John Sell Cotman's soft-ground etching, "Norwich Thorp", 1813–1838

John Sell Cotman (1782–1842)

“Norwich Thorp”, 1813–1838, plate 18 from the series of forty-nine plates, “Liber Studiorum”, published in 1838 by Henry George Bohn (1795/6–1884) in London in "Liber Studiorum: A Series of Sketches and Studies by John Sell Cotman, Esp."

Soft-ground etching with dot roulette (i.e. “a method of printmaking in which a drawing is made on a sheet of paper on a soft etching ground, pulled off, and the resulting design transferred to the plate by etching” BM) on cream wove paper with wide margins as published.

Size: (sheet) 49.2 x 33.3 cm; (plate) 11 x 8.4 cm

Inscribed on plate below the image: (left) "NORWICH THORP."; (right) "J.S.Cotman”.

Numbered on plate: (upper right corner) "18".

Popham 1922 312 (Arthur Ewart Popham 1922, "The Etchings of John Sell Cotman." Print Collector's Quarterly, vol. 9, cat. no. 312, p. 270).

The British Museum offers the following description of this print:

“Plate 18. A man seated on a riverbank near two trees in profile to left, with one arm outstretched, pointing to left; part of a building seen in background at left” (https://research.britishmuseum.org/research/collection_online/collection_object_details.aspx?objectId=3348847&partId=1&people=128389&peoA=128389-2-60&page=1).

See also the description offered by The Metropolitan Museum of Art:

https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/789415.

Condition: faultless impression in near pristine condition (i.e. there are no tears, holes, folds, losses, abrasions, stains, foxing or signs of use) with full margins as published.

I am selling this extraordinarily well preserved and rare soft-ground etching by one of the acknowledged masters of the English landscape, for a total cost of AU$320 (currently US$219.99/EUR198.34/GBP169.05 at the time of this listing) including postage and handling to anywhere in the world.

If you are interested in purchasing this exemplary soft-ground etching executed with confident ease—I still haven’t decided why the seated figure is gesturing towards the ashlar structure but the gesture “fits well” with similar gesturing staffage figures in Piranesi’s prints made just 35 years before this print—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

Four of Jean Baptiste Huet's etchings from “Cahiers d'études”, 1796–1799

Jean Baptiste Huet (1745–1811)

Four etchings cut from two larger plates with frieze-like compositions from the series of 38 plates, “Cahiers d'études” (aka “Oeuvres de J. B. Huet”), published in several parts and dated 1796–1799 (see https://research.britishmuseum.org/research/collection_online/collection_object_details.aspx?assetId=552843001&objectId=1522791&partId=1):

FIRST ETCHING FROM THE TOP

“Plate 16 (upper)”, 1796–97, depicting what the BM describes as “Fame, flying to right, and blowing trumpet”

(https://research.britishmuseum.org/research/collection_online/collection_object_details.aspx?objectId=1522922&partId=1&searchText=Jean+Huet&page=1).

Size: (sheet) 5.3 x 16.4 cm; (image borderline) 4.3 x 15.1 cm.

Inscribed on plate below the image borderline: (left) “J. B. Hüet l'an 5”.

SECOND ETCHING FROM THE TOP

“Plate 16 (lower)”, 1796–97, depicting what the BM describes as “two angels adoring Child and Holy Ghost”

(https://research.britishmuseum.org/research/collection_online/collection_object_details.aspx?objectId=1522953&partId=1&searchText=Jean+Huet&page=1).

Size: (sheet) 5.8 x 16.1 cm; (image borderline) 4.3 x 14.9 cm.

Inscribed on plate below the image borderline: (left) “J. B. Hüet l'an 5”.

THIRD ETCHING FROM THE TOP

“Plate 34 (upper)”, 1798–99, depicting what the BM describes as “cupids and baby satyrs; on the right, two cupids fighting; on the left baby satyr holding back another with a scarf”

(https://research.britishmuseum.org/research/collection_online/collection_object_details.aspx?objectId=1523500&partId=1&searchText=Jean+Huet&page=1).

Size: (sheet) 6.1 x 16.2 cm; (image borderline) 4.5 x 15 cm.

Inscribed on plate below the image borderline: (left) “J. B. Hüet l'an 7”.

FOURTH ETCHING FROM THE TOP

“Plate 34 (lower)”, 1798–99, depicting what the BM describes as “cupids holding hands and dancing”

(https://research.britishmuseum.org/research/collection_online/collection_object_details.aspx?objectId=1523501&partId=1&searchText=Jean+Huet&page=1).

Size: (sheet) 6.1 x 16.5 cm; (image borderline) 4.5 x 15.4 cm.

Inscribed on plate below the image borderline: (left) “J. B. Hüet l'an 7”.

__________

Condition of the four etchings: near faultless impressions in excellent condition (the lower etching has an abrasion on its lower borderline) with small margins around the image borderlines and nested on the same support sheet.

I am selling this set of four etchings trimmed (by a previous collector) from two larger plates executed by the principal designer for the Oberkampf textile company that is famous for its innovation in textile printing by using engraved metal plates (instead of woodcuts) “fixed on cylindrical drums” (see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christophe-Philippe_Oberkampf), for a total cost of AU$280 for the set (currently US$193.46/EUR173.67/GBP147.93 at the time of this listing) including postage and handling to anywhere in the world.

If you are interested in purchasing this set of 18^th century French ornamental designs, please contact me (oz_jim@printsandprinciples.com) and I will send you a PayPal invoice to make the payment easy.

This set of prints has been sold

Agostino Veneziano's engraving, “Hadrian meets Androclus”. 1516–17

Agostino Veneziano (aka Agostino dei Musi) (fl.1509-1536)

“Hadrian meets Androclus” (aka “The Emperor Meeting the Warrior” [Bartsch title]), 1516–17, according to the Rijksmuseum (inv.no. RP-P-OB-36,608) this engraving is after a drawing by the school of Marcantonio Raimondi in the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York (inv.no. 80.3.190), according to the British Museum (inv. no. H,2.9) the design may be after Raphael (aka Raffaello Santi; Raffaello Sanzio; Raffaello) (1483–1520).

Engraving on laid paper trimmed within the platemark.

Size: (sheet) 37 x 24.9 cm.

Inscribed on plate: (lower left corner) “.A.V.”

State ii (of ii) with the addition of artist’s monogram on the rock at the lower left corner.

TIB 26 (14). 196 (160) (Konrad Oberhuber [ed.] 1978, “The Illustrated Bartsch: The Works of Marcantonio Raimondi and of His School”, vol. 26, p. 193, cat. no. 196 [160]); Bartsch XIV.160.196; Nagler 50.

The British Museum offers the following description of this print:

“Emperor Hadrian on horseback freeing Androcles who is flanked by Roman soldiers and has a lion at his side”

(https://research.britishmuseum.org/research/collection_online/collection_object_details.aspx?objectId=1441088&partId=1&searchText=Agostino+Veneziano+&page=1)

See also the Rijksmuseum’s description of this print:

http://hdl.handle.net/10934/RM0001.collect.157224.

Condition: superb, richly inked and well-printed impression trimmed within the platemark. I believe that this may be an early impression (based on the strength of the lines). There are thin areas and evidence of old mounting marks (visible only verso), otherwise the sheet is in excellent condition.

I am selling this strong early engraving, arguably executed in collaboration with Marcantonio Raimondi (see Nagler cat. no. 50), for a total cost of AU$572 (currently US$394.95/EUR354.15/GBP302.75 at the time of this listing) including postage and handling to anywhere in the world.

If you are interested in purchasing this fascinating engraving of Emperor Hadrian meeting Androcles portrayed walking with his embarrassingly small lion—I describe this particular lion as “his” as Androcles is the man who once pulled a thorn from a lion’s paw only to become reacquainted with the same lion in the Colosseum’s arena when the lion was meant to eat him rather than lick him all over in joy—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

Adolf van der Laan's etching, “Arcadian River Landscape with Two Donkeys”, c.1721

Adolf van der Laan (aka Adriaen van der Laan; Andries van der Laan) (c.1690–1742) “Arcadian River Landscape with Two Donkeys”, 1710–1747, from the series of forty plates, “Italian and German landscapes”, after  Johannes Glauber (aka Jan Glauber; Joannes Glauber; Polydor; Polidoro) (1646–c.1726), published by Leonard Schenk (aka Leon Schenk; Leonard Schenck) (fl.1720–1746) in Amsterdam.

Etching on laid paper (text watermark) trimmed with a narrow margin around the platemark.

Size: (sheet) 25.5 x 38.2 cm; (plate) 24.4 x 37.1 cm; (image borderline) 23.9 x 37 cm.

Hollstein German 81 (Robert Zijlma [comp.] 1975, “German Engravings, Etchings and Woodcuts, ca. 1400–1700: Georg (Jörg) to after Johann Andreas Graf”, vol. 10, Amsterdam, Van Gendt & Co, p. 128, cat. 81).

The Rijksmuseum offers the following description of this print:

(Transl.) “Arcadian river landscape with two figures seated on the right and walking alongside a donkey, on the left figures on the bank. The print is part of a 40-part series of prints with representations of Italian and German landscapes”

(http://hdl.handle.net/10934/RM0001.COLLECT.134585).

Condition: well-printed early impression (based on the lack to wear to the printing plate), trimmed with a narrow margin around the platemark. There is a flattened centre fold and pencil and ink notations from previous collectors (verso), otherwise the sheet is in an excellent condition (i.e. there are no tears, holes, losses, abrasions, significant stains or foxing).

I am selling this large and finely executed etching exemplifying the early tradition dating back to at least Nicolas Poussin—mindful that Glauber executed a series of six landscapes after Poussin (TIB 20 [393]–25 [296])—of populating landscapes with figures and man-made features from an Arcadian past—note the river god and supplicant in the foreground and the travellers wearing classical robes passing a classically decorated sarcophagus (“flesh eater”) further back—for a total cost of AU$316 (currently US$217.99/EUR195.78/GBP167.33 at the time of this listing) including postage and handling to anywhere in the world

If you are interested in purchasing this strong landscape etching that is underpinned by a narrative waiting to be read—note the storyboard elements: a man paying obeisance to a river god; travellers in conversation (I like to believe that they are discussing the tomb); a distant fisherman wading through a stream with a hand-net on his back (possibly indicative of sexual need); a radiant towering mountain seemingly cradling a building on its lower slope—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

Conrad Martin Metz's etching and aquatint, “The Adoration of the Shepherds”, 1789, after Parmigianino

Conrad Martin Metz (1749–1827)

“The Adoration of the Shepherds”, 1789, after a drawing by Parmigianino (aka Girolamo Francesco Maria Mazzola; Francesco Mazzola) (1503–1540), published in London in 1789 by Conrad Martin Metz in “Imitations of ancient and modern drawings, from the restoration of the arts in Italy to the present time: together with a chronological account of the artists, and strictures on their works, in English and French”, with 71 plates in the 1789 edition. This impression is from the later edition of 1798 published by Thomas Philipe (1740–1816) that archive.org advises had “as many as 115 plates” (see the later edition featuring this print on page 229 at archive.org [https://archive.org/details/gri_33125010706691/page/n227]; see also a detailed description of this publication offered by the British Museum: [https://research.britishmuseum.org/research/collection_online/collection_object_details.aspx?objectId=3651502&page=1&partId=1&peoA=119446-1-7&people=119446]).

Etching and aquatint printed in brown ink on fine cream wove paper trimmed with a small margin around the image borderline and backed with a support sheet.

Size: (sheet) 23.1 x 15.9 cm; (outer image borderline) 22.4 x 15.3 cm.

Inscribed on plate at lower left corner: “CM Sc”.

Condition: well-printed (near faultless) impression, trimmed with a small (approx. 4mm) margin around the image borderline, laid onto a support of archival (millennium quality) washi paper.

I am selling this very beautiful etching with aquatint, reproducing in a very considered and clean way the subtle pen and bistre drawing (1524–27) of the same composition (but in reverse) by Parmigianino, held by The Metropolitan Museum of Art (https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/340437), for a total cost of AU$243 (currently US$167.73/EUR150.47/GBP129.29 at the time of this listing) including postage and handling to anywhere in the world.

If you are interested in purchasing this marvellous gem of reproductive printmaking from the late 1700s, that is discussed in depth in a comparison with the newly discovered (in 1948) drawing by Parmigianino in Louise Burroughs’ (1948) essay, “A Drawing by Francesco Mazzola, II Parmigianino” (featured in “The Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin”, 1948, New Series, Vol. 7, No. 4, pp. 101–107: https://www.jstor.org/stable/3257346?read-now=1&refreqid=excelsior%3A214229bc2334534c3dbf200a8d8a0bbe&seq=7#page_scan_tab_contents), please contact me (oz_jim@printsandprinciples.com) and I will send you a PayPal invoice to make the payment easy.

For those who may not have the time to read Louise Burroughs’ (1948) assessment of Martin Metz’s print in her essay (op. cit.) the following extract may be fascinating to contemplate regarding the accuracy of Metz’s interpretative translation of Parmigianino’s pen and bistre wash drawing into an etching:

“The extraordinary loss of character in the lines and of depth and harmony in the composition suffered at the hands of the engraver makes the comparison of drawing and print an absorbing study and serves to emphasize Parmigianino's brilliant style. Every figure offers some illuminating comment, none more so than the child, whose graceful movement as he emerges from the bath into his mother's arms is completely lost in the engraving. Particularly to be noticed in the drawing are the curving lines, constantly varied in strength, the parallel strokes in the shadows terminating in an accent where the contour of a muscle is indicated. From these fluid lines and strategically placed accents springs the sense of life and movement so characteristic of Francesco's drawings” (p. 101).

For a very different point of view, I wish to draw attention to what Metz believed that he had achieved with this and his other prints reproducing old master drawings (as offered in his foreword to the 1798 edition in which this print features):

“A collection of well-attested [d]rawings, carefully traced and correctly imitated ... is a process simple, and in a great degree mechanical, I may, without vanity, claim the merit of exactness” (p. 1).

Regarding Metz’s vision of Parmigianino’s drawings, the following insightful assessment is revealing:

“For grace in his [Parmigianino’s] females, and loveliness in his children, he is almost unrivalled. But these graces seem too indiscriminately bestowed on all his figures; they seem too much, as it were, cast in the same mould” (p. 10).