This classic book, whose foremost author was one of the great artistic anatomy teachers of the twentieth century, is an invaluable instructor and reference guide for any professional, amateur, or student artist who depicts the human form. Revealing the drawing principles behind one hundred inspiring masterpieces, the book presents work by Leonardo, Michelangelo, Rubens, Raphael, Titian, Rembrandt, and other greats. These superb portrayers of figures knew that the secret of drawing them was seeing how underlying bone and muscle structures mold the body's surface forms. Readers are shown how to learn from these great examples as the authors guide them through all the steps they would take in a life class or studio working with live models.

Author Robert Beverly Hale turns to some of the world's greatest figure draftsmen to teach the fundamentals of figure drawing and artistic anatomy. One hundred drawings by such artistic giants as Michelangelo, da Vinci, Rembrandt, and many others, are faithfully reproduced and analyzed for the basic principles they exemplify. 100 plates. 200 diagrammatic drawings.