Hands Holding a Sword and a Tricorn

c. 1790

Anton Graff

Associated Names
Anton Graff

Artist, Swiss, 1736 - 1813

This is a drawing of detailed studies of several hands and emblem designs. The drawing has a brown background with charcoal or pencil sketches focusing on hands and different emblem designs. There are three studies of hands, with two holding a cylindrical object and one resting on another element. These sketches emphasize the shaping and shading of fingers. Below the hand sketches are two emblem designs: one resembling a badge with a shield and star shape, and the other resembling a crown-like form. The artist uses shading to create depth and contrast on the brown surface.

Media Options

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Artwork overview

  • Medium

    charcoal touched with white chalk on brown laid paper

  • Credit Line

    Gift of Diane Allen Nixon

  • Dimensions

    overall: 29.4 x 38.4 cm (11 9/16 x 15 1/8 in.)

  • Accession Number

    2003.57.1

Artwork history & notes

Provenance

Estate of the artist; by descent to his son, Karl Anton Graff, Dresden (died 1832); (his sale, Dresden, 19 November 1832). Constantin Kraukling, Dresden; by descent to his heirs; Fritz Arndt, Oberwartha (not in Lugt; his stamp on old mount). (sale, C. G. Boerner, Leipzig, 19-20 March 1914, among lots 56 or 61). (C. G. Boerner Inc., New York); purchased 2003 by NGA.

Associated Names

Exhibition History

2004

  • Six Centuries of Prints and Drawings: Recent Acquisitions, National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., 2004 - 2005

2007

  • Private Treasures: Four Centuries of European Master Drawings, The Morgan Library and Museum, New York, and National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., 2007

Bibliography

1967

  • Berckenhagen, Ekhart. Anton Graff, Leben und Werk. Berlin, 1967: no. 1694.

Inscriptions

by later hand, lower right verso in graphite: 5314 Bo3 k11/7; by later hand, lower left versoin graphite: 6710/FER

Wikidata ID

Q64536245

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