Léon Bonnat, “Velasquez”, 1898, after Diego Velasquez

Léon Bonnat (aka Léon Joseph Florentin Bonnat) (1833–1922)

“Velasquez” (aka “Vélasquez d’après lui-même dans ‘Les Ménines’” [in Spanish, “'Las Meninas'']), 1898, after Diego Velasquez’s (aka Diego Rodríguez de Silva y Velázquez) (1599–1660) self-portrait in the painting, “'Las Meninas'', 1656, in the Museo del Prado (Madrid) (see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Las_Meninas), published in the March 1898 issue of the art journal, “Gazette des Beaux-Arts”, between pages 182 and 183.

Etching with pale plate tone printed in a cool-black ink on laid paper and backed with a support sheet.

Size: (sheet) 25.5 x 18.4 cm; (plate) 22.7 x 17.1 cm; (image borderline) 21.3 x 15.8 cm.

Inscribed in plate: (upper left corner) “VELAZQUEZ”; (lower left) “[artist monogram]/ =Janvrier 1898=/ Gazette des Beaux-Arts”; (lower right corner) “Léon Bonnat sc.”

IFF 9 (“Inventaire du Fonds Français”, Paris, Bibliothèque Nationale, Départment des Estampes).

Condition: a strong and well-printed impression in an excellent condition with no tears, holes, folds, abrasions or significant stains and laid upon a support sheet of archival (millennium quality) washi paper providing wide margins.

I am selling this extraordinarily beautiful etching capturing in a gauze of cross-hatched lines the slightly hazy self-portrait by Velasquez—an effect of fuzziness resulting from the portrayed distance that the painter had positioned himself from the viewer—for AU$244 in total (currently US$159.92/EUR147.21/GBP124.19 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. Note that payment is in Australian dollars (AU$244) as this is my currency.

If you are interested in purchasing this marvellous translation of the colours and tones of Velasquez’s self-portrait into a layering of line, please contact me (oz_jim@printsandprinciples.com) and I will send you a PayPal invoice to make the payment easy.

Léon Bonnat’s etching, “Jacob Wrestling with the Angel”, 1876

Léon Bonnat (aka Léon Joseph Florentin Bonnat) (1833–1922)

“Jacob Wrestling with the Angel” (aka “La Lutte de Jacob”; “The Battle of Jacob”), 1876, after Bonnet’s painting exhibited in the Paris Salon of 1876—see another version of this painting showcased in Sotheby’s Auctions (July 13, 2022, lot 35) https://www.sothebys.com/en/buy/auction/2022/european-british-art-part-i-2/la-lutte-de-jacob —printed in Paris by Alfred Salmon (aka Adolphe Ardail; Salmon & Ardail; Alfred Fortuné Salmon) (fl.1863–1894) and published in the June, 1876 issue of the art journal, “Gazette des Beaux-Arts”, between page 696 and 697.

Etching on laid paper (with partial watermark)—note that the National Gallery of Art proposes that this print is a drypoint (see https://www.nga.gov/collection/art-object-page.86066.html),

Size: (sheet) 27.8 x 20.3 cm; (plate) 22.6 x 16.3 cm; (image borderline) 19.4 x 13.1 cm.

Inscribed in plate within the image borderline with the artist’s monogram: (lower right corner) “LB”.

Lettered on plate below the image borderline: (left) “: L. BONNAT PINX. & SCULP./ Gazette des Beaux-Arts.”; (centre) “LA LUTTE DE JACOB”; (right) “SALON DE 1876./ Imp. A. Salmon, Paris.”

State ii (of ii) with the addition of publication details.

Beraldi 3 (Henri Beraldi 1885, “Les Graveurs du XIXe Siècke; guide de l'amateur d'estampes modernes”, vol. 2, Paris, L Conquet, p. 162, cat. no. 3); IFF 1 (Bibliothèque nationale de France 1930–, “Inventaire du Fonds Français”, Paris, Bibliothèque Nationale, Départment des Estampes., p. 124, cat. no. 1).

Condition: a strong and well-printed (near faultless) impression in a near pristine condition with no tears, holes, folds, abrasions, significant stains or foxing.

I am selling this superb etching of Bonnat's painting exhibited in the Paris Salon in the same year that this etching was executed (1876), for the total cost of AU$288 (currently US$192.50/EUR174.17/GBP153.32 at the time of posting this print) 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 visually arresting, but small, etching illustrating the Biblical verses describing Jacob’s night-long fight with an angel (Book of Genesis, chapter 32, verses 24–30)—a fight leading to the dislocation of Jacob’s thigh and the angel’s blessing of Jacob with the name “Israel” and the current Jewish tradition of not eating the sinew of the thigh (my apologies for all inaccuracies), 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

Abel Mignon’s engraving, “Samson and the Lion”, c1891, after Léon Bonnat

Abel Mignon (aka Abel Justin Mignon; Justin Abel Francois Xavier Mignon) (1861–1936)

“Samson and the Lion”, c1891, proof-state impression after Léon Bonnat’s (aka Léon Joseph Florentin Bonnat) (1833–1922) painting, “The Youth of Samson, Judges XIV” (aka “Samson's Youth”), 1891, exhibited in the Paris Salon des Beaux-Arts of 1891 (see Christie’s Auctions 2006 (Auction 1717, Lot 118): https://www.christies.com/en/lot/lot-4800786), published by Arthur Tooth & Sons (London) with the publisher’s blind-stamp and watermarked paper.

Engraving on buff wove paper with the watermarks of Arthur Tooth & Sons and BFK Rives, and the blind-stamp of the publishers, Arthur Tooth & Sons, at lower-left corner.

Size: (sheet) 32 x 45.7 cm; (plate) 30.8 x 37 cm; (image borderline) 22.8 x 27.9 cm.

Inscribed in plate within the image borderline: (lower right corner) “[L?]ⁿ. Bonnat./ 1891.”

Lettered in plate below the image borderline: (left) “Abel Mignon Graveur” with blind-stamp below the lettering with the ligature mark of Arthur Tooth & Sons.

Condition: a strong and well-printed impression in near pristine condition (i.e., there are no tears, holes, folds, abrasions, stains, foxing or signs of handling).

I am selling this finely engraved translation of Léon Bonnat’s painting by an engraver better known for his many designs for postage stamps—interestingly, I understand that Abel Mignon’s stamp design for what is now the Kurdistan Region of Iraq was reissued in 2010 (see Pierre Julien’s article [2014], “L'affaire Dreyfus, le graveur Abel Mignon et le général de Gaulle dans ‘Timbres magazine’")—AU$277 in total (currently US$198.96/EUR175.20/GBP146.53 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 exceedingly rare engraving—note that I have been unable to fine a copy of this strikingly beautiful print in any of the major art museums!—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

Léon Bonnat’s etching, “Léon Cogniet”, 1881

Léon Bonnat (aka Léon Joseph Florentin Bonnat) (1833-1922)

“Léon Cogniet”—French painter and printmaker (1794–1880), 1881, a rare “bon à tirer” proof impression (i.e. a “good to print” contractual verification proof for the printer as a print quality reference for the published edition), hand-inscribed in ink by Louise Gonse (1846–1921)— Editor-in-Chief of the “Gazette des Beaux-Arts”—after Bonnat’s painting of Cogniet (see https://www.musee-orsay.fr/typo3temp/zoom/tmp_07466112dd1811fcb352df46a3d7b165.gif). This print was employed as a guide to the etching published in Paris in the 1881 issue of the art journal, “Gazette des Beaux-Arts” (page 43) by Cadart ([fl.1875–1882] publishing house managed by the widow of Alfred Cadart following Alfred’s death in 1875).

Etching on laid paper (Arches), hand-inscribed in ink (with inky finger prints) by the Editor-in-Chief of “Gazette des Beaux-Arts” as the bon à tirer proof impression with wide margins backed with a support sheet.

Size: (sheet) 26.2 x 20.8 cm; (plate) 17.8 x 12.8 cm; (image borderline) 13.2 x 10 cm.

Handwritten annotation in ink at upper-left advising format specifications for the “Gazette des Beaux-Arts” signed by Louis Gonse (editor-in-chief): “Bon [à] Tirer/ à 2.350 format Gazette/ 25 avec letter ¼ Colombier/ L Gonse”. (My apologies if my reading of this inscription is faulty.)

Lettered on plate below the image borderline: (left) “L.Bonnat, pinx. et sc./ Gazette des Beaux-Arts.”; (centre) “LÉON COGNIET”; (right) “Imp. Cadart, Paris.”

Lifetime impression, bon à tirer state.

IFF vol. III, p. 124, no. 3

See also the description of this print offered by the Cleveland Museum of Art: https://www.clevelandart.org/art/2009.563.

Condition: by implication of the “bon à tirer” annotation, this impression is designed to be of the highest quality and faultless. Notwithstanding the intended showcase quality of the impression, the sheet shows significant signs of handling appropriate to its role as the reference proof for printing: inky finger marks on the right margin, slight rubbing and fold marks (now flattened). The sheet has been laid onto a support of archival (millennium quality) washi paper.

I am selling this unique (“one of a kind”) impression designed to be a printer’s standard of quality as hand inscribed by the Editor-in-Chief of the “Gazette des Beaux-Arts”, for the total cost of AU$302 (currently US$233.98/EUR196.50/GBP168.75 at the time of posting this print) 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 sensitive portrait of the famous printmaker and painter, Léon Cogniet, in his final years—note how Bonnat has cleverly created the aged appearance of Cogniet by the simple but insightfully applied device of accentuating the crease lines from the nose to the ends of the mouth—the nasolabial lines—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