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Home | Exhibitions | Barocci: A lesson in drawing | Barocci Drawings: Media

Barocci Drawings: Pastels

Pastels are artificially produced coloured chalks made by mixing ground up pigments with an aqueous binding media (such as animal glue), and clay. Bellori tells us that Barocci made even more use of ‘pastelli’ (pastels) than chalks and that this method of drawing was inspired by works by Correggio. This cannot be confirmed, since no pastels by Correggio are known today, but Barocci went on to become a master at subtly breathing life into his designs with coloured pastels. Light-pink pastels, for example, served to simulate the palpable flesh tones, whilst yellowish ochre would suggest the hue of hair.