DOI issue:
No. 344 (November 1912)
DOI article:Tryon, Gerard: An exhibition of drawings at the British Museum
DOI Page / Citation link:https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.21393#0215
AN EXHIBITION OF DRAWINGS
AT THE BRITISH MUSEUM. a
MODERN draughtsmen, searching after
originality of expression or cultivat-
ing a self-conscious personality of style,
have developed methodsfor expressing their
ideas about form which are fundamentally
different from the old masters'. A modern
artist is generally well content if he
can suggest with the least amount of effort
or elaboration some passing mood of his
own or of his sitter. The old masters on the
other hand seldom contented themselves
with a rapid expression of a general effect;
rather they drew with a close intimacy
even in their rapid composition sketches. I
believe they worked much nearer their
models than do modern draughtsmen,
trained as they are in our schools to draw
absurdly far away from the model. 0
This intimate study of the model is
especially noticeable in the old masters'
drawings of heads, an excellent example
being the silver point attributed to Rogier
van der Weyden—here reproduced with
a few others from the exhibition at the
British Museum. This Portrait of a Lady
is an exquisite drawing by a perfect crafts-
man. Though the form is so closely
studied, the artist has seized a momentary
mood of his sitter and retained it through-
out the elaborate process of his drawing;
no less surely than has Forain in his
dashing and apparently instantaneous
sketch, Head of a Woman, also repro-
duced. 0 0 0 0 0 0
Many of the drawings exhibited deal
primarily with problems of light, and of
these one of the most beautiful is The Holy
Family, by II Guercino—a brilliant compo-
sition sketch, obviously rapidly executed,
but containing some delicately accurate
modelling in certain passages. Of all the
drawings in the collection, I think the
most lovely is Rembrandt's drawing of a
girl resting on a couch, her head buried in
her arms. Simplification could surely be
carried no further, nor could feeling go
deeper than in this simple study of action.
" THE HOLY FAMILY." PEN AND BISTRE
WASH DRAWING. BY IL GUERCINO
(GIOVANNI FRANCES CO BARBIERl)
199
AT THE BRITISH MUSEUM. a
MODERN draughtsmen, searching after
originality of expression or cultivat-
ing a self-conscious personality of style,
have developed methodsfor expressing their
ideas about form which are fundamentally
different from the old masters'. A modern
artist is generally well content if he
can suggest with the least amount of effort
or elaboration some passing mood of his
own or of his sitter. The old masters on the
other hand seldom contented themselves
with a rapid expression of a general effect;
rather they drew with a close intimacy
even in their rapid composition sketches. I
believe they worked much nearer their
models than do modern draughtsmen,
trained as they are in our schools to draw
absurdly far away from the model. 0
This intimate study of the model is
especially noticeable in the old masters'
drawings of heads, an excellent example
being the silver point attributed to Rogier
van der Weyden—here reproduced with
a few others from the exhibition at the
British Museum. This Portrait of a Lady
is an exquisite drawing by a perfect crafts-
man. Though the form is so closely
studied, the artist has seized a momentary
mood of his sitter and retained it through-
out the elaborate process of his drawing;
no less surely than has Forain in his
dashing and apparently instantaneous
sketch, Head of a Woman, also repro-
duced. 0 0 0 0 0 0
Many of the drawings exhibited deal
primarily with problems of light, and of
these one of the most beautiful is The Holy
Family, by II Guercino—a brilliant compo-
sition sketch, obviously rapidly executed,
but containing some delicately accurate
modelling in certain passages. Of all the
drawings in the collection, I think the
most lovely is Rembrandt's drawing of a
girl resting on a couch, her head buried in
her arms. Simplification could surely be
carried no further, nor could feeling go
deeper than in this simple study of action.
" THE HOLY FAMILY." PEN AND BISTRE
WASH DRAWING. BY IL GUERCINO
(GIOVANNI FRANCES CO BARBIERl)
199