I love seeing the studies and unfinished works from other artists. Both contemporary and past. I was looking through my folder of miscellaneous old masters and realized I had quite a few images of studies and works in progress. Some of them I have taken, but the majority are downloaded from auction houses.

There is so much to learn from these. Both in the methods and working practices, but also from the work ethic involved. So much work was often done in preparation for the paintings we admire. It is tempting to imagine many of our heroes sitting down and applying masterstrokes with every whip of the wrist, but reality is most great works are just that, work. And the result of hours of deliberation and decision making and the painting we see is the denouement.

Here are a ton of studies and unfinished works. Take some time to study those that intrigue and look at the details and try and get inside the head of the artist.

William Bouguereau

John William Waterhouse

Ernest Meissonier

Anthony van Dyck

Delphin Enjolras

Giovanni Boldini

John William Waterhouse

William Bouguereau

Giacinto Diano

James Drummond

George Romney

Edwin Henry Landseer

Cristoforo Savolini

Juan Bauzà Mas

How fantastic is this canvas of studies above!? It is titled “Masterpieces from the Prado, A Series of Sketches”.

Thomas Lawrence

Jean-Léon Gérôme

Jean-Eugène Buland

John William Waterhouse

Ernest Meissonier

William Bouguereau

William Bouguerueau

William Bouguereau

Jules Breton

George Spencer Watson

William Bouguereau

John William Waterhouse

 

Study for ‘Saint Eulalia’ c.1885 John William Waterhouse 1849-1917 Purchased 1977 http://www.tate.org.uk/art/work/T02107

Study for ‘Consulting the Oracle’ Verso: Studies of (i) Same Composition (ii) Priestess on a Tripod Throne c.1884 John William Waterhouse 1849-1917 Purchased 1977 http://www.tate.org.uk/art/work/T02106

Sir Lawrence Alma-Tadema

Isidore Pils

Alfred Munnings

Alphonse Mucha

Nicolas de Largillière – Study of Hands

Jean-Hippolyte Flandrin

Eugene Delacroix

Eugene Delacroix

Frederic Leighton – Study for Flaming June

John Singer Sargent

Sir Lawrence Alma-Tadema

John William Waterhouse

William Bouguereau

I hope you find these as useful I do. I think it’s fascinating to get a look into the mind and working process of so many artists.

Howard