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Friday 20 December 2019

Adriaen Collaert's engraving, “The Miracle of Christ on the Sea of Galilee”, 1593


Adriaen Collaert (c.1560–1618)

“The Miracle of Christ on the Sea of Galilee” (aka “Dominica IIII. Post Epiphan”; “Fourth Sunday after Epiphany. Jesus Calms a Storm at Sea”), 1593, after Bernardino Passeri (aka Bernardino Passari; Bernardo Passaro; Bernardus Passerus) (fl.1577–1585), published by Martinus Nutius (fl.1593–1628) in Antwerp in 1593 as Plate 29 illustration to the Gospels of Matt 8, Mark 4 and Luke 8 in Jerome Nadal’s (1507–1580), “Evangelicae Historiae Imagines” (Illustrations of the Gospel Stories), published shortly after Nadal’s death. In 1594 and 1595, the plate was republished in the expanded volume, “Adnotationes et Meditationes in Evangelia” (Notes and Meditations on the Gospels). (Catholic Resources offer a full account of the publication of this print: https://catholic-resources.org/Art/Nadal.htm)

Engraving on fine laid paper trimmed with a small margin around the image borderline.
Size: (sheet) 17.9 x 14.7 cm; (image borderline) 17.4 x 14.3 cm.
Inscribed on plate within the image borderline along the lower edge: (left of centre) “B. Pass. Rom. Inuent.”; (right of centre) “Adrian. Collaert Sculp.”
Lettered on plate from “A” to “H” beside relevant pictorial features of the image correlating with an index of liturgical, biblical and descriptive information in the accompanying text (trimmed from this impression).
State ii (of iii) This impression matches the second state copy held by the Rijksmuseum (RP-P-OB-67,158}; nevertheless, the state is difficult to ascertain with certainty as the accompanying text is missing. Based on the quality of line showing no sign of wear to the printing plate this impression is most likely a very early impression.

New Hollstein Dutch 1714-2(3) (Marjolein Leesberg & Arnout Balis [eds.] 2005–06, “The New Hollstein: Dutch and Flemish Etchings, Engravings and Woodcuts 1450–1700: The Collaert Dynasty”, vol. 7, Ouderkerk aan den Ijssel, Sound and Vision, p. 27, cat. 1714).

The Rijksmuseum offers the following description of this print (note that the copy held by the Rijksmuseum retains the indexed legend of explanations that is missing from this impression):
(transl.) “The ship with Christ and his disciples suddenly falls into a heavy storm. High waves ravage the ship. The disciples are afraid of their lives but Christ sleeps peacefully on deck. Various elements from the representation have letters that correspond to the legend in the margin.”

See also the description of this print offered by the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco:

Condition: richly inked and well-printed, museum quality/near faultless impression with a small margin around the image borderline (approx. 2 mm). The sheet is in pristine condition for its considerable age (i.e. there are no tears, holes, folds, losses, abrasions, stains or foxing—but there is a pencil notation from a previous collector verso).

I am selling this small but very important engraving—arguably, one of the first biblical illustrations to employ perspective (see Catholic Resource ibid.)—for AU$440 (currently US$303.53/EUR273.42/GBP233.07 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 masterpiece of early engraving—note the full range of the apostles’ facial expressions as they decide to wake Jesus during a storm and the amazing treatment of the surging sea—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











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