Collectors Guide: Old Master Studies and Sketches

One of the most exciting aspects of Roseberys’ Old Master, British & European Pictures (Wednesday 20 November) is the fact that it includes a number of sketches and preparatory studies by prominent figures in British and European art from the 18^th century onwards. Not only does this provide a fascinating glimpse into the processes of different artists, it also allows entry-level buyers the chance to own historic pieces by seminal artists.   

One of the highlights of our upcoming sale is lot 467, a sensitive sketch of a lady by the Czech artist Alphonse Mucha, a pioneering illustrator and graphic artist of the Art Nouveau movement. The layout of this drawing, with an arched upper edge, re-appears in much of the artist’s output, and recalls the format of the posters and decorative schemes which the artist produced. Although the present lot is not known to relate directly to any finished work, it is possible to see this piece as an informative drawing for the artist’s wider output.

Similarly, lot 154 is a classic example of one of the portrait studies which Sir Thomas Lawrence often produced as preparatory sketches for the large, flamboyant swagger portraits for which he is renowned. This lot reveals the process which went into the creation of Lawrence’s paintings, which often began with delicate, closely-observed studies of the sitter’s features, allowing the artist to impart his finished works with such a strong sense of his sitter’s character and presence.

Lot 350, by Nikolai Dmitriev-Orenburgsky, is a study for the artist’s ‘Sunday (Easter) in the Village’. This lot provides a glimpse into the process of creating a more compositionally complex genre scene, with a landscape filled with loosely-painted dancing figures revealing the artist’s attempt to work through the organisation of the scene to create a harmonious composition. Although this painting lacks the detailed handling of the completed work, the artist’s looser brushstrokes impart the work with a charming sense of movement and spontaneity, which befits the jovial subject.

One work on paper in the sale which gives us a particularly revealing insight into the artist’s process is lot 46, a preparatory drawing by Anne-Louis Girodet for a finished painting of the ‘Revolt at Cairo’, commissioned by Napoleon for the Château de Versailles. There are many versions of the same composition in museums which reveal Girodet working through this composition in various stages, including a slightly looser sketch in the collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, and a more clearly delineated scene with the Cleveland Museum of Art. Lot 46, with its grid lines, suggests that, at the time of the present work, the artist was preoccupied with the spatial organization of the composition.  

Another museum-quality work of significant historical interest is lot 195, a preparatory study by Sir George Hayter for his expansive oil of 1833 depicting ‘The House of Commons’, which is on display the collection of the National Portrait Gallery. Hayter produced numerous portrait sketches for this work, including the present study of the MP Charles Elphinstone Fleming, which clearly directly informed his portrayal, seated in profile to the left-hand side, in the completed composition.