the cultivation of them in their own capital, to which the [7:8:181] Greek artists resorted, and laid the foundation of the Roman school.

From the conquests of Alaric and Attila in the fifth century, the arts lay prostrate and neglected, until their revival about the year 1450 at Florence, where DominicoGhirlandaio, the master of Michel Angelo, practised painting with considerable reputation, -which his pictures show he well merited.

We have now arrived at the golden age of the arts amongst the moderns, for Michel Angelo must be admitted to have been the first to discover and practise them with the classical discernment and skill which ultimately led him to the highest eminence amongst his contemporaries as a painter, a sculptor, an architect, and engineer, and deservedly placed his reputation on a level with the greatest names of antiquity. Till his time painters were considered as mere mechanics or labourers, and their employment was almost entirely confined to making representations of saints, and other figures used by the superstitious of the age. It was at this period, and surrounded by the wretched examples of such artists as Ci-niabue, Giotto, and others, that Michel Angelo, upon examining the torso of the Belvidere, instantly abandoned the barbarous taste and style of his master, and bounded into that sublime path which has been the admiration of all. “The poetry of the art,” says Sir Joshua Reynolds, “he possessed in the most eminent degree; and the same daring spirit which first urged him to explore the unknown regions of the imagination, impelled him forward in his career beyond those limits which his followers, destitute of the same incentives, had not strength to pass. He was the bright luminary from whom painting has borrowed a new lustre, under whose hands it assumed a new appearance, and became another and superior art.”

Raffaelle Santio, the pupil of Pietro Perugino, was born on Good Friday in the year 1483, and died on Good Friday in the year 1520, so that he only lived thirty-seven years. He must be admitted to have surpassed all the moderns in drawing and painting, though his design does not possess those sublime conceptions to be found in the works of his rival Michel Angelo. Generally speaking, the choice of his subjects is simple and pleasing, for he cared not to grapple with those severe attitudes and expressions to be found in the works of his gifted contemporary; but his compositions are invariably correct and harmonious, and his drawing careful, elegant, and pure. It is to his school that we would recommend the student to look for those examples which will be of the greatest practical benefit to hint in drawing; a circumstance which ought to be his first and principal aim.

It is not the proper place here to enter into the history of painting in Italy after its revival by the two great masters whose names and characteristic excellencies we have just mentioned. This we reserve for the article Painting ; and we now proceed to explain the practical details of the management and manipulation of drawing in its various styles.

Drawing, as we have already stated, is that part of the art which represents the forms of objects upon a flat surface, and maybe divided into outlining and shading; and as the chief attributes of almost all objects are embraced in the correctness of their forms, the student of art should labour with the utmost pains and assiduity in order to acquire severe accuracy in his outline, without which the most dexterous shading and finishing will be worse than thrown away.

In whatever department the genius of the student may lead him to practise, habits of correctness will be most successfully cultivated by drawing the human figure, the knowledge of which is the basis of all true excellence. The study ought to be begun by copying the most simple parts, such as we have exhibited in Plates CXC., CXCI., CXCII., CXCIII.; and the greatest anxiety to attain accuracy in the gentle undulations of form ought to be evinced. We would recommend that perspective should be studied at the earliest stage of the pupil’s practice. By means of a knowledge of its rules, which are simple, much time will be spared to the student, and excellence more speedily acquired than when directed only by his eye in the practice of drawing, whatever the object may be-

Although it matters little what the instrument may be which isuscdin the practice of drawing,yet,uponthewhole, we would recommend black and white chalks as the most to be preferred. They are easily procured, and convenient for use. They are usually fixed in an instrument of brass or steel, as represented below, the white chalk being placed at the one end, and the black at the other.

The paper should be slightly tinged with colour, so that the white chalk which is put upon the lights may tell properly. Crayon paper is the best. The outline being carefully made, first with charcoal as slightly as possible, and then corrected and smoothed with the black chalk, the shading may be executed as the taste of the student inclines. It may either be done with careful hatchings at particular angles, or in one solid smooth mass, or by a combination of both, which is probably the most advisable mode of practice. Too much attention to elaborate hatchings may divert the attention of the student from the more essential excellencies of the outline, and proper balance of light and shade; and a too careless manner in using his materials may lead to equal disadvantages, for in art, as in every thing else, carelessness in the beginning can never lead to excellence in the end. Much time in laying in the shadows may be spared by using an instrument called a stump, made of a piece of shamois leather rolled up in a cylindrical form, in a tight manner, tied round with thread, and shaped to a blunt point, as represented below.

A little chalk-powder may be dusted upon the shadow if extensive, and rubbed in with the instrument above described, and afterwards the part finished up with the chalk. The white chalk should not be used until the drawing is completed with the black, otherwise it is apt to get injured by admixture, which in no instance should be the case, for there ought always to be a space between the two chalks occupied by the tint of the paper.

The black chalk will be found to work very well upon white as well as coloured paper; but the process is more tedious, in consequence of all the middle or light tints having to be attended to and executed, which, in the case of the other paper, the tint produces. Errors in outline or shading may be rectified by rubbing out the defect with a piece of bread squeezed into a convenient shape between the finger and thumb.

After the student has acquired some degree of proficiency in using the chalk, and imitating any drawing or print which may be given him, he should next begin to copy from real substances, or what is technically termed drawing from “the round.”

Here a wide field is opened up to him in the study of [7:8:182]the antique statues; and while striving to attain accuracy in copying these noble reliques of art, he should consider deeply their high character and expression. It is not to be expected that a very extensive set of examples of the antique, or a discussion and detail of their merits, can be given here; all that we can do is to lead the student to the proper source whence he may draw supplies; and with this view we would recommend him to peruse and contemplate the statues of the Apollo Belvidere, the Venus de’ Medici, the Gladiator Borghese, the Torso of the Belvidere, and the matchless group of the Laocoon, at the time he is copying them in the way of practice. See Plates CXCIV., CXCV., CXCVI., CXCVII., CXCVHI.

We have hitherto only considered the drawing of the human figure, and that in black and white chalks. Another very good way of producing a spirited effect is, by a union of both these with red chalk, a method much practised by the csld masters in their academy figures, &c.

The following are the measures of the human body, as taken by Fresnoy from the ancient statues. The ancients have commonly allowed eight heads to their figures, though some of them have allowed but seven. The figure is ordinarily divided into ten faces; that is to say, from the crown of the head to the sole of the foot, in the following manner:

From the crown of the head to the forehead is the third part of a face.

The face begins at the root of the lowest hairs which are upon the forehead, and ends at the bottom of the chin.

The face is divided into three proportionable parts, the first contains the forehead, the second the nose, and the third the mouth and the chin; from the chin to the pit betwixt the collar-bones is two lengths of a nose.

From the pit betwixt the collar-bones to the bottom of the breast one face.

From the bottom of the breast to the navel one face.

From the navel to the genitories one face.

From the genitories to the upper part of the knee two faces.

The knee contains half a face.

From the lower part of the knee to the ankle two faces. From the ankle to the sole of the foot half a face.

A man, when his arms are stretched out, is from the longest finger of his right hand to the longest finger of ’ his left, as broad as he is long.

From one side of the breast to the other, two faces.

The bone of the arm, called humerus, is the length of two faces from the shoulder to the elbow.

From the end of the elbow to the root of the little finger, the bone called cubitus, with part of the hand, contains two faces.

From the box of the shoulder-blade to the pit betwixt the collar-bones, one face.

If you would be satisfied in the measure of breadth from the extremity of one finger to the other, so that this breadth should be equal to· the length of the body, you must observe that the boxes of the elbows with the humerus, and of the humerus with the shoulder-blade, bear the proportion of half a face when the arms arc stretched out.

The sole of the foot is the sixth part of the figure.

The hand is the length of a face.

The thumb contains a nose.

The inside of the arm, where the muscle disappears which makes the breast (called the pectoral muscle), to the middle of the arm, four noses.

From the middle of the arm to the beginning of the head five noses.

The longest toe is a nose long.

The utmost parts of the teats and the pit betwixt the collar-bones of a woman make an equilateral triangle.

For the breadth of the limbs no precise measures can be given, because the measures themselves are changeable, according to the quality of the persons, and according to the movement of the muscles.

The best example of the measures of an ancient statue are by Audran, an author whom Sir Joshua Reynolds recommends as being the most useful; and on this department of our subject we now add the following table of the measurements and comparisons of the three celebrated statues of the Apollo, the Venus, and the Hercules, as published by Volpato and Morghen at Rome, in a work called II Principi del Disegno. To preserve uniformity in the measurements, the head of each figure is divided into twelve parts, and each part into six minutes.
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In the foregoing table, we by no means have set down the ancient formula as an infallible guide, since the changes which the human form undergoes from infancy to old age preclude the possibility of limiting its measurements to definite proportions, and much depends upon the order or rank of the figure to be represented. Thus the Apollo Belvidere and the Venus dc’ Medici have more than ten faces in their length; and in other respects these figures, which by their authors were intended to represent divinities, are considerably different in their proportions from others of the antique statues. It is enough if something approximating to accuracy of measurement be kept in view when the student is engaged in making his drawing; and this he should do without the use of compasses or any other mathematical means, which ultimately cramp his powers of imitation, and retard his progress towards perfection.

Light and shade are the means by which the actual appearance of substance in the object represented is conveyed, and they should be studied with every attention, from the objects themselves which are assumed as the models for imitation. No rules can be laid dow n so good as the study of nature herself, and no language can explain the beauties of her varied appearances of lights, shadow's, or reflections.

It is by means of light and shade also that the figures in a picture or composition are made to keep their proper places: thus the principal figure is generally illuminated with the strongest and broadest light, and the others kept subordinate. It is with considerable diffidence, however, that we state this as the practice most to be approved of: every artist, and indeed every school, has a peculiar mode of management in this, and we are aware that a different practice has often produced excellent results.

The general rule with regard to the relative proportions of light, shadow, and middle tint in a well-ordered effect is, that there should be rather more shadow than light, and more middle tint than either of the former, provided the subject does not require a different arrangement. In the infinite variety of forms of composition of the various schools, rules for the attainment of excellence can hardly be laid down with safety; and we must on this account refer the student to the contemplation of the works of the most esteemed masters, for examples to direct him in the practice of the chiar’ oscuro of his pictures.

The study of anatomy is of the utmost importance towards a correct knowledge of the human figure, and is most beneficial in leading the way to an accurate representation of its various parts and attitudes. Without it no proper estimate can be formed of the movements of the joints of the limbs, nor of the swellings and undulations of the muscles, which, when in action, are constantly varying, and must be seized at the moment. It was by the careful study of this branch of science that Michel Angelo, Leonardo da Vinci, and other eminent artists, attained to such excellence in representing the forms when engaged in action, and displayed that accuracy of outline and show of energy which appear in the various members of their figures.

The most necessary preparation for all drawings executed with Indian ink, sepia, bistre, or the like, is an accurate outline, which should be made with a black-lead pencil, or pen and ink if the work is only meant to be finished in a sketchy manner. Care must be taken in both to regulate the strength of the touch or line by the nearness or distance of the object represented. The shades should be laid in a good deal lighter at first than they are intended to be when the drawing is finished, and the hard edges of the touches softened with a water brush. The greater the attention paid to the subject as a whole in this stage, and the broader and less minute the washes are laid on, the better; for it is only as the drawing advances towards completion that the minutiae should be attended to. In Plate CCI. we have given an example of the method of proceeding with a drawing washed in with one colour only. Fig. 1 exhibits the outline; fig. 2 the first broad wash; fig. 3 the second working; and fig. 4 the finished drawing. Each shading should be allowed to dry thoroughly before the succeeding wash is laid on; and there are many modes, we had almost said tricks, by which certain excellent effects are produced, which are only to be acquired by practice. Thus the use of a sharp pointed penknife will be found most serviceable in taking out irregularly-formed lights in the foreground; and much advantage will be found in w iping out lights and middle tints with a towel or handkerchief during the progress of the work; but regarding these no rules can be laid down. The artist must usc bis own discretion; though too much of such practice is not to be recommended.

The study of landscape ought to be commenced by imitating the most simple forms, as in the following figures.
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These or similar figures may be copied two or three times over before attempting such a work as we have given in Plate CCI. Plate CC. exhibits two examples of the style of sketching-landscape by Claude; and we strongly recommend Turner’s Liher Studiorum to the careful perusal of the young artist in this department. The studies of the human figure by Raffaellc, Parmegiano, and others, or their imitations by Rodgers, are the best.

There is no branch of the art in which such a variety of means may be adopted for attaining the same end, namely, the imitation of nature, as in water-colour drawing; consequently we shall not attempt to lay down particular rules for the guidance of the student. Practice, as we have already stated, is the only means of arriving at the wished-for perfection; we shall therefore limit our notice to a few of the details most in use among painters in water colours.

The substances used in painting in water colours are to be had in all the shops in prepared cakes, which are rubbed down upon a stone pallet or plate with a little water. The paper upon which the drawing is to be made may be either smooth or rough; and if greasy on the surface, so that the colours do not adhere pleasantly, it may be sponged over, or the colours may be mixed with a little ox-gall, either in its-native or prepared state. One drop of gall in the former condition, or the size of a large pin head in the latter, will be enough to saturate a tea-cupful of water for the purpose of mixing with or softening off the colours.

The paintschiefly used are ultra-marine blue, indigo, Antwerp and cobalt blues, gamboge, ochre, Indian, and crome yellows, Indian red, vermilion, lake, carmine, burnt ochre, and brown pink reds; and although these may be denominated the primaries out of which all other modifications of tints can be made up, yet we may add to them a number of browns which will be found to be serviceable, such as terra di sienna, both raw and burn t,Vandyke brown, umber, sepia, &c.

The paper ought to be stretched upon a drawing board or frame, which is effected by soaking it in water, or by sponging it over on both sides, then removing the superabundant water with a piece of blotting paper or towel, and afterwards folding back the edge for about an inch all round, and applying the paste to the folded portion, and also to that part of the drawing board which the paper is to adhere to. The part so pasted should be pressed strongly, or the finger may be dipped into the paste and rubbed upon the pasted edge, and then the paper sponged all over, that the pasted edge maybe permitted to dry more quickly than the centre part. Care must be taken not to let any of the paste touch the middle of the paper, which would destroy the drawing when cut from the board.

Whatever may be the subject, it will be advisable to begin with light colour, and gradually work up both effect of light and shadow, and strength of tint, in a broad manner, without much attention to minutiae, as already described in Indian ink drawing. The earlier water-colour painters were in the practice of working with a gray or neuter tint at the commencement of their drawings; and as this method is very simple, it will be the best for beginners, though in the end there will not be produced that richness of effect, and freshness, depth, and warmth of colour, which is the result of the contrary practice of the best masters of the present day; we mean the laying on of the colours almost at once, without any under preparation of neuter tint. In landscape painting, the paper where the sky is represented ought to be well soaked with water from a sponge, and afterwards dried moderately with a towel or piece of bibulous paper, to make the tints lie on [7:8:185]more solidly. The tints are then to be blended into each other while the surface is damp, and this should be done with large brushes. After the sky and distance are laid in, the middle and foregrounds should be added, and the details worked out as the taste or ability of the artist may lead him, for it is impossible to prescribe rules where no two artists follow the same practice.

The appearance of air may be given to the distance by washes of ultramarine or other semi-transparent colours; and the spaces where sharp distinct lights are situated may be scraped out with a pen-knife, or the touches may be laid in with clean water, and after being allowed to remain upon the paper for a minute or less, they may be rubbed out with a piece of stale bread. Another mode of leaving out the lights is to touch the places with pipe-clay, used in a liquid state, with a camel’s hair pencil, and after wards the colour may be freely laid over them; the parts where the clay is laid have then only to be rubbed with bread or Indian rubber, to remove the tint, and expose the clean paper. Should any error, either in outline or effect of chiar’ oscuro, have been committed, the whole space can be removed with a sponge and water, without much injury to the paper; indeed many of the best artists of the present day rub out and lay in their colours almost alternately, by which means a very great variety of surface and tint is obtained which could not be effected by any other practice.

We have thus endeavoured to give what we hope will be found a satisfactory account of practical drawing, whether in chalk or water colour; and it now remains for us to recommend, for the student’s careful perusal, Leonardo da Vinci on Painting·, the works of Sir Joshua Reynolds; Burnet on Light and Shadow in Painting, on Colour in Painting, on Composition in Painting ; the works of the old masters, whether their drawings or etchings; and, above all, the study of nature. Every one who has long been in the habit of copying from drawings alone, of whatever description, must have felt considerable diffidence in attempting to draw from real objects or from nature. This arises from the fear of being unable properly to reduce and hold in their relative place, on a sheet of paper, the objects which present themselves to the eye. To remove this obstacle, we would recommend that too much should not be attempted at the first, but the most simple subjects chosen, and these represented in a careful manner; the outline on the light side of the objects to be done in a delicate manner, and that on the shadow side in a bold style, and the shading to be also conducted upon similar principles. The most careful attention to representing the various forms should be practised in the outline, for on the accuracy of it depends the balance or fitness of the whole design or picture. By thus habituating the eye to a correct delineation of the parts, it has little difficulty in coming at the power of representing the general effect and appearance of the whole; and thus a picture, whether consisting of figures, rocks, trees, or marine objects, is managed with comparative ease; while, on the other hand, when a design has been commenced without due attention to the outline and balance of the objects, a loose and disjointed performance is produced.

Many other difficulties present themselves at first to the anxious student, and not the most unimportant is the feeling which seizes him upon the contemplation of works of excellence when seen in a finished form; but let him not despond, for much pains have been used, and great and palpable errors committed, even by the most accomplished masters, in the details of their works, which, the more accurate they are, the greater has been the,difficulty encountered. As an illustration of this, we have thought it proper to direct attention to the variety of lines used to represent the objects of Plate CXCIX∙, taken from a sketch by Raffaelle. The subject is the study for a portion of the picture of the School of Athens, and contains much valuable information to the learner respecting the progress of this great master in the management of his compositions, of one of the most important of which this is the first rough sketch.

Description of the Plates.

Plate CXC. Initiatory lessons for drawing the various parts of the face. Figs. 1, 2, 3, represent the human eye in a variety of positions. Figs. 4 and 5 the nose. Figs. 6, 7, 8, the nose and mouth.

Plate CXCI. Second lesson. Figs. 1 and 2, the ear. Figs. 3, 4, 5, studies of heads.

Plate CXCII. Plate of male and female hands in a variety of positions, as represented in figures 1 to 11.

Plate CXCIII. contains eight figures or studies of the human foot.

Plate CXCIV. Studies from the antique. Fig. 1, Thalia; fig. 2, Clio; both examples of sitting figures. Fig. 3, Bacchus. Fig. 4, Venus of Arles. Fig. 5, a Discobolus.

Plate CXCV. Studies from the∙antique. Fig. 1, Hercules and Telephus. Fig. 2, the Torso of Michel Angelo. Fig. 3, Jason. Fig. 4, the Dying Gladiator.

Plate CXCVI. Studies from the antique. Fig. 1, Venus de’ Medicis. Fig. 2, Venus of the Capitol.

Plate CXCVII. Study from the antique. Fig. 1, the Apollo Belvidere.

Plate CXCVIII. Study from the antique. Fig. 1, Group of the Laocoon.

Plate CXCIX. Specimen of sketching by Raphael.

Plate CC. Specimens of sketching by Claude Lorraine.

Plate CCI. Example of the mode of conducting a drawing in Indian ink, bistre, sepia, &c, from outline to finished performance. (g. g. g.)