Bernard Picart, “Academic Study of a Female Nude”, 1733

Bernard Picart (1673–1733)
“Academic Study of a Female Nude” (or “Naakte Vrouw in de Wolken” [Naked Woman in the Clouds]—Rijksmuseum title), 1733

Technical Details & Condition:
Etching and mezzotint printed in sepia ink on wove paper. This is plate 58 in the series of academic figure studies titled “Impostures innocentes, ou Recueil d'Estampes d'après Divers Peintres Illustres” (Innocent Impostures: Collection of Prints after Various Illustrious Painters), first published in Amsterdam in 1734 by the widow of Bernard Picart (Veuve Bernard Picart).

Archive.org offers an online view of this print in its original context alongside other the images in the folio, published by John Boydell (1720–1804) in London: https://archive.org/details/bim_eighteenth-century_impostures-innocentes-o_picart-bernard_1756/page/n109/mode/2up.

The impression is strong and well-printed. Aside from pale foxing in the margin, the sheet is in excellent condition—free of tears, holes, folds, abrasions, and significant stains.

Dimensions:
• Sheet: 35.2 x 23.3 cm
• Platemark: 29.6 x 18.5 cm

Lettering on Plate:
• Upper right corner (indistinct): “58”
• Below the image borderline: “Académie dessinée et Gravée par B. Picart./ l’Original est au Cabinet de Monsr. Walraven à Amsterdam.”

References:
• Dimier 947–956 (Louis Dimier, Les Peintres Français du XVIIIe Siècle: Histoire des Vies et Catalogue des Oeuvres, 1928, Paris, Les Éditions G. Van Oest, nos. 947–956)
• British Museum: https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/object/P_1861-1109-800
• Rijksmuseum: https://id.rijksmuseum.nl/200133476

Price & Shipping:
AU$236 (approximately US$166.69 / €141.32 / £123.53), including worldwide express shipping.
Please note: Import duties and taxes are the buyer’s responsibility.

If you are interested in acquiring this exceptional study of a dynamic female nude—possibly depicting a classical figure descending from the clouds—please contact me at oz_jim@printsandprinciples.com. I am happy to provide a secure PayPal invoice for a seamless purchase.

Bernard Picart, “Academic Study of a Male Nude”, 1733

Bernard Picart (1673–1733)
“Academic Study of a Male Nude,” 1733

Technical Details & Condition:
Etching on fine laid paper with full margins as issued. This is plate number 59 in a series of academic figure studies titled “Impostures innocentes, ou Recueil d'Estampes d'après Divers Peintres Illustres” (Innocent Impostures / Collection of Prints after Various Illustrious Painters), first published in Amsterdam in 1734 by the widow of Bernard Picart (Veuve Bernard Picart).

Archive.org provides an online view of this print in its original context alongside other images from the folio, published by John Boydell (1720–1804) in London: https://archive.org/details/bim_eighteenth-century_impostures-innocentes-o_picart-bernard_1756/page/n111/mode/2up.

This is a strong, well-printed impression. Aside from small tears in the lower left margin, the sheet is in excellent condition—free of holes, folds, abrasions, stains, or signs of handling.

Dimensions:
• Sheet: 40.7 x 25.2 cm
• Platemark: 33.4 x 22 cm
• Outer image borderline: 31.9 x 21.3 cm

Numbering and Lettering on Plate:
• Upper right corner: “59”
• Lower centre: “Académie dessinée et Gravée par B. Picart. / l’Original est au Cabinet de Mons^r. Walraven à Amsterdam.”

References:
• Dimier 947–956 (Louis Dimier, Les Peintres Français du XVIIIe Siècle: Histoire des Vies et Catalogue des Oeuvres, 1928, Paris, Les Éditions G. Van Oest, nos. 947–956)
• British Museum: https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/object/P_1861-1109-801

Price & Shipping:
AU$236 (approximately US$165.65 / €140.14 / £121.68), including worldwide express shipping. Import duties and taxes are the buyer’s responsibility.

If you are interested in acquiring this exceptional etching of a male nude—based on Picart’s own drawing—please contact me at oz_jim@printsandprinciples.com. I am happy to provide a secure PayPal invoice for a seamless purchase.

This print has been sold

Cornelis Bloemaert, “Leandre and Hero”, c. 1655, after Abraham van Diepenbeeck

Cornelis Bloemaert (1603–1692) in collaboration with Theodor Matham (aka Dirk Matham) (1605/06–1676) (background landscape)

“Leandre and Hero” (aka “Leander Swims across the Hells Bridge to find Hero”; “Léandre Traverse l'Héllespont à la Nage pour Aller Trouver Héro”) c. 1655, after the design by Abraham van Diepenbeeck (aka Abraham van Diepenbeek; Abraham van Diepenbeke) (1596–1675), plate 35 in the series of 58 illustrations to Michel de Marolles’ (1600–1681) “Tableaux du Temple des Muses” (aka “Tableaux du temple des muses tirez du cabinet de feu Mr Favereau, et gravez en tailles-douces par les meilleurs maistres de son temps pour représenter les vertus et les vices, sur les plus illustres fables de l'antiquité, avec les descriptions, remarques et annotations”). This impression is possibly from a later edition.

Marcel Roethlisberger (1993), in “Abraham Bloemaert and His Sons,” notes that the publication of this series was a “complex publishing venture,” and that Pierre Mariette II (1634–1716) may have been involved (vol. 1, p. 525). The series was certainly published by Nicolas Langlois (1640–1703) in Paris in 1655, and a later, more ornate edition featuring decorative frames was published by Bernard Picart (1673–1733) in Amsterdam in 1733. Interestingly, Cornelis Bloemaert also produced an engraving of this print in the reverse direction for publication in 1676 (see https://archive.org/details/tableauxdutemple00maro/page/n367/mode/2up). Roethlisberger (1993) cautions that “there is no indication that Cornelis [Bloemaert] collaborated in the 1655 edition” (ibid.).

Etching and engraving on laid paper.

Size: (sheet) 33.3 x 23.4 cm; (plate) 27.9 x 18.2 cm; (image borderline) 23.2 x 17.9 cm.

Numbered and lettered on plate below the image borderline: “LÉANDRE TRAVERSE L'HÉLLESPONT À LA NAGE POUR ALLER TROUVER HÉRO. … nu son Corps se précipita de désespoir du haut de la Tour. Mart. Spect. Ep. 15. 25. 35.”

The British Museum offers the following description of this print from the Nicolas Langlois edition: “Mythological scene with Leander swimming in a stormy sea in right foreground, accompanied by Cupid, a tower with a lantern in right background, the Winds blowing in top left; after Abraham van Diepenbeeck; from an album containing sixty engravings trimmed and pasted on sheets; illustration on page 275 from Marolles' "Temple des Muses" [Paris, Nicolas Langlois: 1655]. c. 1635–1638/ Etching and engraving” (https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/object/P_1983-1001-12-34).

Condition: a strong and well-printed impression. Beyond a few minor dots in the margin, the sheet is in a very good condition with no tears, holes, folds, abrasions or significant stains.

Price & Shipping: AU$236 (approx. US$153.32 / €131.78 / £114.50), including worldwide express shipping. Please note: Import duties are the buyer’s responsibility.

If you are interested in purchasing this visually engaging etching showing the naked young man from Greek mythology, Leander, swimming to his beloved, Hero, who guides him with a light held from a distant tower, 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

Bernard Picart, “Hercules Fights the Lernaean Hydra”, 1731

Bernard Picart (1673–1733)

“Hercules Fights the Lernaean Hydra” (aka “Hercules’s Combat with the Hydra”; “Hercules doodt de hydra van Lerna”), 1731, Plate 24 (XXV) in the series of sixty plates, “Le Temple des Muses” (Neu-Eröfneter Musen-Tempel) after Abraham van Diepenbeeck (1596–1675), first published in Amsterdam in 1733 by Zacharie Chatelain (fl.1700–50), facing page 55 (see https://archive.org/details/gri_33125012263162/page/n115/mode/2up). 

Etching and engraving printed from two plates on laid paper with full margins as published.

Size: (sheet) 44.3 x 27cm; (outer plate) 36.1 x 25.7cm; (outer image borderline) 34.8 x 25.1cm.

Lettered in plate: (at left below the outer image borderline) “B. Picart del,1731”; (at centre below the inner image borderline with title in four languages [French, English, German and Dutch]) “COMBAT D’HERCULE CONTRE L’HYDRE DE LERNE./ Hercules’s Combat with the Hydra.// …./ …”.

LeBlanc 85–146 (J.Ch. Brunet & Ch. Leblanc 1854[–1889], “Manuel de l'amateur d'estampes, contenant un dictionnaire des graveurs de toutes les nations: ouvrage destiné à faire suite au Manuel du libraire”, vol. 3, Paris, p. 192, cat. nos. 85–146).

See also the description of this print offered by the Rijksmuseum https://id.rijksmuseum.nl/200370066.

Condition: a strong and well-printed (near faultless) impression laid onto a support of archival (millennium quality) washi paper. Beyond a significant closed tear in the lower margin (approx. 3cms away from the outer image borderline), the sheet is in a very good condition with no holes, folds, abrasions or stains.

I am selling this graphically strong representation of Hercules fighting the mythological Hydra— a serpentine monster with poisonous breath, deadly scented blood, and many heads that regenerate with two extra heads if one were to be lopped off—for the total price of AU$326 (approximately US$211.26, EUR 181.58, or GBP 157.01). This price includes worldwide express postage and handling. Please note that any applicable import duties or taxes imposed by the destination country are the responsibility of the buyer.

If you are interested in purchasing this large museum quality etching with engraving printed from two plates—an outer “frame” plate and an inner “image” plate—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