19th Century Portrait Drawings and Watercolors

A striking early 19th Century portrait in charcoal, showing an elegant young woman. Her dress and the style of her hair date this portrait around 1830. Her soft, sloping shoulders an...

An expertly finished portrait of a gentleman smoking, full of detailed intricacies and character. The artwork is signed and dated and is well presented in a light grey card mount. ...

A beautiful 19th century watercolour capturing a young woman in a blue dress holding a single flower. Her intricate lace bonnet is adorned with s...

A charming mid 19th century study of a mother holding her child while she collects water from a well. The woman stands barefoot on the rocks b...

A striking Victorian portrait in an unusual mix of watercolour and graphite, finished with delicate scraffito work, giving a hazy, almost ghostly appearance to the sitter. The artist...

A full length and highly detailed watercolour portrait of a child wearing traditional tartan. Signed and dated (1855) to the lower left. Finely presented in a slim gilt frame with a ...

A beautiful watercolour portrait in the traditional Victorian watercolour style with delicate hatching in the face. The pretty young woman has dark, flowing hair with a white bonnet ...

A delicate portrait of a gentleman in a red velvet waistcoat smoking a cigar. The artist has captured his striking face and bright blue eyes with fine detail. Well presented in an or...

A charming and delicate portrait depicting Mrs Delgairns, wife of Captain Delgairns. She is shown seated by a large window with a small poetry book in her hands. Part of a pair of po...

A delightful watercolour and pencil study depicting Grundy Walker, brother of Richard Walker M.P. of Notting Hill. Signed, dated and inscribed with location. Part of a pair of portra...

A delicate watercolour study of a young girl named to the reverse as Mary Elizabeth Price (1858-1917). She carries a selection of flowers in her apron and wears a pretty pale pink dr...

A charming watercolour portrait depicting a Victorian woman seated in an armchair. She wears a lace bonnet that is clasped under the chin and a long black dress with puffed sleeves. ...

A truly charming mid 19th Century watercolour portrait of a rosy cheeked young milkmaid. She is wearing a vibrant burgundy striped jacket over a yellow shawl...

A fine Victorian watercolour showing a young woman in a red travelling cloak resting on her journey. The painting has a contemplative mood, with the woman s...

Two exquisite mid 19th Century miniature portraits in watercolour. The children are in their finest clothes to have their portraits painted. The little boy wears a high ruffled collar and black jacket, holding a blue book in his hands. The little girl wears a fine light blue dress...

A beautiful mid 19th Century watercolour,showing a pretty young flower seller with dark hair and a corseted dress with linen undershirt. She is carrying a basket of delicate pink ros...

A quaint and charming portrait of a young brother and sister, who have just been blackberry picking. The boy carries a basket full of berries in the crook of his arm and a walking st...

A very fine early 19th Century Flemish School watercolour, showing a bearded man in a ragged tunic, with tangled hair. He gazes at the viewer with a patient eye as he holds his hat b...

Denis Auguste Raffet (1804-1860) Studies of a Tiroler Kaiserjäger, Signed and dated 1849 lower right Ink on paper 16.5 x 25.5 cm In a nice period frame : 33 x 42 cm Raffet had the occasion to draw studies of austrian soldiers as he took part as observer to the first Italian Independance War (1848-1849). It was the the first of many conflicts between the Kingdom of Sardinia , which later became the Kingdom of Italy , and the Austrian Empire. The Kaiserjäger (imperial hunters) were founded in 1815 by Emperor Franz I. It was a great honor to enter the Kaiserjäger as they were the only ones to be honored with the term "imperial". However, only Tyrolese, Voralbergers and Welschtirolers were allowed. They wore this characteristic hat as a parade headdress, it was made of matte black, waterproof felt. It consisted of a crown and brim adorned with a circular, green cord, the Jäger emblem and a plume of black rooster feathers. The hat cord was made of sheep's wool, and had a button and an acorn covered with a green wool. These two studies clearly evoke the interest of the artist for this part of their uniform. Denis Auguste Marie Raffet (2 March 1804 – 16 February 1860) was a French illustrator and lithographer. He was a student of Nicolas Toussaint Charlet, and was a retrospective painter of the Empire. At an early age he was apprenticed to a wood turner, but took up the study of art at evening classes. At the age of 18 he entered the workshop of Cabanel, where he applied his skill to the decoration of china, and where he met Rudor, from whom he received instruction in lithography, in the practice of which he was to rise to fame. He then entered the École des Beaux-Arts, but returned to lithography in 1830 when he produced on stone his famous designs of Lützen, Waterloo, Le bal, La revue, and Les adieux de la garrison, by which his reputation became immediately established. Raffet's chief works were his lithographs of the Napoleonic campaigns, from Egypt to Waterloo, vigorous designs inspired by ardent patriotic enthusiasm. In this endeavor he was a contemporary of other French artist-lithographers of Napoleon and the French army including Hippolyte Bellangé, Horace Vernet, and Nicolas Toussaint Charlet. As an illustrator his activity was prodigious, the list of works illustrated by his crayon amounting to about forty-five, among which are Béranger's poems, the History of the Revolution by Adolphe Thiers, the History of Napoleon by de Norvins, the great Walter Scott by Auguste Defauconpret, the French Plutarch and Frédéric Bérat's Songs. He went to Rome in 1849, and was present at the siege of Rome, which he made the subject of some lithographs, and followed the Italian campaign of 1859, of which he left a record in his Episodes de la campagne d'Italie de 1859. His portraits in pencil...

A charming late 19th Century watercolour portrait of a young girl sitting on a stone step, wearing a red shawl and blue dress, resting a basket of eggs on her lap. The painting is un...

A very fine watercolour study by the Italian painter Achille De Dominicis (1851-1917). Here the artist has depicted a pretty young Italian woman, she is seated on a stone wall as she...

A charming 19th Century watercolour depicting a Fisherman's wife wrapped in a tartan shawl holding a hand of cards. The artist captures the woman in profile, sporting a dotted head s...

A very fine 19th Century watercolours showing an Italian family. The boy sits on he ground at his parents feet. All three are finely dressed in traditional, regional garb with unusua...

A very fine graphite drawing with incredibly delicate watercolour bodywork. The drawing shows a proud father standing between his two seated sons. All Three are handsomely dressed in...

A fine and delicately detailed 19th Century watercolour showing two children in Georgian attire. The artist has signed to the left edge and the painting has been presented in a 19th ...

A fine watercolour portrait depicting two young sisters in matching gowns. The artist captures the children in delicate watercolour brush strokes show...

A charming portrait depicting an elegant young woman in a garden setting. She holds a letter out in the sunlight, looking intently at the words. Unsigned. Well presented in a gilt fr...

A charming late 19th Century watercolour portrait of a young boy standing on the sea shore in a jolly red woolen hat, blue neckerchief, carrying a basket ...

FRANK LEWIS EMANUEL (1865-1948) Portrait of Archibald Hartrick Signed, inscribed and dated l.l.: A S HARTRICK (artist) by F L EMANUEL 1884 Black chalk heightened with white chalk on blue paper...

Auguste Gardanne (circa 1840- circa 1890) Carriages and horses during the franco-prussian war of 1870 Pencil and watercolor on paper On the reverse Studies of horses Pencil and water...

An elegant and graceful study of a woman. Each miniature brushstroke is calculated and carefully crafted. The overall results are truly beautiful. Well presented in a wood frame with...

Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres (Montauban 1780 – Paris 1867) Apelles holding his palette and brushes Late reinterpretation after The Apotheosis of Homer – c. 1860 Black chalk, stump...

A fine watercolour portrait of a fashionably dressed Italian woman. She wears a blue ribbon around her waist and carries a delicate parasol. Presented glazed in a pale blue mount and...

A fine watercolour composition of a gentleman in a landscape. Signed, titled and dated London 1818 verso. Well presented in a brushed gilt frame, with white card mount. Glazed. On wove.

A watercolour portrait en grisaille of a child after Peter Paul Rubens (1577-1640). Presented in a white mount and a fine oak frame. Initialled and dated to the lower-right edge and ...

A charmingly rustic watercolour showing two men resting from their work, having a conversation. This watercolour is in the manner of the Scottish genre scene painter, Erskine Nicol...

An impressive watercolour with fine detail depicting an Italian boy. Signed 'A. Finardi Roma' in the lower right and further inscribed with the title and artist to lower. Presented i...

A characterful portrait in watercolour of a young boy wearing a blue hat and brown britches. The artist has signed faintly and dated to the lower left corner. The painting has been ...

An exquisite charcoal half length portrait of a lady in a bonnet by prolific Swiss artist Joseph Mathias Negelen. The sitter's facial features have been carefully completed with incr...

A truly exquisite late 19th Century watercolour by the renowned and skilled painter, Erskine Nicol RSA ARA (1825–1904. The painting is filled with humo...

A charcoal and white chalk portrait of Sir Henry Roddam Calder, 5th Baronet of Muirtown (1790-1868). There are some touches of blue chalk to the subject's eyes. Presented glazed in a...

A portrait of a seated man smoking a pipe with a tankard of ale in his other hand. Presented glazed in a wash line mount with gold detailing and a distressed gilt-effect wooden frame...

A turn-of-the-century portrait of a woman in stylised French 18th-century dress, a fleur-de-lis proudly emblazoned on her blue cloak. Presented in an arched gold card mount and an or...

A fine pastel study of a mother and her child, finished with delicate graphite detail. Well presented in a glazed wood frame with a gilded inner window and a washline mount.Signed a...

A finely drawn graphite study of a portly lady sitting on a bench in the style of David Teniers the Younger. She holds a large jug and wears ragged clothing, with an unusual hat. The...

A very fine watercolour study of a Victorian gentleman with a large beard. The artist has meticulously captured every detail of the sitter, with gr...

Pencil and watercolor portrait of a person in loose period clothing displaying nervous energy and vibrant demeanor by P.B. Faurnier, 1833. Signed lowe...

An oval portrait of a late-Victorian or Edwardian man with a slight scowl. Presented glazed in a cream mount and an ornate gold-painted wooden frame with substantial floral and folia...

Hermann Prell (1854 Leipzig - 1922 Dresden-Loschwitz). Half-length portrait of a Pharisee, 1885. Sketch for the right-hand figure in the painting Judas Iscariot, 1886. Pencil drawing heightened with opaque white and black chalk on beige-grey wove paper (papier vélin), 34 x 27.8 cm (visible size), 52 x 45 cm (mount), signed, dated and inscribed "H. PRELL 1885 zu 'Judas'". Minor browning, collection stamp on the reverse. - In the shadow of betrayal - About the artwork This painting is the sketch for the head of the Pharisee offering the coins to Judas in one of Herrmann Prell's major works, the painting Betrayal of Judas, completed in 1886. The painting belongs to the Staatliche Kunstsammlungen Dresden and is illustrated in Adolf Rosenberg: Prell, Bielefeld and Leipzig 1901, p. 21 (Fig. 19). It is especially highlighted in Thieme-Becker (vol. 27, p. 376). Hermann Prell, Betrayal of Judas, 1886 The monumental head, which fills the picture and is distinguished by its ornamented robe, is almost a lost profile, which in the executed painting is justified by the Pharisee's turning towards Judas. Despite the fact that the sitter withdraws from the viewer by turning away, it was necessary to artistically elaborate the motivation for the purchase of one of Christ's disciples, which is why the drawing focuses on the expression of the face, while the 'accessories' are treated in a more summary manner. In characterising the face, Hermann Prell performs a balancing act: since the Pharisee, despite his destructive actions, is an actor in the history of salvation, the head must show a dignity appropriate to the event, but at the same time the physiognomy must also bear witness to the scheming attitude that led to the betrayal. To solve this dilemma, Prell draws on the traditional depictions of the heads of the apostles, shading the face to indicate the obdurate darkness of the spirit and moving the base of the nose slightly upwards while the mouth falls away, thus giving a physiognomic expression to the motivation of the action. The fatal drama of the betrayal is expressed in the monumentalisation of the head and in the thunderous white highlights that contrast with the darkness of the chalk. As a study, considered by the artist to be a work in itself, this drawing reveals the pictorial problems and brainstorming of monumental painting. About the artist In 1872 Prell, who was one of the most important exponents of monumental painting of his time, began studying painting with Theodor Grosse at the Dresden Academy of Art and continued with Carl Gussow at the Berlin Academy in 1876. Hans von Marées taught him in Rome in 1878. More influential on his work, however, were Arnold Böcklin and Max Klinger, with whom Prell had been friends since his student days and with whom he worked together on several occasions. Prell's first major work, which established his reputation as a monumental painter, were the frescoes in the banqueting hall of the Architektenhaus in Berlin in 1881/82, commissioned by the state and depicting the different periods of architecture. Prell then went to Italy for two years to study fresco painting. Other major commissions followed. These included monumental frescoes in the town halls of Worms (1884), Hildesheim (1882-92), Gdansk (1895) and Dresden, the staircase of the Silesian Museum of Fine Arts in Breslau (1893/94), the throne room of the German Embassy in Rome (1896-99) and the staircase of the Albertinum in Dresden (1900-1904). From 1886 Prell taught at the academy of arts in Berlin and in 1892 he was appointed professor at the academy of arts in Dresden. His students included Osmar Schindler and Hans Unger...

A brooding portrait depicting a moustached man staring into the distance. Well presented in a white mount. Unsigned. On wove.

Georges Scott (1873-1943) Portrait of Jules Lagorio 1893, signed, dated and annotated on the right : "A monsieur Jules Lagorio, Souvenir de notre excursion à l'Estaque 12 mai 1893" Pencil on paper 24 x 22 cm In fair condition : an horizontal crease in the middle of the shhet, stains ans other creases, trace of the mount (see photographs please) In its original vintage framing : 33 x 30 cm If not in perfect condition, this intimate portrait by the young artist is really intersting and charming. The mention of it as a souvenir of an excursion to l'Estaque is interesting too. L'Estaque, near Marseille was a famous place for painters of the time such as Cezanne, Braque and Renoir who painted there the sea and shores. The young Georges Scott wanted to keep the souvenir of the excursion with his friend, but we have to think of the place by the gaze of the model contemplating it. Georges Scott, or Scott de Plagnolle (his full name wasGeorges Bertin Scott de Plagnolle ), was born on June 10 1873 in Paris, he was a painter and illustrator. He studied at the Alsatian School in Paris, where he drew a lot: “I have always drawn […]. My father was a painter and illustrator. I was born in a workshop ”. Fatherless in 1884, he studied at the Beaux-Arts, then was one of the pupils of Édouard Detaille, he was a member of French artists outside the competition in 1897. Painter and illustrator, he worked for various periodicals, including Cocorico and L'Illustration where his first drawing was published on March 19, 1892 (“La catastrophe d'Anderlues”). In 1911, the Minister of War Adolphe Messimy asked Scott and Detaille for studies to renovate the uniforms of the French Army: if their projects were not adopted, some were published in newspapers such as L'Illustration in March 1912 he covered as a war correspondent for the newspaper the First Balkan War, with the Bulgarian Army. He returned to Thrace inJuly 1913 for the Second Balkan War, but with the Greek Army, meeting King Constantine. In September 1913, on the occasion of the King of Greece...

Georges Antoine Rochegrosse (1859-1938) A man sitted, Study for the decoration of the Salle des fêtes (Ballroom) of the Exposition Internationale, Paris 1900 Pencil and charcoal on thin yellow paper 29.5 x 20 cm In acceptable condition : Tears and creases as visible on the photographs. In a modern frame : 46 x 36.5 cm Annotations on the back of the mount (now under the modern frame) that identifiy this drawing as a preparatory study for the decoration of the Salle des fêtes (Ballroom) of the 1900 Paris Exposition Internationale. It's also indicated that Henri Bataille...

HERBERT WILSON FOSTER (1846-1929) Summer Inscribed with title beneath the mount Chalk, circular Framed Diameter 42 cm., 16 ½ in. (frame size 61 by 58 cm., 24 by 22 ¾ in.) Herbert Wilson Foster was born in Endon, Staffordshire. He attended Hanley School of Art before continuing his studies in London, Belgium and France. His paintings of rural and domestic subjects were exhibited at the Royal Academy between 1873 and 1899. In 1893 he accepted a teaching position at the Nottingham School of Art, where his pupils included Laura Knight and Harold Knight. Works by him are in the collections of the Minton archives; the Wisbech & Fenland Museum; Leicester Art Gallery; Rushcliffe Council and Nottingham Castle Museum. In addition to his work as a painter he worked as a porcelain painter, working at one point on the tile panels in the Victoria & Albert Museum. He is known to have worked at Mintons from 1872 where he specialized in portraits of contemporary personalities, including members of the Royal Family. This head of a girl was probably intended for a painted ceramic wall charger...

Delphin Enjolras (1865 - 1945) Portrait Of Louis Valayer, Mayor Of Avignon From 1910 To 1919 Pastel on paper Signed and dated top right : D. Enjolras 1899 Framed Friend of the ...

GEORGE ELGAR HICKS (1824-1914) Portrait of a Young Gentleman Signed and dated 1858 Watercolour and bodycolour, oval 30 by 25 cm., 11 ¾ by 9 ¾ in. (frame size 50 by 41 cm., 19 ¾ b...

Adolph Eduard Otto von Faber du Faur (1828 Ludwigsburg - 1901 Munich). Man sitting in the studio. Watercolour painting, 43 x 27 cm (visible size), 73 x 53 cm (frame), monogrammed at lower right, estate stamp. Upper right corner neatly repaired, small tear in the wall to the left of the sitter. - Thinking about art - About the artwork The sitter, an elderly man, is seated in a studio on a pedestal reminiscent of an academy hall. The earthy, dark tones give the scene a weighty quality. The lightest tones are found in the incarnate parts of the figure, which do not stand out from the other colours of the picture, but are linked to them. As a result, the sitter's face is both part of and the highlight of the colour references in the picture. The colour of the sitter's skin is reflected in his pink coat, while his white-grey hair matches the colour of the wall next to him. This almost monochrome wall surface, in turn, is connected across the portrait to the framed picture standing on the floor, which seems to have been erased by this correspondence with the empty wall surface. Through the palette, which is positioned directly behind the sitter's head, the reference to painting, which is already given by the studio space, is explicitly linked to the sitter, who thus seems to be contemplating the question of the meaning of art. This raises the question of whether Faber Du Faur, who had become lonely in his old age, might have painted a self-portrait here in his later years. In addition to the studio setting, the sitter's explicit reference to the palette and the fact that the picture was part of his estate, the only summary elaboration of the body suggests a self-portrait, while the representation of the face is concretised with the wide-open eyes typical of a self-portrait. This concentration on the face gives the impression of the artist's melancholy introspection, captured by the palette and related to the meaning of painting, whose dark character is reinforced by the concealment of the palette hanging on the right of the picture in the light tones so characteristic of Faber Du Faur. In the course of this resignation, Faber du Faur advises his son Hans, who has also become a painter: "Promise me one thing: never move to Munich, they'll kill you here!" Whoever the sitter may be, the references to painting make the portrait a resigned self-contemplation by Faber Du Faur, focused on art. About the artist After leaving school, Otto Faber du Faur entered the service of the Württemberg army, at the same time cultivating his artistic talent. In 1851, on the recommendation of his father Christian Wilhelm, who was himself a battle painter, he spent six months in Munich as an apprentice to Alexander von Kotzebue. In 1852 he was granted a year's leave of absence from military service to study battle painting in the studio of Adolphe Yvon...

Graphite on paper, monogrammed lower left Image size: 6 x 6 1/2 inches (15.25 x 16.5 cm) Contemporary style handmade gilt frame Henry Perronet Briggs Henry Perronet Briggs RA wa...

The drawing, India ink on paper, falls within the studies of antiquity popular in the Academies from the 18th century onward, and refers to the frieze of an ancient sarcophagus. Al c...