Johann Lorenz Haid’s mezzotint, “Man with a Magnifying Glass”, c1740, after Giovanni Battista Piazzetta

Johann Lorenz Haid (1702–1750)

“Man with a Maynifying Glass” (descriptive title only), c1740, after Giovanni Battista Piazzetta (aka Giambattista Piazzetta) (1682–1754), published by Johann Christian Leopold (1699–1755) in Augsburg.

Mezzotint on laid paper (with watermark), trimmed with a narrow margin around the image borderline and writing edge.

Size: (sheet) 38.9 x 27.5 cm; (image borderline) 37.4 x 26.9 cm.

Lettered in plate below the image borderline: (left) “Iohann Baptista Piazzetta/ Venetus delineavit”; (left of centre) “Lorenz Haid/ sculpsit”; (centre) “Cum Gratia et Privilegio Sacræ Caesareae/ Majestatis”; (right) “Iohann Christian Leopold excudit/ Augustæ Vindelicorum”

Condition: richly inked and well-printed impression, trimmed with a narrow margin around the image borderline and writing edge. The sheet has minor handling fractures, marks and creases to the edges, otherwise the sheet is in excellent condition for its considerable age with no significant tears, holes, stains or foxing,

I am selling this spectacular mezzotint showing a man wearing a feathered hat examining the viewer with a magnifying glass—I would like to call it a loupe but as the device has a handle I feel obliged to call it a magnifying glass—for the total cost of AU$445 (currently US$328.78/EUR276/GBP235.51 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 marvellous example of how a print can excite a reflexive response in viewers, 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

Johann Lorenz Haid’s mezzotint of a young devotee, c1730, after Giovanni Battista Piazzetta

Johann Lorenz Haid (1702–1750)

“Young devotee holding a rosary and a staff” (descriptive title only), c1730 (1712–50), after Giovanni Battista Piazzetta (aka Giambattista Piazzetta) (1682–1754), published by Johann Christian Leopold (1699–1755) in Augsburg.

Note: I have attributed this print to Johann Lorenz Haid rather than Johann Lorenz’s brother, Johann Gottfried Haid (1714–1776), because the inscribed publication detail advises that “Lorenz Haid pinxit” (i.e. Lorenz Haid painted it) after Piazzetta’s design. The lettered text does not unambiguously state that Lorenz Haid’s hand executed (“sculpsit”) the mezzotint.

Mezzotint on laid paper, trimmed around the image borderline/platemark? on sides and lower edge and within borderline at top, backed with a support sheet.

Size: (sheet) 35.9 x 27.5 cm.

Lettered on plate below the image borderline in two lines of text: “Iohann Christian Leopold excudit Augustæ Vindelicorum. Iohann Baptista Piazzetta Venetus delineavit Lorenz Haid pinxit./ Cum Gratia et Privilegio Sacræe Caesarae Majestatis. a.14”.

Condition: richly inked and well-printed impression with many (almost invisible) restorations, trimmed around the image borderline on sides and lower edge (retaining the text lines) and within the image borderline at top, backed with a support sheet of archival (millennium quality) washi paper.

I am selling this spectacular mezzotint for the total cost of AU$216 (currently US$155.19/EUR134.13/GBP121.31 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 rare—so rare that the neither the British Museum nor the Rijksmuseum hold a copy—large and luminously glowing old-master 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

Johann Gottfried Haid’s mezzotint of a young woman with a boy wearing a turban, c1750, after Giovanni Battista Piazzetta

Johann Gottfried Haid (aka John Gottfried Haid) (1714–1776)

“Young woman with a boy wearing a turban” (descriptive title only—note that I have seen the portrayed young woman given the name “Julia” in some websites), c1750, after Giovanni Battista Piazzetta (aka Giambattista Piazzetta) (1682–1754).

Mezzotint on laid paper, trimmed with a small margin around the image borderline and backed with a support sheet.

Size: (sheet) 34.5 x 27.7 cm; (image borderline) 33.5 x 27.1 cm

Inscribed on plate below the image borderline: (left) “Iohann Baptista Piazzetta Venetus delineavit”; (right) “Iohann Gottfried Haid sculpsit”

Condition: richly inked and well-printed impression with many (almost invisible) restorations, trimmed with a small margin around the image borderline and retaining the text line below the image borderline and backed with a support sheet of archival (millennium quality) washi paper.

I am selling this spectacular mezzotint for the total cost of AU$216 (currently US$160.08/EUR136.73/GBP121.06 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 rare—so rare that the neither the British Museum nor the Rijksmuseum hold a copy—large and luminously glowing old-master 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

For those that like comparing prints, this mezzotint by Johann Gottfried Haid (1714–1776) is a perfect print for close study. Not only did the printmaker’s younger brother, Johann Lorenz Haid (1702–1750), execute a similar mezzotint after the same draughtsman designer, Giovanni Battista Piazzetta (1682–1754) featured in my earlier post (see http://www.printsandprinciples.com/2018/04/johann-lorenz-haids-mezzotint-of-young.html), but the technically remarkable, Marco Pitteri (1702–1786), make an engraving of the same composition as this print in reverse (see http://www.britishmuseum.org/research/collection_online/collection_object_details.aspx?objectId=1418781&partId=1&searchText=Piazzetta&page=1 & http://hdl.handle.net/10934/RM0001.COLLECT.165225).

From a personal standpoint, what I find interesting in comparing the three printmakers— Johann Gottfried Haid, Johann Lorenz Haid and Marco Pitteri—is their different approaches to rendering form. In the case of Johann Gottfried, note how he uses reflected light to give luminosity to the shadow areas of his figures and employs haloes of light (for example around the boy’s fingers) to separate spatial planes. By contrast, his brother, Johann Lorenz, invests his figures (see the link to my earlier post above) with an almost theatrical lighting in which reflected light seems to bounce around the composition giving his subject a dramatic edge. Regarding Marco Pitteri’s engraving in reverse (see the link above), Pitteri’s approach to rendering light and shade is startling different as described by the British Museum:

“… an original method of engraving (not etching), using parallel lines, which are thickened at regular intervals along their length with more deeply engraved sections.” (http://www.britishmuseum.org/research/search_the_collection_database/term_details.aspx?bioId=111323).

Johann Lorenz Haid’s mezzotint of a young girl holding a brace of field larks, c.1750, after Giovanni Battista Piazzetta

Johann Lorenz Haid (1702–1750)

“Girl holding a brace of field larks” (descriptive title only), c.1750, after Giovanni Battista Piazzetta (1682–1754), published with privilege (inscribed on plate as “Sacri Romani Imperii Vicaratius”) by Johann Christian Leopold (1699–1755) in Augsburg.

Mezzotint on laid paper, trimmed along the platemark and backed with a support sheet.

Size: (sheet) 38.6 x 27.5 cm; (image borderline) 37.5 x 27.1 cm

Inscribed on plate below the image borderline: (left) “Ioh. Baptista Piazzetta / Venetus delineavit”; (left of centre) “Lorenz Haid / sculpsit”; (centre) “Cum Gratia et Privilegio Sacri Romani / Imperii Vicariatus.”; (right) “Iohann Christian Leopold excudit / Augustae Vindelicorum”

Condition: richly inked and well-printed impression with many (almost invisible) restorations, trimmed along the platemark and backed with a support sheet of archival (millennium quality) washi paper.

I am selling this spectacular mezzotint (with MANY almost invisible restorations) for the total cost of AU$216 (currently US$163.80/EUR135.02/GBP118.89 at the time of posting this print) including postage and handling to anywhere in the world.

If you are interested in purchasing this rare—so rare that the neither the British Museum nor the Rijksmuseum hold a copy—large and luminously glowing old-master 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

Only when the long and labour intensive process of making a mezzotint is understood (see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mezzotint) can the skill and discipline required to execute this tour de force masterwork be fully appreciated. Interestingly, Haid’s teacher was the great mezzotinter, Johann Christian Rugendas (1708–1781), and the leaning of Rugendas towards theatrical lighting (see my earlier post showcasing Rugendas’ prints: http://www.printsandprinciples.com/2017/02/johann-christian-rugendas-mezzotint.html) seems to have been adopted by his pupil. There is a significant difference, nevertheless, in both artists’ approaches to mezzotint. Rugendas tends to outline his subjects whereas Haid relies on careful tonal phrasing to define his forms. For example, note how Haid has very subtly suggested reflected light in the shadow cast by girl’s hat on her forehead. By contrast, Rugendas uses tone in flat patterns that the eye reads as spatial planes.

Regarding the subject of this print, I believe that the portrayed young girl’s name may be “Rosa.” My attribution of this name for the girl is based on a chalk drawing by Giovanni Battista Piazzetta—upon whom this print is after—of a girl with similar facial features and dressed in almost the same clothes; see “A Portrait of Rosa with a Shoulder Stick”, c. 1735, in the collection of the Cleveland Museum of Art: http://www.clevelandart.org/art/1931.59?f%5B0%5D=field_artist:Giovanni%20Battista%20Piazzetta%20(Italian,%201682-1754)