Lucas Vorsterman's engraving, “Adoration of the Magi”, 1602, after Rubens

Lucas Vorsterman I (aka Lucas Aemilius Vorsterman) (1595–1675)

“Adoration of the Magi” (aka “Adoration with the Torches”), 1620, after Peter Paul Rubens’ (aka Petrus Paulus Rubenius) (1577–1640) painting in the Church of St John, Malines and the modello drawing in the Cabinet du Dessins, Musée du Louvre (Paris) with a Latin dedication by Rubens to Albert, Archduke of Austria, published by Lucas Vorsterman I in Antwerp. This is a later impression.

Note that there is a very close copy of Vorsterman’s engraving by Pieter Nolpe (1613/14–c1652/3) but this copy can be easily distinguished from Vorsterman’s print by the production detail, “Peter Nolpe fecit”, and the lighter tone of the keystone illuminated in the archway above the Holy Family (see Nolpe’s engraving at the British Museum: https://www.britishmuseum.org/research/collection_online/collection_object_details.aspx?objectId=1631634&partId=1&searchText=vorsterman+adoration+&page=1).

Engraving on heavy wove paper, trimmed with small margins around the plate mark and backed with a support sheet.

Size: (sheet) 61.7 x 46.8 cm; (plate) 59.1 x 44.5 cm; (image borderline) 58 x 43.9 cm.

Lettered on plate below the image borderline (left) “SERENISSIMO … CONSECRATOVE. / P.P.Rubens pinxit.”; (centre) “Cum priuilegÿs, Regis Christianissimi, Principum Belgarum, & Ordinum Batauiæ.”; (right) “Lucas Vorsterman sculp. et excud. An.1620."

Schneevoogt 1873 22.84 (C G Voorhelm Schneevoogt 1873, “Catalogue des estampes gravées d'après P.P.Rubens”, Haarlem, p. 22, cat. no. 84); Dutuit.VI.54.44 (Eugène Dutuit 1884, ”Manuel de l'amateur d'estampes”, Paris); Hollstein 8 (Christiaan Schuckman [comp.] & D. de Hoop Scheffer [ed.] 1993, “Hollstein's Dutch & Flemish Etchings, Engravings & Woodcuts, 1450–1700: Lucas Vorsterman I”, vol. 43, Amsterdam, p. 16, cat.no. 8).

The British Museum offers the following description of this print:

“Adoration of the Magi; the Holy Family at right; the Christ child delves His hand into a vessel offered by one of the reverential Magi; the turbaned magi holds open a precious casket and the other holds a censer; behind them a crowd of figures strain for a better view; in the background by some columns two figures bear torches; after Peter Paul Rubens. 1620 Engraving”

(https://www.britishmuseum.org/research/collection_online/collection_object_details.aspx?objectId=3082620&partId=1&searchText=vorsterman+adoration+&page=1)

See also the description at the Rijksmuseum:

http://hdl.handle.net/10934/RM0001.COLLECT.338266

Condition: well-printed faultless but slightly dull later impression with small margins and laid upon a support sheet of archival (millennium quality) washi paper. The sheet is in museum quality/near pristine condition (i.e. there are no tears, holes, folds, abrasions, stains, foxing or significant signs of use).

I am selling this very large engraved masterwork by one of the most famous and accomplished printmakers who collaborated with Rubens (until they had an major argument and parted), for AU$525 (currently US$360.87/EUR323.52/GBP285.28 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 major engraving of the Baroque period, please contact me (oz_jim@printsandprinciples.com) and I will send you a PayPal invoice to make the payment easy.

This print is reserved pending confirmation of its purchase

Giovanni Buonafede's engraving, "La Madonna Della Seggiola”, c1840, after Raphael

Giovanni Buonafede (aka Giovanni Bonafeddo) (1816–?)

“La Madonna Della Seggiola”, c1840, after Raphael’s (1483–1520) painting in the ‎Palazzo Pitti (Florence), published by Calcografia Romano (aka Camera Apostolica; Calcografia Camerale; Regia Calcografia; Calcografia Nazionale; Calcographia RCA) (1738–1870) in Rome.

Engraving with etching on heavy wove paper with small margins and backed with a support sheet.

Size: (sheet) 44.1 x 36.3 cm; (image borderline) 32.2 x 32.2 cm.

Lettered on plate below the image borderline: (left) “Raffaele Sanzio dip.“; (centre) “LA MADONNA DELLA SEGGIOLA / Roma presso La Calcografia Camerale”; (right) “Giov. Buonafede inc“.

The British Museum offers the following description of this print:

“The Virgin and Child with the Baptist in a tondo, after Raphael; lettered state Engraving”

(https://www.britishmuseum.org/research/collection_online/collection_object_details.aspx?objectId=1608116&partId=1&searchText=Buonafede&page=1)

Condition: richly inked and well-printed impression, trimmed with small margins around a soft platemark impression. There is a strong fold at the upper edge of the sheet following the platemark and there is a hole at the lower right corner with a small retouched restoration otherwise the sheet is in very good condition and laid upon a support sheet of archival (millennium quality) washi paper.

I am selling this large engraved masterwork, exemplifying Buonafede’s skill in translating the colours, tones and textures of Raphael’s famous painting, for AU$225 (currently US$155.12/EUR138.82/GBP122.41 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 exquisite example of nineteenth century mastery of reproductive engraving, 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

Gerard Gauw's engraving of calligraphy, "Plate17" (1605), after Jan van de Velde I

Gerard Gauw (aka Gerrit Adriaensz. Gauw) (c1580–1638) after

Jan van de Velde I (1569–1623)

“Plate 17”, 1605, from the model book of 52 engraved plates of calligraphy (including the title and finis plates), “Deliciae variarum insigniumque scripturarum” (Delights of Various and Distinguished Scripts) published in 1649 by Willem Jansz. Blaeu (1571–1638) in Haarlem.

This publication and a description of its details may be view online or downloaded free-of-charge from Archive.org:

https://archive.org/details/gri_33125009484599/page/n41

Details of this publication are also available from Hathi Trust:

https://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/100242593

Christie’s Auctions give many insights about this publication and advise that this is the “earliest and perhaps the rarest of Van den Velde's half-dozen writing books”; see:

(https://www.christies.com/lotfinder/Lot/velde-jan-van-den-1569-1623-deliciae-variarum-5698625-details.aspx)

Engraving on fine laid paper backed with a support sheet.

Size: (sheet) 14.9 x 18.5 cm; (plate) 10.5 x 15.7 cm.

Inscribed on plate with seven lines of cursive Italian text with flourishes and signed below the text: “Velde”

Numbered on plate at lower left corner: “17”.

Condition: a superb, richly inked and near faultless impression in museum quality/almost pristine condition (i.e. there are no tears, holes, folds, abrasions, stains, foxing or signs of use). The very fine sheet is laid upon a support sheet of archival (millennium quality) washi paper.

I am selling this small, rare and important masterpiece from the Dutch Golden Age, designed as a model for calligraphy students to copy, for AU$390 (currently US$268.17/EUR240.50/GBP211.19 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 supreme example of early calligraphy with serpentine flourishes on cursive Italian script, 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

Enea Vico's engraving, “Statue of Hermaphroditus in a Niche”, 1552

Enea Vico (1523–1567) according to the British Museum and the Museum Boijmans or an anonymous artist as proposed by the Rijksmuseum.

“Statue of Hermaphroditus in a Niche” (descriptive title only) (aka “Hermaphroditos”), 1552, after Marcantonio Raimondi’s (1470/1482–1527/1534) engraving, “Apollo” and its repetition in reverse (TIB 26[14].332[250] & 333[251]), after a sculpture that was once in the collection of the Palazzo Farnese (as inscribed on plate), from the series, “'Speculum Romanae Magnificentiae” (Mirror of Roman Splendour), published by Antoine Lafréry (aka Antonio Lafreri) (1512–1577) in Rome.

The Rijksmuseum offers the following insights into the series “Speculum Romanae Magnificentiae”, in which this print features:

(transl.) “This corpus, consisting of prints with representations of works of art and buildings from ancient and modern Rome, originated from publishers Antonio Salamanca and Antonio Lafreri. These two foreign publishers joined forces in Rome in the period 1553-1563. Their prints quickly became extremely popular with tourists and collectors, who purchased the prints individually or in large groups. Large groups of Speculum prints were often bound together in albums upon request. There are several Speculum albums that are all different in content. Between 1573 and 1577 Antonio Lafreri published a special title page (with the title 'Speculum Romanae Magnificentiae') that people could add to their collections. The death of Lafreri in 1577 did not mean the end of the corpus. A large part of the copper plates passed to Claudio and Stefano Duchetti. The rest was spread over various other publishers. The popularity of the Speculum prints managed to inspire publishers for a long time to have copies made and to add new prints to the corpus.” (RP-P-H-H-925)

Engraving on fine laid paper trimmed unevenly along the image borderline and backed with a support sheet.

Size: (sheet) 33.5 x 21.4 cm.

Inscribed on plate on pedestal base cartouche: “HERMAPHRODITI STATVA .../ … PALLATIO FARNESIANO COLLOCATA / ANT LAFRERII FORMISS ROMAE MDLII.”

Huelsen 56–A (Christian Huelsen 1921, “Das Speculum Romanae Magnificentiae des Antonio Lafreri”); Rubach 320 (Birte Rubach 2016, “Ant. Lafreri Formis Romae: Der Verleger Antonio Lafreri und seine Druckgraphikproduktion”, Berlin, Lukas Verlag, p. 415).

The British Museum offers the following description of this print:

“Statue of a youth identified as Hermaphroditos by the inscription, standing in contrapposto within a niche, right hand raised above head, left hand resting on a support. 1552 Engraving”

(https://www.britishmuseum.org/research/collection_online/collection_object_details.aspx?objectId=1514911&partId=1&searchText=Enea+Vico&page=4)

See also the description of this print offered by Museum Boijmans:

https://www.boijmans.nl/en/collection/artworks/129772/hermaphroditus

See also the description offered by the Rijksmuseum that attributes this print to an anonymous artist:

“Image of a male nude with an arm above the head. In the inscription, this figure is interpreted as Hermaphroditus, but the figure is also very similar to the Apollo Lyceus type.”

(http://hdl.handle.net/10934/RM0001.COLLECT.210351)

Condition: well-printed crisp impression in a generally clean condition, trimmed along the image borderline with replenished losses and laid upon a support sheet of archival (millennium quality) washi paper.

I am selling this Renaissance period engraving dated on the plate, “MDLII” (1552)—most likely a lifetime impression based on the crisp quality of the lines showing no sign of wear to the printing plate—for AU$412 (currently US$284.73/EUR255.14/GBP223.65 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 rare and (to my eyes) a curiously exciting 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

Orazio Borgianni's etching, “The Baptism of Christ”, 1615

Orazio Borgianni (aka Orazio Borgiani) (c1578–1616)

“The Baptism of Christ” (TIB title) (“Jésus Christ baptise dans le jourdain par St. Jean” [Bartsch title]), 1615 (inscribed on plate), plate 51 from the series of 52 etchings after Raphael, “The Loggia Paintings” (TIB title). Note that a previous collector has annotated in ink (now faded) at the lower right corner, “50”, but this number is inaccurate with regard to the plate sequence of the series.

Etching on fine laid paper, trimmed with loss of the left and right pointed ends of the hexagonal image borderline and backed with a support sheet.

Size: (sheet) 14.6 x 20.1 cm

Inscribed on plate within the image borderline: (lower right corner) “1615 / [artist’s monogram]”

Lifetime impression of the only state. (Note: attribution of this print to a lifetime impression is based on the crisp quality of the lines showing minimal wear to the plate.)

TIB 38 (17).51(320) (Walter L Strauss [ed.] 1979, “The Illustrated Bartsch”, vol. 38, New York, Abaris Books, p. 410); Bartsch XVII.320.51.

The Rijksmuseum offers the following description of this print:

(transl.) “Christ is baptized by John the Baptist in the Jordan River. Angels kneel and float behind John.”

(http://hdl.handle.net/10934/RM0001.COLLECT.85403)

See also the description of this print offered by the British Museum:

https://www.britishmuseum.org/research/collection_online/collection_object_details.aspx?objectId=3051036&partId=1&searchText=orazio&page=3

Condition: richly inked, crisp and well-printed impression—a superior impression to the copies held by the British Museum (see BM no. 1893,1018.19.46) and the Rijksmuseum (see RP-P-OB-35.460)—trimmed with loss of the pointed ends of the image borderline. Beyond this loss and an inaccurate plate number inscribed in ink (now faded) by the old hand of a previous collector, the sheet is in excellent condition for its age (i.e. there are no tears, holes, folds, abrasions, stains or foxing). The sheet is backed with a support sheet of archival (millennium quality) washi paper.

I am selling this superb etching executed in the last year of the artist’s life and based on the design of the legendary Raphael (1483–1520) who had passed away only 95 years before this print was created, for AU$257 (currently US$176.66/EUR158.27/GBP138.88 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 rare Renaissance period 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