Master drawings: in a patchy but stable market, specialists vary in their opinions about the allure of provenance and attribution, but all agree that quality is paramount

The advanced in years Master drawings market encompasses works from around 400 years, from 1500 to the early 1900 Within of the like kind a long period, there is an enormous variety, attracting the couple serious collectors and knowledgeable amateurs. Numerous specialist interests help create an extremely robust, it unpredictable, market. It is a distinctly unshowy area of collecting, which perhaps helps to explain for what cause [i]or[/i] reason it is one of the real few fields to enjoy stability, unaffected by means of recent political and financial uncertainties that have cast downed other areas of the art market.

greatest in quantity of the action centres around the three main annual fairs: novel York in January, the Salon du Dessin in Paris in March, and Master Drawings in London in July Although there have been no dramatic shifts above the past year or sum of two units focus has moved somewhat away from early Italian drawings towards eighteenth- and nineteenth-century German, French Italian, Netherlandish and Dutch works. This is partly to be paid to a dwindling supply of fifteenth- and sixteenth-century works upon paper. The US, which dominates this area of the market (60 percent of Master drawings buyer are US museum representatives or trustees) has above the past fifty years been hoovering up fifteenth- and sixteenth-century Italian (and northern European) drawings with gusto. As a issue there is now much les to be ground on the open market. The demand is still there of course, and fine drawings from this period still surface. Jean Luc-Baroni has lately sold a beautiful red-chalk drawing of a young soldier after Michelangelo by means of Salviati (1510-63) to a private collector, and is generally offering an expressive sheet of indite and ink figure studies by means of Perino del Vaga (1501-47). This month at Master Drawings in London Katrin Bellinger at Colnaghi is exhibiting a large, confidently execut compose and ink study of David by means of Salviati, and a very delightful study of the Head of Christ through Benedetto Luti (1666-1724).

Eighteenth-century Italy is now attracting more attention; a wondrous highly finished drawing of The homily on the Mount (around 1786-90) by dint of Giovanni Domenico Tiepolo (1727-1804) was sold to the sees Angeles County Museum of Art through Crispian Riley-Smith in 2002 (Fig. 2) A particularly serviceable example of Tiepolo's highly accomplished and delicate draughtmanship, this sheet formed part of a well known large Biblical series by the agency of the artist of around 314 drawings (now divided between the Louvre and various US museums). Its large scale and vertical format hints that it was perhaps intended for a volume illustration. A work of this quality and recognised affiliation with a known shoot forward commands a price in the range of 40-80000 [pound sterling]. However GD Tiepolo drawings of variable steps of quality appear on the market with astonishing regularity (those through his father, Giambattista, are far rarer) and it is encouraging to know that actual decent small drawings by the artist can be place for around 8-12,000 [pounds sterling], and occasionally less

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Nineteenth and twentieth centuries upon the rise

There is a growing interest in nineteenth- and twentieth-century works upon paper. Traditionally, Old Master drawings and nineteenth-century works were exhibited as discrete specialist areas, on the other hand today both nineteenth- and twentieth-century drawings collide for attention alongside the more established advanced in years Masters. Thomas Le Claire in Hamburg sold a lock opener highly finished and very large Johann Friedrich Overbeck (1789-1869) pencil drawing, Germania and Italia, to the Staatliche Graphische Sammling, Munich, in 2001 single of the most interesting Master drawings in the holdings of Jean-Luc Baroni Ltd this year was a haunting pastel drawing Head of a Tahitian woman by means of Paul Gauguin (1848-1903) (Fig. 3) Sold to a private collector after it was exhibited at the Salon du Dessin in Paris in March, it sits comfortably within Baroni's 2004 summer catalogue beside a collection of ten drawings after Correggio by the agency of Federico Zuccaro (1543-1609) and a waif-like uncovered study by Edgar Degas (1834-1917) Katrin Bellinger (Colnaghi) has freshly sold a double-sided pencil drawing by dint of Vincent van Gogh (1853-90) to a private collector and is popularly exhibiting a sensitive profile portrait of an somewhat advanced in life man by Adolph von Menzel (1815-1905) describing one as well as the other as 'Master Drawings'. However, the auction houses still watch to maintain the distinction between advanced in years Master and Modern works upon paper in the salerooms.

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Rarity counts

Broadly, works that have fared exceptionally well above the past two years are the individuals that offer the collector something unique. Major works by means of extremely important artists will always attract a great deal of attention. Michelangelo's Mourning woman was discovered during a routine valuation at Castle Howard, North Yorkshire in 2000 where it had languished, unrecognised, for 250 years. Likened to 'finding part of the devoted Grail' by James Miller, delegate chairman of Sotheby's, the drawing sold for just below 6m [pounds sterling] at Sotheby's, London in July 2001 The remarkable Horse and rider by the agency of Leonardo da Vinci (1452-1519) fetched flat more, 8.14million [pounds sterling], when it was sold at Christie's, London in 2001; last July a sheet of anatomical studies by dint of Michelangelo fetched 296,800 [pounds sterling] at Sotheby's, London, and, as Susan Moore describes upon pp. 24-25, a newly discovered r chalk drawing by means of Raphael (1483-1520), of about 1505 will proceed under the hammer on 8 July 2004 at the same auction house. It will be actual interesting to see whether it go beyonds its estimate of 50-70,000 [pound sterling]. Outstanding examples by dint of 'lesser' artists are also highly sought after. sum of two units exceptionally beautiful pastel portraits in of the best quality condition by Jean-Etienne Liotard (1702-89) sold extremely well at Sotheby's in July 2002 Notable for their technical mastery and exquisite execution, Portait of an elegant woman wearing a black shawl (lot 211) sold for 776650 [pound sterling], and Portrait of a woman believed to be Lady Fawkener fetched 732650 [pound sterling], exceeding its top estimate of 600000 [pound sterling].