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Period: 18th Century and Earlier
Annunciation Scene
Located in Paris, Île-de-France
Pierre-Mathieu Ogier (active between 1676 and 1709)
Annunciation Scene
Engraved copper plate, dated 1691
17.5 x 11.2 cm
Provenance:
Private collection, France
This engraved copper...
Category
Old Masters 18th Century and Earlier Figurative Drawings and Watercolors
Materials
Copper
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 Figurative Drawings and Watercolors
Materials
Ink, Handmade Paper, Laid Paper
Roman Charity (Cimon and Pero)
Located in Paris, Île-de-France
Michel CORNEILLE the Younger (Paris, 1642 – 1708)
Roman Charity (Cimon and Pero)
Black chalk with white highlights on beige paper
Height: 28 cm – Width: 20 cm
Unsigned
France, cir...
Category
Old Masters 18th Century and Earlier Figurative Drawings and Watercolors
Materials
Paper, Charcoal, Chalk
Landscape - Drawing by Jan Peter Verdussen - 1745 ca
Located in Roma, IT
Landscape is a beautiful drawing in pencil and watercolor on paper realized by Jan Peter Verdussen in 1745 ca.
In good condition, excpet for some foxing on the right.
The artwork r...
Category
Old Masters 18th Century and Earlier Figurative Drawings and Watercolors
Materials
Watercolor, Pencil
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 Figurative Drawings and Watercolors
Materials
Ink
Johann Weinmann: 18th Century Engravings of Sunflowers, Set of 4, Framed
Located in Richmond, GB
A complete set of four hand-coloured mezzotint engravings of sunflowers from: "Phytanthoza Iconographia", c1739, presented in hand-made, parcel-gilt, ebonised and decalcomania frame...
Category
18th Century and Earlier Figurative Drawings and Watercolors
Materials
Watercolor, Mezzotint
Sleeping Boy - Drawing by Giovanni Fontana - 16th Century
Located in Roma, IT
Sleeping Boy is an original modern artwork realized in the 16th century by Giovanni Fontana.
Ivory colored sheet attached on an ivory colored cardboard (...
Category
Old Masters 18th Century and Earlier Figurative Drawings and Watercolors
Materials
Paper, Pencil
$3,651 Sale Price
20% Off
Landscape - Original Pencil Drawing by J. P. Verdussen - Mid-18th Century
Located in Roma, IT
Landscape is an original drawing in pencil on ivory-colored paper realized by Jan Peter Verdussen.
The artwork has some folds rips and foxings and is repaired on the middle line.
T...
Category
Modern 18th Century and Earlier Figurative Drawings and Watercolors
Materials
Pencil
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 Figurative Drawings and Watercolors
Materials
Chalk, Ink
Man on Horseback Abducting a Woman
Located in Paris, Île-de-France
Jean-Robert ANGO (Active 1759 – 1773)
Man on Horseback Abducting a Woman
Red chalk and white chalk
26.1 x 25.9 cm
Provenance
Libert-Castor sale, November 19, 1993 (lot no. 23, ill...
Category
Old Masters 18th Century and Earlier Figurative Drawings and Watercolors
Materials
Chalk
The Death of Coresus
By Jean-Baptiste Greuze
Located in Paris, Île-de-France
JEAN-BAPTISTE GREUZE
(Tournus 1725 - 1805 Paris)
The Death of Coresus, circa 1750
Pen and brown ink, black ink tips, gray wash on black chalk, 455 x 385 cm
Bears on the reverse in ...
Category
Old Masters 18th Century and Earlier Figurative Drawings and Watercolors
Materials
Ink, Watercolor
Allegory of the Treaty of Angoulême, a drawing attributed to Donato Mascagni
Located in PARIS, FR
We would like to thank Mrs. Ursula Verena Fischer Pace for suggesting the attribution to Donato Arsenio Mascagni.
We were immediately seduced by the rich tonalities of this allegory...
Category
Old Masters 18th Century and Earlier Figurative Drawings and Watercolors
Materials
Ink
Fenzoni, Painting AND preparatorial Drawing, John the Baptist, Italy Renaissance
By Ferrau Fenzoni
Located in Greven, DE
The painting and the preparatory drawing are offered together.
Provenance
Private collection, Germany, Trier, c. 1980- 2013
Saint John the Baptist
Brown ink and wash over red chalk on oatmeal paper
31 x 20.5 cm
Inscribed: „Ferrau Fenzonio da Faenza invt. esque … imp. da Fran. Villamena …“.
bears the collector's mark of Henry Scipio Reitlinger (1882-1950; Lugt 2274a) on a tiny label glued to the verso
On the reverse is a partial drawing of a Pieta, pricked for transfer.
Provenance
New York, Doyle, 14. October 2015, No. 6
The painting and the preparatory drawing resemble the composition of an engraving after Ferraù Fenzoni by Francesco Villamena. Drawing, engraving and painting are almost identical, except for minor differences. Even the measurements nearly correspond: painting (32 x 25,5 cm), drawing (30 x 20,5 cm), engraving (31,1 x 23,5 cm).
Dr. Guiseppe Scavizzi confirmed the attribution of the present panting to Fenzoni and he dates it to c. 1590.
The inscription on the drawing reads “Ferrau Fenzonio da Faenza invt. esque. . . imp. da Fran: Villamena . . .”. The engraving’s inscription also lists place and date “Ferra Fensionius inventor/F. Villamoena sculpsit Rome/Aspectu fruitur… antra puer/cum Privilegio… 1613”.
Interestingly, the engraving is not mirrored as it is in most printing processes. Painting, drawing and engraving are not reversed but the same. It is remarkable to note that there are further paintings by Fenzoni which were engraved in the same order and not reverted. They also show strong parallels regarding the compositions and the measurements (see for example “Deposition of Christ” ).
Ferraù Fenzoni was an Italian painter mainly active in Todi. He is also called Il Faenzone after his birthplace (Faenza). He apprenticed in Rome during the papacy of Gregory XIII and contributed to numerous fresco cycles under pope Sixtus V, such as the Loggia della Benedizioni in the Lateran Palace, the frescoes on the walls and vaults of the Scala Santa of the adjacent Basilica of San Giovanni in Laterano, and the decoration in the Sistine library. His expressive canvases straddle the styles of Mannerism and Baroque. In 1594, he moved to Todi. A “Last Judgement” by him is housed in the cathedral of Todi. He returned to Faenza in 1599, where he decorated chapels in the cathedral from 1612 to 1616. In 1622, he completed a “Deposition”, now in the local Pinacoteca. In 1640, Fenzoni was named “cavaliere dello speron d’oro” by Cardinal Colonna and, on 25th April 1634, he was nominated vicar and “castellano of Granarolo”.
Fenzoni‘s style is characterized by a mixture of the Mannerism of the Northern Netherlands and the Italian Baroque.
Saint John the Baptist, Old Master, 17th Century, By Fenzoni, Religious Scene, Rome Art...
Category
Mannerist 18th Century and Earlier Figurative Drawings and Watercolors
Materials
Canvas, Oil, Handmade Paper
Ferrau FenzoniFenzoni, Painting AND preparatorial Drawing, John the Baptist, Italy Renaissance, 1590
$28,823 Sale Price
25% Off
Louis-Félix de La Rue (1730-1777) Putti playing around a sculpture, drawing
Located in Paris, FR
Louis-Félix de La Rue (1730-1777)
Putti playing around a sculpture, a mythological scene
Pen and brown ink on paper
15.4 x 31 cm
In good condition
The ancient mount has has a smal...
Category
Old Masters 18th Century and Earlier Figurative Drawings and Watercolors
Materials
Ink
French School Of The 18th century, An Ancient Shipyard, Drawing
Located in Paris, FR
French school of the 18th century
An ancient shipyard or building site (?)
Ink and ink wash on paper
17.5 x 23 cm
In a modern frame 32 x 37 cm
Category
Old Masters 18th Century and Earlier Figurative Drawings and Watercolors
Materials
Ink
$432 Sale Price
25% Off
Disegno figurativo fiammingo ad acquerello del XVIII secolo, scena di genere
Located in Florence, IT
Sullo sfondo di un paesaggio dai tratti centro-settentrionali europei-in cui si riconoscono una cappella e il profilo di una città dagli alti pinnacoli-si svolge una scena di svago, ...
Category
Other Art Style 18th Century and Earlier Figurative Drawings and Watercolors
Materials
Paper, Ink, Watercolor
Landscape - Watercolor and Pencil by Jan Peter Verdussen - 18th Century
Located in Roma, IT
Landscape is a beautiful dranwing in watercolor and pencil on ivory-colored paper realized by Jan Peter Verdussen.
In good condition; only a sma...
Category
Old Masters 18th Century and Earlier Figurative Drawings and Watercolors
Materials
Watercolor, Pencil
Vue de Macerata et de sa Campagne - drawing by J. P. Verdussen - 1742
Located in Roma, IT
China ink and watercolour on paper.
Some foxing, otherwise very good condition.
Titled and dated.
Includes passepartout.
Category
18th Century and Earlier Figurative Drawings and Watercolors
Materials
Ink, Watercolor
18th Century Watercolour - Jacob and the Pharaoh
Located in Corsham, GB
A charming watercolour interpretation of chapter forty-seven verse seven of Genesis where Joseph presents his father Jacob to the Pharaoh. The artist captures the religious figures o...
Category
18th Century and Earlier Figurative Drawings and Watercolors
Materials
Watercolor
$354 Sale Price
20% Off
Allegory of Chastity, a drawing attributed to G. Porta with great provenance
Located in PARIS, FR
This magnificent drawing from the Venetian Renaissance intrigues us in many ways. It depicts an allegorical composition whose meaning partly escapes us: a veiled figure seated on a stone bench (which we have identified as Chastity), seems to be turning away from a woman's bust beside her, below which are two rabbits, a traditional allegory of fertility, but also sometimes of lust.
This drawing, executed on blue paper, undoubtedly belongs to the Venetian Renaissance. The inscriptions on the back of the old mounting board indicate the various attributions considered by its last owner, the British painter and art historian Sir Lawrence Gowing. We have retained the attribution to Giuseppe Porta proposed by art historian John Arthur Gere as the most relevant.
We were incredibly fortunate to find a hexagonal frame of a very similar format for this drawing, the upper corners of which were formerly cut (irregularly). This 17th-century Dutch frame comes from an aristocratic collection in Lombardy, and creates a kind of fascinating chase around this Venetian drawing...
Category
18th Century and Earlier Figurative Drawings and Watercolors
Materials
Chalk
The Great Duel 18th Century
Located in Wiscasett, ME
A truly rare and remarkable scene of hundreds of swordsmen meeting in a towns square. The circle is closed around the two in the duel, each of whom have drawn blood. German school 18...
Category
Folk Art 18th Century and Earlier Figurative Drawings and Watercolors
Materials
Watercolor
La Porcellana (A Market Scene of Porcelain Vendors)
Located in Greenwich, CT
An old master drawing that can live in a very contemporary environment! Remarkable use of line and expression - should be enjoyed in an important spot - can grace a kitchen or livin...
Category
Old Masters 18th Century and Earlier Figurative Drawings and Watercolors
Materials
Ink, Handmade Paper, Graphite
Landscape - Pencil and Watercolor by Jan Pieter Verdussen - 1750
Located in Roma, IT
Landscape is a beautiful drawing in watercolor and pencil on ivory-colored paper realized by Jan Peter Verdussen.
In good condition; only a smallspots at the edges of the drawing an...
Category
Old Masters 18th Century and Earlier Figurative Drawings and Watercolors
Materials
Paper, Ink, Watercolor
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
Frami...
Category
Old Masters 18th Century and Earlier Figurative Drawings and Watercolors
Materials
Pastel, Laid Paper
$1,200 Sale Price
78% Off
Portrait of a Young Man, Figurative, Pencil on Paper by Atul Bose "In Stock"
Located in Kolkata, West Bengal
Atul Bose - Portrait of a Young Man
Pencil on Paper
8 x 6 inches, 1935
(Unframed & Delivered)
In this delicate pencil portrait, Atul renders the profile of a young man with remarkab...
Category
Modern 18th Century and Earlier Figurative Drawings and Watercolors
Materials
Paper, Ink, Pen, Pencil
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 Figurative Drawings and Watercolors
Materials
Pencil
H F Gravelot (1699-1773) Two Allegories, Faith and Vigilance, Pen and Ink
By Hubert-François Gravelot
Located in Paris, FR
Hubert-François Gravelot (1699-1773)
Two Allegories : Vigilance and Faith
Pen, black Ink, and black wash on paper
7.9 x 4.8 each one
Framed 22 x 26 cm
Old framing that needs to be...
Category
Old Masters 18th Century and Earlier Figurative Drawings and Watercolors
Materials
Ink
18th Century Roman School , A Palazzo with antiques, drawing
Located in Paris, FR
18th Century Roman School
A Palazzo with antiques
Brown ink and pen, brown ink wash on paper
12.5 x 20 cm
Framed : 28,5 x 35.5
This nice drawing represents a genre scene, with a nobleman, priests, a mother and her children...
Category
Old Masters 18th Century and Earlier Figurative Drawings and Watercolors
Materials
Ink
$608 Sale Price
25% Off
Landscape - Pencil on Paper by J. P. Verdussen - 18th Century
Located in Roma, IT
Landscape is an original drawing is realized by Jan Peter Verdussen.
The artwork has some folds and foxings and is repaired on the middle line.
The artwork represents a landscape.
...
Category
Modern 18th Century and Earlier Figurative Drawings and Watercolors
Materials
Pencil
Studies of a kneeling female figure, an arm, a hand, and a head in profile
Located in Paris, Île-de-France
Studio of Carlo Maratti (or Maratta)
Camerano 1625 – Rome 1713
Studies of a kneeling female figure, an arm, a hand, and a head in profile
Red chalk on paper
43.4 x 26.6 cm
Unsigne...
Category
Old Masters 18th Century and Earlier Figurative Drawings and Watercolors
Materials
Chalk
Rome/Tevere - Pencil and Watercolor Drawing - 1741
Located in Roma, IT
Rome is a beautiful artwork realized by Jan Peter Verdussen in 1741.
In good condition except for some pencil marks and traces of sealing wax on the back and some diffused foxings.
...
Category
Old Masters 18th Century and Earlier Figurative Drawings and Watercolors
Materials
Watercolor, Pencil
Landscape - Original Pencil on Paper by J. P. Verdussen - 18th Century
Located in Roma, IT
Landscape is an original drawing in pencil on ivory-colored paper realized by Jan Peter Verdussen.
The artwork has some folds and foxing and is repair on the middle line.
The artwo...
Category
Modern 18th Century and Earlier Figurative Drawings and Watercolors
Materials
Pencil
A Coachman - 18th Century British Figure watercolour drawing by Paul Sandby
By Paul Sandby
Located in London, GB
PAUL SANDBY
(1731-1809)
Study of a Coachman
Pencil and brown wash, shaped
Framed
16.5 by 9 cm., 6 ½ by 3 ½ in.
(frame size 32 by 22.5 cm., 12 ½ by 9 in.)
Provenance:
Iolo Williams;
Private collection.
Exhibited:
Sudbury, Gainsborough House, 1979.
Sandby was born in Nottingham and moved to London in 1745. He and his brother Thomas first worked in the military drawing department at the Tower of London, later working on a military survey of new roads and bridges in the Highlands. On leaving this post in 1751 he spent some time living with his brother who had been appointed Deputy Ranger of Windsor Great Park. There he assisted his brother, and made a series of drawings of the castle, town and neighbourhood. In 1760 he settled in London where he contributed to the first exhibition of the Society of Artists where he regularly exhibited until the foundation of the Royal Academy in 1768, becoming one of its founder members. In same year he was appointed chief drawing...
Category
Realist 18th Century and Earlier Figurative Drawings and Watercolors
Materials
Watercolor
Landscape - Ink and Watercolor by Verdussen - Mid 18th Century
Located in Roma, IT
Landscape is an original drawing in ink and watercolor artwork realized by Jan Peeter Verdussen.
Good conditions except some minor stains and folds.
Jan Peeter Verdussen (1700-1767...
Category
18th Century and Earlier Figurative Drawings and Watercolors
Materials
Watercolor, Ink
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 Figurative Drawings and Watercolors
Materials
Gold
Virgin and Child with Saint John the Baptist and Saint Jerome
Located in Paris, Île-de-France
Felice Pinariccio, known as Le Lasagna (active in Bologna during the 1560s-1570s)
Virgin and Child with Saint John the Baptist and Saint Jerome
Pen and brown ink, brown wash heighte...
Category
Old Masters 18th Century and Earlier Figurative Drawings and Watercolors
Materials
Ink
France 18th Century, Pastorale (Arcadian Landscape), original drawing
Located in Paris, FR
France 18th Century,
Pastorale (Arcadian Landscape)
Black chalk and heightenings of white gouache on blue-grey paper
19 x 31 cm
Framed : 34.5 x 46.5 cm
The atmosphere and the subje...
Category
Old Masters 18th Century and Earlier Figurative Drawings and Watercolors
Materials
Chalk
$1,023 Sale Price
20% Off
Interior of the Nieuwe Kerk, Amsterdam
Located in Paris, Île-de-France
Jan Goeree (Middelburg 1670 – Amsterdam 1731)
Interior of the Nieuwe Kerk, Amsterdam (c. 1724)
Red chalk for the architecture, pen and black ink, grey wash on paper
Composition reversed in preparation for engraving
25 × 17.5 cm
Watermark: Hunting horn, Churchill 318 (dated 1724)
Unsigned
Provenance
Private collection, France
Context & Attribution
Trained in the studio of Gérard de Lairesse, Jan Goeree was among the finest Dutch engravers of the early eighteenth century, celebrated for his architectural views of Amsterdam. This drawing is a preparatory study for an engraving of the same subject now preserved in a major public collection. The final print—slightly larger—closely follows the reversed composition of this sheet.
Subject
In the center of the Gothic nave, five bearers carry a catafalque toward a freshly dug grave—a tribute to the naval heroes often buried in the Nieuwe Kerk. This funerary motif, familiar from Dutch painting (e.g. Emanuel de Witte, 1657), evokes the vanitas theme and the transience of earthly life.
Technical Analysis
Goeree’s use of red chalk for the architecture and ink for the figures reveals his working method: the chalk lines could be used to produce a counterproof restoring the correct orientation of the architecture, while the inked figures remained adjustable before the design was transferred to the copper plate.
Place within the Oeuvre
Drawings of church...
Category
Old Masters 18th Century and Earlier Figurative Drawings and Watercolors
Materials
Ink, Chalk
Venus
Located in London, GB
Richard Westall, R.A. (1765-1836)
Venus
signed and dated ‘R. Westall 1794’ (lower right)
pencil and watercolour, with white heightening
image 11 ⅞ x 15 ¼ in. (30.2 x 38.7 cm.)
frame 22 ⅛ x 26 in. (56.3 x 66.1 cm.)
Provenance:
Private Collection, UK.
Venus (1794) was produced during a highly creative and defining period of Richard Westall’s career and artistic development, when from 1790-95 the ambitious young artist was sharing a house at 57 Greek Street, Soho, with his friend Sir Thomas Lawrence, the future President of the Royal Academy.
Whilst lodging together, Lawrence became an Associate of the Royal Academy in 1791, Westall the following year, and both were elected full-members in 1794 – the year Lawrence was appointed Painter-in-Ordinary to His Majesty King George III. Westall was to become Queen Victoria’s first Drawing Master, before her ascension to the throne.
It was in this very year, 1794 - as the two young artists became Royal Academicians - that the present watercolour was executed, and it is exciting to speculate that Lawrence would have examined and given his thoughts on the work.
Highly comparable to The Wallace Collection’s Nymph and cupids (c.1793, cat. P757), acquired by Francis Seymour-Conway (1777-1842), 3rd Marquess of Hertford, (who hung it in his bedroom), the mid-1790s saw Westall exhibiting and returning to similar subject-matter on a number of occasions. Two works with titles that could be applied to the present picture were exhibited at the Royal Academy, in 1794 (no. 341 Nymph and Cupids) and 1795 (no. 620, A Wood–nymph and Cupids). However, a print after the watercolour, engraved by F. Screen, entitles the piece Venus.
Westall is regarded as a great virtuoso watercolourist, and Venus is evidence of the young artist’s mastery of the medium. Indeed, it is unusual to find a watercolour of comparable age so well preserved, and retaining such vibrancy - the superb condition providing an insight into his exceptional brushwork and use of colour.
Venus languishes luxuriously on her woodland bed, the trunk of a tree resembling a curtain, while three winged putti play beside her, seeming to gesture to someone in the woods. Cupid draws back his bow and aims an arrow of love, perhaps about to pierce the heart of a hunting nobleman, or unsuspecting woodcutter. The striking contrast between the almost luminescent nymph, with the deep, rich, luxuriant forest, gives the glade an alluring sense of mystery – perhaps an allusion to the mysteries of the heart, a pre-occupation with Romanticism, central to the emerging thought of the time. Westall can be classified as one of the great Romantic artists, and even painted Lord Byron’s portrait...
Category
Romantic 18th Century and Earlier Figurative Drawings and Watercolors
Materials
Watercolor, Pencil
$25,621
Hercules vanquishing a drakaina (half‑woman, half‑serpent)
Located in Paris, Île-de-France
Circle of Giovanni Domenico Tiepolo (Venice 1727 – Madrid 1804)
Hercules vanquishing a drakaina (half‑woman, half‑serpent) – interpreted either as Echidna or a personified Hydra
c. ...
Category
Old Masters 18th Century and Earlier Figurative Drawings and Watercolors
Materials
Ink
Reading Madonna drawing. Red chalk on paper.
By Francesco Fernandi
Located in New York, NY
Inscribed: front, brown ink, bottom left, F. Imperiali pinx…; bottom right, R. Rol..(?). Back, brown ink, top left, Roma, Gune(?) 1742 / F. Impeririali ping…;[illegible] R. deline..(...
Category
18th Century and Earlier Figurative Drawings and Watercolors
Materials
Chalk, Handmade Paper
$3,600 Sale Price
41% Off
France 18th Century, The Surprised Lovers, original drawing
Located in Paris, FR
France circa 1770
Two lovers surprised in bed
Black chalk on paper
13 x 17 cm
Modern frame : 34 x 38 cm
This drawing had been attributed to Gabriel de Saint Aubin (1724-1780). It's...
Category
Old Masters 18th Century and Earlier Figurative Drawings and Watercolors
Materials
Chalk
$941 Sale Price
20% Off
Louis-Félix de La Rue (1730-1777) A Mythological scene, drawing
Located in Paris, FR
Louis-Félix de La Rue (1730-1777)
A Mythological scene
Pen and black ink on paper
Bears an old inscription with the name of the artist on the lower left bo...
Category
Old Masters 18th Century and Earlier Figurative Drawings and Watercolors
Materials
Ink
$1,402 Sale Price
20% Off
17th Century French sanguine drawing of maiden's harvesting flowers
By (Circle of) Nicolas Poussin
Located in Petworth, West Sussex
Circle of Nicolas Poussin (French, 1594-1665)
Maiden’s harvesting flowers
Sanguine on paper
8. ¾ in. (22 cm.) tondo
Category
Old Masters 18th Century and Earlier Figurative Drawings and Watercolors
Materials
Paper
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 Figurative Drawings and Watercolors
Materials
Canvas, Oil
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 Figurative Drawings and Watercolors
Materials
Watercolor, Mezzotint
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 Figurative Drawings and Watercolors
Materials
Watercolor, Mezzotint
Mughal School, 18th cent – Emperor Jahangir & Empress Nur Jahan on a Tiger Hunt
Located in Middletown, NY
A beautiful composition depicting Empress Nur Jahan on a tiger hunt, an act of feminism.
Circa 1750. Gouache and ink with heightening in gold on brown laid paper, 12 1/2 x 8 1/4 inches (317 x 210 mm), with a floral-motif border painted in blue and oxblood, the full sheet. With extensive inscriptions in Persian written in black ink on the verso. In good condition with overall toning and minor creasing, all consistent with age. The color is rich and and fresh with bright yellow illumination. In the distance we see the Jahangir Mahal Agra, as well as a sage meditating in his hut. A beautiful composition.
Nur Jahan was fond of hunting and often went on hunting tours with her husband and was known for her boldness in hunting ferocious tigers. She is reported to have slain four tigers with six bullets during one hunt. According to Sir Syed Ahmad Khan this feat, inspired a poet to declaim a spontaneous couplet in her honor: "Though Nur Jahan be in form a woman, In the ranks of men she...
Category
Rajput 18th Century and Earlier Figurative Drawings and Watercolors
Materials
Gold
"Spring at Window" 18th Century Antique realism Watercolor painting on Paper
Located in Jacksonville, FL
The painting is signed and dated 1858
Felix Schlesinger (1833-1910) was a German painter known for his charming and detailed portrayals of domestic ...
Category
Realist 18th Century and Earlier Figurative Drawings and Watercolors
Materials
Paper, Watercolor
Landscape - Pencil Drawing by J. P. Verdussen - Mid-18th Century
Located in Roma, IT
Landscape is a beautiful drawing in pencil on ivory-colored paper realized by Jan Peter Verdussen.
The artwork has some folds and foxings. The artwork represents a landscape.
Inclu...
Category
Modern 18th Century and Earlier Figurative Drawings and Watercolors
Materials
Pencil
Putti in a Landscape, Putti playing, flowers, Berchet, French Art, Old Master
By Pierre Berchet
Located in Greven, DE
Pierre Berchet, Drawing of Putti playing in a landscape,
Painter of decorative history subjects; trained under La Fosse; worked in France and during the 1690s...
Category
Baroque 18th Century and Earlier Figurative Drawings and Watercolors
Materials
Handmade Paper
$1,729 Sale Price
20% Off
Saint Francis of Assisi in Ecstasy
Located in Paris, Île-de-France
Salvatore Rosa
(Naples 1615 - 1673 Rome)
Saint Francis of Assisi in Ecstasy
Pen and brown ink, brown wash over black chalk, on paper
7 x 5 cm
Bears the stamps of collections on the...
Category
Old Masters 18th Century and Earlier Figurative Drawings and Watercolors
Materials
Ink
Design for a theatre fresco with fancy plasterwork - early 18th century French S
Located in Middletown, NY
Pen and sepia ink on cream laid paper, 8 3/4 x 5 3/8 inches (222 x 136 mm). Scattered paper tape repairs on the verso in the area of the upper left corner, and along the right sheet...
Category
French School 18th Century and Earlier Figurative Drawings and Watercolors
Materials
Ink, Laid Paper
Study after Michelangelo’s “The Last Judgment”
By Michelangelo Buonarroti
Located in New York, NY
Italian School, 16th Century
Provenance:
Private Collection, New York
This intriguing drawing is a study by an anonymous 16th-century Italian artist after a vignette in Michelangelo’s fresco of The Last Judgement in the Sistine Chapel. The altar wall of the Sistine Chapel was already richly decorated when Pope Clement VII commissioned Michelangelo to paint his Last Judgment...
Category
Old Masters 18th Century and Earlier Figurative Drawings and Watercolors
Materials
Paper, Gouache
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 Figurative Drawings and Watercolors
Materials
Watercolor, Mezzotint
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 Figurative Drawings and Watercolors
Materials
Handmade Paper
$2,882 Sale Price
20% Off
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 Figurative Drawings and Watercolors
Materials
Chalk
Old Master Drawing, Baroque, Jacob de Wit, Allegory of Victory, Putti, Ships
By Jacob De Wit
Located in Greven, DE
Two putti with symbols of war and victory (cannons, cannonballs, armour, anchor, lion's head, laurel branch/ olive branch, flag, staff with helmet) in pediment triangle.
Probably a d...
Category
Baroque 18th Century and Earlier Figurative Drawings and Watercolors
Materials
Paper, Crayon
$2,185 Sale Price
35% Off
The Assumption of the Virgin
Located in New York, NY
Provenance:
Unidentified collector’s mark “D.G.R,” lower right (Lugt 757b)
Wilhelm Suida (1877–1959), New York; by descent to:
Robert L. and Bertina Suida Manning, New York, until 1996
Private Collection, USA
This impressive drawing of the Assumption of the Virgin is the work of the Genoese artist Giovanni Battista Paggi. The son of a nobleman, Paggi received a humanist education and was a self-taught artist. According to Paggi’s first biographer, Raffaele Soprani, it was only after encountering Luca...
Category
Old Masters 18th Century and Earlier Figurative Drawings and Watercolors
Materials
Paper, Ink, Pen
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 Figurative Drawings and Watercolors
Materials
Chalk, Ink, Pen, Paper
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