Frederick de Wit - Lumen picturae: a classical drawing manual

The Lumen pictur of Frederick de Wit, a seventeenth century work of great historic value, is reproduced here in its complete version. Believed to have been initially published between 1660 and 1675, it is a visual guide to classical drawing and one of the manuals that defined the fundamentals of art and artistic instruction until the impressionist revolution of the nineteenth century. Initially designed to speak with images to the artist in training, Lumen pictur is divided into six chapters to capture the shapes, proportions, and shading required to create still-life images on canvas. Chapter one breaks down the human figure, exploring facial features, limbs, and muscles. Chapters two and three focus, respectively, on male and female figures; both feature nude and clothed forms, highlighting the stances and gestures of each gender. Chapter four features mythological and biblical figures, with the clothes and accessories appropriate for each, along with details of setting, event, and time period.

Chapter five features quadruped animals, both pets and wildlife. Chapter six features birds, insects, and sea creatures, both everyday and exotic. Lumen pictur , true to its title, is a book of luminescent pictures. After the Greeks invented the concept of classical drawing, the ideal sketchthe product of the cross between mathematical, modular, and proportional measurementsunderwent various transformations as aesthetics evolved. This book was initially intended to provide artists with visual instruction on the proper relationship between individual body parts and the whole figure to obtain perfect proportionality in their work. The authors name, Frederick de Wit, was shared by three members of a family of Dutch engravers and publishers; it is no longer known which Frederick de Wit was the official author of the work.

The first Frederick de Wit was the founder of the de Wit familys printing office in Amsterdam in 1648. At the time of Lumen pictur s release, the family, having acquired at auction many of the copper plates of the publishing and engraving houses Blaeu and Jansson, specialized in cartography. They had released a series of world atlases, urban maps, nautical charts, a nautical atlas, and regional and wall maps, and were known around the world for the sophistication of their publications, the popularity of their topics, and the extensive selection of titles they released. This held true until the company was sold to Pieter Mortier in 1706. On its initial publication, the work was considered a highly revered book on classical drawing. Only a few copies of the book were created, making them extremely rare and thus painstakingly safeguarded by their owners.

Those lucky enough to see it poured over it, devouring the intricacies of the facial expressions, gestures, and body positions featured within it. Today, Lumen pictur is not just an academic treatise or drawing manual but a work of art itself. It is praised for its refined strokes, the physical nuances observed in it, the architecture of the individual compositions, and the authors selection of images. It is a point of comparison for analyzing classical paintings and drawings, all art from the seventeenth century, and art created since then that captures the essence of a figure or form.