Mid-18th Century Drawings and Watercolor Paintings

An allegory of loyalty, with the subject's dog pictured seated, holding his master's chisel in his mouth; fidelity personified. Italian School, 18th century Ink wash in gray and bl...

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...

St. Gregory in Rome is a beautiful artwork realized by Jan Peter Verdussen in 1741. Ink and watercolour on brown paper. In very good codition. Dated on the lower margin. The origin...

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...

VERY IMPORTANT DRAWING BY JACQUES DUMONT called « LE ROMAIN" (Paris 1701-1781) Preparations for the fireworks display held in Piazza Navona in Rome on November 30, 1729, for the bi...

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bottom of the composition, is particularly interesting: dating from around 1756, it constitutes a modello (apparently unpublished) for the frontispiece of the "Catalogue des tableaux de Monsieur de Julienne"), preserved in the Morgan Library in New York. 1.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...

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...

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...

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...

We would like to thank Madame Beck-Saiello for confirming the autograph nature of this drawing after an in-person examination. It was probably during an excursion in the countryside near Avignon that Claude-Joseph Vernet executed this drawing, enhanced with pen and brown ink, depicting a mansion on a hilltop overlooking a small village with geometric shapes. 1. Joseph Vernet, a painter influenced by Italy Claude-Joseph Vernet was born in Avignon in 1714, the son of Antoine Vernet (1689-1753), an artisan painter of architectural decorations, coach panels, and the like. He moved to the studio of Philippe Sauvan (1697-1792), a leading history painter in Avignon, and then worked with Jacques Viali (active 1681-1745), a decorative, landscape, and marine painter in Aix-en-Provence. Vernet's first recorded paintings were decorative overdoors executed in 1731 in the Aix townhouse of the marquise de Simiane. In 1734, Joseph de Seytres, marquis de Caumont, a leading amateur in Avignon, sponsored Vernet to make a study trip to Italy to complete his artistic education and to draw antiquities for his patron. As Avignon was a papal territory in Vernet's day, he also had a number of useful introductions among influential churchmen when he arrived in Rome. Vernet was soon at home in the French community there, and he was encouraged by Nicolas Vleughels (1668-1737), director of the Académie de France in Rome, even though the young painter had no official affiliation with the royal institution. He likely entered the studio of the French marine painter Adrien Manglard...

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...

A pair of oval drawings for Ovid, Metamophoses Left: The Triumph of Amphitrite (Book I) Right: Diana and Actaeon (Book III) From: Ovid, Metamophoses These mythological studies are after paintings by Simon Vouet (1590-1649) that decorated the Chateau de Chilly. They were commissioned by the Marquis D'Effiat in 1630-31. The scholarly record documenting the commission are a series of engravings by Michel...

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...

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...

China ink and watercolour on paper. Some foxing, otherwise very good condition. Titled and dated. Includes passepartout.

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...

China ink and Watercolour. With handwritten notes, indicating the place and date of the artwork in lower margin: "Fait proche de Turin, ce 13 Juin 1744". Numbered on the lower right ...

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. ...

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...

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...

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...

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...

The painting is signed and dated 1858 Felix Schlesinger (1833-1910) was a German painter known for his charming and detailed portrayals of domestic ...

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...

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..(...

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...

Early naturalistic wildlife rendering by the English artist Peter Paillou. The work features a delicately rendered depiction of a possible capuchin monke...

Barbara Regina Dietzsch, 1706-1783 White Primrose, Japanese Quince, a Beetle, and a Butterfly, ca. 1730 Opaque watercolor painting inscribed on...

Robert Healy (1743-1771) (attrib.) Bust-length study of a fashionable lady, c. 1760s Black chalk on prepared laid blue paper, heightened with white 15.6 x 24.4 cm.; (within frame) 5...

China ink and watercolour on paper. Realized in 1740 ca. Very good conditions. Includes passepartout.

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...

Pen and brown ink and brown and grey washes on paper Signed top middle Image size: 10 x 3 3/4 inches (25.5 x 8 cm) The sketch is a useful example of Bigari's work in the late-Baroqu...

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...

China ink and watercolor on paper. Hand dated. Conditions: Foxing on the top right of the paper

Pen and sepia ink wash on cream laid paper, 4 1/8 x 6 3/16 inches (103 x 152 mm). In good condition with scattered areas of light brown discoloration, and un...

Pastel on paper Image size: 13 x 17 1/2 inches (33 x 44.5 cm) Mounted and framed This original pastel drawing by Thomas Frye is a half-length portrait of a man dressed in a turban. This drawing is the original sketch for one of the heads depicted in Frye's collection 'Twelve Mezzotint Prints' of 1760 and it can be assumed that this pastel work was created earlier of this same year. Two versions of the print, created from this original work, are currently held in the collection of the National Portrait Gallery and the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Frye's evocative figures, although presumably based on living models, exceed the conventions of portraiture, and also function as character studies. The man shown here - dressed in the fashionable 'Turkish' manner - turns with parted lips as if poised to speak, while raising the elegant fingers in one hand in a rhetorical gesture. His long eyelashes and smoothly rendered wrinkles and dimples are hallmarks of Frye's refined style. The Artist Thomas Frye (c. 1710 – 3 April 1762) was an Anglo-Irish artist, best known for his portraits in oil and pastel, including some miniatures and his early mezzotint engravings. He was also the patentee of the Bow porcelain factory, London, and claimed in his epitaph to be "the inventor and first manufacturer of porcelain in England," though his rivals at the Chelsea porcelain factory seem to have preceded him in bringing wares to market. The Bow porcelain works did not long survive Frye's death; their final auctions took place in May 1764. Frye was born at Edenderry, County Offaly, Ireland, in 1710; in his youth he went to London to practice as an artist. His earliest works are a pair of pastel portraits of boys...

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...

We would like to thank Mrs. Bozena Anna Kowalczyk for confirming the attribution of this drawing to Giuseppe Nogari in a study (available in Italian) from which we have taken our ins...

China ink and watercolor on paper. Conditions: Two cuts on the centre of the paper. Three holes on centre-right, botton-left and top-left of the paper. Worn on the top left of the ...

French School 18th Century, L'étonnement, Astonishment as a form of expression, Titled on the lower right "L'étonnement N°9" Black chalk on paper 43 x 29 cm In good condition, a sta...

Landscape with Figures in the English Countryside Pen, ink and graphite with gray and brown washes on laid watermarked paper, c. 1740 Signed by the artist lower left of image: "Chate...

French School 18th Century, Le Rire, Laughter as a form of expression, Titled on the lower right "Le rire N°12" Black chalk on paper 43 x 29 cm In quite good condition, stains vsibl...

Garden's Flowers is a beautiful artwork realized by Jan Peter Verdussen. In good condition. Not signed. Passepartout included ( 48.8 x 33.8 cm). The artwork represents a Garden's...

China ink and watercolour on paper. Hand dated. Good condition except for some foxing.

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.

Speech is an original and unique drawing in ink on paper realized by Jan Peter Verdussen, with sketches on the rear. The State of preservation is very good with the traces of time. ...

Italian School 18th Century An Ancient soldier in profile, red chalk on paper 35 x 23.5 cm in good condition, traces of folds in the lower right corner Framed : 46.5 x 35.5 cm This...

French School 18th Century, Le Mépris et la Haine, Contempt and Hate as a form of expression, Titled on the lower right "Le mépris et la haine N°7" Black c...

China ink and watercolor on paper realized by Jan Peter Verdussen in 1742. Hand dated. Conditions: five holes on top margin and on the bottom right of the paper. Foxing on the top ...

This masterly frontispiece study, executed with a very sure hand, testifies to the survival of the great Baroque taste in 18th century Venice. It could be one of the very last works by Giovanni Antonio Pellegrini: the few lines that cross the papal arms evoke those of Benedict XIV, who became pope in 1740, one year before the artist's death. 1. Giovanni Antonio Pellegrini and the European influence of Venetian history painting in the 18th century Giovanni Antonio Pellegrini was born in Venice in 1675 and trained in the studio of the Milanese painter Paolo Pagani (1655 - 1716). Pagani, who had been living in Venice since 1667, took him to Moravia and Vienna from 1690 to 1696. After a stay in Rome from 1699 to 1701, Pellegrini married Angiola Carriera in 1704, the sister of the great pastelist Rosalba Carriera. From 1708 onwards, Pellegrini left Venice and began an extensive tour of Europe: he worked in England between 1708 and 1713, where he met great success, particularly at Kimbolton Castle and Castle Howard. He then worked in Germany and the Netherlands, then in Bohemia and Austria, before returning briefly to England in 1719. In 1720 he was in Paris where he decorated the ceilings of the Royal Bank for John Law...

David Hall McKewan (English, 1817-1873) Raglan Castle Watercolor on paper, 9 x 13 inches (sight) David Hall McKewan studied watercolor painting under David Cox (the elder) and exhib...

In this lively and fresh drawing, probably taken from one of the artist's notebooks, Pajou presents us with a composition freely inspired by antiquity, as a souvenir of a visit to th...

In this drawing, inspired by his stay in Naples in 1765, William Marlow presents us with a view of Cape Posillipo, to the west of Naples, an essential stage during the Grand Tour. Th...

Arriving in Rome in June 1735 as a resident at the Royal Academy, Pierre was unable to attend the Winter Carnival festivities of 1735, which he nevertheless immortalised in an engrav...