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19th Century View from the Spiers of the Duomo Painting Watercolor on Paper
19th Century View from the Spiers of the Duomo Painting Watercolor on Paper

19th Century View from the Spiers of the Duomo Painting Watercolor on Paper

Located in Milan, IT

The calm and carefree atmosphere that characterizes the work is further transmitted by the palette of soft colors spread over overlapping glazes, which, in addition to giving strengt...

Category

Antique 19th Century Italian Paintings

Materials

Paper

The Causeway by Luana Asiata, Contemporary landscape painting, Original art
The Causeway by Luana Asiata, Contemporary landscape painting, Original art

The Causeway by Luana Asiata, Contemporary landscape painting, Original art

Located in Deddington, GB

Music plays a big part and influences the way she paints and draws, rhythmically it sets a pace where she can visualise colour vibrations. Most of her drawings become preparatory dra...

Category

21st Century and Contemporary Abstract Abstract Paintings

Materials

Canvas, Mixed Media

The Causeway, Original Abstract Seascape Painting, Blackwater Estuary in Essex
The Causeway, Original Abstract Seascape Painting, Blackwater Estuary in Essex

The Causeway, Original Abstract Seascape Painting, Blackwater Estuary in Essex

Located in Deddington, GB

Music plays a big part and influences the way she paints and draws, rhythmically it sets a pace where she can visualise colour vibrations. Most of her drawings become preparatory dra...

Category

21st Century and Contemporary Abstract Abstract Paintings

Materials

Canvas, Oil Pastel, Acrylic

Temperate and Vista with Acrylic on Canvas, Painting by Luana Asiata
Temperate and Vista with Acrylic on Canvas, Painting by Luana Asiata

Temperate and Vista with Acrylic on Canvas, Painting by Luana Asiata

Located in Deddington, GB

Music plays a big part and influences the way she paints and draws, rhythmically it sets a pace where she can visualise colour vibrations. Most of her drawings become preparatory dra...

Category

2010s Abstract Abstract Paintings

Materials

Canvas, Oil, Acrylic

Meadow, Original painting, Floral art, Abstract Painting
Meadow, Original painting, Floral art, Abstract Painting

Meadow, Original painting, Floral art, Abstract Painting

Located in Deddington, GB

Music plays a big part and influences the way she paints and draws, rhythmically it sets a pace where she can visualise colour vibrations. Most of her drawings become preparatory dr...

Category

2010s Abstract Abstract Paintings

Materials

Oil, Acrylic

Study for Ovid-Windfall
Study for Ovid-Windfall

Study for Ovid-Windfall

By Chris Ofili

Located in Toronto, Ontario

"Study for Ovid-Windfall," recalls a mixed media preparatory drawing for a 2011-2012 large-scale painting of the same name.

Category

2010s Contemporary Figurative Prints

Materials

Paper, Giclée

Exceptional Baccarat Chandelier and Its Ten Wall-Lights, France, Circa 1870
Exceptional Baccarat Chandelier and Its Ten Wall-Lights, France, Circa 1870

Exceptional Baccarat Chandelier and Its Ten Wall-Lights, France, Circa 1870

By Cristalleries De Baccarat

Located in PARIS, FR

Related work : This preparatory drawing probably served as a model for the chandelier presented here.

Category

Antique 1870s French Napoleon III Chandeliers and Pendants

Materials

Crystal

"La Danse à la Campagne", 2nd plate by Pierre-Auguste Renoir
"La Danse à la Campagne", 2nd plate by Pierre-Auguste Renoir

"La Danse à la Campagne", 2nd plate by Pierre-Auguste Renoir

By Pierre-Auguste Renoir

Located in Hinsdale, IL

The model he actually took was not the painting itself but one of the preparatory drawings for it, representing Suzanne Valadon and perhaps Renoir’s brother Edmond (some say it is hi...

Category

1890s Art Nouveau Figurative Prints

Materials

Etching

"La Danse à la Campagne", 2nd plate by Pierre-Auguste Renoir
"La Danse à la Campagne", 2nd plate by Pierre-Auguste Renoir

"La Danse à la Campagne", 2nd plate by Pierre-Auguste Renoir

By Pierre-Auguste Renoir

Located in Hinsdale, IL

The model he actually took was not the painting itself but one of the preparatory drawings for it, representing Suzanne Valadon and perhaps Renoir’s brother Edmond (some say it is hi...

Category

1890s Art Nouveau Figurative Prints

Materials

Etching

The republican picnic Stéphane Fauchille Contemporary art painting colour humour
The republican picnic Stéphane Fauchille Contemporary art painting colour humour

The republican picnic Stéphane Fauchille Contemporary art painting colour humour

By Stéphane Fauchille

Located in Paris, FR

When he shifts to painting, often on large formats, he then feels the need for an organized, structured composition, carefully developed, requiring several preparatory drawings. Wh...

Category

2010s Contemporary Landscape Paintings

Materials

Canvas, Oil

'Still Life with Fruit and Flowers', Paris, Tokyo, London, Copenhagen Academy
'Still Life with Fruit and Flowers', Paris, Tokyo, London, Copenhagen Academy

'Still Life with Fruit and Flowers', Paris, Tokyo, London, Copenhagen Academy

By Ib Eisner

Located in Santa Cruz, CA

He painted mostly without fixed contour lines or preparatory drawings, since the necessary capturing of the desired, elusive light effects required a consistently rapid and intuitive...

Category

1950s Post-Impressionist Still-life Paintings

Materials

Canvas, Oil, Board

Costumes of Spain – ILLUSTRATED by Antonio Rodríguez, 1803
Costumes of Spain – ILLUSTRATED by Antonio Rodríguez, 1803

Costumes of Spain – ILLUSTRATED by Antonio Rodríguez, 1803

Located in Middletown, NY

The first 38 plates correspond to Madrid costumes, five to La Mancha, one to La Alcarria, another to the Serranía, eight to Castilla la Vieja, two to León, Santander, Asturias and Ga...

Category

Antique Early 19th Century Spanish Books

Materials

Gold Leaf

4 Antique Gil Blas French Belle Époque Newspaper Advertising Framed Steinlen 23"
4 Antique Gil Blas French Belle Époque Newspaper Advertising Framed Steinlen 23"

4 Antique Gil Blas French Belle Époque Newspaper Advertising Framed Steinlen 23"

By Théophile Alexandre Steinlen

Located in Dayton, OH

A full moon illuminates a village church steeple in the background. The original preparatory drawing for this print, rendered in brush, black ink, and colored chalk, is housed in the...

Category

Antique Late 19th Century Victorian Prints

Materials

Hardwood, Paper

Columbus, Ohio State Artist Lithograph "Heavenly Bliss" Angels, Biplane
Columbus, Ohio State Artist Lithograph "Heavenly Bliss" Angels, Biplane

Columbus, Ohio State Artist Lithograph "Heavenly Bliss" Angels, Biplane

By Sid Chafetz

Located in Surfside, FL

A golden halo, bi-plane, smiling sun, and God's feet appear in the sky above the couple. An ink and pencil preparatory drawing titled Last Tango in Columbus, with appliqué correction...

Category

1990s Modern Figurative Prints

Materials

Archival Paper, Lithograph

Richard Cook, Reclining Nude – Corrina, Figurative Art, Contemporary Art
Richard Cook, Reclining Nude – Corrina, Figurative Art, Contemporary Art

Richard Cook, Reclining Nude – Corrina, Figurative Art, Contemporary Art

Located in Deddington, GB

His landscapes show places that are always there, but the moment he visits them to make his preparatory drawings are not. Each time, the people will be different and the weather cond...

Category

21st Century and Contemporary Contemporary Figurative Paintings

Materials

Oil, Board

Child mutual instruction
Child mutual instruction

Child mutual instruction

Located in BELEYMAS, FR

Hippolyte-Dominique HOLFELD (Paris, 1804 - Paris, 1872) Mutual Instruction Oil on canvas H. 65 cm; W. 82 cm Signed and dated lower left 1852 Exhibition : Paris Salon of 1852, no. 64...

Category

1850s French School Portrait Paintings

Materials

Canvas, Oil

Wrapped Statues/West Germany
Wrapped Statues/West Germany

Wrapped Statues/West Germany

By Christo and Jeanne-Claude

Located in Missouri, MO

Funding for the site-specific works come from the sale of preparatory drawings, documents, and sculptures.

Category

1980s Modern Mixed Media

Materials

Paper, Mixed Media, Laid Paper, Lithograph

Yellow Store Front, Project, 1980
Yellow Store Front, Project, 1980

Yellow Store Front, Project, 1980

By Christo

Located in Missouri, MO

Funding for the site-specific works come from the sale of preparatory drawings, documents, and sculptures.

Category

1980s American Modern Mixed Media

Materials

Mixed Media

Daniel Arsham - Eroded Classical Prints - Contemporary Art
Daniel Arsham - Eroded Classical Prints - Contemporary Art

Daniel Arsham - Eroded Classical Prints - Contemporary Art

By Daniel Arsham

Located in Asheville, NC

ERODED CLASSICAL PRINTS is a set of three silkscreened prints reproducing Daniel Arsham’s preparatory drawings for eroded sculptural works. Each 18” x 24” print, was created with 8 ...

Category

21st Century and Contemporary Contemporary Prints and Multiples

Materials

Screen

Sèvres Médicis Vases Commissioned by Napoléon for Talleyrand
Sèvres Médicis Vases Commissioned by Napoléon for Talleyrand

Sèvres Médicis Vases Commissioned by Napoléon for Talleyrand

By Cristalleries De Sevres

Located in New Orleans, LA

Notably, Brongniart’s original preparatory drawing for this floral motif is preserved in the Sèvres archives.

Category

Antique 19th Century French Vases

Materials

Bronze

A two-part cabinet in rare exotic woods with solid ebony inlays, Italy, 1990s
A two-part cabinet in rare exotic woods with solid ebony inlays, Italy, 1990s

A two-part cabinet in rare exotic woods with solid ebony inlays, Italy, 1990s

Located in Chiavari, Liguria

The concept stemmed from an intuition: an initial preparatory drawing exploring two interlocking volumes—massive yet elegant, seemingly austere in their sequence of right angles.

Category

1990s Italian Post-Modern Cabinets

Materials

Ebony, Fruitwood, Rosewood

The Lady's Awakening Longhi Paint 18th Century Oil on canvas Old master Italy
The Lady's Awakening Longhi Paint 18th Century Oil on canvas Old master Italy

The Lady's Awakening Longhi Paint 18th Century Oil on canvas Old master Italy

Located in Riva del Garda, IT

Although the original painting, once thought lost, reappeared at a Christie’s auction (New York, October 14, 2021, lot 51) after being acquired by the French collector John Grou in t...

Category

18th Century Old Masters Figurative Paintings

Materials

Oil

Spring- 21st Century Contemporary
Spring- 21st Century Contemporary

Spring- 21st Century Contemporary

By Pam Hawkes

Located in Nuenen, Noord Brabant

"I rarely do research or preparatory drawings. I immediately go on with a half idea and work it out while I continue. " And it works!

Category

2010s Contemporary Portrait Paintings

Materials

Gold Leaf

Portrait of Sir Henry Guildford

Portrait of Sir Henry Guildford

By (After) Hans Holbein The Younger

Located in London, GB

Guildford was one of the first in England to commission a portrait from Holbein and both the preparatory drawing and finished painting survive. Holbein reportedly also painted a port...

Category

16th Century Portrait Paintings

Materials

Oil, Wood Panel

Antique 19thC French Baccarat Four Chamber Divided Enamel & Ormolu Scent Bottle
Antique 19thC French Baccarat Four Chamber Divided Enamel & Ormolu Scent Bottle

Antique 19thC French Baccarat Four Chamber Divided Enamel & Ormolu Scent Bottle

By Baccarat

Located in Royal Tunbridge Wells, Kent

The production of such a piece must have involved preparatory drawings, trials, and extensive labour, which, combined with the expense of manufacture, explains why only two examples ...

Category

Antique 19th Century French Other Bottles

Materials

Crystal

Holy Family with Two Saints, after Parmigianino
Holy Family with Two Saints, after Parmigianino

Holy Family with Two Saints, after Parmigianino

By Antonio Da Trento

Located in Middletown, NY

The preparatory drawing in red chalk with white heightening entitled Holy Family with Two Saints (c. 1527–29), is in the permanent collection of the Uffizi Gallery, Gabinetto dei Dis...

Category

16th Century Old Masters Figurative Prints

Materials

Ink, Laid Paper, Woodcut

Reclining Nude – Corrina with Oil Paint on Board, Painting by Richard Cook
Reclining Nude – Corrina with Oil Paint on Board, Painting by Richard Cook

Reclining Nude – Corrina with Oil Paint on Board, Painting by Richard Cook

Located in Deddington, GB

His landscapes show places that are always there, but the moment he visits them to make his preparatory drawings are not. Each time, the people will be different and the weather cond...

Category

21st Century and Contemporary Abstract Abstract Paintings

Materials

Board

17th Century Fine Flemish Tapestry, Silk & Wool, Green, Blue, Red, Battle Scene
17th Century Fine Flemish Tapestry, Silk & Wool, Green, Blue, Red, Battle Scene

17th Century Fine Flemish Tapestry, Silk & Wool, Green, Blue, Red, Battle Scene

Located in Port Washington, NY

The weavers followed detailed cartoons, which were full-scale preparatory drawings or paintings. The process of weaving a single tapestry could take months or even years, depending o...

Category

Antique Mid-17th Century French French Provincial Tapestries

Materials

Wool, Silk

The Umbrellas, Japan - USA Offset lithograph poster (Hand Signed by Christo)
The Umbrellas, Japan - USA Offset lithograph poster (Hand Signed by Christo)

The Umbrellas, Japan - USA Offset lithograph poster (Hand Signed by Christo)

By Christo and Jeanne-Claude

Located in New York, NY

All previous projects by Christo and Jeanne-Claude have been financed in a similar manner through the sale of the studies, preparatory drawings, collages, scale models, early works, ...

Category

1990s Pop Art Landscape Prints

Materials

Lithograph, Offset

"Wild Boar" contemporary realist bronze cinghiale sculpture, life-size, Fenske
"Wild Boar" contemporary realist bronze cinghiale sculpture, life-size, Fenske

"Wild Boar" contemporary realist bronze cinghiale sculpture, life-size, Fenske

By Ben Fenske

Located in Sag Harbor, NY

After months of studying porcine anatomy and visiting farms in Tuscany to observe the movement of wild boars from life, they produced hundreds of sketches and preparatory drawings. T...

Category

21st Century and Contemporary American Realist Figurative Sculptures

Materials

Bronze

Volubilis
Volubilis

Volubilis

By Stanley William Hayter

Located in San Francisco, CA

His legacy in printmaking, which came to dominate its instruction in the American academy, was a vigorous opposition to preparatory drawings and retroussage or hand-wiping with whiti...

Category

1960s Abstract Abstract Prints

Materials

Paper, Lithograph

The painter (self-portrait) sketch
The painter (self-portrait) sketch

The painter (self-portrait) sketch

By Jacques Martin-Ferrières

Located in BELEYMAS, FR

Several preparatory drawings for the figure are known and are on deposit at the Musée du Pays de Cocagne in Lavaur, such as the large final painting (205 x 205 cm).

Category

1920s French School Portrait Paintings

Materials

Canvas, Oil

Mid Century French School Seated Man and Dog Pencil Drawing
Mid Century French School Seated Man and Dog Pencil Drawing

Mid Century French School Seated Man and Dog Pencil Drawing

Located in Cirencester, Gloucestershire

His folded hands and slightly hunched shoulders suggest a moment of stillness, while the loose treatment of clothing and boots gives the drawing an informal, studio-study quality. Li...

Category

20th Century French School Portrait Paintings

Materials

Pencil

Federico Barocci, Head of a child, from Faces of Children, 1968 (after)
Federico Barocci, Head of a child, from Faces of Children, 1968 (after)

Federico Barocci, Head of a child, from Faces of Children, 1968 (after)

Located in Southampton, NY

Working primarily in Urbino with significant engagement in Roman artistic circles, Barocci developed a highly personal style distinguished by luminous pastel palettes, vibrating ligh...

Category

1960s Renaissance Figurative Prints

Materials

Lithograph, Stencil

Calculus - Color Viscosity Etching
Calculus - Color Viscosity Etching

Calculus - Color Viscosity Etching

By Stanley William Hayter

Located in San Francisco, CA

His legacy in printmaking, which came to dominate its instruction in the American academy, was a vigorous opposition to preparatory drawings and retroussage or hand-wiping with whiti...

Category

1970s Abstract Geometric Abstract Prints

Materials

Etching

Pair of Palatial Venetian Walnut Carved Mid-19th Century Baroque Figural Thrones
Pair of Palatial Venetian Walnut Carved Mid-19th Century Baroque Figural Thrones

Pair of Palatial Venetian Walnut Carved Mid-19th Century Baroque Figural Thrones

By Valentino Besarel

Located in Los Angeles, CA

His polychromed ivory Corpus from a crucifix is in the Museo Civico di Belluno, which preserves some of Brustolon's preparatory drawings for frames to be carved with putti displaying...

Category

Antique 19th Century Italian Baroque Armchairs

Materials

Leather, Walnut

Christo and Jeanne-Claude, Orange Storefront, Project, Ediciones Poligrafa, 1979
Christo and Jeanne-Claude, Orange Storefront, Project, Ediciones Poligrafa, 1979

Christo and Jeanne-Claude, Orange Storefront, Project, Ediciones Poligrafa, 1979

By Christo and Jeanne-Claude

Located in Southampton, NY

A defining principle of their practice was complete financial independence, as all projects were funded through the sale of preparatory drawings, collages, and prints, which have the...

Category

1970s Conceptual Abstract Prints

Materials

Lithograph

In Manner of Andrea Brustolon Venetian 19th Century Carved Walnut Figural Settee
In Manner of Andrea Brustolon Venetian 19th Century Carved Walnut Figural Settee

In Manner of Andrea Brustolon Venetian 19th Century Carved Walnut Figural Settee

By Valentino Panciera Besarel, Andrea Brustolon

Located in Los Angeles, CA

His polychromed ivory Corpus from a crucifix is in the Museo Civico di Belluno, which preserves some of Brustolon's preparatory drawings for frames to be carved with putti displaying...

Category

Antique 19th Century Italian Baroque Settees

Materials

Fabric, Walnut

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Preparatory Drawing For Sale on 1stDibs

On 1stDibs, you can find the most appropriate preparatory drawing for your needs in our varied inventory. You’re likely to find the perfect preparatory drawing among the distinctive items we have available, which includes versions made as long ago as the 18th Century as well as those made as recently as the 20th Century. When looking for the right preparatory drawing for your space, you can search on 1stDibs by color — popular works were created in bold and neutral palettes with elements of beige and brown. Creating a preparatory drawing has been a part of the legacy of many artists, but those crafted by John Steven Dews, Ferrau Fenzoni and Carl Nordell are consistently popular. Artworks like these of any era or style can make for thoughtful decor in any space, but a selection from our variety of those made in pencil, ink and canvas can add an especially memorable touch.

How Much is a Preparatory Drawing?

A preparatory drawing can differ in price owing to various characteristics — the average selling price for items in our inventory is $2,025, while the lowest priced sells for $300 and the highest can go for as much as $38,916.