Jan van Vliet, “Touch”, c1634

Jan van Vliet (aka Jan Georg van Vliet; Jan Joris van Vliet) (c1600/1610–1668?)

“Touch”, c1634, from the series of five plates, “The Five Senses”, published by Clement de Jonghe (aka Clemendt de Ionghe) (1624/25–1677).

Etching and engraving on laid paper trimmed along the image borderline and backed with a support sheet.

Size: (sheet) 24.4 x 20 cm

Inscribed in plate: (lower left) “JG [entwined]. v. vliet fec. Clemendt de Ionghe excud.”

State iii (of iii) with the addition of Clement de Jonghe as the publisher.

Hollstein 30.III (Christiaan Schuckman [comp.] 1992, “Hollstein’s Dutch & Flemish Etchings, Engravings and Woodcuts c.1450–1700: Johannes [de] Visscher to Robert van Voerst”, Roosendaal, Koninklijke van Poll, vol. XLI, p. 172, cat. no. 30. III).

The British Museum offers the following description of this print: “A physician's surgery with the doctor kneeling in foreground as he operates on the leg of the male figure flinching with pain at right; another figure looking on; on the back wall a shelf with various vessels and medical instruments; a tortoise and a dog at far left; from a series of five plates. c.1634/ Etching and engraving” (https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/object/P_Sheepshanks-199).

Note that Cornelis Dusart presents a similar scene of medical intervention in his etching, “The Cupping-Glass”, executed around sixty years after Jan van Vliet’s etching; see https://www.printsandprinciples.com/2023/05/cornelis-dusarts-etching-cupping-glass.html.

Condition: a strong and well printed impression trimmed around the image borderline and laid onto a support of archival (millennium quality) washi paper providing wide margins. The sheet is in an excellent condition with no tears, holes, folds, abrasions or significant stains.

I am selling this superb etching exemplifying perfectly the sense of touch—mindful that this print is from the series of the five senses—by showing a patient screaming in pain (or “flinching” as the British Museum describes the scene), for AU$422 (equivalent to approximately US$275, EUR 241.26, or GBP 202.65 at the time of listing) and includes Express Mail Service (EMS) postage and handling to any worldwide destination. Please note that any import duties or taxes levied by the destination country, if any, are the responsibility of the buyer and are not included in the purchase price. Payment is requested in Australian dollars (AU$422).

If you are interested in purchasing this marvellous etching by one of the most famous of the Dutch old masters and a collaborator with Rembrandt (see “Rembrandt and van Vliet. A Collaboration on Copper”, exh. cat., 1996), 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