Carbonised

Few artists have ever been able to draw as exquisitely as Van Dyck

The Inquisition loves drawing. In some ways modern drawing is not the complete (read: all consuming production) artform that it was in centuries past, with the preponderence of ready made materials. From its earliest days in cave painting to its current continued and ubiquitous use, charcoal has been ever present in artistic production.

When Van Dyck completed the drawing at the top of this page, he had his students prepare his charcoal for him, as this was centuries before ready-made art materials. This was something he himself had done during his own apprenticeship to Hendrick van Balen, who is himself the subject of the drawing.

The young Van Dyck would have learnt early on to make sure the vine or willow twigs were tightly compacted in a heavy metal container before burning, as the near-absence of oxygen is necessary for the total carbonisation which is required. The wood is then slowly burned in an oven.

You can easily make your own

Here are some charcoal-making instructions, that are more in-depth than the Inquisition’s summary round-up of the practice in Van Dyck’s studio.

Another tastier method

Just as they did it in the neolithic – have a barbecue, let it cool, then pick the charcoals left in the embers. They won’t necessarily be fantastic drawing implements, but if done correctly you will be too full to draw anyway.

Bibliography
Anthony Van Dyck: A Life, Robin Blake, Rowman & Littlefield, 2000

This article was posted on Wednesday, September 30th, 2009 at 03:22.
It is archived in Art and tagged barbecue, charcoal, diy, draughtsmanship, drawing, production, van balen, van dyck, willow.

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