The new UT Calendar-album is illustrated with pictures of flowers from the model pages used at the university drawing school

31.10.2022

The UT Library 2023 year calendar presents a selection of flower images, which were used as models in the classes of the University of Tartu Drawing School in the 19th century. Such pictures were used as examples when students of natural sciences and medicine, as well as hobby artists, were practicing drawing.

“There is actually an unsolved mystery regarding the drawings which you can see in our calendar,” said the editor of the calendar, Head of the Department of Manuscripts and Rare Books of the UT Library Moonika Teemus. “Teacher of the drawing school Karl August Senff has published several booklets with model drawings. Therefore, the drawings included in this calendar were always believed to be his works. But the truth is that only one of these gouaches carries his signature.” According to Teemus, the gouaches in the collection are of quite different levels of execution and thus, we cannot be sure that the author of all pictures is the same person.

According to Senff’s method of teaching art, drawing flowers was an important stage before moving on to the depiction of landscapes and people. His first booklets with images of flowers and fruits, printed in the richly shaded aquatint technique, appeared for sale at the beginning of the second decade of the 19th century.

The calendar for 2023 contains thirteen of the 27 the gouaches, which had once belonged to the drawing school and are now held at the library. If you wish, you can try to copy a bouquet of flowers or a bloom, just as it was done at the University of Tartu Drawing School, founded 220 years ago.

The calendar-album was compiled by Moonika Teemus and designed by Lilian Mengel, the texts were edited by Helika Mäekivi and English translations made by Sulo Lembinen.  

Calendars are on sale at the UT Library information point and e-bookshop.

 

Additional information:
Moonika Teemus
737 5744

 

 

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