Quirky-looking figures were conceived for "The Wassail," a 1900 watercolor study for a gesso panel that decorated a wall in a Glascow tearoom.

While still a child, Charles showed a talent for drawing; between 1831 and 1834 he produced watercolor studies of birds.

It includes a breathtaking watercolor study for his notorious "Madame X" (Madame Gautreau), which captures the lady's hawklike allure.

He would often create a small watercolor study before painting a larger work of the same subject in oils.

Nature scrutinized is the theme of this attractive little exhibition of watercolor botanical studies from England that demonstrate how individual style can warm exacting scientific objectivity.

A later watercolor study was The Gulfstream of 1889, in which the disabled boat now includes a black sailor and flailing shark.

Working from sketches and watercolor studies, he created a series of six prints on cardboard, folded to form cereal boxes.

A watercolor study, Three Skulls, at the Art Institute of Chicago, is similar in composition, though relatively more graceful in handling.

These portraits of urban settlement required frequent travel to observe, sketch, and map before creating finished watercolor studies.

His small oil sketches, and especially his monotypes, are fresh and lively, as are a series of watercolor studies of toy vehicles.