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Period: 18th Century and Earlier
George Edwards: 18th Century Engravings of Ducks And Wading Birds
Located in Richmond, GB
George Edwards: ""A History of Uncommon Birds"", 1749-1761.
A prominent English naturalist and ornithologist, George Edwards (1694 -1773) is best known for his work, ""A Natural His...
Category
18th Century and Earlier Drawings and Watercolor Paintings
Materials
Watercolor
Portrait of a Lady - Late 18th Century European Pastel
Located in London, GB
European School
Late 18th Century
Portrait of a Lady
Pastel on paper, mounted on canvas
Image size: 28 x 23 inches
Contemporary style frame
Provenance:
Ernst Museum Auction
This pastel portrait of a lady dates from the late eighteenth century. She is pictured in a white muslin dress...
Category
18th Century and Earlier Drawings and Watercolor Paintings
Materials
Pastel, Laid Paper
Three drawings by François Boucher in a mounting by Jean-Baptiste Glomy
Located in PARIS, FR
We would like to thank Juliette Parmentier-Courreau of the Custodia Foundation for her welcome and support during the consultation of Glomy’s Journal des Ouvrages.
This spectacularly large "feuille de desseins ajustés" commissioned by François Boucher from Jean-Baptiste Glomy is emblematic of the painter's art and mastery of rocaille. It is also fully representative of the taste of this period in the field of decorative arts. The largest of these three drawings, placed at the bottom of the composition, is particularly interesting: dating from around 1756, it constitutes a modello (apparently unpublished) for the frontispiece of the "Catalogue des tableaux de Monsieur de Julienne"), preserved in the Morgan Library in New York.
1. François Boucher, the master of French rocaille
The extraordinary career of Francois Boucher was unmatched by his contemporaries in versatility, consistency and output. For many, particularly the writers and collectors who led the revival of interest in the French rococo during the last century, his sensuous beauties and plump cupids represent the French eighteenth century at its most typical. His facility with the brush, even when betraying the occasional superficiality of his art, enabled him to master every aspect of painting – history and mythology, portraiture, landscape, ordinary life and, as part of larger compositions, even still life. He had been trained as an engraver, and the skills of a draftsman, which he imbued in the studio of Jean-Francois Cars (1661 – 1738), stood him in good stead throughout his career; his delightful drawings are one of the most sought-after aspects of his oeuvre.
As a student of Francois Lemoyne (1688 - 1737), he mastered the art of composition. The four years he spent in Italy, from 1727-1731, educated him in the works of the masters, classics and history, that his modest upbringing had denied him.
On his return to Paris in 1734, he gained full membership of the Royal Academy of Painting and Sculpture with his splendid Rinaldo and Armida (Paris, Musée du Louvre). Although, throughout his career, he occasionally painted subjects taken from the Bible, and would always have considered himself first as a history painter, his own repertoire of heroines, seductresses, flirtatious peasant girls and erotic beauties was better suited to a lighter, more decorative subject matter. His mastery of technique and composition enabled him to move from large scale tapestry...
Category
Old Masters 18th Century and Earlier Drawings and Watercolor Paintings
Materials
Chalk, Ink
Judith and Salome, a pair of oil paintings on canvas by Francesco Conti
Located in PARIS, FR
This widely referenced pair of paintings is one of Francesco Conti’s most successful productions. Francesco Conti is one of the finest painters of 18th-century Florence. In the shimmering colors typical of his best work, he represents two opposite characters from the Bible: the virtuous Judith, whose courage saves her people by cutting off the head of the invader Holofernes, and the depraved Salome, who under the influence of her mother becomes responsible for the beheading of the prophet John the Baptist.
The artist's talent lies in his ability to treat these two macabre subjects with a light touch, presenting us with two attractive women who seem to twirl with glee amidst the severed heads...
1. Francesco Conti, the “Florentine Tiepolo”
Francesco Conti is a major painter of the Florentine school of the 18th century; he can even probably be considered, along with Giovanni Domenico Ferretti (1692-1768), as one of the two main painters of the second quarter of the Florentine 18th century.
Born in Florence in 1682, Francesco Conti began his apprenticeship in the workshop of Simone Pignoni (1611 - 1698), a disciple of Francesco Furini; he was also influenced by the Venetian Sebastiano Ricci. A protégé of Marquis Riccardi, he accompanied him to Rome between 1699 and 1705, where he frequented Carlo Maratta's studio. He settled permanently in Florence in 1705.
Painted exclusively on canvas, the majority of his work consists of religious subjects, altarpieces or private devotional works. It is likely that Conti himself was a devout churchgoer, as evidenced by his affiliation, in the third decade of the eighteenth century, to the Society of the Disciples of Saint-John-the-Baptist, and his entry, at the end of his life, into the fraternity of the Venerable Society of the Holy Trinity.
In Florence, Conti worked for the Grand Duchy's major patrons, including the last Medici - in particular Giangastone and Annamaria Luisa, Electress Palatine - and confirmed his role as a reference painter under the Lorraine Regency, as master of the Public Drawing School, which was closely linked to the institute responsible for the manufacture of semi-precious stone mosaics, then located in the Uffizi complex.
Matteo Marangoni, an art critic of the early 20th century, praised his "brushwork full of elegance and true spirit of the 18th century", pointing out that Conti was "probably one of the best colorists" of the Florentine school of his time. These two characteristics led the art historian Paolo dal Poggetto to nickname him the "Florentine Tiepolo".
2. Judith and Salome, two biblical characters opposing each other
These two paintings form a pair presenting two biblical episodes, which have in common the depiction of a "heroine" carrying the severed head of a man.
While the Salome episode might at first appear to be an echo of the Old Testament story of Judith, each character is the exact opposite of the other. Judith, whose story is told in the Book of Judith, is a beautiful young widow from Bethulia who, accompanied by her maid, went into the camp of the invading Assyrians and won the confidence of Holofernes, the general commanding the enemy army. Invited to a great feast on the fourth evening, she took advantage of Holofernes' drunkenness to cut off his head. “She went up to the bedpost near Holofernes’ head, and took down his sword that hung there. She came close to his bed, took hold of the hair of his head, and said, “Give me strength today, O Lord God of Israel!” Then she struck his neck twice with all her might, and cut off his head. Next she rolled his body off the bed and pulled down the canopy from the posts. Soon afterward she went out and gave Holofernes’ head to her maid, who placed it in her food bag...
Category
Old Masters 18th Century and Earlier Drawings and Watercolor Paintings
Materials
Canvas, Oil
Animal drawing of magpie bird of blue and white by enlighted british painter
Located in Milan, IT
Peter Paillou (c.1720 – c.1790) was a British artist best known for his paintings of birds, many of which were used as book illustrations. He gained repute in the 18th century as a natural history painter and illustrator. He was employed by two leading naturalists and antiquarians of the time, Taylor White (1701-1772) and Thomas Pennant (1726-1798). He illustrated the latter's British Zoology and decorated the hall at Downing, Pennant's house in Flintshire, with several pictures of birds...
Category
Realist 18th Century and Earlier Drawings and Watercolor Paintings
Materials
Tempera, Watercolor
Due ritratti figurativi aristocratici pastelli su pergamena primi del XIX secolo
Located in Florence, IT
Sul cartoncino applicato nella cornice è riportata l'annotazione, a penna e in grafia Kurrent, "Urgroßvater Ludwig Fr(ei)h(e)r(r) von Keller" "Urgroßmutter ...
Category
Other Art Style 18th Century and Earlier Drawings and Watercolor Paintings
Materials
Parchment Paper, Pastel, Cardboard
Mughal School, 18th century Emperor Jahangir taking tea in his harem
Located in Middletown, NY
An illuminated page from a book likely in reference to palace life during Emperor Jahangir's reign over the Mughal Empire.
circa 1750. Gouache and ink with heightening in gold on li...
Category
Rajput 18th Century and Earlier Drawings and Watercolor Paintings
Materials
Gold
Johann Weinmann: 18th Century Engraving of an aloe in a decorative pot.
Located in Richmond, GB
Hand-coloured mezzotint engravings of decorative urns with aloes and cacti from: ""Phytanthoza Iconographia"", c1739, presented in hand- made, parcel-gilt, ebonised and decalcomania...
Category
18th Century and Earlier Drawings and Watercolor Paintings
Materials
Watercolor, Mezzotint
Draped Woman Holding A Branch
Located in Paris, Île-de-France
CARLO URBINO
(Crema 1525 - after 1585)
Draped Woman Holding a Branch
Pencil and brown ink on laid paper
13.6 x 7.7 cm
Unsigned
16th century
Mounted on 20th-century paper
Handwrit...
Category
Old Masters 18th Century and Earlier Drawings and Watercolor Paintings
Materials
Ink
Johann Weinmann: c.18th Engravings of Fruit in Decalcomania Frames
Located in Richmond, GB
Hand-coloured mezzotint engravings from: ""Phytanthoza Iconographia"", c1739, presented in hand-made parcel-gilt, ebonised and decalcomania frames.
Johann Weinmann (1683-1741), a G...
Category
18th Century and Earlier Drawings and Watercolor Paintings
Materials
Watercolor, Mezzotint
George Edwards: 18th Century Engravings of Ducks And Wading Birds
Located in Richmond, GB
George Edwards: ""A History of Uncommon Birds"", 1749-1761.
A prominent English naturalist and ornithologist, George Edwards (1694 -1773) is best known for his work, ""A Natural His...
Category
18th Century and Earlier Drawings and Watercolor Paintings
Materials
Watercolor
Johann Seligmann: Engravings of Parrots After George Edwards, 1770, Framed
Located in Richmond, GB
"Sammlung Verschiedenr Auslandischer und Selener Vogel", Nuremberg 1770-1773. Edited by Johann Michael Seligmann (1749 -1776): engravings with original hand-colouring after the drawi...
Category
18th Century and Earlier Drawings and Watercolor Paintings
Materials
Watercolor
Saint Jerome Praying, with a Landscape in the Background
Located in Paris, Île-de-France
STEFANO DALL’ARZERE
(Padua, circa 1520 – 1570)
Saint Jerome Praying, with a Landscape in the Background
Pen and brown ink, heightened with white over black chalk lines
15.5 x 12 cm...
Category
Old Masters 18th Century and Earlier Drawings and Watercolor Paintings
Materials
Ink
Rocky Landscape with Trees and Temple Ruins a drawing by Giulio Parigi (ca 1615)
Located in PARIS, FR
This Rocky Landscape with Trees and the Ruins of a Temple is a drawing by Giulio Parigi, an eclectic and prolific artist of the Medici court. An engraver, architect, furniture and je...
Category
Old Masters 18th Century and Earlier Drawings and Watercolor Paintings
Materials
Ink, Laid Paper, Pen
George Edwards, Engravings of Parrots, published by Seligmann.
Located in Richmond, GB
PRICE IS FOR EACH FRAMED PRINT
"Sammlung Verschiedenr Auslandischer und Selener Vogel", Nuremberg 1770-1773. Edited by Johann Michael Seligmann (1749 -1776): engravings with origina...
Category
18th Century and Earlier Drawings and Watercolor Paintings
Materials
Watercolor, Etching
George Edwards, Engravings of Parrots, published by Seligmann.
Located in Richmond, GB
PRICE IS FOR EACH FRAMED PRINT
"Sammlung Verschiedenr Auslandischer und Selener Vogel", Nuremberg 1770-1773. Edited by Johann Michael Seligmann (1749 -1776): engravings with origina...
Category
18th Century and Earlier Drawings and Watercolor Paintings
Materials
Watercolor, Etching
George Edwards, Engravings of Parrots, published by Seligmann.
Located in Richmond, GB
PRICE IS FOR EACH FRAMED PRINT
"Sammlung Verschiedenr Auslandischer und Selener Vogel", Nuremberg 1770-1773. Edited by Johann Michael Seligmann (1749 -1776): engravings with origina...
Category
18th Century and Earlier Drawings and Watercolor Paintings
Materials
Watercolor, Etching
George Edwards, Engravings of Parrots, published by Seligmann.
Located in Richmond, GB
PRICE IS FOR EACH FRAMED PRINT
"Sammlung Verschiedenr Auslandischer und Selener Vogel", Nuremberg 1770-1773. Edited by Johann Michael Seligmann (1749 -1776): engravings with origina...
Category
18th Century and Earlier Drawings and Watercolor Paintings
Materials
Watercolor, Etching
Mughal School, 17th century – Emperor Jahangir reclining in his harem
Located in Middletown, NY
An illuminated page from a book likely in reference to palace life during Emperor Jahangir's reign over the Mughal Empire.
Circa 1690. Gouache and ink with gold heightening on light...
Category
Rajput 18th Century and Earlier Drawings and Watercolor Paintings
Materials
Gold
Johann Weinmann: 18th Century Engraving of an aloe in a decorative pot.
Located in Richmond, GB
Hand-coloured mezzotint engravings of decorative urns with aloes and cacti from: ""Phytanthoza Iconographia"", c1739, presented in hand- made, parcel-gilt, ebonised and decalcomania...
Category
18th Century and Earlier Drawings and Watercolor Paintings
Materials
Watercolor, Mezzotint
Johann Weinmann: 18th Century Engravings of an aloe in a decorative pot.
Located in Richmond, GB
Hand-coloured mezzotint engravings of decorative urns with aloes and cacti from: ""Phytanthoza Iconographia"", c1739, presented in hand- made, parcel-gilt, ebonised and decalcomania...
Category
18th Century and Earlier Drawings and Watercolor Paintings
Materials
Watercolor, Mezzotint
Dutch School, Marine, Coastal Scene with Ships in Storm
Located in Greven, DE
Marine
Dutch School, 18th Century
Coastal Scene with ships in a storm
Gouache on prepared paper
Category
Baroque 18th Century and Earlier Drawings and Watercolor Paintings
Materials
Gouache
Ink and wash cartouche with a mirror, doves, and a drum
Located in Middletown, NY
A lovely and curious composition, circa 1780.
Ink and wash on tissue thin Japon paper, adhered to period cream laid paper, 5 1/4 x 3 3/8 inches (132 x 84 mm), the full sheet. With ...
Category
French School 18th Century and Earlier Drawings and Watercolor Paintings
Materials
Ink, Handmade Paper, Watercolor
The 1564 Medici Danti Map of California
By Fra Egnazio Danti
Located in New York, NY
Florentine, Probably Seventeenth Century
Titled
L’ultime parti note nel Indie occidentali
Dated on the edge of the cartouche: “M.D. LXIII. M.AG” [1564…the month of August]
In the 1560s Cosimo I de’Medici, the powerful Duke of Florence, undertook a major renovation of the Palazzo Vecchio, the venerable palace that to this day dominates the city at the Piazza della Signoria. For the Sala della Guardaroba, literally the wardrobe room, but in fact the storeroom of the Duke’s most precious holdings, Cosimo conceived of a grand decorative project that was to reflect in one space the entire cosmos --both an indication of the Duke’s ambition and an allusion to his name. The plan, supervised by Giorgio Vasari, involved the construction of walnut cabinets to contain the Medici treasures, on the outside doors of which were to be placed large hand-painted maps specially commissioned to document and illustrate the current knowledge of the world. Portraits of famous men were to decorate the tops of the cabinets and two large globes –one representing the terrestrial world, the other celestial—were to descend from openings in the ceiling. The commission for the maps, inspired by Ptolemy’s Geographia, was given to the celebrated mathematician and cosmographer, Fra Egnazio Danti (Perugia 1536-1585 Alatri). Fifty-three maps were ultimately created. Thirty were conceived and executed by Danti between 1563 and 1575. The remaining twenty-three were completed by Stefano Bonsignori between 1576 and 1686. They remain in place in Florence in the room for which they were created.
The present work is an exact-size painted, drawn and inscribed copy of Danti’s map of California...
Category
Old Masters 18th Century and Earlier Drawings and Watercolor Paintings
Materials
Canvas, Paper, Ink, Watercolor, Gouache, Pen
Study of a Fate at mid-body, a red chalk attributed to Giovanni da San Giovanni
Located in PARIS, FR
This spectacular red chalk drawing depicts an elderly woman, her eyes bulging, her hand stretched out towards the sky. This disturbing character, who seems close to dementia, and the elongation of her arm with its Mannerist overtones, plunge us into the Florentine artistic milieu of the first half of the 17th century. The proximity of this drawing to some characters in the fresco in the Pitti Palace representing The Muses, Poets and Philosophers chased from Parnassus, the last masterpiece of Giovanni da San Giovanni, leads us to propose an attribution to this artist and a dating of around 1635-1636.
1. Giovanni da San Giovanni, the painter of contradiction
We take here the title of the monography dedicated to the artist by Anna Banti in 1977, which remains the reference book for this artist. The son of a notary, Giovanni Mannozzi, known as Giovanni da San Giovanni, abandoned his studies to go to Florence at the age of sixteen, where he entered the studio of Matteo Rosselli (1578 - 1650) around 1609 and enrolled in the Academy of Drawing Arts in 1612. Around 1615 he produced his first known works, mainly frescoes for the city's tabernacles. He became famous in Florence for his originality, combining an obsessive application to the study of drawing and the reading of poetry and history with a disheveled appearance. Between 1619 and 1620 he decorated the facade of the Antella Palace in Piazza Santa Croce, a decoration that still partly survives today.
The death of Cosimo II in 1621 put an end to the Florentine building activity and Giovanni da San Giovanni left for Rome to find other sponsors with the painter Francesco Furini...
Category
Old Masters 18th Century and Earlier Drawings and Watercolor Paintings
Materials
Chalk
Study of a Man, Old Master Drawing, Figure, Roman Study, Lombard
Located in Greven, DE
Old Master Drawing by the Circle of Lambert Lombard. Drawing/ Study of a Man in Renaissance Style, later signed "F. Floris".
Study of a Man
Lombard li...
Category
Renaissance 18th Century and Earlier Drawings and Watercolor Paintings
Materials
Handmade Paper
$2,840 Sale Price
20% Off
Costume drawings for ‘Ambassadeur de Siam’ and ‘La Sultana Reine’
Located in Amsterdam, NL
Joseph-Marie Vien (1716-1809)
‘Ambassadeur de Siam’ and ‘La Sultana Reine’
Both titled lower centre, the drawing of the ambassador inscribed with colours intended for the prints, e...
Category
Old Masters 18th Century and Earlier Drawings and Watercolor Paintings
Materials
Paper, Pencil
Studio di volto (Study of a boy
s face, 2 views) Florentine School 18th century
Located in Middletown, NY
An 18th century Florentine study of a head, circa 1700
Red crayon on light-weight laid paper with a partial Pro Patria watermark with Hollandia and a rampant lion, 5 5/8 x 7 1/2 inc...
Category
Italian School 18th Century and Earlier Drawings and Watercolor Paintings
Materials
Laid Paper, Crayon
Polyphemus and Acis Red Chalk Drawing, Italian, 17th-18th Century
Located in Stockholm, SE
An Italian red chalk drawing depiction on paper, probably 17th or 18th century, illustrating the dramatic scene of Polyphemus hurling a boulder at Acis and Galatea. Attributed to an...
Category
Italian School 18th Century and Earlier Drawings and Watercolor Paintings
Materials
Paper, Chalk
$1,692 Sale Price
44% Off
The Flight into Egypt
Located in New York, NY
Inscribed: 3. una Madonna che va in Egitto, verso, and Madonna che va in Egitto, recto
Provenance:
Private Collection, UK, since 1999
This expressive and boldly executed drawing is the work of Luca...
Category
Old Masters 18th Century and Earlier Drawings and Watercolor Paintings
Materials
Chalk, Ink, Pen, Paper
View of a Cathedral, 17th Century Dutch Ink and Wash Artwork, Mounted
Located in London, GB
Ink and wash on paper
Image size: 7 1/2 x 6 inches (19 x 15.25 cm)
Mounted
This drawing is of a Gothic style church in the Netherlands that is likely to have been built in the 15th ...
Category
18th Century and Earlier Drawings and Watercolor Paintings
Materials
Paper, Ink
Eighteenth century Old Master drawing - St Jerome
Located in London, GB
Pen, ink and wash
Framed dimensions: 9 ½ x 11 ¼ inches
Drawn c. 1763
This small, powerful study shows St Jerome contemplating the bible with a cross and sk...
Category
Old Masters 18th Century and Earlier Drawings and Watercolor Paintings
Materials
Ink, Pen
Sketch of a Man in Profile
Located in London, GB
Sketch of a Man in Profile
17th Century French School
Ink on paper
Image Size: 10 1/2 x 7 inches (26.5 x 17.5 cm)
Framed
Provenance
The estate of Joseph McCrindle
Christies Old Masters and British Pictures and Old Master Drawings Sale 12th December 2008
This highly worked picture shows us a man depicted in profile is seen interacting with a scene that extends beyond the boundaries of the paper's composition, the pen strokes intricately portraying the man's face, rendering a detailed, textured complexion. He points his left hand out to something in the distance, with a look of almost alarm.
The artist Giovanni Benedetto Castiglione (1609-64) did a series of oriental head studies.
The exotic headgear that he wears and this type of oriental head studies, had its principal source was of course Rembrandt, who etched many similar heads during the 1630s.
In the seventeenth-century Western European imagination, the turbaned figure represented the epitome of alterity: the Ottoman Turk. Ottoman costume...
Category
Old Masters 18th Century and Earlier Drawings and Watercolor Paintings
Materials
Paper, Ink
Antique Chinese Watercolor Emperor Qin Shi Huang Qin Dynasty
Located in San Francisco, CA
Fabulous antique Chinese watercolor The colors are incredible. I was told by a Chinese Art Dealer that this is from or after Emperor Qin Shi Huang Qin dynasty. The scene is people pl...
Category
18th Century and Earlier Drawings and Watercolor Paintings
Materials
Watercolor
18th-century French school Study of a man seen from behind, drawing
Located in Paris, FR
18th-century French school
Study of a man seen from behind,
Charcoal and white chalk on brown paper
46 x 29 cm
Framed under glass : 60 x 43 cm
This beautiful study of a naked man...
Category
Old Masters 18th Century and Earlier Drawings and Watercolor Paintings
Materials
Charcoal, Chalk
Eighteenth century Old Master drawing - Apollo destroying Niobe
s children
Located in London, GB
Pen, ink and wash
Framed dimensions: 13 x 11 ¼ inches
Drawn c.1765
Verso: a study of a hanged man
Mortimer has filled this small sheet with action, depicting in the top right, Apollo and Artemis...
Category
Old Masters 18th Century and Earlier Drawings and Watercolor Paintings
Materials
Ink, Pen
Seated Male Nude France Circa 1760 Charcoal Drawing Signed
Located in Eltville am Rhein, DE
Gabriel Briard
Paris 1725 - 1777
Seated male nude
Charcoal drawing
Signed lower left
Size 55 x 36 cm
Frame 75 x 56 cm
Authenticity confirmed in writing
Gabriel Briard was a landsca...
Category
French School 18th Century and Earlier Drawings and Watercolor Paintings
Materials
Charcoal
19th Century Watercolor by Samuel Phillips Jackson, RWS
By Samuel Phillips Jackson
Located in New York, NY
Samuel Phillips Jackson R.W.S. (British, 1830-1904)
Untitled Landscape, 18th century
Watercolor on Paper
Sight size: 8 1/4 x 12 3/4 in.
Framed: 17 1/2 x 22 in.
Signed lower left: S.P. Jackson R.W.S.
Samuel Phillips Jackson was born in the city of Bristol in September 1830, the son of the equally eminent watercolourist Samuel Jackson...
Category
English School 18th Century and Earlier Drawings and Watercolor Paintings
Materials
Paper, Watercolor
View of a Mansion in the South of France, a drawing by Claude-Joseph Vernet
By Claude-Joseph Vernet
Located in PARIS, FR
We would like to thank Madame Beck-Saiello for confirming the autograph nature of this drawing after an in-person examination.
It was probably during an excursion in the countryside near Avignon that Claude-Joseph Vernet executed this drawing, enhanced with pen and brown ink, depicting a mansion on a hilltop overlooking a small village with geometric shapes.
1. Joseph Vernet, a painter influenced by Italy
Claude-Joseph Vernet was born in Avignon in 1714, the son of Antoine Vernet (1689-1753), an artisan painter of architectural decorations, coach panels, and the like. He moved to the studio of Philippe Sauvan (1697-1792), a leading history painter in Avignon, and then worked with Jacques Viali (active 1681-1745), a decorative, landscape, and marine painter in Aix-en-Provence. Vernet's first recorded paintings were decorative overdoors executed in 1731 in the Aix townhouse of the marquise de Simiane. In 1734, Joseph de Seytres, marquis de Caumont, a leading amateur in Avignon, sponsored Vernet to make a study trip to Italy to complete his artistic education and to draw antiquities for his patron.
As Avignon was a papal territory in Vernet's day, he also had a number of useful introductions among influential churchmen when he arrived in Rome. Vernet was soon at home in the French community there, and he was encouraged by Nicolas Vleughels (1668-1737), director of the Académie de France in Rome, even though the young painter had no official affiliation with the royal institution. He likely entered the studio of the French marine painter Adrien Manglard...
Category
Old Masters 18th Century and Earlier Drawings and Watercolor Paintings
Materials
Ink, Laid Paper, Pen, Carbon Pencil
Old Master Drawing, Westerkerk Keizersgracht in Amsterdam, 17th century, Dutch
Located in Greven, DE
Jan van der Heyden (1637 Gorinchem - 1712 Amsterdam), attributed.
Old Master Drawing, Westerkerk Keizersgracht in Amsterdam, 17th century, Dutch
Westerkerk and Keizersgracht in Amsterdam
Backside: later drawn backside with village church of the 18th century
Chalk and pen on paper
23,5 x 18,5 cm
Preliminary drawing for a painting from the creative period c. 1667 - 1670. This painting has been published a few years ago by Peter C. Sutton in the catalogue raisonné of the artist.
Van der Heyden was initially a pupil of a glass painter, but later turned exclusively to architectural painting and went to Amsterdam, where he painted views of churches, castles, palaces, public squares, streets, canals, etc., most of which are richly decorated with staffage. In addition, van der Heyden was also active as an inventor, for example, he developed a street lighting system for Amsterdam by means of oil street lamps, which was in operation from 1669 to 1840. After a stay in London, he painted the London fire of 1666, which he either witnessed himself or had seen the consequences of. Certainly influenced by this, he did much to further the technical and organisational development of the fire brigade from 1669 onwards. His greatest invention was probably the fire hose, which enabled significant improvements in fire-fighting technology and tactics. He also improved the hand-operated fire engines of the time by making them smaller, more mobile and more powerful, and he developed the series connection of several pumps to increase the pressure in order to achieve a greater range for the water jet. In 1690, together with his son, he was the author and illustrator of the Brandspuiten-boek, the first manual for fire fighting.
Johann Lingelbach, Adriaen van de Velde and Eglon van der Neer...
Category
Dutch School 18th Century and Earlier Drawings and Watercolor Paintings
Materials
Paper, Chalk
$1,798 Sale Price
20% Off
The Death of Attis, 18th Century French Red Chalk Drawing, Greek Mythology
Located in London, GB
Red chalk on paper
Image size: 9 x 7 inches (23 x 17.75 cm)
Acid free mount
The Greek god Attis was the spouse of Cybele, the fertility goddess. He was from Phrygia, a kingdom in c...
Category
French School 18th Century and Earlier Drawings and Watercolor Paintings
Materials
Chalk
Drawing of a captive woman
By Henry Fuseli
Located in London, GB
Collections:
Sir Thomas Lawrence, who acquired the contents of Fuseli’s studio;
Susan, Countess of Guilford, née Coutts (1771-1837), acquired from the Lawrence estate;
Susan, Baroness North (1797-1884), daughter of the above;
Mrs A. M. Jaffé, acquired in France, c. 1950 to 2016.
Black chalks, on buff-coloured paper
Stamped verso: ‘Baroness Norths Collection / of Drawings by H Fuseli Esq.’
Framed dimensions: 26.38 x 20.63 inches
This boldly drawn sheet depicting a seated figure was made by Fuseli at an important and highly productive moment in his career. The monumental drawing is closely related to another sheet by Fuseli in the British Museum which Schiff published as subject unknown. Both drawings were made when Fuseli was designing his most important sequence of historical works, including scenes from Shakespeare and Milton, The Nightmare and The Death of Dido which was exhibited at the Royal Academy to great critical acclaim in 1781. The present drawing does not relate directly to any of Fuseli’s finished historical paintings of the period, but evidently the image of a slightly menacing, seated and covered old woman was precisely the sort of motif he was playing with. It is notable that the same figure reappears later in Fuseli’s work as the witch from Ben Jonson’s Witch’s Song which Fuseli produced as both a painting and engraving in 1812.
Fuseli returned to London in 1779 from a highly creative and productive period in Rome and established himself as one of the leading history painters of the period. Fuseli re-established contact with his old mentor Sir Joshua Reynolds, becoming a regular guest at his dinner table and visitor to his studio. The earliest and most striking manifestation of this strategy was Fuseli's Death of Dido, exhibited in 1781 at the Royal Academy. Executed on the same scale as Reynolds's version (Royal Collection), Fuseli's vertically oriented picture was hung directly opposite Reynolds's with its horizontal orientation, inevitably inviting comparison between the two works and garnering Fuseli much publicity and favourable reviews in the newspapers.
The present, previously unpublished sheet, relates closely to a drawing now in the British Museum. That sheet shows the same seated old woman, drawn on a smaller scale and more schematic in design, seated next to an anatomical drawing of a man. The pose of this figure is related to the pose of Dido in his Death of Dido; the foreshortened torso, arrangement of head, oblique view of Dido’s features and arms all suggest that the study can be viewed as an initial thought for the composition. Fuseli may have initially thought of including the figure of the hunched and covered old woman. Drawn on identical paper to the British Museum sheet, our study is an enlarged depiction of the same figure, more elaborately delineated and developed. The presence of a chain to the right of the figure, suggests that the iconography was related in some way to a scene of imprisonment.
Fuseli had first explored the motif of the hooded old woman in an early Roman drawing, 'The Venus Seller'. The idea of a grotesque old woman, hooded and with angular nose and projecting chin seen in profile was most spectacularly used by Fuseli in his sequence of paintings depicting The Three Witches from Macbeth. Fuseli seems to have kept the present sheet and may have returned to it when preparing a painting of The Witch and the Mandrake from Ben Jonson’s Witch’s Song from his Masque of Queens in 1812. Here the same seated figure looks out from under her hood and picks a mandrake by moonlight. Jonson’s drama had been performed at the court of James I in 1609, inspired the subject. To throw the nobility of the queens into relief, the poet added a coven of witches, one of whom declares: ‘I last night lay all alone, On the ground, to hear the mandrake groan; And plucked him up, though he grew full low, And, as I had done, the cock did crow.’ The figure was reversed in the associated etching which was published in 1812. It seems likely that the present drawing remained as part of Fuseli’s working archive of figure studies.
The present drawing was presumably purchased with the bulk of Fuseli’s drawings after the artist’s death by Sir Thomas Lawrence. Lawrence’s large group of Fuseli drawings were then acquired by Susan, Countess of Guildford (1771-1837). Lady Guildford was the eldest daughter of the banker Thomas Coutts (1735-1822), who himself had supported Fuseli’s journey to Rome in the 1770s and had remained one of the artist’s key...
Category
Old Masters 18th Century and Earlier Drawings and Watercolor Paintings
Materials
Chalk
View of an Antique City, a wash landscape by Jan de Bisschop (1628 - 1671)
Located in PARIS, FR
The attribution to Jan de Bisschop has been confirmed by the RKD with the following comment: "We base this attribution on the dark washes, the subject represented and the monogram".
...
Category
Old Masters 18th Century and Earlier Drawings and Watercolor Paintings
Materials
Ink, Pen
Animal painting of a
Tamanuâguacû (Ant-eater)
late 17th/18th century, Brazil
Located in Amsterdam, NL
Follower of Zacharias Wagener (1614-1688)
Tamanuâguasû (Giant Anteater)
On Italian 17th or 18th-century paper, H. 28 x W. 43.5 cm
The present painting is a copy after Wagener’s painting of the anteater, Tamanduá-bandeira, which is illustrated in his “Thier Buch”, with 109 drawings of Brazilian fish, birds and mammals, published in Amsterdam c. 1641, in German.
Zacharias Wagener, or Wagenaer in Dutch, (Dresden 1614 – Amsterdam 1668) was a real adventurer who became Opperhoofd on Deshima and Governor of the Cape of Good Hope in the service of the VOC. During the Thirty-Year War in Germany Wagener tried his luck in Amsterdam where he worked for the map-maker Willem Blaeu. In 1634 he joined the WIC and left for Dutch Brazil where he worked as writer and painter, together with Frans Post...
Category
Old Masters 18th Century and Earlier Drawings and Watercolor Paintings
Materials
Paper, India Ink, Gouache
Portrait of an Ottoman Dignitary, a drawing by Giuseppe Nogari (ca. 1760)
Located in PARIS, FR
We would like to thank Mrs. Bozena Anna Kowalczyk for confirming the attribution of this drawing to Giuseppe Nogari in a study (available in Italian) from which we have taken our ins...
Category
Old Masters 18th Century and Earlier Drawings and Watercolor Paintings
Materials
Chalk, Laid Paper
Portrait study of a female head, gazing downwards
Located in Henley-on-Thames, England
Giovanni Battista Vanni (1599-1660), c. 1629
Portrait study of a female head, gazing downwards
Black chalk and sanguine on laid paper, within partial red ink framing lines (inscribed...
Category
Baroque 18th Century and Earlier Drawings and Watercolor Paintings
Materials
Chalk
Fine 1700
s Italian Old Master Ink
Wash Drawing Roman Allegorical Napoli
Located in Cirencester, Gloucestershire
'Napoli'
Italian School, 18th century
ink and wash drawing on paper, framed within a light oak wood frame (behind glass)
image size: 10.5 x 7 inches
overall framed: 17 x 13 inches
co...
Category
Old Masters 18th Century and Earlier Drawings and Watercolor Paintings
Materials
Ink, Watercolor, Archival Paper
Consecration of a Church 15th Century English School Illuminated Manuscript
Located in London, GB
English School
15th Century
The Consecration of a Church
Illuminated manuscript on Vellum
Image size: 5 ½ x 5 inches (14 x 12.7 cm)
18th century ornate Tabernacle frame
Category
18th Century and Earlier Drawings and Watercolor Paintings
Materials
Ink, Vellum
The Gardens of Rome - Ink and Watercolor by J. P. Verdussen - 1742
Located in Roma, IT
China ink and watercolor on paper realized by Jan Peter Verdussen in 1742.
Hand dated.
Conditions: five holes on top margin and on the bottom right of the paper. Foxing on the top ...
Category
18th Century and Earlier Drawings and Watercolor Paintings
Materials
Ink, Watercolor
Studio di mano (study of hand) – Florentine School 18th century
Located in Middletown, NY
Red chalk on cream laid paper, 7 1/4 x 9 3/8 inches (182 x 236 mm), the full sheet. In very good condition with minor toning and two small nicks in the top sheet edge. Some modern no...
Category
Italian School 18th Century and Earlier Drawings and Watercolor Paintings
Materials
Crayon, Laid Paper
Qing Dynasty Blue White and Black Gouache Scroll Geishas
Located in Valladolid, ES
Amazing and Exquisite vertical Chinese scroll, 18th century Qing Dynasty, blue, white, and brown, "Geisha Pair" (Gouache on paper, hanging vertically, possibly a vertical scroll, fra...
Category
Baroque 18th Century and Earlier Drawings and Watercolor Paintings
Materials
Paper
George Edwards: 18th Century Engravings of Ducks And Wading Birds
Located in Richmond, GB
George Edwards: ""A History of Uncommon Birds"", 1749-1761.
A prominent English naturalist and ornithologist, George Edwards (1694 -1773) is best known for his work, ""A Natural His...
Category
18th Century and Earlier Drawings and Watercolor Paintings
Materials
Watercolor
Life study of a male nude in repose - European School, late 18th Century
Located in Middletown, NY
European School, late 18th century. Red chalk with primo pensiero in graphite on cream laid paper, 8 1/2 x 11 1/2 inches (215 x 293 mm). Scattered light handling wear and multiple s...
Category
Naturalistic 18th Century and Earlier Drawings and Watercolor Paintings
Materials
Chalk, Laid Paper, Pencil, Graphite
George Edwards: 18th Century Engravings of Ducks And Wading Birds
Located in Richmond, GB
George Edwards: ""A History of Uncommon Birds"", 1749-1761.
A prominent English naturalist and ornithologist, George Edwards (1694 -1773) is best known for his work, ""A Natural His...
Category
18th Century and Earlier Drawings and Watercolor Paintings
Materials
Watercolor
17th C Dutch Old Master Ink
Wash Painting Biblical Figures Rembrandt Pupil
Located in Cirencester, Gloucestershire
Figure being Comforted (Job?)
circle of Willem Drost (Dutch 1633-1659) *See notes below
ink and wash drawing on paper (Arms of Amsterdam watermarked)
Dutc...
Category
Old Masters 18th Century and Earlier Drawings and Watercolor Paintings
Materials
Ink, Watercolor
$4,313 Sale Price
20% Off
Sketch front back neoclassicism Milanese caryatids of the 18th century
Located in Florence, IT
Double-sided sketch for the "Sala delle Cariatidi" of the Royal Palace in Milan.
The vibrant and intense brown ink sketch of these two female figures, executed by the Parma plastici...
Category
Other Art Style 18th Century and Earlier Drawings and Watercolor Paintings
Materials
Paper, Ink
18th century pastel portrait of Lady Augusta Corbett and her son, Stuart
Located in London, GB
Collections:
Commissioned by Andrew Corbett, husband of the sitter;
The Venerable Stuart Corbett;
Sir Stuart Corbett;
By descent to 2002;
Sotheby’s, London 21 March 2002, lot.104;
Lowell Libson...
Category
Old Masters 18th Century and Earlier Drawings and Watercolor Paintings
Materials
Pastel, Gouache
An Eighteenth Century Drawing of a Tavern Scene by a German Artist
Located in Philadelphia, PA
Joseph Georg Winter
(German, 1751-1789)
Tavern Scene
Ink on paper, 10 x 7 3/4 inches
FRAMED: 17 x 14.75 inches (approx.)
Signed and dated at lower right: "JGW. 1782"
Category
Realist 18th Century and Earlier Drawings and Watercolor Paintings
Materials
Paper, Ink
La Femme Muse /// Allegorical Symbolism Romantic Old Masters European Drawing
Located in Saint Augustine, FL
Artist: Unknown (Likely French, 18th Century)
Title: "La Femme Muse"
*No signature found
Circa: 1780
Medium: Original Pastel Drawing on heavy laid paper
Framing: Recently beautifully...
Category
Old Masters 18th Century and Earlier Drawings and Watercolor Paintings
Materials
Pastel, Laid Paper
George Edwards, Engravings of Parrots, published by Seligmann.
Located in Richmond, GB
PRICE IS FOR EACH FRAMED PRINT
"Sammlung Verschiedenr Auslandischer und Selener Vogel", Nuremberg 1770-1773. Edited by Johann Michael Seligmann (1749 -1776): engravings with origina...
Category
18th Century and Earlier Drawings and Watercolor Paintings
Materials
Watercolor, Etching
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