Experience contact with the Renaissance Masters through this hands-on, practical drawing course. These six dynamic sessions take you into the creative space of Renaissance Europe by bringing together the cultural and theoretical underpinnings of historical drawing alongside its tactile craft practices. You will discover how drawing transformed during the Renaissance in wake of a new approach to figurative naturalism, pioneered in the twilight of the Middle Ages. From there you will be led through the development of Renaissance art and learn how to approach drawing with a new understanding of the ideas, motivations, materials, techniques and artistic processes of the principal figures in the history of European drawing.
You will Learn:
The principles of figurative and representational naturalistic drawing as understood in the Renaissance
How sculpture, painting, and the literary arts shaped approaches and uses of drawing
The techniques, materials and process of figurative drawing in the Renaissance
How to draw the figure, portraits and individual body parts such as hands and feet in the manner of Renaissance artists
The evolving purpose, role and importance of drawing in Early Modern Europe
Academic Profile
Jon Long is an artist specialising in 15th century Italian drawing techniques, materials and process. He teaches historical approaches to art and drawing alongside his practice as a draughtsman and painter. He set up The Renaissance Workshop in 2017 to promote interaction with traditional Western artistic heritage and to enable people to interact with and learn how the old masters approached drawing.
Session One -Cimabue, Giotto and Masaccio and the Formation of Italian Renaissance Naturalism: The Foundations of Design in the Early Florentine School | Drawing Painted Figures as Renaissance Apprentices
Session Two -Donatello, Mantegna and Botticelli and the Evolution of a Sculptural Graphic Approach: Space and the Sculpturesque in Renaissance Design | Studying Renaissance Chiaroscuro Techniques
Session Three -Jan van Eyck and Rogier van der Weyden and the Immediacy of Persona in Northern Renaissance Portraiture: Revolutionary Approaches to Capturing Likeness | Drawing the Head and Face
Session Four -Leonardo da Vinci and Albrecht Dürer and the Dynamic of the Human Figure: Figurative Naturalism in the Late Quattrocento | Drawing the Human Form Part 1
Session Five -Raphael and Michelangelo and the Symbolic Nude in the High Renaissance: Figurative Naturalism in the Cinquecento | Drawing the Human Form Part 2
Session Six -Bellini, Giorgione and Titian and the Poetics of Composition in the Venetian School: Figures and Portraits with Depth of Emotion | Drawing with Immediacy and Intuition on Toned Paper
Materials List:
Pencils (HB - 4B Recommended) - Pencils should be kept sharp
Dip Pen or Quill with Ink and Wash (Alternatively: Fine Nibbed Pens in Black or Brown)
Watercolour Brushes
Pots and Mixing Dishes for Water, Wash Mixing, and Brush Cleaning
A Cloth or Towel
Red, White and Black Chalk Pencils (Hard to Medium Grades Recommended)
White, Off White, and Toned Papers (Blue, Ochre, Green, Grey Colours Recommended)
