Sketches of Sheep and Goat

Unknown artist · 18th century

Medium

Black chalk, with brush and white gouache, on cream laid paper, laid down on cream wove paper

Original size

19.2 × 32 cm (7 9/16 × 12 5/8 in.)

Currently held

Art Institute of Chicago

Movement

Baroque

This intimate study captures the quiet presence of farm animals with the economy and confidence of an artist who had spent considerable time observing them in the field. Drawn in the 18th century by an unidentified hand, the work belongs to a tradition of preparatory animal sketches that European artists produced both as academic exercises and as reference material for larger compositions. Black chalk provides the structure and shadow, while touches of white gouache lift the forms from the cream-toned paper — a technique that gives the animals a soft, dimensional quality unusual for what might otherwise read as a casual study. The layering of media on laid paper was a hallmark of skilled draughtsmanship in this period, demanding control that took years to develop. Animal studies like this one were widely circulated and copied in 18th century ateliers, prized for their directness and their value as teaching models — which may help explain why so many survive without a confirmed attribution. The hand-painted oil reproduction translates this delicate interplay of chalk and gouache into paint, preserving the tonal warmth of the original while giving the image a permanence and presence suited to a contemporary wall.