ON DRAWING

Example

The letter A marks a Beer Jug; B, a Window; C, a Wine Glass; D, a Bow; E, a Checkerboard; F, a Trowel; G, a Barber Razor; H, a Heart; I, a Shovel; K, a Clover; L, a Diamond shape; M, a Tea Box; N, a Cup for drinking Coffee or Tea; O, an Apple; P, a Pear; Q, two Cherries; R, a Peach.
These are common objects but will be pleasing to youth: they can even serve those who already have a formed mind, to delve further into the rich Palace of Nature and to ascend to the most sublime delicacies of Art. Indeed, although all these Shapes are, so to speak, without body, and are reduced to straight, oblique, curved, reclining lines, it is absolutely necessary to learn them because all the linear elements are included, and if one can once draw these small trifles well, everything else will come naturally, and there is nothing that cannot be accomplished. For example, the Trowel marked with the letter F is almost nothing more than a Triangle. The stroke of the Beer Jug, marked with A, is a kind of square; the belly is round, and the base is triangular; when making the belly, one should first draw the right side, then the left, always starting from top to bottom: I say the same thing with regard to the sides of the base, which must then join together. Draw a Line through the middle of the Jug from top to bottom, and you will see if it is wider on one side than the other. This is how all things should be executed according to the rules of Art, so that nothing is missing: In this way, one will gradually train the hand, whose strokes will always be bold in everything drawn, whether it is sketched or finished, instead, if one neglects these Principles, one merely gropes in the dark, and will never achieve accuracy, nor perfect knowledge of Art.