Claudine Bouzonnet Stella’s etching (with engraving), “Shepherds Resting on a Seesaw”, 1667, after Jacques Stella

Claudine Bouzonnet Stella (aka Claudia Bouzonnet-Stella; Claudine Bouzonnet; Claudia Stella) (1636–1697)

“Shepherds Resting on a Seesaw” (aka “Rustende herders spelend op een wip”), 1667, after a painting by Claudine’s uncle, Jacques Stella (1596–1657), plate 11 from the series of 16 plates and an engraved frontispiece, “Pastorales”, published in Paris by Claudine Bouzonnet Stella with royal privilege (Louis XIV [King of France]).

Jamie Mulherron’s (2008) journal article in Print Quarterly (vol. 25, no. 4), “Claudine Bouzonnet, Jacques Stella and the Pastorales”, raises an interesting connundrum regarding this print and the others in the series:

“The prints are conventionally described as engraved by Claudine Bouzonnet Stella (1636-97) after a set of paintings by her uncle Jacques Stella (1596-1657) … . But it has long been suspected that the situation was more complicated than this—there may never have been a set of paintings, and perhaps the designer was Claudine rather than Jacques” (p. 393; see https://www.jstor.org/stable/41826919).

Etching and engraving on laid paper trimmed around the platemark on three sides and slightly within the platemark on the right side and backed with a support sheet.

Size: (sheet) 24.9 x 31.6 cm.

Inscribed on plate along the lower edge: (right of centre) “J. Stella p.”; “Claudia Stella Sculp.”; “cum priuit. Regis”; “[11]”.

IFF 17e siècle 111 (Département des estampes [verzamelaar] 1939–, “Inventaire du Fonds Français: Graveurs du XVIIe Siècle”, vol. 2, Paris, Bibliothèque Nationale, p. 88, cat. no. 111); LeBlanc 20 (Ch. Leblanc 1854[–1889], “Manuel de l'amateur d'estampes, contenant un dictionnaire des graveurs de toutes les nations: ouvrage destiné à faire suite au Manuel du libraire par J.Ch. Brunet”, vol. 3, Paris, p. 589, cat. no. 20).

The Rijksmuseum offers the following description of this print:

“Landscape with a group of shepherds on a tree trunk that they use as a seesaw. Next to it a woman playing the flute” (http://hdl.handle.net/10934/RM0001.COLLECT.749376).

Condition: a strong and well-printed impression, trimmed close to the image borderline and laid onto a support sheet of archival (millennium quality) washi paper. There are several restored tears along the lower edge; otherwise the sheet is in a good condition with no significant stains or foxing.

I am selling this important etching (with engraving) by one of the major female printmakers of the 1600s whose portrayal of rural folk was so influential that Jamie Mulherron (2008) proposes that without the series of which this print is a part, “the profusion of pastoral imagery in the eighteenth century would be almost unthinkable” (op. cit., p.393), for the total cost of AU$298 (currently US$224.99/EUR191.76/GBP163.48 at the time of this listing) including Express Mail (EMS) 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 major print by a Renaissance female printmaker, 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