Prints and Principles

Most of the recent posts give details about individual prints and earlier posts discuss some of the subtle principles guiding artists in making images meaningful and memorable. For prints that are unsold, click "Items still available for sale" below. All other prints are no longer available. My contact email is oz_jim@printsandprinciples.com and my Instagram username is @printsandprinciples. I have created a separate blog to show my own work: https://printsandprinciplesjamesbrown.blogspot.com

Tuesday, 3 June 2025

Conrad Faber von Kreuznach, “Cornelius Scipio forming an alliance with the King of Numidia, Masinissa”, 1530

Conrad Faber von Kreuznach (aka Konrad Faber von Creuznach; [formerly] “Master of the Holzhausen Portraits”) (1495–1558)

“Cornelius Scipio forming an alliance with the King of Numidia, Masinissa”, 1530, woodcut illustration with German text (recto and verso) to pages 164 and 165 (verso shows page CLXIIII [164]) published in 1533 in Mainz in the German edition of the Roman Historian, Livy’s (aka Titus Livius) (59/64 BC–17 AD) “Römische Historien” (Roman Histories), edited by Johannes Schoeffer (c1475–1531), and translated from Latin by Bernhard Schöfferlin (c1436–1501) and Ivo Wittich (1456–1507) with contributions by Nicolaus Carbach (aka Nicolaum Carbachium) (1485–c1534) and Jakob Micyllus (aka Jacobum Micyllum) (1503–1558).

Note that the title I’ve given to this woodcut is descriptive only and based on my reading (with mistakes) of the German Fraktur text above the woodcut: “Wie Cornelius Scipio durch sein vernunssc vnnd cugendt/ bewegt Masinissam den Fonig Numidie / vnnd Siphacem den tonig Affrice/ Das sie fich zu den Romern inn freuntschafft vnd bundtnus begaben.” Transl. “Just as Cornelius Scipio, through his reason and virtue, persuaded Masinissam, the king of Numidia, and Siphacem, the powerful Affrica, to enter into friendship and alliance with the Romans.”

I understand that the scene shows the Roman general, Cornelius Scipio (aka Scipio Africanus) making an alliance of the Numidian kings with Rome during the Second Punic War.

Archive.org offers an online view of the later 1538 edition of this publication with the woodcut illustrating an event featuring Hannibal on page CCLXXX (280); see https://archive.org/details/gri_33125011080492/page/n583/mode/2up.

Woodcut with letterpress German text recto and verso on fine laid paper with full margins as published and with ink annotations in the margin (verso) by an old hand.

Size: (sheet) 30.6 x 19.7 cm; (image borderline) 14.5 x 14.8 cm.

Condition: a strong and well-printed (near faultless) lifetime impression (based on the quality of the printed line showing no sign of wear to the printing plate). Beyond the early ink inscriptions verso, the sheet is in an excellent condition for its considerable age with no tears, folds, abrasions or significant stains.

I am selling this superb leaf with a Renaissance period woodcut for AU$308 (approximately US$199.28, EUR 174 or GBP 147.36), including express mail shipping worldwide. Import duties, if any, are the responsibility of the buyer.

If you are interested in purchasing this superb leaf featuring a large woodcut of extraordinary quality—note that the image is very likely to be a composite of four plates—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