Circle of Cornelis Galle II & Pierre de Loisy II’s engraving, “Order of the Golden Fleece”, 1632

Unidentified printmaker from the circle of Cornelis Galle II (1615–1678) (based on the close connection of Cornelis Galle II with the Plantin Press in Antwerp where this print was published and stylistic similarities [see https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/object/P_O-5-173) and Pierre de Loisy II (1619-1670) (based on Pierre de Loisy II’s role as illustrator for another publication [Vesontio Civitas Imperialis Libera Sequanorum Metropolis, 1618] by the same author for which this print served as the title page).

Order of the Golden Fleece, 1632, possibly after Peter Paul Rubens (aka Petrus Paulus Rubens; Rubenius) (1577–1640), title page to Jean-Jacques Chifflet‘s (aka Chiflet) (1588–1660) Insignia Gentilitia Equitum Ordinis Velleris Aure, published by Balthasar Moretus I (aka Balthasar Moerentorf I) (1574–1641) in Antwerp.

I understand that this publication arose from the Archduchess Isabella Clara Eugenia, Sovereign of the Netherlands, having given Chifflet the “responsibility to write the history of the Order of the Golden Fleece”—a mission purportedly designed “to keep him near her” (see Camille Sourget Librairie: https://camillesourget.com/en-13028-rare-books-first-edition-precious-books-chifflet-jean-jacques-lilium-francicum-veritate-historica-botanica-a-very-pure-copy-preserved-.html).

Archive.org offers an online view of this print in its context as published along with its full publication details:

https://archive.org/details/bub_gb_ffk1prDJdOMC/page/n5/mode/2up.

The British Museum offers the following description of this print:

“Allegory of the origin of the Order of the Golden Fleece; at centre Jason holding the dead ram in his right hand and stepping onto a defeated dragon while leaning on his club; the Argonauts in a ship in left background and a tree with a scroll in right background; within oval decorated with the chain of the Golden Fleece; frame surrounded by decorative flames and with scroll at bottom”

(https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/object/P_1891-0414-926).

Engraving on laid paper trimmed around the platemark and backed with a support sheet.

Size: (sheet) 20 x 13.9 cm; (image borderline) 19.5 x 13.5 cm.

Lettered on plate: (upper banderole) “PRETIVM CVRSVS AVREA PELLIS" (The price of our cruise is the golden coat); (oval banderole) “IGNEVS EST NOSTRIS VIGOR ET CAELESTIS ORIGO PRINCIPIBVS.” (Our princes have a fiery power and a heavenly origin); (lower banderole) "MERCES PRIMÂ DIGNA CARINÂ." (A wage worthy of the first ship).

Note: the translations for the Latin inscriptions (and many other details about this print) have been extracted from the exceptional essay by Andries Welkenhuysen (2007), “Aries seu Aurei Velleris encomium of Godefridus Wendelinus” (The Gulden Passer, vol. 85: https://www.dbnl.org/tekst/_gul005200701_01/_gul005200701_01_0004.php).

Condition: a strong and well-printed impression in excellent condition, trimmed around the platemark and laid onto a support sheet of archival (millennium quality) washi paper.

I am selling this amazing engraving showing Jason holding aloft with his right hand the golden fleece—a tiny one! —while simultaneously crushing the head of the Colchian dragon with his club with his other hand watched in the distance by his fellow Argonauts n their ship, the Argo, for the total cost of AU$245 (currently US$192.29/EUR158.39/GBP137.39 at the time of 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 this title plate for descriptive explanations about the coats of arms of the eight grand masters of the Order of the Golden Fleece, 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 

Pieter de Jode II’s engraving with etching, “Saints Claire and Francis of Assisi adoring the Christ Child,” c1645, after Gerard Segers

Pieter de Jode II (aka Pieter de Iode; Petrus iunior de Jode; Pieter de Jonge Jode) (1606–1674)

“Saints Claire and Francis of Assisi adoring the Christ Child,” c1645 (1616–1674), after Gerard Segers (aka Gerard Zeghers) (1591–1651), initially published by Cornelis Galle I (1576–1650) and later by Cornelis Galle II (1615-1678) in Antwerp. This impression is from the state before publication.

Engraving with etching on laid paper trimmed unevenly around the image borderline and lines of text, backed on a support sheet.

Size: (sheet) 28.1 x 23.5 cm.

Lettered on plate below the image borderline: (lower left) “Gerardus Seghers inuen.”; (lower centre) “cum priuilegio.”; (lower right) “Pet. De Iode iunior Sculp.”; (Latin text in two columns of two lines) “Quid paruum Francisce adeo miraris Iesum?/ Expecta, pendens in Cruce maior erit.// In tenebris lucet lux replens lumine mundum./ Hinc est quod claro nomine Clara micat."

Hollstein 21.I (2) (F W H Hollstein 1953, “Dutch and Flemish Etchings, Engravings and Woodcuts ca. 1450–1700: Heer - Kuyl”, vol. 9, Amsterdam, Menno Hertzberger, p. 211, cat. no. 21).

State i (of ii) before the addition of the publisher’s address (see a second state impression held by the British Museum: https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/object/P_R-2-92)

The Rijksmuseum offers the following description of this print:

“St. Francis and St. Clare, in a cave at night, worship the Christ Child. The Christ Child lies on a blanket in a crib”

(http://hdl.handle.net/10934/RM0001.COLLECT.129579).

Condition: a superb, richly inked and well-printed impression, trimmed unevenly around the image borderline and the text lines and laid onto a support of archival (millennium quality) washi paper. The sheet is in an excellent condition with no tears, holes, folds, abrasions, significant stains—there is a faint trace of a collector’s stamp from verso—or foxing.

I am selling this marvellous lifetime, first state, museum-quality impression for the total cost of AU$466 (currently US$331.93/EUR283/GBP254.59 at the time of 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 this rare and stunning engraving (with etching)—note, for example, the delicacy of the engraver’s handling of the radiance emitted from the two saints and Christ from within the surrounding darkness created from layers of cross-hatched strokes—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

Cornelis Galle’s engraving, “St Michael”, c1640

Cornelis Galle I (1576–1650 or Cornelis Galle II (c1615–1678)

Note: I have been unable to find precise attribution of this print inscribed, “C Galle”, to the younger or elder Cornelis Galle. Nevertheless, the somewhat perfunctory treatment of the archangel St Michael as he defeats the devil in the form of a dragon, along with the printmaker's choice to leave the space beyond the image borderline blank, suggest that the engraver is the younger Cornelis Galle … but, of course, I may be wrong.

“St Michael”, c1640

Engraving on laid paper with watermark, trimmed with small margins around the platemark and backed with a support sheet.

Size: (sheet) 10 x 7.4 cm; (plate) 9 x 6 cm; (oval image borderline) 7.6 x 5.7 cm.

Lettered on plate below the image borderline: (centre) “S. Michaël.”; (right) “C. Galle fecit et ex. c. Privilegio.”

Condition: well-printed, near faultless impression—note that the gap in the borderline on the upper right may be an intrinsic feature of the plate rather than a fault in the print—with small margins (approx. .5 cm) laid upon an archival support sheet of millennium quality washi paper. The sheet is in excellent condition (i.e. there are no tears, holes, folds, abrasions, stains, foxing or significant signs of use).

I am selling this very small engraving full of drama, for the total cost of AU$176 (currently US$123.66/EUR110.38/GBP93.90 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 jewel-like engraving sparkling with light and action, please contact me (oz_jim@printsandprinciples.com) and I will send you a PayPal invoice to make the payment easy.

Cornelis Galle’s engraving, “The Infant Christ and the Infant John the Baptist Playing with the Lamb”, c1640

Cornelis Galle I (1576–1650) (attribution by the Rijksmuseum: http://hdl.handle.net/10934/RM0001.COLLECT.114225) or

Cornelis Galle II (1615–1678) (attributed by the MFA, Boston: http://www.mfa.org/collections/object/christ-child-st-john-the-baptist-and-lamb-in-landscape-105674)

“The Infant Christ and the Infant John the Baptist Playing with the Lamb”, 1630–1650, published by Cornelis Galle I (1576–1650), after a woodcut of the same name by Christoffel Jegher (1596–1652/3), after Ruben’s painting formerly in the Palazzo Balbi or Palazzo Reale, Genoa (Rooses 185).

Engraving on wove paper lined with a support sheet.

Size: (sheet trimmed irregularly) 40 x 51.8 cm; (plate) 34 x 45 cm; (image borderline) 32 x 44 cm

Lettered on the plate below the image borderline in a line of Latin: "O Baptista ... clausus exultaras"; (at left below the line of Latin) "P. P. Rubbens delin."; (at right) "Corn. Galle excudit".

Based on the paper, this is a 19^th century impression.

Hollstein 255; Schneevoogt 1873 85.92

The British Museum offers the following description of this print:

“The Infant Christ and the Infant John the Baptist playing with the lamb; landscape with Christ at right, St John at left and the lamb in between them, water-lilies and a frog in right foreground; after Christoffel Jegher who made a woodcut after Peter Paul Rubens”

(http://www.britishmuseum.org/research/collection_online/collection_object_details.aspx?objectId=3074453&partId=1&searchText=Galle+&people=30896&page=1)

Condition: faultless late impression that is crisp, well-inked and well-printed and with generous margins (trimmed slightly irregularly). The sheet is in generally in excellent condition (i.e. there are no tears, holes, folds, abrasions, stains or foxing) but there are signs of handling in terms of marks at the lower right corner of the margin. The sheet has been laid upon a support sheet of fine archival washi paper.

I am selling this large engraving of superb craftsmanship embodying the spirit of the Mannerist period for AU$278 (currently US$215.89/EUR175.24/GBP156.40 at the time of posting this listing). Postage for this print is extra and will be the actual/true cost of shipping.

If you are interested in purchasing this exquisite engraving of timeless quality 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

Attribution of prints is far from easy. Mindful that the Museum of Fine Art (MFA) in Boston proposes that this print may have been executed by Cornelis Galle the Younger, whereas the Rijksmuseum proposes that it may have been executed by his father, Cornelis Galle the Elder, I wish that the true engraver would reveal himself.

Based solely on what I can see by comparing prints by these two master engravers, I believe that the selection of the real artist may not be that difficult. In terms of Galle the Elder (see the middle image detail), he evolved his subtly nuanced way of rendering forms from the slightly laboured style of his teacher and father, Philips Galle (see the upper image). There is a large stylistic leap, however, from Philips Galle to his grandson, Cornelis Galle II, in terms of using such stylistic attributes as dots—much loved by Galle Junior (see the lower image)—and a shift from conventionalised modelling of forms of the grandfather to a fascination with surface textures of his grandson.

If I were to choose which of the artists seems the more appropriate, I would not hesitate in nominating Cornelis Galle the Elder as the true engraver. My reason is simply that the rendering of the forms in this print is based more on the careful alignment of parallel lines that flow with the contours of the subjects portrayed—a hallmark of the great Cornelis Galle I—than with superficial textures. Moreover, the same leaning to showing “flow” results in Galle I’s prints having a light filled sheen to them that I don’t see the same way in Galle II’s prints.