Ferdinand Gaillard, “Dante”, 1872

Ferdinand Gaillard (aka Claude Ferdinand Gaillard) (1834–87)

“Dante”, 1872, engraving of the bronze bust by an unknown mid-19th-century sculptor of Dante Alighieri (1265-1321), now in the Wallace Collection (inv. S150). The engraving was printed by Alfred Salmon (fl.1863–1894) and published in Paris in the art periodical, “Gazette des Beaux-Arts”, 1 August 1872, between pages 122 and123. 

Engraving on buff cream chine collé on heavy wove paper backed with a support sheet.

Size: (sheet) 22.2 x 16.9 cm; (plate) 18 x 15 cm; (chine collé/image borderline) 16.8 x 20.8 cm..

Lettered in plate within the image borderline/chine collé: (lower left) “Gazette des Beaux-Arts.”; (lower centre) “DANTE/ Bronze du XV^e. Siècle/ ( Galerie de sir Richard Wallace )”; (at right following the lower edge of the sculpture) “C. F. GAILLARD SC.”; (lower right) “Imp. A. Salmon – Paris.”

State iii (of iii), published state with the addition of the title and the publication details.

Beraldi 27 (Henri Beraldi 1887, “Les Graveurs du Dix-Neuvième Siècle: DORÉ –GAVARD”, vol. VI, Paris, Librairie L. Conquet, p. 201, cat. no. 27 [see https://archive.org/details/lesgraveursdu19e06berauoft/page/200/mode/2up]); IFF 41 (Jean Adhémar & Jacques Lethève 1954, “Inventaire du Fonds, Français: Graveurs du XVIIe Siècle”, Paris, Bibliothèque Nationale, Département des Estampes, vol. 8, p. 317, cat. no. 41 [see https://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bpt6k5489221t/f328.item]).

The British Museum offers a description of this print: https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/object/P_2006-U-2666.

Condition: a strong and well-printed (near faultless) impression laid upon a sheet of millennium quality washi paper providing wide margins. The sheet is in a near pristine condition with no tears, holes, folds, abrasions or significant stains.

I am selling this technically outstanding and very beautiful engraving by one of the most skilful of the 19^th century engravers, for a total cost of AU$242 (approximately US$158.10, EUR 134.67 or GBP 116.02), including express mail shipping worldwide. Import duties, if any, are the responsibility of the buyer.

If you are interested in purchasing this breathtakingly fine engraving in which the lines are so minute and close together that they almost disappear when the engraving is viewed at a distance, please contact me (oz_jim@printsandprinciples.com) and I will send you a PayPal invoice to make the payment easy.