What is drawing?

First Concept of a Front-wheel Drive, Transverse-engine Vehicle

First Concept of a Front-Wheel Drive, Transverse-Engine Vehicle
Alec Issigonis (1906–1988)
Britain
1956
Ballpoint pen and pencil on wove paper
Width 25.3 cm x height 32.9 cm
Museum no. E.210-1992
Bequeathed by the designer

This sketch helped Issigonis to think through his ideas for the design of a car along new principles.

Sketch of the Pilgrim for' Love and the Pilgrim'

Sketch of the Pilgrim for 'Love and the Pilgrim'
Edward Coley Burne-Jones (1833-1898)
Britain
1869
Chalk on paper
Sketchbook width 14.6 cm x height 26.2 cm
Museum no. E.1613-1926

This figure is draped in the finished composition but on this sheet the artist has tried out variations of the pose with the figure naked. The finished composition is known as a painting on which the artist worked for some twenty years and as an embroidery.

First Thoughts for the Building for the Great Exhibition of 1851

First Thoughts for the Building for the Great Exhibition of 1851
Joseph Paxton (1791-1865)
Britain
1850
Ink on blotting paper
Width 28 cm x height 39.1 cm
Museum no. E.575-1985

Paxton had these thoughts during a board meeting of the Midland Railway, hence the doodle on blotting paper. The sketches show a cross section and a side elevation.

Christ Crowned with Thorns

Christ Crowned with Thorns
Anthony Van Dyke (1599-1641)
Belgium
About 1620
Ink and brown wash on laid paper
Width 20.7 cm x height 23.3 cm
Museum no. Dyce 525

This is one of several studies that Van Dyke made for this subject of which he made two paintings. The studies enabled him to experiment with the content, structure and mood of the final paintings. Ultimately the subject was treated with greater restraint than in this study. The sketch was thus made as part of his thinking towards the finished composition.

Studies for the painting ‘The death of Decius Mus’

Studies for the painting ‘The death of Decius Mus’
Peter Paul Rubens (1577-1640)
Netherlands
About 1617
Black chalk, heightened with white on laid paper
Width 31 cm x height 41.2 cm
Museum no. Dyce 516

The vigorously drawn studies on this sheet show the painter experimenting freely with various arm movements which are key features in the finished painting.

Design for an altar

Design for an altar
Francesco di Simone (1437-1493)
Italy
About 1460-1490
Black chalk, ink and wash on laid paper
Width 28 cm x height 44.5 cm
Museum no. 4903

There are seven known drawings by Simone (including two others in the V&A’s collection) which show him trying out different combinations of tabernacles and altars as if he were trying to work out the most elegant solution.

Cartoon for Stained Glass

Cartoon for Stained Glass
Ford Madox Brown (1821-1893)
Britain
About 1860
Pencil and wash on wove paper; squared
Width 36.2 x height 99.4 cm
Museum no. E.2906-1927

This drawing is the same size as the window for which it is the design. Such designs are termed ‘cartoons’. The main wash lines indicate the lead lines. Pencil notes provide colour details.

Design for a Bureau Bookcase

Design for a Bureau Bookcase
Thomas Chippendale (about 1718-1779)
Britain
About 1750
Ink and wash on laid paper
Width 14.1 cm x height 31.7 cm
Museum no. D.699-1906

This drawing was made for reproduction in Chippendale’s 'Gentleman and cabinet-maker’s director', first published in 1754. It enabled patrons to make selections and craftsmen to find inspiration and guidance for their work.

Pattern for the Decoration of a Majolica Dish

Pattern for the Decoration of a Majolica Dish
Battista Franco (known as Semolei) (about 1498-1561)
Italy
16th century
Ink and wash, concentric circles drawn with a compass on laid paper
Diameter 26 cm
Museum no. 2404

A dish is known with the pattern of putti around the rim but it has a different central composition. Only half of the rim pattern is drawn as the majolica painter will have known to paint in a mirror image.

Design for Lower Stages of the Tower of Ulm Cathedral

Design for Lower Stages of the Tower of Ulm Cathedral
Attributed to Moritz Ensinger (about 1430-1793)
Germany
About 1470
Ink on vellum
Width 68 cm x height 181 cm
Museum no. 3547

Ensinger was the master mason in charge of the cathedral works and this drawing will have been made in order to show how work should proceed. In fact the tower was not completed until the late 19th century and a slightly later drawing formed the basis of its design.

How King Arthur Saw the Questing Beast and Therefore Had a Great Marvel

How King Arthur Saw the Questing Beast and Therefore Had a Great Marvel
Aubrey Beardsley (1872-1898)
Britain
1893
Ink and wash on wove paper
Width 27.1 cm x height 37.8 cm
Museum no. E.289-1972

This drawing is a design for illustration. It was reproduced photographically and on a smaller scale as the frontispiece to vol.1 of Thomas Malory’s 'Le Morte D’Arthur'.

Working Drawing for the Manufacture of a Carving Fork

Working Drawing for the Manufacture of a Carving Fork
Robert Welch’s workshop
Britain
1964
Ink on wove tracing paper
Width 47.4 cm x height 35.1 cm
Museum no. Circ.655-1965

This drawing shows the guard movement of the fork. It is one of a series of precise actual size construction guides to the manufacturer of the final prototype from which the dies for the carving set were cut. Nine more related drawings are in the V&A’s collection.

Design for a Monument to General Wolfe

Design for a Monument to General Wolfe
John Michael Rysbrack (1694-1770)
Britain
About 1760
Ink, wash and water-colour on laid paper
Width 24.3 cm x height 33.5 cm
Museum no. E.277-1973

There is not enough information in this drawing to enable the monument to be constructed, nor does it have the freedom of a drawing which is part of the thought process. The clarity of its outline and the way the different materials are carefully rendered suggests that it was made for presentation to the selecting committee.

Wardour Castle, Wiltshire

Wardour Castle, Wiltshire
James Paine (about 1716-1789)
Britain
About 1768
Ink and water-colour on laid paper
Width 47.9 cm x height 59.7 cm
Museum no. 8416.3

This drawing shows a section through the house and thus includes many of its grandest features. It is one of many that the architect made to show his client clearly and attractively how his plans would materialise.

Elevation and plan of the Temple of Clitumnus, Spoleto

Elevation and plan of the Temple of Clitumnus, Spoleto
John Soane (1753-1837)
Britain
About 1779
Ink and wash on laid paper
Width 41.5 cm x height 42.4 cm
Museum no. 3436.187

Soane drew this building while touring Italy. It was admired particularly in his guidebook written by Lady Anna Miller. He wrote offering her the drawing and subsequent correspondence revealed that his hope was to construct a facsimile of the temple in her garden.

Design for a Sauce Tureen and Stand

Design for a Sauce Tureen and Stand
Unknown
Britain
About 1790
Ink and wash on laid paper
Width 33.5 cm x height 23.3 cm
Museum no. 8389.1

This drawing is inscribed 'This drawing was made from the Sauce Tureen & Stand You so much approved off (sic)' when in London. It must have been a means of reminding a prospective client of an object that had caught his eye.

Perspective View of the Cashier’s Desk and Cloaks Counter, Fischer’s Restaurant and Long Bar, New Bond Street, London

Perspective View of the Cashier’s Desk and Cloaks Counter, Fischer’s Restaurant and Long Bar, New Bond Street, London
Raymond McGrath (1903-1977)
Britain
1932
Pencil, chalks and gouache on wove tracing paper
Width 33.5 cm x height 27 cm
Museum no. Circ.565-1974

McGrath made this drawing to convey to the client in an atmospheric way, the structure, colour and lighting of his proposal for the restaurant’s interior. Tracing paper will have been used as a quick way of tracing in the composition prior to colouring.

A Range of Hygena Ltd. Kitchen Units and Fittings

A Range of Hygena Ltd. Kitchen Units and Fittings
George Féjer (born 1912)
Britain
1962
Ink and chalks on wove paper
Width 50.5 cm x height 40.6 cm
Museum no. E.244-1978

Terracotta Models by Giambologna for the Fountain of the Apennine with a Detail of the Base of the Fountain of Sampson

Terracotta Models by Giambologna for the Fountain of the Apennine with a Detail of the Base of the Fountain of Sampson
Pietro Francavilla (1548-1615)
Italy
1560 - 1602
Ink and chalk on laid paper
Width 10 cm x height 13.7 cm
Museum no. E.695-1993

Francavilla was Giambologna’s assistant and it is thought that he made these drawings as a record of models stored in the studio.

View in Borrowdale of Mountains and a Tree

View in Borrowdale of Mountains and a Tree
John Constable (1776-1837)
Britain
1806
Pencil and water-colour on wove paper
Width 27.3 cm x height 19.1 cm
Museum no. 187-88
Isobel Constable Bequest

The inscription on the reverse of the drawing: ‘Borrowdale 4 Oct 1806 - Dark Autumnal day at noon – tone more blooming that [‘that’ scored out] this… the effect exceedingly terrific [‘terrific’ scored out] terrific – and much like the beautiful Gaspar I saw in Margaret St.’ makes it clear that Constable was concentrating on capturing or recording a specific light effect.

The Gallery at Syon

The Gallery at Syon
Unknown
Britain
About 1820
Pen and ink and watercolour on paper
Museum no. E.1063-1940

This drawing records the appearance of the gallery at Syon and was reproduced exactly in 'The works of architecture of Robert and James Adam, volume III, plate II, 1822'.

Studies of Lemon Blossom

Studies of Lemon Blossom
Frederic Leighton (1830-1896)
Britain
1859
Pencil on toned wove paper
Width 15.7 cm x height 22.8 cm
Museum no. E.3803-1910

Leighton made this on-the-spot study in Capri. He records on the sheet 'buds pink violet'. Although blossom of this kind appears again and again in his paintings this drawing was made in order to extend his understanding of the details of the blossom and their relationship to each other with no specific painting in mind.

Diagrammatic Copy to Reduced Scale of Part of a Textile Design

Diagrammatic Copy to Reduced Scale of Part of a Textile Design
Unknown
Britain
About 1885-1905
Ink on wove tracing paper
Width 12.3 cm x height 3.4 cm
Museum no. E.1126-1970

This drawing is from a credit book compiled by the textile manufacturer, Arthur H.Lee & Sons Ltd, 1885-1905 as a source of ready reference. The design for the textile is also in the V&A’s collection.

Drawing to Illustrate Lectures on Botany

Drawing to illustrate lectures on Botany, given at the Government School of Design,
Christopher Dresser (1834-1904)
Britain
About 1855
Pencil and water-colour
Width 75.5 x height 55 cm
Museum no. 3968

Christopher Dresser, designer and writer on design, began his career teaching botany. This is one of a series of drawings of elements of flowers that he drew in a diagrammatic form to help him explain principles of biology.

Studies of a Standing Man and of a Head

Studies of a Standing Man and of a Head
Antoine Watteau (1684-1721)
France
1720
Red chalk on laid paper
Width 18 cm x height 31.9 cm
Museum no. CAI 258

By the 17th century sketches were popular because of the extent to which they provide insight into the artist’s thought processes. As result many artists made sketches specifically for sale. The sketches on this sheet do not relate to any of Watteau’s more finished compositions. It is likely they were drawn specifically to cater for the trade in sketches.

Architectural Capriccio

Architectural Capriccio
Antonio Canal (called Canaletto)(1697-1768)
Italy
About 1755
Ink and wash over pencil on laid paper
Width 38.4 cm x height 25.1 cm
Museum no. E.3791-1934

This drawing combines certain features of Montague House, London, with imaginary structures. Many drawings mixing actual buildings with imagined ones are known for such drawings were popular with collectors.

Girl’s Head, the Face with an Expression of Pain

Girl’s Head, the Face with an Expression of Pain
Attributed to Jean-Baptiste Greuze (1726-1805)
France
Late 18th century
Black chalk with traces of heightening on grey wove paper
Width 20.4 cm x height 28.3 cm
Museum no. Dyce 604

Greuze made a great many studies of expression, some in preparation for specific paintings and others, like this sketch, as works in their own right. Known as 'têtes d’expression' they were much sought after by collectors.

Portrait of Mrs Mackie

Portrait of Mrs Mackie
Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres (1780-1867)
France
1816
Pencil on wove paper
Width 16.5 cm x height 17 cm
Museum no. E.230-1946
Given by Miss Winifred M. Giles in memory of her sister, Miss Alice M. Giles, through the National Art Collections Fund

Ingres made many portraits like this while in Rome. They were commissioned as works in their own right as souvenirs for the sitters.

Small Soundpiece

Small Soundpiece
Sîan Bowen (born 1959)
Britain
1999
Pencil on a fragment of wallpaper
Width 18 cm x height 24 cm
Museum no. E.359-2005

Maybe Icon of the Deposition

Maybe Icon of the Deposition
Deanna Petherbridge (born 1939)
Britain
1984
Ink and washes
Width 51.4 cm x height 73 cm
Museum no. P.5-1985

Petherbridge is an example of an artist for whom drawing is her chosen medium of expression. She has said: ‘In my own work I’ve never done preliminary drawing, because it’s sometimes difficult to repeat something or to continue when the urgency’s gone. I work on drawing as a final product. It is my entire visual art practice: I eat, sleep, think, write about, and do drawing’.