Anna Bilińska-Bohdanowicz, Self-portrait, 1892, National Museum in Warsaw. Unfinished portrait showing underdrawing.
Underdrawing is a preparatory drawing done on a painting ground before paint is applied,[1] for example, an imprimatura or an underpainting. Underdrawing was used extensively by 15th century painters like Jan van Eyck and Rogier van der Weyden. These artists "underdrew" with a brush, using hatching strokes for shading, using water-based black paint, before underpainting and overpainting with oils.[citation needed] Cennino D'Andrea Cennini (14th century most likely) describes a different type of underdrawing, made with graded tones rather than hatching, for egg tempera.
In some cases, underdrawing can be clearly visualized using infrared reflectography because carbon black pigments absorb infrared light, whereas opaque pigments such as lead white are transparent with infrared light. Underdrawing in many works, for example, the Annunciation (van Eyck, Washington) or the Arnolfini Portrait, reveals that artists made alterations, sometimes radical ones, to their compositions.
The underdrawing can reveal changes, sometimes radical, made by the painter as the painting develops. For example, one of the five versions of the Madonna by Edvard Munch has underdrawings showing the arms conventionally hanging down, before the final version has one arm behind the subject's head, and the other behind her back.[2]
^Preparatory drawing. In: Weyer, Angela; Roig Picazo, Pilar; Pop, Daniel; Cassar, JoAnn; Özköse, Aysun; Jean-Marc, Vallet; Srša, Ivan (Ed.) (2015). Weyer, Angela; Roig Picazo, Pilar; Pop, Daniel; Cassar, JoAnn; Özköse, Aysun; Vallet, Jean-Marc; Srša, Ivan (eds.). EwaGlos. European Illustrated Glossary Of Conservation Terms For Wall Paintings And Architectural Surfaces. English Definitions with translations into Bulgarian, Croatian, French, German, Hungarian, Italian, Polish, Romanian, Spanish and Turkish. Petersberg: Michael Imhof. p. 130. doi:10.5165/hawk-hhg/233. Archived from the original on 2020-11-25. Retrieved 2016-02-16.
^Alberge, Dalya (3 October 2021). "Strike a pose: infrared scans reveal the method in Munch's Madonna". The Observer. Archived from the original on 3 October 2021. Retrieved 3 October 2021.
describes a different type of underdrawing, made with graded tones rather than hatching, for egg tempera. In some cases, underdrawing can be clearly visualized...
may have been done in the underdrawing of the painting, or by the visible layers of paint differing from the underdrawing, or by the first painted treatment...
underdrawing or outline drawn as a guide. Art conservators use the technique to examine how the visible layers of paint differ from the underdrawing or...
application of liquid paint onto prepared canvas or panels, but sometimes an underdrawing is drawn first on that same support. Drawing is often exploratory, with...
In 2020, Cotte published a study alleging that the painting has an underdrawing, transferred from a preparatory drawing via the spolvero technique. The...
infrared reflectography, which enable researchers to examine a painting's underdrawing. Art historians of the early and mid-20th century, such as Tolnay and...
only in fragments. In one area the mosaic has fallen away to reveal the underdrawing. There are some figures of saints and a dome of about 470 in Sant'Ambrogio...
approach also permitted spontaneous flourishes of color not bound to an underdrawing. It was markedly different from the traditional atelier of Jean-Léon...
result of an earlier restoration, possibly in the 18th century. The underdrawing is only partially visible to the naked eye. It is made up of outlines...
twentieth century, depicts a dwelling that can rotate on a post, with an airship in the distance. Ink over graphite underdrawing, c. 1883, digitally restored....
book Le Vingtième Siècle, a nineteenth-century conception of life in the twentieth century. Ink over graphite underdrawing, c. 1883, digitally restored....
styli were used for writing on soft surfaces (wax or bark), ruling and underdrawing on parchment, and drawing on prepared paper and panel supports. For drawing...
the master and his workshop, generally meaning that Botticelli did the underdrawing, while the assistants did the rest, or drawings by him were copied by...
found only in The Census from the same Museum. Recently, a study of the underdrawing using infrared reflectography has been published. Reflectography is based...
Fiorentino. Rosso Fiorentino's biography at Web Gallery of Art Examples of Fiorentino's art Example of unfinished Rosso painting showing underdrawing...
sinopias from the camposanto, the monumental cemetery. These are red ocher underdrawings for frescoes, made with reddish, greenish or brownish earth colour with...
used for the historic European wall and ceiling mosaics, following underdrawings of the main outlines on the wall below, which are often revealed again...
that the painting was created with a brush underdrawing. There are several differences between the underdrawing and the final painting, including the positioning...
underpainting, it is a sign that it was not done properly. Visual arts portal Underdrawing List of art techniques Underpaint. In: Weyer, Angela; Roig Picazo, Pilar;...
been attributed to Pieter Bruegel the Elder, has been x-rayed for its underdrawing to compare it to other versions. None of the versions have a provenance...
that van Eyck died leaving the panel unfinished but with completed underdrawings, and the upper area was finished by workshop members or followers. There...
version of The Card Players have shown layers of "speculative" graphite underdrawing, as well as heavy layers of worked oil paint, possibly suggesting it...
the subtle remains of spolvero (in the outline of the face and head), underdrawing (in the right arm, right hand, left hand, top of nose and edge of the...
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