The Prints and Drawings Study Room
The Prints and Drawings Study Room houses our fine collection of prints, drawings and watercolours, comprising more than 1,000 works and six centuries of the draughtsman’s and printmaker’s arts.
The study room is open to researchers, students and the general public by appointment only.
For research enquires or to make an appointment please email: [email protected]
Please note: the Barber's galleries are closed for a major building improvement project.
We have outstanding drawings in our collection by varied artists such as Tess Jaray, Fra Bartolommeo, Rembrandt van Rijn, JMW Turner, Edgar Degas and Gwen John.
Prints include exceptional works by Albrecht Dürer, Francisco Goya, Italian and Flemish Renaissance masters and 19th-century and 20th-century artists from Pablo Picasso and Elizabeth Frink to Käthe Kollwitz.
Many of our prints and drawings can be viewed on our website, or on the University's Online Collections. We are still in the process of digitising our full collection of works on paper, so please bear with us.
A rotating selection of works on paper are displayed in our dedicated Print Bays (located in the Green and Beige galleries) – typically there are six print displays a year.
Explore our prints and drawings online:
Edgar Degas (1834 – 1917)
Edgar Degas Mademoiselle Malo Paris, the early 1870s Pastel on paper 52.2 X 41.1 cm Mademoiselle Malo has not been conclusively identified, but apparently she was a dancer at the Paris Opéra. Degas began to use pastel for portrait studies in the 1870s and this fine example is one of the earliest. Degas appreciated the … Read more
Wenceslaus Hollar (1607-1677)
Wenceslaus Hollar Muscarum Scarabeorum Vermiumque Variae Figurae et Formae 1646 Etchings Wenclaus Hollar was born in Prague, but worked across Europe including in Stuttgart, Strasburg, Frankfurt and Cologne, where he became employed by Thomas Howard, the Earl of Arundel (1585-1646). Howard was a court member of King Charles I, and renowned for his collection of art and … Read more
Lambert Doomer (1622/3-1700)
Lambert Doomer Rock Dwellings at Saumur on the Loire Dutch, 1646 Pen with grey and brown washes 22.8 x 36.5 cm The inhabitants of a rock dwelling execute their daily tasks. This scene at Saumur is on of a number of drawings made in the Loire Valley by the artist en route from Nantes in … Read more
Emil Nolde (1867-1956)
Emil Nolde Prophet Berlin, 1912 Woodcut 49.5 x 36.5 cm; mount 73 x 59 cm In this deliberately roughly-cut woodcut of an unnamed prophet, the thick hair and beard merge with the blackness of the background. Nolde pursued a unique spiritual path and sought to express his own, truly German, art. Purchased 1996 (No. 96.5)
Attributed to Gerbrand van den Eeckhout (1621 – 1674)
Attributed to Gerbrand van den Eeckhout The Parting of David and Jonathan About 1632/3 Pen and wash Sheet 206 x 268 mm; mount 630 x 516 mm The subject which was formerly known as ‘The reconciliation of David and Absalom’, is from I ‘Samuel’, xx: 41-2, and thought to be by Rembrandt Harmensz. van Rijn … Read more
Joseph Mallord William Turner (1775-1851)
Joseph Mallord William Turner The Chain of the Alps from Grenoble to Chambéri British, 1812 Etching, with mezzotint by W. Say 186 x 288 mm This plate appeared in the tenth part of the Liber Studiorum series, and is based on sketches made during Turner’s 1802 European tour. He travelled specifically to see the Alps … Read more
Joseph Mallord William Turner (1775-1851)
Joseph Mallord William Turner Isleworth London, 1819 Etching with mezzotint 21 x 28.9 cm In 1804 Turner began renting Sion Ferry House at Isleworth in Twickenham and spent the summer of 1805 making oil sketches from a boat on the Thames. This print is based on those sketches and was published in the penultimate thirteenth … Read more
Adolph von Menzel (1815-1905)
Adolph von Menzel A Study for ‘Contribution’ Germany, about 1884 Carpenter’s pencil with stumping 22.9 x 15.2 cm Menzel was the leading master of later nineteenth-century German art. In its deftness and subtlety of line and modelling, it compares with the life drawings of Degas, also represented in the Barber collection. The drawing is a … Read more
Jan van Goyen (1596-1656)
Jan van Goyen A Village Scene Dutch, 1631 Black chalk and grey wash 11.1 x 18.6 cm Another drawing by van Goven of the same subject and date is in the Albertina, Vienna. Purchased in 1936 (No. 36.8)
Owen McSwiny (1684-1754)
Owen McSwiny Tombeaux des princes, grands capitaines et autre hommes illustres qui ont fleuri dans la Grande Bretagne 1741 Engraving Paper: 650 x 424 mm; mount: 812 x 608 mm Eight engravings from the series publishes by McSwiny in 1741. Engraved by N. Dorigny, I. Cars, L. Desplaces, N.D. de Beauvais, B. Lepicie and J.P. … Read more
Stefano della Bella (1610-1664)
Stefano della Bella Les cinqs morts – Death on horseback Italy, 1648 Etching with engraving 191 x 151 mm Here, the horse charges out of the picture frame, representing the inevitable coming of death. Breaking away from traditional equestrian portraits of rulers and generals, the horse and rider are not a unified partnership. Instead, their … Read more
Franz Marc (1880-1916)
Franz Marc Lion Hunt (after Delacroix) Berlin, 1913 Woodcut on handmade Japanese paper 28.2 x 34 cm; mount: 63 x 51.5 cm Marc uses the woodcut technique to simplify this composition, taken from a Delacroix (1798-1863) painting of 1855, so creating strong shapes that are typical of the German Expressionist style. The eye is drawn … Read more
Hans Holbein the Younger (1497/8 – 1543)
Hans Holbein the Younger Design for stained glass About 1520 Pen and grey wash with traces of black chalk 375 x 295 mm Hans Holbein the Younger, later court painter of Henry VIII, made several designs for stained glass windows in his early career. The inclusion of a mitre and crozier suggests that the design … Read more
Rembrandt Harmensz. van Rijn (1606-1669)
Rembrandt Harmensz. van Rijn Christ and the Woman of Samaria 1658 Etching with drypoint 126 x 156 mm The subject is from ‘John’, iv: 7-26. Three later paintings of the theme are in the Gemaldegalerie, Berlin, the Metropolitan Museum, New York, and the Hermitage, St Petersburg. Rembrandt also made two etchings of the subject, one … Read more
Sir William Orpen (1878-1931)
Sir William Orpen A Nude Girl Seated on a Bed London, 1899 Pen and ink, brown wash on paper 27.6 x 21.4 cm This is one of a number of studies that Orpen made of Emily Scobel, a model at the Slade School of Art where he was studying at this date. The drawings culminated … Read more
Wenceslaus Hollar (1607-1677)
Wenceslaus Hollar Queen Henrietta Maria London, 1641 Etching Henrietta Maria (1609-1669) was the daughter of Henri IV of France and the wife of Charles I. Although her Roman Catholicism alienated many of her subjects, she gave strong and devoted support to her husband. Wenceslaus Hollar was a prolific artist, producing nearly 2,800 prints and many … Read more
John Leech (1817-1864)
John Leech A Bracing Day at the Seaside British Watercolour over pencil 252 x 350 mm A family group struggle against the wind to walk along Scarborough Pier, whilst large waves break behind them. Leech’s characterisation of the holiday spirit is demonstrated by the ecstatic children in the foreground, the grimacing female guiding them, and … Read more
Walter Sickert (1860-1942)
Walter Sicke Dieppe, Quai Henri IV Dieppe, 1915 Etching Plate: 19.5 x 13 cm; mount 21.4 x 14.7 cm Female singer at Café Vernet, Dieppe. Published by Carfax & Co. Purchased 2016 (No. 2016.5) Bequeathed by Charles Branchini through the Art Fund
The Prints and Drawing Study Room was created with the financial support of the DCMS/Wolfson Museums Improvement Fund.