Circle of Guido Reni’s etching, “St. John the Evangelist”, c1620, after Reni

Unidentified artist from the circle of Guido Reni (1575–1642)

“St. John the Evangelist” [TIB title] (aka “St. Jean l’évangéliste” [Bartsch title], “Saint John the Evangelist holding a goblet with a snake emerging from it” [MET title]), c1620 (1600–1640), from a series of fifteen etchings in oval frames printed from the single plate (TIB 40.12–23), “Christ, the Virgin, and Thirteen Apostles”, after the design by Guido Reni.

Etching on fine laid paper, trimmed unevenly with a narrow margin around the image borderline and backed with a support sheet.

Size: (unevenly cut oval sheet) 9 x 6.9 cm; (oval image borderline) 8.5 x 6.2 cm.

TIB 13 (320) (Veronika Birke [ed.] 1982, “The Illustrated Bartsch: Italian Masters of the Sixteenth and Seventeenth Centuries”, vol. 40, New York, Abaris Books, p. 230. cat. no. 13 [320]).

See also the description of this print offered by the Metropolitan Museum of Art: https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/397004.

Condition: a strong early impression still retaining the polishing scratches on the printing plate. The unevenly trimmed oval sheet is in an excellent condition with no tears, holes, folds, abrasions, stains or foxing and has been laid onto a support sheet of archival (millennium quality) washi paper to provide wide margins.

I am selling this tiny etching showing a very young St John holding a chalice containing a serpent—symbolic of the devil in poisoned wine that the saint is given to drink, but which he overcomes when he survives the ordeal—for AU$254 in total (currently US$167.52/EUR158.96/GBP141.67 at the time of posting 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 this fluidly executed etching capturing what Nicholas Hall (art gallery) draws attention to in Guido Reni’s painting, his “much-admired depiction of affetti” (viz. the expression, or “physical description”, of sentiment; see https://www.nicholashall.art/all-that-glistens-exhibition-checklist/guido-reni-saint-john-the-evangelist/), please contact me (oz_jim@printsandprinciples.com) and I will send you a PayPal invoice to make the payment easy.