2020 Essays

Apprenticeship of the Painter

Zhao, Wenrui

“Apprenticeship of the painter” on fol. 64v identifies the oval and the cross as fundamental shapes for aspiring artists to master. The disposition of the text and its accompanying sketches suggest something of the author-practitioner’s thought process in setting down his advice. This essay situates his notion of apprenticeship in the context of model books, art treatises, and artistic training in early modern Europe. While young artists were understood to require a knowledge of geometry and anatomy, this knowledge was of a practical and embodied kind—inculcated through the pedagogical practice of copying and aided by workshop shortcuts, such as the advice about the oval and the cross offered in Ms. Fr. 640.