Giovita Garavaglia, “Saint Mary Magdalene with the Ointment Jar”, 1832, after Carlo Dolci

Giovita Garavaglia (also known as Giovanni Battista Garavaglia) (1790–1835)

“Saint Mary Magdalene with the Ointment Jar”, or, as titled in the plate, “EGO DILECTO MEO” (translation: “I belong to my beloved”—a quotation from “Song of Solomon” [6:2]), 1832

Technical Details & Condition:

Engraving on heavy wove paper with full, wide margins as issued. The engraving is based on an intermediary design by Cesare Ferreri (1802–1859), after a painting by Carlo Dolci (1616–1686). It was printed and published in Florence by Luigi Bardi (active 1814–1843). This impression is from state five, the final published state.

The print is dedicated to Prince Frederick Augustus of Saxony (later King Frederick Augustus II), who served as Prince Co-Regent (Correggente del Regno) alongside his elderly uncle, King Anthony, from 1830 until he ascended the throne in 1836. The heraldic emblem in the centre of the in-plate text features the Royal Coat of Arms of the Kingdom of Saxony (specifically the Wappen des Königreichs Sachsen), surmounted by a royal crown. It displays the traditional horizontal black and gold stripes (barry of ten, sable and or), overlaid with a green, crown-like diagonal band (a crancelin, or crown of rue) running from top-left to bottom-right.

The impression is crisp, evenly printed—a superb, faultless example. Aside from minor handling marks, the sheet remains in excellent condition for its large size, free of tears, holes, or significant stains.

Dimensions:

• Sheet: 54.1 x 38.4 cm
• Platemark: 41.4 x 29.2 cm
• Image borderline: 21.5 x 17.1 cm

In-Plate Lettering below the image:

• Left: “Carlo Dolci dip. / Luigi Bardi impresse.” (Carlo Dolci painted / Printed by Luigi Bardi)
• Centre: “Cesare Ferreri disegnò. / EGO DILECTO MEO. / A Sua Altezza Reale / Federigo [Royal Coat of Arms of the Kingdom of Saxony] Augusto / Principe di Safsonia Correggente del Regno. / Firenze presso Luigi Bardi Calcografo” (Cesare Ferreri drew [the intermediary copy] / To His Royal Highness Frederick Augustus, Prince Co-Regent of Saxony / Florence at the print shop of Luigi Bardi)
• Right: “Giovita Garavaglia incise 1832. / Luigi Bardi D: D: D:” (Giovita Garavaglia engraved, 1832 / Dedicated, Devoted, and Offered by Luigi Bardi)

References:

• AHK 13.V (Aloys Apell, “Handbuch für Kupferstichsammler, oder Lexikon der vorzüglichsten Kupferstecher des 19. Jahrhunderts”, Leipzig, Alexander Danz, 1880, p. 159, cat. no. 13 [V])
• British Museum: Museum No. 1879,0809.571 (https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/object/P_1879-0809-571)

Price & Shipping:

AU$272 (approx. US$189.18 / €165.66 / £141.20), including worldwide express shipping. Import duties and taxes (if applicable) are the buyer’s responsibility.

To acquire this faultless impression of an exceptionally fine engraving—note the dazzling control of the engraver’s burin that was necessary to render the ointment jar and to differentiate between the lustre of the pearls of the brooch and the clarity of the cut jewel they frame—please contact oz_jim@printsandprinciples.com. I am happy to provide a secure PayPal invoice for a seamless and protected transaction.

Philipp Andreas Kilian, “Saint Cecilia Playing the Organ”, c. 1753, after Carlo Dolci

Philipp Andreas Kilian (1714–1759)
“Saint Cecilia Playing the Organ”, circa 1753 (1750–1757)

Technical Details & Condition:

This impressively large engraving with etching is printed on a huge sheet of fine laid paper (with watermark), as originally published. The print is based on an intermediate design by Charles François Hutin (also known as Charles François Huttin) (1715–1776), and is after the 1671 painting (https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Dolci_Cecilia_organo.jpg) held in the collection of the Gemäldegalerie Alte Meister (Old Masters Gallery) in Dresden. The painting itself is by the eminent Florentine Baroque painter Carlo Dolci (1616–1686).

This print is plate 43 from the series “Recueil d'estampes d'après les plus célèbres tableaux de la Galerie Royale de Dresde” — a distinguished collection of prints after the most celebrated paintings in the Dresden Royal Gallery.

Further details about this print can be found at the British Museum: https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/object/P_1855-0609-1263

The impression is strong, well-printed, and nearly faultless, with no signs of wear to the printing plate. Aside from minor handling marks and pencil notations on the edges by previous collectors, the sheet remains in excellent (near pristine) condition for its considerable size and age.

Dimensions:

• Sheet: 74.8 x 51.2 cm
• Platemark: 37.9 x 27.9 cm
• Image Border: 32.4 x 27.2 cm

Lettered in plate below the image border:

• Left: “CFCutin del.”
• Left of centre / coat-of-arms: “Quadro di Carlino Dolci / cauato dalla Galleriá Reale / di Dresda / Alto 3. Piedi 5. Onc: Largo 2. Piedi 10. Onc:”
  (Painting by Carlo Dolci / taken from the Royal Gallery / of Dresden / Height 3.5 feet / Width 2.10 feet)
• Right of centre / coat-of-arms: “Tableau de Carlo Dolci / de la Gallerie Royale de Dresde / Haut 3. Pieds 5. Pouc: Large 2. Pieds 10 Puc:”
• Right: “P. A. Kilian sc. A.V.”

Price & Shipping:

AU$297 (approximately US$197.64 / €168.29 / £147.80), inclusive of worldwide express shipping. Please note that import duties and taxes are the buyer’s responsibility.

If you are interested in acquiring this monumental engraving depicting Saint Cecilia, the patron saint of musicians, playing a traditional organetto—a small portable pipe organ with hand-pumped bellows and keyboard popular in medieval Europe—please contact me at oz_jim@printsandprinciples.com. I am happy to provide a secure PayPal invoice for a seamless purchase.

Raphael Morghen’s engraving, “La Poesia”, 1827

Raphael Morghen (aka Raffaello Morghen) (1758–1833)

“La Poesia” (aka “Allegory of Poetry”), 1827, after the intermediary design by Pietro Ermini (1774–1850), after the painting in the Palazzo Corsini (Florence) by Carlo Dolci (1616–1686), printed by Luigi Bardi (fl.1814–1843).

Engraving with etching on heavy wove paper with wide margins as published in the final closed letter state.

Size: (sheet) 52.2 x 37.5 cm; (plate) 32.4 x 22.7 cm; (image borderline) 22.4 x 16.3 cm

Lettered on plate below the image borderline with title and dedication to Principe Tommaso Corsini by the engraver followed by two lines of Latin verse; with producer names “Carlo Dolci dipinse / Pietro Ermini dis. / Raffaello Morghen inc. 1827 / Luigi Bardi impresse”.

State v (of v [Halsey 1885]) or xi (of xi [Rijksmuseum])

Halsey 1885 147-5(5) (Frederic Robert Halsey 1885, “Raphael Morghen's engraved works being a descriptive catalogue, ... accompanied by biographical and other notes with a life of the engraver”, New York, p. 132, cat. nr. 147); Palmerini 1824 undescribed (Niccolo Palmerini 1824, “Opere d'intaglio del Cav. Raffaello Morghen”, Florence, Niccolo Pagni)

The British Museum offers the following description of this print:

“Half-length woman crowned with a laurel wreath, representing Poetry, after Carlo Dolci; final closed letter state. 1827 Engraving”

(http://www.britishmuseum.org/research/collection_online/collection_object_details.aspx?assetId=782030001&objectId=3236820&partId=1)

See also the description of this print at the Rijksmuseum:

http://hdl.handle.net/10934/RM0001.collect.155889

Condition: crisp, well-inked and well-printed impression with wide margins (as published). The sheet is in near pristine condition with only light signs of handling and a faint stain in the margin at the lower-right corner.

I am selling this delicately beautiful neoclassical engraving of the allegorical figure, Poetry, wearing her usual wreath of laurel leaves and holding a book, for AU$147 in total (currently US$107.39/EUR94.07/GBP84.08 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 masterpiece of engraving displaying extraordinary sensitivity in rendering transitions of tone, 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

Thank goodness that the British Museum has nearly all of the early states for this masterpiece of neo-classical engraving (see the BM online collection: http://www.britishmuseum.org/research/collection_online/search.aspx?searchText=La+Poesia+morghen). After all, what the progressive stages reveal is that the engraver, Raphael Morghen, was as mythodical and as sensitive in “bulding” this image so that it glows sublimely as the original great Florentine master, Carlo Dolci, was in capturing the jewel like radiance of his paintings. Indeed, I have just read the introductory notes to the exhibition showcasing Doci’s painting at the Nasher Museum (August 24, 2017– January 14, 2018), “The Medici’s Painter: Carlo Dolci and 17th-Century Florence”, and discovered that “Dolci would recite the litany ‘Ora pro nobis (pray for us)’ between each brush stroke …” (https://nasher.duke.edu/exhibitions/the-medicis-painter-2/). Interestingly, the close-up detail of a painting shown on the cover of the catalogue for the Nasher Museum exhibition is the painting that this engraving reproduces.