17th Century Portrait Drawings and Watercolors

An 18th century study drawing of a bust depicting Caracalla, possibly executed by Johan Tobias Sergel during his Roman period. Red chalk on paper with wa...

Lagneau is one of the most mysterious French artists of the time of Louis XIII. While his name is the only bibliographic record we have, he left behind a dazzling series of pastel portraits, widely represented in the major public collections. Here is a typical work of his production: the portrait of an anonymous man, aged about sixty, who looks at us with an air of connivance and a smile... 1. "Lagneau mythique" or the five-legged sheep The total absence of any anchor point on the life of Lagneau - an artist whose supposed first name (Nicolas) remains questionable - has led some art historians to indulge in these easy puns on our artist's name. The consensus of historians today is that Lagneau "must have been born at the end of the sixteenth century and still lived (or died) at the beginning of the reign of Louis XIV" . His name (then spelt "Laneau") appears in the inventory drawn up in 1666 after the death of the painter and print publisher Jean 1er Leblond, even though his work had hardly been engraved (we shall return to this point). Marolles is the first to mention it in his Livre des peintres, composed in the 1670s; "he speaks of him in the imperfect tense, which may lead one to believe that the artist had died by that date". These few elements do not answer any of the questions that one might legitimately ask about the artist's life or the purpose of his work. If these drawings seem to be real portraits and not expressive heads, we know neither why they were drawn, nor who they represent since "it has not been possible to identify a single model of Lagneau". There is only one book entirely devoted to the artist, the catalogue of the exhibition held in Chantilly in 2005, on which we did rely extensively for this note. While it is impossible to know whether Lagneau remained in Paris (as the early collections in which his portraits appear might suggest), or travelled, for example to Lorraine ( as some of his expressions bring him closer to Georges de la Tour), it is certain that Lagneau was not a court amn, as his models generally belonged to the low or middle classes. 2. Description of the portrait and related artworks This portrait is presenting to us with a a strong realism a middle-aged man, with a lively and mischievous look, his nose and cheeks reddened by the cold (or by the heat of a fireplace). The hair sticking...

This cabinet miniature is truly an artistic tour de force: in an area of just a few inches, the artist manages to portray Narcissus, who is reflected in the water in the foreground, and an attractive landscape behind him. The career of Henri Gascar...

The imprisonment is an original China Ink Drawing realized by an unkown artist in 17th century. Very good condition included a cream colored cardboard passpartout (60x50 cm). No si...

Signed and dated in pencil, l.r.; Also inscribed in pencil, l.l. Colored pencil on watercolor paper 16 x 12.5 inches (40.6 x 31.8 cm) This artwork is offered by ClampArt, located...

Fine quality Italian Baroque period head portrait of a bearded man. The work dates to the 17th century. Executed in pencil on thick paper, the drawing will have originally been made in preparation for a larger painting. Preparatory studies were often made by Masters for their pupils or studio assistants to develop later within the studio. Quality and rare work from this important period of Italian art. Provenance: the drawing was acquired from a private collection of Old Master drawings...