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Old Masters Animal Drawings and Watercolors

OLD MASTERS

Encompassing centuries of change in Europe between 1300 and 1800, from booms of prosperity to bloody revolutions, Old Masters describes a wide range of artists. The informal term was derived from the title of an artist who trained in a guild long enough to become a master, such as Leonardo da Vinci, who studied in a Florence painters’ guild. However, Old Masters paintings, prints and other art is now used to refer to work made by any artist with a high level of skill in painting, drawing, sculpture or printmaking who worked during this era.

The 15th century’s expansive trade and commerce spread culture across borders. A vibrant period of art emerged, bolstered by studies of anatomy and nature that influenced a new visual realism. From Raphael and Michelangelo in the Renaissance to Rembrandt van Rijn and Johannes Vermeer in the Dutch Golden Age, artists expressed emotion, naturalism, color and light in new ways. El Greco and Paolo Veronese were leaders in the dramatic style of Mannerism, while Caravaggio and Peter Paul Rubens demonstrated the movement and meticulous detail of Baroque art.

Historically, most attention was concentrated on male artists, but recent research and exhibitions have elevated the impactful work of women such as Rachel Ruysch and Artemisia Gentileschi. In late-18th-century France, female artists like Adélaïde Labille-Guiard and Élisabeth Vigée Le Brun were prominent names. Nevertheless, access to the academies and guilds was highly restricted for women, and even those able to establish practices were expected to adhere to portraits and still lifes rather than the grand history paintings being created by men.

Find a collection of Old Masters prints, paintings, drawings and watercolors and other art on 1stDibs.

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Style: Old Masters
A dazzling Venetian Regatta Boat Study attributed to Alessandra Mauro
Located in PARIS, FR
This stunning Baroque study depicts a regatta boat, a type of vessel developed in eighteenth-century Venice for the regattas organized by the Serenissima during visits by royalty and...
Category

Mid-18th Century Old Masters Animal Drawings and Watercolors

Materials

Chalk

Double-sided Horse Studies by Théodore Géricault
Located in PARIS, FR
Recto: two horses, preparatory study for the lithograph "Les Boueux" ("The Muddy Ones") Verso: four studies of horse heads (including two preparatory studies for the watercolor "Plowing in England"), a study of a life guard with the rump of his horse (preparatory to the lithograph "A Party of Life...
Category

1820s Old Masters Animal Drawings and Watercolors

Materials

Carbon Pencil

Princess from the Savannah
Located in Ibadan, Oyo
The drawings showcase the beauty of the black women on one hand and also reflect the intimacy animals possess with females, especially horses, and princesses in royalty. They are muc...
Category

21st Century and Contemporary Old Masters Animal Drawings and Watercolors

Materials

Canvas, Charcoal

Ayanfe Omo Oba
Located in Ibadan, Oyo
The drawings showcase the beauty of the black women on one hand and also reflect the intimacy animals possess with females, especially horses, and princesses in royalty. They are muc...
Category

21st Century and Contemporary Old Masters Animal Drawings and Watercolors

Materials

Canvas, Charcoal

18th Century Old Master pencil study of cows by French artist Jean Baptiste Huet
Located in Petworth, West Sussex
A rare and charming study of cows by 18th Century French painter, engraver and designer Jean-Baptiste Huet. The details are: Jean Baptiste Huet (French, 1745 – 1811) Study of cows P...
Category

18th Century Old Masters Animal Drawings and Watercolors

Materials

Pencil

Disegno figurativo fregio china su carta ripreso dall'antico, XIX secolo.
Located in Florence, IT
Il disegno, china su carta, rientra negli studi all'antico molto diffusi nelle Accademie dal XVIII secolo in poi, e rimanda al fregio di un sarcofago antico. Al centro si trova un cl...
Category

19th Century Old Masters Animal Drawings and Watercolors

Materials

India Ink, Paper

18th century English scene of a groom with a horse in a landscape
Located in Woodbury, CT
Wonderful 18th century English gouache on paper of a 18th century English scene of a groom with a horse in a landscape. One of a set of five all framed in Hogarth frames. L.Green ...
Category

1780s Old Masters Animal Drawings and Watercolors

Materials

Gouache, Paper

18th century English scene of a man on his horse with his dog in a landscape
Located in Woodbury, CT
Wonderful 18th century English gouache on paper of a 18th century English scene of a man on his horse with his dog in a landscape One of a set of five all framed in Hogarth frames. ...
Category

1780s Old Masters Animal Drawings and Watercolors

Materials

Gouache, Paper

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

16th Century Old Masters Animal Drawings and Watercolors

Materials

Ink, Paper, Chalk, Pen

Fine Early 19th Century Classical Horse Study
Located in Cirencester, Gloucestershire
Title: Portrait of a Horse Artist/ School: French School, circle of Jacques-Laurent Agasse (French 1767-1849) Medium: pencil drawing on paper laid over card Size: 10.25 x 11.5 inc...
Category

Early 19th Century Old Masters Animal Drawings and Watercolors

Materials

Pencil

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

Early 18th Century Old Masters Animal Drawings and Watercolors

Materials

India Ink, Paper, Gouache

Dog with Plants - Original China Ink Drawing by Jan Pieter Verdussen - 1751
Located in Roma, IT
Dog with plants in the garden is a beautiful artwork realized by Jan Peter Verdussen in 1751. pen and watercolour on brown paper. In good codition except for some pencil marks and t...
Category

Mid-17th Century Old Masters Animal Drawings and Watercolors

Materials

Paper, Ink

Plants - Original China Ink Drawing by Jan Pieter Verdussen - 1740
Located in Roma, IT
Plants is a beautiful artwork realized by Jan Peter Verdussen in 1740. pen and watercolour on brown paper. In good codition except for some pencil marks and traces of sealing wax on...
Category

Mid-17th Century Old Masters Animal Drawings and Watercolors

Materials

Ink, Paper

Herdsmen Resting /// Animal Art Landscape Farm Cows Bull Goat Work on Paper Ink
By (After) Nicolaes Berchem
Located in Saint Augustine, FL
Artist: (Follower of) Nicholaes Berchem (The Elder) (Dutch, 1620-1683) Title: "Herdsmen Resting" *No signature found Circa: 1790 Medium: Original Ink Drawing on wove paper Framing: Not framed, but matted with white rag matting from Holland and gold filet Matted size: 15.25" x 17.75" Sheet size: 7.25" x 10" Condition: Light toning to sheet. A few foxmarks and a small area of discoloration upper left. In otherwise very good condition Biography: Nicolaes Pieterszoon Berchem (1 October 1620 – 18 February 1683) was a highly esteemed and prolific Dutch Golden Age painter of pastoral landscapes, populated with mythological or biblical figures, but also of a number of allegories and genre pieces. He was a member of the second generation of "Dutch Italianate landscape" painters. These were artists who travelled to Italy, or aspired to, in order to soak up the romanticism of the country, bringing home sketchbooks full of drawings of classical ruins and pastoral imagery. His paintings, of which he produced an immense number, (Hofstede de Groot claimed around 850, although many are misattributed), were in great demand, as were his 80 etchings and 500 drawings. His landscapes, painted in the Italian style of idealized rural scenes, with hills, mountains, cliffs and trees in a golden dawn...
Category

1790s Old Masters Animal Drawings and Watercolors

Materials

Ink

Related Items
Black Bird Tours Around the World (Chalk Drawing over Collaged Sheet Music)
Located in Hudson, NY
Figurative chalk drawing of grey, black, and teal clouds and birds silhouetted on collaged vintage music pages 'Black Bird Tours Around the World ' by Louise Laplante in 2022 silhouettes made with chalk on vintage collaged music pages 24 x 30 inches unframed, 27.5 x 33.5 inches in natural light wood frame with non-glare plexi Louise Laplante bridges the past and present with mixed media drawings made with figurative charcoal silhouettes juxtaposed on collaged sheets of vintage paper. Finding beauty in forgotten or discarded sheets of ephemera, Laplante uses it as a guide for playful compositions of stenciled birds in mid-flight, drifting feathers, or taxidermized deer heads in rich pastel. A final burst of wistful linework glides over the pastel forms, accentuating her subject’s movement while adding another layer of texture. In this particular work, the artist using a palette of black, grey and shades of blue and teal to compose a balanced graphic of fluffy clouds extending above a single black bird. In certain segments the stenciled images are delicately brushed over with a thin wisp of chalk which adds a delicate textured effect to the drawing. The drawing is framed with a light wood frame and has non-glare plexi glass galzing. About the artist: Interested in blending the old world with the new, mixed media artist Louise Laplante combines her original images with ephemera of the past, enticing a conversation about it’s “relevancy to the present.” Her compositions begin with vintage book pages, personal handwritten letters, sheet music, or instruction from old guides on etiquette or science. While the text itself is weighted with reference to a particular subject, the visual of the typed or handwritten words and printed illustrations establish a unique pattern. These layered backgrounds are superimposed with opaque charcoal drawings that are inspired by the themes read between the lines. Most recently, the artist has opted for larger scale work, combining multiple sheets of vintage paper to expand her unique motifs. Laplante exhibits across the Northeast and has shown with Carrie Haddad for more than ten years. Artist Statement: My work connects the texts, and ideas, in the vintage book, music or correspondence pages, with images those words evoke to comment on how the past still resonates, whether we are aware of it or not. It is informed by my love for old paper, letters, books and images, both as reminders of the past and as bits of pattern, tone, line and shape. The text on them acts as both content and visual device. With each work, I select, arrange and collage these pieces creating both a support and pattern building on it with motifs that are suggested by words on the papers. Although I often start with an agenda I always allow each work to build its own image. Artist Resume: Education MA in Fine Art, State University of New York at Albany, New York BFA, College of New Rochelle, New Rochelle, New York Studied, Art Institute of Boston, Boston, Massachusetts Exhibitions 2019 Mediums of Exchange, Lehman College Art Gallery, Lehman College, CUNY, Bronx, New York 2018 Figures We Fancy, Carrie Haddad Gallery, Hudson, New York Shelter, A.P.E. Gallery, Northampton, Massachusetts Material Flow: Rhythm in Collage and Sculpture, Pratt Gallery, Goddard College, Plainfield, Vermont 2017 Abstractions in Black and White, Gallery 175 Pawtucket, Rhode Island Blanche Ames National, Borderlands, North Easton, Massachusetts Five Points Biennial, Five Points Gallery, Torrington, Connecticut A Declaration of Sentiments: Reflections on the Centennial of Women’s Right to Vote in NYS, Athens Cultural Center, Athens, New York 2016 Winter Exhibit, Carrie Haddad Gallery, Hudson, New York 2015 Boston Biennial 4, Atlantic Gallery, Boston, Massachusetts Drawing, Carrie Haddad Gallery, Hudson, New York Taking Root: Caniskek and the Meeting of Two Worlds, Athens Cultural Center, Athens, New York North Northeast, Brattleboro Museum and Art Center, Brattleboro, Vermont NBMMA 45th Exhibition, New Britain Museum of American Art, New Britain, Connecticut 2014 New Directions ’14, Barrett Art Center, Poughkeepsie, New York Connecticut Women Artists – 85th National, Slater Memorial Museum, Norwich, Connecticut New England Collective V, Galatea Fine Art, Boston, Massachusetts Boston Biennial 3, Atlantic Works Gallery, Boston, Massachusetts 2013 Storytellers and Conjurers, Carrie Haddad Gallery, Hudson, New York 2012 Works on Paper, Carrie Haddad Gallery, Hudson, New York Drawing, b.j. spoke gallery, Huntington, New York Strange Glue, Thompson Gallery, Weston, Massachusetts Silhouette, A.P.E., Northampton, Massachusetts The Cadence of Familiarity, Krauss Gallery, Providence, Rhode Island 2011 20th Anniversary Exhibition, Carrie Haddad Gallery, Hudson, New York Paperworks, Paper City Studios, Holyoke, Massachusetts Small Works, Towne Gallery, Wheelock College, Boston, Massachusetts 2010 Text/Context, McCoy Gallery, Merrimack College, North Andover, Massachusetts A Community of Artists, Danforth Museum of Art, Framingham, Massachusetts Here and Gone: Presence, Absence, Memory and Time, Amy H. Carberry Fine Art Gallery, Springfield Technical Community College, Springfield, Massachusetts 2009 Dreamscape, Carrie Haddad Gallery, Hudson, New York 2008 Small ’08, Wunderarts Gallery, Amherst, Massachusetts Interaction: Louise Laplante and Liz Chalfin, Wunderarts Gallery, Amherst Massachusetts Artists and Books, Art Complex Museum, Duxbury, Massachusetts One Night, Pivot Gallery, Florence, Massachusetts 2007 20 Artists X 2 Feet, Wunderarts Gallery, Amherst, Massachusetts Biennial 2007, New Hampshire Art Institute, Manchester, New Hampshire Salon, Clark Gallery, Lincoln, Massachusetts 2006 Small: 20 Artists X 2 Feet, Wunderarts Gallery, Amherst, Massachusetts Salon, Clark Gallery, Lincoln, Massachusetts 2004 On Paper, Carrie Haddad Gallery, Hudson, New York Encaustics, Carrie Haddad Gallery, Hudson, New York New Acquisitions, University Gallery, University of Massachusetts, Amherst, Massachusetts 2003 Hart Gallery...
Category

2010s Old Masters Animal Drawings and Watercolors

Materials

Chalk, Paper

Erotic French painter - 19th century figure drawings - Nudes - Ink on paper
Located in Varmo, IT
French painter (19th century) - Four erotic scenes. 17 x 24 cm without frames, 21.5 x 28.5 cm with frames. Antique ink drawings on paper, in wood...
Category

Late 19th Century Old Masters Animal Drawings and Watercolors

Materials

Ink, Paper

18th century English scene of a groom with a horse in a landscape
Located in Woodbury, CT
Wonderful 18th century English gouache on paper of a 18th century English scene of a groom with a horse in a landscape. One of a set of five all framed in Hogarth frames. L.Green ...
Category

1780s Old Masters Animal Drawings and Watercolors

Materials

Gouache, Paper

"Things are Looking Up" Charcoal Drawing
Located in Denver, CO
Tammy Liu-Haller's "Things are Looking Up" is an original, handmade charcoal and graphite drawing that depicts a fox in profile looking upwards towards the s...
Category

2010s Old Masters Animal Drawings and Watercolors

Materials

Charcoal, Archival Paper, Graphite

Drawing of feline animals by French artist Gustave GUETANT (1873-1953)
Located in Firenze, IT
Authentic drawing from the early 20th century by the well-known French painter Gustave Guetant (1873-1953). Technique: pencil and charcoal on paper. Bottom right stamp: ATELIER GUET...
Category

Early 20th Century Old Masters Animal Drawings and Watercolors

Materials

Paper, Carbon Pencil, Pencil

Clifford Ellis William the Pug pencil sketch Mid Century Modern British Art
Located in London, GB
From a series of paintings by Clifford Ellis. To see them or our other Modern British Art, scroll down to "More from this Seller" and below it click on "See all from this Seller" - o...
Category

1950s Old Masters Animal Drawings and Watercolors

Materials

Carbon Pencil

Herdsmen Resting /// Animal Art Landscape Farm Cows Bull Goat Work on Paper Ink
By (After) Nicolaes Berchem
Located in Saint Augustine, FL
Artist: (Follower of) Nicholaes Berchem (The Elder) (Dutch, 1620-1683) Title: "Herdsmen Resting" *No signature found Circa: 1790 Medium: Original Ink Drawing on wove paper Framing: Not framed, but matted with white rag matting from Holland and gold filet Matted size: 15.25" x 17.75" Sheet size: 7.25" x 10" Condition: Light toning to sheet. A few foxmarks and a small area of discoloration upper left. In otherwise very good condition Biography: Nicolaes Pieterszoon Berchem (1 October 1620 – 18 February 1683) was a highly esteemed and prolific Dutch Golden Age painter of pastoral landscapes, populated with mythological or biblical figures, but also of a number of allegories and genre pieces. He was a member of the second generation of "Dutch Italianate landscape" painters. These were artists who travelled to Italy, or aspired to, in order to soak up the romanticism of the country, bringing home sketchbooks full of drawings of classical ruins and pastoral imagery. His paintings, of which he produced an immense number, (Hofstede de Groot claimed around 850, although many are misattributed), were in great demand, as were his 80 etchings and 500 drawings. His landscapes, painted in the Italian style of idealized rural scenes, with hills, mountains, cliffs and trees in a golden dawn...
Category

1790s Old Masters Animal Drawings and Watercolors

Materials

Ink

Anatomy of a Horse - Original French Artwork Equestrian Anatomy Study
Located in Cirencester, Gloucestershire
The Anatomy of a Horse by Robert Ladou (French 1929-2014) original drawing stuck on card/ thick paper, unframed size: 11.25 x 15.5 overall size: 12....
Category

20th Century Old Masters Animal Drawings and Watercolors

Materials

Crayon, Charcoal, Watercolor, Pencil, Color Pencil

Afternoon nap (minotaur, centaur) - expressive line drawing
Located in Fort Lee, NJ
Anxious morning (minotaur, centaur) - expressive line drawing on 140lb paper. His artistic style is rather difficult to describe, it can be named as "expressive romanticism". Usually...
Category

2010s Old Masters Animal Drawings and Watercolors

Materials

Graphite, Paper

Profile of a Lion - Original Charcoal Drawing by Willy Lorenz - 1940s
Located in Roma, IT
Profile of a Lion is a beautiful charcoal original drawing on pink paper, realized by the German artist Wilhelm Lorenz, best know as Willi Lorenz (German, 1901–1981). Signed in penci...
Category

1940s Old Masters Animal Drawings and Watercolors

Materials

Charcoal

Inchino- 21st Century Contemporary Charcoal Drawing of a horse head
Located in Nuenen, Noord Brabant
Rosanna Gaddoni Inchino 65 x 50 cm ( framed in wood frame with museum glass) Measurement with included frame: 80 x 60 cm Italian artist Rosanna Gaddon...
Category

2010s Old Masters Animal Drawings and Watercolors

Materials

Handmade Paper, Charcoal

French Neo classical school, Allegory of Time, original drawing
Located in Paris, FR
Neo classical school, France, end of the 18th Century Allegory of Time, Pen and black ink on paper, gray ink wash 30.5 x 19 cm irregularly shaped In g...
Category

1790s Old Masters Animal Drawings and Watercolors

Materials

India Ink

Previously Available Items
Study of a camel loaded with a palanquin, seen from behind by Gustave Guillaumet
Located in PARIS, FR
In this study, which evokes one of his stays in southern Algeria, Gustave Guillaumet depicts a camel loaded with a large palanquin seen from behind....
Category

1880s Old Masters Animal Drawings and Watercolors

Materials

Chalk, Watercolor

Study of a Soldier on Horseback
Located in New York, NY
Inscribed, lower center: “Ruggeri Veronese” Provenance: Wilhelm Suida (1877–1959), New York; by descent to: Robert L. and Bertina Suida Manning, New York, until 1996 Private Collec...
Category

Late 17th Century Old Masters Animal Drawings and Watercolors

Materials

Paper, Chalk, Pencil

18th century English scene of pointer dogs out hunting with men shooting birds
Located in Woodbury, CT
Wonderful 18th century English gouache on paper of a 18th century English scene of pointer dogs out hunting with men shooting birds. One of a set of five all framed in Hogarth frame...
Category

1780s Old Masters Animal Drawings and Watercolors

Materials

Paper, Gouache

18th century English scene of pointer dogs out hunting with men shooting birds
Located in Woodbury, CT
Wonderful 18th century English gouache on paper of a 18th century English scene of pointer dogs out hunting with men shooting birds. One of a set of five all framed in Hogarth frame...
Category

1780s Old Masters Animal Drawings and Watercolors

Materials

Paper, Gouache

18th century English gun dogs pointing at birds in a landscape with men shooting
Located in Woodbury, CT
Wonderful 18th century English gouache on paper of Pointer dogs looking for a Partridge or Pheasant, with men out shooting. One of a set of five all framed in Hogarth frames. L.Gr...
Category

1780s Old Masters Animal Drawings and Watercolors

Materials

Paper, Gouache

Studies of Horses Sebastien Leclerc (French 1637-1714)
Located in SANTA FE, NM
Studies of Horses Sebastien Leclerc (French 1637-1714) Pen and ink on paper Inscribed on verso “Sebastien LeClerc” 13 ¼ x 8 ¾ (18 x 15 ½ frame) inche...
Category

17th Century Old Masters Animal Drawings and Watercolors

Materials

Paper, Ink, Pen

19th Century Dutch Watercolour Landscape Painting with Cows: 'Milking Time'
Located in London, GB
Adrianus Johannes GROENEWEGEN (Dutch, 1874-1963) Milking Time Signed ‘A.J. Groenewegen’ (lower right) Watercolour 16 ¾ x 20 inches, inc. frame Provenance: Presented by the National Art Collections Fund E.E. Cook Collection Bequest, September 1955 The Swan Gallery
Category

20th Century Old Masters Animal Drawings and Watercolors

Materials

Watercolor

Netherlandish School Ink Drawing of a Lion, 17th/18th C.
Located in Hallowell, ME
Brown ink and white body color on laid paper professionally laid on restoration paper, matted and framed. Net image size about 11" x 10" Lions are highly sought after in Old Master ...
Category

Early 18th Century Old Masters Animal Drawings and Watercolors

Materials

Ink

Lady with Sheep
By Jacob van Strij
Located in Wiscasset, ME
Born in Dordrecht, Holland in 1756, painter, printmaker and draftsman Jacob van Strij took his first painting lessons from his father, Leendert van Strij. Van Strij studied at the Ro...
Category

Late 18th Century Old Masters Animal Drawings and Watercolors

Materials

Watercolor

Old Masters animal drawings and watercolors for sale on 1stDibs.

Find a wide variety of authentic Old Masters animal drawings and watercolors available for sale on 1stDibs. Works in this style were very popular during the 21st Century and Contemporary, but contemporary artists have continued to produce works inspired by this movement. Many Pop art paintings were created by popular artists on 1stDibs, including Jan Pieter Verdussen, and Jean Louis Andre Theodore Gericault. Frequently made by artists working with Paper, and Gouache and other materials, all of these pieces for sale are unique and have attracted attention over the years. Not every interior allows for large Old Masters animal drawings and watercolors, so small editions measuring 5.5 inches across are also available. Prices for animal drawings and watercolors made by famous or emerging artists can differ depending on medium, time period and other attributes. On 1stDibs, the price for these items starts at $564 and tops out at $50,000, while the average work sells for $2,360.

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