Timothy Cole’s wood engraving, “Detail from Leonardo da Vinci’s (unfinished), ‘The Adoration of the Magi’”, c1885

Timothy Cole (1852–1931)

“Detail from Leonardo da Vinci’s (unfinished), ‘The Adoration of the Magi’”, c1885, artist’s proof wood-engraving after Leonardo da Vinci (1452–1519), printed by JC Bauer in 1892 in preparation for a limited edition of 125 proof impressions. This particular impression (acquired from the liquidation of the inventory held by Kennedy Galleries) is a proof taken before (or in addition to) those signed by Bauer—one of the finest printers of wood engravings in New York at the close of the 19^th century—and features as an illustration for the famous historical account of art by WJ Stillman & Timothy Cole (1909), “Old Italian Masters” (New York, The Century Co.), page 181.

Wood engraving on tissue-thin (Japan) paper with letterpress annotations (lower left) and a relief printed diagram of Da Vinci’s painting (lower right), backed with a support sheet.

Size: (sheet) 42.5 x 33.7 cm; (image borderline) 18.5 x 12.2 cm

Inscribed on plate within the image borderline: (lower left) “T COLE FLORENCE” (indistinct)

Letterpress testimonial text by Bauer in the lower left margin: “This impression, taken by hand on Japan paper, is one of one hundred and twenty-five copies printed by me from the original wood block in the year 1892. / Professional Proof-printer for Wood-engravers."

Condition: very rare, exceptionally well-preserved and well-printed artist’s proof impression with full margins and printed annotations, backed with a support sheet of archival (millennium quality) washi paper. The print is in excellent condition, but there are several inventory pencil notations and a loss to the left edge of the tissue-thin (but backed) Japan paper.

For an excellent account of the printing of Cole’s wood-engravings by Bauer, see Scott Ponemone’s blog post, “New School Wood Engravers: Forgotten 19th-Century Celebrities”: http://www.scottponemone.com/new-school-wood-engravers-forgotton-19th-century-celebrities/.

For those who may be unfamiliar with Leonardo’s approach to portraying subjects, his following advice to painting students is interesting as it underpins the composition of this image:

(transl.) “When you have to draw from nature take your position three times the height of the object distant from it” (from Da Vinci’s collection of precepts called the “Book of Painting"; see WJ Stillman & Timothy Cole 1909, “Old Italian Masters”, The Century Co, New York, p. 181).

Although I love Da Vinci’s rule and see its merit, I share Stillman & Cole’s (1901) reservation that such advice to painting students is invariably restrictive to creative invention:

“Of the nearly one thousand rules in this code of laws of art [from Da Vinci’s “Book of Painting”] there are many which are astonishing from the evidence they give of his unsurpassable accuracy of perception of the facts of nature, and many which only show the limitation of his views on art, and as a system would have no other result than that of crippling the student who should attempt to obey them” (ibid).

Regarding the scans that I have taken of this wood-engraving, I need to point out that the details showcased here are VERY tiny areas of the print. In short, Cole’s engraved lines are so fine that they verge on being microscopically small.

I am selling this very rare proof impression by one of the most famous of the reproductive wood engravers of the late 19^th and early 20^th centuries for a total cost of AU$234 (currently/approximately US$157.64/EUR145.61/123.38 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$234) as this is my currency.

If you are interested in purchasing this small masterpiece of wood engraving, please contact me (oz_jim@printsandprinciples.com) and I will send you a PayPal invoice to make the payment easy.

Timothy Cole's wood engraving after a detail of Botticelli’s "Madonna, Child, and Saint John", 1890

Timothy Cole (1852–1931)

“Detail after Sandro Botticelli’s, ‘Madonna, Child, and Saint John’ in the Louvre, Paris”, 1890, artist’s proof printed by J C Bauer in 1892 in preparation for a limited edition of 125 proof impressions. This particular impression (acquired from the liquidation of the inventory held by Kennedy Galleries) is a proof taken before (or extra to) those signed by Bauer—one of the best printers of wood engravings in New York at the close of the 19th century—and features as an illustration to the famous historical account of art by W.J. Stillman (1909) with notes by Timothy Cole, “Old Italian Masters” (New York, The Century Co.), facing page 161 .

Wood engraving on tissue-thin (Japan) paper with letterpress annotations (lower left) and a fragment of the relief printed diagram of Botticelli’s painting (lower right), backed with a support sheet.

Size: (sheet) 42.1 x 27.7 cm; (plate/imageborderline) 20 x 12.4 cm.

Inscribed on plate within the image borderline: (lower right) “T COLE Sc 1890” (indistinct).

Letterpress testimonial text by Bauer in the lower left margin: “This impression, taken by hand on Japan paper, is one of one/ hundred and twenty-five copies printed by me from the original/ wood block in the year 1892. / Professional Proof-printer/ for Wood-engravers."

Handwritten number in blue crayon: (lower right corner) “99”.

For an excellent account of the printing of Cole’s wood-engravings by Bauer, see Scott Ponemone’s blog post, “New School Wood Engravers: Forgotten 19th-Century Celebrities”: http://www.scottponemone.com/new-school-wood-engravers-forgotton-19th-century-celebrities/

Condition: exceptionally well-preserved and well-printed artist’s proof impression with wide margins, backed with a support sheet of archival (millennium quality) washi paper. Trimmed on the far right diagram, otherwise the print is in excellent condition with inventory pencil notations.

I am selling this very rare proof impression by one of the most famous of the reproductive wood engravers of the late 19th and early 20th centuries for the total cost of AU$200 (currently US$102.03/EUR87.15/GBP77.02 at the time of posting this print) 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 small masterpiece of wood engraving, 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

Timothy Cole’s wood engraving, “Detail from the Baptism of Christ by Andrea Del Verrocchio”, 1885

Timothy Cole (1852–1931)

“Detail from the Baptism of Christ by Andrea Del Verrocchio”, 1885 (date inscribed on plate), artist’s proof wood-engraving after Andrea Del Verrocchio (1435–1488), printed by J C Bauer in 1892 in preparation for a limited edition of 125 proof impressions. This particular impression (acquired from the liquidation of the inventory held by Kennedy Galleries) is a proof taken before (or extra to) those signed by Bauer—one of the best printers of wood engravings in New York at the close of the 19^th century—and features as an illustration for the famous historical account of art by WJ Stillman & Timothy Cole (1909), “Old Italian Masters” (The Century Co, New York), page 140.

Wood engraving on tissue-thin (Japan) paper with letterpress annotations (lower left) and a relief printed diagram of Verrocchio’s painting (lower right), backed with a support sheet.

Size: (sheet) 34.3 x 18.2 cm; (plate/imageborderline) 13.1 x 18.2 cm

Inscribed on plate within the image borderline: (lower left) “T COLE SC ACC. DI BELLE ARTI FLORENCE SEPT 1885”

Letterpress testimonial text by Bauer in the lower left margin: “This impression, taken by hand on Japan paper, is one of one hundred and twenty-five copies printed by me from the original wood block in the year 1892. / Professional Proof-printer for Wood-engravers."

For an excellent account of the printing of Cole’s wood-engravings by Bauer, see Scott Ponemone’s blog post, “New School Wood Engravers: Forgotton 19th-Century Celebrities”: http://www.scottponemone.com/new-school-wood-engravers-forgotton-19th-century-celebrities/

Condition: very rare, exceptionally well-preserved and well-printed artist’s proof impression with full margins and printed annotations, backed with a support sheet of archival (millennium quality) washi paper. The print is in near pristine condition, but there are several inventory pencil notations.

I am selling this very rare proof impression by one of the most famous of the reproductive wood engravers of the late 19^th and early 20^th centuries for the total cost of ... [deleted] 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 small masterpiece of wood engraving, 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

For those who may not have appreciated the reason why Cole has chosen to reproduce in line and dots these angel heads—small details from Andrea Del Verrocchio’s grand composition, “Baptism of Christ”—as an illustration for WJ Stillman’s, “Old Italian Masters” (1909), the reason is simple: these very beautifully rendered angels are purportedly not painted by Verrocchio, but rather by his pupil at the time, the great Leonardo da Vinci. The attribution of these heads to the hand of Leonardo, however, is from the account given by Vasari and there have been proposals that Botticelli may have played a role in their execution. Interestingly, this argument is dismissed by Stillman who argues “…the finger-tips, and especially the insertions of the toe- and finger-nails, are done with a delicacy and fidelity never approached by Botticelli …” (p.143). These tiny details can be seen in Cole’s wood-engraving of the right angel’s hands.

Timothy Cole’s wood engraving, “Intimacy”, 1910, after Eugène Carrière

Timothy Cole (1852–1931)

“Intimacy”, 1910, artist’s proof wood engraving after Eugène Carrière’s (1849–1906) oil painting, of the same name (aka “The Big Sister”), c1889. See Carrière’s painting at the Musee d'Orsay: http://www.musee-orsay.fr/en/collections/works-in-focus/painting.html?no_cache=1&zoom=1&tx_damzoom_pi1%5BshowUid%5D=1846

Wood engraving on tissue thin wove (Japan) paper signed by the artist in pencil and laid upon a support sheet of washi paper.

Size: (sheet) 26.3 x 20.8 cm; (plate/imageborderline) 19.3 x 13.5 cm

Inscribed on the plate within the image borderline: (lower left) “Eugène Carrière”; (lower right) “T. COLE Sc. 1910”

Hand signed in pencil by the artist in the margin at lower right.

Condition: exceptionally well-printed artist’s proof impression hand signed in pencil and laid upon a support sheet. There is a restored (closed) tear at the right and a few other almost invisible restorations at the outer edge, otherwise the print is in near pristine condition.

I am selling this very rare proof impression by one of the most famous of the reproductive wood engravers of the late 19^th and early 20^th centuries for the total cost of ... [deleted] including postage and handling to anywhere in the world.

If you are interested in purchasing this small masterpiece of wood engraving, 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

Interestingly, Carrière’s oil painting, “Intimacy” (aka “The Big Sister”), c1889, that Cole’s wood engraving reproduces was a milestone work in the Carrière’s oeuvre. According to the Musee d'Orsay, critics applauded the exhibition of the painting in the 1889 Paris Salon as demonstrating that Carrière was THE “painter of domestic life and mother and child figures”. There is more to this image, however, than showing a tender moment between the artist’s wife and daughters—Elise and Nelly. The image is poetic magic in its focus on the connection between the figures and reflects the interest of the Symbolist movement of the time, in the sense of capturing by metaphor “absolute truths” (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Symbolism_(arts)).

Regarding Cole’s translation of Carrière’s painting into code of exceptionally fine horizontally engraved lines and subtle rhythms of white dots, the delicacy of his translation is almost unbelievable in terms of representing the lightly applied brushstrokes and tones of the painting’s grisaille colouring. Of course, Cole was the master of this very demanding medium of wood engraving and he is one of the most famous of the reproductive printmakers for his interpretation of early masters in line and dot. What makes this hand-signed artist’s proof worthy of extra attention is that Cole has managed to show in a very convincing way the blended modelling of an almost ethereal subject portrayed by a 19^th century master; a level of skill that is far removed from the crisp silhouette edges and sharp tonal contrast of many of the earlier artists Carrière is famous for reproducing. This is a masterwork of wood engraving!

3 Approaches to Creativity: Cousen, Cole, Park & Brown

What are some approaches that artists use to inspire themselves?

For a number of years I’ve been pondering approaches to creativity and recently one of my Honours students even focused her study on this topic because it is so interesting. This fascination with the creative impulse stretches way back through history. Artists like Alexander Cozens (1717–86), for example, created ink blots and used their patterns like a Rorschach test to stimulate his creativity in order to see potential landscape subject material in how the blots were configured. In fact Cozens was so delighted with this approach to creativity that he even documented the process in his book: A New Method of Assisting the Invention in Drawing Original Compositions of Landscape (for an explanation of his practice see

http://www.britishmuseum.org/explore/highlights/highlight_objects/pd/a/alexander_cozens,_landscape.aspx [viewed 14.8.2012]).

After much navel-gazing and chatting with students and colleagues I wish to propose that there are three fundamental approaches for creative invention: verisimilitude (i.e. using an observed subject as a platform for creative replication of it in an artistic medium), interpolation (i.e. portraying a subject in a way that adds fresh meanings to the subject’s original meaning) and fountainhead (i.e. an approach like Cozens developed where a subject of fixation becomes the point of departure—“ground zero”—for a creative leap to a subject that may be far removed from the original). The following discussion explores these three approaches by examining how different artists (Charles Cousen [c. 1813–89], Timothy Cole [1852–1931], John Park [1851–1919] and I) have used Constable’s painting, The Cornfield (1826), as a subject for their personal artworks.

Let me begin with the verisimilitude approach. Looking back to the prints by reproductive printmakers of the nineteenth and earlier centuries, these artists’ interest in the process of copying paintings, sculpture and drawings often went beyond a singular desire to create close pictorial resemblance. For instance, Franklin Robinson (2005) perceives in the seventeenth-century Dutch printmakers’ reproductive prints a desire “to possess the object itself, in a heightened, intenser form” (p. 5). Whether the motivation is to psychologically “possess” the subject, to see and understand it better by close scrutiny, or simply to fulfil a contract, there is a very real and practical necessity for all artists engaged in making reproductive prints to tap into their creativity to translate the addressed subject’s form, colour and surface texture into a meaningful image.

In Charles Cousen’s engraved replication of The Cornfield (shown below), for example, he has converted the colour-tones of Constable’s oil painting into a grey scale of tones through a complex layering of lines. A broad comparison of Cousen’s engraved replication of the painting’s colour-tones (see further below) reveals his keen eye—mindful that Cousen was not able to click a button in a digital program to make the conversion as we can today. Interestingly, Cousen’s tonal interpretation of Constable’s painting is much more creative on close examination. For example, Cousen has manipulated (i.e. “toyed with”) the tonal contrasts within the trees to help a viewer’s reading of the trees as three-dimensional forms. Of particular interest to my eye is his reconfiguration of the tones within the clouds to create a strong upward rhythm that may be seen to give the cloud mass a forward projecting and (again) greater three-dimensional form.  

Charles Cousen (c.1813–89)

The Cornfields after John Constable, c.1870

Steel engraving, 24.5 x 21 cm

(left) Charles Cousen, The Cornfields after John Constable, c.1870

(right) digitally modified gray-scale image of John Constable’s original painting

(for image of Constable’s painting before modification see Wikimedia Commons: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:John_Constable_008.jpg [viewed 18.8.2012])

Beyond Cousen’s conversion of the painting’s colour-tones to greys, he also shows creative invention in his mimetic representation of the oil painting’s textures. Consider, for instance, his juxtaposition of mechanically engraved marks portraying the sky (see detail below), designed to suggest a comparatively smooth application of paint, with the scribble-like marks portraying the foliage, designed to suggest freely laid and thick paint. Of course, there is always the question of the degree of mimetic translation that an artist wishes to engage in.

(upper) detail of Charles Cousen’s The Cornfields after John Constable, c.1870

(lower) arrow indicating the reference area in John Constable’s original painting

(for image of Constable’s painting see Wikimedia Commons: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:John_Constable_008.jpg [viewed 18.8.2012])

For example, compare Cousen’s approach with Timothy Cole’s much more inventive approach to creating a faithful copy of Constable’s The Cornfields shown below in his wood engraved version. In Cole’s print the original painting is now converted into a pattern of negative (white) marks resulting from the relief (i.e. raised) printing process. These negative marks with their complex arrangement and variations of shape reveal an even more codified pattern than exhibited in Cousen’s print. In the detail shown further below, see how Cole’s creative invention in the reproduction of Constable’s sky is now a carefully calculated optical pattern of closely aligned curving stokes that at one moment appear to be negative lines and at the next moment are seen as positive (black) lines. Going further, Cole has portrayed the expansive plane of the sky region as optically energised by the sinuous flow of these lines. By contrast to this flow, also note how he has synthesised the texture of the foliage into wedge-shaped dots that to my eyes present a convincing approximation of the facture (i.e. the handmade physicality) of Constable’s brushwork.

Timothy Cole (1852–1931)

The Cornfields after John Constable, 1899

Wood engraving, 15.5 x 13.4 cm

(upper) detail of Timothy Cole’s The Cornfields after John Constable, 1899

(lower) arrow indicating the reference area in John Constable’s original painting

(for image of Constable’s painting see Wikimedia Commons: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:John_Constable_008.jpg [viewed 18.8.2012])

Mindful that most artists are not prone—perhaps even unable—to disengage their personal interests and sensitivities when portraying a subject objectively, the approach of verisimilitude in achieving what the OED defines as “the appearance of being true or real” needs a caveat to allow for an artist’s personal perception of what constitutes truthful representation. From the standpoint of allowing such a caveat, this means that an artist is liberated from a strict and soulless copying of a subject’s superficial pictorial reality and can portray an interpretation of truth based on the dimensions of the artist’s perception of the subject. 

Regarding the interpolation approach where an artist adds fresh meanings to the subject’s original meaning, this is different to the last approach in that here the artist intentionally changes the original subject to project a personal perception. For example, in John Park’s print of The Cornfields (shown below) the image may be instantly recognisable as matching that of Constable’s painting but Park has changed the essential mood (i.e. the projected emotional tenor) of the painting with swirling line work in the sky (see detail further below) and a darkening of the painting’s tonal key. As a result, this print projects turmoil and drama. It is not the same view of landscape as a calm place where a shepherd boy can calmly drink that Constable presents. In short, Park has creatively reinvented Constable’s painting as his own artwork.

John Park (1851–1919)

The Cornfields after John Constable, 1885

Etching on wove paper

25.6 x 22.6 cm (plate); 42.5 x 29.9 cm (sheet)

view of whole sheet

Condition: very rich impression with a faint stain 5 cm from plate mark in lower margin and a small clipped lower-right corner otherwise in pristine condition.

I am selling this print by John Park along with the two above prints by Charles Cousen and Timothy Cole after Constable’s The Cornfield for a total combined cost of  $110 AUD including postage and handling to anywhere in the world. Please contact me using the email link at the top of the page if you are interested or click the “Buy Now” button. 

These prints have been sold

John Park, (detail) The Cornfields after John Constable, 1885

Regarding the final approach to creativity—the fountainhead approach—I have decided to discuss my adaptation of Constable’s painting as a way of illustrating how an original image can serve as a pictorial launch pad for one’s own artistic practice.

For me, there are few images that are more closely identified with the English landscape than Constable’s The Cornfield. For some historically-minded viewers it epitomises an idealised view of English rural life a few centuries ago. Moreover, it for foretells the developing interest in the effects of light by the tiny flecks of white that Constable scattered through the areas of foliage to capture the sparkle of light glinting on leaves—commonly referred to as “Constable’s snow.” My interest, however, lies with the “U”-shaped composition of the painting and it is this component of his painting that became my point of departure for my very free adaptation of The Cornfield (shown below). Specifically, my fascination lies with Constable’s curious blend of Western conventions of composition that invite a left-to-right reading and the conundrum posed on such a reading by the direction of light coming from the right and the arrangement of trees that invite a right-to-left reading.

James Brown

Referencing Constable, 2011

Oil on canvas, 100 x 80 cm

(This painting has been sold)

In Referencing Constable I explored what would happen if the composition were mirrored (i.e. pictorially reversed) so that the direction of light and the arrangement of key features encouraged a left-to-right reading that is more in keeping with the Occidental way of reading.

Beyond the reconfiguring of Constable’s composition this is not an attempt to revive Constable’s view of the English landscape. My painting revises—probably closer to obliterates—an Englishman’s view of an English landscape and offers instead a North Queenslander’s view of the region I am most familiar: the hot dry tropical landscape of Australia.

_______________

Robinson, Franklin 2005, The Illustrated Bartsch 5: Netherlandish Artists, Araris Books, New York