Jean Audran’s engraving, “Man Clinging to the Edge of a Boat”, 1687

Jean Audran (1667–1756)

“Man Clinging to the Edge of a Boat” (aka “Homme se cramponnant au bord d'une barque”; “Man boomt een roeiboot” [Rijksmuseum title]), 1687, lifetime impression of plate 4 from the series of six engravings, “Six Studies from the Battles of Alexander the Great” (Le Blanc I.103.124–129), after a painting by Charles Le Brun (aka Charles Lebrun) (1619–1690), published by Jacques Chéreau (1688–1776).

Engraving on laid paper, lifetime impression before lettering, trimmed with a small margin around the image borderline and backed with a support sheet providing wide margins.

Size: (support sheet) 23.8 x 26.5 cm; (sheet)10.8 x 13.8 cm; (image borderline) 10 x 13.4 cm.

State i (of ii?) before lettering with the artist’s name and date.

LeBlanc 127 (Charles Le Blanc 1854, “Manuel de l'amateur d'estampes, contenant le dictionnaire des graveurs de toutes les nations, dans lequel sont decrites les estampes rares, precieuses et interessantes avec l'indication de leurs differents etats et des prix auxquels”, Paris, Imprimerie Guiraudet et Jouaust, vol. 1, p. 103, cat. no. 127); IFF 80 (“Inventaire du fonds français: graveurs du XVIIe siècle”, vol. 1, Paris, Bibliothèque nationale de France, p. 165, cat. no. 80).

See also the descriptions of this print offered by the Rijksmuseum and the Herzog Anton Ulrich Museum (Braunschweig) including a file of the print allowing close examination of the lettered publication details: http://hdl.handle.net/10934/RM0001.COLLECT.417769; https://nat.museum-digital.de/object/851736; http://diglib.hab.de/varia/haum/audran-j-ab3-0047/max/000001.jpg. 

Condition: a strong and well-printed (near faultless) impression, trimmed slightly unevenly with a narrow margin around the image borderline and laid onto archival (millennium quality) washi paper. Beyond minor foxing, the sheet is in a good condition for its considerable age with no tears, holes, folds or significant stains.

I am selling this small and superbly executed engraving of a man “legging”/hauling himself into a small boat for the total cost of AU$244 (currently US$171.95/EUR157.74/GBP141.04 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 amazing engraving—note the high degrees of control and precision shown in the linework rendering the figure—please contact me (oz_jim@printsandprinciples.com) and I will send you a PayPal invoice to make the payment easy.