This beautiful study by Michelangelo, portrays the back of a “sbandieratore”, loosely translatable as “flagger”, if it’s even a word, or, maybe, flagbearer.

The sbandieratori were an important mean of communication during battle, signaling strategies and movements to the troops on the battlefield by means of flags that were also thrown up high in the air so that they could be seen at a distance.

These young men were fit and with sculpted musculature, and that’s probably why Michelangelo used one of these soldiers as a model, creating a beautiful drawing that shows a deep knowledge of anatomy, great sense of volume, and impeccable technique.

Join me, on Tuesday, March 1, for another session of “Drawing with” where we will tackle this handsome young man with charcoal and chalk on toned paper, practicing tonal rendering, chiaroscuro, drawing technique, and even figure anatomy!

Materials:

• Drawing paper: a couple of sheets of lightly toned drawing paper, tan or gray. You can also stain a sheet of hot press watercolor paper with coffee or brown ink or watercolor.
• Charcoal sticks in medium and soft gradation.
• Red earth, black and white chalk (General’s) or Conte-Cretacolor crayons. You can also use colored pencils in the same colors
• Erasers and pencil sharpeners