The Metropolitan

This is a difficult perspective because the lines across the face of the drawing recede at such a slight angle that the vanishing point that they converge to is out of range of a ruler, or even a yard stick. What to do in this situation is to mark off a set of measurements down the left of the drawing and a proportionally larger set of marks, outside the drawing, down the right. These marks then act as a guide for any important line in the drawing one wants to check. The image shows these marks down the left hand side outside the drawing border. I have never seen this done by anyone else, I made the method up years ago when I was doing a large painting and the vanishing point of the perspective was out in the yard someplace. Nevertheless, with this drawing the method wasn’t accurate enough so I had to resort to the nail and string method. You find the vanishing point and place a nail there, and pull a string over to the drawing and check your lines with it.

I love this view of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, which shows those strange piles of marble above the doorways, have you ever noticed them. When the Met was built they intended to put huge sculptures of things like naked men with swords up there, but the times caught up with them and before the sculpture was commissioned the idea of marble people up on the roof had become out of date. But those piles of rough cut marble give the Met a grand, ancient, unfinished look like the Cathedrals, or Pyramids. This was not what the builders intended, but great nevertheless.

Dimensions: 8.5” x 14”
Materials: pencil on buff color watercolor paper
Signature: Along the bottom edge: Richard Britell June 13, 2002