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

Monday, 25 August 2025

Bernard Picart, “Hercules Fights the Lernaean Hydra”, 1731

Bernard Picart (1673–1733)

“Hercules Fights the Lernaean Hydra” (aka “Hercules’s Combat with the Hydra”; “Hercules doodt de hydra van Lerna”), 1731, Plate 24 (XXV) in the series of sixty plates, “Le Temple des Muses” (Neu-Eröfneter Musen-Tempel) after Abraham van Diepenbeeck (1596–1675), first published in Amsterdam in 1733 by Zacharie Chatelain (fl.1700–50), facing page 55 (see https://archive.org/details/gri_33125012263162/page/n115/mode/2up).

Etching and engraving printed from two plates on laid paper with full margins as published.

Size: (sheet) 44.3 x 27cm; (outer plate) 36.1 x 25.7cm; (outer image borderline) 34.8 x 25.1cm.

Lettered in plate: (at left below the outer image borderline) “B. Picart del,1731”; (at centre below the inner image borderline with title in four languages [French, English, German and Dutch]) “COMBAT D’HERCULE CONTRE L’HYDRE DE LERNE./ Hercules’s Combat with the Hydra.// …./ …”.

LeBlanc 85–146 (J.Ch. Brunet & 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”, vol. 3, Paris, p. 192, cat. nos. 85–146).

See also the description of this print offered by the Rijksmuseum https://id.rijksmuseum.nl/200370066.

Condition: a strong and well-printed (near faultless) impression laid onto a support of archival (millennium quality) washi paper. Beyond a significant closed tear in the lower margin (approx. 3cms away from the outer image borderline), the sheet is in a very good condition with no holes, folds, abrasions or stains.

I am selling this graphically strong representation of Hercules fighting the mythological Hydra— a serpentine monster with poisonous breath, deadly scented blood, and many heads that regenerate with two extra heads if one were to be lopped off—for the total price of AU$326 (approximately US$211.26, EUR 181.58, or GBP 157.01). This price includes worldwide express postage and handling. Please note that any applicable import duties or taxes imposed by the destination country are the responsibility of the buyer.

If you are interested in purchasing this large museum quality etching with engraving printed from two plates—an outer “frame” plate and an inner “image” plate—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