The University of Wisconsin Press
Art
The
Craft of Old-Master Drawings Back in print by popular demand, The
Craft of Old-Master Drawings is both a useful manual for
contemporary artists and a historical work covering the period
from the late Middle Ages to the mid-twentieth century. It presents
the old masters' techniques and provides specific directions
for making inks, styluses, reed and quill pens, and fabricated
chalks, as well as instructions for preparing grounds for metalpoint
drawings. It comprises a body of knowledge that is essential
to artists, students of art history, curators, and collectors.
In addition to his scholarly investigation of earlier practices, the author identifies materials and processes used by such important artists as Rembrandt, Van Gogh, Romney, Picasso, Michelangelo, Watteau, Holbein, Tiepolo, and Delacroix. For the artist interested in reproducing the effects achieved by these and many other acknowledged masters, there are full discussions and specific directions concerning the making of inks, styluses, reed and quill pens, fabricated chalks, and instructions for preparing grounds for metalpoint drawings. At every step, the discussion is supplemented with illustrations from laboratory experiments and from drawings by both old and contemporary artists. Of the more than sixty illustrations included, thirty-six are reproductions of master works, and among the others there are microphotographic enlargements of detail showing the differences in density and texture produced by various tools on different papers or grounds. Thus, as a collection of master drawings, the book is worthy of the art lover's library; as a technical study, it is an indispensable aid to the art student and practicing artist. James Watrous,
was both a scholar and a creative artist—a rare combination
of qualities, but the one necessary to the task of writing this
book. For years with his students he conducted laboratory experiments,
testing old recipes, tools, and materials, in the study of the
techniques of master artists. His work brought him research awards
from the University of Wisconsin and from the Ford Foundation.
Mr. Watrous was also an artist, with an artist's appreciation
for the importance of the physical components of a work of art,
and the subtle differences of effect which can be produced through
skillful handling of materials. He has become known for his murals
and mosaic murals in federal, state, and private buildings, and
several of his paintings are in public collections and art institutions.
He was awarded the William Monroe White Award for painting, the
Milwaukee Art Institute Award for graphic arts, and the Wisconsin
Salon Award for watercolor painting. |
The cloth edition, ISBN 978-0-299-01421-6, is out of print. |
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