Bernard Picart’s etching, “Pan et Syrinx”, 1724, after Nicolas Poussin

Bernard Picart (1673–1733)

“Pan et Syrinx” (or as inscribed on the plate, “Pan et Sirinx”), 1724, after a painting by Nicolas Poussin (1594–1665), plate 42 from the series, “Impostures innocentes, ou Recueil d'estampes d'après divers peintres illustres”, published in Amsterdam in 1734.

Etching in brown ink and plate tone on wove paper

Size: (sheet) 27.9 x 42.9 cm; (plate) 20.8 x 28.5 cm; (image borderline) 19.2 x 27.6 cm

Inscribed on the plate outside the image borderline: (upper-right corner) “42”; (lower left) “N, Poussin pinxit, B. Picart sculpsit 1724.”; (lower centre) “Pan et Sirinx. Ovid, metam. Livr. 1.”

Andresen 1863 359 (A Andresen 1863, “Nicolaus Poussin - Verzeichniss der nach seinen Gemälden Gefertigten...”, Leipzig)

The British Museum offers the following description of this print: “Plate 42: Pan and Syrinx, after Nicolas Poussin; Pan pursuing Syrinx on a reed-fringed river bank; in the foreground, at right, two river gods. 1724” (http://www.britishmuseum.org/research/collection_online/collection_object_details.aspx?objectId=1669560&partId=1&searchText=picart&people=110986&page=1)

Condition: well-inked impression showing slight wear to the plate and with generous margins. There is scattered, very pale spotting and age tone showing in the outer edges of the margins; otherwise the sheet is in excellent condition for its age.

I am selling this masterpiece of interpretative etching of a painting by Poussin for AU$130 in total (currently US$97.71/EUR82.99/GBP72.99 at the time of posting this listing) including postage and handling to anywhere in the world.

If you are interested in purchasing this etching by one of the world’s master printmakers, 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 unfamiliar with the story of Pan and Syrinx explained in “Metamorphoses of Ovid” (Book 1 Verses 689–713), I will offer my version ...

Syrinx, the loosely dressed young lady seen being chased by the lust driven satyr, Pan, through the reeds, is best known as a wood nymph famed for her chastity. Her father, Ladon, is the river god shown in the lower right foreground with his mate/companion, Artemis.

Heeding Syrinx’s pleas for help, Syrinx is metamorphosed into a handful of marsh reeds just as Pan grasps hold of her. In his dismay, Pan sighs rather strongly and the rush of air from his lustful anguish groan causes the reeds that were once Syrinx to resonate a mournful sound. The next part of the story is that Pan decides to mould the reeds he holds into his namesake musical instrument—the pan-pipe—so that he may carry the haunting sound of Syrinx with him forever.

What I love about this freely drawn etching is how Picart has translated the expression of movement captured in Nicolas Poussin’s oil painting using a rhythm of zigzag horizontal hatched lines following Pan as he chases after Syrinx. This expression of movement using “flowing” lines behind Pan—what illustrators describe as agitrons—is made more effective by the contrast of these quickly laid “movement” marks with the tightly controlled use of contour and shading strokes rendering the trees on the far right of the composition.

Granville’s engraving, “Classical landscape in a circular format after Gaspar Poussin”, 1741

Granville (fl.1741–1757) after Gaspar Poussin (aka Gaspard Poussin; Gaspard Dughet; Gasparo Duche; Le Guaspre; Gaspre) (1615–75)

“Classical landscape in a circular format after Gaspar Poussin” (descriptive title only), 1741, from an album of 44 (?) engravings after Italian landscapes painted by Poussin, Lorrain, Rosa, Rembrandt, Coutois and Lauri, published by Charles Knapton (1700–42). Note that this impression is from the original 1741 edition and that a later restrike edition was published in 1806 (see BM’s restrike impression, no. 1977,U.19.17).

Etching with engraving on laid paper trimmed along the platemark and lined onto a support sheet of fine washi paper.

Size: (sheet) 36.9 x 34.1 cm; (image borderline) 33.7 x 33.4 cm; (tondo) 33.5 cm dia.

Lettered below the image borderline: (left) “Gaspar Poussin pinx. / Published July 20. 1741. by C. Knapton.”; (centre) “In the Collection of William Lock Esqr.”; (right) “Granville sculp. / 1 foot 8 inches: 1/2 diameter.”

Lifetime impression from the first edition of 1741. Note that there may be two states of this print as the description offered by the BM has a change to the inscription on the plate at the lower left from “Gaspar Poussin pinx.” (shown on this impression) to “Gaspar Dughet pinx.” (see BM no. 1977,U.19.17). This may, however, simply be an oversight in the BM's description.

Boisclair 1986 G.5 (Boisclair 1986, “Gaspard Dughet”, Paris)

The British Museum offers the following description of this print:

“Landscape with five figures: two seated in the foreground, at centre, with trees at left; third figure reclining on the right; beyond a stream and a waterfall, with two figures and buildings on the left bank, and hill on the right bank; stretch of water in the distance; within circle. 1741”

http://www.britishmuseum.org/research/collection_online/collection_object_details.aspx?objectId=3022957&partId=1&searchText=Granville+william+lock&page=1 ).

The curator of the BM also offers a description of the album of prints in which this engraving features: http://www.britishmuseum.org/research/collection_online/collection_object_details.aspx?objectId=3315840&partId=1&searchText=1977,U.19.1.&page=1

See also the description offered by the Yale Centre for British Art regarding the album in which this print features:

“An album of engravings of Italian landscapes published by Charles Knapton and Arthur Pond, after paintings mostly by Gaspar Poussin but also several by Claude Lorrain and one each by Rosa, Rembrandt, Courtois, and Lauri, from various private collections including Sir Robert Walpole's; engraved by Vivares, Chatelain, Granville, James Wood, P.C. Canot, and J. Mason; published by Knapton in 1741-1742 and by Pond in 1742-1746." (http://collections.britishart.yale.edu/vufind/Record/2074127

Condition: richly inked lifetime impression trimmed along the platemark. The sheet is lined onto millennium quality washi paper. There are losses at corners of the sheet, but the missing corners have been replenished.

I am selling this spectacularly large, rare and sensitively executed engraving for the total cost of AU$155 (currently US$121.40/EUR103.15/GBP92.04 at the time of this listing) including postage and handling to anywhere in the world.

If you are interested in purchasing this very beautiful print of the utmost rarity, 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

Like the figures featured in Francisque Millet’s composition discussed in the previous post, here again the importance of the figures and what they might be doing is secondary to the expression of a grand view of landscape. What I am suggesting is not that the figures don’t play a role; they do. For instance, the two figures in the foreground are clearly there to “catch” the eye and the hand gesture of the figure on the right helps to direct attention into the pictorial depth of the scene. Instead, I am suggesting that any sense of a meaningful narrative triggered by the placement of the figures is of minor importance to the intention of showing the landscape itself as the conceptual point of the image. Indeed, this image created by Gaspar Poussin, the pupil and son-in-law of the great Nicholas Poussin, fits very well with the mould of other seminal works of the 17^th century where the idea that landscape as a subject in itself was taking hold.

Johannes Glauber’s etching, “Landscape with a River, a Boat with Four Men”, c.1680

Johannes Glauber (aka Jan Glauber; Joannes Glauber; Polidoro Polydor) (1646–c.1726) (Note: Johannes Glauber is the elder brother and master of Jan Gotlieb Glauber featured in the previous post.)

“Landscape with a River, a Boat with Four Men” (BM title) or “Landscape with Two Women in a Boat” (TIB title), c.1680, from the final plate in the series “Twelve Landscapes” (see TIB [1978] pp. 201–13)

Etching on laid paper with small margins.

Size: (sheet) 28.2 x 38.6 cm: (plate) 27.7 x 38 cm; (image borderline) 27 x 37.4 cm

Inscribed below the image borderline (lower right) “J. Glauber fe.”

State: i (of i)

TIB 7 (5). 19 (391) (Walter L Strauss & Otto Naumann [Eds.] 1978, “The Illustrated Bartsch”, vol. 7, p. 213); Bartsch V.392.19; Hollstein 22; Weigel 1843 undescribed; Weigel 1838 7274

The British Museum offers the following description of this print:

“Landscape with a boat carrying four men on a river in the centre, two other figures watching them from the river-bank in the foreground, trees on either side, mountains in the background”. The BM also notes (as is the case with this print): “The paper shows a crease in the middle”. This crease is most likely a publication fold as the print is large in size. (http://www.britishmuseum.org/research/collection_online/collection_object_details.aspx?objectId=1668203&partId=1&searchText=Glauber&page=1)

Condition: very good impression with narrow margins, traces of use (i.e. small marks/stains); otherwise in good condition.

I am selling this stunning etching epitomising how a great printmaker can capture the sparkling effects of light in a landscape for the total cost of AU$216 (currently US$162.11/EUR148.69/GBP125.41 at the time of posting this listing) including postage and handling to anywhere in the world.

If you are interested in purchasing this very beautiful and luminous 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

Although the academic gatekeepers of art history have not found sufficient reasons to shout out loud the names of the Glauber brothers—Johannes Glauber and his younger brother, Jan Gottlieb Glauber, whose print features in the previous post—I believe that they simply haven’t looked properly at prints like this one to see what is really being portrayed and, importantly, its significance as a precursor to Impressionism.

Superficially, this print may have all the hallmarks of a follower of Poussin in terms of showcasing a landscape vista with a small narrative “happening” in the middle-distance. To my eyes, however, this print is more than this. It’s about the effects of light sparkling on the surfaces of landscape features—especially the trees. Moreover, a light that is so intense that it even hurts my eyes to look at the landscape. There are, of course, other old masters (for example, the amazing Canaletto) who were able to capture the shimmering effects of light, but their approach is different to the Glauber brothers. For example, instead of relying on harsh contrasts of light and shade to express intense light, Johannes Glauber uses small patches of cross-hatching in this print, executed in wavy lines, to create the visual illusion of light glittering on uneven surfaces. Indeed, I wish to argue that his use of these slightly misaligned small patches of cross-hatching are not too dissimilar to the Impressionist use of their famous “broken brushstrokes” (i.e. small square-ended brushstrokes laid at different angles).

Fabrizio Chiari’s etching, “Venus and Apollo”, 1636, after Poussin

Fabrizio Chiari (aka Fabrizio Claro; Fabritius Clarus) (c.1615–95)

“Venus and Mercury”, 1636, after Nicolas Poussin’s (1594–1665) painting of the same name that is now sectioned with the left side held in Dulwich Picture Gallery, London, and the right side held in the Louvre, Paris.

Etching printed with grey ink on buff coloured laid paper, trimmed to the image borderline and lined onto a conservator’s support sheet and laid on heavy wove paper (Dutch Etch).

Size: (sheet) 29.2 x 39.8 cm

Inscribed with the artist’s name and dated on the tablet at lower left: “FABRITI / CHIARVS / ex 1636"

Inscribed with the inventor’s name on the open book at the lower left centre: “NICOLAIS / PVSSIN / VS / IN”

Wildenstein 1955 121.I (Georges Wildenstein 1955, “Les Graveurs de Poussin au XVIIe siècle”, Gazette des Beaux-Arts, XLVI, Paris); Andresen 1863 348.I (A. Andresen 1863, “Nicolaus Poussin - Verzeichniss der nach seinen Gemälden Gefertigten...”, Leipzig); LeBlanc 2 (Ch. Leblanc 1854 [-89], “Manuel de l'amateur d'estampes, contenant un dictionnaire des graveurs de toutes les nations …”, dl. 2, p. 11, cat.nr. 2).

The British Museum offers the following description of this print:

“Venus and Mercury, after Poussin: Venus, reclining beneath clump of trees, with Mercury seated at her side, at left; at their feet, Cupid wrestling a young satyr; at right, group of five putti singing and playing music. 1636 Etching”

(http://www.britishmuseum.org/research/collection_online/collection_object_details.aspx?objectId=1669396&partId=1&searchText=Fabrizio+CHIARI+&page=1)

The Rijksmuseum offers the following description of this print (note that there is an anomaly in the description of this print with that offered by the BM):

“Venus and Mercury are in a landscape. In the foreground is a putto in a fight with a young satyr. A putto with two wreaths in his hands watching. Left, a group of music-making putti. In the foreground on the right a lute.” (http://hdl.handle.net/10934/RM0001.COLLECT.92875)

Condition: good impression but with numerous restorations and replenishing of losses, trimmed at the image borderline and laid on two conservator’s support sheets.

I am selling this softly glowing etching for the total cost of [deleted] including postage and handling to anywhere in the world.

If you are interested in purchasing this rare old-master print and an important historical document of a Poussin painting that is now only to be seen in pieces, please contact me (oz_jim@printsandprinciples.com) and I will send you a PayPal invoice to make the payment easy.

This etching is a curious print that I have not completely come to terms with.

First, it is printed in a cool grey ink on warm grey toned paper. Second, and the most curious issue for me, the description of the copy that the British Museum holds advises that “… at right, group of five putti singing and playing music.” The BM does not post an image of their print but this description fits perfectly with the print that I’m showing here … but there is a perplexing problem: the Rijksmuseum shows the print in reverse and describes their print with the music-making puttie as being on the left. Neither august institution is likely to be wrong as both mirrored impressions are identical (i.e. neither is a copy) but why is there this anomaly?

In a way, my first conundrum about the grey toning of the print is probably the answer. This and the copy in the BM (which I am unable to see to confirm my thoughts) is a counterproof (i.e. a print taken from the “original” etching when it was still sticky and wet after being pulled from the press by placing the original etching onto second sheet of paper and rolling both sheets back through the press to create a mirror image of the original on the second sheet). This would account for the grey appearance of the print. Do I know for sure? No I don’t as the impression shown here is trimmed at the image borderline but before the platemark that would have shown that it is in fact a counterproof. Moreover, the print has been beautifully restored and in the process of this restoration the surface of the print is fattened and so “tell-tale” signs of embossing from the etching plate are not evident.

For those interested in the portrayed subject of this print, the Dulwich Picture Gallery which holds the left section of Nicholas Poussin’s painting, “Venus and Mercury” (1627–29)—this etching shows Poussin’s complete design before the painting was “sliced and diced” leaving the right portion now in the Louvre—offers the following excellent explanation: “Venus and Mercury, the goddess of Beauty and the Protector of the Arts, watch over two wrestling putti, Eros (spiritual love), and the goat-legged Anteros (sexual love). The lute, palette, musical score and caduceus (symbol of eloquence) beside Mercury confirm the reading of this scene as the victory of the higher, spiritual satisfactions over earthly gratifications.” (https://www.google.com/culturalinstitute/beta/asset/venus-and-mercury/ZAHNvInxHQnztA)

Contrary to this explanation by the Dulwich Picture Gallery (viz. the composition concerns the ascendancy of love over all things—“omnia vincit amor”), the DPG also proposes that the subject may be instead an “allegory of the antagonism between spiritual and sensual love.” (op. cit.)