Thematic Essays

By Category

• Recent Additions
• All Thematic Essays
• Artists
• Rulers
• African Art
• Central Africa
• Eastern Africa
• Southern Africa
• Western Africa
• American Art
• Colonial Art
• Nineteenth Century
• Twentieth Century
• Ancient Near Eastern Art
• Art of the Americas
• Asian Art
• China
• Japan
• Korea
• South & Southeast Asia
• Byzantine Art
• Egyptian Art
• European Art
• Renaissance
• Seventeenth & Eighteenth Centuries
• Nineteenth Century
• Twentieth Century
• Greek and Roman Art
• Islamic Art
• Early Period
• Medieval Period
• Later Period
• Medieval Art
• Modern and Contemporary Art
• Oceanic/Pacific Art
• Prehistory

By Geographical Region & Time Period

• 
  Study for the Fonte Gaia, Siena
  Jacopo della Quercia (Italian, ?1374–1438)
  Pen and brown ink, brush and brown wash, on vellum; 7 13/16 x 8 7/16 in. (19.9 x 21.4 cm)
  Harris Brisbane Dick Fund, 1949 (49.141)
  
• 
  Head of the Virgin in Three-Quarter View Facing Right, 1508–12
  Leonardo da Vinci (Italian, 1452–1519)
  Italian
  Charcoal, black and red chalks; traces of framing line in pen and brown ink at upper right; 8 x 6 1/8 in. (20.3 x 15.6 cm)
  Harris Brisbane Dick Fund, 1951 (51.90)
  
• 
  Project for a Wall Tomb for Pope Julius II
  Michelangelo Buonarroti (Italian, 1475–1564)
  Pen and brown ink, brush and brown wash, over leadpoint or black chalk and ruling; 20 1/16 x 12 9/16 in. (51 x 31.9 cm)
  Rogers Fund, 1962 (62.93.1)
  
• 

  Three Standing Figures (recto); Seated Woman and a Male Hermit in Half-Length (verso), ca. 1430–38
  Stefano da Verona (Stefano di Giovanni) (Italian, 1374/75–ca. 1438)
  Pen and brown ink, brush with touches of brown wash, over traces of charcoal or black chalk; 11 13/16 x 8 13/16 in. (30 x 22.4 cm)
  Harris Brisbane Dick Fund, 1996 (1996.364a,b)

  
• 

  Two Satyrs in a Landscape, ca. 1509–15
  Titian (Tiziano Vecellio) (Italian, Venetian, ca. 1485–1576)
  Pen and brown ink, white gouache, on fine off-white laid paper; 8 1/2 x 5 15/16 in. (21.6 x 15.1 cm)
  Rogers Fund, 1999 (1999.28)

• 
  Allegorical Design (recto), Stage Design (verso), 1496
  Leonardo da Vinci (Italian, 1452–1519)
  Pen and brown ink; 7 5/16 x 5 1/4 in. (20.2 x 13.3 cm)
  Rogers Fund, 1917 (17.142.2)
  
• 
  Standing Youth with Hands Behind His Back, and a Seated Youth Reading, ca. late 1470s–early 1480s
  Filippino Lippi (Italian, Florentine, probably born 1457, died 1504)
  Metalpoint, highlighted with white gouache, on pink prepared paper; 9 5/8 x 8 1/2 in. (24.5 x 21.6 cm)
  Harris Brisbane Dick Fund, 1936 (36.101.1)
  
• 
  Studies for the Nativity (recto); Three Geometrical Diagrams and a Caricature of a Head (verso), 1480–85
  Leonardo da Vinci (Italian, 1452–1519)
  Italian
  Metalpoint largely reworked with pen and brown ink on salmon-pink prepared paper; stylus-ruled lines, compass construction, and ruled lines in metalpoint (recto); pen and brown ink, stylus-ruled lines, compass construction, and ruled lines in metalpoint on unprepared paper (verso); 7 5/8 x 6 3/8 in. (19.3 x 16.2 cm)
  Rogers Fund, 1917 (17.142.1)
  
• 
  Madonna and Child with the Infant Saint John the Baptist; Study for the Right Arm of the Infant Saint John (upper left); Study for Drapery (upper right)
  Raphael (Raffaello Sanzio or Santi) (Italian, Marchigian, 1483–1520)
  Red chalk; 8 13/16 x 6 1/4 in. (22.4 x 15.8 cm)
  Rogers Fund, 1964 (64.47)
  
• 
  Three Studies for the Christ Child
  Raphael (Raffaello Sanzio or Santi) (Italian, Marchigian, 1483–1520)
  Red chalk; 8 5/8 x 6 9/16 in. (21.9 x 16.7 cm)
  Purchase, Florence B. Selden Bequest, 1997 (1997.75)
  
• 

  Landscape (recto and verso), 1489-90
  Perugino (Pietro di Cristoforo Vannucci) (Italian, Umbrian, ca. 1445/50–1523?)
  Brush and brown wash, highlighted with white gouache, on gray-green prepared paper; 8 x 11 1/16 in. (20.4 x 28 cm)
  Purchase, Lila Acheson Wallace Gift, 1993 (1993.327)

• 

  Studies for Hercules Holding a Club Seen in Frontal View, Male Nude Unsheathing a Sword, and the Movements of Water (recto); Study for Hercules Holding a Club Seen in Rear View (verso), 1506–8
  Leonardo da Vinci (Italian, 1452–1519)
  Pen and brown ink, charcoal or soft black chalk (recto), charcoal or soft black chalk (verso); 5 3/8 x 5 1/2 in. (13.7 x 14 cm)
  Purchase, Florence B. Selden Bequest and Rogers Fund, and Promised Gift of Leon D. and Debra R. Black, 2000 (2000.328a,b)

• 
  Studies for the Libyan Sibyl (recto); Studies for the Libyan Sibyl and a Small Sketch for a Seated Figure (verso), 1508–12
  Michelangelo Buonarroti (Italian, 1475–1564)
  Italian
  Red chalk (recto); charcoal or black chalk (verso); 11 3/8 x 8 7/16 in. (28.9 x 21.4 cm)
  Purchase, Joseph Pulitzer Bequest, 1924 (24.197.2)
  
• 

  Study for the Head of Julius Caesar, ca. 1520–21
  Andrea del Sarto (Italian, 1486–1530)
  Red chalk; 8 1/2 x 7 1/4 in. (21.5 x 18.4 cm)
  Partial and Promised Gift of Mr. and Mrs. David M. Tobey, 2008 (2008.367)

• 
  The Annunciation, ca. 1522–25
  Correggio (Antonio Allegri) (Italian, active by 1514–died 1534)
  Pen and black ink, brush and gray wash, highlighted extensively with white gouache squared in red chalk, on pink-washed paper; 3 3/4 x 6 3/4 in. (9.5 x 17.2 cm)
  Hewitt Fund, 1917 (19.76.9)
  
• 

  Seated Figure of Mercury, 1524–26
  Parmigianino (Girolamo Francesco Maria Mazzola) (Italian, Parma, 1503–1540)
  Black chalk; 12 x 8 1/8 in. (30.5 x 20.6 cm)
  Purchase, Florence B. Selden Bequest, Charles and Jessie Price Gift, and Harry G. Sperling Fund, 1997 (1997.154)

• 

  Bishop Saint in Prayer, 1528–30
  Parmigianino (Girolamo Francesco Maria Mazzola) (Italian, Parma, 1503–1540)
  Brush and brown wash over black chalk; 28 1/4 x 16 1/16 in. (71.8 x 40.8 cm)
  Van Day Truex Fund, 1995 (1995.306)

• 

  Saint John the Evangelist (recto); Saint Mark (verso), 1548–49
  Francesco Salviati (Italian, 1510–1563)
  Charcoal, highlighted with white chalk, on blue paper; outlines heavily stylus-incised (recto), outlines partially stylus-incised (verso); 19 3/4 x 9 3/16 in. (50.2 x 23.3 cm)
  Purchase, Lila Acheson Wallace and Leon D. and Debra R. Black Gifts, 2001 (2001.409a,b)

During the late fourteenth century, artists began to use paper more and more to explore their ideas for the design of paintings and sculptures, rather than simply to copy or record finished works of art. This exploratory type of drawing offers a vivid and intimate glimpse of the artist creatively thinking on paper.

In preparing a composition, artists first drew quick sketches, usually in pen and ink, in which they formulated general ideas rather than focused on details. An example is Leonardo da Vinci's fascinating double-sided sheet that includes an exquisite small sketch for an allegory on the fidelity of the lizard, and the stage design for a musical comedy (17.142.2). Another of Leonardo's double-sided sheets combines an exciting array of ideas for different projects: a figure of Hercules probably intended for a sculpture, some scientific illustrations of the flow of water around obstacles, and a tiny figure of a man sheathing or unsheathing a sword (2000.328a,b).

In the next steps of the creative process, artists investigated the poses of the figures from life models. The earliest such extant studies date from the first years of the fifteenth century. Using the medium of silverpoint on pink prepared paper to obtain delicate tonal effects, Filippino Lippi posed a male studio assistant to stand in for the figure of a bound Christ or Saint Sebastian, in order to observe the figure's chiseled nude musculature (36.101.1). In contrast, Raphael's sheet of studies of an infant (1997.75) attempts to capture his energy and delightful gestures, and the red chalk medium serves to imitate the soft tonal effects of his dimpled flesh. Artists then integrated the results of studying the figures from life models into a summary design of the composition, in order to pull together the figural arrangements with the lighting effects and setting. Raphael's Madonna and Child with the Infant Saint John the Baptist (64.47) offers a fairly rough summary study of their pyramidal grouping, while Titian's poetic study of two satyrs in a landscape (1999.28) concentrates especially on the transforming effects of light and atmosphere.

As a final step, artists drew cartoons (full-scale drawings). These were especially necessary in painting frescoes on moist plaster, for the enormously difficult medium of fresco demanded that artists paint quickly, one plaster patch per day, before the moist plaster and the water-based colors set in a chemical process. The monumental cartoon by Francesco Salviati (2001.409) is boldly rendered with black chalk and white highlights in the final size of the figure in the fresco painting, and the main outlines around the figure are incised with a stylus for the transfer of the full-scale design onto the moist plaster.

During the late fourteenth century, artists also began to work out the details of their commissions for paintings, sculptures, and buildings with their prospective patrons by drafting legally binding contracts. These contracts often included a drawing as an attachment in order to explain the details of the design that was expected and that would be agreed upon by the two parties. A number of drawings were also more generally produced as demonstration pieces (modelli) for the patron's approval and for the workshop's use, and these were often carefully modeled with pen and ink and were fairly complete regarding the iconography. These types of demonstration drawings for sculptural projects usually illustrate the architectural framework of the monument, as is seen in the designs by Jacopo della Quercia for the Fonte Gaia that was orignally meant for the Piazza del Campo in Siena (49.141), and by Michelangelo for the tomb of Pope Julius II, intended originally for Saint Peter's Basilica in the Vatican (62.93.1).

Citation Bambach, Carmen. "Renaissance Drawings: Material and Function". In Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2000–. http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/drwg/hd_drwg.htm (October 2002) Further Reading Ames-Lewis, Francis Drawing in Early Renaissance Italy. 2d ed. . New Haven: Yale University Press, 2000. Bambach, Carmen C. Drawing and Painting in the Italian Renaissance Workshop: Theory and Practice, 1300–1600. New York: Cambridge University Press, 1999. Suggested Online Resources A Drawing Glossary from the Fogg Art Museum, Harvard University Related exhibitions and online features Special Exhibitions (including upcoming, current, and past exhibitions)

These related Museum Bulletin or Journal articles may or may not represent the most current scholarship. Leuschner, Eckhard "A Grisaille Oil Sketch from the De Backer Group and Workshop Practices in Sixteenth-Century Antwerp." Metropolitan Museum Journal, Vol. 43 (2008). JSTOR | PDF Wolk-Simon, Linda "Raphael at the Metropolitan: The Colonna Altarpiece." The Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin, v. 63, no. 4 (Spring, 2006). JSTOR | PDF Merz, Jörg Martin "Landscape Drawings by Pietro da Cortona." Metropolitan Museum Journal, Vol. 39 (2004). JSTOR | PDF Bertocci, Carlo "A Leaf from the Scholz Scrapbook." Metropolitan Museum Journal, Vol. 12 (1977). JSTOR | PDF Raggio, Olga "Sculptures and Other Works by Battista Lorenzi." Metropolitan Museum Journal, Vol. 7 (1973). JSTOR | PDF Utz, Hildegard "Skulpturen und andere Arbeiten des Battista Lorenzi." Metropolitan Museum Journal, Vol. 7 (1973). JSTOR | PDF "Exhibitions [at MMA, 1972]." The Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin, v. 30, no. 4 (February–March, 1972). JSTOR | PDF | Supplemental PDFs "Behind the Great Wall" PDF "Drawings Recently Acquired, 1969-1971" PDF "John Thomson’s Illustrations of China and Its People" PDF "Portrait of the Artist" PDF "Untailored Garments" PDF "Works by Sargent and Homer" PDF Wiener, Victor "Eighteenth-Century Italian Prints." The Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin, v. 29, no. 5 (January, 1971). JSTOR | PDF | Supplemental PDFs "Eighteenth-Century Italian Draughtsmen" PDF Winternitz, Emanuel "Strange Musical Instruments in the Madrid Notebooks of Leonardo da Vinci." Metropolitan Museum Journal, Vol. 2 (1969). JSTOR | PDF McKendry, John J. "Four Fifteenth-Century Crucifixions." The Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin, v. 25, no. 1, part 1 (Summer, 1966). JSTOR | PDF Byrne, Janet S. "Monuments on Paper." The Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin, v. 25, no. 1, part 1 (Summer, 1966). JSTOR | PDF Bean, Jacob "Italian Drawings: From the Collection of Janos Scholz." The Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin, v. 23, no. 9, part 2 (May, 1965). JSTOR | PDF Bean, Jacob "A Rediscovered Drawing by Raphael." The Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin, v. 23, no. 1 (Summer, 1964). . JSTOR | PDF Bean, Jacob "Form and Function in Italian Drawings: Observations on Several New Acquisitions." Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin, New ser., v. 21, no. 7 (March, 1963). JSTOR | PDF Bean, Jacob "The Drawings Collection." Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin, New ser., v. 20, no. 5 (January, 1962). JSTOR | PDF Virch, Claus "A Page from Vasari's Book of Drawings." Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin, New ser., v. 19, no. 7 (March, 1961). JSTOR | PDF Mayor, A. Hyatt "Prints Recently Acquired." Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin, New ser., v. 18, no. 10 (June, 1960). JSTOR | PDF "French Drawings." Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin, New ser., v. 17, no. 6 (February, 1959). JSTOR | PDF Virch, Claus "A Study by Tintoretto After Michelangelo." Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin, New ser., v. 15, no. 4 (December, 1956). JSTOR | PDF Burroughs, Louise "A Drawing by Francesco Mazzola, Il Parmigianino." Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin, New ser., v. 7, no. 4 (December, 1948). JSTOR | PDF