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'Head of a Woman', c1475. This is one of several drawings, including one on the reverse of this sheet, for the head of a nymph or Venus. Black chalk has been used softly to suggest the gentle shadows on her cheeks, while white chalk heightens the fall of light. Verrocchio was a sculptor as well as a painter, and his feeling for three-dimensional form is apparent here in the careful shading that creates a sense of volume. Her hair is thin and wispy and is drawn in rapid, thin strokes. When not in elaborate braided patterns and knots, it falls in curls over her shoulders. PD, 1895-9-15-785 (recto)
#39150666

'Head of a Woman', c1475. This is one of several drawings, including one on the...

'A Nude Man', Italian, 1480s. This sketch is in silverpoint, heightened with white on mauve-grey, prepared paper. Filippino Lippi has used this traditional technique in a dramatic and novel way to depict a figure in violent motion. The study of the heroic male nude was the focus of much artistic interest in late fifteenth-century Florence. Drawings such as this permitted Renaissance artists to understand how the human body worked, which led to a greater naturalism and fluency in their paintings. PD, 1860-6-16-64
#39150667

'A Nude Man', Italian, 1480s. This sketch is in silverpoint, heightened with whi...

'Studies for Christ Rising from the Tomb and Hand Studies', c1497. The nude boy poses as the Risen Christ, his right hand raised in blessing, while his left hand holds the banner of the Resurrection. To either side of the figure are two separate studies of hands. Del Garbo used cross-hatching to suggest shading, particularly on the right side of the body and inside the drapery. The model's body, too, is a superb study of light and shade with touches of white to suggest the fall of light. PD, Pp.1-32
#39150668

'Studies for Christ Rising from the Tomb and Hand Studies', c1497. The nude boy...

'Recumbent Female Nude Figure Asleep', 1530-1540. Clearly drawn from a model, a thin outline forms the delicate contour of her full-length body. Inside the line, the white of the paper shows the highlights while superb parallel hatching that has been gently smudged suggests the shadows. Fiorentino has focused on the figure's elongated upper torso and powerful thighs. He left her head, hands and feet indistinct, perhaps to make separate studies of these more complex details.This is one of the finest surviving examples of Rosso's red chalk drawings. PD, Pp. 5-132
#39150669

'Recumbent Female Nude Figure Asleep', 1530-1540. Clearly drawn from a model, a...

'Charity with an Old Man', c1625. The female figure of Charity is seated on the ground in the centre surrounded by three small children who clamber over her. On the right an old man in a turban leans towards the figures. This is a fine example of Guercino's mastery of pen and ink with brown wash. Rapid pen strokes outline the forms but it is his use of colour wash which gives the sketch its substance, from the dark shadows cast on the belly of the child behind the urn, to the dazzling white of the man's billowing shirt as it catches the sunlight. PD, 1895-9-15-706
#39150670

'Charity with an Old Man', c1625. The female figure of Charity is seated on the...

A castle.
#39150723

A castle.

The artist's studio, Caracas, Venezuela Sketch, 1854
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The artist's studio, Caracas, Venezuela Sketch, 1854

'Four studies of a young woman's head', 1716-1717. The upper two studies show a model's head from above and looking to the left. The lower two, again from above, are looking to the right. Three of the heads show the woman in profile, though at different angles. The head at lower left is the only one in which we see three-quarters of her face. Two ribbons in her hair gently fall across her head. Watteau has used his favourite combination of black, red and white chalks. This technique 'à trois crayons' became widely used by French artists of the eighteenth century. PD, 1895-9-15-941
#39150750

'Four studies of a young woman's head', 1716-1717. The upper two studies show a...

'Two Marquesans', 1902. Heads of two women from the Marquesas Islands, French Polynesia, in the Pacific Ocean. These two heads are closely related to a late painting of Gauguin's entitled 'Les Amants'. The composition is derived from sketches that he had made of Delacroix's 'Naufrage de Don Juan'. In 1891 Gauguin left France for Tahiti and the Marquesas, having abandoned his family, his job as a stockbroker, and what he called 'the disease of civilization'. Forced to experiment through lack of traditional printing facilities on these islands, he devised the technique of the traced monotype. The textural effects of these 'printed drawings' have been much employed by later artists who have appreciated the way that the ink is irregularly picked up by the pressure on the back of the sheet so as to give a mottled line. PD, 1968-2-10-31
#39150751

'Two Marquesans', 1902. Heads of two women from the Marquesas Islands, French Po...

David and Goliath. 1929
#39160144

David and Goliath. 1929

Gooseherd and geese.
#39160145

Gooseherd and geese.

Farmwoman adresses a meeting.
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Farmwoman adresses a meeting.