Handmade Paper Portrait Drawings and Watercolors

Black chalk and graphite on light weight cream wove paper, 16 1/8 x 11 1/4 inches, (410 x 286 mm), the full sheet. Signed, titled, and dated in sepia ink in the lower-center sheet area. With horizontal folds approximately 1-inch from the sheet edge at each of the four sheets. The drawing appears to have been folded at the sheet edges to fit into a frame. Finn mac Cumail (or mac Umaill), often anglicized Finn McCool or MacCool, is a hero in Irish mythology, as well as in later Scottish and Manx folklore. He is the leader of the Fianna bands of young roving hunter-warriors, as well as being a seer and poet. He is said to have a magic thumb that bestows him with great wisdom. He is often depicted hunting with his hounds Bran and Sceólang, and fighting with his spear and sword. Fionn MacCumhail was transformed into the character "Fingal" in James Macpherson's poem cycle Ossian (1760), which Macpherson claimed was translated out of discovered Ossianic poetry written in the Scottish Gaelic language. Fionn MacCumhail features heavily in modern Irish literature. Most notably he makes several appearances in James Joyce's Finnegans Wake...

Brownish ink and grayish ink wash with white heightening on handmade cream laid paper, 10 5/8 x 8 1/4 inches (267 x 208 mm)(matrix). Scattered minor losses to top sheet edge (outside...

A wonderful 1824 preparatory drawing for a published work satirizing the famously ill-mannered 10th Hussars. 1842. Pen and ink with watercolor on watermarked J Whatman 1824 paper, 9...

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...

Obsessive, meticulous, almost monastic, Kramer immerses us in a universe of graphic and sculptural repetitions. His drawings on kraft paper glued with rabbit glue recall both ancient...

Ritratto di Noemi, 2019 Graphite and White Chalk on Toned Paper, 7 x 10 inches “Ritratto di Noemi”, a captivating portrait, by artist Justas Varp...

Helene Rutkowski is an artist who was born in 1862. The maker's first piece to be offered at auction was "Baumbestandene Allee im Herbst" at Quentin Auction House in 2021. She worked in the style of Realism and Expressionism and her works remind one of Käthe Kollwitz. This beautiful drawing...

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...

Graphite with white heightening on greenish beige wove paper, 17 1/4 x 12 1/2 (437 x 317 mm). Scattered edge wear, tears and losses around the perimeter of the drawing. Margins are wide and the image area is clean and intact. Scattered light soiling and toning, all consistent with age. A dramatic image by a highly skilled draftsman, this works is likely a life study of the Hellenistic sculptural masterpiece of the same title, which is housed in the Uffizi's collection of ancient statues...

Obsessive, meticulous, almost monastic, Kramer immerses us in a universe of graphic and sculptural repetitions. His drawings on kraft paper glued with rabbit glue recall both ancient...

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...

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...

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...

Pen and ink with wash on watermarked J Whatman 1814 paper, 11 x 8 1/4 (280 x 210 mm). Scattered minor edge losses at the left sheet edge, well outside of image area. Minor handling w...

This is an engaging work with masterful detail that will unfold for an intent viewer, particularly in the area of the figure's well-worn hands, and her traditional clothing. The image depicts a Bavarian woman deep in thought while winding a skein of wool. She is seated outside of her home, where she has brought her yarn swift...

Red crayon on brown light-wove paper, 6 3/4 x 4 3/4 inches (172 x 121 mm). Light toning and extremely minor, small losses at the very extreme top right and left corners (1/8-inch).

Pencil study portrait drawing of a child painting at an easel by French artist Charles-Jean Agard. The work is signed bottom left and presented in a carved wood and gilt frame with mount under glass. A very charming pencil study of a child sitting at an easel. Agard has beautifully captured the head and face in full, with the light and shade, the rest of the body and surroundings are in sketch form, the contrast between the two making for a very successful composition beautifully capturing the intensity of the sitter. Charles Agard...

Stately sanguine portrait of Leopold Hamilton Myers (Novelist) by Sir William Rothenstein (English, 1872-1945). Captured in Rothenstein's characteristic style, Myers looks directly at the viewer with a neutral expression. Although this portrait uses only two colors and minimal shading, the likeness of Myers is incredibly well captured. Leo (Leopold) Hamilton Myers (1881 – 1944) was a British novelist. Numerous examples like this one of the writer are in the Tate Museum. Initialed and dated in the lower right corner ("W.R. 1936") Inscription on verso indicating materials, subject, and artist. Presented in a new cream colored mat with foamcore backing. Mat size: 18"H x 12"W Paper size: 15.25"H x 10.75"W William Rothenstein (English, 1872-1945) was born into a German-Jewish family in Bradford, West Yorkshire. His father, Moritz, emigrated from Germany in 1859 to work in Bradford's burgeoning textile industry. Soon afterwards he married Bertha Dux, and they had six children, of which William was the fifth. Rothenstein was knighted in 1931. Rothenstein left Bradford Grammar School at the age of sixteen to study at the Slade School of Art*, London (1888-1893), where he was taught by Alphonse Legros, and the Académie Julian* in Paris (1889-1893), where he met and was encouraged by James McNeill Whistler, Edgar Degas and Henri Toulouse-Lautrec. Whilst in Paris he also befriended the Anglo-Australian artist Charles Conder, with whom he shared a studio in Montmartre. In 1893 he returned to England to work on "Oxford Characters" a series of lithographic* portraits. In Oxford he met and became a close friend of the caricaturist* and parodist Max Beerbohm, who later immortalised him in the short story Enoch Soames (1919). During the 1890s Rothenstein exhibited with the New English Art Club* and, in 1900, won a silver medal for his painting The Doll's House at the Exposition Universelle. In 1898 he co-founded the Carfax Gallery in St. James' Piccadilly with John Fothergill. During its early years the gallery was closely associated with such artists as Charles Conder, Philip Wilson Steer, Charles Ricketts and Augustus John. It also exhibited the work of Auguste Rodin, whose growing reputation in England owed much to Rothenstein's friendship and missionary zeal. The gallery was later the home for all three exhibitions of The Camden Town Group*, led by Rothenstein's friend and close contemporary Walter Sickert. Rothenstein is best known for his portrait drawings of famous individuals and for being an official war artist in both World War I and World War II. He was also a member of the International Society of Sculptors, Painters & Gravers. The style and subject of his paintings varies, though certain themes reappear, in particular an interest in 'weighty' or 'essential' subjects tackled in a restrained manner. Good examples include Parting at Morning (1891), Mother and Child (1903) and Jews Mourning at a Synagogue (1907) - all of which are owned by the Tate Gallery. The National Portrait Gallery owns over two hundred of his portraits. In 2011 the BBC and the Public Catalogue Foundation began cataloguing all of his paintings in public ownership online. Between 1902 and 1912 Rothenstein lived in Hampstead, London, where his social circle included such names as H.G.Wells, Joseph Conrad and the artist Augustus John. Amongst the young artists to visit Rothenstein in Hampstead were Mark Gertler...

Sanctus Paulus, 2024 Graphite and White Chalk on Toned Paper, 6 x 6.5 inches A source of firm contemplation, Justas Varpucanskis’s drawing “Sanctus Paulus” is a resolute rendition ...

Inspired by the theatre world, Devi had retained her own unique drawing strokes. Her works reflect an approachable other-worldliness. She paints a story to be told and answered. The...

Mixed media on paper. Framed: 15" x 18" My work comes from observation, memory and imagination. Collective daydreams that make another world out of this world--the experience of ‘in...

"Hula Study" is an energetic and unique charcoal on paper by Patsy McArthur showing a female figure dancing with a hula hoop. It is created using charcoal and pastel on pale pink Mur...