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DRAWER. 



DRAWING. 



some of the modern railways turning-bridges are introduced, by means 

 of which two water passages are opened, the bridge itself turning upon 

 a central pivot. * 



Bascule bridges were frequently used about the end of the last 

 century for dock and river communications, as at Hull, Havre, &c. ; 

 but at the present day they are avoided, because it is found that the 

 platform of the bridges stands in the way of the yards or the standing 

 rigging of ships passing through the locks to which these bridges are 

 attached. The came objection applies to the cost of the foundations 

 and of the machinery of Bascule bridges as to those of the more 

 commodious turning-bridges. 



Rolling-bridges are used when it is not possible to construct above 

 ground any machinery for lifting the platforms, and there are local 

 difficulties in the way of executing the foundations of either of the 

 other sort of draw-bridges. The manipulation of these rolling-bridges 

 is, however, very complicated. A fllling-in piece of the roadway, as 

 wide as the opening it is desired to leave, is first rolled laterally, and 

 then the bridge itself is rolled back into its place. The framing of 

 the bridge is also costly ; for during the time that the platform is being 

 rolled back its end is without support, and it acts to cause deflection 

 with a very long lever, thus entailing the necessity of a strong framing. 

 Nevertheless, there are such manifest advantages in the introduction 

 of rolling-bridges, when, if they were not employed, it would be 

 necessary to resort to the use of the other descriptions of such struc- 

 tures as would require loftier approaches, that they are frequently 

 used in railway, or even in dock works. The largest bridge of this 

 description lately executed is the one erected to carry the railway over 

 the Arun, near Arundel. The largest turning-bridge is the one carrying 

 the railway over the Wornsum, in the county of Norfolk. It is to be 

 observed, that railway engineers have, however, great objections to the 

 use of draw-bridges of any kind, and that they are only resorted to in 

 the last extremity. 



DRAWER. [BILL OF EXCHANGE.] 



DRAWING, in its strict meaning, is the art of representing objects 

 on a flat surface by lines describing their forms and contours alone, 

 independently of colour or even shadow. But shadow is closely allied 

 with drawing, both in practice and in theory ; because, notwithstanding 

 that form may be clearly expressed by outline alone, shadow, while it 

 gives surface and substance, is dependent upon form, and in many cases 

 requires to be accurately defined according to the rules of perspective. 

 More particularly is this the case when shadows are cast from any 

 regularly-shaped body upon one or more planes ; as, for instance, the 

 shadow from a column upon a flight of steps, or that of a man upon the 

 ground and a wall. It is true that, except in geometrical forma with 

 sharp edges, very few such lines exist in nature, outline>being no more 

 than the boundary of surfaces as it exhibits itself to the 'eye. Thus, in 

 the case of a globe or a cylinder, there are no lines whatever in the one, 

 no edges down the latter ; their outline being not on any part, but 

 merely the termination of that portion of it which is visible. The 

 same holds good with respect to the human form, and to that of 

 animals, whose limbs have no determined edges, but consist of parts 

 more or less crrrved, and even when nearly flat never stopping so as 

 to form a specific line or positive edge. The outline of the superficies 

 will consequently vary according to the direction in which the object 

 itself is viewed. 



Although drawing embraces all objects and their forms, in its more 

 restricted technical sense it is generally understood to imply the 

 drawing of the human figure, as that species of it which is the most 

 scientific in itself and the most important in art. But correct drawing 

 is none the leas necessary for other objects which it is the province of 

 the artist to represent. Landscape painting, it has sometimes been 

 said, requires comparatively little skill in drawing and no great exact- 

 ness of hand, since the forms it deals with, such as those of trees, 

 mountains, rocks, &c., being altogether irregular, general fidelity as to 

 form is sufficient ; while fidelity of colouring and aerial perspective, 

 and the effect of light, are the qualities most essential to it. But this 

 fallacy, which has misled many young landscape students, must be 

 discarded by him who wishes to paint landscape worthily. It is how- 

 ever true, that it requires greater expertness and decision to draw 

 correctly even a statue than a tree or a mountain ; the nicest observa- 

 tion of all the proportions, the most scrupulous attention to every 

 lineament, to every minute detail, to every marking, every gradation of 

 shadow, however slight, are here in fact indispensable. Yet in such case 

 the draftsman has nothing more to do than patiently copy a perfectly 

 immovable object. Far more arduous than such task is that of repre- 

 senting similar forms taken from the living subject. Here, unless he 

 be also well disciplined and grounded in anatomical knowledge, the 

 best models will avail him little save as studies of proportion, and of 

 such positions and attitudes as, although they are intended to express 

 i, can yet be preserved for a considerable time. He may, indeed, 

 thus perfect himself in that particular species of anatomical perspective 

 which is termed foreshortening, and he may do much in the way of 

 training both his hand and his eye, but for direct action and motion his 

 *.ill serve only to inform him what muscles they are that are 

 brought more forcibly into play, and other transitory phenomena 

 which disappear almost as soon as they exhibit themselves. Indeed, 

 some motions are so exceedingly rapid and fugitive that they cannot be 

 drawn, and can hardly be studied from the life, but if attempted to be 



shown in painting must be represented according to theory, based upon 

 exact anatomical knowledge. Some attitudes and motions are either 

 so exceedingly evanescent, as those of the figures hurled down in 

 Rubens' picture of the Fallen Angels, or so purely imaginary, as when 

 angels or winged genii are represented hovering in the air, that such 

 theory alone will enable the artist to express them with any degree of 

 apparent fidelity. The extremities that is, hands and feet are 

 among the most difficult parts of the figure, and require great practice 

 in drawing. Drapery, again, is, next to the figure itself, of the 

 greatest importance, while it is less reducible to any positive rules for 

 disposing it. 



In order to attain to a complete mastery of the human figure, 

 which after all is to be regarded only as the means to a higher aim, 

 and the mechanical apparatus for effecting it, it is necessary to com- 

 mence by studying what is tedious in itself, and seems almost foreign 

 to the artist's purpose, namely, the internal configuration of the 

 human frame. It is not enough to understand the proportions of 

 the body and limbs, with the form and situation of the external 

 muscles, but it is necessary that all the muscles, their purposes 

 and functions, should be well understood. Nor must osteology, 

 or the bones of the skeleton, be neglected. Indeed it is desir- 

 able that the artist should be able to draw the skeleton figure in 

 any attitude, by which his figures will always be well put together. 

 The drawings of Raffaelle and Michel Angelo show that those great 

 masters, even when at the summit of their fame, used frequently 

 to draw the skeleton of the more important figures of their com- 

 positions. By way of practice in this respect, it has been judiciously 

 recommended that as soon as he is a perfect master of the skeleton, 

 the student should proceed to draw antique statues in that state, 

 afterwards clothing them with muscles, as in the marble or cast before 

 him. But it is necessary to study muscular action with even more 

 zeal and accuracy than the skeleton. Without scientific knowledge of 

 muscular action, the painter will be able to give his figures only 

 attitudes, and those not always correct, should he have occasion to 

 represent such as from their nature do not admit of being copied 

 from the life. Again, unless, besides possessing a complete know- 

 ledge of the human body and the action of the limbs and muscles, he 

 is also able to express the emotions of the mind, and that not as they 

 display themselves in the countenance alone, but in gesture, attitude, 

 and the whole frame, he will at the best produce only clever academical 

 figures, skilfully drawn, but devoid of soul and sentiment. He must 

 therefore endeavour to make himself master of expression, in the most 

 comprehensive meaning of that very arduous and complex study, 

 which, be it observed, depends entirely upon drawing and truth of 

 delineation. For this purpose such works may be recommended as 

 Bell's ' Anatomy of Expression.' 



Perspective, which is generally treated of separately, and is therefore 

 ordinarily considered a distinct study, is nevertheless a most essential 

 part of drawing, in fact its very grammar, all objects being subject to 

 its laws, although they may not admit of being delineated according to 

 the processes employed for drawing buildings, furniture, and such 

 things as consist of strict geometrical forms. Reserving the science 

 itself for the article PERSPECTIVE, we only advert to it here in order to 

 press upon the student its essential and primary importance ; and that, 

 instead of being an extraneous accomplishment, it is inseparably con- 

 nected with drawing ; for perspective is based upon the laws of vision, 

 and consists of practical rules deduced from those laws. 



The student then would do well to exercise himself thoroughly in 

 drawing before he proceeds to colour ; and the longer he confines him- 

 self to outline, with no other degree of shadow than what is necessary 

 to express the character, the substance, or texture, and the different 

 prominences or depressions in the superficies of objects, the more 

 likely will he be to attain precision and correctness, as there will be 

 nothing to conceal vagueness and inaccuracy of form, but form will bo 

 exhibited undisguisedly either in its beauty or the reverse. One 

 great step towards correctness is to understand perfectly beforehand 

 the object to be represented, its character both general and specific ; 

 when this is the case, the hand, supposing it to be sufficiently well 

 trained, readily obeys the eye and the mind. Constant observation, 

 therefore, and as careful an examination of objects as if he were pre- 

 paring to draw them, will greatly promote the student's advancement, 

 md he will be really learning, when, because he is not actually at work 

 with his pencil, he may seem to be doing nothing. And this applies 

 equally to the student of scenery as of the figure. The more distinct 

 and even scientific be his knowledge of nature and natural phenomena, 

 the more truly and confidently will he be able to represent the appear- 

 ances of nature ; the wider his range of observation, the more likely 

 will he be to avoid mannerism as well as to escape from signal mistakes. 

 We have spoken hitherto of the necessity of drawing accurately to 

 ;he art-student, but drawing, as far as regards facility in delineating 

 common forms and objects so aa to enable a person to describe them 

 iromptly with the pencil, ought to be considered nearly as indispens- 

 able a part of education as writing itself. By this, such a degree of 

 Deficiency is meant as would enable a person either to express or 

 :xplain his ideas upon paper, or to sketch from nature. Sketching, in 

 ;he more popular meaning of the term, implies little more than the 

 let of writing down in a kind of graphic shorthand the characteristic 

 iueaments of a landscape or any individual object, an acquirement 



