"Disegno"
The Italian Renaissance Art of Drawing and Design.
Visual Arts Guide

Disegno: Italian Fine Art Drawing

Intellectual Component of the Visual Arts

The Italian word for fine art drawing is 'disegno'. But its meaning extends beyond the literal idea of draftsmanship. Disegno is the principle which underlies and underpins sculpture, fine art painting and architecture. In particular, disegno constitutes the intellectual component of the visual arts, which justifies their elevation from craft to art, on a par with literature and music. The concept of disegno as the foundation of the visual arts can be traced back to 1354-60. In these years the Florentine humanist Petrarch wrote his dialogue 'Remedies Against Fortune' in which he states that graphis (latin for disegno or drawing) is the one common source of sculpture and painting.

The idea is elaborated by many later Renaissance writers on art of whom probably the most important are Leon Battista Alberti (1404-1472), Lorenzo Ghiberti (1378-1455), Giorgio Vasari (1511-74), Federico Zuccaro (1542-1609).

'Disegno' Opposed to 'Colorito'

In the particular context of 16th century and 17th century painting, disegno (identified initially with Florentine art - whose exponents included Alessandro Botticelli, Leonardo Da Vinci and Michelangelo - and later with the influential Rome based French classical painter Nicolas Poussin and his followers) was opposed to Colorito (associated first with the Venetian School, notably Giorgio Da'Castelfranco Giorgione (1476-1510) and Titian (1480-1576) and later with the Flemish painter Rubens (1577-1640) and his followers).

Disegno is the Key Intellectual Element in Art

Central to disegno was the use of drawings as the basic building blocks of a finished composition. By contrast, Colorito employed the direct application of colour (paint), to the canvas or panel. The distinction has a critical philosophical dimension. An artist wedded to disegno (the archetypal example would be Michelangelo) after long training in drawing from life and from other artistic sources such as ancient sculpture, devises complex figure poses which he works into a composition. He does this, not through direct observation of a model but through invention - the exercise of his imagination. Disegno combines both the ability to draw, which facilitates invention, and the capacity for designing the whole. But it is the latter - the imaginative and intellectual core of this process - which gives disegno its characteristic gravitas and which underpins academic painting theories as well as the academic hierarchy of the genres. In the latter, History painting - the genre most associated with disegno - is the highest form of painting.

Colorito is merely a Painting Technique

In comparison with the intellectual thought which is so central to disegno, colorito simply involves encoding in paint the tonal and colour relationships of objects seen under particular light conditions. And the composition of a picture cannot precede it's "adornment" with colour (as in disegno-led painting), instead, it grows from the adjustments made by the artist on the canvas or panel. In theory, therefore, the colorito artist remains dependent on the model (what he sees) throughout the process of creating his painting, constantly checking the painted image with that of the model. In practice, colorito specialists too rely on their memory of visual effects: this probably explains the anatomical inaccuracies of many figures painted by Titian and the relative simplicity of his compositions. In general, the effects of colorito, such as the depiction of light, of reflections, of textures, of mood - these effects are produced to the detriment of those issues of structure which are the province of disegno. On a platonic scale of values, colorito depicts transient accidental aspects of things: the momentary effects of light, shade, colour, lustre, with their immediate appeal to the senses. Disegno on the other hand reveals the permanent invariable qualities of matter: volume, form and hidden order. The latter are, in this view, of greater appeal to the intellect and thus 'higher'.

Disegno Made Simple

To put it simply, disegno emphasises the idea of the artist as a God-like creator. Using his inventive genius, the artist conceives of a great composition, which (using his painterly skills) he proceeds to execute in accordance with his conception. Colorito on the other hand is merely a colouring skill, which a painter uses to replicate what he sees. Even if working in a studio from memory, colorito-driven artists are driven by the visual demands of the composition, which can end up being quite different from what he may have originally intended to paint. So while disegno entails fidelity to an original concept, colorito merely means executing a beautiful picture. In the eyes of Renaissance philosophy, there was a huge gulf between the two approaches: disegno was seen as true art, while colorito was considered more of a craft.

• For facts about painting movements, styles and Old Masters, see: History of Art.
• For details of drawing/sketching in Ireland, see: Irish Fine Art

• How to Update This Mini Review of Disegno 'Italian Fine Art Drawing'

Irish Art News Stories - Guide to Irish Art Exhibitions and Shows
© visual-arts-cork.com 2008 All rights reserved.