Cours de Dessin Plate I, 36

I have recently completed this copy from Charles Bargue's Cours de Dessin. I've attempted a few copies from the book before but wasn't really sure of the correct method in producing them. This is the best I've done so far. I'm planning to ramp things up for the next one by copying the insanely complicated 'Belvedere Torso'.

Published in the 1860s, the Cours de Dessin was copied by art students worldwide before they attempted to draw from the live model. Following its republication in 2003 it is now being used by art students in the academic tradition who focus mainly on the first section, which consists of lithographs by Bargue after casts of sculptures, mostly antique examples that present the structure of the human body.

I'm fairly pleased with this drawing, although I still have a way to go in terms of getting the finish of the drawing as clean and crisp as the original. Initially I didn't really understand the point of doing the Bargue drawings, but having done several I'm beginning to 'get' the lessons they can teach, in terms of separation of light and shade and techniques of measuring and rendering. I doubt whether I'll devote too much time to the Bargue drawings from now on, but it's been useful to try my hand, and I believe I'll have to do a couple when I start at LARA in a month's time, so good practice.

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