A double-sided pair of engravings, 1627/59, designed by Adriaen van der Venne as illustrations to Jacob Cat’s proverbs

Designed by Adriaen van der Venne (1589–1662)

(Recto: page 135) Plate XXVII “Niet en kander beter passen, als dat t’samen is gewassen” (Nothing fits better, than what grew together), 1627/59

(Verso: page 136) Plate XXIX: “Non te quæsiveris extra” (Do not seek for things outside of yourself), 1627/59

Illustrations to Jacob Cats’ (1577–1660) (known with respect and affection as “Father Cats”) “Proteus”, first published in 1618, and “Sinne- en minnebeelden” (“Portraits of morality and love” or “Images of mind and memory”), first published in 1627. This engraving is from the 1659 edition of “Alle de Wercken van den heere Jacob Cats …” (Complete Works of Jacob Cats), pages 135 (recto) and 136 (verso), with reversed images rendered with finer engraved craftsmanship than the first editions and with engraved illustrations and printed text on both sides (as published).

Double sided letterpress printed page with an engraving recto and verso on laid paper.

Size: (sheet) 37.9 x 21.7 cm; (recto plate) 12.5 x 12.1 cm; (image borderline) 12.1 x 12 cm

Condition: faultless impressions in pristine condition.

I am selling this magnificent, museum-quality leaf for the total cost of AU$187 (currently US$134.55/EUR115.93/GBP103.84 at the time of this listing) including postage and handling to anywhere in the world (but not, of course, any import duties/taxes imposed by some countries).

If you are interested in purchasing these double-sided engravings of the highest quality, please contact me (oz_jim@printsandprinciples.com) and I will send you a PayPal invoice to make the payment easy.

This print has been sold

I suspect that the expressed meaning to the recto engraved illustration, “Niet en kander beter passen, als dat t’samen is gewassen” (i.e. Nothing fits better, than what grew together), may be self-explanatory. After all the hands protruding from the clouds hold two shells of a walnut that clearly do not “fit” together. The inference, however, is not about walnuts but rather about love, in the sense that lovers that spend time together—perhaps even “wassen” (wash) together to conserve water—are perfectly matched for life.

Of course what may seem self-explanatory proverb to one viewer may not be understood the same way by the next viewer and Jacob Cats (affectionately known as “Father Cats” even though he was a grumpy chap) was well aware of this and so he footnoted his illustrated proverbs with (according to the Editors of “Encyclopaedia Britannica”) “text in Dutch, Latin, and French” offering “a threefold interpretation, expressing what were for Cats the three elements of human life: love, society, and religion” (https://www.britannica.com/biography/Jacob-Cats#ref49086)

After having written this rather brief explanation of what I thought was an engraving projecting a “self explanatory” meaning, I read another print dealer’s explanation of what is portrayed which shows that nothing can ever be straight forward:

“This plate #28 [sic] shows someone trying two fit two different shell halfs [sic] to make a whole one. The meaning of this emblem is that the first love in a person's life is to be cherished and even after two or more marriages the first is always special.” (https://www.amazon.com/Antique-Print-SHELL-LOVE-MARRIAGE-Venne-Cats-1655/dp/B00DJSQF3Q). Wow! I guess that I didn’t understand the meaning at all!

Philips Galle’s engraving, “Duck Hunt with Shotgun”, 1578

Philips Galle (aka Philippe Galle; Philippus Gallaeus) (1537–1612)

“Duck Hunt with Shotgun” (TIB title), 1578, from the series of 43 plates, “Hunting Parties” (aka “Venationes Ferarum, Avium, Piscium” (transl. “With wild beasts, birds, fish”), after Jan van der Straet (aka Joannes Stradanus; Ioannes Stradanus) (1523–1605). This impression is presumably from the first edition of 1578 published in Antwerp before the number “72” is added in the later expanded edition of plates.

Engraving on laid paper with small margins, backed with a support sheet.

Size: (sheet) 22.5 x 32.5 cm; (plate) 21.3 x 30.2 cm; (image borderline) 20.5 x 30.2 cm

Inscribed on plate within image borderline at lower left: “Iohan/ Stra. inuen.”

Lettered in Latin on plate below the image borderline: “Sic per fecta repens venator consita dumis, Torquet et undosos Anates, Fulicasq[ue] palustres.” (Unmodified transl. “Thus the ingredients recent hunter planted with bushes, twists and rolling ducks, Fulicasque marsh."

State: i (of iii) before numbering in state ii.

TIB 5601.104:29 (Walter L Strauss & Arno Dolders [eds.] 1987, “The Illustrated Bartsch”, vol. 56, Supplement, p. 429); New Hollstein (Dutch & Flemish) 449.I (Johannes Stradanus); New Hollstein (Dutch & Flemish) 547.I (Philips Galle); Baroni Vannucci 1997 693.72 (Alessandra Baroni Vannucci 1997, “Jan van der Straet, detto Giovanni Stradano, flandrus pictor et inventor”, Milan, Jandi Sapi Editori).

The British Museum offers the following description of this print from the later numbered state/edition:

“Plate numbered 72, Duck Hunt with Shotguns; in the left foreground, four hunstman, armed with shotguns, accompanied by two dogs, approach a river to the right, in which ducks are seen swimming; in the midground, far left, two men pull ropes, closing a net over a flock of ducks, centre; several towns visible in the distance”

(http://www.britishmuseum.org/research/collection_online/collection_object_details.aspx?objectId=1620708&partId=1&searchText=stradanus+&page=6) 

See also the description of this print at the Rijksmuseum:

http://hdl.handle.net/10934/RM0001.COLLECT.114988

Condition: crisp lifetime impression (before numbering of later editions), but not as richly inked as some impressions. There is a dot stain at the upper left edge of the image borderline and a closed tear at the lower edge to the right of the word “repens”, otherwise the impression is in excellent condition and backed with a support sheet of archival (millennium quality) washi paper.

I am selling this exceptionally rare, engraving from 1578 for a total cost of AU$256 (currently US$185.10/EUR158.80/GBP142.48 at the time of this listing) including postage and handling to anywhere in the world.

If you are interested in purchasing this important print foreshadowing Ruben's "The Lion Hunt" (1621), please contact me (oz_jim@printsandprinciples.com) and I will send you a PayPal invoice to make the payment easy.

This print has been sold

After closely examining the impression of this print held by the British Museum (http://www.britishmuseum.org/research/collection_online/collection_object_details.aspx?objectId=1620708&partId=1&searchText=stradanus+&page=6) and comparing the BM impression with the print in “The Illustrated Bartsch” catalogue raisonné for Galle and the impression held by the Rijksmuseum (http://hdl.handle.net/10934/RM0001.COLLECT.114988), I have come to the conclusion that the BM’s impression is not by Galle. Compare, for example, the cross-hatching surrounding the dog portrayed near the centre of the composition and the rather sloppy drawing of the figure loading his gun in the BM’s copy with this impression. Note also that the lettered text shown in the BM’s impression is not the same as Galle’s original. The good news is that the impression that I am showcasing matches perfectly the image and text reproduced in TIB and held by the Rijksmuseum. (Thank Goodness!)

Leaving aside the issue of attribution, I wish to draw attention to what I see as the very curious composition of this print. For instance, my eye is drawn to the very strange arrangement of the dog at the centre of the scene which is so perfectly placed between the two musket toting huntsmen that the dog seems like a cut-out. Note also the same perfectly centred arrangement of the distant circular hedged bird trap seemingly fitted between the two large trees on each side of the trap. For me this striving for perfect symmetry seems unsettlingly curious but there is one other extra strange arrangement in this composition: the strong “V”-shape created by the muskets held by the chaps.

I may be very incorrect in my assessment of what this means but I wonder if the dynamic downward plunge of this “V”-shape is a analogue for the artist’s depressed mindset when he made this engraving. If this is the case, the broken—perhaps torn—arrangement of river rocks on the lower right makes sense in terms of signifying a trouble spirit.

Jan Saenredam’s engraving, “Lot and His Two Daughters”, 1597, after Hendrik Goltzius

Jan Saenredam (c1565–1607)

“Lot and His Two Daughters” (TIB title), 1597, after Hendrik Goltzius (aka Hendrick Goltzius) (1558–1617), with verses by the Dutch writer, Cornelis Schonaeus (1541–1611), published in Haarlem by Johannes Janssonius (aka Joannes Jansonius; Jan Jansson; Jan Jansz) (1588–1664) with privilege by Rudolph II of Habsburg.

Engraving on fine laid paper trimmed unevenly along the platemark and backed with a support sheet.

Size: (sheet) 20.7 x 26.4 cm; (image borderline) 19.1 x 26.1 cm

Inscribed on plate within the image borderline: (lower left) "HGoltzius Inuent. ISaenredam Sculpt. Ao.1597"; (lower centre) "J. Jansonius exc.";  (right of centre) "Cum privil. Sa. Cæ. M."

Lettered on plate below the image borderline in two lines of Latin text in two columns: "Deflagrasse omnem ... / ... thalamoq[ue] fruuntur. / C. Schonæus."

State iii (of iii) with the name the publisher, Johannes Janssonius.

TIB Bartsch 4 (3). 41 (234) (Walter L Strauss [ed.] 1980, “The Illustrated Bartsch: Netherlandish Artists”, Abaris Books, New York, vol. 4, p. 357); Hollstein 326 (after Hendrik Goltzius); New Hollstein (Dutch & Flemish) 390.III (Hendrick Goltzius; Prints after inventions by Goltzius); Hollstein 9.III (Saenredam); Bartsch III.234.41

The British Museum offers the following description of this print:

“Lot and his Daughters. The old man reclining on a bed and fondling the breast of his naked daughter who holds up a glass of wine and lies on a plump cushion, Lot's other daughter seen from behind and standing before a table and reaching for a drinking jug, a dog in lower right corner; third state with address of Jansonius; after Hendrik Goltzius.”

(http://www.britishmuseum.org/research/collection_online/collection_object_details.aspx?objectId=3047903&partId=1&searchText=Saenredam+lot&page=1)

See also the description of this print offered by the Rijksmuseum:

http://hdl.handle.net/10934/RM0001.COLLECT.169292

Condition: crisp, well-inked and well-printed impression trimmed along the platemark and backed with a support sheet of archival (millennium quality) washi paper. There are minor restorations (I cannot see where they are but I know that there are a few) otherwise the sheet is in excellent condition (i.e. there are no tears, holes, creases, abrasions or foxing).

I am selling this exceedingly rare engraving of exceptional quality for the total cost of AU$452 (currently US$329.35/EUR282.27/GBP253.17 at the time of posting this print) including postage and handling to anywhere in the world (but not, of course, any import duties/taxes imposed by some countries).

If you are interested in purchasing this finely rendered image rich in biblical and symbolic references—note for example the rather splendid dog in the foreground at right (symbolic of fidelity?), the grapes on the lower left (symbolic of bacchanalian revelry and Christ’s blood?) and the eye-catching twisting handle of snakes on the wine ewer in the foreground (symbolic of fertility?)— please contact me (oz_jim@printsandprinciples.com) and I will send you a PayPal invoice to make the payment easy.

This print has been sold

I made a terrible blunder earlier this evening when showing this print to a prospective client as I assumed that the portrayed subject was “Susanna and the Elders”—a Biblical rape described in the “Book of Daniel” (see Chapter 13)—because the composition is similar to my earlier post of Jean-Pierre Norblin de la Gourdaine’s etching, “Susanna and the Elders”. Mmm … I should have looked more carefully. After all, this young woman being fondled by an elderly gentleman is engaged in offering a glass of wine to her ardent elderly fondler. In fact, this elderly gentleman is the young woman’s father, called “Lot.” (Yikes!) The reason for this unseemly behaviour is simply because all of humanity was being destroyed at the time by “fire and brimstone” and Lot’s family is all that remains of living folk to repopulate the earth. Hence Lot’s daughters have made their father drunk so that he will have his way with them to make lots of children. As an indication of how bad things had become by the time that Lot’s daughters set out on their maternal quest, note that in the background is a standing figure. This is their mother who has recently been turned into a pillar of salt when she chose to ignore God’s command not to look towards the destruction of the city of Sodom, portrayed ablaze in the far distance. For those intrigued by this fascinating Bible story of Lot and his daughters, see Genesis: 24–26 and 31–34.

Engraving from the workshop of Hendrik Goltzius, “The Daughters of Cecrops Opening the Casket Entrusted to Them by Minerva”, 1590

(Workshop of) Hendrik Goltzius (1558–1617)

“The Daughters of Cecrops Opening the Casket Entrusted to Them by Minerva”, 1590, plate twelve of fifty-two plates, illustration to Ovid’s (43 BC–17/18 AD) “Metamorphoses Book I”, published by Hendrik Goltzius in Haarlem. In the second state (signified by the additional number “32” at lower right corner) the print was published by Claes Jansz. Visscher (1587–1652) and later by Hendrik Bosch in 1728 (see Rijksmuseum no. BI-1892-3357-33).

Engraving with small watercolour restorations (virtually invisible) on fine laid paper, trimmed close to the image borderline and backed with a support sheet.

Size: (sheet) 17.8 x 25.4 cm; (image borderline) 16.7 x 25.3 cm

Lettered on plate below the image borderline in four lines of Latin in two columns by Franco Estius (fl.1580s–1594): "Mandat Erichtonium Tritonia ... / ... cernit auis.".

Numbered on plate below the image borderline: (left corner) "12."

State i (of ii) before the addition of the additional number, “32”, inscribed in the second state on the lower right corner.

TIB 3 (3) 62 (107) (After Goltzius) (Walter L Strauss [ed.] 1980, “The Illustrated Bartsch: Netherlandish Artists: Hendrik Goltzius”, vol. 3, Abaris Books, New York, p. 328); Bartsch III.107.12; Hollstein 10-61; 508–559 (after Goltzius); New Hollstein (Dutch & Flemish) 563-1 (2) (Hendrick Goltzius; Prints after inventions by Goltzius).

The Rijksmuseum offers the following description of this print:

(transl.) “Imagination of the first story that the crow Cornix tells the white raven Corvus. Cornix sees from a tree that the three Cecrops daughters open a woven basket entrusted to them by Minverva without being allowed to view the contents. In the basket Erichthonius, a baby with a snake's tail. This print is part of a series of 52 prints that depict stories from Ovid ‘Metamorphoses’. This series is divided into three numbered series: two of 20 prints and one of 12 prints. This print belongs to the second series.”

(http://hdl.handle.net/10934/RM0001.COLLECT.380087)

See also the description of this print in its second state by the British Museum:

http://www.britishmuseum.org/research/collection_online/collection_object_details.aspx?objectId=3165200&partId=1&searchText=Goltzius+Daughters+of+Cecrops&page=1

Condition: well-printed slightly silvery impression trimmed close to the image borderline and backed with a support sheet of archival (millennium quality) washi paper. There are small areas of loss restored with infilled watercolour (e.g. on the trunk of the tree immediately below the forking branches), otherwise the print is in good condition (i.e. there are no stains or foxing).

I am selling this graphically strong and important allegorical print from the workshop of Goltzius for a total cost of AU$266 (currently US$193.91/EUR166.25/GBP150.54 at the time of posting this print) including postage and handling to anywhere in the world.

If you are interested in purchasing this exceptionally beautiful engraving exemplifying the period style termed Mannerism, please contact me (oz_jim@printsandprinciples.com) and I will send you a PayPal invoice to make the payment easy.

This print has been sold

For me this has been one of those allegorical scenes that seemed to hint at bigger meanings but fell short; until I discovered a missing clue tonight! Before I reveal this missing element, however, let me start with what I understand to be portrayed in this scene.

These three young ladies are the daughters of the mythical king of Athens, Cecrops—famous for instituting the idea of marriage and lots of other things. These sisters were given the responsibility by the goddess Minerva to guard the basket shown here, but not to open it. Of course, the need to know what was inside was too strong and the young lady on the right, Aglaurus (the perfect name for my next cat!), opened the basket. What peeped out of the basket is the cute serpent-tailed child, Erichthonios. I will ignore for the moment that the crow in the tree is Minerva’s spy who will report the sisters’ shameful breach of faith in opening the basket. Moreover, I will only briefly add that the sisters are so repelled by the discovery of little Erichthonios that they hurl themselves off the Acropolis to their deaths. Instead I need to focus on the element in this image that was (until tonight) a mystery for me: the meaning behind Aglaurus’ gesture towards the distance.

What I discovered this evening is that this composition is incomplete. If one looks at the engraving of virtually the same composition originally designed by Goltzius but copied in reverse by Crispijn de Passe the Elder (1564–1637) as an illustration to the later edition of Ovid’s “Metamorphoses Book I” (see http://hdl.handle.net/10934/RM0001.COLLECT.322205) what Aglaurus is gesturing towards now makes sense: the later composition shows Aglaurus pointing to Vulcan’s attempted rape of Minerva wherein he inadvertently fertilizes Mother Earth instead of Minerva leading to Mother Earth giving birth to little Erichthonius. In short, gestures made by errant daughters should have meanings and here they do!

Jan Sadeler I’s engraving, “The Calling of Abraham”, 1575–1600

Jan Sadeler I (aka Johannes Sadeler; Johann Sadeler) (1550–1600)

“The Calling of Abraham”, 1575–1600, after a painting by Jacopo Bassano (aka Giacomo Bassano; Jacopo da Ponte) (c1510/18–1592) that was in the Giusti collection in Verona at the end of the sixteenth century but is now lost (see TIB 7001.052), published by Jan Sadeler I with imperial court privilege (as noted on plate).

Engraving on fine laid paper with small margings and backed on a support sheet.

Size: (sheet) 22.1 x 277; (plate) 21.5 x 26.4 cm; (image borderline) 20 x 26.4 cm

Inscribed within the image borderline: (centre of upper edge) "GENES XII”; (inverted text emerging from cloud at upper centre) “Egredere de terra tua”; (centre of lower edge) “Cũ priuilegio/ Sac:Cæs. M.”

Lettered on plate below the image borderline: (two-line dedication to Augustinus de Justis) "IN GRATIAM PERILLVSTRIS COMITIS AVGVSTINI DE IVSTIS, PINXIT IACOBVS DE PONTO BASSAN,/ VERONAE"/ Scalpsit autem Joann. Sadeler Belg."

Lifetime impression (based on the crisp quality of the line showing no sign of wear to the printing plate) of the only state.

TIB 1999 7001.052 (Isabelle de Ramaix 1999, “The Illustrated Bartsch: Johan Sadeler l”, vol 70, part 1 (Supplement), Abaris Books, Norwalk, p. 76); Hollstein 53

The British Museum offers the following description of this print:

“The Calling of Abraham. Landscape with a couple making cheese (?) in lower right, their animals beyond, a shepherd resting at the foot of a tree at left, Abraham as a shepherd in background and being addressed by the words 'Egredere de terra tua' emerging from a cloud; after Jacopo Bassano”

http://www.britishmuseum.org/research/collection_online/collection_object_details.aspx?objectId=3146681&partId=1&searchText=sadeler%2c+bassano&view=list&page=1)

See also the description of this print at the Rijksmuseum:

http://hdl.handle.net/10934/RM0001.COLLECT.406590

Condition: crisp, near faultless impression trimmed with small margins and backed with a support sheet of archival (millennium quality) washi paper. The sheet is in excellent/museum-quality condition (i.e. there are no tears, holes, folds, abrasions, significant stains or foxing).

I am selling this exceptionally rare masterpiece of engraving by one of the greatest of the old master printmakers for the total cost of AU$347 (currently US$254.88/EUR217.88/GBP197.71 at the time of posting this listing) including postage and handling to anywhere in the world.

If you are interested in purchasing this breathtakingly fine engraving, please contact me (oz_jim@printsandprinciples.com) and I will send you a PayPal invoice to make the payment easy.

This print has been sold

There are so many interesting elements to this composition such as the portrayed activity of making cheese on the right with what seems to be a small whiskered dog wishing to participate in the production shown with its head sniffing at the ripe smells coming from the curds in the pot—my apologies if curds (or whatever is in the pot) don’t have an odour but I need to establish in my head what this curious looking dog is interested in.

My attention, however, is not so much on what is depicted in the scene: it’s on the line of text emanating from heaven … or at least from the light filled gap in the clouds. Again, my interest is not about the meaning of the words but rather that the words are upside down. If one thinks about this curious inversion the artist’s arrangement of God’s words to sleeping Abraham in the foreground to “Egredere de terra tua”—(transl.) "Get out of your” land, your relatives, and your father's home. Go to the land that I will show you (Genesis 12.1)—it all makes sense. God is speaking to Abraham from heaven and so the viewer needs to turn upside down to see/hear the words from God’s perspective. Sheer magic! From an historical standpoint this is not the first example of an artist seeking to engage a viewer in a reflexive response of turning upside down to be a part of a portrayed scene (see for example Jan van Eyck’s “Annunciation”, c1435), but they are rare nevertheless.

Aegidius Sadeler II’s engraving (with etching), “Franz von Dietrichstein”, 1604

Aegidius Sadeler II (aka Gillis Sadeler; Egidius Sadeler; Ægedius Sadeler) (c.1570–1629)

“Franz von Dietrichstein”, 1604, after a drawing by Aegidius Sadeler II at the Prentenkabinet in Leiden (inv. AW 1109), published by Marco Sadeler (1614–1660).

Etching and engraving on laid paper trimmed unevenly along the image borderline and backed with a support sheet.

Size: (sheet) 23.3 x 15.3 cm

Lettered on plate within the image borderline: (around the oval) “FRANCISCV MIS.DIV. …SYLVESTRI PRESBYTER….À DIETHRICHTSTAIN EP [ISCOPUJS OLOMVCENSIS ETC.”; (in lower cartouche) “Quis nollet …/ …/ …/ …tuum.; (on banderole above cartouche) “INOPEM ME COPIA FACIT.”; (lower left corner) “Marco Sadeler exc”; (lower right corner) “S. C. M. sculpto[r]/ Æg: Sadeler fecit. 1604”.

Lettered on plate below the image borderline: “Ill:mo et R.mo Principi ac D.D Francisco, mis: divina S.R. E. titulo S. Sylves./ Presb. Cardinali a Dietrichstain Episcopo .../ … obser. et grat. ergo Ægidius Sadeler D.D.”

State ii (of iii) before the publication detail of “Marco Sadeler exc.” is replaced by “Dancker/ Danckerize Exc.” In the third state

TIB 7201.294.S2 (Isabelle de Ramaix [ed] 1978, “The Illustrated Bartsch”, vol. 72, Part 2 [Supplement], p. 109);  Nagler 1835–52, no. 27; Le Blanc, no. 101; Wurzbach, no. 125; Hollstein 1980, vol. 21, no. 285; Limouze 1990, p, 170

The British Museum offers the following description of this print:

“Portrait of Francis, Prince of Dietrichstein, bust in an oval frame, wearing cardinal's clothing; coat of arms above; figures representing the four cardinal virtues in the corners. 1604 Engraving”

(http://www.britishmuseum.org/research/collection_online/collection_object_details.aspx?objectId=3262220&partId=1&searchText=Aegidius+Sadeler+Prince+of+Dietrichstein&page=1)

See also the description of this print at the Rijksmuseum:

http://hdl.handle.net/10934/RM0001.COLLECT.167995

Condition: crisp, strong and well-printed impression trimmed unevenly along the image borderline and backed with a support sheet of archival (millennium quality) washi paper. The sheet is in very good condition (i.e. there are no tears, holes, folds, abrasions or foxing) but the ink from a previous collector’s stamp (verso) has migrated through the paper and is lightly visible at lower right (recto).

I am selling this stunning engraving by one of the greatest of the old master printmakers for the total cost of AU$347 (currently US$253.82/EUR218.46/GBP197.52 at the time of posting this listing) including postage and handling to anywhere in the world.

If you are interested in purchasing this small masterpiece of engraving, please contact me (oz_jim@printsandprinciples.com) and I will send you a PayPal invoice to make the payment easy.

The subject of this portrait is Francis (Prince) of Dietrichstein (aka Franz/Franciscus von Dietrichstein) (1570–1636). According to the British Museum and TIB, he was the Chamberlain to Pope Clement VIII and became a Cardinal in 1598 (hence the cardinal’s cap) and ultimately the Bishop of Olmütz in 1599. He crowned Rudolph II, Matthias and Ferdinand II as well as performing Ferdinand II’s marriage. Perhaps not too surprising, Ferdinand II made him a prince in 1624.

Beyond the historical significance of the portrait, this engraving is a showpiece of Aegidius Sadeler’s skills as an engraver. To explain this artist’s remarkable facility with the burin (i.e. the engraver’s tool) one only needs to look at and imagine the patience and discipline to sustain the tight alignment of the curved fine lines describing the concave surface of the niche behind the prince. This small section of the print illustrates very well Aegidius Sadeler’s command of his craft that enabled him to push a chisel point across a copper plate with machine-like precision. Simply incredible!

There is also creative intelligence displayed here. Note for example how he visually connects the allegorical figures—the cardinal virtues of Justice, Wisdom, Strength and Temperance—to the shallow sculptured space in which they are set by only using strokes aligned to the left—Aegidius must have been right-handed and the printing process has reversed his natural angle of mark making. Going further, to ensure that the shallow space is not too flat, he has portrayed the attributes of the allegorical figures using curved contour strokes. All these visual devices may seem very minor but they highlight the skills and intelligence of the artist.