Gallery of prints for sale

Tuesday 29 June 2021

Auguste Gaspard Louis Boucher Desnoyers’ engraving (with etching), “Bélisaire”, 1806, after Baron François Gérard

Auguste Gaspard Louis Boucher Desnoyers (aka Auguste Gaspard Louis [Baron] Boucher-Desnoyers) (1779-1857)

Bélisaire” (aka “Belisarius en de jongen” [Belisarius and the boy]), 1806, after Baron François Gérard’s (aka Baron François Pascal Gérard) (1770–1837) painting, “Belisarius”, 1797, printed by Ramboz (aka Rambox) (fl.1793–1830) in Paris and stamped at lower left with “Le Timbre des Ptolémées” (Lugt 2789).

Regarding this mark, Frits Lugt (2002) in “Les Marques de Collections de Dessins & d’Estampes” advises (in transl.): “This mark, known as the Stamp of the Ptolemies, was printed by the engraver on the beautiful first proofs of his engravings” (p. 520).

Engraving with etching on heavy wove paper with a narrow margin around the platemark and backed with a support sheet.

Size: (sheet) 56.3 x 41.4 cm; (plate) 55.1 x 40.7 cm; (image borderline [outer edge]) 55.5 x 38.4 cm.

Lettered in plate below the image borderline: (left) “F. Gérard Pinx.t/ Se trouve à Paris chez l'Auteur,/ Rue du Cœur Volant, No. 7, Frg. St. Gin:”; (centre) “BÉLISAIRE/ Dédié a Son Excellence, Monseigneur,/ CHARLES MAURICE TALLEYRAND,/ Ministre des Relations Extérieures./ Pierre Picquet, Scripsit.”; (right) “Aug.te Desnoyers Sculpt. 1806/ Imprimé par Ramboz./ Par son très humble Serviteur,/ Auguste Boucher Desnoyers.”

Stamped at lower left with Desnoyers seal: “Le Timbre des Ptolémées.”

IFF 17 (Département des estampes 1930–, “Inventaire du fonds français après 1800”, vol. 6, Paris, Bibliothèque Nationale, p. 422, cat. no. 17); LeBlanc 64 (Ch Leblanc 1854[–1889], “Manuel de l'amateur d'estampes, contenant un dictionnaire des graveurs de toutes les nations: ouvrage destiné à faire suite au Manuel du libraire par J.Ch. Brunet”, vol. 2, Paris, p. 118, cat. no. 64); Nagler.III.363.

The Rijksmuseum and the MET offer descriptions of this print: http://hdl.handle.net/10934/RM0001.COLLECT.86339; https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/395829.

See also the description of this print and insights about its history offered in AbeBooks: https://www.abebooks.com/art-prints/B%C3%A9lisaire-D%C3%A9di%C3%A9-Excellence-Monseigneur-Charles-Maurice/22478993806/bd

The J Paul Getty Museum offers the following description of Gérard’s painting (which this engraving translates into line) “Belisarius” (aka “Bélisaire”):

“Along a winding dirt path, the blind Belisarius carries his young guide. The boy has been bitten by a snake, which remains coiled around his bleeding leg. With his right arm wrapped limply around Belisarius's neck and his eyes closed, the youth balances precariously between life and death. Belisarius's eyes are also closed, but guided by his stick he moves forward with determination and purpose. He rises heroically against the spectacular sunset, a monumental figure creating a powerful outline against the sky. But the flaring sunset also signals a chill night and the uncertainty of the path ahead. 

Belisarius was a popular Byzantine general of the Roman Empire whose promising career was sabotaged by the jealous Emperor Justinian I. In 1767, a novel by Jean-François Marmontel revived interest in Belisarius. In Marmontel's novel, the emperor has the heroic general blinded, reducing Belisarius to begging. He is eventually rediscovered and aided by former officers and his family. This dramatic tale of patriotism, injustice, and redemption was widely embraced in revolutionary and post-revolutionary France and was a popular subject for artists--including Jacques-Louis David (François Gérard's teacher), Jean-Antoine Houdon, and Jean-Baptiste Stouf (whose sculpture Belisarius is also in the Museum's collection).

For this painting, Gérard both drew and departed from Marmontel's retelling of Belisarius's life. The general's young companion is present in Marmontel's novel. But to stress the bravery and pathos of the subject, Gérard introduced the incapacitating snakebite. While Belisarius was typically depicted in the act of begging, Gérard shows him standing and erect, his muscular form in sharp contrast to his guide's weakening body. The prominent helmet hanging from Belisarius's belt emphasizes the general's heroic past and underscores the injustice of his fall from favor.” (https://www.getty.edu/art/collection/objects/225120/baron-francois-pascal-simon-gerard-belisarius-french-1797/)

Condition: a strong early impression (as signified by the “Stamp of the Ptolemies”) trimmed with a narrow margin around the platemark. There is pale foxing and minor signs of handling to the sheet (i.e. marks and small abrasions to the outer edges), otherwise the sheet is in good condition with no tears, holes, folds or significant stains and has been laid upon an archival support sheet of millennium quality washi paper.

I am selling this large and superb engraving (with etching) executed by one of the most revered of the 19th century engravers, for the total cost of AU$262 (currently US$197.09/EUR165.52/GBP142.27 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 masterpiece of 19th century engraving that is stamped with the engraver’s seal, “Le Timbre des Ptolémées” (Lugt 2789)—signifying that this print is an early and fine impression— 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 












Monday 28 June 2021

Leonhard Beck’s woodcut, “St. Lucius”, 1510

Leonhard Beck (1475/80–1542)

St. Lucius” (aka “Pope Lucius I”), 1510, plate 71 from the series of woodcuts after the designs of Hans Burgkmair the Elder (1473–1531), “Images De Saints Et Saintes Issus De La Famille De L'Empereur Maximilien I. - En une Suite de cent dix neuf planches gravées en bois par differens graveurs d'après les dessins de Hans Burgmaier.” (see https://www.royalacademy.org.uk/art-artists/book/images-de-saints-et-saintes-issus-de-la-famille-de-lempereur-maximilien-i), plate cut by Nicolas Seemann ((fl.1510–1517) and published in “Saints Connected with the House of Hapsburg: A General Account of the Ancestry of Emperor Maximilian I”.

This impression is from the later edition printed by Anna Alberti (fl.1794-1802) and published by Franz Xaver Stöckl (1763–1815) in Vienna in 1799 using the original woodblocks (see Virtuelles Kupferstichkabinett: http://diglib.hab.de?grafik=xd-2f-100-00070). The Annex Galleries advises that this edition “was printed in 1799 for the family of the Emperor Maximilian I by Chez La Veuve Alberti, the widow of the printer Ignaz Alberti and published by F.X. Stockl, Marchand D'Estamps in Vienna” (https://www.annexgalleries.com/inventory/detail/17678).

Woodcut on laid paper with wide margins and stitch binding holes on left.

Size: (sheet) 41.5 x 29 cm; (image borderline) 23.7 x 21cm.

Numbered above the image borderline: (right) “71”.

New Hollstein (Leonhard Beck) 68 (Guido Messling [comp.] 2007, “The New Hollstein: Dutch and Flemish Etchings, Engravings and Woodcuts 1450–1700: Leonhard Beck”, Part I, Ouderkerk aan den Ijssel, Sound and Vision, p. 18, cat. no. 68).

For those unfamiliar with St. Lucius, I recommend reading the account offered by the Kulturstrøget website: https://web.archive.org/web/20150924092105/http://www.roskildekommune.dk/webtop/site.aspx?p=21421. Regarding the image shown in the woodcut, I believe—and I may be very wrong—that the building shown in the distance may be Roskilde Cathedral, as I understand that St. Lucius is its patron saint. The devil-like figure on the collapasing column may be a reference to the “vile demon” who interrupted the journey of the priests entrusted to bring the skiull relic of the saint to the cathedral by “demanding human sacrifice.” Fortunately, the priest holding the saint’s skull washed it and the demon disappeared into the sea after letting out a “sickening yell.”

Condition: a richly inked and superbly printed impression with generously wide margins in excellent condition with no tears, holes (beyond the stitch binding holes on the left edge), creases, abrasions, significant stains or foxing.

I am selling this large and superb woodcut, printed from the original 1510 plate in the later (1799) Franz Xaver Stöckl edition, for the total cost of AU$263 (currently US$198.91/EUR166.75/GBP143.37 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 startlingly fine woodcut showing St. Lucius dismissing a demon falling from a breaking column, please contact me (oz_jim@printsandprinciples.com) and I will send you a PayPal invoice to make the payment easy.











Félix Bracquemond’s drypoint, “Portrait de Femme”, 1867, after Ingres

Félix Bracquemond (aka Joseph Auguste Félix Bracquemond) (1833–1914)

“Portrait de Femme” (aka “Madame Granger”), 1867, after a drawing dated 1811 of the wife of the painter Jean Pierre Granger [1779–1840) by Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres (1780–1867), printed by Alfred Salmon (1863–1894) and published in Paris in 1867 as insert between pages 426 and 427 in “La Gazette des Beaux-Arts”, vol. 22, (see https://archive.org/details/gazettedesbeauxa22pari/page/n444/mode/2up).

Drypoint with etching on buff coloured chine collé on wove paper, trimmed with small margins around he platemark and backed with a heavy support sheet.

Size: (sheet) 25.5 x 16.8 cm; (plate [soft]) 24 x 15.5 cm; (chine collé) 21.9 x 14.9 cm; (image borderline) 21.2 x 14.1 cm.

Inscribed in plate within the image borderline: (lower left corner) “1811”.

Lettered in plate below the image borderline: (left) “INGRES DEL./ Gazette des Beaux-Arts.”; (centre) “PORTRAIT DE FEMME”; (right) “BRACQUEMOND SCULP./ Imp. A. Salmon, Paris.”

Beraldi, III.56.iv (Henri Béraldi 1885–1892, “Les graveurs du XIXe siècle: Guide de l'amateur d'estampes modernes, vol. 12, Paris, Librairie L. Conquet, p. 32, cat. no. 56); IFF III.370.211.iv (Jean Adhémar & Jacques Lethève 1954, “Inventaire du Fonds Francais Après 1800”, Paris, Bibliothèque nationale de France, p. 370, cat. no. 211).

The British Museum offers the following description of this print from its second state:

“three-quarter length portrait of young woman to left, arms folded resting on each other, head to front; after Ingres. 1867 Etching and drypoint” (https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/object/P_1923-0714-184 ).

See also the description of this print in its first state offered by the Metropolitan Museum of Art: https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/384002; and in its final state offered by the Harvard Art Museums: https://hvrd.art/o/270156.

Condition: a well-printed impression trimmed with a narrow margin around the platemark and laid upon a heavy archival support sheet of millennium quality washi paper. Beyond minor marks (see for example the spot near the figure’s left hand) and a pin hole near the figure’s wrists, the sheet is in a good condition with no tears, folds, abrasions or significant stains.

I am selling this very sensitively executed drypoint rendering of Ingres' drawing, for AU$248 (currently US$188.42/EUR157.82/GBP135.75 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 masterwork of delicately laid lines, please contact me (oz_jim@printsandprinciples.com) and I will send you a PayPal invoice to make the payment easy.











Sunday 27 June 2021

(Attrib.) Paul Flindt the Younger’s punched stipple engraving, “Beaker with Mascarons”, late 1500s


(Attrib.) Paul Flindt the Younger (aka Paul Flynt; Paul Vlindt; Paul Flint; Paul Flynth; Paul Vlindt the Younger) (c1567–1631)

“Beaker with Mascarons, Strapwork. and Rinceaux Decoration” (descriptive title only), late 1500s, from a series of 40 plates designed as illustrations to Flindt’s pattern-books for the goldsmith trade. According to Jeffrey Chipps Smith (2014) in “Nuremberg, a Renaissance City, 15001618”, two of these books were published in Vienna (1592–93) and the third book was published in Nuremberg in 1594. Based on a faint pencil inscription verso to a print from the same series that I purchased along with this print (see earlier listing), I believe that this impression is from the Nuremberg edition, “Veel schoene stvcken om te dryven den govdt smeden dienelyck”. The title plate for this series (see http://hdl.handle.net/10934/RM0001.COLLECT.387321) has publication details of the Amsterdam publisher, Ahasuerus van Londerseel (aka Assuerus Londerssel) (1572–1635). Janet S Byrne (1981) in “Renaissance Ornament Prints and Drawings” (Metropolitan Museum of Art) offers the following interesting insight regarding the designs in the series:

“His forty plates illustrate cups, beakers, goblets, a ewer, a pricket candle-stick, a hanging lamp, and goldsmiths' flowers. Some of the objects were practical, but many others, too awkward to drink from, to pour from, or even to pick up, were meant to be shown on sideboards. Flindt offered several designs for columbine cups, a favorite Nürnberg type and a test piece for goldsmiths wishing to become masters in the guild. By the time these prints were published, Nürnberg goldsmiths no longer were required to make their own designs for the test pieces and could, therefore, use Flindt's.” (p. 102)

Punched stipple engraving on laid paper trimmed with a narrow margin around the platemark and backed with a support sheet.

Size: (sheet) 25.2 x 18.1 cm; (plate) 24.8 x 17.6 cm.

Condition: a well-printed impression showing no sign of wear to the printing plate in an excellent condition with no tears, holes, abrasions, significant stains or foxing. The sheet has been laid upon an archival support sheet of millennium quality washi paper.

I am selling this remarkable stipple engraving inscribed with a goldsmiths’ hand-punch rather than a burin—a Punzenstecher’s (stamp engraver) technique arising from the practice of goldsmiths in the late 1500s to initially score dotted line guides before the formal engraving process and (sometimes) taking impression from the scored dot patterns (termed niello prints)—for the total cost of AU$234 (currently US$177.78/EUR148.91/GBP128.09 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 early pattern design for ornamented beaker featuring three mascarons, pierced strapwork and rinceaux decoration, 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 










Friday 25 June 2021

Hendrik Goltzius’ engraving, “Two Sibyls”, 1592, after Polidoro da Caravaggio

Hendrik Goltzius (aka Hendrick Goltzius) (1558–1617)

“Two Sibyls” (aka “Zwei Sibyllen”), 1592, after Polidoro da Caravaggio’s (aka Polidoro Caldara; Polidoro da Caravagio) (c1500–1536/7?) fresco near the Porta di S. Angelo in Rome, published by Hendrik Goltzius in Haarlem.

Engraving on fine laid paper (with watermark featuring a crowned shield with a paschal lamb below the shield).

Size: (sheet) 31.2 x 21.8 cm; (plate) 24.3 x 16.1 cm; (image borderline) 23.3 x 15.9 cm.

Lettered in plate below the image borderline: Due Sybille Rome extra Portam S. Angeli, a Polidoro quondam depicte et lucidè et subumbrose/ nunc recens ab [artist’s monogram with ligature initials] HGoltzio ibidem effigiate et Chalcographa arte Sculpte.”

State ii (of ii) with Latin text and the artist’s monogram.

TIB 0301.248 S2 (Walter L Strauss [ed.] 1982, “The Illustrated Bartsch: Netherlandish Artists: Hendrik Goltzius”, vol. 3 [Commentary], New York, Abaris Books, p. 284, cat. no. [0301].248 S2); Hollstein Dutch 304.

See also the descriptions of this print offered by the Rijksmuseum amd The British Museum: http://hdl.handle.net/10934/RM0001.COLLECT.448134; https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/object/P_1874-0808-1579.

Condition: a richly inked and well-printed (near faultless) impression with substantial margins in superb (museum quality) condition with no tears, holes, folds, abrasions, losses, significant stains or foxing.

I am selling this magnificent engraving in near pristine condition executed by one of the most important of the old master printmakers, for the total cost of AU$598 (currently US$453.89/EUR380.09/GBP327.12 at the time of this listing) including Express Mail (EMS) 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 brilliant engraving of two prophetesses—note Goltizius’ Hendrik Goltzius (aka Hendrick Goltzius) (1558–1617)

“Two Sibyls” (aka “Zwei Sibyllen”), 1592, after Polidoro da Caravaggio’s (aka Polidoro Caldara; Polidoro da Caravagio) (c1500–1536/7?) fresco near the Porta di S. Angelo in Rome, published by Hendrik Goltzius in Haarlem.

Engraving on fine laid paper (with watermark featuring a crowned shield with a paschal lamb below the shield).

Size: (sheet) 31.2 x 21.8 cm; (plate) 24.3 x 16.1 cm; (image borderline) 23.3 x 15.9 cm.

Lettered in plate below the image borderline: Due Sybille Rome extra Portam S. Angeli, a Polidoro quondam depicte et lucidè et subumbrose/ nunc recens ab [artist’s monogram with ligature initials] HGoltzio ibidem effigiate et Chalcographa arte Sculpte.”

State ii (of ii) with Latin text and the artist’s monogram.

TIB 0301.248 S2 (Walter L Strauss [ed.] 1982, “The Illustrated Bartsch: Netherlandish Artists: Hendrik Goltzius”, vol. 3 [Commentary], New York, Abaris Books, p. 284, cat. no. [0301].248 S2); Hollstein Dutch 304.

See also the descriptions of this print offered by the Rijksmuseum amd The British Museum: http://hdl.handle.net/10934/RM0001.COLLECT.448134; https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/object/P_1874-0808-1579.

Condition: a richly inked and well-printed (near faultless) impression with substantial margins in excellent (museum quality) condition with no tears, holes, folds, abrasions, losses, significant stains or foxing.

I am selling this magnificent engraving in near pristine condition executed by one of the most important of the old master printmakers, for the total cost of AU$598 (currently US$453.89/EUR380.09/GBP327.12 at the time of this listing) including Express Mail (EMS) 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 finely executed engraving of two prophetesses—note Goltizius’ breathtaking skill in rendering the flowing classical robes and the subtle features of the faces—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