Jacob Houbraken, “William Cecil Lord Burleigh,” 1738

Jacob Houbraken (aka Jacobus Houbraken) (1698–1780)

“William Cecil Lord Burleigh,” 1738

Technical Details & Condition:

Engraving and etching on laid paper with margins as issued. This is a second state (of two), with the addition of publication details. 

The subject is William Cecil, Lord Burleigh (1520–1598), the influential English statesman and chief adviser to Queen Elizabeth I. The print is part of the series “Birch's Heads” (also known as “The Heads of Illustrious Persons of Great Britain, Engraved by Mr Houbraken and Mr Vertue, with their Lives and Characters by Thomas Birch, A.M.F.R.S.”), after a portrait from the collection of the Earl of Burlington (inscribed in the plate). 

It is worth noting that Lord Burleigh’s oval portrait may be a section of a larger portrait attributed to Marcus Gheeraerts the Younger (1561–1636), held by the National Portrait Gallery—see https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:William_Cecil,_1st_Baron_Burghley_from_NPG_(2).jpg.

This engraving was created by Jacob Houbraken in Amsterdam and published in London in 1738 by John Knapton (fl. 1735–1789) and his brother Paul Knapton (1703–1755). 

The impression is strong, well-printed, and in very good condition. Aside from a small dot stain in the left margin, the sheet shows no tears, holes, folds, abrasions, or significant stains. 

Dimensions:

• Sheet: 41.5 x 26.5 cm
• Platemark: 37.3 x 23.8 cm
• Outer image borderline: 36.2 x 22.7 cm

Lettering:

• Within the image at lower centre: “WILLIAM CECIL / LORD BURLEIGH”
• Below the image borderline, from left to right: “J. Houbraken sculps. Amst.”; “In the Collection of the Right Hon: the Earl of Bulington.”; “Impensis J. & P. Knapton Londini 1738.”

References:

• Ver Huell 18 (Alexander Ver Huell, “Jacobus Houbraken et Son Oeuvre”, 1875, Arnhem, P. Gouda Quint, p. 104, cat. no. 18)
• O'Donoghue 4 (Freeman O'Donoghue, “Catalogue of Engraved British Portraits Preserved in the Department of Prints and Drawings in the British Museum”, 1908–25, London, cat. no. 4)
• Rijksmuseum: https://id.rijksmuseum.nl/200206563
• British Museum: https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/object/P_1858-0213-141

Price & Shipping:

AU$254 (approximately US$181.40 / €156.95 / £135.42), including worldwide express shipping. Please note: Import duties and taxes (if any) are the buyer’s responsibility.

If you’re interested in acquiring this fascinating portrait, rich with symbolic detail—such as the putto holding a caduceus (symbolic of Cecil’s diplomacy and commerce), the dog with a key (fidelity and guardianship), or the spilling cornucopia (prosperity under Cecil’s financial leadership)—please contact me at oz_jim@printsandprinciples.com. I am happy to provide a secure PayPal invoice for a seamless purchase.  

Marcus Gheeraerts I, “The Donkey, Buffalo, Camel, and Mule”, 1617

Marcus Gheeraerts I (also known as Marc Garrard, Marcus Geraerts, and Marcus Gheraerts) (1516/21–c.1590)

“The Donkey, Buffalo, Camel, and Mule” or “De Ezel, Buffel, Kameel, en Muyle”, 1617

Technical Details & Condition:

Book leaf with full margins as issued, printed on laid paper, with letterpress text (recto and verso), featuring an etching numbered "88" on page numbered “88” by Marcus Gheeraerts the Elder. This leaf is from a book of 125 animal fables used to illustrate moral philosophy, “Warande der Dieren” (Garden of Animals), published in Amsterdam in its fourth edition in 1617. 

The accompanying text describes a historical event recounted by the Roman historian Livy, detailing a moment when the common citizens of Rome (gemeene Burgers) complained to the Roman Council (Roomschen raet) about being forced into excessive labour at home and in the fields, effectively serving as slaves. 

The etching is a richly inked and well-printed impression. The sheet is in excellent condition, free of tears, holes, stains, or handling marks

Dimensions:

• Sheet: 19.6 x 15.5 cm
• Platemark: 9.6 x 11.2
• Image borderline: 9.3 x 11.1 cm

References:

• Hollstein (Dutch) 1–108 (FWH Hollstein, “Dutch and Flemish Etchings, Engravings and Woodcuts ca.1450–1700: FOUCEEL–GOLE”, vol. VII, 1949, Amsterdam, Menno Hertzberger, p. 100, cat. nos. 1–108 [4^th edition with 125 plates])
• Archive.org offers an online view of this publication from the later 1682 edition: https://archive.org/details/vorstelijckewara00vond/page/n189/mode/2up

Price & Shipping:

AU$214 (approximately US$151.72 / €128.81 / £112.97), including worldwide express shipping. Please note: Import duties and taxes are the buyer’s responsibility.

If you're interested in acquiring this superbly executed emblem print—depicting four 'beasts of burden' within rugged terrain as an emblematic metaphor for common labourers, used to argue the 17th-century notion that a person’s social “lot in life” was part of a divine or natural order that should not be disturbed—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

Marcus Gheeraerts I, “Fable of the Fly and the Ants”, 1567

Marcus Gheeraerts I (also known as Marc Garrard, Marcus Geraerts, Marc Gerards, and Marcus Gheraerts) (1516/21–circa 1590)
“Fable of the Fly and the Ants” (titled in the plate, “De Vlieghe en Mieren” [The Flies and Ants]), 1567 (published in 1617)

The Rijksmuseum provides the following explanation of this fable regarding Aegidius Sadeler II’s (c.1570–1629) mirror copy of Marcus Gheeraerts’ engraving (Hollstein Dutch 390):
“A group of ants in front of a tree. A fly in the air. The fable tells of the fly bragging to the ants about its wonderful life. The ants praise their own industriousness. When winter comes, the fly dies, while the ants survive on the fruits of their labour. The moral of the story teaches that industriousness is a virtue and idleness a vice.”
https://id.rijksmuseum.nl/200247581

Technical Details & Condition:
Etching on fine laid paper with full margins as published, featuring Dutch letterpress text above and below the engraving, and verso. The impression is strong, and the sheet is in excellent condition, free of tears, holes, folds, abrasions, or significant stains.

The print is plate 57 from a series of 125 plates published in Amsterdam (possibly by Sander Wybrantsz et al.) in 1617, serving as illustrations to Joost van den Vondel’s (1587–1679) “Vorstelijke Warande der Dieren” (Princely Warren of Animals).

Dimensions:
• Sheet: 19.6 x 15.7 cm
• Plate mark: 9.6 x 11.5 cm
• Image borderline: 9.4 x 11.3 cm

Letterpress Dutch lettering:
• Above the plate mark: “57 WARANDE DER DIEREN./ 57. De Vlieghe en Mieren.”
• Below the plate mark: “SULke redenen zijnder … leven niet seker. CUSPINIANUS”

References:
• Hollstein (Dutch) 1–108 (FWH Hollstein, 1949, Dutch and Flemish Etchings, Engravings and Woodcuts ca.1450–1700, vol. VII, Amsterdam, Menno Hertzberger, p. 100, cat. nos. 1–108)
• The British Museum describes an earlier edition (c. 1567):
“'The fly and the ant'; a group of ants at left are crawling into a tree; a fly flies down to them; in the background there are two men on horses; in the background there is a church …”
https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/object/P_1868-0612-167
• Archive.org offers an online view of the 1682 edition:
https://archive.org/details/vorstelijckewara00vond/page/n127/mode/2up

Price & Shipping:
AU$264 (approximately US$174.59 / €149.68 / £130.89), including worldwide express shipping. Please note that import duties and taxes are the buyer’s responsibility.

If you are interested in acquiring this visually intriguing emblem print—hopefully other viewers will be more attuned to see the large fly depicted at the centre of the composition than I was!—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 

Marcus Gheeraerts I, “The Wood-Splitter and the Forest”, 1567

Marcus Gheeraerts I (aka Marc Garrard; Marcus Geraerts; Marc Gerards; Marcus Gheraerts) (1516/21–c1590)

“The Wood-Splitter and the Forest” (aka “De Houtklover en 't Bosch”; “D’un Bûcheron et d’une forêt”; “Fabel van de houthakker en het bos”), c1567/79, from either the series of 107 etchings and an engraved frontispiece, published in Bruges by Pieter de Clerck (fl.1554–1577) as an illustration to Eduwaert de Dene's (1555–1639) edition of Aesop's Fables, “De Warachtighe Fabulen der Dieren” (The Truthful Fables of the Animals) (1567) or from the third edition in “Mythologia Ethica” (see https://archive.org/details/mythologiaethica00frei/page/114/mode/2up) with 122 plates, published by Christophe Plantin (aka Christoffel Plantijn) (1520–1589) and printed by Philips Galle (Philippus Gallaeus; Philippe Galle) (1537–1612) in 1579 with letterpress text verso. I lean towards this impression being from the 1579 edition, as I have been unable to locate the plate in the online resources available among the plates of the 1567 edition (https://www.dbnl.org/tekst/dene001wara01_01/colofon.php).

Note that Aegidius Sadeler II (aka Egidius Sadeler; Ægedius Sadeler; Gillis Sadeler) (c.1570–1629) executed an etching (with engraving) in 1608 in the reverse direction after Marcus Gheeraert’s etching; see: http://hdl.handle.net/10934/RM0001.COLLECT.168097.

Regarding Sadeler’s print, the Rijksmuseum offers the following description: “A woodcutter chops down a tree with an axe. In the fable of the woodcutter and the forest, the trees of the forest allow the woodcutter to cut an axe from their wood. Then the woodcutter chops down the trees with the axe” (op. cit.).

From my understanding of the fable (and I may be wrong), a farmer finds an axe head without its handle in a forest. He prays to the forest that he may craft a handle from the forest's wood and forest gives him permission. After fitting the newly made handle to the axe, the farmer proceeds to cut down the trees of the forest until there were none left (see https://www.litres.ru/book/joost-van-de-vondel/de-complete-werken-van-joost-van-vondel-2-34283144/chitat-onlayn/?page=4). 

Etching on fine laid paper trimmed with a narrow margin around the platemark/image borderline and backed on a support sheet.

Size: (sheet trimmed slightly unevenly) 9.8 x 11.3 cm.

Condition: a superb early impression, trimmed close to the image borderline and laid upon an archival support sheet of millennium quality washi paper. The sheet is in an excellent condition for its considerable age with no tears, holes, folds, abrasions or significant stains.

I am selling this very beautiful etching executed by an early pioneer of etching at a time when book-illustrations were primarily woodcuts or engravings, for AU$329 (currently US$219.92/EUR199.12/GBP169.66 at the time of this listing) including Express Mail (EMS) postage and handling to anywhere in the world, but not (of course) any import duties/taxes imposed by some countries. Note that payment is in Australian dollars (AU$329) as this is my currency.

If you are interested in purchasing this small but magnificent etching executed 3 years after Michelangelo hung up his boots for the last time, 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