Prints and Principles

Most of the recent posts give details about individual prints and earlier posts discuss some of the subtle principles guiding artists in making images meaningful and memorable. For prints that are unsold, click "Items still available for sale" below. All other prints are no longer available. My contact email is oz_jim@printsandprinciples.com and my Instagram username is @printsandprinciples. I have created a separate blog to show my own work: https://printsandprinciplesjamesbrown.blogspot.com

Saturday, 19 August 2023

Charles Émile Jacque’s etching, “The Prodigal Son with the Swine”, c.1868

Charles Émile Jacque (1813–1894)

“The Prodigal Son with the Swine” (aka “L’Enfant Prodigue” [Guiffrey]; “L'Enfant Prodigue, Gardant Quatre Porcs” [IFF]), c.1868, unsigned as are the other impressions from the only state of this print.

Etching with dot-roulette and pale plate-tone on laid paper (partial watermark) with wide margins.

Size: (sheet) 31.2 x 36.1 cm; (plate) 15 x 20.9 cm; (image borderline) 11.3 x 18 cm.

State i (of i)

Guiffrey (supp.) 222 (J.-J. Guiffrey 1884, “Nouvelles Eaux-Fortes et Pointes Sèches de Ch. Jacque, 1884: Supplément au Catalogue”, Paris, Jouast et Sigaux, p. 7, cat. no. 325[https://archive.org/details/nouvelleseauxfor00guif/page/6/mode/2up]); IFF 325 (Jean Adhémar, Jacques Lethève 1954, “Inventaire du Fonds Francais Apres 1800”, Paris, Bibliothèque nationale de France, vol. 11, cat. no. 325); Beraldi 430 (Henri Beraldi 1885, “Les Graveurs du dix-neuvième siècle”, Paris, Librairie L. Conquet, vol. 8, p. 189, cat. no. 430 [https://archive.org/details/lesgraveursdu19e08berauoft/page/189/mode/1up])

Guiffrey (1884) offers the following description of this print: (transl.) “On a ground surmounted by rocks, and on which rise two trunks of birches, sits a young boy who guards four pigs, one of whom comes forward. Unsigned. I believe that there is only this state” (p.7).

See also the description of this print at the Art Institute of Chicago: https://www.artic.edu/artworks/45805/the-prodigal-son.

Condition: a strong, well-printed and near faultless impression with generously wide margins. The sheet is in a near pristine condition with no tears, holes, folds, abrasions, stains, foxing or signs of handling.

I am selling this poetically quiet and unassuming etching by one of the luminaries of the Barbizon School for AU$277 (currently US$192.96/EUR189.73/GBP158.78 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 very beautiful etching, 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