Sublime, Exhilarating del Sarto
In an essay about Andrea del Sarto, Ingrid Rowland writes: ‘For generations, drawing —disegno — had been the activity that best defined Florentine art. Long before they were allowed to apply color, apprentice artists were expected to hone their skills at drawing everything around them, from nature to people to works of art and architecture. Michelangelo’s advice to one member of his workshop was typical: “Draw, Antonio, draw, Antonio, draw and don’t waste time.†He himself spent long hours in the garden of Palazzo Medici sketching works of ancient sculpture before he began to learn how to hew costly blocks of marble, just as his elder contemporary Leonardo would draw endless plans on paper before he began to paint or build.’ Pictured is Andrea’s “Portrait of a Young Man” (circa 1517).
