While we were analyzing Bellini’s Madonna of the Trees, someone in the class said, but these paintings were not made to be analyzed, they were made as objects of devotion. That is true, but as artists we have to analyze how these objects of devotion were constructed.
You can see how strongly this drawing emphasizes the horizontal and vertical axes. The drawing has conviction because of that. In a weaker composition the psychological focal points would be the faces. But here, without that easy emotional appeal, the drawing holds our attention by the force of that vertical and horizontal intersection.
It would be great to see Bellini’s sketches for this painting. In the Renaissance, preliminary drawings for paintings and frescoes tend to be more energetic than the final product. It’s uncanny. The paintings will look 16th century and the sketches will look modern.
The last element added in this sketch was the background scribble in the upper left, over the woman’s right shoulder. I say “background,” but it’s no less important than any other scribble in the drawing. I think those last lines, without representing anything or being part of the figures, make the drawing complete.
Without them, we would merely have an attempted illustration. With the “background scribble” we have a complete page, where, in the modern sense, positive and negative space are equally worth looking at.
Jeanne Mueller, graphite on paper, ~14” x 12”
https://artamaze.wordpress.com/2019/04/22/bellinis-pleasing-tricks/
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artamaze by Katherine Hilden 
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