Léon Subercaze’s etching, “The Doll”, c1848, after Adriaen van Ostade

Léon Subercaze (fl. 1848–1849)

“The Doll”, c1848, after Adriaen van Ostade’s (1610–1685) etching in the same direction, “Child Reaching for a Doll” (aka “La Poupée Desirée”; “La Poupée Demandée”), possibly executed for Léon  “series of prints for a book on Van Ostade’s art” (see Alison McQueen’s 2003, “The Rise of the Cult of Rembrandt: Reinventing an Old Master in Nineteenth-Century France” [Amsterdam University Press], p. 161 [n. 320])—a series that were once attributed to Jacque.

Etching on wove paper trimmed close to the image borderline and backed with a support sheet.

Size: (sheet) 10.4 x 9.3 cm; (image borderline) 10 x 8.7 cm.

Inscribed in plate within the image borderline: (lower right corner) “Av[ligature]. O. 1673”.

Numbered in plate below the image borderline: (partially trimmed at left) “11”.

The British Museum offers the following description of this print: “Family scene outside a rustic house, with on the left a woman sitting with her child on her lap and showing him a doll while her husband looks on; after Ostade Etching” (https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/object/P_1889-0608-287).

Condition: a richly inked and well-printed early impression showing no sign of wear to the printing plate, trimmed close to the image borderline and laid onto a support of archival (millennium quality) washi paper. The sheet is in an excellent condition with no tears, holes folds, abrasions, stains, foxing or signs of handling.

I am selling Subercaze’s small etching after Van Ostade’s etching from a series of prints that have caused many headaches for museum curators in the past—headaches leading to many of Charles Jacque’s reproductive prints of old master prints having to be reattributed to the hand of Léon Subercaze—for AU$267 in total (currently US$191.52/EUR168.27/GBP141.30 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 fascinating etching designed to showcase Van Ostade’s etchings to a fresh and newly appreciative audience in 19th century France leading to the Etching Revival movement later in the century, please contact me (oz_jim@printsandprinciples.com) and I will send you a PayPal invoice to make the payment easy.

Charles Émile Jacque's and/or Léon Subercaze's etching, “Village Festival under a Tree”, c1840s, after Adriaen van Ostade

Charles Émile Jacque (1813–1894) and/or

Léon Subercaze (fl.1845–1849)

Note: current opinion is that most—arguagly all—of the prints after Adriaen van Ostade (1610–85) and attributed to Charles Jacque (including those lettered with Jacques’ name) are now thought to have been executed by Léon Subercaze (see the Curator of the British Museum’s comment for BM No. 1889,0608.292).

“Village Festival under a Tree”, c1840s (note that a previous collector’s inscription on thie margin of this print proposes that the date of execution is 1866), after Adriaen van Ostade possibly published in the series “20 sujets composés et gravés à l'eau-forte par Ch. Jacques” (20 subjects composed and etched by Jacques Ch.).

Etching on buff chine collé China paper laid on ivory wove paper backed with a support sheet.

Size: (sheet) 27.2 x 35.9 cm; (plate) 13.5 x 23.1 c; (chine) 12.7 x 22.8 cm; 

(image borderline) 12 x 22.3 cm

Numbered on plate below the image borderline: (left) “13.”

Note that I have been unsuccessful in finding this print listed in J-J Guiffrey’s (1866) catalogue raisonne for Charles Jacque, but the Museum of Fine Arts Boston holds an unillustrated print online titled “A small festivity before a cottage” after Adriaen van Ostade by Léon Subercaze which may be the same print. Sadly, the online description of the MFA’s print does not give dimensions or other details to confirm this idea (see https://www.mfa.org/collections/object/a-small-festivity-before-a-cottage-90649). The MFA also holds another print by Jacque/Subercaze described as “[One of twenty one] Van Ostade. La vie et son oeuvre” (see https://www.mfa.org/collections/object/one-of-twenty-one-van-ostade-la-vie-et-son-oeuvre-353958), but as this impression is numbered “13” there would be an anomaly in the numbering of the series as Jacque’s etching “Forgeron”, 1850, is also numbered “13”.

Condition: richly inked and well-printed proof impression before the addition of publication details in excellent condition (i.e. there are no tears, holes, folds, significant stains or foxing). There are light pencil notations by a previous collector in the margin (upper and lower right corners) and the sheet has been laid onto a support sheet of archival (millennium quality) washi paper.

I am selling this magnificently executed etching after Adriaen van Ostade for AU$188 (currently US$136.09/EUR119.97/GBP106.18 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 remarkable etching from the 19^th century, 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

Charles Emile Jacque’s etching, “The Pater Familias”, 1844, after Adriaen van Ostade

Charles Émile Jacque (aka Charles Jacque; Charles-Emile Jacque) (1813–1894) and/or Léon Subercaze (fl.1845–1849)

Note that the curator of the British Museum advises: “The lettering identifies the etcher as Charles Jacque, but Beraldi notes that several prints engraved after Tiepolo, Ostade, Chardin and Jeanron and ‘signed’ by Jacque are actually by Subercaze.” (see BM No. 1889,0608.292)

“The Pater Familias”, 1844, after Adriaen van Ostade (1610-1685), published in “L'Artiste”, 1844.

Etching on chine collé on thick wove paper lined onto a conservator’s support sheet.

Size: (sheet) 25 x 21.5 cm; (plate) 15.8 x 12.1 cm; (chine collé) 13.8 x 10 cm; (image borderline) 12.3 x 9.1 cm

Lettered above the chine collé: “L'Artiste”

Inscribed below the image borderline: “Gravé à l'eau forte par Ch. Jacque, d'après Ostade”

Inscribed within the image borderline right of centre at lower edge: “A. Ostade 1648”

Beraldi 1885-92 10 (Henri Beraldi 1885, “Les Graveurs du dix-neuvième siècle”, 12 vols plus supplement, Paris); Hollstein 33 (copy); IFF 504 (under Jacque); Bartsch I.368.33 (copy)

The British Museum offers the following description of this print:

“The Pater Familias, after Ostade: a humble interior with the father carefully feeding his baby, watched by his wife who holds some laundry in front of the fire-place, another child sits before a stool on the floor eating a meal, a large pot is suspended before a fire at right, a bed with a curtain beyond”

(http://www.britishmuseum.org/research/collection_online/collection_object_details.aspx?objectId=3489942&partId=1&searchText=jacque+ostade+1648&page=1)

Condition: richly inked, crisp and well-printed impression with generous margins and laid upon a fine washi paper conservator’s support sheet. There is an area of thinness at the left plate edge but this issue is addressed by the support sheet and the abrasion/thinness does not impact upon the chine collé or the image; otherwise the sheet is in very good condition (i.e. there are no tears, holes, folds, stains or foxing)

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I am selling this etching after Ostade, signed by Jacque (but argued to be executed by Subercraze) for AU$161 (currently US$122.77/EUR102.86/GBP92.05 at the time of this listing) including postage and handling to anywhere in the world.

If you are interested in purchasing this rare 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

In my previous post I lightly discussed the sensitivity of Léon Subercaze as a master printmaker of the 19^th century. I also bemoaned the fact that there is very little biographical detail about this fine artist. To be honest, the only detail that I can find is offered by the British Museum that Subercraze was active as a printmaker between 1845 and 1849. Although this short time span could be lengthened to 1860, as I discovered an etching by Subercaze dated “1860”, the real issue is not a quibble about dates when he flourished. Instead, it’s a quibble about ethics. Specifically, the august Henri Beraldi (1885) in “Les Graveurs du dix-neuvième siècle” is cited by the curator of the British Museum to argue that Subercaze is the true etcher of this print after Ostade and not Charles Jacque whose name is inscribed on the plate. I wish that printmakers, publishers and the gate-keepers of history were always as honest …

Léon Subercaze’s etching, “Young boy seated at a dinner table”, c1849

Léon Subercaze (fl.1845–1849)

“Young boy seated at a dinner table” (descriptive title only), c1849

Etching on fine buff coloured Japan paper (presumably it may once have been a chine- collé sheet), trimmed with margins around the image borderline, but before the platemark and lined onto a conservator’s support sheet.

Size: (sheet) 11.7 x 10 cm; (image borderline) 11 x 9.3 cm

Inscribed on the plate below the image borderline at left: “L. Subercaze”

The British Museum holds the following collection of etchings by Subercaze:  http://www.britishmuseum.org/research/collection_online/search.aspx?searchText=L%C3%A9on+Subercaze+

Condition: faultless impression in pristine condition laid upon a support sheet of washi paper.

I am selling this superb impression in museum-quality condition by one of the “forgotten” 19^th century printmakers whose work is yet to be acclaimed for its quality (see my discussion) for AU$110 (currently US$83.88/EUR70.27/GBP62.89 at the time of posting this listing) including postage and handling to anywhere in the world.

If you are interested in purchasing this simple but marvellously strong composition, please contact me (oz_jim@printsandprinciples.com) and I will send you a PayPal invoice to make the payment easy.

Subercaze is one of the invisible printmakers of the 19^th century whose significance will someday shake the history books—but only a little shake. The reason is simple: HE was the etcher responsible (but unacknowledged) for executing some of major reproductive plates of old master prints bearing the name of one of the most famous printmakers of the Barbizon School: Charles Jacque.

First glance at this print shows clearly that Subercaze was a sublime etcher. He is able to illuminate even the darkest of shadows—note how Subercaze illuminates the young boy’s forehead and uses the “bounced” light from this region to add reflected light into the deep shadows of the cap that the boy wears. Moreover, Subercaze could express even what a child is thinking—note the boy’s tiny hand finding comfort in his crossed arms and the placement of the spoon on the plate at just the “right” angle parallel to his arms on the table to declare, without words, that he is ”over” eating. Despite such clear indicators of a sensitive and insightful artist, biographical information about him is limited to a few years that he was an active printmaker. So strange! So sad!