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Romantic Drawings and Watercolor Paintings

ROMANTIC STYLE

In emphasizing emotion and imagination, romantic art shifted away from the restraint of classicism and neoclassicism that had dominated art in Europe since the Renaissance. Romanticism achieved its greatest popularity in art, literature, music and philosophy between 1780 and 1830, although its expression of individual experiences ranging from awe to passion informed culture in the decades after.

Landscape painting was especially popular during the romantic period, as were nature studies of wild animals and fantasies of exotic lands. Romanticism varied across Europe as it reacted to the rise of industrialization, a more personal relationship with faith that was distanced from the church and the rationalist thinking of the Enlightenment.

British painters such as John Constable and J.M.W. Turner responded dramatically to the light and atmosphere of the natural world, while William Blake conveyed humanity’s connection to the divine in his visionary art. In Germany, the late-18th-century Sturm und Drang, or Storm and Drive, movement, with its probing of the unconscious, inspired a sense of mystery in work by romantic artists such as Caspar David Friedrich and Philipp Otto Runge. In France, where the French Revolution had turned tradition upside down, Théodore Géricault and Eugène Delacroix used lush brushwork to paint monumental canvases with tumultuous scenes of nature and history.

The romantic movement and its subject matter were a significant influence on the Pre-Raphaelites, Symbolists and the American painters of the Hudson River School, as well as on other cultural movements in the 19th and 20th centuries that saw artists build on this perspective in which art was guided by emotion rather than reason.

Find a collection of romantic paintings, sculptures, prints and multiples and more art on 1stDibs.

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Style: Romantic
Romantic Landscape of Scandinavian Enchanted Forest, Large Lake Print Cyanotype
Located in Barcelona, ES
This is an exclusive handprinted limited edition cyanotype. Lovely scene of a hidden pond in a Scandinavian forest. Details: + Title: Scandinavian Enchanted Forest + Year: 2024 + ...
Category

2010s Romantic Drawings and Watercolor Paintings

Materials

Photographic Film, Emulsion, Watercolor, Photographic Paper, C Print, Co...

The Rabbit and The Cat
Located in Cotignac, FR
Pair of drawings on paper of a rabbit and a cat by Margaret Lisel. They are both signed bottom right and dated for 1934. The drawings are presented as a pair in plain gilt frames. A...
Category

1930s Romantic Drawings and Watercolor Paintings

Materials

Crayon, Pencil

Blue Mountains, New Mexico
Located in Stockholm, SE
In this luminous landscape study, Carl Oscar Borg captures the serene beauty of the New Mexican high desert, likely looking toward Mount Taylor, a sacred peak that rises above the su...
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Early 20th Century Romantic Drawings and Watercolor Paintings

Materials

Gouache

Scandinavian Sunset Watercolor from 1897
Located in Stockholm, SE
Hilding Werner (1880–1944) Sweden Solnedgång (Sunset), 1897 watercolour on paper signed and dated lower left H. Werner 1897 Inscribed Solnedgång (“Sunset”) on the reverse. the shee...
Category

1890s Romantic Drawings and Watercolor Paintings

Materials

Paper, Watercolor

Resting Dromedar, 1861
Located in Stockholm, SE
Egron Sellif Lundgren (1815–1875) Sweden Resting Dromedar, 1861 watercolour heightened with white unframed 21 x 29.2 cm (8 ¼ x 11 ½ in.) framed 40 x 48 cm (15 ¾ x 18 ⅞ in.) Provenance: Sale, Stockholm, Bukowskis, 12 December 1894, lot 42; Signe and Ernst Trygger (1857–1943), Villa Trygger, Stockholm. Ernst Trygger was Swedish Prime Minister (1923–24), Minister of Foreign Affairs (1928–30) and University Chancellor (1926–37); A Swedish private collection. Literature: Förteckning på oljemålningar, aquareller och handteckningar m.m. av Egron Lundgren utställda i Akademien för de fria konsterna, 1876, no. 259. Karl Asplund, Egron Lundgren, Vol. II, 1940, p. 40, note 1, p. 166. Exhibited: The Royal Academy, Egron Lundgren, 10 April 1876, no. 259. Sveriges Allmänna Konstförening, Memorial Exhibition, February 1915, no. 70, Hvilande kameler (owner Ernst Trygger). The Royal Academy, Svenska Akvareller (Swedish Watercolor Exhibition), 1925, no. 224, Vilande kameler (owner Signe Trygger). Essay: This delicate watercolour, executed during Lundgren’s first journey to Egypt in the winter of 1861–62, depicts a resting dromedary in the shade at Giza. Painted in transparent washes with touches of white gouache, the work captures the intense desert light and atmosphere with a remarkable immediacy. The reclining animal dominates the composition, rendered in warm ochres and browns against a cool, shadowy background, while highlights on its saddle and coat give the scene a subtle radiance. The quiet stillness of the subject reflects Lundgren’s sensitivity to the everyday motifs of the Orient, which he observed and painted directly on site. Lundgren travelled to Egypt in the company of two British artists, Frank Dillon (1823-1909) and George Price Boyce...
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1860s Romantic Drawings and Watercolor Paintings

Materials

Paper, Watercolor

Ruins of the Imperial Castle Outside Split in Croatia
Located in Stockholm, SE
Gustaf Wilhelm Palm (1810–1890) Sweden Ruins of the Imperial Castle Outside Split in Croatia pencil and watercolour unframed: 23.6 x 29.2 cm (9 1/4 x 11 1/2 in) framed: 40 x 45 cm...
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1840s Romantic Drawings and Watercolor Paintings

Materials

Paper, Watercolor

The Violinist (Antique Ellsworth Woodward Figurative Graphite Sketch Drawing)
Located in New Orleans, LA
Many of you clicking on this are probably doing so because you know of Ellsworth Woodward, who with his brother William Woodward around the turn of the 20th century sparked an arts renaissance in the South, the arts and culture in general having been mostly moribund since the dispiriting defeat experienced in the Civil War. I won't bog you down with lots of detail here since all you have to do is Google his name to bring up a wealth of information about him. He is most famous for his leadership of the arts program at Newcomb College in New Orleans, and its famous Newcomb Pottery...
Category

1890s Romantic Drawings and Watercolor Paintings

Materials

Graphite

Louis DAVID (1798-1849) Le Moulin La Butte aux Cailles, Paris, signed drawing
Located in Paris, FR
Louis-Alphonse DAVID (1798-1849) Le Moulin de la Butte aux Cailles, Paris, (The Mill at la Butte aux Cailles) signed lower left Pencil and white chalk on paper 22,5 x 36 cm Framed : 40,5 x 55 cm Louis-Alphonse David is known for a relatively small body of work, including portraits and large compositions. In any case, in this work he shows a remarkable mastery of drawing, with particularly suggestive and subtle plays of light and shadow. The Butte aux Cailles, now part of the 13th arrondissement of Paris, was a hill covered in meadows, vineyards and woods, built with several windmills and overlooking the river Bièvre. It was named after Pierre Caille...
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1830s Romantic Drawings and Watercolor Paintings

Materials

Chalk, Pencil

Antique Dog Painting: "A Seated Bulldog" Wouterus Verschuur (Dutch, 1812-1874)
Located in SANTA FE, NM
A Seated Bulldog Wouterus Verschuur (Dutch, 1812-1874) Circa 1855 Oil on wood panel. Signed on the back 9 3/8 x 7 3/8 (15 1/2 x 13 1/2 frame) inches. The artist shows his complete g...
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1850s Romantic Drawings and Watercolor Paintings

Materials

Oil, Wood Panel

Drawing from Hagbynäs Sweden, 1779
Located in Stockholm, SE
Jonas Carl Linnerhielm (1758–1829) Hagbynäs Dated and titled “1779 in Aug. Vid Hagbynäs” Red chalk on paper
21.3 × 33.4 cm (8.4 × 13.1 in.) with frame 40.5 x 51 cm (15 ⁷/⁸ x 20 ⅛ i...
Category

1770s Romantic Drawings and Watercolor Paintings

Materials

Paper, Chalk

Paul Gavarni (1804-1866) Portrait of a young man, signed drawing
Located in Paris, FR
Paul Gavarni (1804-1866) Portrait of a young man leaning on a Chair Signed lower right Black pencil on paper 23.7 x 17.6 cm In good condition Framed : 40 x 34 cm This fine portr...
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1840s Romantic Drawings and Watercolor Paintings

Materials

Carbon Pencil

Landscape Watercolour, Lake and View to the Mountains
Located in Cotignac, FR
Watercolour landscape of a lake and surrounding mountains by Nano. The painting is signed bottom left and presented in a fine period gilt frame under glass. This painting portrays a...
Category

Early 20th Century Romantic Drawings and Watercolor Paintings

Materials

Watercolor, Gouache

Félix Ziem (1821-1911) Studies of Landscapes and Seascapes, original Drawing
Located in Paris, FR
Félix Ziem (1821-1911) Studies of landscapes and seascapes graphite on paper, 14 x 22 cm Stamp of the Ziem Estate bottom left Framed : 25 x 33 cm A rare exemple of mutiple studies ...
Category

1880s Romantic Drawings and Watercolor Paintings

Materials

Graphite

Elsbeth Rudolff(1861-1945) Untitled, paper/mixed media, 76x50cm, 1889
Located in Riga, LV
Elsbeth Rudolff(1861-1945)
Category

1880s Romantic Drawings and Watercolor Paintings

Materials

Paper, Mixed Media

Gouache Of A Shipwreck In A Storm With Gothic Ruins. Early 19th Century
Located in Firenze, IT
Gouache of a Shipwreck in a Storm with Gothic Ruins, Early 19th Century Technique: Gouache on paper Period: Early 19th century Description: This romantic painting depicts a dramatic ...
Category

Early 19th Century Romantic Drawings and Watercolor Paintings

Materials

Gouache, Tempera, Paper

Auguste Legras (1817-1887) Portrait of a young man in profile, drawing signed
Located in Paris, FR
Auguste Legras (1817-1887) Portrait of a young man in profile, signed lower right Charcoal, red and white chalks on paper 45 x 31.5 cm Framed : 52 x 39 cm This particularly evocati...
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1860s Romantic Drawings and Watercolor Paintings

Materials

Chalk, Charcoal

Arizona Landscape – Dramatic Skies and Desert Light by Carl Oscar Borg
Located in Stockholm, SE
In this expressive gouache study, Carl Oscar Borg captures the dramatic sweep of the Arizona highlands, where storm clouds gather over layered mesas and valleys bathed in shifting li...
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Early 20th Century Romantic Drawings and Watercolor Paintings

Materials

Gouache

19th Century French School, Studies of horses and small scenes, original drawing
Located in Paris, FR
19th Century French School, Studies of horses and small scenes, pencil on paper 14.5 x 21 cm Framed : 25.5 x 32.7 cm This study sheet, which brings together studies of horses and...
Category

1850s Romantic Drawings and Watercolor Paintings

Materials

Pencil

One Thousand And One Nights French Orientalism Art Nouveau Decorative Period
Located in Sutton Poyntz, Dorset
A. Lesueur French 19ème siècle Les Mille Et Une Nuits – One Thousand & One Nights, 1892 Charcoal on paper heightened with white. Signed & dated 1892 lower right. Image size 23.6 inc...
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Late 19th Century Romantic Drawings and Watercolor Paintings

Materials

Paper, Charcoal

Drawing Chalk Portrait of a Lady Renaissance French Romantic 19th
Located in PARIS, FR
Léonie POISSON (XIX) Black chalk and white chalk 56 x 45 cm (66 x 55 cm with frame) Signed and dated lower right "Léonie Poisson / Août 1845"
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1840s Romantic Drawings and Watercolor Paintings

Materials

Chalk

Watercolor The Garden at Sickelsjö, 1883
Located in Stockholm, SE
We are delighted to present a stunning watercolor by the Swedish artist Albert Theodor Gellerstedt. This artwork, titled "Sickelsjö Trädgård" was created on June 8, 1883. The paintin...
Category

1880s Romantic Drawings and Watercolor Paintings

Materials

Paper, Watercolor

"West Point from the East Bank of the Hudson" Antique Drawing on Paper Watkinson
Located in Soquel, CA
"West Point from the East Bank of the Hudson" Antique Drawing on Paper Delicate and detailed drawing by Hartford, Connecticut artist Edward Watkins Wells (1819-1898) The viewer looks out past a gate at the Hudson River, with its characteristic mountain banks. A shepherd is driving a flock of sheep towards the gate and viewer. The scene appears to have been copied from a drawing book published in 1827, based on the inscription at the bottom edge. Presented in white archival mat Mat size: 12"H x 12"W Paper size: 7.5"H x 9.25"W Notes of interest on Edward Watkinson Wells Our most significant acquisition this year came from a dealer in Philadelphia. It is a 450-page diary written over 10 years (1841-1851) by Hartford artist and dilettante Edward Watkinson Wells (1819-1898), one of the many nephews of our founder, David Watkinson (1778-1857). Edward was immersed in Hartford’s cultural life in the 1840s, exhibited his works at local fairs and gave lessons to the locals. He portrays an active involvement with with his large extended family, which often crossed and re-crossed the other prominent families of Hartford (i.e., Barnard, Channing, Dexter, Ely, Gallaudet, Gill, Goodrich, Hudson, Rockwell, Silsbee, Tappan, Terry, Tracy, Trumbull, Van Renselaer, and Wadsworth). Edward describes dancing and costume parties, soirees, teas, dinners, and receptions in private homes and public venues. He meets Charles Dickens and his wife when they come through Hartford in 1842, and describes brushes with other luminaries, such as Col. Thomas L. McKenney (who lectures on American Indians), and the Unitarian clergyman Rev. Henry Giles, who gave a pro-Irish speech. Other entertainments included a balloon ascension, exhibitions of mesmerism and hypnotism, parades, and performances by well-known groups. He also chronicles the progression of the construction of the Wadsworth Atheneum, and touches on his father’s far-reaching interests in the business world–canals, railroads, factories, and real estate. The cost of this valuable document of mid-19thC Hartford was generously underwritten entirely by a member of the Watkinson Trustees. Trinity College and the Watkinson Virtual Library has content on Edward Watkinson Wells. Yale College also: Edward Watkinson Wells also kept a diary, of which three volumes are preserved (folder 32). He describes a trip by steamboat to Florida, ca. 1855-1860, and the social life and customs he observed there. The other two volumes detail his daily life in Hartford during 1856-1860, and record the deaths of his father and David Watkinson in 1857. Other items contained in the William Wells...
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1830s Romantic Drawings and Watercolor Paintings

Materials

Laid Paper, Pencil

French School 19th Century, Portrait of a young man, drawing signed
Located in Paris, FR
French School 19 th Century Portrait of a young man Signed (signature not deciphered) on the lower right Pencil, black chalk and heightenings of white and red chalks on paper Oval vi...
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1880s Romantic Drawings and Watercolor Paintings

Materials

Chalk, Acrylic Polymer, Pencil

Cloaked Shepherdess Pre-Raphaelite Arts & Crafts Aesthetics Original Watercolor
By Philip Richard Morris
Located in Sutton Poyntz, Dorset
Philip Richard Morris. English ( b.1836 - d.1902 ). The Cloaked Shepherdess. Watercolor On Paper. Signed Lower Left. Image size 14 inches x 9.3 inches ( 35.5cm x 23.5cm ). Frame siz...
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Late 19th Century Romantic Drawings and Watercolor Paintings

Materials

Watercolor, Paper

Venus
Located in London, GB
Richard Westall, R.A. (1765-1836) Venus signed and dated ‘R. Westall 1794’ (lower right) pencil and watercolour, with white heightening image 11 ⅞ x 15 ¼ in. (30.2 x 38.7 cm.) frame 22 ⅛ x 26 in. (56.3 x 66.1 cm.) Provenance: Private Collection, UK. Venus (1794) was produced during a highly creative and defining period of Richard Westall’s career and artistic development, when from 1790-95 the ambitious young artist was sharing a house at 57 Greek Street, Soho, with his friend Sir Thomas Lawrence, the future President of the Royal Academy. Whilst lodging together, Lawrence became an Associate of the Royal Academy in 1791, Westall the following year, and both were elected full-members in 1794 – the year Lawrence was appointed Painter-in-Ordinary to His Majesty King George III. Westall was to become Queen Victoria’s first Drawing Master, before her ascension to the throne. It was in this very year, 1794 - as the two young artists became Royal Academicians - that the present watercolour was executed, and it is exciting to speculate that Lawrence would have examined and given his thoughts on the work. Highly comparable to The Wallace Collection’s Nymph and cupids (c.1793, cat. P757), acquired by Francis Seymour-Conway (1777-1842), 3rd Marquess of Hertford, (who hung it in his bedroom), the mid-1790s saw Westall exhibiting and returning to similar subject-matter on a number of occasions. Two works with titles that could be applied to the present picture were exhibited at the Royal Academy, in 1794 (no. 341 Nymph and Cupids) and 1795 (no. 620, A Wood–nymph and Cupids). However, a print after the watercolour, engraved by F. Screen, entitles the piece Venus. Westall is regarded as a great virtuoso watercolourist, and Venus is evidence of the young artist’s mastery of the medium. Indeed, it is unusual to find a watercolour of comparable age so well preserved, and retaining such vibrancy - the superb condition providing an insight into his exceptional brushwork and use of colour. Venus languishes luxuriously on her woodland bed, the trunk of a tree resembling a curtain, while three winged putti play beside her, seeming to gesture to someone in the woods. Cupid draws back his bow and aims an arrow of love, perhaps about to pierce the heart of a hunting nobleman, or unsuspecting woodcutter. The striking contrast between the almost luminescent nymph, with the deep, rich, luxuriant forest, gives the glade an alluring sense of mystery – perhaps an allusion to the mysteries of the heart, a pre-occupation with Romanticism, central to the emerging thought of the time. Westall can be classified as one of the great Romantic artists, and even painted Lord Byron’s portrait...
Category

1790s Romantic Drawings and Watercolor Paintings

Materials

Watercolor, Pencil

Impressionist Beach Scene, Perranporth, Cornwall
Located in Cotignac, FR
Watercolour on paper of a Cornish beach scene by Oliver Bedford. Signed bottom right. Titled and located on a trade label for The Rowley Gallery, Kensington, London. Presented in cus...
Category

Mid-20th Century Romantic Drawings and Watercolor Paintings

Materials

Watercolor, Paper

Modern British, 20th Century St. Ives artist, Sven Berlin 'Running Hare'
Located in Petworth, West Sussex
Sven Berlin (British, 1911 - 1999) Running Hare Black and brown ink on paper 15.3/4 x 22 in. (40 x 55.8 cm.)
Category

20th Century Romantic Drawings and Watercolor Paintings

Materials

Paper, Ink

Egyptian Buffalo & Farmers 19th Century American Orientalist Framed Watercolor
By Edwin Lord Weeks
Located in Sutton Poyntz, Dorset
Edwin Lord Weeks. American ( b.1849 - d.1903 ). Egyptian Buffalo And Farmers, Egypt. Watercolor On Paper. Monogram Lower Right. Image size 5.1 inches x 8.3 inches ( 13cm x 21cm ). F...
Category

Mid-19th Century Romantic Drawings and Watercolor Paintings

Materials

Paper, Watercolor

Early 19th Century Neoclassical French Study Of A Standing Female Nude Framed
Located in Sutton Poyntz, Dorset
Jean Croizier. French ( fl.1812 - 1827 ). Standing Female Nude, 1819. Watercolor & Chalks On Paper. Signed & Dated 1819 Lower Left. Paper size 22 inches x 15.8 inches ( 56cm x 40cm )...
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Early 19th Century Romantic Drawings and Watercolor Paintings

Materials

Paper, Chalk, Watercolor

Jean-Achille Benouville (1815-1891) Rome, View of the Forum, drawing
Located in Paris, FR
Jean-Achille Benouville (1815-1891) Rome, View of the Forum, pencil on paper 28.5 x 37.5 cm framed 38.5 x 47.5 cm This drawing is characteristic of Romantic artists who, like Coro...
Category

1860s Romantic Drawings and Watercolor Paintings

Materials

Carbon Pencil

French School 19th Century, Portrait of a dandy, watercolor on paper
Located in Paris, FR
French School 19th Century, Portrait of a dandy, watercolor on paper 19 x 13 cm Signed (?) with pencil lower right "L ... " illegible Framed : 29 x 23 cm
Category

1880s Romantic Drawings and Watercolor Paintings

Materials

Watercolor

Paul Sandby Munn RWS, Mallevy, Merioneth, North Wales, Watercolour
Located in Cheltenham, GB
This early 19th-century watercolour by British artist Paul Sandby Munn RWS (1773-1845) depicts a riverside view at Mallevy in North Wales. Amid a hasty world where technology consumes our waking hours, few of us find the time to consider the subtle beauties of quiet watercolours. Yet, during the late 18th century, when Munn began producing his skillfully-rendered views, this style of drawing was considered an act of rebellion. Indeed, to such an extent that, together with several associates, Munn contributed to one of the most vital artistic circles in British history - the “Brothers” sketching club. Held every Saturday, the sketching club sought to raise the status of landscape watercolours from their lowly position as mere copies of nature. Fellow artists such as John Varley, Thomas Girtin and John Sell Cotman...
Category

1830s Romantic Drawings and Watercolor Paintings

Materials

Gouache, Paper

Francois Grenier de Saint Martin (1793-1867) Lady on the beach, 1829, watercolor
Located in Paris, FR
Francois Grenier de Saint Martin (1793-1867) A Young Lady on the beach, 1829, signed and dated on the lower left watercolor on paper 17 x 19.5 cm F...
Category

1820s Romantic Drawings and Watercolor Paintings

Materials

Watercolor

France 19th century, The Bohème artist in his workshop, watercolor
Located in Paris, FR
France circa 1850 The Bohème artist in his workshop Watercolor on paper 15.5 x 21.5 cm In good condition except a small tear (visible on the photographs) on the upper right border. I...
Category

1840s Romantic Drawings and Watercolor Paintings

Materials

Watercolor

Cloak and Dagger (Ellsworth Woodward Antique Figurative Graphite Drawing)
Located in New Orleans, LA
Many of you clicking on this drawing are probably doing so because you know of Ellsworth Woodward, who with his brother William Woodward around the turn of the 20th century sparked an arts renaissance in the South, the arts and culture in general having been mostly moribund since the dispiriting defeat experienced in the Civil War. I won't bog you down with lots of detail here since all you have to do is Google his name to bring up a wealth of information about him. He is most famous for his leadership of the arts program at Newcomb College in New Orleans, and its famous Newcomb Pottery...
Category

1890s Romantic Drawings and Watercolor Paintings

Materials

Graphite

Christmas night with Donkeys, a Robin and Lambs in a stable by a crib
Located in Woodbury, CT
A wonderful English watercolor painting depicting A Donkey, Lambs and a Robin in a stable the night before Christmas.. This piece was drawn ...
Category

1990s Romantic Drawings and Watercolor Paintings

Unknown title (castle with wall, stream and footbridge)
Located in Fairlawn, OH
Unknown title (castle with wall, stream and footbridge) Watercolor on laid paper, mounted to support of old Albumin photograph mount Signed and dated lower left (see photo) The watercolor is mounted on support that is the backing for a vintage albumin photograph of Moulin Huet, Guernsey, Channel Islands, c. 1850's Condition: Mounted to verso of albumin photograph mount (see photo) Glue residue outside of image/sheet on recto Colors fresh No other issues to note David Cox (29 April 1783 – 7 June 1859) was an English landscape painter, one of the most important members of the Birmingham School of landscape artists and an early precursor of Impressionism. He is considered one of the greatest English landscape painters, and a major figure of the Golden age of English watercolour. Although most popularly known for his works in watercolour, he also painted over 300 works in oil towards the end of his career, now considered "one of the greatest, but least recognised, achievements of any British painter. His son, known as David Cox the Younger (1809-1885), was also a successful artist. Early life in Birmingham, 1783–1804 Cox's birthplace in Deritend, Birmingham, illustrated by Samuel Lines Cox was born on 29 April 1783 on Heath Mill Lane in Deritend, then an industrial suburb of Birmingham. His father was a blacksmith and whitesmith about whom little is known, except that he supplied components such as bayonets and barrels to the Birmingham gun trade. Cox's mother was the daughter of a farmer and miller from Small Heath to the east of Birmingham. Early biographers record that "she had had a better education than his father, and was a woman of superior intelligence and force of character." Cox was initially expected to follow his father into the metal trade and take over his forge, but his lack of physical strength led his family to seek opportunities for him to develop his interest in art, which is said to have first become apparent when the young Cox started painting paper kites...
Category

1840s Romantic Drawings and Watercolor Paintings

Materials

Watercolor

French Romantic school, Portrait of a young man, drawing
Located in Paris, FR
French Romantic school, circa 1840 Portrait of a young man, charcoal on paper 22.5 x 17 cm In good condition, however, there is a restoration of the paper in the upper right-hand qu...
Category

1840s Romantic Drawings and Watercolor Paintings

Materials

Charcoal

Landscape
Located in Roma, IT
Drawing on paper, XIX century. Provenance: Nino Costa’s successors. Liberio Merolli, Rome. Private Collection. This fascinating drawing was realized by Nino Costa, an Italian landsca...
Category

19th Century Romantic Drawings and Watercolor Paintings

Materials

Paper

A Rocky Shore at Night, Full Moon
Located in Stockholm, SE
Gustaf Fjæstad (Fjaestad) (1868–1948) Sweden A Rocky Shore at Night, Full Moon Signed “G. F.” Authenticated on the reverse by Bo Fjæstad (1903–1991), the artist’s son pencil on pap...
Category

Early 1900s Romantic Drawings and Watercolor Paintings

Materials

Paper, Pencil

Roman Facade, Italy (Exquisite 19th-c. Original Watercolor, Signed)
Located in New Orleans, LA
Sorry for the reflections on the glass, but I didn't want to take this lovely frame apart. The close-ups are much better. This is a highly accomplished, superbly detailed watercolor of a the facade of a building in Rome, depicting Corinthian columns, a frieze and a free-standing tributary sculpture above. Image area itself is 10.5" x 6.25", framed size is 19.5" x 14". Matted and presented in a pretty antique wood frame that has some flaws from an apparently long history but is perfectly serviceable, as you can see. Exquisite detail, so hard to accomplish with watercolor. Came from august Houston...
Category

19th Century Romantic Drawings and Watercolor Paintings

Materials

Watercolor

The River Barge
Located in Fairlawn, OH
The River Barge Pen and ink on paper on laid paper, mounted in English drum mount , c. 1810 Unsigned Condition: Slight sun staining to sheet and mount in the window (see photo) Image/sheet size: 5 1/4 x 6 11/16 inches Sight: : 5-3/4 x 7-1/4" Frame: 13-3/8 x 14-3/8" Provenance: Colnaghi, London (see photo of label) David Cox (29 April 1783 – 7 June 1859) was an English landscape painter, one of the most important members of the Birmingham School of landscape artists and an early precursor of Impressionism. He is considered one of the greatest English landscape painters, and a major figure of the Golden age of English watercolour. Although most popularly known for his works in watercolour, he also painted over 300 works in oil towards the end of his career, now considered "one of the greatest, but least recognised, achievements of any British painter. His son, known as David Cox the Younger (1809-1885), was also a successful artist. Early life in Birmingham, 1783–1804 Cox's birthplace in Deritend, Birmingham, illustrated by Samuel Lines Cox was born on 29 April 1783 on Heath Mill Lane in Deritend, then an industrial suburb of Birmingham. His father was a blacksmith and whitesmith about whom little is known, except that he supplied components such as bayonets and barrels to the Birmingham gun trade. Cox's mother was the daughter of a farmer and miller from Small Heath to the east of Birmingham. Early biographers record that "she had had a better education than his father, and was a woman of superior intelligence and force of character." Cox was initially expected to follow his father into the metal trade and take over his forge, but his lack of physical strength led his family to seek opportunities for him to develop his interest in art, which is said to have first become apparent when the young Cox started painting paper kites while recovering from a broken leg. By the late 18th century Birmingham had developed a network of private academies teaching drawing and painting, established to support the needs of the town's manufacturers of luxury metal goods, but also encouraging education in fine art, and nurturing the distinctive tradition of landscape art of the Birmingham School. Cox initially enrolled in the academy of Joseph Barber in Great Charles Street, where fellow students included the artist Charles Barber and the engraver William Radclyffe, both of whom would become important lifelong friends. At the age of about 15 Cox was apprenticed to the Birmingham painter Albert Fielder, who produced portrait miniatures and paintings for the tops of snuffboxes from his workshop at 10 Parade in the northwest of the town. Early biographers of Cox record that he left his apprenticeship after Fielder's suicide, with one reporting that Cox himself discovered his master's hanging body, but this is probably a myth as Fielder is recorded at his address in Parade as late as 1825. At some time during mid-1800 Cox was given work by William Macready the elder at the Birmingham Theatre, initially as an assistant grinding colours and preparing canvases for the scene painters, but from 1801 painting scenery himself and by 1802 leading his own team of assistants and being credited in plays' publicity. London, 1804–1814 In 1804 Cox was promised work by the theatre impresario Philip Astley and moved to London, taking lodgings in 16 Bridge Row, Lambeth. Although he was unable to get employment at Astley's Amphitheatre it is likely that he had already decided to try to establish himself as a professional artist, and apart from a few private commissions for painting scenery his focus over the next few years was to be on painting and exhibiting watercolours. While living in London, Cox married his landlord's daughter, Mary Agg and the couple moved to Dulwich in 1808. David Cox Travellers on a Path, pencil and brown wash. In 1805 he made his first of many trips to Wales, with Charles Barber, his earliest dated watercolours are from this year. Throughout his lifetime he made numerous sketching tours to the Home Counties, North Wales, Yorkshire, Derbyshire and Devon. Cox exhibited regularly at the Royal Academy from 1805. His paintings never reached high prices, so he earned his living mainly as a drawing master. His first pupil, Colonel the Hon.H. Windsor (the future Earl of Plymouth) engaged him in 1808, Cox went on to acquire several other aristocratic and titled pupils. He also went on to write several books, including: Ackermanns' New Drawing Book (1809); A Series of Progressive Lessons (1811); Treatise on Landscape Painting (1813); and Progressive Lessons on Landscape (1816). The ninth and last edition of his series Progressive Lessons, was published in 1845. By 1810 he was elected President of the Associated Artists in Water Colour. In 1812, following the demise of the Associated Artists, he was elected as associate of the Society of Painters in Water Colour (the old Water Colour Society). He was elected a Member of the Society in 1813, and exhibited there every year (except 1815 and 1817) until his death. Hereford, 1814–1827 In the summer of 1813 Cox was appointed as the drawing master of the Royal Military College in Farnham, Surrey, but he resigned shortly afterwards, finding little sympathy with the atmosphere of a military institution. Soon after that he applied to a newspaper advertisement for a position as drawing master for Miss Crouchers' School for Young Ladies in Hereford and in Autumn 1814 moved to the town with his family. Cox taught at the school in Widemarsh Street until 1819, his substantial salary of £100 per year requiring only two-day's work per week, allowing time for painting and the taking of private pupils. Cox's reputation as both a painter and a teacher had been building over previous years, as indicated by his election as a member of the Society of Painters in Water Colours and his inclusion in John Hassell's 1813 book Aqua Pictura, which claimed to present works by "all of the most approved water coloured draftsmen". The depression that accompanied the end of the Napoleonic Wars had caused a contraction in the art market, however, and by 1814 Cox had been very short of money, requiring a loan from one of his pupils to pay even for the move to Hereford. Despite its financial advantages and its proximity to the scenery of North Wales and the Wye Valley, the move to Hereford marked a retreat in terms of his career as a painter: he sent few works to the annual exhibition of the Society of Painters in Water Colours during his first years away from London and not until 1823 would he again contribute more than 20 pictures. Between 1823 and 1826 he had Joseph Murray Ince as a pupil. London, 1827–1841 He made his first trip to the Continent, to Belgium and the Netherlands in 1826 and subsequently moved to London the following year. He exhibited for the first time with the Birmingham Society of Artists in 1829, and with the Liverpool Academy in 1831. In 1839, two of Cox's watercolours were bought from the Old Water Colour Society exhibition by the Marquis of Conynha for Queen Victoria. Birmingham, 1841–1859 Greenfield House in Harborne, Birmingham – where Cox lived from 1841 until his death in 1859 . In May 1840 Cox wrote to one of his Birmingham friends: "I am making preparations to sketch in oil, and also to paint, and it is my intention to spend most of my time in Birmingham for the purpose of practice". Cox had been considering a return to painting in oils since 1836 and in 1839 had taken lessons in oil painting from William James Müller, to whom he had been introduced by mutual friend George Arthur Fripp. Hostility between the Society of Painters in Water Colours and the Royal Academy made it difficult for an artist to be recognised for work in both watercolour and oil in London, however, and it is likely that Cox would have preferred to explore this new medium in the more supportive environment of his home town. By the early 1840s his income from sales of his watercolours was sufficient to allow him to abandon his work as a drawing master, and in June 1841 he moved with his wife to Greenfield House in Harborne, then a village on Birmingham's south western outskirts. It was this move that would enable the higher levels of freedom and experimentation that were to characterise his later work. The elderly Cox pictured by Samuel Bellin in 1855. In Harborne, Cox established a steady routine – working in watercolour in the morning and oils in the afternoon. He would visit London every spring to attend the major exhibitions, followed by one or more sketching excursions, continuing the pattern that he had established in the 1830s. From 1844 these tours evolved into a yearly trip to Betws-y-Coed in North Wales to work outdoors in both oil and watercolour, gradually becoming the focus for an annual summer artists colony that continued until 1856 with Cox as its "presiding genius". Cox's experience of trying to exhibit his oils in London was short and unsuccessful: in 1842 he made his only submission to the Society of British Artists; one oil painting was exhibited at each of the British Institution and the Royal Academy in 1843; and two oil paintings were exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1844 – the last that would be exhibited in London during his lifetime. Cox showed regularly at the Birmingham Society of Arts and its successor, the Birmingham Society of Artists, becoming a member in 1842. Cox suffered a stroke on 12 June 1853 that temporarily paralysed him, and permanently affected his eyesight, memory and coordination. By 1857 however, his eyesight had deteriorated. An exhibition of his work was arranged in 1858 by the Conversazione Society Hampstead, and in 1859 a retrospective exhibition was held at the German Gallery Bond Street, London. Cox died several months later. He was buried in the churchyard of St Peters, Harborne, Birmingham, under a chestnut tree, alongside his wife Mary. Work Early work In the spring of 1811 Cox made a small number of notable works in oils during a visit to Hastings with his family. It is not known why he didn't continue working in this medium at the time, but the five known surviving examples were described in 1969 as "surely some of the most brilliant examples of the genre in England". Mature work Cox reached artistic maturity after his move to Hereford in 1814. Although only two major watercolours can confidently be traced to the period between Cox's arrival in the town and the end of the decade, both of these – Butcher's Row, Hereford of 1815 and Lugg Meadows, near Hereford of 1817 – mark advances on his earlier work. Later work Cox's later work produced after his move to Birmingham in 1841 was marked by simplification, abstraction and a stripping down of detail. His art of the period combined the breadth and weight characteristic of the earlier English watercolour school, together with a boldness and freedom of expression comparable to later impressionism. His concern with capturing the fleeting nature of weather, atmosphere and light was similar to that of John Constable, but Cox stood apart from the older painter's focus on capturing material detail, instead employing a high degree of generalisation and a focus on overall effect. The quest for character over precision in representing nature was an established characteristic of the Birmingham School of landscape artists with which Cox had been associated early in his life, and as early as 1810 Cox's work had been criticised for its "sketchiness of finish" and "cloudy confusion of objects", which were held to betray "the coarseness of scene-painting". During the 1840s and 1850s Cox took this "peculiar manner" to new extremes, incorporating the techniques of the sketch into his finished works to a far greater degree. Cox's watercolour technique of the 1840s was sufficiently different from his earlier methods to need explanation to his son in 1842, despite the fact that his son had been helping him teach and paint since 1827. The materials used for his later works in watercolour also differed from his earlier periods: he used black chalk instead of graphite pencil as his primary drawing medium, and the rough and absorbent "Scotch" wrapping paper for which he became well-known – both of these were related to his development of a rougher and freer style. Influence and legacy By the 1840s Cox, alongside Peter De Wint and Copley Fielding, had become recognised as one of the leading figures of the English landscape watercolour style of the first half of the 19th century. This judgement was complicated by reaction to the rougher and bolder style of Cox's later Birmingham work, which was widely ignored or condemned. While by this time De Wint and Fielding were essentially continuing in a long-established tradition, Cox was creating a new one. A group of young artists working in Cox's watercolour style emerged well before his death, including William Bennett, David Hall McKewan and Cox's son David Cox Jr. By 1850 Bennett in particular had become recognised as "perhaps the most distinguished among the landscape painters" for his Cox-like vigorous and decisive style. Such early followers concentrated on the example of Cox's more moderate earlier work and steered clear of what were then seen as the excesses of Cox's later years. During a period dominated by sleek and detailed picturesque landscape, however, they were still condemned by publications such as The Spectator as "the 'blottesque' school", and failed to establish themselves as a cohesive movement. John Ruskin in 1857 condemned the work of the Society of Painters in Water-colours as "a kind of potted art, of an agreeable flavour, suppliable and taxable as a patented commodity", excluding only the late work of Cox, about which he wrote "there is not any other landscape which comes near these works of David Cox in simplicity or seriousness". An 1881 book, A Biography of David Cox: With Remarks on His Works and Genius, was based on a manuscript by Cox's friend William Hall, edited and expanded by John Thackray Bunce, editor of the Birmingham Daily Post. There are two Blue Plaque memorials commemorating him at 116 Greenfield Road, Harborne, Birmingham, and at 34 Foxley Road, Kennington, London, SW9, where he lived from 1827. It can also be seen at the David Cox exhibition in Birmingham. His pupils included Birmingham architectural artist, Allen Edward...
Category

1810s Romantic Drawings and Watercolor Paintings

Materials

Ink

Cobb's Creek (Large Signed Original Watercolor, c. 1905, Penns. Academy)
Located in New Orleans, LA
Sorry for the reflections on the glass - I did not want to disassemble the ornate antique gold frame in order to photograph the art. At any rate - this is a beautifully accomplished turn-of-the-century watercolor by the American painter Frank English...
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Early 1900s Romantic Drawings and Watercolor Paintings

Materials

Watercolor

Landscape with Figures in the English Countryside
Located in Fairlawn, OH
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...
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1740s Romantic Drawings and Watercolor Paintings

Materials

Ink

Romantic landscape, View of an imaginary palace by the water, Pastel, Signed
Located in PARIS, FR
Camille ROQUEPLAN Mallemort 1803 - 1855 Paris Romantic landscape, View of an imaginary palace on the banks of a river Pastel on strong paper Signed lower left 26.5 x 38 cm 38 x...
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1830s Romantic Drawings and Watercolor Paintings

Materials

Pastel

German School 19th Century, Portrait of a boy, drawing
Located in Paris, FR
German School 19th Century, Portrait of a boy, pencil on paper 25.7 x 16 cm (view) Framed : 41.8 x 31.5 cm The style and execution are v...
Category

1850s Romantic Drawings and Watercolor Paintings

Materials

Pencil

Jules-Eugène Lenepveu (1819-1898) Portrait of a man in profile, signed drawing
Located in Paris, FR
Jules-Eugène Lenepveu (1819-1898) Portrait of a man in profile signed on the lower right Pencil and heightenings of white gouache on paper 19.5 x 13 cm Framed : 29 x 22.7 cm Jules-Eugène Lenepveu is of course particularly well known for his large-scale paintings, such as the one on the ceiling of the Paris Opera, but his work here is much more delicate and intimate. We recognise the artist's mastery of talent, but the play of textures, with its highlights of white that enliven and illuminate the model's face, is also very subtle. There's a particularly charming sense of life and impression of light. Jules-Eugène Lenepveu was born in Angers on 12 December 1819, on the site of the street that now bears his name, into a family of small shopkeepers. The painter showed a deep attachment to his family throughout his life through his correspondence and the many portraits of his relatives. He entered the drawing school in Angers in 1833, where he was a pupil of Jean-Michel Mercier. There he rubbed shoulders with the sculptor Ferdinand Taluet. He arrived in Paris in 1837 and entered the Beaux-Arts, where he was officially admitted to François-Édouard Picot's studio in 1838. He exhibited his work "L'Idylle" at the Salon of 1843 and, that same year, left for his first visit to Italy. He was awarded the Second Prix de Rome in 1843 for "Cincinnatus recevant les députés du Sénat" (Cincinnatus receiving the deputies of the Senate), then the First Prize in 1847 for "La Mort de Vitellius" (The Death of Vitellius). A resident at the Villa Médicis from 1848, he was surrounded by painters Alexandre Cabanel, Léon Benouville, Gustave Boulanger, Félix Barrias...
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1860s Romantic Drawings and Watercolor Paintings

Materials

Gouache, Pencil

The Cave Of Vicovaro near Tivoli
Located in PARIS, FR
Peter Birmann Basel 1758 - 1844 The Vicovaro grotto Gouache on blue paper 29 x 47cm Provenance: Kasimir Hagen, Cologne, his stamp (Lugt 4795) on verso Exhibition: Europaïsche ...
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Late 18th Century Romantic Drawings and Watercolor Paintings

Materials

Gouache

Woman Daydreaming of her Prince Charming
By Nell Brinkley
Located in Miami, FL
Nell Brinkley was a pioneering woman illustrator for major national publications. She was famous for her "Brinkley Girl" and in the present work she exhibits a classic example. The m...
Category

1920s Romantic Drawings and Watercolor Paintings

Materials

Paper, Ink, Pen

Young Lady With Coiffure - Ellsworth Woodward Antique Graphite Drawing
Located in New Orleans, LA
Many of you clicking on this drawing are probably doing so because you know of Ellsworth Woodward, who with his brother William Woodward around the turn of the 20th century sparked an arts renaissance in the South, the arts and culture in general having been mostly moribund since the dispiriting defeat experienced in the Civil War. I won't bog you down with lots of detail here since all you have to do is Google his name to bring up a wealth of information about him. He is most famous for his leadership of the arts program at Newcomb College in New Orleans, and its famous Newcomb Pottery...
Category

1890s Romantic Drawings and Watercolor Paintings

Materials

Graphite

French Romantic School, View of Arriccia, 1828, drawing
Located in Paris, FR
French Romantic School beginning of the 19th Century View of Arriccia, 1828 located and dated, "Arriccia 1828" on the lower right Pencil on paper 23 x ...
Category

1820s Romantic Drawings and Watercolor Paintings

Materials

Pencil

Achille Devéria (1800-1857) A galant scene Original Drawing
Located in Paris, FR
Achille Devéria (1800-1857) A galant scene pencil on paper Some stains (see photographs please) Bears the stamp of the Achille Deveria Estate Sale o...
Category

1850s Romantic Drawings and Watercolor Paintings

Materials

Carbon Pencil

The Chess Game (antique drawing by leader of "Southern Art Renaissance")
Located in New Orleans, LA
Despite the tears and repairs, this remains an absolutely wonderful drawing, by a famous Southern artist. Many of you clicking on this are probably doing so because you know of Ellsworth Woodward, who with his brother William Woodward around the turn of the 20th century sparked an arts renaissance in the South, the arts and culture in general having been mostly moribund since the dispiriting defeat experienced in the Civil War. I won't bog you down with lots of detail here since all you have to do is Google his name to bring up a wealth of information about him. He is most famous for his leadership of the arts program at Newcomb College in New Orleans, and its famous Newcomb Pottery...
Category

1890s Romantic Drawings and Watercolor Paintings

Materials

Graphite

Charon's Ferry - Early 19th Century Scottish Romantic watercolour by David Scott
By David Scott
Located in London, GB
DAVID SCOTT, RSA (British 1806-1849) Charon’s Ferry Signed with initials and indistinctly inscribed l.l. Watercolour Unframed, in mount only 29 by 40.5 cm., 11 ½ by 16 in. (mount size 40.5 by 55.5 cm., 16 by 22 in.) Provenance: William Bell Scott, London; Mrs Balton; Private collection. David Scott was born in Edinburgh. He studied art under his father, the engraver, Robert Scott. He exhibited his first picture oil painting, Hopes of Early Genius Dispelled by Death in 1828, becoming a regular exhibitor at the Royal Scottish Academy. In 1832 he visited Italy. He specialised in large canvases of historical or symbolist subjects, being much influence by William Blake. From the mid 1830s he became absorbed in a series of designs and illustration for Coleridge’s Ancient Mariner, Bunyan’s Pilgrim...
Category

Early 19th Century Romantic Drawings and Watercolor Paintings

Materials

Watercolor

Flamenco Dancer, Belle Epoque Romantic Pastel Portrait, Conchita de Cadiz
Located in Cotignac, FR
Flamenco Dancer. Romantic French pastel portrait of a Spanish beauty by Louis Fortuney. The work is signed bottom left, and presented in a very fine carved gilt rococo wood frame und...
Category

Early 20th Century Romantic Drawings and Watercolor Paintings

Materials

Pastel

Attributed to Eugène Devéria (1805-1865) La famille heureuse, watercolor
Located in Paris, FR
Attribuetd to Eugène Devéria (1805-1865) La Famille heureuse (The Happy Family) Watercolor on paper 23 x 18 cm In quite good condition : a small tear i...
Category

1840s Romantic Drawings and Watercolor Paintings

Materials

Watercolor

Achille Devéria (1800-1857) Allez au diable, la fille est à moi Original Drawing
Located in Paris, FR
Achille Devéria (1800-1857) "Allez au diable, la femme est à moi" (Go to hell, This woman is mine) pencil on paper annotated on the upper border "Alle...
Category

1850s Romantic Drawings and Watercolor Paintings

Materials

Carbon Pencil

France circa 1820, Portrait of a gentleman, black chalk and pastel drawing
Located in Paris, FR
France circa 1820 Portrait of a gentleman Black chalk and pastel on paper 12 x 10 cm In its original mount, modern oak frame : 25 x 22.5 cm
Category

1820s Romantic Drawings and Watercolor Paintings

Materials

Pastel, Chalk

View of the Ovo Castle in the Moonlight, a 19th century Neapolitan gouache
Located in PARIS, FR
Neapolitan gouaches appeared in the eighteenth century when tourism in the Naples area was developing: the discoveries of Herculaneum and Pompeii made this city a mandatory stop on the Grand Tour, the journey made by wealthy Europeans to complete their education. Generally small in size for ease of transport and affordable in price, these gouaches were the ideal travel souvenir that these tourists of the early days were bringing back to capture the idyllic landscapes they had discovered during their journey and to share them with family and friends upon their return at home. The Bay of Naples and the eruptions of Vesuvius are the favourite themes of these views. Here we have a view of the Ovo Castle, which was rebuilt on the island of Partenope, in the middle of the Bay of Naples and about a hundred metres from the shore by the Normans in the 12th century on antique ruins...
Category

Early 19th Century Romantic Drawings and Watercolor Paintings

Materials

Gouache, Paper

Portrait of a Louis XIV Period Gentleman, Drawing by Vivian Rydgren
Located in Long Island City, NY
Artist: Vivian Rydgren Title: Portrait of a Gentleman Year: 1948 Medium: Color pencil and pastel on paper, signed and dated l.r. Paper Size: 23 x 15.5 inches Framed: 37.5 x 29.5 inches
Category

1940s Romantic Drawings and Watercolor Paintings

Materials

Oil Pastel, Color Pencil

Romantic drawings and watercolor paintings for sale on 1stDibs.

Find a wide variety of authentic Romantic drawings and watercolor paintings available for sale on 1stDibs. Works in this style were very popular during the 21st Century and Contemporary, but contemporary artists have continued to produce works inspired by this movement. If you’re looking to add drawings and watercolor paintings created in this style to introduce contrast in an otherwise neutral space in your home, the works available on 1stDibs include elements of blue and other colors. Many Pop art paintings were created by popular artists on 1stDibs, including Leo Primavesi, Dipen Bose, Ellsworth Woodward, and George Augustus Wallis. Frequently made by artists working with Paper, and Paint and other materials, all of these pieces for sale are unique and have attracted attention over the years. Not every interior allows for large Romantic drawings and watercolor paintings, so small editions measuring 3.59 inches across are also available. Prices for drawings and watercolor paintings made by famous or emerging artists can differ depending on medium, time period and other attributes. On 1stDibs, the price for these items starts at $178 and tops out at $68,131, while the average work sells for $1,025.

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