From the Museum to the Drawing Board

Young Ladies of the Village, 1851-52, oil on canvas, Gustave Courbet

Lately, I have been thinking about taking life drawing and painting classes again. My recent experience with writing courses has made that decision easier. Friends have been encouraging me for some time, and I finally decided to give it a shot.

If I am honest, there is also a sense of guilt. I was given some natural ability, and my parents believed I would develop it further. Instead, I let many years pass without seriously pursuing it.

Summer, 1911, bronze, Aristide Maillol

Another reason comes from my frequent visits to galleries and museums. Standing before paintings and sculptures awakens something that never quite went away. It reminds me that art once played a much larger role in my life.

Now I am well past my prime. My hand is less steady, and my eyesight is not what it was. Still, it is never too late to try again.

I have no expectations of success, and no interest in popularity or money. The goal is simpler than that. I just want to create something—and in doing so, make myself a little happier.

As I prepare for my first class, I went back to the Metropolitan Museum of Art for inspiration, revisiting the European sculpture court and a few of my favorite figure paintings, especially those by Camille Corot (1796–1875) and Gustave Courbet (1819–1877).

Corot’s figures are quiet, introspective, and poetic, shaped by soft light and muted color. Courbet’s, by contrast, are grounded, weighty, and direct, presenting ordinary people with an unidealized, almost confrontational realism.

While I am nowhere near their level, I look forward to putting pencil to paper and being surrounded by others who take creating seriously.

~ By Giovanni di Napoli, March 24th, Feasts of San Gabriele Arcangelo and Sant’Aldemaro da Capua

(L) Alphonse Promayet (1822-1872), 1851, oil on canvas, Gustave Courbet. (R) Louis Gueymard as Robert le Diable, 1857, oil on canvas, Gustave Courbet

(L) Woman in a Riding Habit (L'Amazone), ca. 1855-59, oil on canvas, Gustave Courbet. (R) Madame Auguste Cuoq (Mathilde Desportes, 1827-1910), ca. 1852-57, oil on canvas, Gustave Courbet

Woman with a Parrot, 1866, oil on canvas, Gustave Courbet

(L) The Woman in the Waves, 1868, oil on canvas, Gustave
Courbet. (R) The Source, 1862, oil on canvas, Gustave Courbet

(L) Sibylle, ca. 1870, oil on canvas, Camille Corot. (R) A Woman
Reading, 1869 and 1879, oil on canvas, Camille Corot

Bacchante by the Sea, 1865, oil on wood, Camille Corot

Bacchante in a Landscape, 1865-70, oil on canvas, Camille Corot

Bather, 1782, marble, Jean Antoine Houdon

Andromeda and the Sea Monster, 1694, marble, Domenico Guidi

(L) Leda and the Swan, 1654, limestone, Michel Anguier. (R) The Nymph of Dampierre, marble, signed and dated 1763, Louis-Claude Vassé

Girl with Doves, ca. 1780, cast terracotta, Claude Michel, called Clodion