726 



DRAUGHTS DRAWING. 



surface, she is said to draw twelve feet water ; and, 

 that this draught may be wore readily known, the 

 feet are marked on the stem and stern post from the 

 keel upwards. 



DRAUGHTS; a game played on a checkered 

 board, like the chess board, with twenty-four pieces, 

 whit-h, by angular movements, are enabled to take 

 arh other, according to certain rules, until one of 

 the parties has lost all his men, or is placed in a 

 situation to lose them all, when the game is at an end. 



I >K A WBACK, in commerce ; an allowance made 

 to merchants on the re-exportation of certain goods, 

 which in some cases consists of the whole, in others 

 of a part, of the duties which had been paid upon 

 the importation. A still more equitable arrange- 

 ment than that of drawbacks, is, to allow the mer- 

 < ham. who imports any commodity which he may 

 probably wish to export again, to deposit it in the 

 public warehouses, giving a bond for the payment of 

 the duties, should he dispose of it for home consump- 

 tion. This is called bonding, and is allowed to a 

 considerable extent in Britain. 



DRAWING, considered as a distinct branch of 

 art, is the elder sister of painting, and, in the course 

 of time, became connected with geometry. It is the 

 art of representing, by means of lines, upon a flat 

 surface, the forms of objects, and their positions and 

 relations. The attempt to imitate, by lines, the 

 forms which we see in nature, is the commencement 

 of all drawing. According to a Greek tradition, 

 drawing and sculpture took their rise together, when 

 the daughter of Dibutades drew the outline of the 

 shadow of her lover upon the wall, which her father 

 cut out and modelled in clay. We can distinguish, 

 in the earliest attempts at drawing, different epochs, 

 which are found in almost all nations : 1. Objects 

 were delineated only with rude, shapeless lines ; e. 

 g.,&n oval represented a head. 2. In order to make 

 such drawings more striking to the eye, the sketch 

 was filled up with black, or some other colour, and 

 then the eyes, eyebrows, nose, mouth, and hair, were 

 marked with white upon the dark surface. To all 

 these figures the name was attached, and, in general, 

 explanatory words, such as we find upon all the old 

 vases. This custom was continued by the Greeks, 

 even hi the most flourishing period of the art of 

 drawing among them ; for the figures of the great 

 picture of Polygnotus, at Delphi, were designated 

 by such inscriptions. In the third epoch, an attempt 

 was made to give animation to pictures, by represent- 

 ing the different colours of the drapery ; but, as yet, 

 there was no attempt at perspective. In this man- 

 ner Helen and Andromache embroidered tapestry, 

 as described in the poems of Homer. In the fourth 

 period, the want of prominence in the figures was 

 remarked. Ardices and Telephanes (probably ficti- 

 tious names) began, by drawing lines in the back 

 ground, to produce the appearance of shadow, and 

 to give prominence to their figures. In later times, 

 Pofidoro di Caravaggio delineated in this way many 

 frescoes in Rome, where he used only a single colour, 

 but produced the shading by lines drawn thus, in the 

 manner called hatching. These works are called al 

 sgrnfilo orpeintures hackees. This manner of drawing, 

 however, was very hard. Philocles and Cleanthes 

 invented the monochrome, or picture with one colour. 

 In the monochrome, the colour used was mixed with 

 white, so that this resembled the manner that is now 

 called en camayeu. This was the first step from 

 drawing to proper painting, which is distinguished by 

 having the back ground of the picture filled. The 

 Greeks were very careful and particular in their in- 

 struction in drawing. Pamphilus, the teacher of 

 Apelles..- wished his pupils to remain with him ten 

 years. There were three stages of instruction : in 



the first, firmness of liand and of stroke was obtained 

 and the learners drew with styles upon tablets cov- 

 ered with wax ; in the second, fineness and delicacy 

 of stroke were studied, while the learner laboured 

 with the style upon smooth tablets, made of boxwood, 

 and sometimes upon membranes, or upon the skins 

 of wild beasts, properly prepared and covered with 

 wax. In the third stage, freedom and ease were to 

 be acquired ; here the pencil was used instead of the 

 style, and with it black or red sketches were drawn 

 upon white tablets, or white sketches upon black 

 tablets. The tablets used were covered either with 

 chalk or gypsum. Line-drawing was carried to the 

 highest perfection, and was the glory of the greatest 

 masters. The rivalship of Apelles and Protogenes 

 in such lines, drawn with distinguished delicacy and 

 skill, and displaying a master's hand, is well known. 

 This fineness and clearness of outline is also the chief 

 merit of the celebrated vase painters. Something- 

 hard and dry was found in the pictures executed on 

 such outlines, and it may well be maintained that this 

 manner of drawing, through the influence of the By. 

 zantine school on the west of Europe, gave rise to 

 the dry and meagre style of the old Italian as well 

 as of the old Dutch school. 



When we consider the art of drawing as it exists 

 at the present time, we perceive that the kinds of 

 drawing are three with the pen, with crayons, and 

 with Indian ink, or similar substances. Artists some- 

 times employ coloured and sometimes white paper ; 

 in the former case, the lights are produced by white 

 crayons ; but in the latter case, they are produced by 

 leaving the paper uncovered. The drawings with the 

 pen have always something hard and disagreeable, 

 yet they give steadiness and ease to the hand, and 

 are peculiarly serviceable to landscape painters. 

 There are two different ways of drawing with the 

 pen ; either the drawing is darkened on the shaded 

 side with lines, or the outline only is given by the 

 pen, and the shades are delicately touched in with 

 India ink. This mode is peculiarly adapted to ar- 

 chitectural drawings. The crayon drawings are the 

 most common, and the most suitable for beginners, 

 because any faults can be effaced or covered over. 

 Artists make use of black, as well as of red crayons ; 

 and, when the ground is coloured, they produce the 

 light by means of white crayons. If the crayon is 

 scraped, and the powder rubbed in with little rolls of 

 paper or leather, the drawing becomes exceedingly 

 delicate and agreeable, though its outline is deficient 

 in -strict precision. This manner, which, from the 

 French name of the rolls used, is also called I'est- 

 ompe, is peculiarly suitable for large masses, and 

 shades, and chiaro-scuro, and for producing a harmon- 

 ious effect of light. There are also crayon drawings, 

 where the principal colours of the objects painted 

 are delicately sketched with coloured pencils. These 

 are peculiarly suitable for portraits. To this kind of 

 drawings belong likewise those made with lead and 

 silver pencils, upon paper and parchment, which are 

 suitable for the delicate delineation of small objects. 

 In some cases, drawings of this description are softly 

 touched with dry colours. There is another style of 

 drawing, in which India ink, or sepia and bistre in- 

 termingled with carmine and indigo, are used. The 

 lights are produced by leaving the white surface un- 

 covered. This mode produces the finest effect, and 

 is very much used in the representation of all kinds 

 of subjects. There are various classes of drawings, 

 as sketches, studies, academy figures, cartoons, &c. 



Sketches are the first ideas of the subject of a 

 picture, thrown off hastily, to serve as the basis of a 

 future drawing. They are made with charcoal, with 

 the pen or the pencil. To the rapidity of their exe- 

 cution may be ascribed the animation perceptible in 



