These are some studies, quick sketches that I did while in Rome, Madrid, and Florence. I would just stand in the middle of the museum, in front of the painting, and begin drawing. I think that there are hundreds of digital photos of me drawing, taken by curious Japanese tourists, giddy Spanish teenagers, swooning Americans. Whenever people spoke to me, I always pretended I didn’t speak their language so that I could concentrate. Sometimes my cover would get blown, and somebody would ask me a question in Spanish, I would reply in English, and then they would proceed to speak both fluently. I have more sketches, though I think this is enough for now. The only thing I have to say is that paper makes all the difference- this handmade paper from Amatruda, a mill in Amalfi, is absolutely beautiful. It is incomparable; the cotton rag surface is so similar to the weave of a canvas.
Enough talking.
By dragging the icon over and clicking on each image, you can walk through some of the museum rooms, and zoom into some paintings, see clips of others.
Pinacoteca Gallery, Vatican
Raphael’s Transfiguration, Da Vinci’s St. Jerome, and Caravaggio’s Deposition from the Cross
Raphel, Transfiguration
Raphel, Transfiguration
Da Vinci, Saint Jerome
Caravaggio, Deposition from the Cross
El Prado, Madrid
Velazquez, Mercury and Argus
Velazquez, Mercury and Argus
Velazquez, Las Meninas
Velazquez, Las Meninas
Medici Chapel, La Chiesa di San Lorenzo, Florence, Italy
Michelangelo, Dusk
