Until April 18, the Frick Art Museum will present the touring “Victorian Visions” exhibit. A compilation of 66 drawings and watercolors organized by International Art & Artists, Inc. from Washington, DC, “Victorian Visions” is a purposeful example of the process that pencil and pen sketches undergo to become fully-colored and perfected paintings.

Selected from the National Museums and Galleries’ collection of nineteenth century works, “Victorian Visions” is a perfect addition to Helen Clay Frick’s personal eighteenth-century-and-earlier collection of artwork, which is on permanent display at the Frick and which serves as an historical landmark for the Pittsburgh community.

The first room of “Victorian Visions” is full of pencil and charcoal sketches. Plain but elegant, nothing in the room distracts visitors from the beautiful artwork it holds. The lighting was also well-chosen: dim, but with soft spotlights along the walls for emphasis of the paintings. The majority of the sketches were preparatory steps for many famous Victorian artists before they created their finished pieces. Most are studies of human faces and bodies, and a few incorporate them into a scene.

Most of the artists in the exhibit are Pre-Raphaelites, participants in a nineteenth-century artistic movement inspired by Renaissance art. The artwork has a profoundly Romanesque feel, with heavy detail placed on the idealized human form. Two artists very prominently represented in this section of the exhibit are Sir Edward Poynter and Sir Edward Burne-Jones. Both artists sketched out parts of paintings that would eventually make them acclaimed painters. Poynter’s “Portrait Study” of a young Italian model was likely part of a planned religious scene for Saint Paul’s Cathedral’s dome, which was never actually completed. With a subdued yet concerned expression, this is a fitting prototype for Jesus, as noted on the accompanying plaque.

Another particularly interesting piece was done by John Macallan Swan. “Study of Lionesses’ Heads” is part of Swan’s large body of work dedicated to the animal figure. Swan is best known for his depictions of big cats, such as this particular sketch. The two renditions of the lioness’s head are at different angles, allowing for a more three-dimensional visual representation. As stated on the information plaque next to Swan’s drawing, he drew most of his works from zoo animals, but he never “convey[s] a sense of captivity.”

In the second room of the exhibit, some sketches are fleshed out in full color. In addition to watercolor, which had recently been perfected as a painting medium during the Victorian era, artists also employed colored chalks and the traditional oil paints to bring their pencil drawings to life. One such painting is John Singer Sargent’s “Figure Study,” a watercolor piece that mimics a famous marble sculpture, “The Barberini Faun.” The swirling technique of the colors that Sargent employs gives the entire painting a lighter, more relaxed feel than the other pieces in the exhibition.

Many of the landscape paintings in the third and final room of “Victorian Visions” bring to mind the 1980s television program, The Joy of Painting. These scenes are soft and peaceful, portraying a Victorian yearning for a past where nature reigned over industry. One somewhat atypical landscape, however, is Albert Goodwin’s “Lincoln.” A depiction of a shipyard at night, the painting contains a bold blue wash similar to Van Gogh’s “Starry Night over the Rhone.” This makes it much unlike the other paintings which are all in soft pastels. The only yellows and whites in “Lincoln” are from the lights of the buildings surrounding the shipyard and their reflections on the water. Next to the other landscapes, “Lincoln” stands out as a delightfully different piece, reflecting a change in artistic style at the end of the nineteenth century.

“Victorian Visions” is well worth the time and travel, especially because of its dedication to the process of creating timeless art. Although it is not a particularly large exhibit, the paintings are beautiful and their history extremely interesting.

The Frick is located in Point Breeze, and “Victorian Visions” will be on display for another three weeks. The museum is open between 10 am and 5 pm Tuesday through Saturday, and between noon and 6 pm on Sundays. Admission is free. Tours take place at 2 pm on Wednesdays, Saturdays, and Sundays. Although no bus travels directly from Carnegie Mellon to the museum, the 61A/61B stop at Forbes and South Dallas is about a ten or fifteen minute walk from the museum. Walking up South Dallas Avenue and then taking a right on Reynolds Street, a short distance after the intersection between South Dallas and Wilkens Avenue, leads directly to the Frick.