Gallery of prints for sale

Saturday 28 September 2019

Adriaen Collaert's engraving, “Mercury in a Decorative Frame with Grotesques”, c.1575–1618


Adriaen Collaert (c.1560–1618)

“Mercury in a Decorative Frame with Grotesques” (aka “Medallion with Mercury in a Frame of Grotesques”), 1575–1618, from the series of six engravings, “Medallions with Figures from the Judgment of Paris”; published by Adriaen Collaert (as inscribed on plate).

Engraving on laid paper trimmed along the platemark and backed with a support sheet.
Size: (sheet) 13.9 x 9.3 cm.
Inscribed on plate along the upper edge: (centre) “A[..]n. Collaert inv. sculp. et exc."
Orn Cat I 61.5; New Hollstein (Dutch & Flemish) 1676 (The Collaert Dynasty)

The Rijksmuseum offers a description of this print:

Note that The Metropolitan Museum of Art holds a reverse copy of this print (1600–1630) in which the unidentified printmaker has explored two ways of treating the decorative frame for the roundel. The MET offers the following description of the two techniques to create the dark background for the ornamentation: “One half of the frame is done in blackwork, while the other half is filled with horizontal hatchings. The print is most likely a unique piece, made by an artist who was trying out different techniques and studying their effect.”

Condition: slightly silvery impression with numerous small restorations that are almost invisible (e.g. the upper left and lower right corners are replenished and stains in the upper border have been masked). The sheet has been trimmed along the platemark and is laid upon an archival support sheet of millennium quality washi paper.

I am selling this sensitively rendered engraving of Mercury/Hermes—the mythological messenger of the Gods—for AU$310 (currently US$209.80/EUR191.78/GBP170.67 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 small gem-like engraving, please contact me (oz_jim@printsandprinciples.com) and I will send you a PayPal invoice to make the payment easy.










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