Tag Archives: Durer

The Encounter!

THE ENCOUNTER: DRAWINGS FROM LEONARDO TO REMBRANDT, National Portrait Gallery, London, until 22nd October 2017

I am grateful to John Kirkwood for visiting and writing about this exhibition:

Giulio Pedrizzano, The Lutenist Mascheroni by Annibale Carracci c.1593-4
Copyright: Royal Collection Trust © Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II 2017

This delightful exhibition features old master European portrait drawings by the likes of Leonardo da Vinci, Durer and Rembrandt, many rarely seen and some not displayed for decades.

Young Woman in a French Hood, possibly Mary Zouch by Hans Holbein the Younger c.1533
Copyright: Royal Collection Trust Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II 2017

It attempts to show that the artist and the sitter connected and is rather like going through a Renaissance copy of Vanity Fair featuring as it does eight portraits of people from the court of Henry VIII by Hans Holbein the Younger – the David Bailey of his day – but also people from the street as well.

Sir John Godsalve by Hans Holbein the Younger c.1532-4
Copyright: Royal Collection Trust Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II 2017

An exhibition which cheers the soul with these close encounters.

A sheet of figure studies, with male heads and three sketches of a woman with a child by Rembrandt van Rijn c.1636
Copyright: The Henry Barber Trust, the Barber Institute of Fine Arts, University of Birmingham

 

http://www.npg.org.uk/

Metalpoint Drawing

Drawing in silver and gold: Leonardo to Jasper Johns, Room 90, British Museum, Great Russell Street, London WC1, until 6th December 2015

Albrecht Dürer, Dog resting, c. 1520, silverpoint over charcoal? on pale pink prepared paper, 128 x 180mm. © The Trustees of the British Museum

Albrecht Dürer,
Dog resting, c. 1520,
silverpoint over charcoal? on pale pink prepared paper, 128 x 180mm.
© The Trustees of the British Museum

This exhibition is a joint venture with the National Gallery of Art in Washington DC and it looks at the technique of metalpoint drawing across the centuries and features around one hundred works drawn from collections around the world.

Susan Schwalb, Strata no. 407, 2005, silverpoint, 229 x 227mm. © Reproduced by permission of the artist

Susan Schwalb,
Strata no. 407, 2005,
silverpoint, 229 x 227mm.
© Reproduced by permission of the artist

The technique requires a metal stylus, often of silver, which was then used to draw on a roughened preparation.  The artist had to have a very clear idea of the image they wanted as it is difficult to rub out a line once drawn.  The skill and attention needed was worth it as the drawings in this exhibition eloquently show.

Leonardo da Vinci, Bust of a warrior, c. 1475, silverpoint, on cream prepared paper, 287 x 211mm. © The Trustees of the British Museum

Leonardo da Vinci,
Bust of a warrior, c. 1475,
silverpoint, on cream prepared paper, 287 x 211mm.
© The Trustees of the British Museum

Used in Italy in the 1400s but replaced by the growing popularity of chalk as a medium in the mid-16th century, it remained popular in Northern Europe until the 17th century.  It was then discarded as a technique until the revival of interest in the Renaissance in the 19th century and as this exhibition illustrates it is still used today.

 

http://www.britishmuseum.org