Michel Wolgemut’s woodcut, “Lot flees from Sodom”, 1493

Michel Wolgemut (aka Michael Wolgemut) (1434–1519)

“Lot flees from Sodom” (Lot flieht aus Sodom), 1493, illustration from page XXI (21) from the first Latin edition of Hartmann Schede’s (1440–1514) "Liber Cronicarum" (aka “Liber Chronicarum”; “Nuremberg Chronicle”; “Die Schedelsche Weltchronik”; “Historia mundi”), printed and published by Anton Koberger (c1440/45–1513) in Nuremberg.

Woodcut on fine laid paper trimmed with small margins.

Size: (sheet) 12.9 x 22.9 cm; (image borderline) 12.7 x 22.5 cm

Lifetime impression from the first edition. (Note my attribution is based on the crisp quality of the impression with no signs of wear to the plate.)

See the page in its context with the verso side: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Schedelsche_Weltchronik_d_021.jpg  

See all the pages in  "Liber Cronicarum": https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Schedelsche_Weltchronik

Condition: crisp (lifetime) impression in museum-quality faultless condition (i.e. there are no tears, holes, abrasions, stains, foxing or signs of handling), trimmed with small margins and with a fragment of another woodcut verso. Note that this impression is rare as most were “improved” with hand-colouring and this print is untouched; Wikipedia offers a coloured copy of this print: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Nuremberg_chronicles_f_21r.png

I am selling this spectacular lifetime woodcut in magnificent condition showing Lot’s wife turned into a column of salt as she looks back to Sodom in the midst of an earthquake with “fire and brimstone” descending from heaven, for AU$302 (currently US$235.61/EUR192.04/GBP169.77 at the time of this listing). Postage for this print is extra and will be the actual/true cost of shipping.

If you are interested in purchasing this famous incunabula period illustration of the Old Testament story of Sodom and Gomorrah, 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

I understand (from Wikipedia) that there are 1,809 woodcut illustrations in total in the Latin edition (1493) of the "Liber Cronicarum"—perhaps better known as the “Nuremberg Chronicle”—which this print features (page XXI). Although I should count them to be sure, I would not be surprised to discover that some of the plates were “reused” on more than one page as was the custom. I guess the thinking at the time is that a repeat illustration is better than no illustration at all.

For those unfamiliar with Wolgemut, his woodcut prints show the influence of advances to the modelling of forms with light and shade by earlier engravers. For example, Wolgemut has used the technique of cross-hatching first used by Master ES (fl.c.1450–67) and the curved contour lines first used by Martin Schongauer (c.1448–91). Perhaps his biggest claim to fame is that his apprentice was none other than the great Albrecht Dürer (1471–1528) from 1486 to 1489. 

Domenico Cunego’s engraving, “Roboam", after Michelangelo, c1802

Domenico Cunego (1727­–1803)

“Roboam", c1802, plate 4 in the series of 8 plates after Michelangelo’s (1475–1564) lunettes in the Sistine Chapel, after the drawing by Vincenzo Dolcibeni (aka Vincentius Dolcibene) (fl.1782–1807), published in c.1805 by Calcografia Romana (1738–1870), Rome.

Engraving on heavy laid paper with wide margins lined with a support sheet.

Size: (sheet) 53.9 x 70.8 cm; (plate) 39.6 x 53 cm; (image borderline) 35.1 x 49.4 cm

Numbered on plate above the image borderline: “IV”

Lettered on plate within the image borderline: (upper left) “MICHAEL ANGELVS BONAROTIVS PINXIT”; (upper right) “IN SIXTINO VATICANO SACELLO”; (lower centre) “ROBOAM”

Letter on plate below the image borderline: (left) “Vincentius Dolcibene del.” (centre) “PIO SEPTIMO PONT OPT. MAX. /  Roma Presso la Calcografia Camerale"; (right) “Dom. Cunego sculp. Romae”

The British Museum offers the following description of this print:

“Roboam, after the fresco by Michelangelo in a lunette of the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel. c.1805”

(http://www.britishmuseum.org/research/collection_online/collection_object_details.aspx?objectId=3223677&partId=1&searchText=Cunego+michelangelo&page=1)

Condition: crisp impression in near faultless condition (i.e. there are no tears, holes, abrasions, stains, or foxing with minor signs of handling at the top edge).  The sheet has been laid on an archival support sheet.

I am selling this huge engraving in magnificent condition for AU$257 (currently US$192.47/EUR162/GBP138.45 at the time of 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 superb engraving exemplifying the discipline and technical control of the finest engravers, 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

I am really out of my depth in discussing the meaning of this image but I hope that I am correct (forgive me if I am wrong) in saying that the figures are Christ’s ancestors in terms of the verse where the figure, “Roboam”, is mentioned in Matthew 1:7 “And Solomon begat Roboam; and Roboam begat Abia …”

Regarding Cunego’s enormous engraving—I recommend stretching out your hands to 70 cm to understand that this is a big print!—the technical skill is of the highest order, in the sense disciplined control of the burin with exceptionally fine lines employed to render the form of the figures. Nevertheless, at the time that the print and the others in the same series were executed they were not held in such high esteem. Indeed William Hendry Stowell (1811) in the essay “Duppa’s Life of Michel Angelo” in “The Ecletic Review, Volume 14, Part 2” offers the following insightful and very cutting analysis of Cunego’s engravings:

“The prints which are now in course of publication are more mechanical productions, feeble and dry; tolerable specimens, it may be of the engraver’s skill in the use of his tools and the production of his line to an almost insensitive point, but too spiritless, unfeeling, and elaborate to afford an adequate translation of the fire, the character, the soul of the immortal genius whose fame they are designed to extend” (p. 10880).

Jan Both’s etching, “Wooden Bridge”, 1644–52

Jan Both (aka. Jan Dirksz Both) (1618/22–52)

"Wooden Bridge” (aka “The Wooden Bridge at Sulmona, near Tivoli”), 1644–52, from the series of six plates, “Views of Rome and its surroundings” (BM) or “Six Horizontal Landscapes” (TIB).

Etching on fine laid paper trimmed along the platemark and lined with a support sheet.

Size: (sheet) 20.1 x 27.2 cm; (image borderline) 18.6 x 26.6 cm

State ii? (of vi) before the inscription “Both fe” below the image borderline at left. (Compare with the state ii impression held by the National Gallery of Art: https://www.nga.gov/collection/art-object-page.54389.html)

TIB 1978 7 (5). 10 (10) (Otto Naumann [ed.] 1978, “The Illustrated Bartsch”, vol. 7, Abaris Books, New York, p. 16); Bartsch V.210.10; Hollstein 10

The British Museum offers the following description of this print:

“The wooden bridge Sulmona near Tivoli; crossed by peasants on donkeys; a waterfall in background; from a series of six etchings of the environs of Rome.”

(http://www.britishmuseum.org/research/collection_online/collection_object_details.aspx?objectId=1562778&partId=1&people=131562&peoA=131562-2-60&page=1)

See also the description of the print at the Rijksmuseum: http://hdl.handle.net/10934/RM0001.COLLECT.38169

The National Gallery of Ireland holds Jan Both’s original drawing for this print: http://onlinecollection.nationalgallery.ie/objects/5313/bridge-in-a-mountain-landscape-with-waterfall;jsessionid=35B357F9C4C5CEBF42622A3397D4AFDE?ctx=c1cf7a92-39be-4640-8250-85d37b1a8bf7&idx=1

Condition: strong (lifetime) impression of museum quality (i.e. there are no tears, holes, folds, abrasions, stains, or foxing and minimal signs of use), trimmed at the platemark and laid upon an archival support sheet.

I am selling this exceptionally fine and very beautiful etching for AU$323 (currently US$255.01/EUR206.51/GBP182.44 at the time of posting this listing). Postage for this print is extra and will be the actual/true cost.

If you are interested in acquiring this marvellous and very rare print, 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

Following in the footsteps of Claude, Poussin and Herman van Swanevelt, Jan Both had explored and drawn the “hills outside of Rome” (National Gallery of Ireland: Essential Guide, 2008). Certainly when I look at this landscape, which I understand is “near Tivoli”, I can see strong relationships in this composition to his fellow artists. For example, the scene is viewed from an elevated viewpoint, the subject is bathed in light, the distance suggests a zone of spiritual transcendence and the line work is kept to notational strokes where no element is more important than the next.

What I find especially interesting about this etching is the way that Both subtly changes his strokes to connote spatial depth. In his treatment of the foreground area, for example, the strokes are a mixture of dark toned lines that curl around foliage and change direction according to the contours described. In the middle distance, the lines are lighter in tone and  tightly curled in tonal blocks to portray broadly observed light patterns on trees. To suggest far distance, Both uses even paler lines laid in regular patterns of hatched strokes that become increasingly horizontal in orientation in the furthest away aspects. Clifford S Ackley (1981) in “Printmaking in the Age of Rembrandt” (exh. cat. Museum of Fine Arts, Boston) makes the very insightful proposal in regard to Both’s use of line that the artist was “searching for the black and white equivalent of the golden haze of southern light that vaporises or makes the forms of the landscape translucent …” (p. 176).

Aegidius Sadeler’s engraving, “Three Hunters at a River in a Forest”, 1609

Aegidius Sadeler II (aka Gillis Sadeler; Egidius Sadeler; Ægedius Sadeler) (c1570–1629)

“Three Hunters at a River in a Forest” (Rijksmuseum title) or “A Forest with a Glade in the Background” (TIB title), 1609, after a drawing by Roelant Savery (1576–1639) in the Fondation Custodia, Paris (inv. 2436). This is the first plate from the series of six plates, “Mountain Landscapes in Tyrol.” Published by Aegidius Sadeler (as inscribed on the plate) and later published by Marco Sadeler (fl1660s) in Prague.

Engraving and etching on laid paper trimmed slightly within the platemark and re-margined on a support sheet.

Size: (re-margined support sheet) 36.8 x 42.1 cm; (sheet) 19 x 26.2 cm.

Inscribed on plate within the image borderline: "R: Sauery In. / Æg: S. ex. 1609”

State i (of ii) Lifetime impression with publication details of Aegidius Sadeler before the rework and the addition of the publication details of Marco Sadeler in the second state.

TIB 1997 7201.233 S1 (Isabelle de Ramaix, “The Illustrated Bartsch”, vol. 72, Part 2, Supplement, p. 29); Hollstein 1980, vol. 21, no. 225; Nagler 1835–52, no. 229; Le Blanc, nos. 198–203; Wurzbach, no. 107; Zwollo 1983, p. 401; Piccin, no. 105.

The Rijksmuseum offers the following description of this print:

“Forest landscape with fallen trees at a river. Right on the shore three hunters and a dog.” (http://hdl.handle.net/10934/RM0001.COLLECT.167923)

Condition: silvery impression trimmed within the platemark in excellent condition (i.e. there are no tears, holes, folds, abrasions, stains or foxing). The sheet has been re-margined with an archival support sheet.

I am selling this bleak view of a broken landscape—arguably a bog— by one of the most famous of the old masters for AU$343 (currently US$272.01/EUR218.97/GBP193.92 at the time of this listing). Postage for this print is extra and will be the actual/true cost.

If you are interested in acquiring this delicately luminous print exemplifying the peculiarly 17^th century notion of landscape with dead and regenerating trees among other attributes seen from a high viewpoint—the Weltlandschaft (world landscape)— please contact me (oz_jim@printsandprinciples.com) and I will send you a PayPal invoice to make the payment easy.

When initially framing my thoughts about this print for a discussion, I had thought that I was going to offer a personal proposal of how the notions of “World Landscape”—an early philosophical way of looking at the landscape (see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_landscape)—and “Lady Landscape” —a not so politically correct mindset in which the landscape’s natural forces are perceived as femininely evil with a facade of beauty (see Udo Becker 2000, “The Continuum Encyclopedia of Symbols”, Continuum, p. 169)—but instead I need to report a MURDER.

I remember years ago seeing the movie, “Blowup” (1966) directed by Michelangelo Antonioni in which a fashion photographer who had been taking shots in a park thought that he had inadvertently captured a murder in the background of one of his photos. Well … the same feeling of finding a murder captured in an image happened when I was zooming in on details of this print.

To be honest, before I started making close-ups, I had only seen the couple of figures standing in the clearing in the far distance. But then I found the two chaps—“shooters”— and their dog concealed in the trees on the escarpment on the right. On even closer examination I then found that their hideous intent was being witnessed by another man walking his dog. The more I looked into the details, more and more figures “popped” up into view. In total I have found seven figures: two on the silhouette edge of the hillside on the far left; the two in the distant clearing; the two bush loving killers on the cliff top and the witness to their activities with his curly tailed dog.

Hieronymus Wierix’s engraving, “The Desolation of Holy Sites”, 1583

Hieronymus Wierix (aka Hieronymus Wierx; Jerome Wierix) (1553–1619)

“The Desolation of Holy Sites” (Desolatio Sacrorum Locorum), 1583 (attribution by the Rijksmuseum), after Maarten de Vos (1532–1603), plate four from the series of six plates, “The Sorrows of the World”, published by Jan Sadeler I (aka Johannes Sadeler; Johann Sadeler) (1550 - 1600) in Amsterdam.

Regarding the series of which this print is a part, the curator of the British Museum advises: “The majority of the plates are by Hieronymus Wierix. Two of the plates are numbered 1 and there is confusion over the title-page.” (see BM no. 1937,0915.103). To see the other engravings in the series, see the impressions held by the BM: http://www.britishmuseum.org/research/collection_online/search.aspx?searchText=1937,0915.103

The curator of the BM also advises that there is a drawing related to this print in the Witt Collection, Courtauld Institute, London (see BM no. 1937,0915.106).

Engraving on laid paper trimmed close to the image borderline on the sides and bottom and along the borderline at the top. The sheet has been re-margined with a support sheet.

Size: (re-margined support sheet) 37.9 x 41.9 cm; (sheet) 20.3 x 27.3 cm

Inscribed on plate within the image borderline at lower edge: (left)” M. de Vos inuetor”; (centre) “4”; (right of centre) “IH. W. fecit.”; (right) “Sadleri excud.”

Fragments of lettered text below image borderline which would originally have shown two columns of Latin text in three lines "Et civitatem ... pseudoprophete" from "Daniel 9." and "Luc.21. Mat.24."

Alvin 1866 1252 (L Alvin 1886, “Catalogue raisonné de l'oeuvre des trois frères Jan, Jérome et Antoine Wierix”, Brussels); Hollstein 1278 (Maarten de Vos); Mauquoy-Hendrickx 1979 1510 (Marie Mauquoy-Hendrickx 1978, “Les Estampes des Wierix ... catalogue raisonné”, vol. II., Brussels, p. 275, cat.no. 1510 [cat. page 205]); Hollstein 1831 (Wierix)

The British Museum offers the following description of this print:

“The desolation of Holy sites; a priest with glasses and a hood, gesturing towards the background with various burning churches and temples and towards the sky with the sun and the moon; a family, with small children, fleeing in despair and soldiers herd captives; plate 4; … after Maarten de Vos.”

(http://www.britishmuseum.org/research/collection_online/collection_object_details.aspx?objectId=1549954&partId=1&searchText=Hieronymus+Wierix+Desolatio+Sacrorum+Locorum&page=1)

The Rijksmuseum offers the following description of the print:

“Men, women and children have gathered at the edge of the city. They have taken fragments from the devastated city. In the background the downfall of Jerusalem. The city is on fire and is plundered. In the margin Bible quotes from Dan. 9, Luc. 21 and Mat. 24 in Latin.” (http://hdl.handle.net/10934/RM0001.COLLECT.332435)

Condition: well-inked and crisp impression in very good condition apart from a small restored loss at the tip of the upper right corner, slight unevenness of age toning and minor signs of use. The sheet has been trimmed unevenly around the image borderline with loss of the lettered text below the image and has been re-margined with a support sheet.

I am selling this superb example of engraving by one of the most famous of Flemish engravers for AU$256 (currently US$202.88/EUR163.38/GBP144.63 at the time of posting this listing). Postage for this print is extra and will be the actual/true cost.

If you are interested in purchasing this strong engraving exemplifying the love of lively rhythms and chiaroscuro lighting  of the Mannerist period, 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

I foolishly envisaged that I was going to offer a short summary of what this image signifies in terms of illustrating the Prophesy of Seventy Weeks, but I guess that James Alan Montgomery—professor of Old Testament and Semiticsis (Hebrew and Aramaic)—is correct in referring to the history of the prophecy's interpretation as a "dismal swamp" of critical exegesis (see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prophecy_of_Seventy_Weeks). Mindful that the task is not straight forward, I advise reading the descriptions of this print from the BM and the Rijksmuseum that I gave earlier and I will simply show the key verses for those who really know about such things:

“24 Seventy weeks are decreed for your people and your holy city: to finish the transgression, to put an end to sin, and to atone for iniquity, to bring in everlasting righteousness, to seal both vision and prophet, and to anoint a most holy place.

25 Know therefore and understand: from the time that the word went out to restore and rebuild Jerusalem until the time of an anointed prince, there shall be seven weeks; and for sixty-two weeks it shall be built again with streets and moat, but in a troubled time.

26 After the sixty-two weeks, an anointed one shall be cut off and shall have nothing, and the troops of the prince who is to come shall destroy the city and the sanctuary. Its end shall come with a flood, and to the end there shall be war. Desolations are decreed.

27 He shall make a strong covenant with many for one week, and for half of the week he shall make sacrifice and offering cease; and in their place shall be an abomination that desolates, until the decreed end is poured out upon the desolator.”

(Daniel 9:24-27 [New Revised Standard Version])

John Fullwood’s etching (with drypoint), “Forest sunset with a fallen tree in a stream” c1880

John Fullwood (1854–1931)

“Forest sunset with a fallen tree in a stream” (descriptive title only), c1880 (attribution based tenuously on the paper used), remarque proof with pencil signature.

Etching and drypoint with plate tone on fine laid paper, signed by the artist in pencil at lower left and with a remarque at lower right.

Size: (sheet) 62.3 x 45.3 cm; (plate) 59.9 x 37 cm; (image borderline) 54.9 x 32.9 cm

Inscribed on plate with the artist’s name in reverse within the image borderline at lower left.

Hand-signed in pencil by the artist below the image borderline at left.

See a related etching, “River Scene” by Fullwood at LiveAuctions: https://www.liveauctioneers.com/item/4810954_90-john-fullwood-etching

See a selection of Fullwood’s prints at The New Art Gallery  Walsall’s online gallery : http://thenewartgallerywalsall.org.uk/collections/?search=John+Fullwood

Condition: a richly inked, museum-quality impression in near pristine condition (i.e. there are no tears, holes, folds, abrasions, stains or foxing).

I am selling this hand signed, HUGE, graphically arresting and deeply romantic etching exemplifying the 19^th century interest in capturing mood in landscape, for AU$145 (currently US$114.92/EUR92.54/GBP81.92 at the time of posting this listing). Postage for this print is extra and will be the actual/true cost.

If you are interested in purchasing this powerful print that almost growls with an aura of presence, 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

This print is sheer romance and a very moody romance at that. Similar to the melancholic poetry of prints by Fullwood’s contemporary in France, Adolphe Appian (1819–98), the eerie lacework of tree limbs silhouetted against the soft light of the setting sun is a superb example of nineteenth century landscape romanticism. Despite such strong images like this one, Fullwood’s reputation is in tatters as he is dismissed by arts writers with comments such as this appraisal by Kenneth M Guichard (1981) in “British Etchers 1850–1940” (Robin Garton, London): “… a prolific etcher of over-wrought, often water-filled landscape noted for a certain dreary competence” (p. 38). How sad is that assessment! 

Claude Lorrain’s etching, “The Two Landscapes”, c1630

Claude Lorrain (aka Claude Gellée; Le Lorrain; Claudio di Lorena) (1600 - 1682)

“The Two Landscapes” [Les Deux Paysages], c1630, printed from the original plate, trimmed as two separate prints and published in 1816 by J. McCreery in the “200 Etchings” folio.

Etching on tissue thin laid paper, trimmed as separate images (as published) and re-margined on a support sheet.

Size: (re-margined support sheet) 25.2 x 27.3 cm; (left sheet trimmed unevenly) 6.5 x 4.7 cm; (right sheet trimmed unevenly) 6.3 x 5.6 cm

Signed on plate below the image borderline at the right corner of the right print, but too fragmented to be meaningful. In earlier states the inscription showed “CL. Inv.” (see the BM no. 1973,U.641)

State iii (of iii)

Robert-Dumesnil 40; Blum 42; Knab 114; Duplessis 42; Russell 6; Mannocci 4

The curator of the British Museum advises: “These sketches were etched on the back of a plate.”

(http://www.britishmuseum.org/research/collection_online/collection_object_details.aspx?objectId=1346419&partId=1&searchText=claude+lorrain+etching&page=2) 

Condition: good impressions but with some restorations for losses at the corners. The two landscape are fragments of a larger single print (see BM no. 1973,U.641) and have been re-margined with a support sheet.

I am selling these very early notational compositions by one of the most famous of all landscape artists for  [deleted]. Postage for this pair of prints is extra and will be the actual/true cost.

If you are interested in purchasing these original tiny landscapes by Lorrain, please contact me (oz_jim@printsandprinciples.com) and I will send you a PayPal invoice to make the payment easy. 

This pair of prints has been sold

What I find interesting when looking at Claude Lorrain’s etchings is how consistent he is in his approach to portraying his subjects. Here, for example, Lorrain has rendered the trees, ground and even the tiny figures in the right panel with the same loosely laid lines. These freely inscribed lines are clearly not intended to replicate differences of surface textures or essential forms, but this does not mean that his linework is perfunctory or lacks the fundamental attribute found in the work of the best artists: a line that searches for meaning in the subject. Rather, what I see in his use of line is an artist whose vision is driven by the psychological need to “find” himself in the landscape (i.e. to search for psychological triggers that sustain and reflect his personal interests). In short, Lorrain is not simply rendering the landscape in front of him, but pushing and pulling the landscape features until they match his aesthetic leanings.