The Tradition of
Plaster Cast Drawing
At the heart of the Renaissance, there was a revival of and
fascination with the proportion, form, and beauty of ancient
Greco-Roman sculpture. Artists of the time steeped them-
selves in these qualities by making copies in various drawing
media.
The tradition of training artists through drawing great sculp-
ture continued throughout the nineteenth century. After a
relatively short decline in the twentieth century, it is now
experiencing a revival in art academia. As a form of training,
not only does it bring an art student closer to the aesthetic
interests of the sculptor who created the work of art, but it is
also an excellent way for a student to become acquainted
with drawing the human form. In the art schools of the past,
a student would often spend a minimum of 2 years drawing
antique plaster casts before moving on to drawing the
human figure from live models.
Drawing a replica of the human form (from a work of art or
an anatomical cast) is one of the best ways to learn how to
render complex three-dimensional forms. It is highly recom-
mended that the serious student acquire at least one or two
high-quality plaster casts of sculptures, and complete multi-
ple renderings of them under different lighting conditions.
This will prove to be invaluable experience as you advance
to the drawing of the portrait and figure from live models.
The great antique Greco-Roman and Renaissance sculptures
are of such a high order of beauty and expressiveness that
they continue to inspire us centuries after they were cre-
ated—although in many cases they are only fragments of
their original form.
The artist can gain insight into the human figure by observ-
ing proportion and anatomy, and the rendering of light on
the form. To achieve the desired result, as shown in this
example, the artist must also consider the aesthetic con-
cerns of what the sculptor had decided to emphasize and
de-emphasize.
Copy after a Luca della Robbia sculpture, by
Jack Montmeat, courtesy of the artistTIP
Practice Makes Perfect
While Dean was in art school, he was fortunate to have several plas-
ter casts to work from. Eventually, he could draw two of them from
memory because he had drawn them dozens of times. Both were
anatomical casts made by nineteenth-century sculptors: One was of
the planes of the human head, and the other was a life-sized sculp-
ture depicting the musculature of the human body.