Silverpoint

The round arch and the tower

A semicircular Romanesque arch with its centre on the springing line, radiating voussoirs and a keystone, over an impost and a pierROUND ARCH · CENTRE ON THE SPRINGING LINEcentrekeystonevoussoirs radiate fromthe centreimpostEvery joint in the arch points at the centre. Draw three joints that do, and the eye believes the rest.
FigureThe round arch
FoundationLine

The round arch and the tower

A master copy of Cotman's Haute Allemagne tower

Draw a Romanesque tower with its arched openings, roof plane and masonry, following a master etching.

Difficulty
Time
about 1 h
You draw with
2H, HB, 2B, 4B
The round archMasonry coursingLight on formTone from lineRoof planes and slates

Why this one

  • Unit 5 of the program: Architecture.
  • A tower that is a lit cube with a dark roof, whose arches are constructed and whose stone is implied rather than enumerated.

From your kit

The whole kit →
  1. 1Grafwood 2H, HB, 2B, 4B 2H, HB for layout and line; 2B, 4B for the darks. Long points from the Blackwing on everything up to B.
  2. 2Kneaded eraser and the Mono Zero press-and-lift corrections only; the Mono Zero for a single sharp light.
  3. 3Alpha sketchbook 9 x 6 draw at the book's size and keep the proportions; date the page.
In general, this study asks for
  • Drawing pad
  • 2H, HB, 2B, 4B
  • Kneaded eraser

Watch first

All videos →

Timothy Wilcox on the Normandy tours and the Architectural Antiquities etchings. The architectural half of this course, explained by its curator.

YouTube
Printmaking process: intaglioMinneapolis Institute of Art · Four minutes that make every etching in this catalogue legible: ground, needle, acid, ink, wipe, press.Rembrandt's printmaking process: 17th-century etchingNorwich Castle Museum · Shows how a plate is bitten in stages for lighter and darker line, the origin of counted tone.

The plan

5 stages · ~77 min
  1. 1

    Read the tower

    18 min

    A cube with a pyramid on it, lit from the upper left. One lit face, one in halftone, the roof a dark tilted plane. Round-headed belfry openings with their arches constructed from a centre on the springing line. Stone courses run as broken horizontals; only a few dozen stones are actually drawn.

    Tower of the Church of Haute Allemagne near Caen, Cotman, 1822
    Cleveland Museum of Art

    Cotman, Tower of the Church of Haute Allemagne near Caen, 1822. etching.

    Cotman, Tower of the Church of Haute Allemagne near Caen, 1822, etching.

    The Cleveland Museum of Art · Gift of William C. Keough

    Checklist0 / 1
  2. 2

    Envelope and planes

    18 min

    Envelope the whole tower. Divide: the two faces, the roof, the openings. Sight every slope. Measure height against width. Fifteen minutes before a single arch.

    Checklist0 / 1
  3. 3

    Arches and courses

    18 min

    Construct each belfry opening: springing line, centre, semicircle. Three joints radiating from the centre, suggested. Then the courses as broken horizontals across both faces, more broken on the lit face. A few vertical joints at the corners and around the openings.

    A semicircular Romanesque arch with its centre on the springing line, radiating voussoirs and a keystone, over an impost and a pierROUND ARCH · CENTRE ON THE SPRINGING LINEcentrekeystonevoussoirs radiate fromthe centreimpostEvery joint in the arch points at the centre. Draw three joints that do, and the eye believes the rest.
    FigureCentre on the springing line, joints radiating.
    Checklist0 / 1
  4. 4

    Tone in layers

    18 min

    Number the planes: lit face 0 or 1, shadow face 2, roof 3, inside the openings 4. Hatch to the numbers. Darkest accent under the eaves. Squint and compare.

    Stone wall: on the left every stone is outlined and the wall looks like a net; on the right only the courses run through, a few stones are suggested near the edges and the eye, and tone carries the restWRONG · EVERY STONE DRAWNRIGHT · COURSES, STONES SUGGESTEDDraw the horizontal courses as broken lines. Add vertical joints only near openings,corners and the bottom. Let tone do the middle.Cotman's Haute Allemagne tower: hundreds of stones implied, perhaps forty actually drawn.
    FigureCourses run; stones suggested at edges and openings.
    Checklist0 / 1
  5. 5

    Self-check

    5 min

    Tick each item honestly. If one is a no, the session is not finished; go back to that step.

    Checklist0 / 4

What it should look like

  • A tower that is a lit cube with a dark roof, whose arches are constructed and whose stone is implied rather than enumerated.

Where it goes wrong

  • Every stone drawn. It felt thorough. Erase the middle of each face to tone. Keep the stones at the edges.
  • Voussoir joints drawn vertical. Bricks, not wedges. Every joint aims at the arch's centre.

Log this session

Start the clock when you pick up the pencil. Stop it when you put it down. Log it. Every session counts toward the box.

00:00of ~60 min

Status

How did it go?

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