Jules Simon Payrau, “Le Vin de Circé”, c. 1892, after Edward Burne-Jones

Jules Simon Payrau (or Jules-Simon Payrau) (fl. 1890–1905)

“Le Vin de Circé” (Circe’s Wine)— the legendary potion used by the sorceress Circe to transform Odysseus' men into swine, published in 1892

Technical Details & Condition:

Etching with engraving and drypoint on cream chine collé on heavy wove paper with generously wide margins as issued. The etching is based on a design originating from a painting (watercolour and bodycolour on paper) of the same title (1863–1869) by the renowned artist Edward Burne-Jones (also known as Edward Coley Burne-Jones) (1833–1898). The Burne-Jones Catalogue Raisonné Foundation (Galleries Online) offers a detailed description of this painting: https://www.eb-j.org/browse-artwork-detail/MTI2MA==.

This print was printed by Salmon & Ardail (fl. 1863–1894) and published in the esteemed Parisian art journal “Gazette des Beaux-Arts” in November 1892, positioned between pages 382 and 383.

This impression is strong and the sheet remaining in excellent condition—completely free of tears, holes, folds, or significant stains.

Dimensions:

• Sheet: 30.8 x 40.2 cm
• Platemark: 17.7 x 24.9 cm
• Chine collé: 16.4 x 23.8 cm
• Image borderline: 14 x 20.9 cm

Plate lettering below the image borderline:

• Left: “BURNE-JONES PINX./ Gazette des Beaux-Arts”
• Centre: “LE VIN DE CIRCÉ”
• Right: “J PAYRAU SC./ [faint] Imp. A. Salmon & Ardail, Paris.”

Price & Shipping:

AU$223 (approximately US$149.37 / €128.40/ £111.49), 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—an interpretative masterpiece that captures the shimmering effect of rich colour and the intricate detail of the original painting—please contact me at oz_jim@printsandprinciples.com. I am happy to provide a secure PayPal invoice for a seamless purchase.

Henri Guérard’s mezzotint with etching, “Sibylla Delphica”, 1887, after Edward Burne-Jones

Henri Guérard (aka Henri-Charles Guérard) (1846–1897)

“Sibylla Delphica”, 1887, after the painting of the same title (1868) (see https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Edward_Burne-Jones_-_Sibylla_Delphica,_1868.jpg) in the Manchester Art Gallery by Edward Burne-Jones (aka Edward Coley Burne-Jones) (1833–1898), printed by L Eudes (fl.1876–1889), published in Paris as an illustration to the art periodical, “Gazette des Beaux-Arts”, 1887, vol. 36 (Vingt-neuvième année - Deuxième période Volume trente-sixième), opposite page 194 (see https://archive.org/details/gazettedesbeauxa61pari/page/194/mode/2up).

Etching with mezzotint printed in a warm black ink on laid paper backed with a support sheet. Note that the British Museum proposes that this print may be an aquatint, but based on the fine rocker-like score marks on the face and hands I am swayed to believe it is a mezzotint—I may be wrong!

Size: (sheet) 28.1 x 16.7 cm; (plate) 23.7 x 11.4 cm; (image borderline) 20.8 x 8.2 cm.

Lettered in plate below the image borderline: (left) “Burne-Jones pinx./ Gazette des Beaux-Arts.”; (centre) “SIBYLLA DELPHICA.”; (right) “H. Guérard sc./ Imp. Etudes.”

Beraldi 487 (Henri Béraldi 1888, “Les Graveurs du XIXe Siècle: Guide de l'Amateur d'Estampes Modernes”, vol. VII, Paris, Librairie L Conquet, p. 272, cat. no. 487); IFF 57 (Département des Estampes 1930–, “Inventaire du Fonds Francais Après 1800”, Paris, Bibliothèque Nationale de France, cat. no. 57).

The British Museum offers the following description of this print: “The Delphic Sibyl, after Edward Burne-Jones, full-length, standing by the tripod, holding bay leaves … plate published in 'La Gazette des Beaux-Arts', 1887, volume II, page 194. 1887 Etching (with aquatint?)” (https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/object/P_1922-0718-39).

Condition: a strong and well-printed impression with a good margin around the platemark and laid upon an archival support sheet of millennium quality washi paper. The sheet is in a near pristine condition with no tears, holes, folds, abrasions, stains or signs of handling.

I am selling this small and exceptionally beautiful mezzotint after Edward Burne-Jones’ painting of the Delphic Sibyl—a prophetic figure of Ancient Greece famous for foreshadowing the coming of Christ and, interestingly, features in Michelangelo’s Sistine Chapel ceiling—for the total cost of AU$202 (currently US$129.5/EUR132.12/GBP115.87 at the time of 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 sensitively executed mezzotint, please contact me (oz_jim@printsandprinciples.com) and I will send you a PayPal invoice to make the payment easy.

Dalziel Brothers’ wood-engraving, "Summer Snow", 1863

Wood-engravers: Dalziel Brothers (aka Camden Press; Dalziel and Co.) (1839–1905)

Designer: Edward Burne-Jones (1833–98)

“The Summer Snow”, 1863, illustration to Dora Greenwell’s poem, “Summer Snow”, published by Strahan & Co. (London and Edinburgh, 1863) in “Good Words for 1863” (opp. p. 380), after the design drawn (but not engraved) on the printing plate by Edward Burne-Jones.

__________

Extract from Greenwell’s poem:

“Once in a garden fair,

Huddling close their heads together,

Flowers were heard to whisper there,

‘Oh the changeful April weather!

…

Soft falls the summer snow,

On the springing grass drops light,

Not like that which long ago,

Fell so deadly cold and white;

This wears the Rose's flush,

Faint, ere bloom hath quite foregone her,

Soft as maiden's timid blush,

With the looks she loves upon her.’" (p. 380)

­­­­__________

Wood-engraving on wove paper with letterpress title, trimmed with small margins and backed with a support sheet.

Size: (sheet) 16.4 x 12.2 cm; (image borderline) 14.6 x 10.7 cm

Signed on plate within the image borderline: (lower-left corner) “DALZIEL”.

Titled with letterpress text below the image borderline: “THE SUMMER SNOW.”

Amanda-Jane Doran (2017) offers excellent insights about this print:

https://www.royalacademy.org.uk/article/how-to-read-it-edward-burne-jones

Interestingly, Doran proposes that there is a possibility that Georgiana (Burne-Jones’ wife) may have been involved in the engraving of this plate.

This print is discussed in the Dalziel Brothers’ (viz. G & E Dalziel) 1901 publication, “The Brothers Dalziel: A Record of Fifty Years’ Work ...1840–1890”, Camden Town, Camden Press, p. 162. In this discussion, William Holman Hunt’s letter (1861) to Alexander Strahan regarding the choice of illustrators for “Good Words” proposes that Edward Burne-Jones “… is perhaps the most remarkable of all the younger men of the profession for talent”. Holman Hunt then advises that Burne-Jones: “… has yet, I think, made but few if any drawings on wood, but he has had much practice in working with the point both with pencil and pen and ink on paper, and so would have no difficulty with the material” (p. 162).

See the description of this print at the British Museum; https://www.britishmuseum.org/research/collection_online/collection_object_details.aspx?objectId=1566782&partId=1&searchText=The+Summer+Snow&page=1

See also the description at the National Gallery of Victoria (Melbourne):

https://www.ngv.vic.gov.au/explore/collection/work/29242/

Condition: crisp and well printed impression on wove paper with small margins and laid on a support sheet of archival (millennium quality) washi paper. The sheet is in an excellent/near pristine condition.

I am selling this famous wood engraving—in the sense that it is often reproduced with reference to the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood and features in the current exhibition at the National Gallery of Australia (Canberra), “Love and Desire: Pre-Raphaelite Masterpieces from the Tate”—for AU$130 (currently US$92.48/EUR82/GBP72.10 at the time of 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 extraordinarily beautiful wood-engraving featuring “a portrait of Jane Morris in the early years of her marriage to the artist’s close friend and artistic collaborator, William Morris” (Doran [2017]), 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