from the pigment, so that the artist was virtually drawing with pure paint. Seurat made many careful small oil sketches for his larger works. However, with the advent of Impressionism, and then Modernism, the practice of preparatory drawing and painting tended to decline. The abandonment by many artists of a high level of detail and finish in favor of a more painterly and spontaneous approach, reduced the distinction between a detailed sketch and a finished painting. Sketches by Rubens or Tiepolo, for example, are at least as highly finished as many 20th century oil paintings. Many artists, especially those working in more traditional styles, still use oil sketches today. Francis Bacon is an example of an artist who called many of his most important, and largest, finished works "studies": examples are his Three Studies for Figures at the Base of a Crucifixion Tate Britain, or his Study from Pope Innocent X, auctioned in 2007 for $52.7 million. See also Oil painting References External links 3 page article with examples from the Courtauld Institute of Art (search on "oil sketch" for more) A contemporary example with comments by the artist from Tate Britain A Rubens sketch from Vienna - the subsequent painting can be chosen from the list at right Oil Painting Example Gallery by Nitin Painting techniques Art history