Old Masters Drawings and Watercolor Paintings

Provenance: Jean-Marc Du Pan (1785–1838), Geneva (L. 1440), passed to his brother Alexandre-Louis Du Pan (1787–1846); his sale, Geneva, March 26–28, 1840, included in lots 913–917; ...

Pen and sepia ink and wash on vellum, 8 7/8 x 10 1/2 inches (225 x 267 mm). In very good condition with some modern notations in pencil on the verso, minor cockling, and a 1-inch hor...

Christ on the Cross attributed to Jan Luyken (Dutch, 1649–1712) inscribed 1674 upper corner pencil drawing, watercolor and ink wash on paper over oard, framed framed: 12 x 11 inches ...

Pierre Etienne Moitte studied in Paris under Jacques-Firmin Beauvarlet and Pierre-François Beaumont (1719–1769). In 1771, he was accepted (agréé) by the Académie Royale de Peinture e...

'Providenza' Italian School, 18th century ink and wash drawing on paper, framed within a light oak wood frame (behind glass) image size: 10.5 x 7 inches overall framed: 17 x 13 inche...

This drawing by Johann Rudolf Feyerabend, known as Lelong, is a finely executed still life that captures a rustic yet elegant composition. The detailed rendering of objects—such as t...

Gabriel Lemonnier (Rouen 1743 – 1824 Paris) Saint Jerome and the Angel, after Simon Vouet Black chalk with white heightening on blue paper 14.8 x 20.7 cm Provenance: Private coll...

A beautiful 19th century copy by Giuseppe Rocchi of Baldassarre Franceschini's Sleeping Cupid, presented in a very attractive gilt frame with hand carved mouldings. A very peaceful i...

French School of the 18th Century Portrait of a gentleman Pastel on paper 25 x 18 cm Framed : 49 x 32 cm The mounting of this work is marked "Attribué à Saint Aubin", which means t...

Early 19th Century, Portrait of a young man wearing glasses, gouache on paper 13 x 10.5 cm oval view In a vintage frame : 41.5 x 39 cm, accidents and lacks in the gilding but but...

Landscape is a beautiful drawing in watercolor and pencil on ivory-colored paper realized by Jan Peter Verdussen. In good condition; only a smallspots at the edges of the drawing an...

'Africa' Italian School, 18th century ink and wash drawing on paper, framed within a light oak wood frame (behind glass) image size: 10.5 x 7 inches overall framed: 17 x 13 inches co...

Title: The Italian City Artist/ School: English/ Italian School, late 18th century; a Grand Tour work. Medium: pencil drawing. Size: 6.75 x 9.75 inches Provenance: from a priva...

Neo classical school, France, end of the 18th Century Allegory of Time, Pen and black ink on paper, gray ink wash 30.5 x 19 cm irregularly shaped In g...

The Sparre/De la Gardie collection is one of Sweden’s most important collections of drawings. In 1969, upon the death of Pontus de la Gardie, the collection—comprising approximately ...

Italian School, late 19th century Christ in the Garden of Gethsemane miniature painting, framed framed: 3.5 x 3 inches image: 2.5 x 2 inches provenance: private collection, Italy con...

Graphite on hand made, fibrous wove paper, finished with gray wash. Unevenly trimmed sheet edges, non-archival tape remnants at all four corners, recto, well outside of image area. Horseshoe-shaped area of light discoloration that extends significantly into the figure's face, beneath the lips, and up over the rear of the head, dog-eared right lower corner with associated light discoloration at crease. DeMin and Belluno inscribed in graphite, verso. A detailed study showing 'primo pensiero' for Giovanni DeMin's large scale fresco, Assumption of the Virgin...

Pen and brownish black ink on grayish-cream laid paper, 6 1/2 x 8 inches (165 x 175 mm), irregular hexagonal sheet with margins. Some archival repairs along the top sheet edge, scatt...

Pen and grayish black ink on cream laid paper, 11 1/8 x 7 1/4 inches (283 x 185 mm), with the center of the sheet removed to create a window frame. Scattered light surface soiling, a...

'Mgnaminia' Italian School, 18th century ink and wash drawing on paper, framed within a light oak wood frame (behind glass) image size: 10.5 x 7 inches overall framed: 17 x 13 inches...

Provenance: Ettore Calzone Collection, Rome, by 1912. Exhibited: “Raffaello: L’Accademia di San Luca e il mito dell’Urbinate,” Accademia Nazionale di San Luca, Rome, 21 October 2020...

French school 18th Century, A mytholological scene with a couple, Pen and brown ink, brown ink wash on paper 11.5 x 11.5 cm, diameter of the main scene : 10,5 cm in a modern frame under glass : 33.5 x 33.5 cm This drawing by a particularly talented 18th-century artist - as yet unidentified - is notable for its mastery of pen and wash...

'Cain et Abel' Circle of Franois Devosge (1732-1811) French pencil drawing with watercolour wash on paper size: 12.25 x 9 inches private collection, France The painting is in overall...

'India' Italian School, 18th century ink and wash drawing on paper, framed within a light oak wood frame (behind glass) image size: 10.5 x 7 inches overall framed: 17 x 13 inches con...

Rembrandt van Rijn 1606-1669 Dutch Woman Bathing Her Feet in a Brook Etching on paper New Hollstein's 309, second state of II Signed and dated "Rembrandt f. 1658" (upper left) Created from observations of a live model, this work started as a figure study before evolving into a more imaginative setting. It remains ambiguous whether the scene is set indoors, as suggested by the cushion the figure is seated on, or outdoors, indicated by the foliage in the background. The omission of her feet, suggesting they may be dangling in a brook, adds a charming touch to Rembrandt’s imaginative scene. The figure seems unaware of the viewer, presenting a dignified yet sensual demeanor. The son of a miller, Rembrandt van Rijn is believed to have been born in Leiden on July 15, 1606. He studied first at the Latin School and then was enrolled at the University of Leiden at the age of 14. He soon left to study art—first with a local master, Jacob van Swanenburch, and then, in Amsterdam, with Pieter Lastman...

Wonderful 18th century English gouache on paper of a 18th century English scene of a groom with a horse in a landscape. One of a set of five all framed in Hogarth frames. L.Green ...

'Napoli' Italian School, 18th century ink and wash drawing on paper, framed within a light oak wood frame (behind glass) image size: 10.5 x 7 inches overall framed: 17 x 13 inches co...

The Hunting Party Attributed to Dirk Maes (1659-1717) Dutch. Figures in a Classical Landscape, Watercolour and wash on paper, Mounted, unframed image 6.75" x 9.75" (17.1 x 24.7cm)...

Miniature Portrait French School, late 18th/ early 19th century framed: 5.5 x 5.5 inches board: 2 x 2 inches provenance: private collection, France condition: very good and sound c...

Inscribed on the verso: EE 27/10

Pencil on paper, dated (lower right), 55cm x 44cm (76cm x 64cm framed) Drawings and paintings of the nude were central to academic art training in Europe from the 16th century onwar...

Artist: Unknown (Likely French, 18th Century) Title: "La Femme Muse" *No signature found Circa: 1780 Medium: Original Pastel Drawing on heavy laid paper Frami...

Rembrandt van Rijn 1606–1669 Dutch Jan Cornelis Sylvius, Preacher New Hollstein Dutch and Flemish (Rembrandt) 235, state 2/2 Bartsch 280 Printed by Rembrandt Signed and dated "Rem...

A lovely, early drawing of the Roman god Mercury. Pen and brown ink on cream laid paper, with a partial crown and shield watermark, 7 1/4 x 4 7/8 inches (184x 123 mm) (matrix). In go...

No Dutch draughtsman ever captured the atmosphere of the rural countryside of Holland with the same atmospheric and engaging simplicity that Van Goyen achieved in drawings such as this. Indeed, his landscapes were seminal in the development of the genre. The present sketch conveys a striking sense of movement within the natural landscape, conveyed by the deftly applied strokes of chalk, from which the artist’s hand can be sensed. The composition is characteristic of his work, with the low horizon affording significance to the broad sky and the soaring birds within. This feeling of windswept motion powerfully evokes the expansive Dutch farmland with which he was evidently preoccupied. 1. Jan van Goyen...

This stunning Baroque study depicts a regatta boat, a type of vessel developed in eighteenth-century Venice for the regattas organized by the Serenissima during visits by royalty and princes. We propose to link this drawing to the work of Alessandro Mauro, an artist who specialized in this type of composition, as illustrated by a drawing from him at the Metropolitan Museum. 1. Description of the boat The greatest decorative fantasy reigns in this preparatory study, which blends mythological and exotic elements with references to ancient Egypt. Our drawing is probably an initial thought, destined to be refined and clarified later in pen and ink (as evidenced by the ink stain in the lower right). A quadriga of seahorses guided by Neptune stands at the stern of the boat, shown well above the waterline (perhaps to outline its empty volume). One of the seahorses is ridden by a newt, while Amphitrite lies at the feet of the sea god. The center of the boat is occupied by a vast baldachin resting on four atlantes and surmounted by a figure riding an animal (a dragon?). Three figures sit beneath the canopy, one of them on a griffin-shaped seat. This allusion to Egyptian antiquity echoes the winged sun (sometimes a symbol of the god Horus, as in the temple of Edfu in Egypt) that adorns the sides of the promontory on which this baldachin rests. Another flag-bearer figure crouches at the stern of the boat on a raised seat, on the reverse of which is a crowned mermaid whose arm, extended backwards, rests on a mascaron decorated with a radiant face (Helios?) and whose torso surmounts an elephant's head. The heads of the rowers and their oars are sketched all along the boat, whose sides are embellished with elongated naiads. 2. The Venetian regatta boats An exhibition held in 2013 at the Ca' Rezzonico (the Venetian eighteenth-century museum) paid tribute to these regatta boats through studies and prints depicting them. The regattas organized by the Serenissima in honor of visiting princes and sovereigns were among the most spectacular ceremonies in Venice. Some important artists of the 18th century contributed to the creation of these extravagant boats which were given exotic names such as bissona, malgarota or peota. The specialists in this field were Andrea Urbani and the brothers Alessandro and Romualdo Mauro. They were born into a family of theater decorators in Piedmont, but little is known about their detailed biography. Alessandro was the architect of the Dresden opera house and of the St. Samuel Theater in Venice (in collaboration with his brother Romualdo), but also worked as stagehand and set designer in Vienna, Rome and Turin. A drawing produced around 1737 from the Metropolitan Museum (7th photo in the gallery) bears witness to his activity as a regatta boat designer. This drawing is a much more elaborate version than the one presented here, having been entirely reworked in brown ink. However, a figure at the bow of the boat, executed solely in black chalk, still bears witness to a technique similar to that of our drawing. It is difficult to know whether the boat depicted in our drawing was a project for an actual boat or whether it remained in the planning stage, but the front of our boat (Neptune and the quadriga of seahorses ridden by a newt) bears several similarities to that of a parade boat depicted in the print published by Michele Marieschi entitled Regatta on the Grand Canal, between the Foscari and Balbi Palaces (last photo in the gallery). This print is dated 1741, which could confirm that our work dates from around 1740. The area between Neptune and the quadriga that precedes him on this strange paddle-boat appears to be partially submerged, confirming that the waterline of our boat was probably intended to be much lower than the one shown in our drawing. The Correr Museum’s collection holds one of the most important collection of engravings and drawings devoted to these specifically Venetian Baroque productions. These boats were intended to last the duration of a festival. Today, they are only documented by preparatory drawings or prints that testify to the sumptuousness of their decoration. This taste for regatta boats lasted throughout the Venetian eighteenth century, and the conception of regatta boats also attracted great masters such as Giambattista Tiepolo, Francesco Guardi or Giambattista Piranesi...

An old master drawing that can live in a very contemporary environment! Remarkable use of line and expression - should be enjoyed in an important spot - can grace a kitchen or livin...

Black crayon and graphite with white heightening on blue handmade laid paper. Adhered at all four corners to a period support, on which the title and an illegible date (perhaps 1815) appear to be written in the artist's hand. ________ Aglio was born in Cremona is 1777 and his artistic talent was recognized early in his life. He was promised a place at the University in Milan by the Holy Roman Emperor, however, his formal education was upended before it even began by the invasion of Italy and Austria by Napoleon. Aglio joined the war effort and fought in a series of major battles near Venice before becoming seriously ill. At the age of about 23 he was released from duty, and traveled to Rome to focus on his health, and landscape painting. In Rome, Aglio studied with the renowned artist Campovecchio. At the invitation of well known British architect William Wilkins (designer of the National Gallery and University College London), Aglio relocated to London in 1803. He made London his permanent home, and married Letitia Clarke in 1805. He enjoyed a lucrative career painting frescoes in the interiors of high society townhouses, country manors, and major London concert halls and theaters. Most notably, Aglio painted multiple official portraits of Queen Victoria...

French School, 18th century, circle of Bernard Lépicié (1735–1784) Young Girl with a Basket Black chalk with white highlights on blue paper (laid down) Old attribution to Lépicié i...

Figure being Comforted (Job?) circle of Willem Drost (Dutch 1633-1659) *See notes below ink and wash drawing on paper (Arms of Amsterdam watermarked) Dutc...

Rome is a beautiful artwork realized by Jan Peter Verdussen in 1742. In good condition except for some pencil marks and traces of sealing wax on the back and some diffused foxings. ...

France 18th Century, Pastorale (Arcadian Landscape) Black chalk and heightenings of white gouache on blue-grey paper 19 x 31 cm Framed : 34.5 x 46.5 cm The atmosphere and the subje...

17th Century Old Master Drawing Old master drawing with figure and putti Housed in a handsome contemporary wooden frame Drawing dimensions 4...

Baptism of Christ is a beautiful original drawing (pen and ink on paper) by an anonymous of the Neoclassical school of the beginning of the 19th century. A ...

Sir Anthony van Dyck (Antwerp 1599 - 1641 London) STUDY FOR A PORTRAIT OF A STANDING MAN Black and white chalk on blue-green paper 25,4 by 13,5 cm Provenance Prof. Julius S. Held (...

Graphite on greenish gray wove paper. 15 1/4 x 11 5/8 inches (390 x 295 mm). Initialed "G. B." in pencil on the lower right recto. In generally good condition with some minor scattered surface soiling. Condition is consistent with age. ____ This drawing is closely related to two known mid 18th century oils...

GIOVANNI FRANCESCO BARBIERI, known as GUERCINO (1591-1666) Leaning Nude Man (recto); Kneeling Man, Hands Tied Behind His Back (verso) Black chalk heightened with white on light blu...

We would like to thank Juliette Parmentier-Courreau of the Custodia Foundation for her welcome and support during the consultation of Glomy’s Journal des Ouvrages. This spectacularly large "feuille de desseins ajustés" commissioned by François Boucher from Jean-Baptiste Glomy is emblematic of the painter's art and mastery of rocaille. It is also fully representative of the taste of this period in the field of decorative arts. The largest of these three drawings, placed at the bottom of the composition, is particularly interesting: dating from around 1756, it constitutes a modello (apparently unpublished) for the frontispiece of the "Catalogue des tableaux de Monsieur de Julienne"), preserved in the Morgan Library in New York. 1. François Boucher, the master of French rocaille The extraordinary career of Francois Boucher was unmatched by his contemporaries in versatility, consistency and output. For many, particularly the writers and collectors who led the revival of interest in the French rococo during the last century, his sensuous beauties and plump cupids represent the French eighteenth century at its most typical. His facility with the brush, even when betraying the occasional superficiality of his art, enabled him to master every aspect of painting – history and mythology, portraiture, landscape, ordinary life and, as part of larger compositions, even still life. He had been trained as an engraver, and the skills of a draftsman, which he imbued in the studio of Jean-Francois Cars (1661 – 1738), stood him in good stead throughout his career; his delightful drawings are one of the most sought-after aspects of his oeuvre. As a student of Francois Lemoyne (1688 - 1737), he mastered the art of composition. The four years he spent in Italy, from 1727-1731, educated him in the works of the masters, classics and history, that his modest upbringing had denied him. On his return to Paris in 1734, he gained full membership of the Royal Academy of Painting and Sculpture with his splendid Rinaldo and Armida (Paris, Musée du Louvre). Although, throughout his career, he occasionally painted subjects taken from the Bible, and would always have considered himself first as a history painter, his own repertoire of heroines, seductresses, flirtatious peasant girls and erotic beauties was better suited to a lighter, more decorative subject matter. His mastery of technique and composition enabled him to move from large scale tapestry...

This confidently executed drawing is a study related to Maratta’s painting La Vergine appare a S.Stanislao Kotska 1687 in the second chapel to the right, in the church of S. Andrea a...

A rare and charming study of cows by 18th Century French painter, engraver and designer Jean-Baptiste Huet. The details are: Jean Baptiste Huet (French, 1745 – 1811) Study of cows P...

Typical battle scene by T. Fort, in very good conditions and signed by the artist. A very interesting artwork for a connoisseur of the militaria genre! Theodore Géricaul Fort (1810 - 1896), Simeone Fort's son, belonged to the French school of the XIX century; Théodore Fort...

The Roman Man French artist, 19th century pencil drawing on paper, unframed 13 x 11 inches private collection, France the painting is in overall good and sound condition - very frag...

Artist/ School: French School, 18th century Title: Classical figures within an interior. Medium: chalk on paper, mounted. Size: drawing: 11.5 x 13.5 inches Provenance:...

Early 19th century French School, Portrait of a young man in profile charcoal on cut paper applied to pink tinted paper Oval 58 x 47 cm (overall size) the portrait itself 41.5 x 28...

Salvatore Rosa (Naples 1615 - 1673 Rome) Saint Francis of Assisi in Ecstasy Pen and brown ink, brown wash over black chalk, on paper 7 x 5 cm Bears the stamps of collections on the...

Ancient Persian Miniature is an original China Ink and Watercolour realized by an artist of 19th Century. Good condition for a little brown ...

Collections: Sir Thomas Lawrence, who acquired the contents of Fuseli’s studio; Susan, Countess of Guilford, née Coutts (1771-1837), acquired from the Lawrence estate; Susan, Baroness North (1797-1884), daughter of the above; Mrs A. M. Jaffé, acquired in France, c. 1950 to 2016. Black chalks, on buff-coloured paper Stamped verso: ‘Baroness Norths Collection / of Drawings by H Fuseli Esq.’ Framed dimensions: 26.38 x 20.63 inches This boldly drawn sheet depicting a seated figure was made by Fuseli at an important and highly productive moment in his career. The monumental drawing is closely related to another sheet by Fuseli in the British Museum which Schiff published as subject unknown. Both drawings were made when Fuseli was designing his most important sequence of historical works, including scenes from Shakespeare and Milton, The Nightmare and The Death of Dido which was exhibited at the Royal Academy to great critical acclaim in 1781. The present drawing does not relate directly to any of Fuseli’s finished historical paintings of the period, but evidently the image of a slightly menacing, seated and covered old woman was precisely the sort of motif he was playing with. It is notable that the same figure reappears later in Fuseli’s work as the witch from Ben Jonson’s Witch’s Song which Fuseli produced as both a painting and engraving in 1812. Fuseli returned to London in 1779 from a highly creative and productive period in Rome and established himself as one of the leading history painters of the period. Fuseli re-established contact with his old mentor Sir Joshua Reynolds, becoming a regular guest at his dinner table and visitor to his studio. The earliest and most striking manifestation of this strategy was Fuseli's Death of Dido, exhibited in 1781 at the Royal Academy. Executed on the same scale as Reynolds's version (Royal Collection), Fuseli's vertically oriented picture was hung directly opposite Reynolds's with its horizontal orientation, inevitably inviting comparison between the two works and garnering Fuseli much publicity and favourable reviews in the newspapers. The present, previously unpublished sheet, relates closely to a drawing now in the British Museum. That sheet shows the same seated old woman, drawn on a smaller scale and more schematic in design, seated next to an anatomical drawing of a man. The pose of this figure is related to the pose of Dido in his Death of Dido; the foreshortened torso, arrangement of head, oblique view of Dido’s features and arms all suggest that the study can be viewed as an initial thought for the composition. Fuseli may have initially thought of including the figure of the hunched and covered old woman. Drawn on identical paper to the British Museum sheet, our study is an enlarged depiction of the same figure, more elaborately delineated and developed. The presence of a chain to the right of the figure, suggests that the iconography was related in some way to a scene of imprisonment. Fuseli had first explored the motif of the hooded old woman in an early Roman drawing, 'The Venus Seller'. The idea of a grotesque old woman, hooded and with angular nose and projecting chin seen in profile was most spectacularly used by Fuseli in his sequence of paintings depicting The Three Witches from Macbeth. Fuseli seems to have kept the present sheet and may have returned to it when preparing a painting of The Witch and the Mandrake from Ben Jonson’s Witch’s Song from his Masque of Queens in 1812. Here the same seated figure looks out from under her hood and picks a mandrake by moonlight. Jonson’s drama had been performed at the court of James I in 1609, inspired the subject. To throw the nobility of the queens into relief, the poet added a coven of witches, one of whom declares: ‘I last night lay all alone, On the ground, to hear the mandrake groan; And plucked him up, though he grew full low, And, as I had done, the cock did crow.’ The figure was reversed in the associated etching which was published in 1812. It seems likely that the present drawing remained as part of Fuseli’s working archive of figure studies. The present drawing was presumably purchased with the bulk of Fuseli’s drawings after the artist’s death by Sir Thomas Lawrence. Lawrence’s large group of Fuseli drawings were then acquired by Susan, Countess of Guildford (1771-1837). Lady Guildford was the eldest daughter of the banker Thomas Coutts (1735-1822), who himself had supported Fuseli’s journey to Rome in the 1770s and had remained one of the artist’s key...

Florentine, Probably Seventeenth Century Titled L’ultime parti note nel Indie occidentali Dated on the edge of the cartouche: “M.D. LXIII. M.AG” [1564…the month of August] In the 1560s Cosimo I de’Medici, the powerful Duke of Florence, undertook a major renovation of the Palazzo Vecchio, the venerable palace that to this day dominates the city at the Piazza della Signoria. For the Sala della Guardaroba, literally the wardrobe room, but in fact the storeroom of the Duke’s most precious holdings, Cosimo conceived of a grand decorative project that was to reflect in one space the entire cosmos --both an indication of the Duke’s ambition and an allusion to his name. The plan, supervised by Giorgio Vasari, involved the construction of walnut cabinets to contain the Medici treasures, on the outside doors of which were to be placed large hand-painted maps specially commissioned to document and illustrate the current knowledge of the world. Portraits of famous men were to decorate the tops of the cabinets and two large globes –one representing the terrestrial world, the other celestial—were to descend from openings in the ceiling. The commission for the maps, inspired by Ptolemy’s Geographia, was given to the celebrated mathematician and cosmographer, Fra Egnazio Danti (Perugia 1536-1585 Alatri). Fifty-three maps were ultimately created. Thirty were conceived and executed by Danti between 1563 and 1575. The remaining twenty-three were completed by Stefano Bonsignori between 1576 and 1686. They remain in place in Florence in the room for which they were created. The present work is an exact-size painted, drawn and inscribed copy of Danti’s map of California...