Leonardo da Vinci popularized drawing on paper with red
ocher chipped from the earth. Since his time, master artists of every age have executed
quick studies for major artworks in red chalk. In the 21st century, art dealers and
connoisseurs are zeroing in on red chalk drawings, or "sanguines" as they're called,
as part of a growing trend in collecting 16th- to 20th-century drawings. "Before 1980,
few dealers advertised their drawings among their fine art inventory," says Fred R.
Kline, who specializes in rare works of art at his gallery in Sante Fe. "Now, old master
paintings have become very expensive, and collectors are realizing that original master
drawings offer a rare opportunity to literally step into art history, where they may
own unique works from the sketchbooks of great artists without spending a fortune."
While many old master paintings are getting harder to find, their preparatory drawings
are not, and in many ways these sketches are more exciting. "You actually see the spark
of genius in a drawing, the artist's spontaneous first idea that anticipates his finished
work," says Los Angeles dealer Tim D. Wright. His clients gravitate to the luminosity
of red chalk, which not only heightens a sketch's gestural drama, he says, but also "complements
human contours the way blush highlights cheekbones. The human face and body are more realistically
rendered in red chalk."
Harder than charcoal, red chalk is used wet as well as dry for a variety of effects
and is peerless in conveying details, light, movement, and plasticity. "The advantage
of chalk is that you can draw linearly but smudge for tonality and even erase it," says
Jay M. Fisher, senior curator of prints, drawings, and photographs at the Baltimore
Museum of Art. "As the color and texture of paper diversified over centuries, it changed
the effects of chalk and contributed to chalk's increased use."
For many collectors, dealers, and museum curators, sanguines' appeal is both cerebral
and visceral. Los Angeles' J. Paul Getty Museum initiated its drawing collection with
its 1981 purchase of a red chalk drawing, Rembrandt's Nude Woman With a Snake. For the exhibition "Raphael and His Circle: Drawings From Windsor Castle," a sanguine
was favored to illustrate the show's banner and catalogue cover. "A good red chalk captures
the eye even from a distance. It retains the spark of its original application and reflects
off the paper beautifully," says Allegra Pesenti, assistant curator of drawings.
Sanguines are fast becoming a hot collectible. "People are realizing they can own a
study of a major work housed in collections of the world's great museums like the Louvre and
Windsor Castle," says Wright.
As prices rise with demand, dealers such as Ann Connelly of Ann Connelly Fine Art
in Baton Rouge offer clients the option of less-expensive sanguines by second-tier European
artists working within a school or art tradition. "Many of the sanguines that I deal
with are not attributed to the masters, although they were created within the same historical
context and have much of the same allure," Connelly says. "Consider the drawing's beauty
and your emotional response to it as a first step in buying an anonymous piece. Collecting
art should, first of all, be personal."
Buying a sanguine may be one of the timeliest decisions an art collector can make
right now. Its beauty and quality are assurances that its value will never fade.
