DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.62360#0192
CHAPTER VII
DRAWINGS AND ENGRAVINGS
IT is perhaps a truism to say that the drawings of a
great artist are the means of truer comprehension, a
source of purer enjoyment, than his more elaborate
work. They are always in the nature of personal
notes, directly self-expressive and spontaneous ; and in
the case of Mantegna their value is enhanced, because
many of his paintings have suffered so terribly from
ruin and repaint. Also, in accordance with his charac-
teristic thoroughness, he has bestowed on them a
delicacy and beauty of finish, which raises them above
the rank of mere studies, each being a complete picture
in itself. Although many inferior drawings have been
attributed to him in byegone days, yet the charac-
teristics of his own style are so marked, the grandeur
of form, the broad massing of the shadows and the
plastic modelling so matchless, that it is not an im-
possible task to separate his own from the mass of
imitative work.
Putting aside the three grisaille, paintings already
considered—the Sccevola, the Judgment of Solomon, and
the Judith of Dublin—we have but twelve drawings left,
each, however, worthy of a separate analysis. Only
two may be placed in the early days, most of them
dating after the Roman visit. The first—The Madonna
and Angel—of the British Museum, may be dated
DRAWINGS AND ENGRAVINGS
IT is perhaps a truism to say that the drawings of a
great artist are the means of truer comprehension, a
source of purer enjoyment, than his more elaborate
work. They are always in the nature of personal
notes, directly self-expressive and spontaneous ; and in
the case of Mantegna their value is enhanced, because
many of his paintings have suffered so terribly from
ruin and repaint. Also, in accordance with his charac-
teristic thoroughness, he has bestowed on them a
delicacy and beauty of finish, which raises them above
the rank of mere studies, each being a complete picture
in itself. Although many inferior drawings have been
attributed to him in byegone days, yet the charac-
teristics of his own style are so marked, the grandeur
of form, the broad massing of the shadows and the
plastic modelling so matchless, that it is not an im-
possible task to separate his own from the mass of
imitative work.
Putting aside the three grisaille, paintings already
considered—the Sccevola, the Judgment of Solomon, and
the Judith of Dublin—we have but twelve drawings left,
each, however, worthy of a separate analysis. Only
two may be placed in the early days, most of them
dating after the Roman visit. The first—The Madonna
and Angel—of the British Museum, may be dated