Artists at Work: Michelangelo, Leonardo, Raphael and Their Drawings

Drawings let us see the artist at work, thinking through problems. Michelangelo, Leonardo da Vinci, and Raphael’s drawings are like fingerprints or handwriting. Each had unique styles and methods of drawing. Raphael frequently drew hands. Michelangelo concentrated on the muscular torso or twisting body. Leonardo brainstormed on paper, keenly interested in nature and how the world around him worked.

The human body was a favorite subject, in stasis or in motion. Drawings also show the intellectual drive of each artist, what made them tick. Leonardo was absorbed in the mechanics of the body, how the organs, circulatory system, and muscles worked. Or how a bird could fly, or a cat could hunch its back. Michelangelo looked to the power and movement of the body in storytelling. Raphael was interested in the grace inherent in the body and how emotion is articulated through gesture and pose.

Leonardo da Vinci, Cats, Lions, and a Dragon, detail, 1513-17, black chalk, pen and ink, wash, Royal Collection Trust HM Charles III, RCIN 912363.

Leonardo was more experimental with his drawings of distorted faces and fantasy landscapes, while Michelangelo and Raphael were functional in their drawings. Most of their drawings were done to work out compositions and figures. Sometimes drawings were completed as a gift, and we have some splendid examples from Raphael and Michelangelo. Raphael and Leonardo readily shared their drawings with others and wanted them in circulation. Landscape and nature held little interest for Michelangelo. Leonardo’s detailed and exacting drawings of plants and water remain fascinating to us today.

We have more than 400 extant drawings from Raphael’s hand. In comparison, Leonardo da Vinci left behind 2500 drawings, mostly in his notebooks. We have only about 66 drawings by Michelangelo for the entire Sistine vault, partly because he destroyed many so others would not copy him. If he drew a single sheet each day of his career he would have produced well over 20,000 sheets of drawings. We have about 600 extant drawings from his hand.

Cats and Dragons

This sketch by Leonardo’s shows us how he worked out the composition and his interest in facial structure. This is a first pass at arranging the Madonna holding baby Jesus in her arms with a young St. John the Baptist on the lower right side. This is a classic Leonardo and Renaissance composition. The figures form a triangle with the Madonna at the apex and other figure closely huddled together at the base. We can’t connect this sketch to a finished painting, but his other Madonna and Child drawings or paintings have similar compositions.

Leonardo da Vinci, Madonna and Child with Infant Baptist and Heads in Profile, 1478-80,

pen and ink, Royal Collection Trust HM Charles III, RCIN 912276.

Intermixed with the main figures are a series of heads in profile plus two “action” figures in the upper right. On the reverse are more profiles, each slightly different, experimenting with a larger nose, change in chin structure, youth or old age. There are twenty-four heads total on both sides of the sheet. Leonardo is more interested in how subtle changes of age or features alter the appearance rather than portraying emotion. Three animal heads – two lions and a dragon – appear on the lower edge. This is Leonardo free-drawing, doodling, from his imagination, not from real subjects. As a reference point, this sketch was done earlier in his career, about fifteen years before he painted the Last Supper in Milan and twenty-five years before he began the Mona Lisa.

Michelangelo drew the same subject as Leonardo in black chalk. Michelangelo uses the Leonardo type Renaissance standard triangular composition. However, Michelangelo’s Madonna has a weight and volume with heavy drapery folds and intentional mass. She is tenderly holding her infant with downcast eyes in a solemn pose. Although he did cover paper sheets with multiple drawings and sketches, this is not the case here. It may have been intended as a gift, or perhaps for another artist. Michelangelo has worked out the composition to his satisfaction. There are no fantastical dragons, animals, or variations of a profile. Michelangelo completed this drawing twenty years after he painted the Sistine vault and four years prior to painting the Last Judgement. He was in his late fifties.

Michelangelo, Virgin and the Child with Young St. John, c. 1532, Royal Collection Trust HM Charles III, RCIN 912773; Michelangelo, Risen Christ, c. 1532,

Royal Collection Trust HM Charles III, RCIN 912768.

Drawn in the same time period, Risen Christ is a highly finished drawing most likely intended as a gift. Emerging triumphant from his tomb, Christ stands naked with his linen shroud swirling behind him. His nakedness and perfectly rendered musculature resembles that of a Greek or Roman god. Drawn entirely in black chalk, Michelangelo has used tiny individual strokes, or short lines to define Christ’s body. The miniscule chalk lines are unblended. Viewed up close, the torso resembles French pointillist paintings of the late nineteenth century. Michelangelo has line drawn limited parts of his hands, head, tomb, and shroud.

Raphael started preparing for a painting with different types of drawings. Initially he would work out broad conceptual loose sketches in pen and ink, then more complete figural drawings to get just the right pose, gesture and expression. He then moved on to compositional drawings usually in chalk with groups of figures to develop lighting and modeling. A mixed media colored modello finalized the composition and figures. A cartoon was then assembled, the last phase before transferring it to the wall, wood, or canvas.

Raphael, The Three Graces, 1517-18, red chalk over stylus underdrawing, Royal Collection Trust HM Charles III, RCIN 912754.

Raphael’s red chalk drawing was most likely done later in his preparatory cycle, while he was developing the poses of the three women, prior to the modello. The drawing is part of a large fresco in the Roman Villa Farnesina. The soft graceful modeling is typical of his approach. Raphael was meticulous and exacting in placing and posing figures to his satisfaction. He first lightly incised the paper sparingly with an inkless stylus to define his forms, then used red chalk over the stylus marks. The legs are less complete than the torsos. He intended to perfect the modeling and pose of the upper body rather than the lower body. The figure on the right is drawn more loosely. The refined and delicate handling of the chalk is remarkable considering the relatively small size of the paper (about 8 x 10 inches). The finished fresco was completed by assistants, using his drawings and cartoon as a guide.

Drawing Materials

Drawing was fundamental to artists. Leonardo carried a notebook with him to capture whatever caught his eye. Raphael made drawings so his assistants could follow his design for his numerous commissions. Michelangelo started with drawing for sculptures, paintings, and architectural projects during his career spanning seventy years.

Chalk, pen and ink, or stylus were most frequently used. Paper, which was still expensive in the sixteenth century, could be white, blue, red, or other colors. Red chalk was quarried directly from the earth and cut into sticks or short blocks in a ready to use format. It became a favorite medium, so much so that the naturally occurring clay became hard to source. Red chalk allows for subtle shading and responds well to pressure from the artist’s hand resulting in blended tonal variations. White chalk was used mostly for highlights.

Black chalk was more available than red chalk. It could also be sharpened to create thin lines or used for broad strokes. Pen and ink were also popular drawing materials. Artists often used these materials together along with a wash (diluted ink) to produce the desired effect. Sometimes paper was primed with a bone-ash mixture. When dry, a metal point stylus incised the figures over which chalk or pen and ink was added. Raphael was fond of a blind stylus without color to begin many drawings, a metal point that left only an indentation directly on the paper. He could make a few quick stylus lines to indicate the main elements of the figures and proceed from there.

Leonardo da Vinci, Cats, Lions, and a Dragon, 1513-17, black chalk, pen and ink, wash, Royal Collection Trust HM Charles III, RCIN 912363.

One of Leonardo’s most delightful drawings is a sheet filled with feline critters in various poses - stretching, sleeping, at rest, fighting, or on guard. For fun, he included a dragon. Leonardo used three media for the drawing. He started with pen and ink, then added black chalk, and finally a thinned ink wash. On the bottom, he wrote from right to left in reversed letters: “Of flexion and extension this animal species, of which the lion is the prince because of its spinal column which is flexible…” He was captivated by movement and anatomy. He intended on writing a treatise on animal movement.  A companion sheet shows horses in a similar fashion, with different gaits, bucking, rearing, or standing. Five hundred years later Leonardo’s felines (and dragons) are still charming.

Sources

Whistler, Catherine and Ben Thomas. Raphael: The Drawings. Ashmolean Museum, 2017.

Bambach, Carmen. Michelangelo: Divine Draftsman and Designer. The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2017.

Bambach, Carmen. Leonardo da Vinci Rediscovered. 4 volumes, Yale University Press, 2019.

Bambach, Carmen. Leonardo da Vinci: Master Draftsman. The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2003.