Robert van Audenaerde, “The Descent from the Cross”, 1743, after Daniele da Volterra

Robert van Audenaerde (aka Robert van Audenard; Robert van Oudenaerde; Robert van Auden Aerd) (1663–1743)

“The Descent from the Cross” (aka “The Deposition”; “Deposizione dalla Croce”; “Descente de Croix”), 1743, after Daniele da Volterra’s (aka Daniele Ricciarelli) (1509–1566) painting, “The Disposition”, 1545, in the Santa Trinità dei Monti in Rome (see https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Descentfromthecross.jpg), published in Rome by Vincenzo Billy (aka Vincenzo Belli; Vincenzo Billi) (early 1700s) (see British Museum: https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/object/P_V-1-117) or by Arnold van Westerhout (1651–1725) (see Istituto Centrale per la Grafica:  https://www.calcografica.it/stampe/inventario.php?id=S-FC122156).

Interestingly, Daniele da Volterra is the artist who added strategically placed drapery over the nude figures in Michelangelo’s “The Last Judgement”, earning him the nickname "il braghettone" (the breeches-maker).

Engraving with etching on buff laid paper trimmed with a narrow margin around the image borderline and backed with a support sheet.

Size: (sheet) 41.4 x 28.8cm; (image borderline) 41 x 28.4cm.

Lettered in plate: (lower left corner) “[Dani]el da Voltera pinxit”.

Le Blanc (Charles Le Blanc 1854, “Manuel de l'Amateur d'Estampes”, vol. 1, Paris, Emile Bouillo, p. 68, cat. no. 28 [see https://archive.org/details/manueldelamateur01lebl/page/68/mode/2up]).

Condition: a strong and well-printed impression with a narrow margin around the image borderline and laid onto a sheet of archival (millennium quality) washi paper providing wide margins. The lower left corner has been replenished and there are minor areas of staining.

I am selling this magnificent engraving (with etching) for AU$336 (approximately US$220.70, EUR 187.93, or GBP 164.23), with worldwide express shipping included. Please note that any applicable import duties are the buyer’s responsibility.

If you are interested in this light-filled translation of Daniele da Volterra’s painting into line, 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

Adrien Manglard, “The Shipwreck”, c1750

Adrien Manglard (aka Adriaen Manglard) (1695–1760)

“The Shipwreck” (aka “Seascape” [MET title]; “La Naufrage”), c1750, a lifetime impression from the second state (of four) before the addition of the plate number and the publication details for Vincenzo Billy (fl. early 1700s?). Note that this is a rare etching that is not in the collection of either the British Museum or the Rijksmuseum.

Etching on laid paper (partial watermark) with a small margin around the platemark and restoration of the upper-right corner of the margin. Verso has past collectors’ pencil inscriptions and there is a faint collector’s ink stamp (not fully legible) on the lower-left edge.

Size: (sheet) 30.2 x 44 cm; (plate) 28.3 x 42.7 cm; (image borderline) 27.5 x 42.2 cm.

Inscribed in plate below the image borderline: (left) “Manglard fecit”.

State ii (of iv) before numbering and the addition of the publisher’s address.

Robert-Dumesnil 42 (A.P.F Robert-Dumesnil 1836, “Le Peintre-Graveur Français”, vol. 2, Paris, p. 253, cat. no. 42 [ii]; [see: https://archive.org/details/bnf-bpt6k6558132k/page/n271/mode/2up]).

Robert-Dumesnil (1836) offers the following description of this print: (transl.) “Sea view during a storm. A high-sided vessel has been thrown by the waves against the reefs which occupy the middle of the bottom, and has been wrecked there. Men are busy rescuing the people who have survived this disaster. Other vessels, in the distance, seem to be struggling with effort against a similar fate. The shore, on the left, is formed by a sheer rock surmounted by a tower; and, on the right, by a site decorated with the remains of a triumphal arch” (p. 253).

Condition: a strong and well-printed impression showing no sign of wear to the printing plate with a small margin around the plate mark. Beyond restoration of the upper-right corner of the margin, the sheet is in excellent condition for its age with no holes, folds, abrasions or significant stains

I am selling this large and rare etching rich with a layering of hatched strokes capturing the turmoil of a gale as figures in the foreground try to save the stranded from a shipwreck while other ships rock wildly in the distance, for the total cost of AU$366 (currently US$240.63/EUR220.42/GBP188.58 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. Note that payment is in Australian dollars (AU$366) as this is my currency.

If you are interested in purchasing this tour de force seascape of pure etched line with a clear artistic nod to similar harbour and shipwreck scenes of Claude Lorrain (aka Claude Gellée) (1600-1682) (see for example: https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/object/P_M-12-30), 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

Karl Audran’s engraving, “Allegory of the birth of Maffeo Barberini, later Pope Urban VIII”, c1630, after Andrea Sacchi

Karl Audran (aka Charles Audran; Karol Audran; Karolus Audran) (1594–1674)

“Allegory of the birth of Maffeo Barberini, later Pope Urban VIII” (aka “Education of Jupiter with the Barberini family's coat of arms”), c1630 , after Andrea Sacchi’s (c1599–1661) preparatory red chalk and wash drawing (see https://www.christies.com/lotfinder/Lot/andrea-sacchi-nettuno-1599-1661-rome-allegory-of-6055755-details.aspx) and Sacchi’s final red chalk design (Mathias Polakovits collection) in which the goat (Amalthea) suckling the baby (Jupiter) is replaced with greater emphasis on the swarm of bees (the Barberini family's heraldic symbol), initially published in Rome by Aloisio Neri (fl.1630) and later by Vincenzo Billy (aka Vincenzo Billi; Vincenzo Belli) (early 1700s) also in Rome. This impression is from the Vincenzo Billy edition.

Interestingly, the copy of this print held by the British Museum (inv. no. 1941,1204.23) is described by the Curator as “a later state” than the copy illustrated in Ann Sutherland Harris’ catalogue of the works of Sacchi (cat. 84). This would mean that the copy shown here is an even later state, because the banderole held by the putti in the sky at upper right has traces of the erased banner with the coat of arms featuring the Barberini bees of Cardinal Francesco Barberini (nephew of Pope Urban VIII) featured in the British Museum’s copy. I presume that coat of arms originally held by the putti was deemed inappropriate resulting in its erasure and its replacement with the banderole.

The British Museum offers the following description of this print:

“An allegory on the birth of Urban VIII, which is compared to that of Zeus, nursed by the nymphs Adrasteia and Io, and that of the poet Pindar (see Philostratus, Imagines II 12); the infant is lying at left, attended by two nymphs; a swarm of bees, the symbol of the Barberini family, is flying towards him; on the right, four men dancing and playing music. c.1630”

https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/object/P_1941-1204-23.

Engraving on laid paper with a small margin and backed with a support sheet.

Size: (sheet) 31.8 x 41.8 cm; (plate) 31.2 x 41.1 cm; (image borderline) 30.8 x 40.6 cm).

Inscribed on plate within the image borderline: (lower left) “Vincent. Billy Formis Roma”; (lower left of centre) “Andreas Sacchj Romanus Inuentor”; (lower right of centre) “Karol [?] Audran Paris. Fecit Romae”.

IFF 154 (Bibliothèque Nationale, Département des Estampes 1939–, “Inventaire du Fonds Français: Graveurs du XVIIe Siècle”, vol. 1, Paris, Bibliothèque Nationale, p. 184, cat. no. 154); Le Blanc 318 (Charles Le Blanc 1854–1888, “Manuel de l'amateur d'estampes: contenant le dictionnaire des graveurs de toutes les nations”).

See also the description of this print offered by the Rijksmuseum:

http://hdl.handle.net/10934/RM0001.collect.72819.

Condition: a strong and well-printed impression with a small margin around the platemark and laid onto an archival support sheet of millennium quality washi paper. Beyond a closed tear on the lower edge and a minor chip to the margin at upper right the sheet is in excellent condition with no holes, folds, abrasions, significant stains or foxing.

I am selling this large engraving executed by the “founder of the Audran dynasty” and Herman van Swanevelt’s house mate, for $277 in total (currently US$196.26/EUR168.27/GBP151.67 at the time of posting 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 allegory about the birth of Maffeo Barberini who was later to become Pope Urban VIII—a significant patron of the arts at the time and who I understand excommunicated smokers, engaged in grand scale nepotism and took the astronomer Galileo to court for not recanting his belief in Copernican heliocentrism (viz. that the earth revolved around the sun amongst other principles)—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

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Pietro Testa’s etching, “The Death of Cato”, 1648

Pietro Testa (1607/11–1650)

“The Death of Cato” (aka “The Death of Cato Uticensis”; “Death of Cato of Utica”), 1648, first state/ lifetime impression before the addition of the publication details of Arnold van Westerhout (aka Arnoldus Westerhout; Arnoldus van Westerhout) (1651–1725) in Rome (possibly circa 1681 when the publisher lived with Cornelis Bloemaert near San Ignazio) and later by Vincenzo Billy (aka Vincenzo Billi; Vincenzo Belli) (early 1700s).

Etching and engraving on laid paper with the watermark, “anchor in a circle topped by a star” (Roman paper 1638), trimmed around the platemark.

Size: (sheet) 27.9 x 41.4 cm.

Lettered with seven lines of Latin on panel at right addressed to Cato by Testa: “Sic fortitudinis, Cato; æternum præbes monimentum; qui/ turpe uitæ præcium seruitutem existimans, plus ad liber=/ tatem, quam ad mortem uiscera aperuisti. Quid gladi=/ um aufertis libertatis adsertorem'.  ecce manus/ uindex gloriosam manumittit animam. Silcant in=/ anes fletus: generosus Cato non interijt, nichil/ egit fortuna, Virtus semper in tuto est./ P.Testa 1648”.

State i (of iv) before the addition of Van Westhout's address at bottom centre and the indication of breakage of the plate at lower right corner of state ii; the replacement of Van Westerhout’s address with that of Vincenzo Billy of state iii; the abrasion of all addresses of state iv but still retaining the corner damage to the plate arising in state ii. See the first state impression held by the Rijksmuseum: http://hdl.handle.net/10934/RM0001.COLLECT.185151.

TIB 4506.020 (Paola Bellini & Richard W Wallace [eds.] 1990, “The Illustrated Bartsch: Italian Masters of the Seventeenth Century”, vol. 45, Commentary, New York, Abaris Books, p. 148, cat. no. .020 S1 or S4; [Illus.] vol. 45, p.141); Bartsch 20 (Adam von Bartsch 1920–22, “Le Peintre Graveur”, Würzburg, p. 1270, cat. no. 20); Bellini 39 (Paolo Bellini 1976, “L'opera incisa di Pietro Testa”, Vicenza); Cropper 116 (Elizabeth Cropper 1988, “Pietro Testa, 1612–1650: Prints and Drawings”, Philadelphia, Philadelphia Museum of Art, pp. 252–56).

Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco offer the following description of this print:

“numerous grieving men around a bed on which the dead Cato is sprawled face down, lamp in the corner, sad standing male figure at right by doorway, lamp in the corner, portrait busts over two doorways”

(https://art.famsf.org/pietro-testa/death-cato-1993639).

The Metropolitan Museum of Art offers a different reading of what is portrayed:

“The suicide of the philosopher Cato, who lies on his bed pulling out his innards watched by horrified disciples”

(https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/399909).

Wellcome Collection offers the following insights regarding this print:

“Cato is shown lying on his bed, surrounded by his mourning friends, and killing himself by tearing out his own entrails. Cato Marcus Porcius (95-46 BC) leader of the Optimates, tried to preserve the Roman Republic against power seekers, in particular Julius Caesar. Cato's sole chance to preserve the republic lay in supporting Pompey, whom he had formerly opposed. After Pompey's defeat, Cato led a small remnant of troops to Africa, where he killed himself after evacuating his adherents by sea”

(https://wellcomecollection.org/works/gb28t3gn).

Condition: well-printed first state/lifetime impression printed in a silvery grey ink showing no sign of wear to the printing plate. The sheet is trimmed along the plate mark and is in a clean condition with no tears, losses, stains or foxing—but there are a few minor abrasions (e.g. on the figure above Cato). There are flattened fold marks verso but these are not visible recto.

I am selling this visually arresting etching showing the conservative Roman senator and Stoic philosopher, Cato the younger (95–46 BC), committing suicide by eviscerating himself rather than losing his liberty to Julius Caesar—mindful that Testa committed suicide two years after executing this etching—for AU$632 in total (currently US$382.40/EUR353.52/GBP311.45 at the time of posting 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 grim celebration by Testa of a beautiful life–note that the tablet onto which Cato is falling is inscribed with the absolute geometry ratio of 6:12–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