Charles Perron’s charcoal study of a sculpted Art Nouveau bracket

Charles Perron (1880–1969)

“Large Study of a sculpted Art Nouveau architectural bracket”, c1920

Charcoal on laid paper (Chapron Coquelin), ink-stamped at the lower-right (recto) with the artist’s name and hand-signed in charcoal (verso).

(sheet) 62 x 47.5 cm

Condition: The sheet is dusty, slightly wrinkled and shows signs of handling (i.e. there are incidental marks appropriate for the very dusty medium of charcoal on paper). The artist’s name is ink-stamped on the sheet at lower right (recto), hand-signed in charcoal with the artist’s name (verso) and there is a faint trace of a round ink-stamp with indecipherable text at the upper-left corner (recto).

I am selling this large and beautifully executed charcoal study of a sculpted Art Nouveau architectural bracket for AU$154 (currently US$122.35/EUR105.04/GBP93.82 at the time of this listing) including postage and handling to anywhere in the world.

If you are interested in purchasing this signed drawing by an established—in the sense of well-documented—early 20^th century artist (see, for example, https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Perron_(peintre) and https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lDpl8ZuCCKw), I will send you a PayPal invoice to make the payment easy.

My motivation to purchase this drawing was not because it was signed or executed by a known artist (both of which are true), but rather I bought it simply because it is so beautiful. What attracted me to it was certainly the top-heavy composition and the subject—I love architectural details, especially when the details are treated in a very tactile way and bathed in soft light. Beyond these appealing qualities, I also loved the confident and knowledgeable way that the ornamental sculpture is rendered. Note, for instance, how Perron has added reflected light to the sculpted form and how each stroke is laid to “flow” with the form's contours. Going further, I am impressed with the subtle delicacy with which Perron adjusts the background tones so that strong contrasts of dark and light help to "explain" the sculpture's form.

Nicolas Beatrizet’s engraving, “Battle of the Amazons” (the right panel), 1559

Nicolas Beatrizet (aka Nicolas Beatricetto) (c1507/15–73 or after)

The right panel of the two-plate composite print, “Battle of the Amazons” (TIB title) or “Amazonum pugna adfabre efficta de sarcophago vetustissimo quod in Capitolio visitur ...” (The Amazon fight skillfully fashioned from ancient sarcophagus is seen at the Capitol …), 1559, from the series, “Speculum Romanae Magnificentiae” (The Mirror of Roman Magnificence), originally published by the artist and later published by Hendrik van Schoel (c1565–1622) as is the case with this impression. Interestingly, the name of Schoel that is inscribed on this impression is evidence that Bellini’s opinion expressed in “Print Collector” (1975, p. 34), that Schoel’s name is only found replacing that of G Orlandi is not correct.

Engraving on laid paper, trimmed along the plate mark and lined (by an early restorer) on an support sheet.

(sheet cut irregularly) 31.2 x 41.8 cm

Lettered below the image in two lines: “ATQVE IN EDIBVS SVIS SVA QVE IMPENSA NICOLAVS BEATRIVICS LOTHARINGVS IN LVCEM AD COMMVNEM OMNVM QVI REBVS ANTIVIS / EMISIT K . IAN . M . D . LIX. Henricus Van Schoel. excudit”

State either iii or iv (of iv) with the addition of the name of van Schoel as the publisher

TIB 1982 29.98 (267) (pp. 362–63); Bartsch XV.267.98; Robert-Dumesnil IX.171.98; Huelsen 1921 50.a; Quaritch Catalogue 233; Zorach 65.35

See also: Clay Dean, Theresa Fairbanks, Lisa Pon, Yale University Art Gallery “Changing Impressions: Marcantonio Raimondi and Sixteenth-Century Print Connoisseurship”. Exh. cat. Yale University Art Gallery, New Haven, December 14, 1999–February 13, 2000, cat. no. 28 & 29, pp. 78 & 79 and Peter Parshall 2006, "Antonio' Lafreri's 'Speculum Romanae Magnificentiae'" Print Quarterly. 1, London.

The British Museum offers the following description of this print:

“The Battle of the Amazons, with fighting men and women, many on horseback; after a Roman sarcophagus on the Capitol. 1559 Engraving printed from two plates joined down the centre” (Note that this impression is from the right plate) (http://www.britishmuseum.org/research/collection_online/collection_object_details.aspx?objectId=1605292&partId=1&searchText=Beatrizet+Speculum+Romanae+Magnificentiae&page=1)

The Metropolitan Museum of Art offers a description and image of the left panel of this composite print: http://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/402938?sortBy=Relevance&who=Beatrizet%2c+Nicolas%24Nicolas+Beatrizet&ft=*&offset=60&rpp=20&pos=64  

Condition: crisp impression trimmed slightly unevenly along the platemark. The sheet shows light age-toning and is in good condition (i.e. there are no tears, stains or foxing) with only a few minor losses (see the lower-left corner). There is evidence that the print was once folded as it is a large print, but this issue has been addressed by the engraving having been laid onto a support sheet in what is clearly an old restoration.

I am selling this exceptionally rare and large engraving from 1559 featuring the fabled culture of Amazon women—the first feminists—fighting Roman warriors as published in “Speculum Romanae Magnificentiae” (The Mirror of Roman Magnificence) for AU$362 (currently US$286.36/EUR245.87/GBP220.53 at the time of this listing) including postage and handling to anywhere in the world.

If you are interested in purchasing this left panel of an engraved diptych celebrating the suppression of men by women where legend proposes that the captured men are held as temporary sex slaves until they are later executed, 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

The Metropolitan Museum of Art offers the following insights about the “Speculum Romanae Magnificentiae” (The Mirror of Roman Magnificence) that this print features:

“The Speculum found its origin in the publishing endeavors of Antonio Salamanca and Antonio Lafreri. During their Roman publishing careers, the two foreign publishers - who worked together between 1553 and 1563 - initiated the production of prints recording art works, architecture and city views related to Antique and Modern Rome. The prints could be bought individually by tourists and collectors, but were also purchased in larger groups which were often bound together in an album. In 1573, Lafreri commissioned a title page for this purpose, which is where the title ‘Speculum Romanae Magnificentiae’ first appears. Lafreri envisioned an ideal arrangement of the prints in 7 different categories, but during his lifetime, never appears to have offered one standard, bound set of prints. Instead, clients composed their own selection from the corpus to be bound, or collected a group of prints over time.” (http://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/402937) 

Wendel Dietterlin’s etching, “Plate 197: Gothic Portal”, 1598

Wendel Dietterlin (the Elder) (c.1550–99)

“Plate 197: Gothic Portal”, 1598, from his treatise on architectural ornament, “Architectura von Ausztheilung Symmetria und Proportion der fünff Seulen”, published Nurnberg.

Etching (from an iron plate) on fine laid paper (with watermark) trimmed within the platemark.

(sheet) 24.8 x 18.2 cm

Andresen 16.197; Hollstein 17 III, IIIa or IV (of IV) with the numbering.

Condition: marvellously crisp and well-inked impression most likely a lifetime impression trimmed within the platemark. Apart from light age-toning, the sheet is in excellent condition (i.e. there are no tears, stains, holes, abrasions, folds or foxing).

I am selling this magnificent and rare original etching by Dietterlin for AU$162 (currently US$128.15/EUR110.03/GBP98.69 at the time of this listing) including postage and handling to anywhere in the world.

If you are interested in purchasing this design for the entrance to a church—a virtual eruption of ornament—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

Although most designers are likely to have heard of Wendel Dietterlin’s astounding book of designs, “Architectura” (1598), Dietterlin’s fame does not rest with his book being valued as meaningful textbook or pattern-book of styles. The designs in the book are a little too bizarre to be helpful in this way. Instead, Dietterlin’s fame rests on the extravagant ornament that he adds to the five classical orders of Architecture: Tuscan, Dorian, Ionian, Corinthian, and Composite.

This design for a church portico, for example, features in the section of the book dedicated to designs underpinned by the principles of the Composite order. No doubt an argument could be made to justify how this fabulous concoction of late Gothic fantasy embodies the principles of Composite order, but there is no need. The design is marvellous as an image of ornamental excess without any need for justification or explanation.

Jacques Beltrand’s chiaroscuro woodcut portrait of Beethoven (first version), 1907

Jacques Beltrand (aka Jacques Anthony Louis Beltrand) (1874–1977)

“Beethoven”, 1907, published by the Gazette des Beaux-Arts.

Chiaroscuro woodcut, printed in two shades of grey-green on fine laid paper

Size: (sheet) 27.5 x 18.5 cm; (plate) 13.8 x 12.7 cm

Lettered below the image “BEETHOVEN” and further below on the right in a block of five lines of text: “GRAVURE SUR BOIS ORIGINALE / DE JACQUES BELTRAND POUR / LA “ LÉGENDE DORÉE / DES GRANDS HOMMES” / Sts NATIONALE DES BEAUX-ARTS SALON 1907

Condition: Excellent impression in pristine condition with a binding hinge attached on the left side.

I am selling this small woodcut masterpiece for AU$90 (currently US$70.24/EUR61.18/GBP54.79 at the time of this listing) including postage and handling to anywhere in the world.

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

This is the second portrait of Beethoven by Beltrand that I have posted. Unlike the previous post in which the print was hand-signed by the artist in a very small edition of 40 impressions, this original print was published in a much larger edition by the Gazette des Beaux-Arts.

Jacques Beltrand’s chiaroscuro woodcut portrait of Beethoven, c1910

Jacques Beltrand (aka Jacques Anthony Louis Beltrand) (1874–1977)

”Ludwig van Beethoven”, c1910

Chiaroscuro woodcut, printed in two shades of grey-blue on fine Japanese paper, hand-signed in pencil by the artist and numbered “40/40”

Size: (irregularly cut sheet) 18 x 13.6 cm; (plate) 14 x 9.7 cm; (image borderline including the text tablet) 11.5 x 7.4 cm

Lettered in two lines “LVDWIG.VAN.BEETHOVEN /M.D.CC.LXX-M.D.CCC.XX.VII”

Condition: a faultless impression in near pristine condition hand-signed in pencil and numbered “40” in an edition of 40 impressions.

I am selling this small woodcut masterpiece for AU$110 (currently US$87.02/EUR75.67/GBP67.22 at the time of this listing) including postage and handling to anywhere in the world.

If you are interested in purchasing this perfectly preserved hand-signed print, please contact me (oz_jim@printsandprinciples.com) and I will send you a PayPal invoice to make the payment easy.

This is the second woodcut by Beltrand that I have featured and like the previous print (see http://www.printsandprinciples.com/2017/03/jacques-beltrands-chiaroscuro-woodcut.html), this portrait of Beethoven—moulded from his plaster cast death mask—is a remarkably strong image.

One feature of it that I wish to point out is that sometimes prints look better in reality than they do in reproduction. This is certainly the case here. When seen “in the flesh”, the colours may be the same two shades of grey-blue as can be reproduced digitally, but what is not seen in reproduction is the delicacy of the print surface and how the printed colour has a different tactile appeal—a slightly waxy appearance—compared to the dry surface of the paper. Going further, the colour in the physical print is almost opaque, but not quite, and it is this note of translucence that is not seen in reproduction and which makes the actual print so special.  

Jonas Umbach’s etching, “Resting Shepherd Playing on a Horn”, c.1690

Jonas Umbach (1624–93)

“Resting Shepherd Playing on a Horn”, c.1690, published by Erben Jeremias Wolff (aka Johann Balthasar Probst) and later by the heirs of Jeremias Wolff (Note: the British Museum attribute the date of this print to 1645–1700 and the Rijksmuseum propose the date, 1634–93. My attribution is based on Jeremias Wolff’s active dates as a publisher in Augsburg, fl.1686–1724, and that Umbach died in 1693).

Etching on fine laid paper with trimmed along the platemark.

Size: (sheet) 14.3 x 11 cm

Inscribed in the plate at lower left: “C.P.S.C.M. Haered Ier. Wolffij exc.”

The British Museum offers the following description of this print:

“A shepherd playing a pipe; seated in profile to left; landscape background. Etching” (http://www.britishmuseum.org/research/collection_online/collection_object_details.aspx?objectId=1504202&partId=1&searchText=Umbach&page=1)

The Rijksmuseum offers the following description of this print:

“A shepherd, resting on the ground in a landscape, playing on a big horn.” (Een herder, rustend op de grond in een landschap, spelend op een grote hoorn.) (http://hdl.handle.net/10934/RM0001.collect.31983)

Nagler 149 (G K Nagler 1835, “Neues allgemeines Künstler-Lexikon”, 22 vols, Munich)

Condition: richly inked impression in excellent condition (i.e. there are no tears, holes, folds, abrasions, stains or foxing) trimmed along or close to the platemark. There are remnants of mounting (verso).

I am selling this rare and (judging by the crispness of the impression) early/lifetime impression for AU$224 (currently US$177.59/EUR154.09/GBP136.26 at the time of this listing) including postage and handling to anywhere in the world.

If you are interested in purchasing this remarkable 17th century print by an artist famed for his small etchings and for his skill in biting his printing plates only once in acid, 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

In my five earlier posts featuring Umbach’s etchings I leaned the discussions more towards technical issues underpinning the prints than describing with the age in which the prints were made. Mindful that I have avoided this topic up to now, I thought I might offer a few personal thoughts about the age of the German Baroque in which Umbach’s work is usually consigned.

At first glance, this print showing a resting shepherd making music may not seem like it would fit well with the lively spirit of the Baroque period style, but it does. For instance, the subject itself is all about transcendence beyond the everyday world to a musical dimension filled with the graphically expressed sounds played by the young man. Going further, the curving arch of the tree on the right creates a swirling rhythm that leads through the similarly curved torso of the shepherd to be released upwards following the tree in the distant centre of the composition into the sky. For me, this strong wave-like rhythm marks a transition from the temporal world occupied by the youth to the transcendent world of the ether. In short, what I wish to suggest is that this print is underpinned with the Baroque notion of taking a viewer from the ordinary world of everyday concerns to the extraordinary world of sound in bold spiralling spirit-lifting movement.

Heinrich Aldegrever’s engraving, “Mutius Scaevola” (aka Mucius Scaevola), 1530

Heinrich Aldegrever (1501/2–55/61)

(Bartsch title) “Mutius Scaevola” (Mutius Scévola), 1530

Engraving on fine laid paper.

Size: (sheet) 15.5 x 11 cm; (plate) 14.7 x 10.3 cm

Signed with monogram and dated on a tablet at lower right.

New Hollstein (German) 69 (Aldegrever) (Hollstein, F W H, “The New Hollstein: German engravings, etchings and woodcuts 1400-1700”, Amsterdam, 1996); Bartsch VIII.387.69 (Bartsch, Adam, Le Peintre graveur, 21 vols, Vienna, 1803); Bartsch 16.69 (387) (1980, p. 176).

The British Museum offers the following description of this print:

“Mucius Scaevola; standing in frontal view at left, about to place his hand on the fire at right; Porsenna crowned and holding a sword, sitting on a throne at right; a female figure seated on the ground at far left; all three figures nude. 1530” (http://www.britishmuseum.org/research/collection_online/collection_object_details.aspx?objectId=1508268&partId=1&searchText=aldegrever+&page=3)

Condition: Excellent impression with small margins. Nevertheless, there are minor abrasions that have been professionally restored to be virtually invisible. Both of the upper corners in the margins have very small replenished losses.

I am selling this marvellous impression of the utmost rarity by one of the most famous of the old master printmakers who followed in the tradition of Durer (whose monogram design Aldegrever has appropriated) and the Nuremberg “Little Masters” (vis. the Beham brothers and Georg Pencz) for AU$620 (currently US$492.10/EUR426.13/GBP377.52 at the time of this listing) including postage and handling to anywhere in the world.

If you are interested in purchasing this superb engraving from the Renaissance era, 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 those who may be unfamiliar with the story about Gaius Mucius Scaevola (aka Mutius Scaevola)—and I need to point out at that the story might be more than just a story and could be based on embroidered facts—he was a Roman youth authorised by the Roman Senate to assassinate the Etruscan king, Lars Porsena, who had laid siege on Rome. Sadly for Mucius, he killed the wrong person and when captured he boldly declared to King Lars Porsena that he was only the first of three hundred other Roman volunteers aiming to kill Porsena. To show how brave and single-minded Romans were, Mucius placed his right hand into a sacrificial fire set near the king as proof of his strength-of-mind to overcome pain. This demonstration of control and bravery so impressed the king that he allowed Mucius to leave the Etruscan camp and to make peace with Rome.

My favourite quip that the king was supposed to have said to Mucius in dismissing him to return to Rome was: “Go back, since you do more harm to yourself than me" (see Livy's “History of Rome/Ab Urbe Condita”).

Regarding Aldegrever’s version of this scene, I have a problem. From my understanding of the story, the hand that was burnt should be his right hand but it is Mucius’ left hand that is closest to the fire. This may seem a rather trivial detail, but the name “Scaevola” by which Mucius is now known means literally “left-handed" as his left hand became his functioning hand after the right one was burnt. No doubt I may have my facts all mixed up but I find details like this interesting to ponder given the history of similar hand-burning stories that followed Mucius’ ordeal (e.g. T. E. Lawrence episode with a match, G. Gordon Liddy’s burnt hand with a lighter and the character, Travis Bickle's, act of scorching his arm in Martin Scorsese's “Taxi Driver”).