VINTAGE ART

 

VINTAGE ART

Drawings

VINTAGE ART

VINTAGE ART

Affordable works by great names are on offer to collectors who hunt out drawings, many of them made as studies for oil paintings. Fascinating insights into an artist's creative process are given by preparatory drawings, which sell for a fraction of the price of Old Master drawings - those by European artists of the 14th to late 18th centuries - are particularly attractive and use a wide variety of media and techniques.

Rembrandt in the 17th century, for example, used pen and ink to capture informal scenes with an incredible boldness and spontaneity. His drawings are expensive, but other Dutch landscape and genre scenes can be found from £500.

Metalpoint, graphite pencil, charcoal and red, white and black chalks were also used. Red chalk drawings are particularly popular with collectors and command high prices. The superb figure drawings b

y the French early i8th-century artist Antoine Watteau sell for more than £50,000, but less sensitive red chalk drawings by his followers, such as Lancret and Pater, fetch much lower sums.

VINTAGE ART

In the mid-i8th century, pastels appealed to a taste for soft, pretty colours and were used in particular for portraits with a degree of finish akin to oil paintings. Watercolour and body colour were frequently used together with pen and ink for design and tor botanical drawings .

An identified hand - especially that of a major artist - will increase a drawing's value. When research demotes a work to the 'school of' a name rather than the master himself, prices tumble (as has hap­pened recently with many 'Rembrandts'). However, the converse also applies and there are opportunities for good buys among anony­mous drawings. Many artists and their fol­lowers have distinctive styles and you may be able to narrow an attribution down to a specific country, period and circle of artists.

If a drawing can be identified as a prepa­ratory work for a known painting, this will increase its value. Subject matter is also important: female nudes, for example, are currently more popular than religious works.

VINTAGE ART

A good provenance can enhance value: many drawings passed from collector to col­lector - themselves often artists - and bear identifiable stamps. Damage reduces value, although some wear can be expected. When buying, always remove a drawing from a glass frame to check against reproductions. Copies made by early printing techniques are harder to spot than modern photomechanical repro­ductions (betrayed by a dot screen), but have a flatter quality than a drawing.
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