Louis Surugue, “The Philosopher in Contemplation”, 1754, after Salomon Koninck

Louis Surugue (c.1686–1762)

“The Philosopher in Contemplation” (aka “Le Philosophe en Contemplation”), 1754, after a painting by Salomon Koninck (aka Salomon Coninck; Salomon Koning; Salomon Konink) (1609–1656) in the Musée du Louvre, Paris (inv. no. 1741), formerly attributed to Rembrandt (aka Rembrandt Harmensz van Rijn) (1606–1669), published in Paris by Louis Surugue with royal privilege (as inscribed in the plate).

Etching with engraving on fine laid paper backed with a support sheet.

Size: (sheet) 27.1 x 29.5cm; (plate) 25.4 x 28.1cm; (image borderline) 21.4 x 26.2cm.

Lettered in plate below the image borderline: (left) “Rembrant Pinxit.”; (left of centre) “LE PHILOSOPHE/ Gravé d'aprés le Tableau Original de Rembrant Peint sur/ Tiré du Cabinet de Monsieur le Comte de Vence/ A Paris chez L. Surugue rue des Noyers attenant”; (centre) [Comte de Vence coat-of-arms]; (right of centre) “EN CONTEMPLATION/ bois haut de 10 pouces 3 lignes sur 12 et demi de large/ Marechal de Camp des Armées du Roy./  and "A Paris chez L. Surugue, Graveur du Roy./ le Magazin de Papier vis à vis S^t. Yves avec Privil. du Roy”; (right) “Lud.^us Surugue Sculp.1754.”

Nagler 54 (G.K. Nagler 1847, “Neues allgemeines Künstler-Lexicon oder Nachrichten von dem Leben und den Werken der Maler, Bildhauer, Kupferstecher, Formschneider, Lithographen, Zeichner, Medailleure, Elfenbeinarbeiter, etc. Sole, G. G.– Surugue, L.”, vol. 17, Munich, E A Fleischmann, p. 572).

Note that Nagler (1847) advises that there are two related prints with the same title: (Transl.) “[cat. no.] 54) Le philosophe en contemplation, after the picture by Rembrandt in the Cabinet Vence, beautifully etched and engraved.” and “55) Le philosophe en meditation, after Rembrandt's picture from the same collection, and counterpart to the above.” (see vol. 17 p. 572).

The British Museum offers the following description of this print: “Interior of a Dutch vaulted room, with an old bearded philosopher sitting at a desk in front of a window at left, wearing a soft cap and fur-trimmed robe, his chin resting on right hand, a large book open before him, a curved staircase at right and a globe and crucifix beside the table; after Salomon Koninck but formerly attributed to Rembrandt; coat of arms of Comte de Vence in lower margin” (https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/object/P_F-6-168 [BM inv. no. F,6.168]).

Condition: a strong and well-printed life-time impression with small margins around the platemark and laid upon a support of archival (millennium quality) washi paper providing wide margins. Beyond minor handling marks in the margins, the sheet is in an excellent condition with no significant stains or other issues.

I am selling this curiously wonderful composition with a spiral staircase and two opposing light sources separating a woman attending to a fireplace hearth with another lady watching her, shown on the left, and a window-lit man (the philosopher) deeply engaged in thought, shown on the right, for AU$282 in total (currently US$181.76/ EUR172.76/ GBP143.21 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$282) as this is my currency.

If you are interested in purchasing this extraordinary etching capturing in a very graphic way the tight spaces and dark interiors that were a part of everyday life in the time of Rembrandt, 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

Jules Jacquemart, “Portrait of Rembrandt”, 1869, after Rembrandt

Jules Jacquemart (aka Jules Ferdinand Jacquemart) (1837–1880)

“Portrait of Rembrandt”, 1869, after Rembrandt’s (aka Rembrandt Harmensz. van Rijn) (1606–1669) self-portrait (c1668) in the Wallraf-Richartz-Museum in Cologne (inv. no. WRM 2526; see https://www.wallraf.museum/en/collections/baroque/masterpieces/rembrandt-harmenz-van-rijn-self-portrait-c-1668/the-highlight/), printed by Delâtre (possibly Auguste Delâtre [aka Auguste Marie Delâtre] [1822–1907]) and published in Paris in the art periodical, “Gazette des Beaux-Arts”, 1^st January, 1870, between pages 466 and 467 (see https://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bpt6k2030922/f542.double).

Etching on fine laid paper, trimmed around the platemark and publication details and backed with a support sheet providing wide margins.

Size: (sheet) 25 x 16.8 cm; (image borderline) 17.6 x 13.8 cm.

Lettered in plate below the image borderline: (left) “Gazette des Beaux-Arts.”; (centre) “1869. Jules Jacquemart aqua f[ti?]/ d'apres Rembrandt./ PORTRAIT DE [crest with logo: ‘EX MUSEO L. DOUBLE’] REMBRANDT”; (right) “Imp. Delâtre Paris.

Beraldi 270 (Henri Béraldi 1889, “Les Graveurs du XIXe Siècle: Guide de l'Amateur d'Estampes Modernes: GUÉRIN–LACOSTE”, vol. VIII, Paris, Librairie L. Conquet, p. 207, cat. no. 270).

The British Museum offers the following description of this print: “Rembrandt laughing, after the self-portrait of the artist; the painter depicted as an elderly man seen half-length, turned to the left, looking towards the viewer and laughing; he wears a flat cap and a pendant; on the left is a human figure, possibly a statue or a painting” (https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/object/P_1871-0610-818).

See also the description of this print offered by the Yale University Art Gallery: https://artgallery.yale.edu/collections/objects/13778.  

Condition: a strong and well-printed (near faultless impression trimmed slightly within the platemark and laid onto a support of archival (millennium quality) washi paper providing wide margins. The sheet is in an excellent condition with no tears, holes, folds or significant stains.

I am selling this amazingly skilful etching showing great creative invention in transcribing the impasto textures and nuances of colour tones of Rembrandt’s painting into line, for the total cost of AU$218 (currently US $141.96/EUR 130.08/GBP110.90 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$218) as this is my currency.

If you are interested in purchasing this extraordinarily fine etching capturing the depth of dark shadows and gleam of light and colour reflected from the almost sculpted brushstrokes of Rembrandt’s self-portrait, 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

Philibert Louis Debucourt, “Étude d'après Rembrandt”, 1813, after Rembrandt

Philibert Louis Debucourt (1755–1832)

“Étude d'après Rembrandt” (Study after Rembrandt) (aka “Bust of a Man with Plumed Cap”; “Tronie of a Man with a Feathered Beret [see https://rkd.nl/images/186430]), 1813.

I understand that the collector, writer and historian, Marcel Guérin (aka Marcel Louis Guérin) (1873–1948), was instrumental in the publication of this etching and the original Rembrandt painting that Debucourt translated into this print was held by the Musée-Napoléon (as inscribed in the plate), but it is now in the collection of the Mauritshuis art museum; see: https://www.mauritshuis.nl/en/our-collection/artworks/149-tronie-of-a-man-with-a-feathered-beret/.

Soft-ground etching with dot roulette in the crayon manner (possibly with aquatint as Maurice Fenaille’s 1899 catalogue of Debucourt’s work advises: “Aquatinte à la manière du crayon” [p. 173]), trimmed within the platemark and backed with a support sheet providing wide margins.

Size: (sheet) 28.5 x 20.5 cm.

Lettered in plate below the image borderline: (left) “Dessiné et Gravé oar O,L.Debucourt.”; (centre) “Étude d'après Rembrandt,/ Tireé du Musée-Napoléon”.

State ii (of ii) with the addition of the title and publication details.

Fenaille 315 (Maurice Fenaille 1899, “L'œuvre gravé de P.-L. Debucourt (1755-1832)”, Paris, Morgand [E. Rahir et cie, succ.], p. 173, cat. no. 315 [see: https://archive.org/details/luvregravedeplde00fena/page/172/mode/2up]).

Condition: a very strong (near faultless) impression with no tears, holds, folds, abrasion or significant stains, trimmed within the platemark and laid onto a support of archival (millennium quality) washi paper providing wide margins.

I am selling this marvellous and eye-catching portrait study after Rembrandt that (to my eyes) is vibrant with life, for AU$227 in total (currently US$149.78/EUR138.09/GBP116.25 at the time of posting 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$227) as this is my currency.

If you are interested in purchasing spectacularly fine etching, please contact me (oz_jim@printsandprinciples.com) and I will send you a PayPal invoice to make the payment easy.

Simon Frisius, “Hovtewael by Amsterdam”, 1601–10

Simon Frisius (aka Simon Wynhoutsz Frisius; Simon de Vries) (c.1580–1628)

“Hovtewael by Amsterdam” (aka “Houtewael by Amsterdam”; “Gezicht op Houtewael nabij Amsterdam”), 1601–10, plate 2 from the series of five plates, “Views of Amsterdam” (see https://global.museum-digital.org/series/6321), published in 1610.

Etching on fine laid paper with a small margin around the platemark and backed with a support sheet.

Size: (sheet) 18.2 x 22.7 cm; (plate) 17.2 x 21.6 cm; (image borderline) 15.2 x 21 cm.

Numbered and lettered in plate: (within the image borderline at lower left) “2”; (below the image at centre) “HOVTEWAEL by Amsterdam”; (at lower right corner) “2”.

State ii (of ii)

New Hollstein 91 (Nadine M. Orenstein [comp.] 2008, “Dutch and Flemish Etchings, Engravings and Woodcuts ca. 1450–1700: Simon Frisius”, vol. 1, Amsterdam, Sound and Vision, p. 94, cat. no. 91).

The Rijksmuseum offers the following description of this print: “(transl.) View of the village of Houtewael (Oetewaal) near Amsterdam, where various figures carry out every day work between houses in a rural environment. Numbered at the bottom left of the scene: 2. Numbered at the bottom right: 2. Part of a series of five prints in and near Amsterdam” (http://hdl.handle.net/10934/RM0001.COLLECT.113171).

For those who enjoy contemplating historical advances in portraying landscape, forty-two years after Frisius executed this etching of daily life near Houtewael, Rembrandt made an etching (with drypoint) of an area that I understand is close by, described by the British Museum as “between Houtewael and Zeeburg” (https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/object/P_1895-0915-434). Although there is a significant leap in Rembrandt's rendering of the rural landscape, Frisius may be credited with the advance in the handling of line. After all, Frisius is famous for his amazing technical virtuosity in mimicking the attributes of engraved lines in his etchings—he even published manual for calligraphers executed entirely by etching, but with the swelling and tapering of lines found in engraving.

Condition: a strong and well-printed impression. There are restored fractures and breaks in the margin, otherwise the sheet is in a very good condition for its considerable age with no significant stains and is laid onto a support sheet of millennium quality washi paper.

I am selling this curiously wonderful etching—note the small size of the figures in the middle ground compared to the surrounding houses, in particular, compare the size of the figure on horseback to the man being chased by a dog—for the total cost of AU$294 (currently US$191.53/EUR176.56/GBP150.91at the time of posting this) 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 superb and seldom seen old-master print on the art market, 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

Alphonse Leroy’s aquatint, “Portrait of a Man Wearing a Hat”, c1860, after Rembrandt

Alphonse Leroy (aka Alphonse Alexandre Leroy) (1820–1902)

“Portrait of a Man Wearing a Hat” (aka “Portrait d'un Homme Coiffé d'un Chapeau”), c1860, after a drawing by Rembrandt (1606–1669) (aka Rembrandt Harmenszoon van Rijn) that was formerly in the collection of Émile Norblin (1821–1880)—grandson of the artist Jean-Pierre Norblin (1745-1830) (see cat. no. 33 in Paul Guermonprez and José Lothe’s [2007] “Alphonse Leroy Graveur: 1820–1902” [p.138]). Note that I have been unable to locate this drawing in Peter Schatborn & Erik Hinterding’s (2019) “Rembrandt: The Complete Drawings and Etchings” (Taschen)—but there is a good chance that I may have missed seeing it and my apologies if this is the case—nevertheless, there is a painting (as opposed to a drawing) from the School of Rembrandt, “Vieillard à Barbe, Coiffé d'un Chapeau” (“Old Man with Beard, Wearing a Hat”), 1625/1650, that is comparable to this aquatint in the collection of the Musée des Beaux-Arts de la Ville de Paris, Petit Palais (see https://collections.louvre.fr/en/ark:/53355/cl010064891).

Aquatint on chine collé printed in bistre colour ink on heavy wove paper with wide margins as published.

Size: (sheet) 55.5 x 42.6 cm; (plate) 28 x 21.8 cm; (chine collé/image borderline) 20.5 x 17.2 cm.

Lettered in plate below the image borderline: “Dessiné par Rembrandt. Gravé par Alphonse Leroy.”

State i (of ii) before the erasing of the lettered text and the addition of the names of the artists in capitals below the corners of the image.

Guermonprez & Lothe 33 (Paul Guermonprez & José Lothe [eds] 2007, “Alphonse Leroy Graveur: 1820–1902: éléments biographiques et catalogue de l'oeuvre grave”, Editions Héritage Architectural, Paris, p. 138, cat. no. 33).

Condition: a strong and well-printed (near faultless) impression with generously wide margins. Beyond minor surface marks, the sheet is in an excellent condition with no tears, holes, folds, significant stains or foxing.

I am selling this superb aquatint replicating the subtleties of what the title advises is a drawing by Rembrandt—to my eyes this print is a tour de force accomplishment in the very demanding medium of aquatint—for the total cost of AU$259 (currently US$172.18/EUR159.98/GBP140.77 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 amazing first state aquatint seldom seen on the art market, please contact me (oz_jim@printsandprinciples.com) and I will send you a PayPal invoice to make the payment easy.