Skip to main content

18th Century Figurative Drawings and Watercolors

to
16
133
34
4
3
Overall Width
to
Overall Height
to
249
1,527
10,161
3,930
192
264
403
664
569
840
886
977
518
350
59
23
96
75
2
128
78
59
40
36
30
29
13
9
8
7
6
5
5
5
5
5
5
4
4
84
82
77
66
35
17
5
4
4
2
79
43
126
31
Period: 18th Century
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 Figurative Drawings and Watercolors

Materials

Ink

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 Figurative Drawings and Watercolors

Materials

Pencil

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 Figurative Drawings and Watercolors

Materials

Pencil

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 Figurative Drawings and Watercolors

Materials

Pencil

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 Figurative Drawings and Watercolors

Materials

Watercolor, Pencil

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 Figurative Drawings and Watercolors

Materials

Watercolor, Mezzotint

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 Figurative Drawings and Watercolors

Materials

Watercolor, Ink

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 Figurative Drawings and Watercolors

Materials

Watercolor, Pencil

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 Figurative Drawings and Watercolors

Materials

Ink

Johann Weinmann: c.18th Engravings of Fruit in Decalcomania Frames
Located in Richmond, GB
Hand-coloured mezzotint engravings from: ""Phytanthoza Iconographia"", c1739, presented in hand-made parcel-gilt, ebonised and decalcomania frames. Johann Weinmann (1683-1741), a G...
Category

18th Century Figurative Drawings and Watercolors

Materials

Watercolor, Mezzotint

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 Figurative Drawings and Watercolors

Materials

Ink

Johann Weinmann: c.18th Engravings of Fruit in Decalcomania Frames
Located in Richmond, GB
Hand-coloured mezzotint engravings from: ""Phytanthoza Iconographia"", c1739, presented in hand-made parcel-gilt, ebonised and decalcomania frames. Johann Weinmann (1683-1741), a G...
Category

18th Century Figurative Drawings and Watercolors

Materials

Watercolor, Mezzotint

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 Figurative Drawings and Watercolors

Materials

Ink

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 Figurative Drawings and Watercolors

Materials

Watercolor, Ink

Johann Weinmann: 18th Century Engraving of an aloe in a decorative pot.
Located in Richmond, GB
Hand-coloured mezzotint engravings of decorative urns with aloes and cacti from: ""Phytanthoza Iconographia"", c1739, presented in hand- made, parcel-gilt, ebonised and decalcomania...
Category

18th Century Figurative Drawings and Watercolors

Materials

Watercolor, Mezzotint

Johann Weinmann: 18th Century Engraving of an aloe in a decorative pot.
Located in Richmond, GB
Hand-coloured mezzotint engravings of decorative urns with aloes and cacti from: ""Phytanthoza Iconographia"", c1739, presented in hand- made, parcel-gilt, ebonised and decalcomania...
Category

18th Century Figurative Drawings and Watercolors

Materials

Watercolor, Mezzotint

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 Figurative Drawings and Watercolors

Materials

Ink, Watercolor

Studio di volto (Study of a boy's face, 2 views) Florentine School 18th century
Located in Middletown, NY
An 18th century Florentine study of a head, circa 1700 Red crayon on light-weight laid paper with a partial Pro Patria watermark with Hollandia and a rampant lion, 5 5/8 x 7 1/2 inc...
Category

Italian School 18th Century Figurative Drawings and Watercolors

Materials

Laid Paper, Crayon

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 Figurative Drawings and Watercolors

Materials

Watercolor, Mezzotint

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 Figurative Drawings and Watercolors

Materials

Handmade Paper, Graphite

Johann Weinmann: 18th Century Engravings of an aloe in a decorative pot.
Located in Richmond, GB
Hand-coloured mezzotint engravings of decorative urns with aloes and cacti from: ""Phytanthoza Iconographia"", c1739, presented in hand- made, parcel-gilt, ebonised and decalcomania...
Category

18th Century Figurative Drawings and Watercolors

Materials

Watercolor, Mezzotint

Johann Weinmann: 18th Century Engraving of an aloe in a decorative pot.
Located in Richmond, GB
Hand-coloured mezzotint engravings of decorative urns with aloes and cacti from: ""Phytanthoza Iconographia"", c1739, presented in hand- made, parcel-gilt, ebonised and decalcomania...
Category

18th Century Figurative Drawings and Watercolors

Materials

Watercolor, Mezzotint

Johann Weinmann: 18th Century Engravings of an aloe in a decorative pot.
Located in Richmond, GB
Hand-coloured mezzotint engravings of decorative urns with aloes and cacti from: ""Phytanthoza Iconographia"", c1739, presented in hand- made, parcel-gilt, ebonised and decalcomania...
Category

18th Century Figurative Drawings and Watercolors

Materials

Watercolor, Mezzotint

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 Figurative Drawings and Watercolors

Materials

Paper, Pencil

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 Figurative Drawings and Watercolors

Materials

Ink, Laid Paper

Three studies executed in the Pitti Palace in 1761 by Jean-Honoré Fragonard
Located in PARIS, FR
This brilliant study sheet, of which we present here a counterproof, is a souvenir of Fragonard's return journey from Italy. Between April and September 1761, he accompanied the abbot of Saint-Non on his way back to France. Three studies after the masters taken from the Pitti Palace’s gallery in Florence are gathered on this sheet. Although The Ecstasy of Saint Margaret...
Category

Old Masters 18th Century Figurative Drawings and Watercolors

Materials

Carbon Pencil

Life study of a male nude in repose - European School, late 18th Century
Located in Middletown, NY
European School, late 18th century. Red chalk with primo pensiero in graphite on cream laid paper, 8 1/2 x 11 1/2 inches (215 x 293 mm). Scattered light handling wear and multiple s...
Category

Naturalistic 18th Century Figurative Drawings and Watercolors

Materials

Chalk, Laid Paper, Pencil, Graphite

Johann Weinmann: 18th Century Engraving. Aloe in a Decorative pot.
Located in Richmond, GB
PRICE IS FOR EACH FRAMED PRINT. Hand-coloured mezzotint engravings of decorative urns with aloes and cacti from: ""Phytanthoza Iconographia"", c1739, presented in hand- made, parce...
Category

18th Century Figurative Drawings and Watercolors

Materials

Watercolor, Mezzotint

Johann Weinmann: 18th Century Engraving of an aloe in a decorative pot.
Located in Richmond, GB
PRICE IS FOR EACH FRAMED ITEM. MORE EXAMPLES AVAILABLE Hand-coloured mezzotint engravings of decorative urns with aloes and cacti from: ""Phytanthoza Iconographia"", c1739, present...
Category

18th Century Figurative Drawings and Watercolors

Materials

Watercolor, Mezzotint

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 Figurative Drawings and Watercolors

Materials

Chalk, Ink

Theatre Scene, Opera, Old Master Drawing, Griselidis, Mallet, French Art
Located in Greven, DE
Unknown Artist, French School 18th Century, Circle of Mallet? Scene taken from the Decamerone. Old Master Drawing
Category

Romantic 18th Century Figurative Drawings and Watercolors

Materials

Paper, Cardboard

Eighteenth century Old Master drawing - Apollo destroying Niobe's children
Located in London, GB
Pen, ink and wash Framed dimensions: 13 x 11 ¼ inches Drawn c.1765 Verso: a study of a hanged man Mortimer has filled this small sheet with action, depicting in the top right, Apollo and Artemis...
Category

Old Masters 18th Century Figurative Drawings and Watercolors

Materials

Ink, Pen

Circle of Angelika Kauffmann, Venus and Amor, Arrow and Spindle, Oval Drawing
Located in Greven, DE
Fine drawing in pencil, oval format. Circle of Angelika Kauffmann. The subject is not clear. It is Amor with his arrows and perhaps Venus with a sp...
Category

Romantic 18th Century Figurative Drawings and Watercolors

Materials

Crayon, Handmade Paper

The Callings of Saints Peter and Andrew
Located in London, GB
The Callings of Saints Peter and Andrew Robert Edge Pine 1730-1788 Chalk on paper, unsigned Image size: 15 1/2 x 17 inches (39.5 x 43 cm) Original frame Here in Pine’s picture disp...
Category

English School 18th Century Figurative Drawings and Watercolors

Materials

Paper, Chalk

"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 Figurative Drawings and Watercolors

Materials

Paper, Watercolor

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 Figurative Drawings and Watercolors

Materials

Paper, Ink, Watercolor

Sketch of Three Figures
Located in London, GB
Benjamin Robert Haydon 1786 - 1846 Sketch of Three Figures Pen and ink on paper, Image size: 9 3/4 x 7 3/4 inches (25 x 20 cm) Acid Free mount, original frame Provenance Private Col...
Category

English School 18th Century Figurative Drawings and Watercolors

Materials

Paper, Ink, Pen

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 Figurative Drawings and Watercolors

Materials

Paper, Crayon, Pastel

Eighteenth century Old Master drawing - St Jerome
Located in London, GB
Pen, ink and wash Framed dimensions: 9 ½ x 11 ¼ inches Drawn c. 1763 This small, powerful study shows St Jerome contemplating the bible with a cross and sk...
Category

Old Masters 18th Century Figurative Drawings and Watercolors

Materials

Ink, Pen

Study of a Putto with Attributes of Painting
Located in New York, NY
Circle of François Boucher (1703–1770) Study of a Putto with Attributes of Painting Chalk on paper An elegant Rococo drawing depicting a winged putto with a painter’s palette and br...
Category

Rococo 18th Century Figurative Drawings and Watercolors

Materials

Animal Skin, Chalk, Paper

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 princes. We propose to link this drawing to the work of Alessandro Mauro, an artist who specialized in this type of composition, as illustrated by a drawing from him at the Metropolitan Museum. 1. Description of the boat The greatest decorative fantasy reigns in this preparatory study, which blends mythological and exotic elements with references to ancient Egypt. Our drawing is probably an initial thought, destined to be refined and clarified later in pen and ink (as evidenced by the ink stain in the lower right). A quadriga of seahorses guided by Neptune stands at the stern of the boat, shown well above the waterline (perhaps to outline its empty volume). One of the seahorses is ridden by a newt, while Amphitrite lies at the feet of the sea god. The center of the boat is occupied by a vast baldachin resting on four atlantes and surmounted by a figure riding an animal (a dragon?). Three figures sit beneath the canopy, one of them on a griffin-shaped seat. This allusion to Egyptian antiquity echoes the winged sun (sometimes a symbol of the god Horus, as in the temple of Edfu in Egypt) that adorns the sides of the promontory on which this baldachin rests. Another flag-bearer figure crouches at the stern of the boat on a raised seat, on the reverse of which is a crowned mermaid whose arm, extended backwards, rests on a mascaron decorated with a radiant face (Helios?) and whose torso surmounts an elephant's head. The heads of the rowers and their oars are sketched all along the boat, whose sides are embellished with elongated naiads. 2. The Venetian regatta boats An exhibition held in 2013 at the Ca' Rezzonico (the Venetian eighteenth-century museum) paid tribute to these regatta boats through studies and prints depicting them. The regattas organized by the Serenissima in honor of visiting princes and sovereigns were among the most spectacular ceremonies in Venice. Some important artists of the 18th century contributed to the creation of these extravagant boats which were given exotic names such as bissona, malgarota or peota. The specialists in this field were Andrea Urbani and the brothers Alessandro and Romualdo Mauro. They were born into a family of theater decorators in Piedmont, but little is known about their detailed biography. Alessandro was the architect of the Dresden opera house and of the St. Samuel Theater in Venice (in collaboration with his brother Romualdo), but also worked as stagehand and set designer in Vienna, Rome and Turin. A drawing produced around 1737 from the Metropolitan Museum (7th photo in the gallery) bears witness to his activity as a regatta boat designer. This drawing is a much more elaborate version than the one presented here, having been entirely reworked in brown ink. However, a figure at the bow of the boat, executed solely in black chalk, still bears witness to a technique similar to that of our drawing. It is difficult to know whether the boat depicted in our drawing was a project for an actual boat or whether it remained in the planning stage, but the front of our boat (Neptune and the quadriga of seahorses ridden by a newt) bears several similarities to that of a parade boat depicted in the print published by Michele Marieschi entitled Regatta on the Grand Canal, between the Foscari and Balbi Palaces (last photo in the gallery). This print is dated 1741, which could confirm that our work dates from around 1740. The area between Neptune and the quadriga that precedes him on this strange paddle-boat appears to be partially submerged, confirming that the waterline of our boat was probably intended to be much lower than the one shown in our drawing. The Correr Museum’s collection holds one of the most important collection of engravings and drawings devoted to these specifically Venetian Baroque productions. These boats were intended to last the duration of a festival. Today, they are only documented by preparatory drawings or prints that testify to the sumptuousness of their decoration. This taste for regatta boats lasted throughout the Venetian eighteenth century, and the conception of regatta boats also attracted great masters such as Giambattista Tiepolo, Francesco Guardi or Giambattista Piranesi...
Category

Old Masters 18th Century Figurative Drawings and Watercolors

Materials

Chalk

Soldier begging for Mercy a preparatory study by Jean-Marc Nattier (1685 - 1766)
Located in PARIS, FR
This rare drawing by Nattier is part of a set of preparatory studies executed in 1717 for one of the painter's first commissions, the painting commissioned by Tsar Peter I of Russia ...
Category

Old Masters 18th Century Figurative Drawings and Watercolors

Materials

Chalk

Drawing of a captive woman
Located in London, GB
Collections: Sir Thomas Lawrence, who acquired the contents of Fuseli’s studio; Susan, Countess of Guilford, née Coutts (1771-1837), acquired from the Lawrence estate; Susan, Baroness North (1797-1884), daughter of the above; Mrs A. M. Jaffé, acquired in France, c. 1950 to 2016. Black chalks, on buff-coloured paper Stamped verso: ‘Baroness Norths Collection / of Drawings by H Fuseli Esq.’ Framed dimensions: 26.38 x 20.63 inches This boldly drawn sheet depicting a seated figure was made by Fuseli at an important and highly productive moment in his career. The monumental drawing is closely related to another sheet by Fuseli in the British Museum which Schiff published as subject unknown. Both drawings were made when Fuseli was designing his most important sequence of historical works, including scenes from Shakespeare and Milton, The Nightmare and The Death of Dido which was exhibited at the Royal Academy to great critical acclaim in 1781. The present drawing does not relate directly to any of Fuseli’s finished historical paintings of the period, but evidently the image of a slightly menacing, seated and covered old woman was precisely the sort of motif he was playing with. It is notable that the same figure reappears later in Fuseli’s work as the witch from Ben Jonson’s Witch’s Song which Fuseli produced as both a painting and engraving in 1812. Fuseli returned to London in 1779 from a highly creative and productive period in Rome and established himself as one of the leading history painters of the period. Fuseli re-established contact with his old mentor Sir Joshua Reynolds, becoming a regular guest at his dinner table and visitor to his studio. The earliest and most striking manifestation of this strategy was Fuseli's Death of Dido, exhibited in 1781 at the Royal Academy. Executed on the same scale as Reynolds's version (Royal Collection), Fuseli's vertically oriented picture was hung directly opposite Reynolds's with its horizontal orientation, inevitably inviting comparison between the two works and garnering Fuseli much publicity and favourable reviews in the newspapers. The present, previously unpublished sheet, relates closely to a drawing now in the British Museum. That sheet shows the same seated old woman, drawn on a smaller scale and more schematic in design, seated next to an anatomical drawing of a man. The pose of this figure is related to the pose of Dido in his Death of Dido; the foreshortened torso, arrangement of head, oblique view of Dido’s features and arms all suggest that the study can be viewed as an initial thought for the composition. Fuseli may have initially thought of including the figure of the hunched and covered old woman. Drawn on identical paper to the British Museum sheet, our study is an enlarged depiction of the same figure, more elaborately delineated and developed. The presence of a chain to the right of the figure, suggests that the iconography was related in some way to a scene of imprisonment. Fuseli had first explored the motif of the hooded old woman in an early Roman drawing, 'The Venus Seller'. The idea of a grotesque old woman, hooded and with angular nose and projecting chin seen in profile was most spectacularly used by Fuseli in his sequence of paintings depicting The Three Witches from Macbeth. Fuseli seems to have kept the present sheet and may have returned to it when preparing a painting of The Witch and the Mandrake from Ben Jonson’s Witch’s Song from his Masque of Queens in 1812. Here the same seated figure looks out from under her hood and picks a mandrake by moonlight. Jonson’s drama had been performed at the court of James I in 1609, inspired the subject. To throw the nobility of the queens into relief, the poet added a coven of witches, one of whom declares: ‘I last night lay all alone, On the ground, to hear the mandrake groan; And plucked him up, though he grew full low, And, as I had done, the cock did crow.’ The figure was reversed in the associated etching which was published in 1812. It seems likely that the present drawing remained as part of Fuseli’s working archive of figure studies. The present drawing was presumably purchased with the bulk of Fuseli’s drawings after the artist’s death by Sir Thomas Lawrence. Lawrence’s large group of Fuseli drawings were then acquired by Susan, Countess of Guildford (1771-1837). Lady Guildford was the eldest daughter of the banker Thomas Coutts (1735-1822), who himself had supported Fuseli’s journey to Rome in the 1770s and had remained one of the artist’s key...
Category

Old Masters 18th Century Figurative Drawings and Watercolors

Materials

Chalk

Cupid Sleeping - 18th Century British watercolour by Richard Westall RA
Located in London, GB
RICHARD WESTALL, RA (1765-1836) Cupid Sleeping; from a poem of Mrs Robinson - The Duchess of Devonshire Discovers the Sleeping Cupid Watercolour on paper, oval 36 by 44.5 cm., 14 ¼ by 18 in. (frame size 55 by 66 cm., 21 ¾ by 26 in.) Exhibited: London, Royal Academy, 1792, no.448. Richard Westall was bon in Reepham, near Norwich. Initially apprenticed to a London silver engraving he began studying at the Royal Academy Schools from 1785 and exhibited regularly at the Royal Academy between 1784 and 1836. Westall became an Associate member of the Royal Academy in 1792 and a full member in 1794. Westall painted in both oil and watercolour, his works being romantic and neoclassical in style. He contributing to both Boydell’s Shakespeare Gallery and Fuseli’s Milton Gallery and was also a prolific book illustrator of both fiction and poetry including works by Sir Walter Scott and Byron, whose portrait he also painted. For a time he was also art master to the young Princess Victoria. This is probably Westall’s 1792 Royal Academy exhibit (no.448). The subject was inspired by the poem Cupid Sleeping by the poetess-actress Mary Darby Robinson, which had been published in the previous year. The poem was dedicated to Georgiana, Duchess of Devonshire and the picture show the Duchess discovering the sleeping cupid who she then relieves of his bow and arrows. Mrs Robinson was not only the Duchess’s protégée but also the first public mistress of the Prince of Wales. William Nutter’s engraving of Westall’s picture was also dedicated to the Duchess of Devonshire. Close in a woodbine's tangled shade, The blooming god asleep was laid; His brows with mossy roses crown'd; His golden darts lay scatter'd round; To shade his auburn, curled head, A purple canopy was spread, Which gently with the breezes play'd, And shed around a soften'd shade. Upon his downy smiling cheek, Adorned with many a "dimple sleek," Beam'd glowing health and tender blisses, His coral lip...
Category

Realist 18th Century Figurative Drawings and Watercolors

Materials

Watercolor

Attrib. Thomas Stothard (1755-1834) - Watercolour, The Infant Bacchus with Goats
Located in Corsham, GB
A delicate 18th century sepia watercolour depicting The Infant Bacchus with Goats. Beautifully presented in a period gilt frame with sgraffito decoration. Much of the artist's graphi...
Category

18th Century Figurative Drawings and Watercolors

Materials

Watercolor

Italian Old Master Ink & Wash Drawing St. Anne & The Virgin Mary with Cherubs
Located in Cirencester, Gloucestershire
Pietro Fancelli (Italian 1764 - 1850) bio details attached to the frame 'St. Anne & The Virgin' ink with watercolor wash on paper, framed framed: 22 x 16 inches image: 11 x 6.5 inche...
Category

Old Masters 18th Century Figurative Drawings and Watercolors

Materials

Ink, Watercolor

Old Master Figure Sketch Pencil on Vellum
Located in Astoria, NY
Old Master, Figure Sketch, Pencil on Vellum, 18th century, inscribed "G.26" lower right, wood frame. Image: 5.5" H x 3.5" W; frame: 13.75" H x 11" W x 1.25" D. Provenance: From a New...
Category

Old Masters 18th Century Figurative Drawings and Watercolors

Materials

Vellum, Pencil

Still life with ornamental urn, grapes and flora - French School 17 Cent.
Located in Middletown, NY
Pencil on cream laid paper, 10 x 8 3/4 inches (254 x 222 mm). Uniform age tone, scattered surface soiling, and handling wear. One pea-sized area of skinning in the top-center sheet ...
Category

French School 18th Century Figurative Drawings and Watercolors

Materials

Laid Paper, Pencil

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 Figurative Drawings and Watercolors

Materials

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 Figurative Drawings and Watercolors

Materials

Ink, Watercolor, Handmade Paper, Laid Paper

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 Figurative Drawings and Watercolors

Materials

Handmade Paper, Ink, Graphite

LE PAON Watercolor lavis ink Military scene castle bridge French 18th
Located in PARIS, FR
Jean-Baptiste LE PAON Paris, 1738 – Paris, 1785 Military scene near a castle Wash and ink on paper 25 x 31 cm (38 x 44 cm with frame) Signed and dated lower right: “Le Paon / 1785” C...
Category

Baroque 18th Century Figurative Drawings and Watercolors

Materials

Watercolor

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 Figurative Drawings and Watercolors

Materials

Paper, Ink, Pen, Pencil

Girl - Ink and Watercolor by J. P. Verdussen - 18th Century
Located in Roma, IT
Girl is a china ink drawing realized b Jan Peter Verdussen in the mid-18th Century. Good condition except for some missing parts in the lower left and right edges.
Category

18th Century Figurative Drawings and Watercolors

Materials

Ink

Pair of 18th Century watercolour drawings by Old Master Carle Vernet
Located in Petworth, West Sussex
Carle Vernet (French, 1758 – 1836) ‘La Marchande de Coco’; and ‘La Tour de Babbe d’un Charbonnier’ Ink, watercolour on paper Both signed C Vernet and Carle Vernet (lower left and lower right respectively) 12.1/4 x 9 in. (31 x 22.8 cm.) A pair Vernet was born in Bordeaux. At the age of five, he showed an extraordinary passion for drawing horses, but went through the regular academical course as a pupil of his father and of Nicolas-Bernard Lépicié. Strangely, after winning the grand prix (1782), he seemed to lose interest in the profession, and his father had to recall him back from Rome to France to prevent him from entering a monastery. In his Triumph of Aemilius Paulus, he broke with tradition and drew the horse with the forms he had learnt from nature in stables and riding-schools. His hunting-pieces, races, landscapes, and work as a lithographer were also very popular. Carle's sister was executed by the guillotine during the Revolution. After this, he gave up art. When he again began to produce under the French Directory (1795–1799), his style had changed radically. He started drawing in minute detail battles and campaigns to glorify Napoleon. His drawings of Napoleon...
Category

Old Masters 18th Century Figurative Drawings and Watercolors

Materials

Paper, Ink, Watercolor

Venice Landscape - Ink and Watercolor - 18th Century
Located in Roma, IT
Venice Landscape is an original, splendid drawing in pen and watercolor realized by an Anonymous Venetian School, XVIII century. The state of preserva...
Category

Modern 18th Century Figurative Drawings and Watercolors

Materials

Ink, Watercolor

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 Figurative Drawings and Watercolors

Materials

Watercolor

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 Figurative Drawings and Watercolors

Materials

Ink

Flora Study - Drawing by J. P. Verdussen - End of 18th Century
Located in Roma, IT
Watercolour. Hand-Numbered "312" lower-right on margin. In very good condition except a little stain on the high left corner. Wonderful Watercolour drawing by Jan Peeter Verdussen, s...
Category

Old Masters 18th Century Figurative Drawings and Watercolors

Materials

Paper

Study for a Frieze - Original Pen Drawing - 18th Century
Located in Roma, IT
Study for a Frieze is an original drawing in pen realized by an anonymous artist in the 18th Cent. Good conditions but aged. The artwork is depicted through perfect hatching in a w...
Category

Modern 18th Century Figurative Drawings and Watercolors

Materials

Pen

Recently Viewed

View All