Old Masters Figurative 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
Study of a horse lying on its right side seen from the front
By Adam Frans van der Meulen
Located in Stockholm, SE
Provenance:
Jean-Marc Du Pan (1785–1838), Geneva (L. 1440), passed to his brother
Alexandre-Louis Du Pan (1787–1846);
his sale, Geneva, March 26–28, 1840, included in lots 913–917;
...
Category
17th Century Old Masters Figurative Drawings and Watercolors
Materials
Paper, Crayon
St. John the Baptist in the wilderness , Ecce Agnus Dei (Behold the Lamb of God)
By Giovanni Francesco Barbieri (Il Guercino)
Located in Middletown, NY
Pen and sepia ink and wash on vellum, 8 7/8 x 10 1/2 inches (225 x 267 mm). In very good condition with some modern notations in pencil on the verso, minor cockling, and a 1-inch hor...
Category
Mid-17th Century Old Masters Figurative Drawings and Watercolors
Materials
Ink, Watercolor, Vellum, Pencil
17th Century Dutch Old Master Ink Drawing Christ on the Cross Many Figures 1674
Located in Cirencester, Gloucestershire
Christ on the Cross
attributed to Jan Luyken (Dutch, 1649–1712)
inscribed 1674 upper corner
pencil drawing, watercolor and ink wash on paper over oard, framed
framed: 12 x 11 inches
...
Category
17th Century Old Masters Figurative Drawings and Watercolors
Materials
Color Pencil, Ink, Watercolor
$1,852 Sale Price
30% Off
Fine 1700's Italian Old Master Ink & Wash Drawing Roman Allegorical Providenza
Located in Cirencester, Gloucestershire
'Providenza'
Italian School, 18th century
ink and wash drawing on paper, framed within a light oak wood frame (behind glass)
image size: 10.5 x 7 inches
overall framed: 17 x 13 inche...
Category
18th Century Old Masters Figurative Drawings and Watercolors
Materials
Ink, Watercolor, Archival Paper
Rare on the Art Market, A Drawing by Moitte, A Fashionable Couple, 1766
Located in Stockholm, SE
Pierre Etienne Moitte studied in Paris under Jacques-Firmin Beauvarlet and Pierre-François Beaumont (1719–1769). In 1771, he was accepted (agréé) by the Académie Royale de Peinture e...
Category
1760s Old Masters Figurative Drawings and Watercolors
Materials
Paper, Pencil
Mythological combat scene with Roman soldiers on horseback.
By Virgil Solis
Located in Middletown, NY
Pen and brownish black ink on grayish-cream laid paper, 6 1/2 x 8 inches (165 x 175 mm), irregular hexagonal sheet with margins. Some archival repairs along the top sheet edge, scatt...
Category
16th Century Old Masters Figurative Drawings and Watercolors
Materials
Ink, Laid Paper, Pen
Study of a Horseman Charging His Opponent
Located in Paris, Île-de-France
Attributed to Joseph Parrocel (1646–1704)
Study of a Horseman Charging His Opponent
Black chalk on cream paper
20 × 29 cm
France, late 17th century
Provenance:
– William Bateson ...
Category
Late 17th Century Old Masters Figurative Drawings and Watercolors
Materials
Chalk
Fine 1700's Italian Old Master Ink & Wash Drawing Roman Allegorical India
Located in Cirencester, Gloucestershire
'India'
Italian School, 18th century
ink and wash drawing on paper, framed within a light oak wood frame (behind glass)
image size: 10.5 x 7 inches
overall framed: 17 x 13 inches
con...
Category
18th Century Old Masters Figurative Drawings and Watercolors
Materials
Ink, Watercolor, Archival Paper
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 Figurative Drawings and Watercolors
Materials
India Ink
$576 Sale Price
30% Off
The Holy Family with the Infant Saint John the Baptist
By Raphael (Raffaello Sanzio da Urbino)
Located in Paris, Île-de-France
STUDIO OF RAFFAELLO SANZIO, called RAPHAEL
(Urbino 1483 – Rome 1520)
Title The Holy Family with the Infant Saint John the Baptist
Medium Pen and brown ink, brown wash, over black ch...
Category
16th Century Old Masters Figurative Drawings and Watercolors
Materials
Ink
Early 19th Century, Portrait of a young man wearing glasses, gouache
Located in Paris, FR
Early 19th Century,
Portrait of a young man wearing glasses,
gouache on paper
13 x 10.5 cm oval view
In a vintage frame : 41.5 x 39 cm, accidents and lacks in the gilding but but...
Category
1820s Old Masters Figurative Drawings and Watercolors
Materials
Gouache
Fine 18th Century French Old Master Ink Wash Drawing Cain & Abel Fighting
Located in Cirencester, Gloucestershire
'Cain et Abel'
Circle of Franois Devosge
(1732-1811) French
pencil drawing with watercolour wash on paper
size: 12.25 x 9 inches
private collection, France
The painting is in overall...
Category
18th Century Old Masters Figurative Drawings and Watercolors
Materials
Washi Paper, Color Pencil
$872 Sale Price
30% Off
Studies for the Judgment of Solomon, a double-sided drawing by Simone Cantarini
Located in PARIS, FR
In this double-sided red chalk study, Simone Cantarini offers us a double reflection on the theme of the Judgment of Solomon. This sheet reveals his precise style and his sense of de...
Category
1640s Old Masters Figurative Drawings and Watercolors
Materials
Chalk, Laid Paper
Dancing Couple
Located in Paris, Île-de-France
Attributed to Charles-Nicolas Cochin the Younger (Paris, 1715 – 1790)
Dancing Couple
Circa 1765–1770
Red chalk on cream paper; verso in black and red chalk
34 × 21 cm
Unsigned
Pro...
Category
Late 18th Century Old Masters Figurative Drawings and Watercolors
Materials
Chalk
17th Century Old Master Drawing
Located in San Francisco, CA
17th Century Old Master Drawing
Old master drawing with figure and putti
Housed in a handsome contemporary wooden frame
Drawing dimensions 4...
Category
17th Century Old Masters Figurative Drawings and Watercolors
Materials
Graphite
Baldassarre Franceschini, Sleeping Cupid, Valentine's Day Gift
Located in Harkstead, GB
A beautiful 19th century copy by Giuseppe Rocchi of Baldassarre Franceschini's Sleeping Cupid, presented in a very attractive gilt frame with hand carved mouldings. A very peaceful i...
Category
Mid-19th Century Old Masters Figurative Drawings and Watercolors
Materials
Paper, Watercolor
$1,337 Sale Price
20% Off
19th Century Italian Miniature Painting Christ Garden of Gethsemane Angels
Located in Cirencester, Gloucestershire
Italian School, late 19th century
Christ in the Garden of Gethsemane
miniature painting, framed
framed: 3.5 x 3 inches
image: 2.5 x 2 inches
provenance: private collection, Italy
con...
Category
Late 19th Century Old Masters Figurative Drawings and Watercolors
Materials
Watercolor
$1,155 Sale Price
30% Off
French school 18th Century, A mytholological scene with a couple, drawing
Located in Paris, FR
French school 18th Century,
A mytholological scene with a couple,
Pen and brown ink, brown ink wash on paper
11.5 x 11.5 cm, diameter of the main scene : 10,5 cm
in a modern frame under glass : 33.5 x 33.5 cm
This drawing by a particularly talented 18th-century artist - as yet unidentified - is notable for its mastery of pen and wash...
Category
1760s Old Masters Figurative Drawings and Watercolors
Materials
Ink
The Torture of Saint Concordia
By Domenico Piola the Elder
Located in Paris, Île-de-France
Circle of Domenico Piola (Genoa 1627 – 1703)
The Torture of Saint Concordia
Black chalk, brown ink and brown wash on two sheets of paper,
40.5 x 42 cm
Unsigned
Provenance:
Estate...
Category
17th Century Old Masters Figurative Drawings and Watercolors
Materials
Ink
Ancient Persian Miniature - Original China Ink and Watercolour - 19th Century
Located in Roma, IT
Ancient Persian Miniature is an original China Ink and Watercolour realized by an artist of 19th Century.
Good condition for a little brown ...
Category
19th Century Old Masters Figurative Drawings and Watercolors
Materials
Ink, Watercolor
Study for Assumption of the Virgin
Located in Middletown, NY
Graphite on hand made, fibrous wove paper, finished with gray wash. Unevenly trimmed sheet edges, non-archival tape remnants at all four corners, recto, well outside of image area. Horseshoe-shaped area of light discoloration that extends significantly into the figure's face, beneath the lips, and up over the rear of the head, dog-eared right lower corner with associated light discoloration at crease. DeMin and Belluno inscribed in graphite, verso.
A detailed study showing 'primo pensiero' for Giovanni DeMin's large scale fresco, Assumption of the Virgin...
Category
Mid-19th Century Old Masters Figurative Drawings and Watercolors
Materials
Handmade Paper, Graphite
Woman Bathing Her Feet in a Brook by Rembrandt van Rijn
Located in New Orleans, LA
Rembrandt van Rijn
1606-1669 Dutch
Woman Bathing Her Feet in a Brook
Etching on paper
New Hollstein's 309, second state of II
Signed and dated "Rembrandt f. 1658" (upper left)
Created from observations of a live model, this work started as a figure study before evolving into a more imaginative setting. It remains ambiguous whether the scene is set indoors, as suggested by the cushion the figure is seated on, or outdoors, indicated by the foliage in the background. The omission of her feet, suggesting they may be dangling in a brook, adds a charming touch to Rembrandt’s imaginative scene. The figure seems unaware of the viewer, presenting a dignified yet sensual demeanor.
The son of a miller, Rembrandt van Rijn is believed to have been born in Leiden on July 15, 1606. He studied first at the Latin School and then was enrolled at the University of Leiden at the age of 14. He soon left to study art—first with a local master, Jacob van Swanenburch, and then, in Amsterdam, with Pieter Lastman...
Category
17th Century Old Masters Figurative Drawings and Watercolors
Materials
Etching, Paper
Fine 1700's Italian Old Master Ink & Wash Drawing Roman Allegorical Napoli
Located in Cirencester, Gloucestershire
'Napoli'
Italian School, 18th century
ink and wash drawing on paper, framed within a light oak wood frame (behind glass)
image size: 10.5 x 7 inches
overall framed: 17 x 13 inches
co...
Category
18th Century Old Masters Figurative Drawings and Watercolors
Materials
Ink, Watercolor, Archival Paper
Fine 17th Century Dutch Old Master Drawing Hunting Party Landscape
Located in Cirencester, Gloucestershire
The Hunting Party
Attributed to Dirk Maes (1659-1717) Dutch.
Figures in a Classical Landscape,
Watercolour and wash on paper,
Mounted, unframed image 6.75" x 9.75" (17.1 x 24.7cm)...
Category
17th Century Old Masters Figurative Drawings and Watercolors
Materials
Pencil, Watercolor
$1,072 Sale Price
30% Off
Fine 1700's Italian Old Master Ink & Wash Drawing Roman Allegorical Africa
Located in Cirencester, Gloucestershire
'Africa'
Italian School, 18th century
ink and wash drawing on paper, framed within a light oak wood frame (behind glass)
image size: 10.5 x 7 inches
overall framed: 17 x 13 inches
co...
Category
18th Century Old Masters Figurative Drawings and Watercolors
Materials
Ink, Watercolor, Archival Paper
17th C Dutch Old Master Ink & Wash Painting Biblical Figures Rembrandt Pupil
Located in Cirencester, Gloucestershire
Figure being Comforted (Job?)
circle of Willem Drost (Dutch 1633-1659) *See notes below
ink and wash drawing on paper (Arms of Amsterdam watermarked)
Dutc...
Category
Mid-17th Century Old Masters Figurative Drawings and Watercolors
Materials
Ink, Watercolor
$3,851 Sale Price
30% Off
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
18th Century Old Masters Figurative Drawings and Watercolors
Materials
Ink, Watercolor
Leaning Nude Man (recto); Kneeling Man, Hands Tied Behind His Back (verso)
By Giovanni Francesco Barbieri (Il Guercino)
Located in Paris, Île-de-France
GIOVANNI FRANCESCO BARBIERI, known as GUERCINO
(1591-1666)
Leaning Nude Man (recto); Kneeling Man, Hands Tied Behind His Back (verso)
Black chalk heightened with white on light blu...
Category
1620s Old Masters Figurative Drawings and Watercolors
Materials
Chalk, Charcoal
Fine 1700's Italian Old Master Ink & Wash Drawing Roman Allegorical Magnaminita
Located in Cirencester, Gloucestershire
'Mgnaminia'
Italian School, 18th century
ink and wash drawing on paper, framed within a light oak wood frame (behind glass)
image size: 10.5 x 7 inches
overall framed: 17 x 13 inches...
Category
18th Century Old Masters Figurative Drawings and Watercolors
Materials
Ink, Watercolor, Archival Paper
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
16th Century Old Masters Figurative Drawings and Watercolors
Materials
Ink
Drawing Ink 16th 17th Flemish DE VOS Religious Martyrdom of James The Great
Located in PARIS, FR
Flemish school from the beginning of the 17th century (Circle of Martin DE VOS) Drawing Pen and wash 38 x 32 cm (58 x 52 cm with the frame) Inscription "Martin de Vos" Excellent cond...
Category
Early 17th Century Old Masters Figurative Drawings and Watercolors
Materials
Handmade Paper
$2,402 Sale Price
20% 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
1770s Old Masters Figurative Drawings and Watercolors
Materials
Ink
FINE 18th CENTURY OLD MASTER CHALK DRAWING - ROMANESQUE FIGURES INTERIOR SCENE
Located in Cirencester, Gloucestershire
Artist/ School: French School, 18th century
Title: Classical figures within an interior.
Medium: chalk on paper, mounted.
Size: drawing: 11.5 x 13.5 inches
Provenance:...
Category
Early 18th Century Old Masters Figurative Drawings and Watercolors
Materials
Chalk
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
17th Century Old Masters Figurative Drawings and Watercolors
Materials
Copper
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
18th Century Old Masters Figurative Drawings and Watercolors
Materials
Handmade Paper, Graphite
Fine 17th Century Dutch Old Master Ink Drawing & Wash Visiting Angel
Located in Cirencester, Gloucestershire
The Angel
Dutch Old Master, 17th century
wash with pencil drawing on artist paper, framed
Glass covering
framed: 14 x 12.5 inches
board: 12.5 x 9.5 inches
condition: age related crea...
Category
17th Century Old Masters Figurative Drawings and Watercolors
Materials
Gouache, Ink
$877 Sale Price
30% Off
19th century watercolour of a Girl at her Dressing Table
Located in London, GB
Collections:
Muir Hetherington;
Sir John and Lady Witt, acquired 1974;
By descent to 2015.
Literature:
Tom Jones (ed.), William Henry Hunt 1790-1864, exh. cat., 1981, no. 145 (Girl in a bedroom);
John Witt, William Henry Hunt (1790-1864) Life and Work, London, 1982, no. 553, p. 194, colour pl. 16.
Exhibited:
Wolverhampton, Central Art Gallery, Preston, Harris Museum and Art Gallery and Hastings, Hastings Museum and Art Gallery, William Henry Hunt 1790-1864, 1981, no. 145 as Girl in a bedroom (Lent by Sir John & Lady Witt)
Framed dimensions: 20 x 20.75 inches
This unusually charming and well-preserved watercolour was painted by William Henry Hunt in around 1833. Almost certainly depicting his young wife, Sarah, possibly in the interior of her family home at Bramley in Hampshire. This work shows Hunt’s remarkable virtuosity as a watercolourist, Hunt, for example, articulates the profile of his young wife, by leaving a reserve of white paper to suggest the light modelling her features. Throughout the 1830s Hunt made a sequence of richly painted interior views of both domestic and agricultural spaces which pay scrupulous attention to detail.
Hunt was born in London, the son of a tin-plate worker and japanner. J. L. Roget recorded the observation of Hunt’s uncle: ‘nervy, little Billy Hunt… was always a poor cripple, and as he was fit for nothing, they made an artist of him.’ At the age of sixteen he was apprenticed to the landscape painter John Varley for seven years, moving to live with Varley at 18 Broad Street, Golden Square, London. There he made close friends with both John Linnell and William Mulready. Hunt worked at the ‘Monro Academy’, at 8 Adelphi Terrace, London, the house of Dr Thomas Monro, an enthusiastic patron of landscape watercolourists. Through Monro, Hunt was introduced to the 5th Earl of Essex...
Category
19th Century Old Masters Figurative Drawings and Watercolors
Materials
Watercolor, Pencil
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
Mid-18th Century Old Masters Figurative Drawings and Watercolors
Materials
Ink, Handmade Paper, Laid Paper
Baptism of Christ - Ink Drawing by Anonymous XIX Century
Located in Roma, IT
Baptism of Christ is a beautiful original drawing (pen and ink on paper) by an anonymous of the Neoclassical school of the beginning of the 19th century.
A ...
Category
19th Century Old Masters Figurative Drawings and Watercolors
Materials
Ink
$810 Sale Price
25% Off
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
1750s Old Masters Figurative Drawings and Watercolors
Materials
Chalk, Ink
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
16th Century Old Masters Figurative Drawings and Watercolors
Materials
Ink, Handmade Paper, Graphite
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
1760s Old Masters Figurative Drawings and Watercolors
Materials
Ink
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
Early 18th Century Old Masters Figurative Drawings and Watercolors
Materials
Ink, Chalk
Madonna della Scodella
Located in Roma, IT
Madonna della Scodella is an original drawing (black pencil, pen and ink on laid paper) by an exponent of the Italian school of the eighteenth century.
In excellent conditions: almo...
Category
19th Century Old Masters Figurative Drawings and Watercolors
Materials
Ink
$1,802 Sale Price
25% Off
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
1760s Old Masters Figurative Drawings and Watercolors
Materials
Chalk
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
1710s Old Masters Figurative Drawings and Watercolors
Materials
Canvas, Oil
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
Early 18th Century Old Masters Figurative Drawings and Watercolors
Materials
Ink
$608 Sale Price
25% Off
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
16th Century Old Masters Figurative Drawings and Watercolors
Materials
Paper, Pencil
$3,652 Sale Price
20% Off
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
Late 17th Century Old Masters Figurative Drawings and Watercolors
Materials
Paper, Charcoal, Chalk
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
1780s Old Masters Figurative Drawings and Watercolors
Materials
Pastel, Laid Paper
$1,200 Sale Price
78% Off
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
1740s Old Masters Figurative Drawings and Watercolors
Materials
Watercolor, Pencil
$585 Sale Price
25% Off
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
16th Century Old Masters 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
1760s Old Masters Figurative Drawings and Watercolors
Materials
Chalk
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
1780s Old Masters Figurative Drawings and Watercolors
Materials
Ink
$432 Sale Price
25% Off
Tarantella - Watercolor by M. De Vito - 19th Century
Located in Roma, IT
Tarantella is an original watercolor on ivory-colored paper, realized by Michela De Vito in the first half of XIX century.
Good conditions except for shading and light stains along...
Category
1820s Old Masters Figurative Drawings and Watercolors
Materials
Watercolor
$675 Sale Price
25% Off
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
18th Century Old Masters Figurative Drawings and Watercolors
Materials
Ink
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
1750s Old Masters Figurative Drawings and Watercolors
Materials
Paper, Ink, Watercolor
The Adoration -Painting by Giuseppe Assereto - 1630
Located in Roma, IT
The Adoration is an original modern artwork realized by Giuseppe Assereto (died in Genoa in 1650) in the first half of the 17th Century.
Original Oil Painting on Canvas.
A 19th Century style gilded wood frame is included.
The Autograph of the work was confirmed by Camillo Manzitti.
Very good conditions. The frame is in excellent conditions too.
Reference:
C. Marcenaro, Pittori genovesi a Genova nel '600 e nel '700, Genova 1969, pp. 134 ; 135, n. 55.
Z. Wazbinski, Un Quadro Caravaggesco Di Gioacchino Assereto, in Prospettiva, n. 26, 1981, pp. 60 ; 63.
F. R. Pesenti, La Pittura in Liguria. Artisti del primo Seicento, Genova 1986, p. 397, nota 23.
A. Gesino, Tracce di Matthias Stom nel collezionismo tra la Sicilia e Genova, in Caravaggio e i genovesi, catalogo della Mostra a cura di A. Orlando, Genova 2019, pp. 182 ; 195.
The Adoration is an excellent example of the XVII Century Italian Painting. The style of the work denotes the suggestive influence of Assereto father's mature production, when influenced by Mathias Stom (Amersfoort, about 1600 - Sicily, after 1650) expresses dark sensibilities in a southern Italian style. In his works, however, there is an accentuated naturalism and interesting similarities with the production of Giovanni Benedetto Castiglione. Gioacchino Assereto died in 1650, while, according to Soprani, he was intent on painting a Last Supper for the oratory...
Category
1630s Old Masters Figurative Drawings and Watercolors
Materials
Oil
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
1760s Old Masters Figurative Drawings and Watercolors
Materials
Chalk
Early 19th century French School, Portrait of a man in profile, oval drawing
Located in Paris, FR
Early 19th century French School,
Portrait of a young man in profile
charcoal on cut paper applied to pink tinted paper
Oval 58 x 47 cm (overall size) the portrait itself 41.5 x 28...
Category
Early 1800s Old Masters Figurative Drawings and Watercolors
Materials
Charcoal
Old Masters figurative drawings and watercolors for sale on 1stDibs.
Find a wide variety of authentic Old Masters figurative 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. If you’re looking to add figurative drawings and watercolors created in this style to introduce contrast in an otherwise neutral space in your home, the works available on 1stDibs include elements of orange and other colors. Many Pop art paintings were created by popular artists on 1stDibs, including Michela De Vito, Jan Pieter Verdussen, Jan Peeter Verdussen, and Augustin de Saint-Aubin. Frequently made by artists working with Paint, and Watercolor 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 figurative drawings and watercolors, so small editions measuring 1.89 inches across are also available. Prices for figurative 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 $121 and tops out at $50,000, while the average work sells for $1,001.