Skip to main content

18th Century and Earlier Portrait Drawings and Watercolors

to
9
75
10
2
Overall Width
to
Overall Height
to
639
2,486
906
45
71
110
107
167
176
200
254
191
110
56
38
5
71
15
1
82
52
46
32
24
20
19
13
11
9
4
3
2
2
2
2
1
1
1
1
44
30
27
23
22
2
1
1
1
1
47
7
61
23
Period: 18th Century and Earlier
Mughal School, 18th century – Emperor Jahangir in his harem in flagrante delicto
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 gold heightening on cre...
Category

Rajput 18th Century and Earlier Portrait Drawings and Watercolors

Materials

Gold

Mughal School, 18th century – Emperor Jahangir in his harem in flagrante delicto
Located in Middletown, NY
Emperor Jahangir in his harem surrounded by lotus blossoms; symbols of paradise itself. Circa 1690. Gouache and ink with gold heightening on cream laid paper, 8 1/2 x 6 1/4 inches (...
Category

Rajput 18th Century and Earlier Portrait Drawings and Watercolors

Materials

Gold

Mythological combat scene with Roman soldiers on horseback.
By Virgil Solis
Located in Middletown, NY
Pen and brownish black ink on grayish-cream laid paper, 6 1/2 x 8 inches (165 x 175 mm), irregular hexagonal sheet with margins. Some archival repairs along the top sheet edge, scatt...
Category

Old Masters 18th Century and Earlier Portrait Drawings and Watercolors

Materials

Ink, Laid Paper, Pen

Mughal School, 18th century Emperor Jahangir with Empress Nur Jahan concubine
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 Portrait Drawings and Watercolors

Materials

Gold

“Hon. George King, 1788” Pastel Portrait, Young Boy with Cricket Ball and Dog
Located in Yardley, PA
“Hon. George King, 1788” by John Russell (1745-1806) Regarded as Britain’s foremost pastellist, John Russell is well known for his portraits of the wealthy middle class. In particul...
Category

Old Masters 18th Century and Earlier Portrait Drawings and Watercolors

Materials

Canvas, Paper, Pastel

Mughal School, 18th century Emperor Jangahir on a pleasure boat with his harem a
Located in Middletown, NY
Emperor Jahangir depicted with his harem attendees aboard a pleasure cruise, the water filled with lotus blossoms; symbols of paradise itself. Circa 1750. Gouache and ink with gold ...
Category

Rajput 18th Century and Earlier Portrait Drawings and Watercolors

Materials

Gold

Italian School, 16th Century, Study of figures
Located in Paris, Île-de-France
Italian School, 16th Century Studies of Figures Pen and ink on paper, 23 × 24 cm Unsigned A finely executed sheet presenting vigorous figure studies, drawn with assured pen strok...
Category

Old Masters 18th Century and Earlier Portrait Drawings and Watercolors

Materials

Ink

Study Of A Head
Located in Paris, Île-de-France
Artus WOLFAERTS (1581-1641) Study of a head Oil on paper, transferred on panel. 39,5 x 29 cm Unsigned Provenance Private collection, France Firstly thought to be from Rubens’s S...
Category

Old Masters 18th Century and Earlier Portrait Drawings and Watercolors

Materials

Oil, Laid Paper

Antique French Miniature Portrait of Lady Biographical details with painting
Located in Cirencester, Gloucestershire
Miniature Portrait French School, late 18th/ early 19th century framed: 5.5 x 5.5 inches board: 2 x 2 inches provenance: private collection, France condition: very good and sound c...
Category

Old Masters 18th Century and Earlier Portrait Drawings and Watercolors

Materials

Watercolor

Study of a bearded man in profile to the right
By Leonardo da Vinci
Located in Paris, Île-de-France
Circle of Leonardo da Vinci (Vinci, 1452 – 1519, Clos-Lucé) First half of the 16th century Study of a Bearded Man in Profile, Facing Right Red chalk on paper 8 × 6 cm Unsigned Provenance: Private collection This delicate drawing belongs to the Lombard school and was created by an artist working under the influence of Leonardo da Vinci, very likely within his close circle. The profile recalls the Apostle at the far left of The Last Supper, and may even derive directly from Leonardo’s own compositional sketches for the mural (Gallerie dell’Accademia, Venice, inv. 254). While Leonardo’s version carries a profound religious and political message, this sheet reveals a more naturalistic interpretation. The precise outlines and the controlled hatching distinguish it from the master’s hand, yet the subtle modeling of the face in red chalk shows clear echoes of Leonardo’s refined technique. Comparable examples are preserved in the Royal Collection Trust, Windsor, including The Head of an Old Man Crowned with a Wreath of Laurels (recto) and The Head of an Old Man in Profile, both originally from Francesco Melzi...
Category

Old Masters 18th Century and Earlier Portrait Drawings and Watercolors

Materials

Chalk, Laid Paper

Mughal School, 18th century – Emperor Jahangir dancing with his harem attendees
Located in Middletown, NY
A joyful scene of lighthearted merriment in the palace of Jangahir Mahal Agra Circa 1750. Gouache and ink with gold heightening on light weight cream laid paper, 8 1/4 x 6 inches (2...
Category

Rajput 18th Century and Earlier Portrait Drawings and Watercolors

Materials

Gold

St. John the Baptist in the wilderness , Ecce Agnus Dei (Behold the Lamb of God)
By Giovanni Francesco Barbieri (Il Guercino)
Located in Middletown, NY
Pen and sepia ink and wash on vellum, 8 7/8 x 10 1/2 inches (225 x 267 mm). In very good condition with some modern notations in pencil on the verso, minor cockling, and a 1-inch hor...
Category

Old Masters 18th Century and Earlier Portrait Drawings and Watercolors

Materials

Ink, Watercolor, Vellum, Pencil

Mughal School, 18th Century Emperor Jahangir with Empress Nur Jahan
Located in Middletown, NY
Emperor Jahangir and Empress Nur Jahan exchanging lotus blossoms; a symbol of beauty, purity, honesty, rebirth, self-regeneration, and enlightenment....
Category

Rajput 18th Century and Earlier Portrait Drawings and Watercolors

Materials

Gold

Italian School, late 16th century - Head of a Man and Écorché Studies of Arms
Located in Paris, Île-de-France
Italian School, late 16th century Head of a Man and Écorché Studies of Arms Red chalk on laid paper, 21 x 11 cm Provenance: Collection of Michael Jaffé CBE (1923–1997), English art historian and Director of the Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge Private collection, France This drawing, attributed to the Italian School of the late 16th century, demonstrates the influence of Michelangelo’s approach to anatomy and expression. The sheet combines two distinct studies: an anatomical rendering of arms in the écorché technique, focusing on the musculature and skeletal details, and a head of a man, drawn with careful attention to light and shadow. The use of red chalk lends the work warmth and immediacy, qualities often associated with Renaissance studies of the human form. The écorché studies reflect the Renaissance fascination with anatomy as both an artistic and scientific pursuit. The detailed depiction of the musculature suggests the artist’s interest in understanding the mechanics of the body, a practice heavily influenced by Michelangelo’s drawings...
Category

Old Masters 18th Century and Earlier Portrait Drawings and Watercolors

Materials

Chalk

18th Century Pastel Portrait of a Gentleman
Located in Cotignac, FR
Late 18th Century pastel portrait on paper of a bearded gentleman. Presented under glass in a fine period gilded carved wood frame. A cha...
Category

Rococo 18th Century and Earlier Portrait Drawings and Watercolors

Materials

Paper, Pastel

Mercurio / Mercury
Located in Middletown, NY
A lovely, early drawing of the Roman god Mercury. Pen and brown ink on cream laid paper, with a partial crown and shield watermark, 7 1/4 x 4 7/8 inches (184x 123 mm) (matrix). In go...
Category

Old Masters 18th Century and Earlier Portrait Drawings and Watercolors

Materials

Ink, Handmade Paper, Laid Paper

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 Portrait Drawings and Watercolors

Materials

Gold

Neoclassical composition of a sculptor kneeling before his statue of the Madonna
Located in Middletown, NY
An allegory of loyalty, with the subject's dog pictured seated, holding his master's chisel in his mouth; fidelity personified. Italian School, 18th century Ink wash in gray and bl...
Category

Italian School 18th Century and Earlier Portrait Drawings and Watercolors

Materials

Laid Paper, Ink, Watercolor

Study of a Sleeping Girl in a Cap
By Jean-Baptiste Greuze
Located in Middletown, NY
Graphite on greenish gray wove paper. 15 1/4 x 11 5/8 inches (390 x 295 mm). Initialed "G. B." in pencil on the lower right recto. In generally good condition with some minor scattered surface soiling. Condition is consistent with age. ____ This drawing is closely related to two known mid 18th century oils...
Category

Old Masters 18th Century and Earlier Portrait Drawings and Watercolors

Materials

Handmade Paper, Graphite

Attrib. Johann Tischbein (1751-1829)- 18th Century Pastel, Maria Luisa of Parma
Located in Corsham, GB
A romantic late 18th-century pastel portrait, attributed to the German portraitist Johann Heinrich Wilhelm Tischbein (1751-1829). Exquisitely presented in its original giltwood frame...
Category

18th Century and Earlier Portrait Drawings and Watercolors

Materials

Pastel

The Holy Family with the Infant Saint John the Baptist
By Raphael (Raffaello Sanzio da Urbino)
Located in Paris, Île-de-France
STUDIO OF RAFFAELLO SANZIO, called RAPHAEL (Urbino 1483 – Rome 1520) Title The Holy Family with the Infant Saint John the Baptist Medium Pen and brown ink, brown wash, over black ch...
Category

Old Masters 18th Century and Earlier Portrait Drawings and Watercolors

Materials

Ink

A pair of portraits in profile (2 works) – English School, 18th century
Located in Middletown, NY
Red crayon on cream laid paper, 3 3/4 x 4 inches (95 x 102 mm) ; 3 3/4 x 3 1/8 inches (95 x 80 mm). Each with scattered early repairs done with non-archival tape on the verso; the sm...
Category

English School 18th Century and Earlier Portrait Drawings and Watercolors

Materials

Crayon, Laid Paper

Portrait - Original Ink and Watercolor on Paper - 18th Century
Located in Roma, IT
Portrait is an original Modern artwork realized in the half of the 18th Century in France. Original watercolor on ivory paper. The work is surrounded by a colored frame. The sig...
Category

Modern 18th Century and Earlier Portrait Drawings and Watercolors

Materials

Watercolor, Ink

Screaming Face
Located in Paris, Île-de-France
DENYS CALVAERT (Antwerp c. 1540 – 1619 Bologna), ATTRIBUTED TO Screaming Face Red chalk on paper 17.5 x 14.5 cm After 1608 Unsigned Provenance: Unidentified collection (Lugt L.2339...
Category

Old Masters 18th Century and Earlier Portrait Drawings and Watercolors

Materials

Chalk

Seaman in petticoat breeches and slops, smoking a pipe, carrying a carpetbag.
Located in Middletown, NY
English School, 18th century Pen and black ink with gray wash on cream laid paper, 9 1/4 x 5 inches (238 x132 mm). 1/4 inch repaired loss, top center, to the left of the figure’s h...
Category

Realist 18th Century and Earlier Portrait Drawings and Watercolors

Materials

Ink, Watercolor, Laid Paper, Pen

Italian School, 17th century - Study for the Vision of Saint Anthony
Located in Paris, Île-de-France
Italian School, 17th century Study for the Vision of Saint Anthony Red chalk on paper 247 x 185 mm Unsigned Provenance Private collection, Paris Collection of Count Alessandro Mag...
Category

Old Masters 18th Century and Earlier Portrait Drawings and Watercolors

Materials

Chalk

Sacra Famiglia - Etching - Late 18th century
Located in Roma, IT
Sacra Famiglia is a print artwork on paper in the late 18th century by an Anonymous Artist. Etching on paper Good conditions with slight foxing and age margins
Category

Modern 18th Century and Earlier Portrait Drawings and Watercolors

Materials

Etching

Jan Cornelis Sylvius, Preacher by Rembrandt Van Rijn
Located in New Orleans, LA
Rembrandt van Rijn 1606–1669 Dutch Jan Cornelis Sylvius, Preacher New Hollstein Dutch and Flemish (Rembrandt) 235, state 2/2 Bartsch 280 Printed by Rembrandt Signed and dated "Rem...
Category

Old Masters 18th Century and Earlier Portrait Drawings and Watercolors

Materials

Paper, Etching

Roman School (circa 1590–1620) - Study Of An Executioner
Located in Paris, Île-de-France
Roman School (circa 1590–1620) Study of a Male Executioner Black chalk on laid paper, 275 x 199 mm Unsigned Formerly Giancarlo Sestieri Collection This dynamic figure study, exe...
Category

Old Masters 18th Century and Earlier Portrait Drawings and Watercolors

Materials

Chalk, Laid Paper

Sibyl or bust-length woman, seen in profile to the left, wearing a turban
By Giovanni Francesco Barbieri (Il Guercino)
Located in Paris, Île-de-France
Follower of Giovanni Francesco Barbieri, called Il Guercino (Cento 1591 – 1666 Bologna) Sibyl or bust-length woman, seen in profile to the left, wearing a turban Red chalk on paper,...
Category

Old Masters 18th Century and Earlier Portrait Drawings and Watercolors

Materials

Chalk

After John Downman - 1794 Watercolour, Sarah Siddons (née. Kemble)
Located in Corsham, GB
This accomplished watercolours is a fine copy of John Downman's portrait of Sarah Siddons. Painted in the early 19th century, watercolours was a contempo...
Category

18th Century and Earlier Portrait Drawings and Watercolors

Materials

Watercolor

Portrait - Drawing after Baccio del Bianco - 17th Century
Located in Roma, IT
Portrait is a Pencil Drawing realized by an Italian artist of 17th and early 18th century, after Baccio del Bianco (1604-1656). Good condition on a yellowed paper included a blue an...
Category

Modern 18th Century and Earlier Portrait Drawings and Watercolors

Materials

Pencil

Study of Feet and a Figure Sketch
Located in Paris, Île-de-France
Attributed to Jacob JORDAENS (Antwerp 1593–1678) Study of Feet and a Figure Sketch Red and black chalk on laid paper 25.9 × 18.4 cm (10¼ × 7¼ in.) Unsigned Minor losses, folds, an...
Category

Old Masters 18th Century and Earlier Portrait Drawings and Watercolors

Materials

Chalk

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 Portrait Drawings and Watercolors

Materials

Gold

Seated Woman Holding a Staff
Located in Paris, Île-de-France
Taddeo Zuccaro (Urbino 1529 – 1566 Rome) and Workshop (?) Seated Woman Holding a Staff Pen and brown ink, brown wash heightened with white, traces of red chalk on laid paper 37 x 27...
Category

Old Masters 18th Century and Earlier Portrait Drawings and Watercolors

Materials

Ink

Portrait of a Young Officer, Thomas Lawrence, Irish Volunteers
By Sir Thomas Lawrence
Located in London, GB
Sir Thomas Lawrence PRA 1769-1830 Portrait of a Young Officer Pastel with touches of black chalk on paper Signed and inscribed on an old label verso: "Be pleased to keep away / from the Damp & from dust / T Lawrence AE 13. / 1783." Wash mount and gilt frame Provenance W.E. Spooner; Anonymous sale, Phillips London, 17 April 2000 lot 196 Sothebys, Old Master & Early British Paintings, 14 April 2011 • London Lot 246 Old label verso describes how this was drawn in 1783 at the age of 14! This is a portrait of an officer from the Irish Volunteers. The Irish Volunteers was a part-time military force raised by local initiative in Ireland in 1778. Their original purpose was to guard against invasion and to preserve law and order at a time when British soldiers were withdrawn from Ireland to fight abroad during the American Revolutionary War. As a young boy Thomas Lawrence lived with his parents who ran a coaching inn near Bath. Clearly talented from this young age, he drew the passing travellers who stopped at the inn and this soldier may have been one such sitter. Lawrence was only 13 years old when he drew this work. To capitalise upon their son's talents, the family later moved to Bath and sent Lawrence to London in 1787 where he entered the Royal Academy schools at the earliest possible age. Works from such an early period of Lawrence's creativity are rarely to be found today. This rare early portrait drawn in Bath shows the level of technical skill that Lawrence had reached at 14 years old. His use of colour and tone to depict flesh and all the subtle variations in the texture and pigmentation of his sitter’s face, powdered hair and clothes show how Lawrence conceived pastel as a form of painting and partly explains how he could have made the smooth transition to oil painting so soon afterwards. When he arrived in Bath from Devizes in 1780, eleven-year-old Thomas Lawrence (1769–1830) was promoted as a natural-born genius like his Renaissance predecessor Raphael. The local press announced the arrival of the boy wonder and his ‘Striking Sketches’, inviting the ‘Nobility and Gentry’ to sit for their portraits. Thomas Lawrence was a prodigious portraitist from the age of just eight, when he began to draw his first portraits in pencil...
Category

Romantic 18th Century and Earlier Portrait Drawings and Watercolors

Materials

Oil Pastel

Mughal School, 17th century Tiger Hunt near the Jahangir Maha, Agra
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. c 1690. Gouache and ink with heightening in gold on light ...
Category

Rajput 18th Century and Earlier Portrait Drawings and Watercolors

Materials

Gold

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 Portrait Drawings and Watercolors

Materials

Paper, Ink

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 Portrait Drawings and Watercolors

Materials

Parchment Paper, Pastel, Cardboard

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 Portrait Drawings and Watercolors

Materials

Pastel, Laid Paper

Eighteenth-century Irish portrait of the Rev. Henry Dabzac
By Hugh Douglas Hamilton
Located in London, GB
Pastel on paper, oval 9 x 7 ¼ inches; 230 x 185 mm Inscribed on the verso: ‘The Revd Henry Dabzac D.D./ late Senior Fellow of/ Trinity College Dublin/ ever to be lamented by all that knew/ Him. Extensive learning, zeal, gently tempered/ by a spirit of charity & above all, a strong/ faith & a piety deservedly gained/ the character of a great and good man./ This exceptional man died 12th May 1790/ This picture was his give to Jane [Mary] Crofton, his sincerely [missing] sister.’ Collections: Rev. Dr Henry Dabzac gift to his sister, Jane Crofton (d.1797); Sir Hugh Crofton (1763-1834); By descent to 1990; Private collection, Dorset to 2020. Literature: Robert Staveley, Traces of Past and Present, Dublin, 1895, p.74; Neil Jeffares, Dictionary of Pastellists Before 1800, online edition, no.J3751247 This characteristic pastel portrait by Hugh Douglas Hamilton was made early in his career; it depicts precisely the kind of education, well-connected Irish sitter who fuelled his success. The Reverend Henry Dabzac was from a distinguished Huguenot family, a celebrated academic historian, Dabzac received the Donegall lectureship in 1764 and from 1785 was Librarian and Senior Fellow of Trinity College, Dublin. According to his earliest biographer, Hamilton was the son of a peruke-maker based in Crow Street, Dublin. As Anne Hodge has pointed out, this places Hamilton’s father at the heart of the city: Crow street was a narrow thoroughfare formed part of the busy warren of streets bordered by the old Houses of Parliament and Trinity College at one end, and by Dublin Castle at the other. It is perhaps telling that in this early portrait, Hamilton shows Dabzac in a splendid powdered wig and his clerical bands. In 1754 Hamilton was apprenticed to James Mannin, a ‘pattern drawer’ who two years later was appointed master of the school of ornament at the Dublin Society’s drawing school, run by Robert West. Here Hamilton took the first prize in the 1755 competition, winning a premium of £1/16/. Hamilton developed a popular and profitable method of making pastel likenesses of sitters in a distinctive oval format. Hamilton developed a technique of using a sharpened pastel to hatch shaded areas of the features and, in the case of this portrait of Dabzac, the white powdered wig, which is drawn with particular care. In 1764 Hamilton moved to London where this small, oval pastels proved...
Category

Old Masters 18th Century and Earlier Portrait Drawings and Watercolors

Materials

Pastel

18th century pastel portrait of Lady Augusta Corbett and her son, Stuart
By Daniel Gardner
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 Portrait Drawings and Watercolors

Materials

Pastel, Gouache

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 Portrait Drawings and Watercolors

Materials

Paper, Pencil

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 Portrait Drawings and Watercolors

Materials

Chalk, Laid Paper

Portrait of a Young Woman
Located in London, GB
Red chalk on paper Image size: 7 1/2 x 9 1/4 inches (19 x 23.5 cm) Contemporary frame An enigmatic portrait of a young woman after Sir Peter Lely's drawing, currently shown in the B...
Category

Victorian 18th Century and Earlier Portrait Drawings and Watercolors

Materials

Paper, Chalk

Young Man with a Sword, a Fist on his Hip, a drawing by Cornelis Saftleven
Located in PARIS, FR
Black chalk and white highlights on paper (originally washed in blue) Monogrammed and dated 1630 on the right This drawing, executed in black chalk and enhanced with white brushwor...
Category

Old Masters 18th Century and Earlier Portrait Drawings and Watercolors

Materials

Paper, Chalk

Study of a Franciscan Saint, probably San Diego de Alcalá
Located in New York, NY
Provenance: Ivan E. Phillips, Montreal and New York, until 2023. The brothers Bartolomé Carducho and Vicente Carducho, both born and trained in Florence, settled in Spain where they made their careers. Vicente worked on numerous commissions for both the church and the Spanish court...
Category

Old Masters 18th Century and Earlier Portrait Drawings and Watercolors

Materials

Paper, Chalk, Ink, Pen

18th century portrait drawing of the Rev. William Atkinson
Located in London, GB
Collections: Henry Scipio Reitlinger (1882-1950); Private collection, UK to 2019 Framed dimensions: 14.50 x 15.38 inches This drawing is one of only two known portrait drawings by Romney (as opposed to preliminary studies for portraits) and is dated by Alex Kidson as being executed no later than 1769. It is likely that the present drawing was originally part of a sketchbook, now largely dismembered (Abbot Hall Art Gallery, Kendal), which Kidson notes, contained some of Romney’s most beautiful early drawings. This drawing, and a second sheet formerly with Andrew Wyld, have been identifying as depicting the Rev. William Atkinson...
Category

Old Masters 18th Century and Earlier Portrait Drawings and Watercolors

Materials

Pencil

18th century ink study for the Leveson-Gower Children
Located in London, GB
Collections: J. Goodfriend, USA. Brown wash and pencil on laid paper Framed dimensions: 13.25 x 11.75 inches This powerful drawing was made at the time that Romney was painting the famous group portrait of the Gower Children now in Abbot Hall Art Gallery, Kendal. Romney was a bold and incisive draughtsman who made numerous rich brown ink studies, principally for historical compositions; by contrast, comparatively few studies linked directly to his portraits survive. The existence of a group of studies for the Gower Children underscores its importance to Romney. The sitters were the five youngest of the eight children of Granville, 2nd Earl Gower who, at the time the portrait was commissioned, was President of the Council in Lord North’s government and one of the best-connected and most influential people in England. The present drawing which is a large scale treatment of the composition in its final form perfectly distils Romney’s conceit: the younger children dancing whilst their elder sister, in the guise of a Bacchante plays the tambourine. The bold and dramatic study underlines both the artistic confidence and classical grandeur Romney gained during his trip to Italy between 1773 and 1775. The commission from Granville, 2nd Earl Gower to paint five of his children came shortly after Romney’s Continental tour. The initial idea, as represented by the present drawing, seems to have been to paint Lady Anne, the figure on the right of the composition playing the tambourine, who was the youngest of Gower’s first four children by his second wife Lady Louisa Egerton and who married the Rev. Edward Vernon Harcourt, later Archbishop of York, with three of her younger half-siblings by Gower’s third wife, Lady Susanna Stewart: at the left Lady Georgina, who became Countess of St Germans following her marriage to the Hon. William Eliot; at the right Lady Charlotte Sophia, later Duchess of Beaufort and in the centre Lady Susanna, later Countess of Harrowby. Romney added a fifth child to the finished portrait, Gower’s son: Lord Granville, later created Viscount Granville and Earl Granville. In Italy Romney had produced a large number of studies of classical antiquities and old master paintings. The commission from Gower offered Romney the opportunity to explore a complex multi-figural group, putting into practice the kind of ambitious classical quotations that Reynolds was currently exploiting. In 1773 Reynolds had completed the remarkable group portrait of the Montgomery Sisters, now in the Tate Gallery, London, which showed them adorning a herm of the Roman god Hymen; the composition used a garland to link the three figures who were shown in classical costume dancing at the foot of a Roman sculpture. Scholars have long pointed to a similar sources for the two compositions: the works of Nicolas Poussin. Whilst the Montgomery Sisters is based, in part, on a Bacchanal now in the Musée des Beaux-Arts, the Gower Children has always been associated with Poussin’s Dance to the Music of Time, now in the Wallace Collection, London. It seems more likely that Romney was looking to an antique source in the form of the Borghese Dancers, a Roman relief, then in Palazzo Borghese in Rome. Romney would have seen the relief of interlocking, dancing maidens and would also have known Guido Reni’s Aurora...
Category

Old Masters 18th Century and Earlier Portrait Drawings and Watercolors

Materials

Ink, Pencil

The Introduction, French School, 18th century
Located in Middletown, NY
In this charming scene a maid appears bashful as she is introduced by her mother to the shepherd’s son. Ink and wash on hand made, cool-toned cream laid paper, 6 3/4 x 8 7/8 inches...
Category

French School 18th Century and Earlier Portrait Drawings and Watercolors

Materials

Ink, Watercolor, Handmade Paper, Laid Paper

Joseph Dorffmeister (1764-1806) - Pen and Ink Drawing, Putti Head Studies
Located in Corsham, GB
Finely detailed ink and wash putti head studies by Joseph Dorffmeister (1764-1806). Signed to the right-hand side. Well presented in a vintage wooden frame with a gold slip. On laid....
Category

18th Century and Earlier Portrait Drawings and Watercolors

Materials

Pen

Portrait of Raffaello / Italian School
Located in Middletown, NY
Graphite and ink on handmade, watermarked C & I Honig laid paper, 8 15/16 x 6 3/4 inches (226 x 170 mm). Signed illegibly in ink, lower margin. Scattered light creasing and surface...
Category

Italian School 18th Century and Earlier Portrait Drawings and Watercolors

Materials

Ink, Handmade Paper, Graphite

Le Menuet
Located in Paris, Île-de-France
Attributed to Gabriel-Jacques de Saint-Aubin (Paris, 1724 – 1780) Le Menuet, circa 1765–1770 Red chalk on paper 13 3/8 x 8 1/4 in (34 x 21 cm) Verso: black chalk and red chalk Unsi...
Category

Old Masters 18th Century and Earlier Portrait Drawings and Watercolors

Materials

Chalk, Laid Paper

Woman - Drawing on Paper - 18th Century
Located in Roma, IT
Woman is an original drawing, realized by Anonymous artists of the XVIII century. The state of preservation of the artwork is good, but with extensive foxing. The artwork represent...
Category

18th Century and Earlier Portrait Drawings and Watercolors

Materials

Pencil

French 18th Century Pastel Portrait of a Young Lady in Period Costume.
Located in Cotignac, FR
Late 18th Century French pastel portrait on paper of a young lady in period dress in a 'feigned oval'. In gilt wood frame presented under glass. Very much of its period and similar ...
Category

Realist 18th Century and Earlier Portrait Drawings and Watercolors

Materials

Paper, Crayon, Pastel

Figure of Man - Original Pencil Drawing by Augustin de Saint-Aubin- 19th Century
Located in Roma, IT
Figure of Man is an Original Pencil Drawing realized by Augustin de Saint-Aubin (1736-1807). Good condition included a green and white cardboard passpartout (65x48 cm). No signatur...
Category

Modern 18th Century and Earlier Portrait Drawings and Watercolors

Materials

Pencil

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 Portrait Drawings and Watercolors

Materials

Chalk

Attrib. Lady Diana Beauclerk (1734-1808) - Watercolour, Shepherdess with Baby
Located in Corsham, GB
A heartwarming sepia study of a shepherdess comforting her young baby. Well-presented in a contemporary gilt-effect frame. Unsigned. On paper.
Category

18th Century and Earlier Portrait Drawings and Watercolors

Materials

Watercolor

Grimace - China Ink and Watercolor Drawing - 18th Century
Located in Roma, IT
Grimace is a beautiful brown and black China ink drawing and watercolor on wire rod paper, made by an anonymous artist of the late 18th century. A precious old master's original dra...
Category

Old Masters 18th Century and Earlier Portrait Drawings and Watercolors

Materials

Ink, Watercolor

Framed 18th Century Watercolour - The Blind Man
Located in Corsham, GB
A fine 18th century portrait in watercolours, depicting a blind man seated in an expansive country landscape. The artist delicate brushwork and monochrome pa...
Category

18th Century and Earlier Portrait Drawings and Watercolors

Materials

Watercolor

Still Thinking About These?

All Recently Viewed