Hieronymus Cock (aka Jérome Cock)
(c1510–1570)
“Landscape with Mercury and Argus”,
1558, after the drawing by his brother, Matthijs Cock (aka Matthys
Cock; Matthijs Wellens de Cock; Matthijs Kock; Matthias Cock) (c1510/5–1548), from
the series of 14 etchings, “Landscapes with Biblical and Mythological Scenes”,
published in 1558 by Hieronymus Cock, Antwerp.
Note that the BM advises that there are
14 plates in the series, the Rijksmuseum cites 13 plates and Van Grieken (et al)
(2013) in “Hieronymus Cock: The Renaissance in Print” mentions only 12 plates
(p. 344). This discrepancy in the number of plates may result from whether the
title page (frontispiece) published in 1558 is included in the series.
Note also that the drawing by Hieronymus’
elder brother, Matthijs, which this etching is reputed to be based depicted a “Landscape
with the Flight into Egypt” that was once in the Lugt Collection but its
location is now unknown.
Etching on fine laid paper with
watermark, "Arms", trimmed along the image borderline.
Size: (sheet) 22.4 x 32.1 cm
Inscribed on plate within the image
borderline: (lower left with partial losses to the text) "[Mer]curius [Argum]
interficit"; (lower left of centre) "Cock fecit 1558"
Lifetime impression of the only state
Hollstein Dutch 14 (F W H Hollstein
1949, “Dutch and Flemish etchings, engravings and woodcuts c.1450-1700”,
Amsterdam); Riggs 1977 43 (Timothy Allan Riggs 1977, “Hieronymus Cock,
Printmaker and Publisher”, New York, Garland Press, pp. 273–9, cat. no. 43)
The British Museum offers the following
description of this print:
“Landscape with Mercury on a road and
holding the head of Argus in his left hand, Argus' body lying on the ground,
fields at left, a city along a bay and mountains in the background. 1558 Etching”
See also the description of this print by
the Rijksmuseum:
(transl.) “Hilly landscape with a harbor town in
the distance. Right before Mercury, who cut off the [head of] giant Argus.
Mercury holds his head in his hand. In the clouds Juno rides in her carriage
drawn by two peacocks. Picture from a series of 13 landscapes with biblical and
mythological scenes.”
Condition: an exceptionally rare
lifetime impression that is richly inked and well-printed. The sheet is trimmed
along the borderline with restored paper losses, closed tears and other small repairs,
backed with thin conservator’s paper.
I am selling this lifetime impression of
the utmost rarity by one of the most important 16th century printmakers
for AU$650 (currently US$478.12/EUR415.05/GBP364.72 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 simply magnificent Renaissance etching from the start of the Occidental landscape tradition,
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
At the time that this etching was executed, artists leaned towards two
different approaches to portraying the landscape.
The first approach—as employed here—is
to portray a largely imagined landscape from a great height as if it
were an exemplary extraction of the comos with allegorical narratives being
played out. This first approach is known by the German world, “Weltlandschaft”,
or “World Landscape” (see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_landscape),
initiated by Joachim Patinir (c1480–1524). According to Dominique Allart (2013)
in the “must have” exhibition catalogue, “Hieronymus Cock: The Renaissance in
Print”, this approach to landscape was “… to stimulate the imagination, sometimes
at the expense of all visual plausibility” (p. 343).
The second approach, which also plays a
role in this etching, but to a lesser extent, is driven by the idea of a “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). Artists
who approach the landscape with this mindset tend to employ focal points in the
landscape where the veil of external appearance is stripped bare, such as
natural arch shown here in the distant mountain allowing the eye to explore the
mountain’s subterranean depths. Although I may be very wrong in my reading of
this particular landscape, I see Cock’s approach to rendering the superficial
details of this vast panorama—e.g. the trees, roads, streams, cattle and even
the mythological figure of Mercury holding the head of the now headless Argus (see
Ovid, Metamorphoses I 723)—as being underpinned by natural forces that are
bulging the superficial details like muscles flexing beneath them.
No comments:
Post a Comment
Please let me know your thoughts, advice about inaccuracies (including typos) and additional information that you would like to add to any post.