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, 16 August 2025

Salvator Rosa, “Solider Carrying a Cane, Striding Toward the Left”, c.1656/7

Salvator Rosa (1615–1673)

“Solider Carrying a Cane, Striding Toward the Left” (TIB title) (aka “Soldier with Plumed Hat and Pike on his Shoulder”), c.1656/7, from the series, “Figurine”. Bellini & Wallace (1990) advise that the drawing for this etching, executed in pen and brown ink with brown wash and traces of black chalk, is in the Teylers Museum in Haarlem (inv. E 16).

Etching and drypoint on laid paper (partial watermark) with wide margins. Based on the deckle edges of the sheet and the placement of the image, this is possibly the full sheet when published.

Size: (sheet) 24.3 x 20.8cm; (plate) 15.1 x 19.6cm.

Inscribed in plate with the artist’s monogram: (lower right) “SR”.

State ii (of ii) Note that there is only one impression known of the first state.

TIB 4512.041 [B.33 [280]) S2 (Paolo Bellini & Richard W Wallace [eds.] 1990, “The Illustrated Bartsch: Italian Masters of the Seventeenth Century”, vol. 45 [Commentary], New York, Abaris Books, pp. 386–87, cat. no. [4512].041); Wallace 21.II (Richard W Wallace 1979, “The Etchings of Salvator Rosa”, Princeton, Princeton University Press, p. 152, cat. no. 21/II).

The British Museum offers the following description of this print: “Figurina; a standing warrior in a plumed hat, holding a staff over his shoulder and gesturing to right with his outstretched left arm. c.1656-1657” (https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/object/P_W-7-22 [BM inv. no. W,7.22]).

Condition: a strong and well-printed impression. The sheet has wide margins around the platemark and is in an excellent (near pristine) condition for its considerable age with no tears, holes, folds, abrasions, stains or signs of handling.

I am selling this marvellous etching (with drypoint) by Salvator Rosa—note how the artist has used the upward sweep of the landscape on the right to visually echo/amplify the movement of the figure’s outstretched arm—for the total cost of AU$328 (approximately US$213.50, EUR 182.35 or GBP 157.51), including express mail shipping worldwide. Import duties, if any, are the responsibility of the buyer.

If you are interested in purchasing this superb 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