VASARI ON TECHNIQUE BEING THE INTRODUCTION TO THE THREE ARTS OF DESIGN, ARCHITECTURE, SCULPTURE AND PAINTING, PREFIXED TO THE LIVES OF THE MOST EXCELLENT PAINTERS, SCULPTORS AND ARCHITECTS By GIORGIO VASARI PAINTER & ARCHITECT OF AREZZO NOW FOR THE FIRST TIME TRANSLATED INTO ENGLISH BY LOUISA §S. MACLEHOSE EDITED WITH INTRODUCTION & NOTES BY PROFESSOR G. BALDWIN BROWN AND PUBLISHED BY J. M. DENT & COMPANY = “29 & 30 BEDFORD STREET, LONDON 1907ny | | | | | | | | | OF PAINTING CHAPTER I. (XV) What Design is, and how good Pictures are made and known, and concerning the invention of Compositions. § 74. The Nature and Materials of Design or Drawing. SeemnG that Design, the parent of our three arts, Archi- tecture, Sculpture, and Painting, having its origin in the intellect, draws out from many single things a general judgement, it is like a form or idea of all the objects in nature, most marvellous in what it compasses, for not only in the bodies of men and of animals but also in plants, in buildings, in sculpture and in painting, design is cognizant of the proportion of the whole to the parts and of the parts to each other and to the whole. Seeing too that from this knowledge there arises a certain conception and judgement, so that there is formed in the mind that something which afterwards, when expressed by the hands, is called design, we may conclude that design is not other than a visible expression and declaration of our inner conception and of that which others have imagined and given form to in their idea. And from this, perhaps, arose the proverb among the ancients ‘ex ungue leonem” when a certain clever person, seeing carved in a stone block the claw only of a lion, apprehended in his mind __) The first two sections, §§ 74, 75, of this chapter were added by Vasari in the second edition, They contain his contribution to the philosophy of the graphic art. It will be noted that his word ‘Disegno’ corresponds alike to our more general word ‘design’ aud the more special term drawing.’OF PAINTING 206 from its si then the W before his ey ze and form all the parts of the animal hole together, just as if he had had it pret Gs, Some believe that accident was the fo of design and of the arts, and that use and experience ne foster-mother and schoolmaster, nourished it with the het of knowledge and of reasoning, but I think that, with more truth, accident may be said rather to have give the occasion for design, than to be its father, " But let this be as it may, what design needs, when it has derived from the judgement the mental image c anything, is that the hand, through the study and practice of many years, may be free and apt to draw and to express correctly, with the pen, the silver-point, the charcoal, the chalk, or other instrument, whatever nature has Created, For when the intellect puts forth refined and judicious conceptions, the hand which has practised design for many years, exhibits the perfection and excellence of the arts as well as the knowledge of the artist. And seeing that there are certain sculptors who have not much practice in strokes and outlines, and consequently cannot draw on paper, these work instead in clay or wax, fashioning men, animals, and other things in relief, with beautiful proportion and balance. Thus they effect the same thing as does he who draws well on paper or other flat surface. The masters who practise these arts have named or distinguished the various kinds of design according to the description of the drawing which they make. Those which are touched lightly and just indicated with the pen or other instrument are called sketches, as shall be explained in another place. Those, again, that have the first lines encircling an object are called profiles or out- lines. § 75. Use of Design (or Drawing) in the Various Aris wise All these, whether we call them profiles or cee are as useful to architecture and sculpture as t ae its Their chief use indeed is in Architecture, Uae as the designs are composed only of lines, which so ” poor ye ee ye a1 seing practice ot draw Sioning beautiful ne thing surface amed oF rding Those USES OF DRAWING IN THE arts 207 architect is concerned, are nothing else than the beginnin, ‘and the end of his art, for all the rest, which is carr a Gut with the aid of models of wood formed from the said lines, is merely the work of carvers and masons. In Sculpture, drawing is of service in the case of all the profiles, because in going round from view to view the sculptor uses it when he wishes to delineate the forms which please him best, or which he intends to bring out in every dimension, whether in wax, or clay, or marble, or wood, or other material. In Painting, the lines are of service in many ways, but especially in outlining every figure, because when they are well drawn, and made correct and in proportion, the shadows and lights that are then added give the strongest relief to the lines of the figure and the result is all excellence and perfection. Hence it happens, that whoever understands and manages these lines well, will, with the help of practice and judgement, excel in each one of these arts, Therefore, he who would learn thoroughly to express in drawing the conceptions of the mind and any- thing else that pleases him, must after he has in some degree trained his hand to make it more skilful in the arts, exercise it in copying figures in relief either in marble or stone, or else plaster casts taken from the life, or from hy 2 This remark of Vasari is significant of the change in architectural practice between the mediaeval and modern epochs. That the architect is a man that sits at home and makes drawings, while practical craftsmen carry them out, fs to us a familiar idea, but the notion would greatly have astonished the builders of the French Gothic cathedrals or the Florentines of the fourteenth century. In mediaeval practice the architect was the master of the work, carrying the scheme of the whole in his head, but busy all the time with the actual materials and tools, and directing progress rather from the scaffolding than from the drawing office. On the tombstone of the French architect of the thirteenth century, Hughes Libergier, at Reims, he is shown with the mason’s square, rule, and compasses about him; while in the relief that itlustrates * Building” on Giotto’s Campanile at Florence we see the master mason directing the operations of the journeymen from a position on the ‘fsture ise” In the present day there is a strong feeling in the profession Rat {his separation of ‘architect and craftsman, which dates from the set iMiaisanee, is @ bad thing for art, and that the designer should be in more ate touch with the materials and processes of building.OF PAINTING 208 utiful antique statue, or even from ez Lara which may either be. nude or cl, covered with clay to serve for clothing and dr these objects being motionless and without feeling, teatly. facilitate the work of the artist, because they stand sii) which does not happen in the case of live things that hay, movement. When he has trained his hand by steady practice in drawing such objects, let him begin to cop, from nature and make a good and certain practice herein, with all possible labour and diligence, for the things studied from nature are really those which do honour ts him who strives to master them, since they have in them. selves, besides a certain grace and liveliness, that simple and easy sweetness which is nature’s own, and which can only be learned perfectly from her, and never to a sufficient degree from the things of art. Hold it more- over for certain, that the practice that is acquired by many years of study in drawing, as has been said above, is the true light of design and that which makes men really proficient. Now, having discoursed long enough on this subject let us go on to see what painting is. Models in ad in rags apery. Aly \ «as ff §\76. Of the Nature of Painting, _ ‘A painting, then, is a plane covered with patches of colour on the surface of wood, wall, or canvas filling up the outlines spoken of above, which, by virtue of a good design of encompassing lines, surround the figure If SIt is characteristically Florentine to regard painting as essentially the filling a Mee ae fo colour in staccato fashion with an assorted set of tints and nature seen To the eye of the born painter pene o teers violin infinite in ec vaton’ °24 colour, while colours are like the tones ea exception of the Geemtiom ROE distinct like the notes of a piano. With the and Lotto, the Ted’ 88d some other North Italians such as Corregsio graded as Tight, ease Generally painted by filling outlines with local “ emphasis they lad ‘le, and dark, and the Florentines were pre-eminent in the ince the seventeenth ge ee atawH outline as the foundation of the a Painting has sufered a cru? the general idea of what constitutes the ao S himecte ceate® and Vasari’s account of Florentine practice, Sexpert, is all the more interesting. Vasari’s point }ch makes ney | long enough ainting is, ig ith pats as fling ue he Aga THE E Ni NATURE OF PAINTING D the painter treat his flat surface with 709 1 kee) the centre li i pa aoe ind goonies ligt and the edges eho judgement, dark ang? colour between the nd ie background it and dark j in the intermediate spaces, th » the Shrese thr e fields of colour Se of the combinatio: the one outline and. the other that everything b ated round and in relief. It is ad stands out and ape” Shades cannot suffice for ever oe that these thee shade oe it is necessary to divide every shade at le desi, two half shades, making of the at shade at least into of the dark two lighter, and of eet eee tints which incline one to the Ii eee tints ices “When these tints, bein paces cele witever it may De, are pote cing of one colour only beginning with the light, and then Poe a little darker, so that little by littl coy ea aaa black. Having then made Aeron ee colours mixed together, and wishing eee ale tempera or in fresco, we proceed to fill in eae putting in their proper place the ligh eae half tints and the lowered tones of the ee He 1 fe half tints tighis- I mean those tints mixed Pata ight, medium and dark, which lights and medi me and darks and low rey ee Serres er tones are copied from the cartoon et sign which is made for any work before we Fee 1o put it into execution. It is necessary that the ee be carried out with good arrangement, firm Wingy and judgement and invention, seeing that the composition in a picture is not other than the parcelling out of the places where the figures ‘come, so that the spaces be not unshapely but in accordance ‘with the judgement of the eye, while the feld is in one place well covered and in another void. All this is the result of drawing “ er is that of the frescoist. In that process, whieh s carried out swiftly and direct be finished at one STINE, a a necessary to have the vario eee hand. The whole method and ge ity is different, and its processes MNS 7 ° ius of oil-paintings ‘more varied and subtle.CHAPTER II. (XVI) Drawings, Cartoons, and Schemes of Perspective f Sketches, Of Skete and to what use they are put by the Pain, they are made, § 77. Sketches, Drawings, and Cartoons of different “ kinds. how sxercues, of which mention has been made above, ax in artists’ language a sort of first drawing made to find out the manner of the pose, and the first composition of the work. They are made in the form of a blotch, and are put down by us only as a rough draft of the whole. Out of the artist’s impetuous mood they are hastily thrown off, with pen or other drawing instru. ment or with charcoal, only to test the spirit of that which occurs to him, and for this reason we call then sketches. From these come afterwards the drawings executed in a more finished manner, in the doing of which the artist tries with all possible diligence to copy from the life, if he do not feel himself strong enough to be able to produce them from his own knowledge. Later on, having measured them with the compasses or by the eye, he enlarges from the small to a larger size according to the work in hand. Drawings are made in various materials, that is, either with red chalk, which * "The innumerable sketches and finished drawings that have come Gov? ° 4s from the hands of Florentine artists testify to the importance si the school to preliminary studies for painting, and any collection wil ft VamPles of the different methods of execution here described. Drewint re an masters, who felt in colour rather than in form, are not 9 ot so elaborate, whe wor of F pas are two and the the whi hay car dist sme Noy Pai, dug Nati § of Mt by Ons | Ma ving Pees teas 4f iy te ai Made tg TSt compat ¢ orm of bo 2 Tough daft & j us| mood they ae + drawing ins » son We he spit of ds the ravi SKETCHES, DRAWINGS, AND carto ONS . 21 a stone coming from the mountains 5 enough to be easily sawn and eae Seman oneoty suitable for marking on leaves of pape to a fine point Sigh; or with black chalk that comes fone ny YOU France, which is of the same nature as the 1a, nS ot drawings in light and shade are executed on tracd ne whieh gives a middle shade; the pen marke the cme Parfinrfine (contaurtortorohle™fanaWettcrmaraat eaigs thaljhadow is given with ink mixed with « ite oe which produces a delicate tint: further, with Pai brush dipped in white lead mixed with gum, the hi wn light ste added. ‘This method is very pictorial, and best shows the scheme of colouring. Many work with the pen alone, leaving the paper for the lights, which is difficult but in effect most masterly; and innumerable other methods are practised in drawing, of which it is not needful to make mention, because all represent the same thing, that is drawing. The designs having been made in this way, the artist who wishes to work in fresco, that is, on the wall, must make cartoons; many indeed prepare them even for working on panel. The cartoons are made thus: sheets of paper, I mean square sheets, are fastened together with paste made of flour and water cooked on the fire. They are attached to the wall by this paste, which is spread two fingers’ breadth all round on the side next the wall, and are damped all over by sprinkling cold water of them. In this moist state they are stretched so that ‘the creases are smoothed out in the drying. Thea when they are dry the artist proceeds, with a long me having a piece of charcoal at the ends to transter Oe cartoon (in enlarged proportions), to be. judged of ae distance, all that in the small drawing '* Ser small sale, In this manner little by little. he nan now one figure and now another. At a repro- Painters go through all the processes of eee ery from ducing their nudes from the life, ‘and the drap an e schemes nature, and they draw the perspectives in the samOF PAINTING 214 that have been adopted pee au scale in the frst drayin, enlarging them in proportion: | g If in these there should _ be perspective views, puildings, these are enlarged a the net, which puiiee of amall squares that are made large on the cartoy reproducing eve ything correctly, for of course when thy anist has drawn out the perspectives in the small designe taking them from the plan and setting up the el; with the right contours, and making the lines di and recede by means of the intersections and the vanishin, point, he must reproduce them in proportion on th Partoon, But I do not wish to speak further of the mode of drawing these out, because it is a wearisome theme and difficult to explain. It is enough to say that per. spectives are beautiful in so far as they appear correc when looked at, and diminish as they retire from the and when they are composed of a varied and beau scheme of buildings. The painter must take care too, to make them diminish in proportion by means of delicate gradations of colour that presuppose in the artist correct discretion and good judgement.? The need of this is shown in the difficulty of the many confused lines gathered from the plan, the profile, and the intersection; but when covered with colour everything becomes clear, and in consequence the artist gains a reputation for skill and understanding and ingenuity in his art. Many masters also before making the composition 0 the cartoon, adopt the plan of fashioning a model in clay on a plane and of setting up all the figures in the rou’ to see the projections,? that is, the shadows caused by * light being thrown on to the figures, which projection’ ©orrespond to the shadow cast by the sun, that MP sharply than any artificial light defines the figures bs sa me Ground; and so portraying the whole of the Wr y have marked the shadows that strike across 7° That j sive. PThis pan S82 By observation of aerial as well as linear PeIsPeClT” i ago ei noticed in the ease of more than one artist of WIN 16. ography. Tintoretto is one. See also poste P *Care toy, of delicate St coment f this is gathered but wher and i skill ane THE USE OF CARTOONS 21 figure, now another, whence it comes that o, : s 2 the pains taken the cartoons as well most finished perfection and strengt the paper in relief. All this shows peautiful and highly finished. account of as the work teach the § 78. The Use of Cartoons in Mural and Panel Painting When these cartoons are used for fresco or every day at the junction with yesterday’s work a piece of the cartoon is cut off and traced on the wall, which must be plastered afresh and perfectly smoothed. This piece of cartoon is put on the spot where the figure is to be, and is marked; so that next day, when another piece comes to be added, its exact place may be recognized, and no error can arise. Afterwards, for transferring the outlines on to the said piece, the artist proceeds to impress them with an iron stylus upon the coat of plaster, which, being fresh, yields to the paper and thus remains marked. He then removes the cartoon and by means of those marks traced on the wall goes on to work with colours; this then is how work in fresco or on the wall is carried out. The same tracing is done on panels and on canvas, but in this case the cartoon is all in one piece, the only difference being that it is necessary to rub the back of the cartoon with charcoal or black powder, so that when marked afterwards with the instrument it may transmit the outlines and tracings to the canvas or panel. The cartoons are made in order to secure that the work shall be carried out exactly and in due proportion. There are many painters who for work in oil will omit all this; but for fresco work it must be done and cannot be oe Certainly the man who found out such an es a good notion, since in the cartoons one sees the ¢ Ee of the work as a whole and these can be adjuste re altered until they are right, which cannot be done on work itself. ; *See the Note on ‘Fresco Painting’ at the close of the Painting, postea, p. 287. wall painting, Introduction’ to