Carlo Cesio, “Mercury Bringing the Golden Apple to Paris”, 1656/7, after Annibale Carracci

Carlo Cesio (aka Carlo Cesi) (1622–1682)

“Mercury Bringing the Golden Apple to Paris” (aka “Mercure apportant à Paris la pomme d’or”; “Mercurius brengt Paris de gouden appel”), 1656/7, Plate 3 from the series of 45 plates, “The Farnese Gallery Panels”, after a fresco by Annibale Carracci (1560–1609) in the Palazzo Farnese in Rome, initially published in Rome with the privilege of Pope Alexander VII by François Collignon (aka Louis François Collignon) (c.1610–1687). This impression was published by Arnold van Westerhout (1651–1725) (as inscribed in the plate).

Etching on heavy buff-coloured laid paper.

Size: (sheet) 39.1 x 27.4 cm; (platemark) 35.3 x 24.5 cm.

Lettered in plate along the lower edge: (left) “Ann. Caracci Inu.”; (left of centre) “C. Cesius del. et Sculp. Romæ.”; (right of centre) “Arnoldo Van Westerhout formis Cum Privi8l […].”; (right) “3.”

State ii (of iii) with the addition of the address for Westerhout, but before the number 3 is erased in state iii.

TIB 4705.023 S2 (Paolo Bellini [ed.] 1987, “The Illustrated Bartsch: Italian Masters of the Seventeenth Century”, vol. 47 [Commentary, Part 1], New York, Abaris Books, p. 81 cat. no. [4705] .023 [S2]).

The British Museum offers the following description of this print: “Plate 3: Mercury delivering the golden apple to Paris; Mercury seen flying over Paris, handing the golden apple over to him; the shepherd seen seated, holding a stick and with his hand open; a dog seen in the foreground to left; printed from an octagonal plate 1657/ Etching” (https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/object/P_A-3-6).

See also the description of this print offered by the Rijksmuseum: http://hdl.handle.net/10934/RM0001.COLLECT.595245.

Condition: a well-printed impression in an excellent condition with no tears, holes, folds, abrasions or significant stains.

I am selling this curious octagonal etching showing what I understand is the now extinct and formidable Molossian hound (aka Epirus mastiff) with an interesting fluffy curled tail echoing the curved end to the shepherd’s crook that Paris (for a reason that I don’t understand) is resting his right foot upon, for AU$301 in total (currently US$191.76/EUR180.56/GBP154.70 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 confidently executed etching with subtle messages of symbolism—note for example, the dead stump of a tree beside a living tree shown in the distance that may be a symbolic reference to the cycle of death and regeneration and the upside down shepherd’s crook that may be a symbolic biblical reference to the initial “J” and to Jesus Christ as the good shepherd (my apologies if my proposals are flawed)—please contact me (oz_jim@printsandprinciples.com) and I will send you a PayPal invoice to make the payment easy. 

Giovanni Cesare Testa’s etching, “The Prophecy of Basilides”, c1650, after Pietro Testa

Giovanni Cesare Testa (c1630–1655)—nephew and supposed pupil of Pietro Testa (1612–1650)

“The Prophecy of Basilides”, c1650, after Pietro Testa’s drawing study in the Rugby School of Art Museum (England) and painting in the Museo di Capodimonte, Naples. Note that Testa’s design also features in Gaspard Dughet’s (1615–1675) fresco executed in 1651 in San Martino ai Monti, Rome. Published in Rome by François Collignon (aka Louis François Collignon) (c1610–1687).

Regarding Pietro Testa’s pen and ink (with chalk) study, Elizabeth Cropper (1988), in her catalogue raisonné for Pietro Testa (Philadelphia Museum of Art), offers the interesting proposal by Ann Sutherland Harris that the drawing “might be an early falsification of a Testa drawing, made by someone familiar with the print and with such preparatory studies from the later 1640s”; nevertheless, Cropper advises that the “drawing is unquestionably by Testa …” (p. 238).

Etching on laid paper (with watermark) with small margins backed with a support sheet.

Size (sheet) 40.5 x 72.9 cm; (plate) 38.4 x 71 cm; (image borderline) 36.3 x 70.9 cm.

Lettered in plate below the image borderline: “Tito Imperatore andando all’imresa di Gerusalemme consultò Basilide figlio de Profeti, e Priore del Monte Carmelo per sapere l'evento della Guerra, quale le predisse la vitoria contro li hebrei, esprimendosi, che Iddio sdegnato contro di quelli, per la morte che havevano dato/ a Christo si doveva sodisfar la giustitia divina con fulminar dardi contro Gerusalemme […] Disegno di Pietro Testa, la cui pitura originale si conserva in S. Martino di Monti in Roma. […] Franc. Petrarcha de Vespasiano ex Suetio, et Tacito./ Pietro Testa delineavit […] R^mo. Pre Gnle de Carmelitani Gio. Ant^o. Filippini Romano. […] D.D.D. Franc.^cus Collignon […] Gio. Cesare Testa Sculpsit”.

State i (of i)

Cropper 111 (Elizabeth Cropper 1988, “Pietro Testa 1612–1650: Prints and Drawings”, Philadelphia, Philadelphia Museum of Art, pp. 240–41, cat. no. 111); Nagler 7.

Cropper (1988) offers the following explanation of the portrayed scene: “The Emperor Titus, as he was going to take Jerusalem, consulted Basilides, the son of Prophets and the prior of Mount Carmel, to learn the outcome of the war; Basilides predicted that he would be victorious over the Hebrews, explaining that God was angry with them for having killed Christ, and that divine justice had to be satisfied by the fulmination of arrows against Jerusalem” (pp. 240–41).

The British Museum offers the following description of this print: “The prophecy of Basilides; the priest on Mount Carmel devines the fate of the Roman Emperor Titus at the left, while Justice points to a vision of the dead Christ at the right. c.1650-55/ Etching” (https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/object/P_1870-0514-1324).

Condition: an excellent impression with a small margin around the platemark and laid onto a support sheet of archival (millennium quality) washi paper. The sheet is age-toned with spot stains and restored tears. There are ink remarks by an old hand in the margins and a flattened centrefold.

I am selling this very large and exceptionally rare etching of great beauty and pictorial complexity showing the prophet, Basilides, kneeling at an altar in front of the personification of Justice who points to a vision of Christ’s body supported by angels while God draws an arrow from a quiver held by an angel, for AU$632 (currently US$440.61/EUR420.92/GBP360.67 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 important and grand scale etching, 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 

Jacques Callot/François Collignon's etching, "The Naval Battle", c1630

Jacques Callot (1592–1635) (as inscribed on plate) also attributed to François Collignon (c1610–1687)

(Note: Édouard Meaume [1860] in “Recherches sur la vie et les ouvrages de Jacques Callot” attributes the execution of this print and the series of which it is a part to François Collignon.)

“The Naval Battle” (aka “Naval battle with ruined ship and smoking battlements” [Met Museum title]), c1630, from the series of eleven plates, “Italian landscapes” (aka “Diverse vedute designate in Fiorenza / Paysages Italiens” [Different views of Italian Landscapes designed in Florence]) (Lieure 268–277), published by Israël Henriet (c1590–1661) with privilege from Louis XIII (King of France).

Etching on laid paper with watermark trimmed with narrow margin around the platemark and backed with a support sheet.

Size: (sheet) 11.4 x 24.9 cm: (image borderline) 11.2 x 24.7 cm

Inscribed on plate at lower right: “Callot in. f.”; “Israel ex. cum privil. Regis”

State ii (of ii) (an inscription on the mount to this print—now removed—advises that this is a first state impression and although this is undoubtedly a lifetime impression based on the crisp quality of the lines showing no sign of wear to the plate I am attributing the impression to the second state as I have no documentation to verify the previous collector’s attribution. My attribution of this impression to the second state is underpinned by the insight in Russell’s catalogue raisonné that proposes“…all impressions of the etchings known to have watermarks [which this impression has] are printed on Lorrainese paper, and nearly all are second states, bearing Israël Henriet’s name as publisher [which this impression also shows] [p. 282].)

Lieure 1927 277 II (II) (J Lieure 1927, “Jacques Callot”, 3 vols, Paris, Editions de la Gazette des Beaux-Arts); Meaume 1860 1196 (Édouard Meaume 1860, “Recherches sur la vie et les ouvrages de Jacques Callot”, 2 volumes, Paris); Russell 1975, 241 (H Diane Russell 1975, “Jacques Callot Prist & Related Drawings”, National Gallery of Art, Washington, p. 295).

The Rijksmuseum offers the following description of this print:

(Transl.) “On two large rocks in the sea there are forts, from which one shoots on a number of ships that are fighting each other. To the right in the foreground a group of soldiers at the foot of a rock. In the background two large rocks in the sea. This print is part of a series of 11 Italian (probably mostly Florentine) landscapes (12 including title print).”

(http://hdl.handle.net/10934/RM0001.COLLECT.41096)

See also the description at the National Gallery of Art Washington:

https://www.nga.gov/collection/art-object-page.51189.html

The Metropolitan Museum offers the following insight into the print series, “Italian landscapes”, of which this etching is a part:

“The set was first published after 1630 by Israël Henriet, whose name appears on these prints. But the date of the execution of the plates themselves, and indeed their attribution to Callot, has been called into question. Callot may have designed the landscapes while he was in Italy, but it is also possible that the drawings were made and etched by French artist Israel Silvestre after Callot’s death, based on ideas found in drawings in the possession of Henriet. The uncertainty surrounding the prints’ attribution demonstrates Callot’s fame and the popularity of his work during the seventeenth century.”

(https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/397617)

Condition: superbly crisp, richly inked and well-printed early impression, trimmed with narrow margins around the image borderline and backed with a support sheet of archival (millennium quality) washi paper. The sheet is in excellent/near faultless museum-quality condition (i.e. there are no tears, holes, folds, abrasions, stains or foxing).

I am selling this marvellous example of a Baroque period landscape executed with Callot’s famous etching needle that he developed, called the “échoppe”, which allowed etchers to make swelling lines like engravers—note in particular the swelling lines describing the clouds in the sky—for AU$310 (currently US$228.85/EUR201.57/GBP179.57 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 remarkable and very rare print, 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

François Collignon’s engraving, “The Queen of Sheba before Solomon”, 1631

François Collignon (aka Louis François Collignon) (c.1610–87)

“The Queen of Sheba before Solomon”, 1631, after a wall painting, now destroyed, on the wall of the prison behind the Town Hall of Augsburg by Johann Matthias Kager (1575–1634)

Engraving on fine laid paper trimmed unevenly along the platemark and lined onto a conservator’s support sheet.

Size: (sheet trimmed unevenly) 10 x 33.5 cm

Inscribed below the image borderline: (left) “Inuenit. Malthaus Kager / Senatorij Ordinis”; (translated at centre) “For wisdom is better than all the most precious things, and whatsoever may be desired cannot be compared to it. Proverb 8:11”; (right) “Francisco Collignon Nanceianus, quj et sculpsit Augustra A. 1631.”

T.B.VII.227 and XIX.432

The Metropolitan Museum of Art offers a description of this print (without image); see: http://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/365711

This print is also discussed in “The Metropolitan Museum Journal”, vol. 6, 1972, pp. 82–3, regarding the exchanges of riddles between the Queen of Sheba and King Solomon. The complete journal is available online at: https://issuu.com/alf219/docs/the_metropolitan_museum_journal_v.0_d0f47330dfda6e

Condition: excellent impression in superb (almost pristine) condition. The sheet is trimmed unevenly along the platemark and is laid upon a conservator’s support sheet of fine washi paper.

I am selling this rare and visually arresting engraving from the early 17th century for the total cost of AU$176 (currently US$130.84/EUR116/GBP101.48 at the time of posting this listing) including postage and handling to anywhere in the world.

If you are interested in purchasing this remarkable image of a painting that once graced a prison wall in Augsburg, 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

Sometimes when I research the background to a print I sit back in wonderment when everything fits neatly into some form of logical order and I think to myself “my ducks are all in a row!” Well … when I was looking into the career background for the artist who executed this unusually long print I had one of these eureka moments of “aha!” At this point, however, I should backtrack to the reason that I originally acquired this print to help explain my moment of satisfaction.

When I first saw this engraving I was curious about why an artist would choose such a long format and fill it literally to the brim with tiny figures. Beyond my interest being piqued by its unusual shape and the number of figures portrayed, my real motivation to own it was all about the almost microscopically fine treatment of the figures. To my eyes this was/is a remarkable print! I loved the fact that an artist would have such discipline—and skill—to make such a creation.

Now to the “moment of aha” and the reason all my ducks are now in order: the format shape of the print with its panoramic scope of what a viewer can look at and the fineness of the drawing make sense to me because I read that the artist, François Collignon, was taught by Jacques Callot (1592–1635)—a true master who is famous for his long panoramic views and fine handling of line.

Not only did Collignon study under Callot for four years as an apprentice, but Collignon also worked with Israel Henriet in handling Callot’s estate when the great master died. Although I am not privy to whether or not Collignon was influenced by Callot, to my eyes the stylistic cannibalism is very evident. For instance, note in the rendering of light and shade on the columns how Collignon endeavoured to swell his line—a hallmark of Callot’s style. Note also the differences in the depth of the lines from deep and dark strokes in the foreground to much shallower and paler strokes in the distance. Again, a hallmark of Callot’s style.