Peter Paul Rubens (1577 – 1640)

God the Father surrounded by Angels, copied after Michelangelo’s ‘Creation of Adam’,

drawn about 1601 – 2

Cartoons, Working Drawings and StudiesCartoons are named from the sturdy ‘cartone’ paper on which they were generallymade. By copying from a master’s cartoons and studies, assistants were able toaccurately transcribe the master’s original design onto the wall, board or canvas.

François Boucher (1703 – 1770) Rustic Courtship, drawn about 1750

Teaching Drawings and CopiesStudents in workshops and academies were set drawing exercises such as sketchingsculptures. They sometimes produced practice drawings as a warm up exercise toloosen the wrist. For centuries copying was considered one of the best ways to learn.

The FigureLearning to draw the human figurewas one of the cornerstones offormal artistic training in Europe forcenturies. Mastering its depictionwas considered essential.

Baccio Bandinelli (1493 – 1560) Hercules seated on a grassy bank, drawn about 1514

Marteen van Heemskerk or an associate(1498 – 1574)

The Forge of Vulcan, drawn about 1540

Studio of Rembrandt van Rijn (1606 – 1669) The Good Samaritan paying the innkeeper,drawn about 1648

For centuries, drawing lay at the centre of art. It was the language of linesand tones that the artist learnt before they were allowed to paint or sculpt and that they continued to use during their working life.

Old Master Drawings GUERCINO, RUBENS AND TINTORETTO

The Old MastersThe works in this exhibition have been chosen to show the different uses of drawing to European artists between 1500 and 1800. At this time art students entered the workshopsof established artists to be trained. Afterwardsthey could become masters of their ownworkshop if they were successful.

The artist Guercino was apprenticed to the painter Benedetto Gennari the Elder when he was 16 years old. He later establishedhis own workshop and opened an academy forlife drawing in the house of one of his patrons.

It is thought that Rubens learnt to draw bycopying from the work of early German masterssuch as Holbein and Tobias Stimmer. He waslater apprenticed under Tobias Verhaecht,Adam van Noort and Otto van Veen.

Tintoretto came from an artisan family and is believed to have been expelled from Titian’sworkshop as a youth. He later completed histraining in Venice.

Perino Buonaccorsi, called Perino del Vaga(1501 – 1547)

Trojans appear before Dido, drawn about 1535 – 1547

Giulio Romano (1483 – 1546)

Battle Scene with Elephants,drawn about 1500 – 1540

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Collecting Old Master DrawingsDrawings give collectors and audiences the opportunity to get closer to great artists and gain insight into their working practices. For this reason theyhave been collected and admired for centuries.

Vasari was one of the first collectors of Old Master drawings. He begancollecting them in 1528 before he wrote his famous Lives of the Artists series.

Giorgio Vasari (1511 – 1574)

Three reclining river and lakeland gods, drawn about 1541 – 2

Peter Paul Rubens (1577 – 1640) Study for the Circumcision, drawn about 1605

The drawings in this exhibition comefrom two significant collections.William Hesketh Lever collected over20,000 works of art during his lifetime,including a number of Old Masterdrawings. Much of Lever’s collectionremains on display at the Lady LeverArt Gallery.

The Weld-Blundell collection wasacquired by the Walker Art Gallery in1995 and contains over 300 Old Masterdrawings. It was initially begun byWilliam Roscoe who later sold theworks to Charles Blundell in 1816.Blundell continued to add to thecollection until his death.

Some of the drawings shown here havebeen stamped or marked with theinitials of their previous owners.Rubens’ Study for the Circumcision bearsthe intials R.H in the bottom rightcorner. It was formerly in the collectionof Richard Houlditch Senior, Directorof the South Sea Company whichcollapsed in 1720. The drawing waslater bought by Roscoe.

Presentation and Modello DrawingsA presentation drawing was shown to the person or group commissioning a work of art to illustrate what it wouldlook like when completed. A ‘modello’is a drawing or small-scale paintedversion of the intended final work.

Francesco Primaticcio (1504/5 – 1570) Ulysses and the Rings, drawn about 1548

Jacopo Palma il Giovane (1548 – 1628)

The Annunciation, drawn about 1609

First Thought DrawingsArtists doodled to explore ideas and fortheir own amusement. Some drawingsare first thoughts that lead to acomposition or are variations on anidea. Others are simply fantasies thatnever got beyond the pages of the sketchbook.

Giovanni Francesco Barbieri, called Il Guercino (1591 – 1666)

Monster animal and peasant, drawn about 1640

Domenico Zampieri called Domenichino (1581 – 1641) Portrait of a young girl, drawn about 1634