Great Drawings, 1951

This is a drawing from the small pocket book Great Drawings, by Paul Sachs, 1951. Its a 14th century drawing by Lucas Van Leyden.

I am actually showing it here not because it is a great drawing, which it is, but to show how I can take a small book with pictures in it, and put my camera on an upside down tripod, and connect it by a cable to my laptop, and shoot the picture, remotely from the computer, and a few minutes later have it published on the internet. A great feat, for me, as it feels fluid, the going from picture to the internet. There is an irony of sorts here, using this technology to share a great drawing, and being fascinated by the technology more than the drawing.

Now there is the talking about the drawing. Mr. Sachs says that it is to be compared with Durer, but that it is more restrained. The background has been re-worked. I see that her right eye seems to be in a different head than her left, and that this adds to the mood. And how can we deny that her great head dress isn't much of the romance of this drawing, that without a model with such a head dress, we modern people cannot hope to demonstrate this level of feeling in our own drawings?