Gericault's Prelims for 'Raft of the Medusa'
Gericault's famous painting Raft of the Medusa is a complex composition, with a lot of figures in dramatic poses. How did he get there?
His early sketches show the seed of the idea, with the figures in the group going in and out of shadow.
A Dinosaur-Eating Mammal
Lebedev's Oil Study

I'm just guessing, but he probably did study on an oil-primed surface, and that he must have done a preliminary pencil drawing and laid in the tones fairly thinly.
More Etruscan Sketches
My job is to digest all the information and to explore lots of variations in visual terms.
In the case of this tomb, big sections of the wall mural were lost or damaged, and the contents of the tomb were missing, so we studied evidence from other tombs to guess what the full picture must have looked like.
Gérôme Study of an Angel
Walter Shirlaw's Studies
Walter Shirlaw (1838-1909) was a Scottish-born American, a painter, banknote engraver and teacher.
His painting "Toning the Bell" (1874, Chicago Art Institute) shows the foreman striking the bell with a hammer, while the violinist plays a reference note.
The faces, hands, and postures of the two main characters show that they have different personalities and that they come from different worlds.
This page of studies shows the construction of the violin, how the left hand needs to finger the strings, and a couple options for the bow hand.
Saul Tepper Thumbnail
Emil Hünten's Preliminaries
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Emil Hünten, Frederick the Great on horseback |

2) Watercolor studies

and 3) Tone paper with pencil and gouache. He probably also used lay figures and maquettes.
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More about Emil Hünten on Wikipedia
Studies for Dagnan Bouveret's "Breton Women at Pardon"
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Study and finish for Breton Women at a Pardon by Pascal Dagnan-Bouveret. |
"Study for Women at a Pardon, 1887. Black ink, pencil, charcoal. Sketch for the two women on conversation to the far right." |
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Photograph of Dagnan at his easel while his wife poses in Breton costume. Taken in 1886 |
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"Woman in Breton Costume Seated in a Meadow, c 1887, an oil on canvas study for the central outward looking figure." |
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"1887 photographic study of the group, including the standing men" |
Dagnan's easel on rails
Using photo reference