Cinderella

The great art boom is now old enough no longer to seem like a fairy tale, but the Cinderella of the market is only beginning to show herself. With only the richest buyers and biggest museums able to afford a master painting, collectors are discovering the virtues, both as art and investment, of the humble master drawing. A drawing is small, convenient to transport, easy to hang, and above all, it is apt to reveal more about the artist than any painting.

In London three years ago, a drawing that was labeled only "School of Francesco Cossa" brought $23,520. The same year a tiny Bellini showing Christ at the column went for $44,100. Last week at Sotheby's, a delicate little drawing of a wispy young woman by the 15th century Flemish Painter Hugo van der Goes made twice as much news. It was a study the master had made for a painting, possibly of St. Barbara. The painting has been lost; the study survived to fetch $84,000.

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