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Period: 18th Century and Earlier
Mughal School, 18th Century Emperor Jahangir with Empress Nur Jahan
Located in Middletown, NY
Emperor Jahangir and Empress Nur Jahan exchanging lotus blossoms; a symbol of beauty, purity, honesty, rebirth, self-regeneration, and enlightenment....
Category
Rajput 18th Century and Earlier Portrait Drawings and Watercolors
Materials
Gold
Neoclassical composition of a sculptor kneeling before his statue of the Madonna
Located in Middletown, NY
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...
Category
Italian School 18th Century and Earlier Portrait Drawings and Watercolors
Materials
Laid Paper, Ink, Watercolor
Mughal School, 17th century – Emperor Jahangir reclining in his harem
Located in Middletown, NY
An illuminated page from a book likely in reference to palace life during Emperor Jahangir's reign over the Mughal Empire.
Circa 1690. Gouache and ink with gold heightening on light...
Category
Rajput 18th Century and Earlier Portrait Drawings and Watercolors
Materials
Gold
Mughal School, 18th century Emperor Jahangir with Empress Nur Jahan & concubine
Located in Middletown, NY
An illuminated page from a book likely in reference to palace life during Emperor Jahangir's reign over the Mughal Empire.
circa 1750. Gouache and ink with heightening in gold on li...
Category
Rajput 18th Century and Earlier Portrait Drawings and Watercolors
Materials
Gold
Mughal School, 18th century Emperor Jangahir on a pleasure boat with his harem a
Located in Middletown, NY
Emperor Jahangir depicted with his harem attendees aboard a pleasure cruise, the water filled with lotus blossoms; symbols of paradise itself.
Circa 1750. Gouache and ink with gold ...
Category
Rajput 18th Century and Earlier Portrait Drawings and Watercolors
Materials
Gold
Mughal School, 18th century – Emperor Jahangir in his harem in flagrante delicto
Located in Middletown, NY
An illuminated page from a book likely in reference to palace life during Emperor Jahangir's reign over the Mughal Empire.
Circa 1750. Gouache and ink with gold heightening on cre...
Category
Rajput 18th Century and Earlier Portrait Drawings and Watercolors
Materials
Gold
18th Century Pastel Portrait of a Gentleman
Located in Cotignac, FR
Late 18th Century pastel portrait on paper of a bearded gentleman. Presented under glass in a fine period gilded carved wood frame.
A cha...
Category
Rococo 18th Century and Earlier Portrait Drawings and Watercolors
Materials
Pastel, Paper
$843 Sale Price
20% Off
Mughal School, 18th century – Emperor Jahangir in his harem in flagrante delicto
Located in Middletown, NY
Emperor Jahangir in his harem surrounded by lotus blossoms; symbols of paradise itself.
Circa 1690. Gouache and ink with gold heightening on cream laid paper, 8 1/2 x 6 1/4 inches (...
Category
Rajput 18th Century and Earlier Portrait Drawings and Watercolors
Materials
Gold
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
Old Masters 18th Century and Earlier Portrait Drawings and Watercolors
Materials
Ink, Laid Paper, Pen
Mughal School, 18th century – Emperor Jahangir dancing with his harem attendees
Located in Middletown, NY
A joyful scene of lighthearted merriment in the palace of Jangahir Mahal Agra
Circa 1750. Gouache and ink with gold heightening on light weight cream laid paper, 8 1/4 x 6 inches (2...
Category
Rajput 18th Century and Earlier Portrait Drawings and Watercolors
Materials
Gold
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
Old Masters 18th Century and Earlier Portrait Drawings and Watercolors
Materials
Ink, Watercolor, Vellum, Pencil
Mughal School, 18th century Emperor Jahangir with Empress Nur Jahan on a Tiger
Located in Middletown, NY
circa 1750. Gouache and ink with heightening in gold on brown laid paper, 12 1/2 x 8 1/4 inches (317 x 210 mm), with a floral-motif border painted in blue and gold, the full sheet. With extensive inscriptions in Persian written in black ink on the verso. In good condition with extraordinary color. We see Empress Nur Jahan making an offering to a sage in his hut, as Emperor Jahangir looks on from a tree stand.
Nur Jahan was fond of hunting and often went on hunting tours with her husband and was known for her boldness in hunting ferocious tigers. She is reported to have slain four tigers with six bullets during one hunt. According to Sir Syed Ahmad Khan this feat, inspired a poet to declaim a spontaneous couplet in her honor: "Though Nur Jahan be in form a woman, In the ranks of men she...
Category
Rajput 18th Century and Earlier Portrait Drawings and Watercolors
Materials
Gold
Mughal School, 18th century Emperor Jahangir taking tea in his harem
Located in Middletown, NY
An illuminated page from a book likely in reference to palace life during Emperor Jahangir's reign over the Mughal Empire.
circa 1750. Gouache and ink with heightening in gold on li...
Category
Rajput 18th Century and Earlier Portrait Drawings and Watercolors
Materials
Gold
A pair of portraits in profile (2 works) – English School, 18th century
Located in Middletown, NY
Red crayon on cream laid paper, 3 3/4 x 4 inches (95 x 102 mm) ; 3 3/4 x 3 1/8 inches (95 x 80 mm). Each with scattered early repairs done with non-archival tape on the verso; the sm...
Category
English School 18th Century and Earlier Portrait Drawings and Watercolors
Materials
Crayon, Laid Paper
Antique French Miniature Portrait of Lady Biographical details with painting
Located in Cirencester, Gloucestershire
Miniature Portrait
French School, late 18th/ early 19th century
framed: 5.5 x 5.5 inches
board: 2 x 2 inches
provenance: private collection, France
condition: very good and sound c...
Category
Old Masters 18th Century and Earlier Portrait Drawings and Watercolors
Materials
Watercolor
Antique Italian artist - 18th/19th century figure drawing - St. Sebastian
Located in Varmo, IT
Italian artist (18th-19th century) - Study for a St. Sebastian.
28 x 22 cm. 50 x 35 cm with passepartout.
Ink and pencil drawing on paper, without frame (not signed).
Condition re...
Category
Baroque 18th Century and Earlier Portrait Drawings and Watercolors
Materials
Paper, Pencil
$599 Sale Price
37% Off
Attrib. Johann Tischbein (1751-1829) - 18th Century Pastel, Lady of Court
Located in Corsham, GB
A romantic late 18th-century pastel portrait, attributed to the German portraitist Johann Heinrich Wilhelm Tischbein
(1751-1829). Exquisitely presented in its original giltwood frame...
Category
18th Century and Earlier Portrait Drawings and Watercolors
Materials
Pastel
Roman School (circa 1590–1620) - Study Of An Executioner
Located in Paris, Île-de-France
Roman School (circa 1590–1620)
Study of a Male Executioner
Black chalk on laid paper,
275 x 199 mm
Unsigned
Formerly Giancarlo Sestieri Collection
This dynamic figure study, exe...
Category
Old Masters 18th Century and Earlier Portrait Drawings and Watercolors
Materials
Chalk, Laid Paper
French Art, Rococo, Portrait Queen Marie Antoinette France, Oval, Circle Vivien
Located in Greven, DE
French School, Portrait of Queen Marie Antoinette of France, Pastel /oil Pastel on Paper, Rococo, 18th Century. The Pastel is made in the style...
Category
Rococo 18th Century and Earlier Portrait Drawings and Watercolors
Materials
Paper, Pastel, Oil
$5,990 Sale Price
75% 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
Old Masters 18th Century and Earlier Portrait Drawings and Watercolors
Materials
Ink
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
Old Masters 18th Century and Earlier Portrait Drawings and Watercolors
Materials
Chalk
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 and Earlier Portrait Drawings and Watercolors
Materials
Handmade Paper, Graphite
Antique Italian artist - 18th/19th century figure drawing - The writer
Located in Varmo, IT
Italian artist (18th-19th century) - Study for a writer.
17 x 25.5 cm, with passe-partout.
Pencil drawing on paper, without frame.
- Work signed indistinctly lower left (under pas...
Category
Baroque 18th Century and Earlier Portrait Drawings and Watercolors
Materials
Paper, Pencil
$239 Sale Price
50% Off
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
Old Masters 18th Century and Earlier Portrait Drawings and Watercolors
Materials
Ink, Handmade Paper, Laid Paper
Italian School, late 16th century - Head of a Man and Écorché Studies of Arms
Located in Paris, Île-de-France
Italian School, late 16th century
Head of a Man and Écorché Studies of Arms
Red chalk on laid paper,
21 x 11 cm
Provenance:
Collection of Michael Jaffé CBE (1923–1997), English art historian and Director of the Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge
Private collection, France
This drawing, attributed to the Italian School of the late 16th century, demonstrates the influence of Michelangelo’s approach to anatomy and expression. The sheet combines two distinct studies: an anatomical rendering of arms in the écorché technique, focusing on the musculature and skeletal details, and a head of a man, drawn with careful attention to light and shadow. The use of red chalk lends the work warmth and immediacy, qualities often associated with Renaissance studies of the human form.
The écorché studies reflect the Renaissance fascination with anatomy as both an artistic and scientific pursuit. The detailed depiction of the musculature suggests the artist’s interest in understanding the mechanics of the body, a practice heavily influenced by Michelangelo’s drawings...
Category
Old Masters 18th Century and Earlier Portrait Drawings and Watercolors
Materials
Chalk
Study for a standing man
Located in Paris, Île-de-France
Sir Anthony van Dyck
(Antwerp 1599 - 1641 London)
STUDY FOR A PORTRAIT OF A STANDING MAN
Black and white chalk on blue-green paper
25,4 by 13,5 cm
Provenance
Prof. Julius S. Held (...
Category
Old Masters 18th Century and Earlier Portrait Drawings and Watercolors
Materials
Chalk
$22,400 Sale Price
20% Off
Jan Cornelis Sylvius, Preacher by Rembrandt Van Rijn
Located in New Orleans, LA
Rembrandt van Rijn
1606–1669 Dutch
Jan Cornelis Sylvius, Preacher
New Hollstein Dutch and Flemish (Rembrandt) 235, state 2/2
Bartsch 280
Printed by Rembrandt
Signed and dated "Rem...
Category
Old Masters 18th Century and Earlier Portrait Drawings and Watercolors
Materials
Paper, Etching
Portrait Old Master, Joseph Vivien, Mme Silvestre, French Rococo, Pastel
By Joseph Vivien
Located in Greven, DE
The portrait shows Mme Silvestre.
Born in Paris, Silvestre was the daughter of Charles-Antoine Hérault and his wife Marie-Geneviève, who were her first teachers. In 1706 she married the painter Louis de Silvestre, moving with him in 1716 to Dresden. The couple's daughter Marie-Maximilienne became a pastellist. Silvestre died in Dresden, the year before her husband retired and returned to Paris. Her surviving pastels show the influence of Rosalba Carriera...
Category
Rococo 18th Century and Earlier Portrait Drawings and Watercolors
Materials
Gouache, Oil Pastel
Grimace - China Ink and Watercolor Drawing - 18th Century
Located in Roma, IT
Grimace is a beautiful brown and black China ink drawing and watercolor on wire rod paper, made by an anonymous artist of the late 18th century.
A precious old master's original dra...
Category
Old Masters 18th Century and Earlier Portrait Drawings and Watercolors
Materials
Ink, Watercolor
Mughal School, 17th century Tiger Hunt near the Jahangir Maha, Agra
Located in Middletown, NY
An illuminated page from a book likely in reference to palace life during Emperor Jahangir's reign over the Mughal Empire.
c 1690. Gouache and ink with heightening in gold on light ...
Category
Rajput 18th Century and Earlier Portrait Drawings and Watercolors
Materials
Gold
Academy Study of a Seated Male Figure Seen from the Back
By Charles Joseph Natoire
Located in Paris, Île-de-France
Attributed to Charles-Joseph NATOIRE (Nîmes 1700 – 1777 Gandolfo)
Academy Study of a Seated Male Figure Seen from the Back
(Youthful study executed around the 1720s–1730s, likely du...
Category
Old Masters 18th Century and Earlier Portrait Drawings and Watercolors
Materials
Chalk
Study of Feet and a Figure Sketch
Located in Paris, Île-de-France
Attributed to Jacob JORDAENS (Antwerp 1593–1678)
Study of Feet and a Figure Sketch
Red and black chalk on laid paper
25.9 × 18.4 cm (10¼ × 7¼ in.)
Unsigned
Minor losses, folds, an...
Category
Old Masters 18th Century and Earlier Portrait Drawings and Watercolors
Materials
Chalk
A pair of oval drawings for Ovid, Metamophoses
By Charles Joseph Natoire
Located in Fairlawn, OH
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...
Category
Baroque 18th Century and Earlier Portrait Drawings and Watercolors
Materials
Ink, Pen
French school Drawing 18th Portrait Ténor SAINT AUBIN three chalks Paris Opéra
Located in PARIS, FR
French school of the 18th century
Three pencils (pencil, red chalk, white chalk) on paper
27 x 18 cm (45 x 34 cm with frame)
Inscription at bottom “Saint-Aubin de l’Académie de musique”
Dated "1785"
Augustin d'Herbez known as "Saint-Aubin" was a tenor and member of the Royal Academy of Music...
Category
Academic 18th Century and Earlier Portrait Drawings and Watercolors
Materials
Carbon Pencil, Paper, Chalk
$2,396 Sale Price
20% Off
Rococo Portait, French Rococo, Marie Baudouin, Daughter of Francois Boucher
Located in Greven, DE
Portrait of the daughter of Francois Boucher, Marie-Emilie Baudouin, holding a basket of flowers. Pastel on Parchment. The work is related to an oval portrait painting...
Category
Rococo 18th Century and Earlier Portrait Drawings and Watercolors
Materials
Pastel
$8,626 Sale Price
60% Off
18th century portrait of the Royal Academy model George White
By John Russell
Located in London, GB
Collections:
Russell sale, Christie’s, 14 February, 1807: ‘John Russell, Esq., R.A. deceased, crayon painter to His Majesty, the Prince of Wales, and Duke of York; and brought from his late Dwelling in Newman Street’, lot 92, ‘St Peter’, bt. Thompson (£1.13s);
Anonymous sale; Sotheby's, London, 25th September 1980, lot 113;
Private collection, UK, 2016.
Literature:
Martin Postle, 'Patriarchs, prophets and paviours: Reynolds's images of old age', The Burlington Magazine, vol. cxxx, no. 1027, October 1988, pp. 739-40, fig. 9;
Martin Postle, Sir Joshua Reynolds: The Subject Pictures, Cambridge, 1995, p.136, repr.;
Neil Jeffares, Dictionary of pastellists before 1800, online edition, J.64.2928.
Signed and dated: J Russell/ fecit 1772 (lower right)
Framed dimensions: 25 x 31 inches
John Russell was admitted to the Royal Academy in March 1770, at the same time as Daniel Gardner. The nascent Academy Schools were still establishing their teaching structures, but central to the syllabus were the twin components of drawing after the antique and from life models. By 1772 Russell had already been awarded a silver medal and progressed to the life academy, where he produced this remarkable pastel study of George White. White was the most famous model employed by the Royal Academy and prominent artists in the second half of the eighteenth century. A paviour – or street mender –by profession White had been discovered by Joshua Reynolds, who in turn introduced him to the Academy. Russell’s striking head study demonstrates his abilities as a portraitist and pastellist, at the same time showing his interest in the Academy’s preoccupation with promoting history painting.
George White was one of the most celebrated models in eighteenth-century London. According to the painter Joseph Moser:
'Old George…owed the ease in which he passed his latter days, in a great measure to Sir Joshua Reynolds, who found him exerting himself in the laborious employment of thumping down stones in the street; and observing not only the grand and majestic traits of his countenance, but the dignity of his muscular figure, took him out of a situation to which his strength was by no means equal, clothed, fed, and had him, first as a model in his own painting room, then introduced him as a subject for the students of the Royal Academy.'
As Martin Postle has pointed out, whilst characterful studies of old men posed as biblical figures, prophets or saints by Continental old masters were readily available on the art market – Reynolds himself had copied a head of Joab by Federico Bencovich in the collection of his friend and patron, Lord Palmerston - finding a model in Britain from whom to execute a painting was more difficult.
White therefore offered a rare opportunity for artists to combine portraiture and history painting, by painting a model in the guise of an historical or literary character. In 1771 Reynolds showed at the Royal Academy a picture of White entitled Resignation. It was engraved in 1772 and accompanied by a stanza from Oliver Goldsmith’s Deserted Village, implying a literary context to what is essentially a portrait. In his annotated Royal Academy catalogue, Horace Walpole noted: ‘This was an old beggar, who had so fine a head that Sir Joshua chose him for the father in his picture from Dante, and painted him several times, as did others in imitation of Reynolds. There were even cameos and busts of him.’ White sat to, amongst others Johan Zoffany, John Sanders, Nathaniel Hone and the sculptor John Bacon...
Category
Old Masters 18th Century and Earlier Portrait Drawings and Watercolors
Materials
Pastel
Framed 18th Century Watercolour - The Blind Man
Located in Corsham, GB
A fine 18th century portrait in watercolours, depicting a blind man seated in an expansive country landscape. The artist delicate brushwork and monochrome pa...
Category
18th Century and Earlier Portrait Drawings and Watercolors
Materials
Watercolor
$307 Sale Price
20% Off
Woman - Drawing on Paper - 18th Century
Located in Roma, IT
Woman is an original drawing, realized by Anonymous artists of the XVIII century.
The state of preservation of the artwork is good, but with extensive foxing.
The artwork represent...
Category
18th Century and Earlier Portrait Drawings and Watercolors
Materials
Pencil
Studies of a kneeling female figure, an arm, a hand, and a head in profile
Located in Paris, Île-de-France
Studio of Carlo Maratti (or Maratta)
Camerano 1625 – Rome 1713
Studies of a kneeling female figure, an arm, a hand, and a head in profile
Red chalk on paper
43.4 x 26.6 cm
Unsigne...
Category
Old Masters 18th Century and Earlier Portrait Drawings and Watercolors
Materials
Chalk
Screaming Face
Located in Paris, Île-de-France
DENYS CALVAERT (Antwerp c. 1540 – 1619 Bologna), ATTRIBUTED TO
Screaming Face
Red chalk on paper
17.5 x 14.5 cm
After 1608
Unsigned
Provenance:
Unidentified collection (Lugt L.2339...
Category
Old Masters 18th Century and Earlier Portrait Drawings and Watercolors
Materials
Chalk
Georg Philipp I RUGENDAS (1666-1742) - Frederick I of Prussia
By Georg Philipp Rugendas the Elder
Located in Paris, Île-de-France
Georg Philipp I RUGENDAS (1666-1742)
Frederick I of Prussia
Red chalk, ink and brown wash on paper
45x42 cm
This drawing has been long considered representative of Charles VI. In r...
Category
Old Masters 18th Century and Earlier Portrait Drawings and Watercolors
Materials
Ink, Watercolor
Portraits of the Hon. Mary Shuttleworth and Anna Maria, 9th Baroness Forrester
Located in London, GB
THE HON. MARY SHUTTLEWORTH, NÉE COCKBURN (D. 1777)
and her sister
ANNA MARIA, 9TH BARONESS FORRESTER (D. 1808)
Pastel and gouache on paper laid on canvas, on their original backb...
Category
Old Masters 18th Century and Earlier Portrait Drawings and Watercolors
Materials
Pastel, Gouache
Mughal School, 18th cent – Emperor Jahangir & Empress Nur Jahan on a Tiger Hunt
Located in Middletown, NY
A beautiful composition depicting Empress Nur Jahan on a tiger hunt, an act of feminism.
Circa 1750. Gouache and ink with heightening in gold on brown laid paper, 12 1/2 x 8 1/4 inches (317 x 210 mm), with a floral-motif border painted in blue and oxblood, the full sheet. With extensive inscriptions in Persian written in black ink on the verso. In good condition with overall toning and minor creasing, all consistent with age. The color is rich and and fresh with bright yellow illumination. In the distance we see the Jahangir Mahal Agra, as well as a sage meditating in his hut. A beautiful composition.
Nur Jahan was fond of hunting and often went on hunting tours with her husband and was known for her boldness in hunting ferocious tigers. She is reported to have slain four tigers with six bullets during one hunt. According to Sir Syed Ahmad Khan this feat, inspired a poet to declaim a spontaneous couplet in her honor: "Though Nur Jahan be in form a woman, In the ranks of men she...
Category
Rajput 18th Century and Earlier Portrait Drawings and Watercolors
Materials
Gold
18th century portrait drawing of the Rev. William Atkinson
Located in London, GB
Collections:
Henry Scipio Reitlinger (1882-1950);
Private collection, UK to 2019
Framed dimensions: 14.50 x 15.38 inches
This drawing is one of only two known portrait drawings by Romney (as opposed to preliminary studies for portraits) and is dated by Alex Kidson as being executed no later than 1769. It is likely that the present drawing was originally part of a sketchbook, now largely dismembered (Abbot Hall Art Gallery, Kendal), which Kidson notes, contained some of Romney’s most beautiful early drawings. This drawing, and a second sheet formerly with Andrew Wyld, have been identifying as depicting the Rev. William Atkinson...
Category
Old Masters 18th Century and Earlier Portrait Drawings and Watercolors
Materials
Pencil
18th century pastel portrait of Lady Augusta Corbett and her son, Stuart
Located in London, GB
Collections:
Commissioned by Andrew Corbett, husband of the sitter;
The Venerable Stuart Corbett;
Sir Stuart Corbett;
By descent to 2002;
Sotheby’s, London 21 March 2002, lot.104;
Lowell Libson...
Category
Old Masters 18th Century and Earlier Portrait Drawings and Watercolors
Materials
Pastel, Gouache
French Art, Rococo Portrait, Oval, Pastel, Portrait of a Lady, Circle of Vivien
Located in Greven, DE
French School, Portrait of a Lady, Rococo, 18th Century, Fine drawing in Pastel/ Oil Pastel on Paper in the style of Vivien. The Lady might be a woman from Marie Antoinette's Court. It is part of a Pendant (see the other listing with the portrait of Queen Marie Antoinette...
Category
Rococo 18th Century and Earlier Portrait Drawings and Watercolors
Materials
Paper, Oil Pastel, Gouache
$6,709 Sale Price
72% Off
Portrait of a Young Officer, Thomas Lawrence, Irish Volunteers
By Sir Thomas Lawrence
Located in London, GB
Sir Thomas Lawrence PRA
1769-1830
Portrait of a Young Officer
Pastel with touches of black chalk on paper
Signed and inscribed on an old label verso: "Be pleased to keep away / from the Damp & from dust / T Lawrence AE 13. / 1783."
Wash mount and gilt frame
Provenance
W.E. Spooner;
Anonymous sale, Phillips London, 17 April 2000 lot 196
Sothebys, Old Master & Early British Paintings, 14 April 2011 • London Lot 246
Old label verso describes how this was drawn in 1783 at the age of 14!
This is a portrait of an officer from the Irish Volunteers. The Irish Volunteers was a part-time military force raised by local initiative in Ireland in 1778. Their original purpose was to guard against invasion and to preserve law and order at a time when British soldiers were withdrawn from Ireland to fight abroad during the American Revolutionary War.
As a young boy Thomas Lawrence lived with his parents who ran a coaching inn near Bath. Clearly talented from this young age, he drew the passing travellers who stopped at the inn and this soldier may have been one such sitter. Lawrence was only 13 years old when he drew this work. To capitalise upon their son's talents, the family later moved to Bath and sent Lawrence to London in 1787 where he entered the Royal Academy schools at the earliest possible age. Works from such an early period of Lawrence's creativity are rarely to be found today.
This rare early portrait drawn in Bath shows the level of technical skill that Lawrence had reached at 14 years old. His use of colour and tone to depict flesh and all the subtle variations in the texture and pigmentation of his sitter’s face, powdered hair and clothes show how Lawrence conceived pastel as a form of painting and partly explains how he could have made the smooth transition to oil painting so soon afterwards.
When he arrived in Bath from Devizes in 1780, eleven-year-old Thomas Lawrence (1769–1830) was promoted as a natural-born genius like his Renaissance predecessor Raphael. The local press announced the arrival of the boy wonder and his ‘Striking Sketches’, inviting the ‘Nobility and Gentry’ to sit for their portraits.
Thomas Lawrence was a prodigious portraitist from the age of just eight, when he began to draw his first portraits in pencil...
Category
Romantic 18th Century and Earlier Portrait Drawings and Watercolors
Materials
Oil Pastel
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 and Earlier Portrait Drawings and Watercolors
Materials
Paper, Pencil
Due ritratti figurativi aristocratici pastelli su pergamena primi del XIX secolo
Located in Florence, IT
Sul cartoncino applicato nella cornice è riportata l'annotazione, a penna e in grafia Kurrent, "Urgroßvater Ludwig Fr(ei)h(e)r(r) von Keller" "Urgroßmutter ...
Category
Other Art Style 18th Century and Earlier Portrait Drawings and Watercolors
Materials
Parchment Paper, Pastel, Cardboard
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 and Earlier Portrait Drawings and Watercolors
Materials
Paper, Crayon, Pastel
$1,341 Sale Price
37% Off
Portrait of a Man Wearing a Turban, 18th Century Pastel Drawing
By Thomas Frye
Located in London, GB
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...
Category
English School 18th Century and Earlier Portrait Drawings and Watercolors
Materials
Paper, Oil Pastel
Portrait of a Lady in a White Dress - 18th Century Watercolour
By John Downman
Located in London, GB
John Downman
1750-1824
Portrait of a Lady in a White Dress
Pencil, stump and watercolour, heightened with white chalk, signed and dated 1784
Imag...
Category
18th Century and Earlier Portrait Drawings and Watercolors
Materials
Watercolor, Paper
Woman in Fantasy Costume (pair)
Located in New York, NY
The pair consists of the present work and an engraving after it by the hand of Giles DeMarteau (Liège 1722 – 1776 Paris) titled Woman in Fantasy Costume, after Jean Baptiste Le Prince, and measuring, 10 ⅜ x 8 ⅝ inches (26.5 x 22 cm).
DeMarteau's engraving is inscribed at the bottom:
Le Prince inv. del. / Demarteau sc. / A Paris ches Demarteau Graveur du Roi, rue de la Pelterie à la Cloche...
Category
18th Century and Earlier Portrait Drawings and Watercolors
Materials
Paper, Chalk, Engraving
Portrait of a Young Woman
Located in London, GB
Red chalk on paper
Image size: 7 1/2 x 9 1/4 inches (19 x 23.5 cm)
Contemporary frame
An enigmatic portrait of a young woman after Sir Peter Lely's drawing, currently shown in the B...
Category
Victorian 18th Century and Earlier Portrait Drawings and Watercolors
Materials
Paper, Chalk
Portrait of a Merchant
By Giovanni Francesco Barbieri (Il Guercino)
Located in London, GB
Giovanni Francesco Barbieri Guercino
Italian 1591-1666
Portrait of a Merchant
Sanguine on laid paper
Image size: 12 ¾ x 16 inches (32 x 40....
Category
Old Masters 18th Century and Earlier Portrait Drawings and Watercolors
Materials
Graphite
$19,730
Study of a Franciscan Saint, probably San Diego de Alcalá
Located in New York, NY
Provenance: Ivan E. Phillips, Montreal and New York, until 2023.
The brothers Bartolomé Carducho and Vicente Carducho, both born and trained in Florence, settled in Spain where they made their careers. Vicente worked on numerous commissions for both the church and the Spanish court...
Category
Old Masters 18th Century and Earlier Portrait Drawings and Watercolors
Materials
Paper, Chalk, Ink, Pen
The Assumption of Mary Magdalene, Italian School, 16th Century
Located in Middletown, NY
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...
Category
Old Masters 18th Century and Earlier Portrait Drawings and Watercolors
Materials
Ink, Handmade Paper, Laid Paper
English School 18th Century Graphite Drawing - Portrait of Two Children
Located in Corsham, GB
A miniature English School portrait of two children holding a loving embrace. Well presented in a charming bird's-eye maple frame with internal gilt slip and glazing. Unsigned. On pa...
Category
18th Century and Earlier Portrait Drawings and Watercolors
Materials
Graphite
Portrait of Lady, 18th Century English Pen and Ink
By Ozias Humphry
Located in London, GB
Ozias Humphry
1742-1810
Portrait of Frances Abington
Pen and brown ink on paper
Image size: 7 1/2 x 5 3/4 inches
Giltwood frame
The actress Frances (Fanny) Barton, better known as M...
Category
18th Century and Earlier Portrait Drawings and Watercolors
Materials
Ink, Pen
Head of a Cheerful Man Wearing a Cap
Located in New York, NY
Watermark: the arms of Amsterdam
Provenance:
Christie’s, Amsterdam, 1 December 1986, lot 46; where acquired by:
Private Collection, New York
Literature:
Roger Adolf d’Hulst, “Jordaens Drawings: Supplement II,” Master Drawings, vol. 28, no. 2 (1990), pp. 153-156, no. A237a, fig. 17.
Matías Díaz Padrón, Jacob Jordaens...
Category
Baroque 18th Century and Earlier Portrait Drawings and Watercolors
Materials
Paper, Chalk
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