Standing Academy c. 1587

Andrea Boscoli made this ‘Standing Academy’ drawing with pen and brown ink, heightened with white gouache over traces of black chalk on blue paper, sometime between 1575 and 1608. The drawing’s visual impact largely stems from the economy and precision of Boscoli’s mark-making. Notice how each line contributes to the overall sense of form, building up the figure with simple hatching strokes. The use of blue paper is not merely a support, but an active element, defining the tonal range of the composition. Touches of white gouache highlight the figure and accentuate its three-dimensionality. This method, while traditional, bears a closer look. Drawings like this were essentially a form of artistic accounting, a means of storing up visual ideas for later deployment in paintings or prints. In that respect, we might consider it not only an aesthetic object, but a unit of skilled labor, translated into the graphic arts. This acknowledges the immense amount of time, training and labor it takes to produce these drawings. By considering ‘Standing Academy’ in this light, we can appreciate the intersection of art and craft, skill and labor, challenging the artificial hierarchy that often separates them.