The Reading Images Project

Technique

Raphael's Method for Constructing The School of Athens

	Drawings Raphael's usual process for making any painting was to begin with a series of compositional sketches and life studies.   Models provided the general poses and allowed the artist to study difficult passages, such as the foreshortened legs of Diogenes.
Raphael, Drawing for The School of Athens, c. 1510, Staedel, Frankfurt, silverpoint on pink ground, 244x284 mm

 

After he had satisfied himself with the arrangement of the figures, Raphael would
have gone on to produce a cartoon.  

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