Simon Glatzer's set of three drypoints, c1920

Simon Glatzer (1890–1945)

Three artist’s proof drypoints on cream laid paper all signed on plate at lower left and in pencil below the platemark at right, along with the title and the inscription—with minor variations—“Epr[euve] d'artiste” (Artist’s proof).

(Left) “Le Peintre” (The Painter), c1920, (sheet) 32.7 x 25 cm, (plate) 17.3 x 8.8 cm.

(Centre) “Le Chevalier” (The Knight), c1920, (sheet) 29.2 x 25.2 cm, (plate) 14.8 x 10.6 cm.

(Right) “Le Musicien et la mort” (The Musician and Death), c1920, (sheet) 32.5 x 25.1 cm,(plate) 20.9 x 10.5 cm.

Glatzer achieved success as an artist in France in the 1920s after emigrating from the Ukraine at the start of WW1—in fact his success extended beyond the French salons to the United States and South Africa, as the biographical details offered by Korner Auctioneers (http://korners.org.ua/en/463-glatzer-simon-1890-1945) show that Glatzer had “solo exhibitions in Cleveland, Chicago, New York (1929), Johannesburg (1939)”. Sadly, however, the artist’s career fell apart in WW2. From what I understand, to escape capture by the Gestapo he was helped by a psychiatrist friend to be committed to an asylum under a false name. After staying in the asylum for three years he finally escaped to Aix-en-Provance where he died in 1945 after losing (according to Korner Auctioneers) almost “all the works created during the Second World War”.

Condition: richly inked faultless artist-proof impression, signed (on plate and in pencil) and titled with generous margins in excellent condition (i.e. there are no tears, holes, folds, abrasions, significant stains or foxing).

I am selling all three hand-signed and titled drypoint impressions for the total cost of AU$450 for the group (currently US$315/EUR283.08/GBP244.72 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 these graphically arresting drypoints, please contact me (oz_jim@printsandprinciples.com) and I will send you a PayPal invoice to make the payment easy.

Philips Galle's engraving, “Quail Hunt with Quail Pipe and Net”, 1578

Philips Galle (aka Philippe Galle; Philippus Gallaeus) (1537–1612)

“Quail Hunt with Quail Pipe and Net”, 1578, plate 78 from the second series of 104 plates, “Hunting Parties” (aka “Venationes Ferarum, Avium, Piscium” (transl. “With wild beasts, birds, fish”), after Jan van der Straet (aka Joannes Stradanus; Ioannes Stradanus) (1523–1605).

Note: although Philips Galle’s name is inscribed as the publisher of this plate, Galle was also the engraver as this print is a part of the original series of 43 unnumbered plates that are all executed by Galle. The later plates added to the original series were executed by other engravers (viz. A Collaert; J. Collaert; C. Galle; I and C. de Mallery) (see http://www.britishmuseum.org/research/collection_online/collection_object_details.aspx?objectId=1619537&partId=1&people=93957&peoA=93957-2-70&page=1 and A Baroni & M Sellink, “Stradanus 1523–1605: Court artist of the Medici”, exh.cat. Groeningemuseum Brugge 2008-2009, Turnhout, 2012, pp.245–58, cat. nos. 32–49).

This is the second posting that I have made of this print. The earlier posting (now sold) was for an impression from the first (unnumbered) edition (see https://www.printsandprinciples.com/2017/10/philips-galles-engraving-quail-hunt.html).

Engraving on chine collé (China) on fine laid paper with margins from a late printing.

Size: (sheet) 26.7 x 37cm; (plate) 21.4 x 29.9 cm; (image borderline) 20 x 29.5 cm

Inscribed on plate within the image borderline: (lower left) “Ioan. Stradanus inuent. Ioan. Galle excudit.”

Numbered on plate below the image borderline: (left) “78.”

Lettered on plate below the image borderline: (left) “Sic Autumnali capitur peregrina Coturnix”; (right) “Tempore, et excipulis effundit sibila linguis.”

State: iii (of iii)

TIB 5601.104:35 (Walter L Strauss & Arno Dolders [eds.] 1987, “The Illustrated Bartsch”, vol. 56, Supplement, p. 435); New Hollstein (Dutch & Flemish) 455.III (Johannes Stradanus) (Johannes Stradanus); New Hollstein (Dutch & Flemish) 455.III (Philips Galle); Baroni Vannucci 1997 693.78 (Alessandra Baroni Vannucci 1997, “Jan van der Straet, detto Giovanni Stradano, flandrus pictor et inventor”, Milan, Jandi Sapi Editori).

The British Museum offers the following description of this print from the later edition when the plate was numbered:

“Plate numbered 78, Quail Hunt with Quail Pipe and Net; in the foreground, to left, a couple, holding quail pipes, and a child are seated behind a tree, beside a basket of quails; beyond, to the right, quails are caught under nets placed over the fields, where figures gather them into baskets; to far left, two classical villas and a domed building are seen; another domed building is visible in the distance to the right”

(https://www.britishmuseum.org/research/collection_online/collection_object_details.aspx?objectId=1620785&partId=1&searchText=Quail+Hunt+with+Quail+Pipe+and+net&page=1).

Condition: richly inked and near faultless late impression in excellent condition (i.e. there are no tears, holes, folds, abrasions, significant stains or foxing). The sheet is laid onto a support of conservator’s fine archival/millennium quality washi paper.

I am selling this superb late impression of this rare engraving for a total cost of AU$244 (currently US$171.88/EUR153.23/GBP132.98 at the time of this listing) including postage and handling to anywhere in the world.

If you are interested in purchasing this fascinating print showing early techniques for catching quail, please contact me (oz_jim@printsandprinciples.com) and I will send you a PayPal invoice to make the payment easy.

Jan Sadeler I's engraving, “Saint Beatus”, 1600

Jan Sadeler I (aka Johannes Sadeler; Johann Sadeler) (1550–1600)

“Saint Beatus”, 1600, after a lost drawing by Maarten de Vos (aka Maarten de Vos; Maerten de Vos) (1532–1603), plate 1 in the series, “Oraculum Anachoreticum” (aka “Hermits”), published by Jan Sadeler in Venice with privilege from Rudolf II of Habsburg.

Engraving on fine laid paper trimmed along the platemark and backed with a support sheet.

Size: 17 x 21.4 cm; (image borderline) 15.6 x 21.3 cm.

Inscribed on plate within the image borderline: (lower left) “Cu[m] priuil Su[m]mi/ Po[n]tif. et Cæs. Mai.”; (lower centre) "Ioa[n] Sadeler scalp. Marti[n] de Vos figur.”

Lettered on plate below the image borderline: Hic vera …/ …// I// … BEATVS …/ …ratus.”

State ii (of ii) with the addition of the number “1”.

TIB 7001.409S2 (Isabelle de Ramaix 2001, “The Illustrated Bartsch: Johan Sadeler I”, vol. 40, Part 2 [Supplement], New York, Abaris Books, p. 276, cat. no. 409); Hollstein 439; Hollstein 1051 (Maarten de Vos).

The British Museum offers the following description of this print:

“St Beatus praying before a cave over which is a cross; beyond is a mountainous landscape with a dragon”

(https://www.britishmuseum.org/research/collection_online/collection_object_details.aspx?objectId=1549043&partId=1&searchText=Sadeler+Beatus&page=1)

See also the Rijksmuseum’s description of this print:

(Transl.) “In the foreground the H[ermit]. Beatus, a Swiss hermit from the seventh century. He is praying while kneeling for a crucifix near his cave. In the background a mountain landscape with a dragon.

(http://hdl.handle.net/10934/RM0001.COLLECT.169032)

Condition: crisp and well-printed early impression trimmed along the platemark and backed with a support of archival (millennium quality) washi paper. There is a flattened centre fold crease, otherwise the sheet is in an excellent condition for its considerable age (i.e. there are no tears, holes, abrasions, stains or foxing).

I am selling this stunning jewel of an engraving featuring not only the Saint praying outside his cave—interestingly stocked with his next meal of veggies—but also a marvellously animated dragon to the right of the hermit set against a vast alpine panorama, for the total cost of AU$320 (currently US$227.61/EUR202.32/GBP175.02 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 simply glorious print executed with the lightest of touches, 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

From my understanding of St Beatus’ life, legend suggests that he was either born in Ireland or was the son of a Scottish king and was baptised by St Barnabas and ordained as a priest by the apostle, St Peter. More important to this engraving, he spent his later life as an anchorite hermit (i.e. a recluse who had withdrawn to a fully Eucharist-focused life as a living saint) in a cave on Mount Beatenberg near the lake of Thoune in Switzerland and slew a local dragon that was distracting him from his religious contemplation. (See a formal account of St Beatus [aka Beatus of Lungern; Apostle of Switzerland; Beatus of Beatenberg; Beatus of Thun] offered by Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beatus_of_Lungern.)

Hieronymus Wierix's engraving, “Allegory of the mercy of Christ”, 1581

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

“Allegory of the mercy of Christ” (aka “Allegorie op de barmhartigheid van Christus”; “Misericordiarum domini effigies” [title on plate]; “Images of kindness”), 1581, published by Theodoor Galle (aka Dirck Galle; Theodor Galle) (1571–1633).

Note: This is the second impression of this print that I am listing. The earlier listing (2017) of the print has been sold (see http://www.printsandprinciples.com/2017/08/hieronymus-wierixs-engraving-allegory.html).

Engraving on laid paper with uneven margins around the platemark and backed with a support sheet.

Size: (sheet) 40.3 x 29.6 cm; (plate) 34.5 x 27 cm; (image borderline) 31.8 x 26.8 cm.

Lettered on plate above the image borderline: “MISERICORDIARVM DOMINI EFFIGIES”.

Inscribed on plate within the image borderline: (lower left upon a stone) “Jeroninmus. Wi. / fecit. 1581.”; (centre) “Theodor. Galle excud.”

Lettered on plate below the image borderline in two columns of three lines: “[E]n Deus ad veniam pronus …/ …/ …// …/ …/ … in imagine serunt”.

State i/ii (of ii) Note that this impression shows the erasure of the previous publisher’s name (Hans Liefrinck) below the image borderline and substitution with “Theodor. Galle excud.” within the image borderline of the second state. There is an inconsistency with the second state attributes as the date (1581) shown below the artist name is still retained as featured in first state impressions before the erasure of the date in the second state. Clearly there should be three states but this is not documented in the catalogue raisonnés of Hollstein or Mauquoy-Hendrickx.

Hollstein Dutch 1822-2(2); Mauquoy-Hendrickx 595 I-II (of II) (Marie Mauquoy-Hendrickx 1978, “Les Estampes des Wierix ... Catalogue Raisonné I, 4 vols., Brussels, Bibliotheque Royale Albert, p. 105. cat. no. 595, ill. p. 79).

The Rijksmuseum offers the following description of this print:

(transl.) “The merciful Christ, surrounded by symbols of the four evangelists, extends his hands to the publican and Mary Magdalene. Above them in heaven the Holy Spirit as a dove, surrounded by music-making angels and Saint Peter (left on the clouds). On the left in the background the parable of the Pharisee and the publican. And further into the background the crucified Christ, flanked by the two criminals. In the background to the right, Mary Magdalene washes the feet of Christ in the house of Simon the Pharisee. In the margin a six-line caption, in two columns, in Latin.”

(http://hdl.handle.net/10934/RM0001.COLLECT.331837)

Condition: crisp but slightly grey impression trimmed close to the platemark on the left and with generous margins (from 2.5 to 3.2 cm) on the remaining sides and backed with a support of archival (millennium quality) washi paper. There are small areas of minor abrasion on the lower left side, otherwise the sheet is in a remarkably fine condition for its considerable age (i.e. there are no tears, holes, folds, significant stains or foxing).

I am selling this of magnificent large masterwork of engraving—executed by one of the major printmakers of the Renaissance era and a print that is so rare that neither the British Museum nor the Metropolitan Museum of Art have a copy—for the total cost of AU$510 (currently US$364.08/EUR323.56/GBP280.35 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 very beautiful print of exceptional rarity, please contact me (oz_jim@printsandprinciples.com) and I will send you a PayPal invoice to make the payment easy.

When I was looking at my earlier post of another impression of this print—now sold—I decided to share what I originally wrote regarding my challenge as an atheist to decipher the symbolic meanings of the print. For example, I was slow to realise that the cow that Christ stands upon was not a reference to his birth in a manger—a cow’s feeding trough. Instead the cow is a symbolic attribute of Saint Luke, but this realisation only occurred once I had pieced together the idea that the combination of the three animals surrounding Christ (viz. cow, lion and eagle) and the angel on his left were actually the symbolic attributes of the four evangelists: Mathew, Mark, Luke and John. Moreover that my initial quandary over the awkwardness of the Christ shown raising his left foot rather than his right one—a pose that right-handers like myself find very unnerving to look at—was nothing at all about physical movement but rather about spiritual transcendence to a heavenly realm filled with adoring fat folk.

To be honest, however, I had to do a quick Google to find the significance of Christ shown with a square halo rather than a round one. The reason is surprisingly simple: the square halo symbolises that Christ is still in the temporal world and the shape of the halo will change to a round one once he transcends the world of the mortals.

Regarding this notion of spiritual transcendence, note how Christ’s arms are arranged to suggest an arrowhead and how the leaning pose of St John and the Virgin extend the angle of this arrowhead pointed to heaven.

Gerard van der Gucht’s etching, “The Corbridge Lanx”, 1736

Gerard van der Gucht (aka Gerard Vandergucht; Gerard van de Gucht) (1696–1776)

“The Corbridge Lanx”, 1736, after the intermediary drawing by the antiquarian draughtsman, William Shaftoe (fl.c.1736), published in 1736.

The British Museum offers the following description of the design on the platter:

“Decorated silver platter or lanx. The scene shows, left to right: the goddess Artemis, holding a bow; the helmeted goddess Athena, her hand raised to indicate conversation; a standing female figure; a seated female figure; the god Apollo at the entrance to a shrine, holding a bow, his lyre at his feet. In the foreground stands an altar flanked by Artemis's hound and fallen stag and a griffin, a mythical beast associated with Apollo.”

(https://www.britishmuseum.org/research/collection_online/collection_object_details.aspx?objectId=827943&partId=1&searchText=Gerard+van+der+Gucht&page=1)

The Curator of the BM offers the following insights about the discovery of the platter and the scene portrayed:

“A superlative late-Roman 'picture plate' designed for display. This magnificent silver platter was found by nine-year old Isabel Cutter in the bank of the River Tyne at Corbridge, near Hadrian's Wall, in February 1735. It is probable that gradual erosion of the river bank was washing out part of a fourth-century silver hoard, as other vessels were found there on various occasions between 1731 and 1760. Corbridge (Coriosopitum) was a Roman garrison town. The scene shows the god Apollo at the entrance to a shrine, holding a bow, his lyre at his feet. His twin sister Artemis (Diana), the hunter goddess, enters from the left, and the helmeted goddess with her hand raised to indicate conversation is Athena (Minerva). The two female figures in the centre are less obvious. The entire scene is clearly a shrine of Apollo. The Greek island of Delos was the birthplace of Apollo and Artemis, and Athena was also worshipped there. If the Delian shrine is depicted then the older woman sitting spinning may be Leto, the mother of the twins, and the standing woman her sister Ortygia, who was transformed into the island of Delos. In the foreground stands an altar flanked by Artemis's hound and fallen stag and a griffin, a mythical beast associated with Apollo. The decoration of the platter and its style indicate a fourth-century AD date. Its place of manufacture is unknown but may have been a major city in the Mediterranean, North Africa or Asia Minor.”

(https://www.britishmuseum.org/research/collection_online/collection_object_details.aspx?objectId=827588&partId=1&searchText=Corbridge+Lanx&page=1)

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

Size: (unevenly trimmed sheet) 47.3 x 54.4 cm; (plate) 46.3 x 52.5 cm; (image borderline) 38.6 x 50 cm.

Inscribed above the image borderline: (centre) “These Letters were Prick’t on … [transliteration: p(ondo) (ibrae?) XIIII (unciae?) III (scripula) II (transl.) 'Weight fourteen (pounds) three ounces and two scruples']”.

Lettered below the image borderline in two columns separated with a coat of arms: (left) “To the Most Noble Price CHARLES …/ …/ …/ …/ …/ Drawn from the Original peice [sic] of Plate by Wm. Shaftoe. which Peice [sic] of Plate is 20 Inches by 15.”; (centre below the coat of arms) “Published Pursuant to an Act of Parliament ye 31^st of May 1736.”; (right) “This Print an exact representation …/ …/ …/ …/ …/ …/ Wm. Shaftoe/ Engraved by Ger.’d Vander Gucht.”

Lifetime impression from the first edition (1736).

Condition: richly inked, crisp and well-printed impression with unevenly trimmed margins laid upon a support of archival (millennium quality) washi paper. There are ink inscriptions from an earlier collector to the right margin, a small scratch/abrasion infilled with watercolour (virtually invisible) and there are minor blemishes, otherwise the print is in excellent condition for its considerable able—note that this impression is far superior to the copy held by the BM (cf. BM no. 1994,0201.1).

I am selling this large and exceptionally rare etching showing the finely crafted design on the famous silver platter, for the total price of AU$230 (currently US$164.57/EUR146.32/GBP126.61 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 amazing print featuring amongst the many fascinating details: a seldom seen view of a stag, an exceptionally elegant representation of a dog and a griffin that is so beautiful designed that it could make a tattooist’s toes curl—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