Art Market Monitor

Global Coverage ~ Unique Analysis

  • AMMpro
  • AMM Fantasy Collecting Game
  • Podcast
  • Contact Us

Old Master Drawings Admired

November 17, 2009 by Marion Maneker

Richard Dorment waxes eloquent about Old Master drawings at the Dulwich Gallery in the Telegraph:

The first thing to say about the selection of drawings and watercolours at the Dulwich Picture Gallery is that they come from a collection that was formed fairly recently and yet would be impossible to replicate today.

The great connoisseur Walter Vitzthum began to buy Old Master drawings for the Art Gallery in Ontario in 1969 – when prices for works on paper were still relatively low and the quality staggering – at least for anyone with taste, knowledge, and a trained eye.

Vitzthum encouraged one of his trustees, Marvin Gelber, to acquire works on paper that he had identified as desirable but didn’t have the funds to acquire. This meant that, throughout the Seventies and Eighties, the gallery kept adding to its core collection by donation and purchase until today it owns 5,000 drawings and watercolours.

What fun they all had. Works on paper are in some ways more difficult to collect than paintings, because attributions are more fluid, copies easier to pass off as originals, and a drawing’s full provenance is rarely secure.

On the other hand, it can be easier to identify an artist’s graphic handwriting in a drawing than in a painting, because a painter can correct or cover errors as he works, whereas it is rare for a draughtsman to erase as his hand moves over the paper, making corrections, trying out new ideas, or even idly drawing comical sketches in the margins. There is something intimate and physical about a working drawing that you don’t get in any other medium.

Drawing Attention (Telegraph)

More from Art Market Monitor

  • Louvre Abu Dhabi Announces Acquisition of £9.48m Rembrandt StudyLouvre Abu Dhabi Announces Acquisition of £9.48m Rembrandt Study
  • Christie’s Has Richard Feigen Collection in MayChristie’s Has Richard Feigen Collection in May
  • Christie’s Sells £11.4m Leyden Drawing to Benefit Rugby SchoolChristie’s Sells £11.4m Leyden Drawing to Benefit Rugby School
  • Getty Buys Previously Unknown Quentin Metsys PaintingGetty Buys Previously Unknown Quentin Metsys Painting
  • Christie’s to Sell Shickman Collection Led by Spanish Still LivesChristie’s to Sell Shickman Collection Led by Spanish Still Lives
  • Sotheby’s Has Two Caspar David Friedrich Works in DecemberSotheby’s Has Two Caspar David Friedrich Works in December

Filed Under: General Tagged With: Old Master

About Marion Maneker

Want to get Art Market Monitor‘s posts sent to you in our email? Sign up below by clicking on the Subscribe button.

Top Posts

  • Keith Haring’s 1989 Retrospect Comes to Sotheby’s London Prints Sale
  • Four of Picasso's Women Valued at $28m Come to Christie's from Rose-Walters Collection
  • Roy Lichtenstein’s Top Ten Auction Prices
  • Norman Rockwell's Not Gay. But Is He a Great Artist?
  • Sotheby’s Offers Pop-Culture Memorabilia, from Nike to Yeezy, in New Series
  • Rauschenberg’s Buffalo II Leads Mayer Collection at Christie’s
  • Christie's Announces $70m Picasso Self Portrait
  • Mapping a Career in the Art World
  • David Hockney's $20m Pacific Coast Highway & Santa Monica
  • Rare Apple-1 Computer Available from Christie's Private Sale
  • About Us/ Contact
  • Podcast
  • AMMpro
  • Newsletter
  • FAQ

twitterfacebooksoundcloud
Privacy Policy
Terms & Conditions
California Privacy Rights
Do Not Sell My Personal Information
Advertise on Art Market Monitor