Jan Luyken, “Cambyses at Memphis Mocking the Egyptian Idolatry”, 1690

Jan Luyken (aka Jan Luijken) (1649–1712) or an artist from his circle
“Cambyses at Memphis Mocking the Egyptian Idolatry”, 1690

The etching portrays a tumultuous scene around 525 BCE, depicting Persian King Cambyses II slaying the sacred Egyptian Apis bull—an embodiment of the god Ptah—in Memphis, with the Pyramids of Giza visible in the distance.

Technical Details & Condition:
Etching printed in a warm black ink on laid paper with full margins as published by David and Willem Goeree in Amsterdam in 1700 in “Mosaize Historie der Hebreeuwse Kerke…” (Mosaic History of the Hebrew Church…), page 309. The print features the original folds of publication, now flattened by the sheet having been archival laid on a washi paper backing to provide stability. The impression is strong and well-printed (near flawless). The sheet is in excellent condition, free of tears, holes, and significant stains.

Dimensions:
• Sheet: 32.9 x 38.5 cm
• Plate mark: 28.4 x 36.4 cm
• Image borderline: 27 x 35.5 cm

Plate Lettering:
• Above the image borderline at right: “309”
• Below the image borderline: “Kambyses te Memphis d'Egiptische Afgoderie bespottende, Dood den Vermaarden Godt APIS; en doed desselfs Feeft in een Bloed-Bad eindigen.” [Cambyses at Memphis, mocking the Egyptian idolatry, slew the famous god APIS; and caused his festival to end in a bloodbath.]

References:
• Van Eeghen 1135 (Pieter van Eeghen & Johan Philip van der Kellen 1905, Het werk van Jan en Casper Luyken, Amsterdam, Frederik Muller & Co., vol. 1, p. 194, cat. no. 1135 [see https://archive.org/details/hetwerkvanjanen00kellgoog/page/194/mode/1up])

Price & Shipping:
AU$288 (approximately US$191.30 / €164.27 / £143.51), including worldwide express shipping. Import duties and taxes are the buyer’s responsibility.

If you're interested in acquiring this highly detailed etching by a significant figure within the Baroque art movement, please contact me at oz_jim@printsandprinciples.com. I am happy to provide a secure PayPal invoice for a seamless purchase.

Antonio Tempesta, “Romans Defeated Near the Rhine”, 1612

Antonio Tempesta (1555? – 1630)
“Romans Defeated Near the Rhine”, 1612

Technical Details & Condition:
Etching on fine laid paper with small margins as published, featuring Latin letterpress text verso. The impression is generally strong, with a paler area beneath the shield of the foreground figure on the right. The sheet is in very good condition, free of tears, holes, folds, abrasions, or significant stains.

The print is plate 6 from the series, “The Batavian Revolt” (also known as “The War of the Romans Against the Batavians” and “Batavorum cum Romanis Bellum, à Corn. Tacitus”). The composition is possibly based on a comparable battle scene by Otto van Veen (also known as Venius) (1556–1629)—the teacher of Rubens—in the Rijksmuseum (A 424).

This is a lifetime impression from the first state with the Latin text verso. In the second state, the etching is heavily retouched, without text on the verso, and includes a French lettered title and number (see TIB 3501.502. p. 116).

Dimensions:
• Sheet: 20.7 x 23.1 cm
• Plate mark: 16.7 x 20.9 cm
• Image borderline: 14.7 x 20.7 cm

Plate Lettering:
• Below the image borderline at left:
“De Romeynen vergaderen opwaerts by den Ryn, den welcken Ciuilis/ te velde comt, ende wint den slagh, door dien eenighe Tonghersche vendelen tot/ hem ouer vallen, cryght oock 24. Schepen in den Ryn, die het Hollandtsch/ bootsvolck, worpende de Romeynsche soldaten ouer boort, aen syn syde brenghen.”
(The Romans gather upstream at the Rhine, when Civilis enters the field and wins the battle, because some Tongeren banners fall upon him. He also sends 24 ships into the Rhine, which the Dutch boatmen bring to his side, throwing the Roman soldiers overboard.)

• Below the image borderline at centre: (plate number in circle) “6”
• Below the image borderline at right: (translation of the Dutch text on the left in Latin):
“Haud procul, à Rheno Romanos in vnum collectos Ciuilis … et in aquam deturbando, ad Ciuilem pertrahunt.”

References:
• TIB 35.565 (Sebastian Buffa [ed.] 1984, “The Illustrated Bartsch: Italian Masters of the Sixteenth Century: Antonio Tempesta”, vol. 35, New York, Abaris Books, p. 294, cat. no. 565)
• TIB 3501.502 SI II (Eckhard Leuschner 2007, “The Illustrated Bartsch: Antonio Tempesta”, vol. 35. Part 2 [Commentary], New York, Abaris Books, p. 116, cat. no. [3501] .502 S1 II)

• See also the descriptions of this print offered by the Rijksmuseum (https://id.rijksmuseum.nl/200478689) and the Metropolitan Museum of Art (https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/401435).

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Price & Shipping:
AU$302 (approximately US$200.17 / €171.55 / £149.91), including worldwide express shipping. Please note that import duties and taxes are the buyer’s responsibility.

If you are interested in acquiring this spectacular early etching depicting a battle scene described by Tacitus (“Histories, IV, 16”) — a battle circa 70 CE when the Roman warship commanders were killed by their Batavian rowers, with the ships brought to their Batavian chieftain, Gaius Julius Civilis — please contact me at oz_jim@printsandprinciples.com. I am happy to provide a secure PayPal invoice for a seamless purchase.

This print has been sold 

Marcus Gheeraerts I, “Fable of the Fly and the Ants”, 1567

Marcus Gheeraerts I (also known as Marc Garrard, Marcus Geraerts, Marc Gerards, and Marcus Gheraerts) (1516/21–circa 1590)
“Fable of the Fly and the Ants” (titled in the plate, “De Vlieghe en Mieren” [The Flies and Ants]), 1567 (published in 1617)

The Rijksmuseum provides the following explanation of this fable regarding Aegidius Sadeler II’s (c.1570–1629) mirror copy of Marcus Gheeraerts’ engraving (Hollstein Dutch 390):
“A group of ants in front of a tree. A fly in the air. The fable tells of the fly bragging to the ants about its wonderful life. The ants praise their own industriousness. When winter comes, the fly dies, while the ants survive on the fruits of their labour. The moral of the story teaches that industriousness is a virtue and idleness a vice.”
https://id.rijksmuseum.nl/200247581

Technical Details & Condition:
Etching on fine laid paper with full margins as published, featuring Dutch letterpress text above and below the engraving, and verso. The impression is strong, and the sheet is in excellent condition, free of tears, holes, folds, abrasions, or significant stains.

The print is plate 57 from a series of 125 plates published in Amsterdam (possibly by Sander Wybrantsz et al.) in 1617, serving as illustrations to Joost van den Vondel’s (1587–1679) “Vorstelijke Warande der Dieren” (Princely Warren of Animals).

Dimensions:
• Sheet: 19.6 x 15.7 cm
• Plate mark: 9.6 x 11.5 cm
• Image borderline: 9.4 x 11.3 cm

Letterpress Dutch lettering:
• Above the plate mark: “57 WARANDE DER DIEREN./ 57. De Vlieghe en Mieren.”
• Below the plate mark: “SULke redenen zijnder … leven niet seker. CUSPINIANUS”

References:
• Hollstein (Dutch) 1–108 (FWH Hollstein, 1949, Dutch and Flemish Etchings, Engravings and Woodcuts ca.1450–1700, vol. VII, Amsterdam, Menno Hertzberger, p. 100, cat. nos. 1–108)
• The British Museum describes an earlier edition (c. 1567):
“'The fly and the ant'; a group of ants at left are crawling into a tree; a fly flies down to them; in the background there are two men on horses; in the background there is a church …”
https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/object/P_1868-0612-167
• Archive.org offers an online view of the 1682 edition:
https://archive.org/details/vorstelijckewara00vond/page/n127/mode/2up

Price & Shipping:
AU$264 (approximately US$174.59 / €149.68 / £130.89), including worldwide express shipping. Please note that import duties and taxes are the buyer’s responsibility.

If you are interested in acquiring this visually intriguing emblem print—hopefully other viewers will be more attuned to see the large fly depicted at the centre of the composition than I was!—please contact me at oz_jim@printsandprinciples.com. I am happy to provide a secure PayPal invoice for a seamless purchase.

This print has been sold 

Charles Waltner, “Le Vase de Chine”, 1875, after Mariano Fortuny

Charles Waltner (aka Charles Albert Waltner) (1846–1925)
“Le Vase de Chine” (The Chinese Vase),1875
After a painting by Mariano Fortuny (also known as Mariano José María Bernardo Fortuny y Carbo and Mariano José María Bernardo Fortuny y Marsal) (1838–1874) from the John W. Wilson Collection—a collection exhibited in Wilson’s gallery to showcase “the artistic and literary Circle of Brussels. For the benefit of the poor of this city” (see https://archive.org/details/catalogueraison00ledegoog/page/n153/mode/1up).

Technical Details & Condition:

Etching on cream laid paper with full margins as published. The impression is strong (near faultless), with the sheet in pristine condition—free of tears, holes, folds, abrasions, stains, or signs of handling.
The etching was printed by Alfred Salmon (active 1863–1894) and published in Paris and London in 1875 by A. Ballue in volume 1 of the art periodical “L'Art: Revue Hebdomadaire Illustrée”, between pages 166 and 167.

Dimensions:

• Sheet: 42.5 x 30 cm
• Plate: 29.5 x 22.2 cm
• Image borderline: 24.5 x 18 cm

Plate Lettering:

• Within the image borderline at the lower right corner (signature): “[M F]ortunty/ 1870”
• Lower left: “Mariano Fortuny pinx/ L’Art”
• Lower centre: “LE VASE DE CHINE/ (Collection de M. John W. Wilson)”
• Lower right: “Ch. Waltner sculp. / Imp. A. Salmon.”

References:

• Béraldi 48 (Henri Béraldi, 1892, Les Graveurs du XIXe Siècle: Guide de l'Amateur d'Estampes Modernes: Saint-Marcel–Zwinger, vol. XII, Paris, Librairie L. Conquet, p. 262, cat. no. 48)
  (see https://archive.org/details/lesgraveursdu19e12berauoft/page/262/mode/2up)
• The British Museum describes this print: https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/object/P_1877-0210-440

Price & Shipping:

AU$214 (approximately US$140.90 / €120.96 / £106.46), including worldwide express shipping. Please note that import duties and taxes are the buyer’s responsibility.

If you are interested in acquiring this exquisite etching—note the artist’s skill in capturing the shimmering effect of light bouncing off mirrors and gilded surfaces in the lavishly decorated room—please contact me at oz_jim@printsandprinciples.com. I am happy to provide a secure PayPal invoice for a seamless purchase.