Eugène Gaujean, “The Birth of Venus”, 1886, after Botticelli

Eugène Gaujean (1850–1900)

“The Birth of Venus” (aka “La Naissance de Vénus”), 1886, after the famous painting by Sandro Botticelli (aka, Sandro di Mariano Filepepe Botticelli; Alessandro Filipepe) (c.1444/5–1510) in the Uffizi Gallery in Florence, Italy (see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Birth_of_Venus), printed by A Clément (fl.c.1886-1892) and published in Paris in the art periodical, “Gazette des Beaux-Arts”, in September 1886 between pages 186 and 187.

Etching on wove paper trimmed around the platemark and backed with a support sheet.

Size: (sheet) 18.9 x 26.8cm; (plate) 18.5 x 26.7cm; (image borderline) 15.1 x 24cm.

Lettered in plate below the image borderline: (left) “Sandro Botticelli pinx./ Gazette des Beaux-Arts.”; (centre) “LA NAISSANCE DE VÉNUS/ Musée des Offices, à Florence.)”; (right) “E. Gaujean sc./ Imp. A. Clément_Paris”.

Beraldi 27 (Henri Beraldi 1887, “Les Graveurs du dix-neuvième siècle”, vol. 6, Paris, L Conquet, p. 245, cat. no. 27).

Condition: a strong and well-printed (near faultless) impression trimmed around the platemark and laid onto a sheet of archival (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 jewel-like etching executed with amazing dexterity and precision “at the very time”, according to Henri Beraldi (1887) in translation, “when the public was showing an undeniable weariness with the loose etching that had been overused…” (p.243), for AU$227 (approximately US$147.08, EUR 18126.85, or GBP 110.80), including express mail shipping worldwide.  Import duties, if any, are the responsibility of the buyer.

If you are interested in purchasing this exceptionally fine and very beautiful etching after Botticelli’s famous painting, 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

Henri Guérard’s drypoint and aquatint, “Le Printemps”, 1886, after Botticelli

Henri Guérard (aka Henri Charles Guérard) (1846–1897)

“Le Printemps”, (publ.) 1886, after a fragment of Sandro Botticelli’s (aka Sandro di Mariano Filepepe Botticelli; Alessandro Filipepe) (c.1444/5–1510) famous painting, “Primavera” (c.1470s–80s) in the collection of the Uffizi Gallery, Florence (see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Primavera_(Botticelli)), printed by L. Eudes (fl.1876–1888) and published in Paris in the art periodical “Gazette des Beaux-Arts” in the December 1886 edition between pages 474 and 475.

Drypoint, aquatint and engraving printed in bistre coloured ink on laid paper, trimmed with small margins around the platemark and backed with a support sheet providing wide margins.

Size: (sheet) 18 x 20.6 cm; (plate) 16 x 19.7 cm; (image borderline) 13.2 x 17.8 cm.

Lettered in plate below the image borderline: (left) “Sandro Botticelli. pinx./ Gazette des Beaux-Arts.”; (centre) “LE PRINTEMPS/ (Fragment du tableau de l’Académie de Florence.)”; (right) “H. Guérard sc./ Imp. Eudes.”

Pierre Sanchez & Xavier Seydoux 1998, “Les Estampes de la Gazette des Beaux-Arts 1859–1933”, Paris, l’Echelle de Jacob, p. 108, cat. 186-15; Claudie Bertin 526; IFF 48-4; H. Béraldi 478;

Condition: a strong and well-printed impression trimmed with a small margin around the platemark and laid onto a support of archival (millennium quality) washi paper providing generously wide margins. Beyond a dot in the lower margin, the sheet is in a near pristine condition with no tears, holes, folds, abrasions, significant stains or foxing.

I am selling this gloriously glowing and sensitively executed drypoint (with aquatint and engraving) for AU$255 (currently US$170.44/EUR154.22/GBP135.75 at the time of posting this listing) 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 marvellous study of a fragment of Botticelli’s “Primavera” showing the mythological figures, the Three Graces— Aglaea (“Shining”), Euphrosyne (“Joy”) and Thalia (“Blooming”)—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

Tiburce de Mare’s etching with engraving, “Simonetta Vespucci”, 1880, after Piero di Cosimo

Tiburce de Mare (1840–1900)

“Simonetta Vespucci” (aka “Simonetta Ianvensis Vespvccia”)—Simonetta Vespucci (1453–1476) is the mistress of Guiliano de' Medici, portrayed in this portrait as Cleopatra and is purported to be the face of Venus in Sandro Botticelli’s “The Birth of Venus”—1880, after Piero di Cosimo’s (aka Pietro di Lorenzo di Chimenti; Piero di Lorenzo) (1461/2–1522) “Portrait de femme dit de Simonetta Vespucci”, 1490, in the Musée Condé, Chantilly (see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Portrait_of_Simonetta_Vespucci), formerly attributed to Antonio Pollaiuolo (aka Antonio di Jacopo Benci) (1433–1498) (as inscribed in plate) (see https://www.musee-conde.fr/fr/notice/pe-13-portrait-de-femme-dit-de-simonetta-vespucci-2e175c26-93ad-4455-bdb4-a2aa2c260da3), printed by Charles Chardon aîné (fl. mid-1800s; Charles Chardon [1832–1896]) and published in Paris in the art periodical, “Gazette des Beaux Arts”, 1^st December 1880, inserted between pages 482 and 483.

Etching with engraving on chine collé on wove paper, trimmed around (or slightly within) the platemark and backed with a support sheet.

Size: (sheet) 23.8 x 16.8 cm; (chine collé) 22 x 15.1 cm; (image borderline) 18 x 13.2 cm.

Inscribed in plate within the image borderline along the lower edge: “SIMONETTA IANVENSIS VESPVCCIA”.

Lettered in plate below the image borderline: (left) “A. Pollajuolo, pinx^t./ Gazette des Beaux-Arts”; (centre) “SIMONETTA VESPUCCI/ ( GALERIE DE M^GR LE DUC D’AUMALE. )”; (right) T. de Mare, sculp^t./Imp. Ch. Chardon ainé.”

Beraldi [not described] (Henri Beraldi 1888, “Les Graveurs du Dix-Neuvième Siècle: Laemlein–Mécou”, vol. 9, Paris, Librairie L. Conquet, p. 216).

Condition: a strong and well-printed impression trimmed with a small margin around the chine collé and laid upon an archival support sheet of millennium quality washi paper providing wide margins. There are several dot marks/stains in the margin at upper-left, otherwise the sheet is in an excellent condition with no tears, holes, folds, abrasions, significant stains or foxing.

I am selling this jewel-like portrait of a famously beautiful Florentine woman who sadly passed away from Tuberculosis at the age of only twenty-three—shown here in guise of Cleopatra with the snake (possibly about to bite its tail) around her neck as an allegory for death (along with the dark cloud surrounding her head and the dead tree at left), mindful that this portrait was commissioned by her lover (Guiliano de' Medici) after the beautiful woman had passed away, for AU$188 (currently US$125.66/EUR113.70/GBP100.09 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 stunningly beautiful etching (with engraving) executed by a pupil of one of the most important (or at least one of my favourites) of the 19^th century engravers, Ferdinand Gaillard (1834–1887), please contact me (oz_jim@printsandprinciples.com) and I will send you a PayPal invoice to make the payment easy.

Charles Nicolas Cochin I & Nicolas Le Sueur’s, “La Calomnie, peinte par Apelles”, 1729

Charles Nicolas Cochin I (1688–1754) (etching component) in collaboration with Nicolas Le Sueur (1690–1764) (aquatint component)

“La Calomnie, peinte par Apelles”, 1729, plate 39 from the series, “Recueil d'estampes d'après les plus beaux tableaux et d'après les plus beaux desseins qui sont en France” (Collection of prints from the most beautiful paintings and from the most beautiful designs that are in France) (aka “Recueil Crozat”; “Cabinet Crozat”), after a drawing by Raphael (1483–1520) (see https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/object/P_1955-1109-10-11) and no doubt loosely based on the composition (in reverse) of Sandro Botticelli’s tempera on wood painting, “La Calomnie d'Apelle” (c1495) in the Uffizi Gallery, Florence (see: https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/La_Calomnie_d%27Apelle_(Botticelli)), published by François Basan (1723–1797) in 1764.

Regarding the publication of the series, “Recueil Crozat”, the Curator of the British Museum offers the following insights:

“… a series of plates commissioned by Crozat [Pierre Crozat (1665–1740)] … reproducing famous paintings and drawings of the era; 140 plates were published in 1729. A second volume formed by 42 prints (instead of the 110 plates initially planned) was issued in 1740.

After Crozat's death, the plates were sold to a company of booksellers who commissioned Mariette to reorganize the 'Recueil'; Mariette divided the plates into two volumes, added some missing descriptions, and advertised the set to the public in 1742.

In 1764, Basan [François Basan (1723–1797)] bought the plates and the text, and republished the 'Recueil', but replaced the woodcuts by intaglio prints. … where an attempt to imitate the effect of a chiaroscuro woodcut is made by using aquatint instead …”

(https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/object/P_1907-1121-14 ).

Etching and aquatint imitating a chiaroscuro woodcut, printed in two shades of brown on heavy laid paper (with watermark).

Size: (sheet) 27.4 x 44.4 cm; (plate) 18.7 x 35.7 cm; (image borderline) 15.9 x 34 cm.

Lettered in plate below the image borderline: (centre) “La Calomnie, peinte par Apelles/dessein de Raphaël, qui est dans le Cabinet de Mr. Crozat, gravé en cuivre par Charles Nicolas Cochin, et en bois par Nicolas le Sueur”; (right) “39”.

IFF 51 (Inventaire du Fonds Français: Bibliothèque Nationale, Département des Estampes); Le Blanc 25.

The British Museum offers the following description of this print:

“The calumny of Apelles, after a drawing attributed on plate to Raphael: Calumny, preceded by a bearded man personifying Envy and followed by two women (Deceit and Malice?), hals [hauls?] a youth by the hair and brings him before a king with ass's ears, enthroned at left and surrounded by two female figures (Ignorance and Assumption?) who are whispering into his ears; on the right, an old woman personifying Remorse turns round as a naked woman, representing Truth, arrives; the print has been cut down the middle. c.1729/64 Aquatint imitating a chiaroscuro woodcut, printed in brown over etched lines” (https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/object/P_1855-0609-118).

See also the description of this print offered by the Louvre: https://collections.louvre.fr/en/ark:/53355/cl020603407.

Condition: a well-printed impression with a generously wide margins in excellent condition with no tears, holes, folds, losses, abrasions, significant stains or foxing.

I am selling this curiosity of an intaglio print (viz. etching with aquatint) that is skilfully crafted to imitate the attributes/“look” of a chiaroscuro woodcut (i.e. a woodcut involving more than one tone of a colour) for AU$261 (currently US$191.85/EUR162.67/GBP139.41 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 technically important print showcasing a somewhat deceptive practice of the 18^th century, please contact me (oz_jim@printsandprinciples.com) and I will send you a PayPal invoice to make the payment easy. (but not, of course, any import duties/taxes imposed by some countries).

This print has been sold