Annotations on old drawings
Inscriptions on drawings will reveal sometimes lots of information. Besides the signature of the artist which shows that the drawing is finished, it does not need to receive adjustments, you are able to tell when the drawing was made, where with an exact location, even sometimes the food menu of a all week for the artist. Notations may also show the provenance of a drawing, the identity of the owner etc.
Signatures
Artists started to sign their drawings at the end of the 15th century. Printmakers were signing their work before them. Provenance
The owners themselves added sometimes notes to the drawings that could induce errors to errors in their analysis. Owners sometimes added the provenance of a drawing
Ownership
Collectors of drawings started to add their coat of arms, stamps with their own monogram, or simply their own name. This practice stated in the 16th century
Time, place and subject
Notes added by an artist to the drawing can give us information about the period he made the drawing, the place etc. But not only it can help us to locate the drawing in a suite of drawings etc
Unrelated inscriptions
We see drawings with unrelated inscriptions to the drawing itself. In the 15th century paper was rare, so artists used the paper to note recipes, food menus, all kind of notes exactly like we use to keep today .
