Ludovic Lepic's etching, "Moonlit Night", c1870

Ludovic Lepic (aka Ludovic Napoléon Lepic; Vicomte Ludovic-Napoléon Lepic) 1839–1889

“Moonlit Night” (aka “Moonlight Night” [“Лунная ночь” Hermitage Museum]), c1870, from the series, “Landscapes of Holland” (Beraldi “Dutch Sketches”), signed by the artist in the plate at upper edge and hand-signed by the artist in blue crayon at lower left.

Etching (and aquatint?) with roulette and plate tone from free wiping by the artist (“l'eau-forte mobile” [variable etching]), signed in the plate and by hand in blue crayon, with wide margins.

Size: (sheet) 28.9 x 43.1 cm; (plate) 14.4 x 18.8 cm; (image borderline) 13.7 x 17.4 cm.

Inscribed in plate within the image borderline: (along the upper edge at left) “Lepic”.

Hand-signed in blue crayon below the image borderline: (lower left) “Lepic”.

Beraldi 4 (Henri Beraldi 1889, “Les Graveurs du XIXe Siècke; guide de l'amateur d'estampes modernes”, vol. 9, Paris, L Conquet, p. 143, cat. no. 4 [Croquis hollandaise]).

Henri Beraldi (1889) offers the following insight about Lepic’s approach to wiping the etching plate:

(Transl.) “… Count Lepic was particularly attached to the question of the impression, and the varieties of effects that obtained from a plate according to the inking mode. ... he would say, ‘the secret of etching as I get it … is the use of ink and rag: with these two weapons you can get anything from a plate. I am master in front of my plate as in front of a canvas, I can transform all the subjects according to my fancy, modify their effects. This process existed from the time of great master engravers, and I have found it’. ... Count Lepic called this kind of printing with the rather singular name ‘mobile etching’." (p. 144).

See the descriptions of this print offered by Binoche et Giquello auctions and by the Hermitage Museum (the latter site may be slow to open): https://www.binocheetgiquello.com/lot/8075/1553155;  https://hermitagemuseum.org/wps/portal/hermitage/digital-collection/04.%20Engraving/527433/.

Condition: a richly inked, but (in my opinion) a slightly over-wiped impression in an almost pristine condition (i.e., the sheet has no tears, holes, folds, abrasions, stains, foxing or signs of handling) with generously wide margins.

I am selling this rarely seen, hand-signed etching exemplifying the artist’s well-known approach to printing—termed “l'eau-forte mobile” [the mobile/variable etching])—for AU$426 in total (currently US$319.93/EUR275.49/GBP232.34at 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 fine example of an artist’s selective wiping of a printing plate to create the poetic effect of moonlight illuminating sailing boats and distant windmills, 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 

Luigi Rossini’s etching, “Avansi della Curia Ostilia Sul Monte Celio”, 1821

Luigi Rossini (1790–1857)

Note that British Museum advises that the figures were (possibly) added by Bartolomeo Pinelli (1781–1835) (see https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/term/BIOG44271).

“Avansi della Curia Ostilia Sul Monte Celio”— remains of the Curia Hostilia (house for the Roman Senate built by Tullius Hostilius) on Monte Caelio, 1821, plate 89 from the series of 101 views of ancient Rome, “Le Antichità Romane” (The Rome of Antiquity), published in Rome in 1823.This impression is from the 1829 edition showing the plate number (“T. 89”).

Note that plate 39 shows a similar view towards the Curia Hostilia entrance; see https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/object/P_1935-0520-68. Regarding the Curia Hostilia, Grosvenor prints make the interesting proposal that the building “is more likely to be a substructure of the Temple of Claudius on the Caelian Hill. Through the gateway to the left is the Arch of Constantine” (see Ref: 51521: https://www.grosvenorprints.com/stock.php).

Etching on wove paper with wide margins as published.

Size: (sheet) 51 x 62.8 cm; (plate) 40.5 x 48.5 cm; (image borderline) 39.8 x 47.5 cm.

Inscribed in plate within the image borderline: (on tablet at lower right) “AVANSI DELLA/ CVRIA OSTILIA/ SVL MONTE CELIO”.

Lettered in plate below the image borderline: (left) ROSSINI dis. e inc.”; (right) T. 89 Roma 1821”.

Condition: a richly inked and well-printed impression with generously wide margins. The margins are dusty with small chips to the edge (see the lower left corner and the middle of the upper margin), otherwise the sheet is in an excellent condition with no significant tears, holes, folds, stains or foxing.

I am selling this strong and large etching designed to capture the glory of ancient Rome for folk on their Grand Tour—note how Rossini (like Piranesi) gave a touch of theatricality to his depiction of buildings by using strong chiaroscuro lighting and by ensuring that any awestruck visitors were appropriately small—for a total cost of AU$480 (currently US$359.13/EUR308.24/GBP260.99 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 spectacularly large and rare print—it is not in the collection of the British Museum or the Rijksmuseum—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 

Edy Legrand’s drypoint, “Young Woman and Man”, 1929

Edy Legrand (aka Edouard Léon Louis Edy-Legrand; Edward Louis Warschawsky Leon) (1892–1970)

“Young Woman and Man”, 1929, published in Paris in 1929 by Éditions du Capital as illustration to Pierre Mac Orlan’s “Œuvres Poétiques Complètes.”

Drypoint on cream wove (Japon Impérial) paper.

Size: (sheet) 17.8 x 13.7 cm; (plate) 13 x 8.3 cm.

IFF 9 (Département des Estampes et de la Photographie 1965, “Inventaire du Fonds Français après 1800”, vol. 13, Paris, Bibliothèque Nationale, pp. 345, cat. no. 9 [https://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bpt6k54892331/f357.item]).

Condition: a strong, well-printed and near faultless impression in pristine condition (i.e., there are no tears, holes, folds, abrasions, stains, foxing or signs of handling).

I am selling this remarkably expressive drypoint of what I believe—and I may be completely incorrect as my skills in reading faces is invariably wrong—is a spirited and strong-willed young lady of the 1920s—a “flapper”—with her 5 o'clock shadowed beaux, for AU$222 (currently US$165.78/EUR142.36/GBP120.48 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 superb drypoint where a viewer may feel reflexively interrogated, or at least visually arrested, by the portrayed figures’ enquiring gaze, please contact me (oz_jim@printsandprinciples.com) and I will send you a PayPal invoice to make the payment easy.

Jonas Umbach’s etching, “Assumption of the Virgin with the Apostles at the Grave”, c1660

Jonas Umbach (1624–93)

“Assumption of the Virgin with the Apostles at the Grave” (aka “Mariä Himmelfahrt mit den Aposteln am Grabe”), c1660.

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

Size: (support sheet) 25.9 x 20.1 cm; (sheet) 12.3 x 8.1 cm.

Haas 97; LeBlanc 88.

Condition: a richly inked and strong impression showing some wear to the printing plate, trimmed along the platemark and laid onto a sheet of archival (millennium quality) washi paper. The sheet is in an excellent condition with no tears, holes, folds, abrasions, stains or foxing.

I am selling this extremely rare original etching by Jonas Umbach—note that this print is not in the online collection of the British Museum, Rijksmuseum or the Metropolitan Museum of Art—for AU$330 (currently US$246.43/EUR211.54/GBP179.10 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 remarkable 17th century print by an artist famed for his small etchings and for his skill in biting his printing plates only once in acid, 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 

Alexandre Calame’s two lithographs, “L'Étude du Paysage: No. 113” and “No. 154”, 1850

Alexandre Calame (aka Alexandre Calam; Alexandre Calamy) (1810–1864)

“L'Étude du Paysage: No. 113” and “L'Étude du Paysage: No. 154”, 1850, published and printed in a series of 272 lithographs, “L'Étude du Paysage”, by François Delarue (fl. 1850s–1860s) in Paris and also published in London by Moore, Mc Queen & Co (1816–1956), in the second of two volumes in “Collection de modèles élémentaires et gradués formant un cours complet autographié d'après nature” ([transl.] Collection of elementary and graduated models forming a complete autographed after nature course) in 1850 (see https://digi.ub.uni-heidelberg.de/diglit/calame1850).

Lithographs printed in black ink on heavy wove paper with full margins as published.

Size: (sheet) 26 x 34.9 cm.

Both sheets are signed in the stone by the artist and lettered with publication details: (upper left) “Autographié d'après nature.”; (lower left) “A Calame/ Paris, FRANÇOIS DELARUE, 18, rue J.J. Rousseau.”; (lower centre) “L'ÉTUDE DU PAYSAGE/ par A. Calame”; (lower right) “London, Moore, M^c. Queen & C^o., 25 Berners St. Oxf. S^t.”

Plate 113 is lettered in the stone: (upper right) “N^o.113”; (lower right) “Imp. F^ois Delarue, Paris”.

Plate 154 is lettered in the stone: (upper right) “N^o.154.”; (lower centre) “Imp. F^ois Delarue, 8 rue Larrey, Paris”.

Condition: strong and well-printed impressions with full margins in pristine condition (i.e., there are no tears, holes, folds, abrasions, stains, foxing or signs of handling).

I am selling these very beautiful lithograph landscapes—presumably from around Savoie (the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region) or possibly the Swiss Alps—designed as drawing models for students to hone their technical skills, for AU$210 in total for the pair (currently US$156.95/EUR134.96/GBP113.80 at the time of posting this print) 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 pair of sensitively rendered scenes where even the shadows are luminous, please contact me (oz_jim@printsandprinciples.com) and I will send you a PayPal invoice to make the payment easy.