Romeyn de Hooghe, “Plate 20: The Art of Dying Well (Ars moriendi),” 1673–94

Romeyn de Hooghe (also known as Romeijn de Hooge and [pseudonym] Gisling) (1645–1708)
“Plate 20: The Art of Dying Well (Ars moriendi),” 1673–94

Technical Details & Condition:
Etching on laid paper, slightly irregularly trimmed around the image borderline and laid upon a backing sheet of archival-quality washi paper, providing support and generous margins.

This is Plate 20 from a series of forty-two plates initially published in Antwerp in 1673, later reissued in 1694 and 1700 by G. Gallet as illustrations to David de la Vigne’s La manierè de se bien préparer à la mort par des considérations sur la Cène, la Passion, et la Mort de Jesus-Christ (How to Prepare Well for Death through Reflections on the Last Supper, the Passion, and the Death of Jesus Christ).

See the description of this publication from the 1700 edition and this print facing page 43: https://archive.org/details/b30408453/page/n87/mode/2up. Please note that there are minor differences in the plates shown in this 1700 edition (such as Plate 20 being unsigned), which may be explained by John Landwehr’s (1970) advice that “they are copies” (see Landwehr, 1970, p. 183).

The impression is richly inked and well-printed—most likely a lifetime impression, evidenced by the quality of the line that shows no sign of wear to the printing plate. The sheet is in excellent condition, free of tears, holes, folds, or abrasions.

Accompanying Text from the Publication:
The flavour of David de la Vigne’s advice about dying is crystallised in the accompanying text for this plate. Regarding the image, he advises (translated):

“This hideous representation [depicted in the framed painting], in which Jesus appeared as a criminal before the High Priest, shows one of the most terrible attacks that the devil gives to those who are on their deathbed. He questions them about their faith, trying to catch them, shake them, and plunge them into an abyss of darkness… [the truly faithful] imitate their Saviour and give the answer Jesus gave to the High Priest, as depicted in the small painting: they have only to say, as he did: ‘I have spoken publicly to everyone, I have made a public profession of the Roman Catholic faith, and in this faith I wish to live and die.’” (p. 43)

Dimensions:

• Sheet: 18.9 x 15.1 cm
• Image: 18.7 x 14.9 cm

Lettering on the Plate:

• Upper left corner: “20”
• Lower left corner: “R. d. H. f.”

References:

• Landwehr 27 (John Landwehr, Romeyn de Hooghe as Book Illustrator, Amsterdam, Vangendt & Co., 1970, p. 79, cat. no. 27)

Price & Shipping:
AU$292 (approximately US$193.99 / €165.07 / £145.10), including worldwide express shipping. Please note that import duties and taxes are the buyer’s responsibility.

If you are interested in acquiring this striking Baroque period etching, featuring angels and demons fighting for the soul of a dying woman—where the test of faith and ultimate salvation hinge on her response to the framed image of Jesus before the High Priest—please contact me at oz_jim@printsandprinciples.com. I am happy to provide a secure PayPal invoice for a seamless purchase.

This print has been sold

Katsushika Hokusai, “Beauty Crossing a River”, 1878

Katsushika Hokusai (葛飾北斎) (1760–1849)
“Beauty Crossing a River”, 1878

This adjoined pair of original Hokusai three-colour (black, pink, and blue-grey) woodblock prints was published by Katano Tōshirō (片野東四郎) and Tōhekidō (東壁堂) in 1878 (Meiji 11). The prints are mounted as a diptych on a single sheet of washi paper, originally printed on separate pages (pages 54 and 55) within “Transmitting the Spirit, Revealing the Form of Things: Hokusai Sketchbooks” (Denshin Kaishu: Hokusai Manga, Jūgohen) (伝神開手 北斎漫画 十五編), volume 15.

The Pulverer Collection (https://pulverer.si.edu/node/774/title/1/28) and the Metropolitan Museum of Art (https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/57390) both describe this publication and offer online views of all the prints contained within.

The prints are slightly pale in tone—possibly from a later edition? —and are printed on fine washi paper on separate sheets that have been trimmed along the centre borderline. This presentation allows the two sheets, originally separate, to be viewed as a cohesive whole laid upon a single support sheet with ample margins for display. Aside from minor areas of thinness and fractures (notably on the riverbank next to the stream on the left panel and on the lower right of the right panel), the sheets are in very good condition with no stains.

Background Information:
This diptych is from the final volume of Katsushika Hokusai’s renowned 15-volume Manga series—an expansive collection originally conceived in 1812 during a trip to Nagoya. The first set of prints was published in 1814. Initially intended as reference material for Hokusai’s students, the series quickly gained popularity among the general public, eventually expanding to over 4,000 images across multiple volumes. The term “manga” can be translated as “random sketches,” encompassing scenes from everyday life, animals, landscapes, and mythological creatures.

Dimensions:

• Abutted sheets: 22.7 x 25.4 cm
• Borderline of each panel: 17.9 x 12.8 cm 

Price & Shipping:
AU$287 (approximately US$190.85 / €162.60 / £142.81), including worldwide express shipping. Please note that import duties and taxes are the buyer’s responsibility.

If you are interested in acquiring this exceptional original woodblock diptych by Katsushika Hokusai—a scene that evokes the story of two Zen monks crossing a stream, where the younger questions the elder about the morality of carrying a beautiful lady, only to be retorted by the elder: “Brother, I set her down on the other side of the river hours ago. Why are you still carrying her?”—please contact me at oz_jim@printsandprinciples.com. I am happy to provide a secure PayPal invoice for a seamless purchase.

Philipp Andreas Kilian, “Saint Cecilia Playing the Organ”, c. 1753, after Carlo Dolci

Philipp Andreas Kilian (1714–1759)
“Saint Cecilia Playing the Organ”, circa 1753 (1750–1757)

Technical Details & Condition:

This impressively large engraving with etching is printed on a huge sheet of fine laid paper (with watermark), as originally published. The print is based on an intermediate design by Charles François Hutin (also known as Charles François Huttin) (1715–1776), and is after the 1671 painting (https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Dolci_Cecilia_organo.jpg) held in the collection of the Gemäldegalerie Alte Meister (Old Masters Gallery) in Dresden. The painting itself is by the eminent Florentine Baroque painter Carlo Dolci (1616–1686).

This print is plate 43 from the series “Recueil d'estampes d'après les plus célèbres tableaux de la Galerie Royale de Dresde” — a distinguished collection of prints after the most celebrated paintings in the Dresden Royal Gallery.

Further details about this print can be found at the British Museum: https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/object/P_1855-0609-1263

The impression is strong, well-printed, and nearly faultless, with no signs of wear to the printing plate. Aside from minor handling marks and pencil notations on the edges by previous collectors, the sheet remains in excellent (near pristine) condition for its considerable size and age.

Dimensions:

• Sheet: 74.8 x 51.2 cm
• Platemark: 37.9 x 27.9 cm
• Image Border: 32.4 x 27.2 cm

Lettered in plate below the image border:

• Left: “CFCutin del.”
• Left of centre / coat-of-arms: “Quadro di Carlino Dolci / cauato dalla Galleriá Reale / di Dresda / Alto 3. Piedi 5. Onc: Largo 2. Piedi 10. Onc:”
  (Painting by Carlo Dolci / taken from the Royal Gallery / of Dresden / Height 3.5 feet / Width 2.10 feet)
• Right of centre / coat-of-arms: “Tableau de Carlo Dolci / de la Gallerie Royale de Dresde / Haut 3. Pieds 5. Pouc: Large 2. Pieds 10 Puc:”
• Right: “P. A. Kilian sc. A.V.”

Price & Shipping:

AU$297 (approximately US$197.64 / €168.29 / £147.80), inclusive of worldwide express shipping. Please note that import duties and taxes are the buyer’s responsibility.

If you are interested in acquiring this monumental engraving depicting Saint Cecilia, the patron saint of musicians, playing a traditional organetto—a small portable pipe organ with hand-pumped bellows and keyboard popular in medieval Europe—please contact me at oz_jim@printsandprinciples.com. I am happy to provide a secure PayPal invoice for a seamless purchase.

Wijnand Otto Jan Nieuwenkamp, “Rhenen”, 1905

Wijnand Otto Jan Nieuwenkamp (1874–1950)
“Rhenen”, 1905 (published 1915)

Rhenen is a charming town in the Netherlands. The scene depicted is viewed from the Betuwe region, featuring a couple strolling along the Rhine River in the foreground. The tall Gothic tower in the background is the Cuneratoren (Cuneratower) of the Cunerakerk (see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cunerakerk), and the windmill in the distant right is the Binnenmolen (Inner Mill) (see https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Binnenmolen.jpg).

Technical Details & Condition:
This is a two-colour (beige and black) woodcut (“Holzschnitt” in German, as lettered on the lower edge) on cream laid paper, with full margins as issued. The woodcut was published in Vienna in 1915 by the Society for Reproductive Art (Gesellschaft für Vervielfältigende Kunst), facing page 16 in The Graphic Arts, volume 38 (XXXVIII), issue 1 (“Die Graphischen Künste, Jahrgang XXXVIII Wien Gesellschaft für Vervielfältigende Kunst 1915 Heft 1”).

The impression is virtually faultless. Please note that the break in the borderline at the upper right is an inherent feature of this impression. The sheet is in pristine condition—free of tears, holes, folds, abrasions, stains, or signs of handling—with the binding tissue still attached verso.

Dimensions:

• Sheet: 40.2 x 29.9 cm
• Image Border: 20.4 x 15.7 cm

Lettered in plate within the image borderline:

• Upper centre: (artist’s initials) “.W.D./ .J.N.”

Letterpress lettering along the lower edge of the sheet:

• Left: “W.O.J. NIEUWENKAMP, RHENEN. HOLZSCHNITT.”
• Centre: “DRUCK DER K. K. HOF-U, STAATSDRUCKEREI.”
• Right: “VERLAG DER GESELLSCHAFT FÜR VERVIELFÄLTIGENDE KUNST, WIEN.” 

Price & Shipping:
AU$263 (approximately US$175.02 / €149.03 / £130.88), inclusive of worldwide express shipping. Please note that import duties and taxes are the buyer’s responsibility.

If you are interested in acquiring this visually arresting two-colour woodcut — arguably capturing the essence of the Dutch landscape, with a low horizon emphasising the flat terrain, drawing the eye upwards to the stacked clouds and glowing haze of the sky — please contact me at oz_jim@printsandprinciples.com. I am happy to provide a secure PayPal invoice for a seamless purchase.