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Introduction

Design and Description

Renaissance and Baroque Drawings
January 27 - April 9, 2006

Beginning in the early Renaissance (ca. 1400), artists and their patrons sought new ways to make art and its subject matter correspond more directly to the world of their viewers. In the pursuit of increasingly naturalistic art, drawing became a regular part of artistic practice.

The Italian word for drawing, disegno, also may be translated as “design.” In artists’ workshops and emerging art academies in Renaissance Italy, young apprentices were taught to follow clearly defined steps in the design of frescos, panel paintings, sculpture, and prints. Artists began with free-form sketches that explored compositional ideas and also with studies from life or antique sculpture. These were followed with drawings that explored the effects of light, shadow, and spatial illusion. Lastly, artists created fully realized drawings to integrate all of these design elements into models (called modelli) for the final works.

In Germany and the Netherlands, preparatory drawings became common only in the 1550s. Instead, drawings were presented to patrons as finished works or as contractual agreements. They were also used in instruction: artists often made drawings of completed paintings to use as workshop examples. For these reasons, many early Northern drawings are highly finished, emphasizing the descriptive detail, texture, and reflective effects of light for which Northern painters were known.

By the 17th century (Baroque period), artists from all over Europe traveled to Italy for part of their training. As a result, the Italian tradition of systematic design permeated artistic practice throughout the continent. As well, new genres such as landscape emerged with emphasis upon sketching on site.

The Renaissance and Baroque reliance on drawing carried through to the art academies of later centuries, continuing today at RISD as the foundation upon which students base their artistic training.

Selected Objects

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Luca Cambiaso

The Descent from the Cross, ca. 1570
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Giovanni Benedetto Castiglione

Christ on the Cross Adored by Angels, ca. 1650-60
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Baccio Bandinelli

Early Design for the Tomb of Pope Clement VII, ca. 1534-1536
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Marco Tullio Montagna

Scenes from the Life of Saint Joseph, ca. 1630-1631
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Anthony van Dyck

Study for Malchus, before 1621
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Hendrik de Clerck

David and Abigail, ca. 1610
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Carlo Maratti

Hercules in the Garden of the Hesperides, ca. 1692
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Jan Gossaert

Adam and Eve, ca. 1525
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Ottavio Leoni

Portrait of Maddalena Telli by Candlelight, 1617
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Hans Bol

The Resurrection of Christ, ca. 1573
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Circle of Jan de Beer

The Adoration of the Magi, ca. 1510
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Pieter Jansz. Pourbus

The Last Judgment, ca. 1551
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Esaias van de Velde I

Frozen Canal before a Farm in Winter, ca. 1628
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Jusepe de Ribera

Inquisition Scene, after 1635
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Jan Josephsz van Goyen

Untitled (Landscape with Gallows), page 26 from a sketchbook, 1627
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Workshop of Jan Brueghel the Elder

Landscape with Two Windmills and a Town, after 1607
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Rembrandt van Rijn

Landscape (Farm Buildings at the Dijk) (recto); Partial Landscape with Trees and Fence (verso), ca. 1648
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Maerten van Heemskerck

Triumph of David, 1559
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Attributed to Luca Penni

Venus Riding on a Shell Chariot, ca. 1540-1555
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Unknown artist

Triumphal Car Depicting the Allegory of Vice, 1600 - 1640
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Giovanni Battista Bertani

Double-sided sheet of studies: (recto) Hercules Victorious over the Hydra; (verso) Study of Hercules, Roman soldier's head, ornaments, 1557 - 1558
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Pieter Withoos

Study of Four Butterflies and a Bumblebee, late 1600s
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German

Buttercups, Red Clover, and Plantain, 1526
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Circle of Hieronymus Bosch

Sheet of Grotesque Figures, ca. 1510
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Attributed to Pierre Jacques

Sheet of Studies after the Antique. Recto: Studies of legs. Verso: Satyr, Lyres, Galloping Horses, Architectural Elements, mid 1600s-early 1700s
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Cesare Pollini

Workshop of an Artist, late 1500s - early 1600s
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Attributed to Moretto da Brescia

Madonna and Child with Saint Roch, mid 1500s
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Valentin Lefebvre

Adoration of the Shepherds, 1600s
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Attributed to Jacopo da Empoli

Figure Study, late 1500s- early 1600s
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Italian

Double-sided sheet: Recto: studies of skulls; Verso: studies of draperies, 1600s
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Circle of Cesare Nebbia

Roman Soldier, ca. 1580

More objects +

Exhibition Checklist

Design and Description : Renaissance and Baroque Drawings

January 27 - April 9, 2006
View Checklist PDF

RISD Museum

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