Stefano della Bella’s etching, “Study of Five Heads”, c.1641

Stefano della Bella (1610–1664)

“Study of Five Heads” (descriptive title only) (aka “Hoofd van Oude Man met Tulband, van Twee Jongemannen en van Twee Kinderen” [Rijksmuseum title], “Head of an Old Man with a Turban, Two Young Men and Two Children”), c.1641, plate 9 from the series of twenty-five plates (Vesme 364–388), “De beginselen van het tekenen” (aka “The Principles of Drawing”; “I Principii del Disegno”), published in Paris by Pierre Mariette II (1634–1716) with royal privilege.

Etching on laid paper, trimmed with a small margin around the platemark and backed with a support sheet providing wide margins.

Size: (sheet) 12.6 x 15.7 cm; (plate) 12 x 15.4 cm.

Inscribed in plate along the lower edge: (left) “S. D Bella in et fecit”; (centre) “Auec priulege du Roy”; (right) “9”.

State ii (of ii) with the address of Pierre Mariette erased.

De Vesme/Massar 372 (Alexandre de Vesme & Phyllis D. Massar, 1971, “Stefano della Bella. Catalogue Raisonné”, New York, Collectors Editions, [Text vol.] p. 94, cat. no. 372, [Illus. vol.] p. 90, cat. no. 372); Jombert (Della Bella) 145–9 (Charles Antoine Jombert 1772, “Essai d'un catalogue de l'oeuvre d'Etienne de la Belle, peintre et graveur florentin”, Paris, p. 147, cat. no. 145–9).

See the descriptions of this print offered by the British Museum and the Rijksmuseum: https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/object/P_X-5-384; http://hdl.handle.net/10934/RM0001.COLLECT.76894.  

Condition: a strong and near faultless impression trimmed with a narrow margin around the platemark and laid onto a support sheet of archival (millennium quality) washi paper. The sheet is in a near pristine condition for its considerable age with no tears or significant stains.

I am selling this very finely executed etching of small head studies somewhat in the manner of Rembrandt, for AU$298 (currently US$199.18/EUR180.22/GBP158.65 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 near faultless impression of a superb etching in museum quality condition, by one of the most famous of the old master printmakers, please contact me (oz_jim@printsandprinciples.com) and I will send you a PayPal invoice to make the payment easy.

Charles Meryon’s etching, “La rue des Mauvais Garçons, Paris”, 1854

Charles Meryon (aka Charles Méryon) (1821–1868)

“La rue des Mauvais Garçons, Paris” (aka “The Street of the Bad Boys”), 1854, plate 10 from the series “Eaux-Fortes sur Paris”, signed in the plate with the artist’s initials/monogram (“C.M.” reversed) at lower left and with the lines of verse inscribed by the artist at top: (Google Translation) “What mortal lived/ In this dark lodging/ Who was hiding there/ In the night and in the shadows/ Ah! Well, I don't know/ If you want to know/ Curious, go and see/ There's still time”. Although this is a superb impression, I believe it may be from a later edition as the ink is black rather than brown (but I could be wrong about this).

Etching with plate tone on Japanese paper with small margins, backed with a support sheet providing wide margins.

Size: (sheet) 16.8 x 12.6 cm; (plate) 14.6 x 10.7 cm; (uneven image borderline) 12.6/12.9 x 9.8 cm.

Inscribed in plate: (along upper edge in 16 lines of French verse in three columns) “Quel mortal habitait/ En ce gîte si sombre/ Qui donc lá se cachait/ Dans la nuit et dans l'ombre/ Ah! ma foi je l'ignore/ Si tu veux le savoir/ Curieux, vas y voir/ Il en est temps encore”; (lower left) “C.M. [reversed]”.

State iii (of iii) with the addition of the lines of verse.

Delteil & Wright 10 iii (Loys Delteil & Harold J.L. Wright 1989, “Catalogue Raisonné of the Etchings of Charles Meryon”, San Francisco, Alan Wofsy Fine Arts, n.p., cat. no. 27).

Dodgson 10 (Campbell Dodgson, 1921, “The Etchings of Charles Meryon”, London, "The Studio" Ltd., n.p., plate/cat. no. 10 [see https://archive.org/details/etchingsofcharle00mr/page/n67/mode/2up]).

Interestingly, Dodgson (1921) proposes that this print may be viewed by “modern observers” as “one of the most powerful and impressive” of the artist’s etchings in the series, “Eaux-Fortes sur Paris", and proposes that it is “fraught with mystery, enigmatic, suggestive of long past tragedies” (p.14).

See also the descriptions of this print offered by the British Museum and the Princeton University Art Museum: https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/object/P_1862-1011-692;  https://artmuseum.princeton.edu/collections/objects/4318.

Condition: a richly inked and well-printed impression with small margins around the platemark. The sheet is in an excellent condition with no tears, holes, folds, abrasions or significant stains and is laid onto a support of archival (millennium quality) washi paper providing generously wide margins.

I am selling this marvellously moody etching acknowledged as one of the artist’s most intriguing and hinting at the dreadful mental turmoil that the artist endured, for AU$294 (currently US$196.51/EUR177.80/GBP156.52 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 this etching of a street known for its “bad boys” (aka Rue Chartron [before 1540])—possibly “because there were many butchers along this street known for their liberal ways with a knife” (see https://francetoday.com/learn/french-language/read-signs-rue-des-mauvais-garcons-paris/)—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

Katsushika Taito II’s woodblock book, “Ehon tsuzoku Sangokushi” (book 6, vol. 6), 1842

Katsushika Taito II (二代葛飾戴斗) (aka Kondo Ban'emon [近藤伴右衛門]; Ryusai; Toenro Hokusen) (fl.1810–1853)—Pupil of Katsushika Hokusai (1760–1849), who granted to him the art name Taito in 1819 (biographical details for this artist provided by the British Museum)

“Ehon tsuzoku Sangokushi” (絵本通俗三国志 [Picture book popular Romance of the Three Kingdoms]), book/part 6 of volume 6 (of 75 parts bound in 15 volumes [see https://www.abebooks.com/book-search/title/ehon-tsuzoku-sangokushi/author/ikeda-tori/used/), 1842 (Tenpo Era [1830–1844] Edo Period), woodblock prints printed in black ink on washi paper and stab-bound (Yotsume Toji).

Note that the British Museum holds a copy of book/part 6 of volume 7 in the same series: https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/object/A_1979-0305-0-475-1-7.

I understand that the story illustrated in this book originated as an historical account (possibly with lots of creative invention) attributed to Luo Guanzhong (1330–1400) leading to a complete Japanese translation of the narrative in around 1690. The present version of this story, which may be from the original 1842 edition (as all the illustrations are printed in black rather than with added colour of the later 1884 edition) was very popular at the time, mindful that the story was “acclaimed as one of the Four Great Classical Novels of Chinese literature” (see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Romance_of_the_Three_Kingdoms#Translations).

Size: (page) 22 x 15.3 cm,

Condition: the covers to the book have abrasions and stains but the pages (apart from appropriate age-toning) are in a good condition with no significant stains.

I am selling this rare and complete volume of five double-page woodblock illustrations (and the many pages of woodblock printed text) for AU$453 (currently US$302.79/EUR273.96/GBP241.16 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 important book of five double-page woodblock prints (along with the many pages of woodblock printed text)—please contact me (oz_jim@printsandprinciples.com) and I will send you a PayPal invoice to make the payment easy.

This book of woodblock prints 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

Girard Audran’s etching with engraving, “Rinaldo and Armida”, c.1687, after Nicolas Poussin

Girard Audran (aka Gérard Audran) (1640–1703)

“Rinaldo and Armida”, c.1687 (1684–1690 [BM dates]), after Nicolas Poussin (1594–1665), published in Paris by Girard Audran (with privilege) and lettered with a description of the scene based on Torquato Tasso’s (1544–1595) “Rinaldo and Armida”, published in 1562: (Google translation) “Armide, seeking revenge on [Rinaldo] who had taken away his prisoners, finds him asleep on a desert island, she wants to stab him in the breast, but the beauty of this young warrior stops her, and suddenly changes [her?] hatred which seemed implacable, in this love which is so well described by Tasso and which makes one of the most beautiful ornaments of his Poem.”

The Eclectic Light Company offers an interesting article, “The Story in Paintings: Poussin’s Rinaldo and Armida” (2016) which includes a view of Poussin’s painting that Audran’s etching reproduces: https://eclecticlight.co/2016/01/24/the-story-in-paintings-poussins-rinaldo-and-armida/.

Regarding this print, the Curator of the British Museum advises: “Poussin's painting in the Dulwich Picture Gallery was made in 1629. This print has been stated to have been made by Benoit I Audran and Jean Audran, retouched by Girard” (BM inv. no. 1928,0313.268).

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

Size: (sheet) 45.8 x 55.8 cm; (plate) 43.3 x 53.5 cm; (inner image borderline) 38.5 x 50.7 cm.

Lettered in plate below the image borderline: (left of centre) “N Poussin pinxt”; (centre) “Armide cherchant a se vanger de Regnault qui luy avoit enlevé ses prisonniers, le trouve endormi dans une Isle deserte, elle/ veut luy donner d’un poignard dans le sein, mais La beauté de ce jeuneguerrier l’arreste, et change tout a coup sa haine qui/paroissoit implacable, en cet amourqui est si bien decrit par le Tasse et qui fait un des plus beaux ornemens de son Poeme./ C’est le 15. et 16e. Chant”; (right of centre) “Gravé par Audran. A Paris ruë s^t. Iacques aux 2 Pilliers d’or.  auec Priuilege.”

IFF 48 (Bibliothèque Nationale de France 1939–, “Inventaire du Fonds Français: Graveurs du XVIIe Siècle”, Paris, Bibliothèque Nationale, Départment des Estampes, vol. 1, p. 132, cat. no. 48); Robert-Dumesnil 104 (Robert-Dumesnil 1835–71, “Le Peintre-Graveur Français”, Paris, vol. 9, p. 272, cat. no. 41).

The British Museum offers the following description of this print: “Armida discovering the sleeping Rinaldo, after Poussin; Armida, armed with a dagger, is crouching at centre and stroking the arm of Rinaldo, who is sleeping on his shield under a tree; Cupid stands at the woman's side, at left. 1684/90 Etching and engraving” (https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/object/P_1928-0313-268).

See also the description of this print offered by the Rijksmuseum: http://hdl.handle.net/10934/RM0001.COLLECT.72871.

Condition: a richly inked and well-printed (near faultless) impression. Beyond minor marks at upper left, the sheet is in an excellent condition with no tears, holes, folds, significant stains or foxing and is laid onto a support of archival (millennium quality) washi paper.

I am selling this large and visually arresting etching showing the dagger-ready sorceress, Armida, wishing to kill the sleeping Christian Crusader, Rinaldo, but finding herself unable to because of her desire for him—as expressed by the suggestion of hand and hair fondling and being restrained by love personified by the winged Cupid/Amor/Eros—for AU$438 (currently US$292.76/EUR264.89/GBP233.18 at the time of posting this listing) including Express Mail 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 etching, please contact me (oz_jim@printsandprinciples.com) and I will send you a PayPal invoice to make the payment easy.