Hieronymus Cock, “Flight into Egypt”, c.1555

Hieronymus Cock (aka Jérome Cock) (c.1517/18–1570)

“Flight into Egypt”, c.1555 (c.1551–before 1558 [Rijksmuseum]), intermediary design by Hieronymus Cock’s elder brother, Matthijs Cock (aka Matthys Cock; Matthys Cock; Matthias Cock; Matthijs Wellens de Cock; Matthijs Kock) (c.1510/15–1548), from the series of twelve plates, “Landscapes with Biblical and Mythological Scenes”, published in 1558 by Hieronymous Cock.

Etching on laid paper trimmed around the image borderline and backed with a support sheet providing wide margins.

Size: (sheet) 21.8 x 30.8cm.

Inscribed in plate: (lower left corner) “H COCK FE./ Deipara uirgo in Aegptum fugit”.

Hollstein 40 (F.W.H. Hollstein 1951, “Dutch and Flemish Etchings, Engravings and Woodcuts ca. 1450–1700: Brun–Coques: text”, vol. 4, Amsterdam, Menno Hertzberger, p. 179, cat. no. 40); Riggs 11 (Timothy Allan Riggs 1977, “Hieronymus Cock: Printmaker and Publisher”, New York, Garland Publishing, pp. 273–279, cat. no. 11).

The Rijksmuseum offers the following description of this print: (transl.) “Landscape with a watermill by a river. On the left on the path Mary and Joseph fleeing into Egypt. Mary holds Christ in her arm and rides on a donkey. Joseph wears a hat and a stick and holds Mary's hand” (http://hdl.handle.net/10934/RM0001.COLLECT.96307).

See also an interesting essay regarding the series in which this print features (but not reproduced) in the exhibition catalogue from the Royal Library of Belgium: Joris van Grieken et al. 2013, “Hieronymus Cock: The Renaissance in Print", New Haven and London, pp. 344–47.

At the time that this etching was executed, artists leaned towards two different approaches to portraying the landscape.

The first approach—as employed here—is to portray a largely imagined landscape from a great height as if it were an exemplary extraction of the cosmos with allegorical and religious narratives being played out. This first approach is known by the German world, “Weltlandschaft”, or “World Landscape” (see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_landscape), initiated by Joachim Patinir (c1480–1524). Joris van Grieken et al. (2013) propose that this approach to landscape was “… to stimulate the imagination, sometimes at the expense of all visual plausibility” (p. 343).

The second approach, which also plays a role in this etching, but to a lesser extent, is driven by the idea of a “Lady Landscape”—a not so politically correct mindset in which the landscape’s natural forces are perceived as femininely evil with a façade of beauty (see Udo Becker 2000, “The Continuum Encyclopedia of Symbols”, Continuum, p. 169). Artists who approach the landscape with this mindset tend to employ focal points in the landscape where the veil of external appearance is stripped bare, such as the underground watercourse leading to the watermill inviting a viewer to contemplate the subterranean depths of a landscape where natural forces interact with everyday activities.

Condition: a strong lifetime impression (based on the quality of line showing no sign of wear to the printing plate and even the lightly scratched guides to lettering before etching are still clear). Beyond a clipper upper corner, the sheet is in an excellent condition for its considerable age with no tears, folds or significant stains. The sheet has been laid onto a support of archival (millennium quality) washi paper.

I am selling this exceptionally rare lifetime impression of a magnificent etching by one of the most important 16th century printmakers, for the total cost of AU$672 (currently US$448.63/EUR413.41/GBP345.57 at the time of posting 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. Note that payment is in Australian dollars (AU$672) as this is my currency.

If you are interested in purchasing this important Renaissance period etching from the start of the Western landscape tradition, 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

Paul Bril's etching, “Riverscape with a Shepherd on a Hill”, 1590

Paul Bril (aka Paulus Brill; Paolo Brillo) (c1553/4­–1626)

“Riverscape with a Shepherd on a Hill” (Philaphedphi\a Museum of Art title), 1590, from the series of two plates, “Views of the Coast of Campania”, published by Giovanni Orlandi (fl.1590–1640) in Rome.

Etching with engraving on fine laid paper trimmed with thread margins along the image borderline and backed with a support sheet.

Size: (sheet) 20.4 x 28 cm

Inscribed on plate within the image borderline: (lower right corner) "Paulus Bril Inuent./ & Fecit."

State iii/iv (of iv) the trimming of the margin with the publication details makes the attribution of the state difficult, but the state is after the second state as the date, “1590", following “Fecit” shown in state two is erased.

Hollstein 2.III/IV (F W H Hollstein 1949, “Dutch and Flemish etchings, engravings and woodcuts c.1450-1700”, Amsterdam).

The British Museum offers the following description of this print:

“Landscape with two men in a small rowing boat on a river at centre, trees at left, several shepherds with their flock of sheep on a hill at right, a city and mountains in the background at right; ….”

(https://www.britishmuseum.org/research/collection_online/collection_object_details.aspx?objectId=3023299&partId=1&searchText=Paul+Bril&page=1)

See also the description of this print at the Rijksmusueum:

http://hdl.handle.net/10934/RM0001.COLLECT.38229; and a very good contextual explanation of it offered by Te Papa Tongarewa:

https://collections.tepapa.govt.nz/object/42211

See also reference to this print in Eckhard Leuschner’s (2012), “Ein Priviligiertes Medium Und Die Bildkulturen Europas : Deutsche, Franzosische Und Niederlandische Kupferstecher Und Graphikverleger in ROM Von 1590 Bis 1630”, Munich, Hirmer Verlag GmbH, p. 29.

Condition: crisp but slightly grey impression showing no sign of wear to the printing plate, trimmed with thread margins around the image borderline and is missing the text lines below the borderline. Apart from a replenished chipped lower right corner, the sheet is in excellent condition (i.e. there are no tears, folds, holes, abrasions, significant stains or foxing). The sheet is backed with a support sheet of archival (millennium quality) washi paper.

I am selling this early etching that is of the utmost rarity by one of the major oldmasters whose collaborations with Jan Brueghel the Elder, Adam Elsheimer and Hans Rottenhammer had a profound influence on the direction of landscape imagery, for AU$583 in total (currently US$418.34/EUR368.81/GBP331.61at 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 masterwork exemplifying the notion of “Weltlandschaft” (World Landscape) and a 16^th century fascination with topothesia (fictional places), 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

Raphael Sadeler I’s etching (with engraving), “Landscape with a Chapel”, c1590

Raphael Sadeler I (1560/61–1628/32)

“Landscape with a Chapel” (Rijksmuseum title) (aka “Mountain Landscape with a Wooden Bridge and a Chapel on a Rock’ [TIB title]), c1590, after a drawing by Paul Bril (c1553/4–1626) in the Duke of Devonshire Collection, Chatsworth.

Etching and engraving on fine laid paper backed with a support sheet.

Size: (sheet) 26.3 x 33.7 cm; (plate) 206 x 27.4 cm; (image borderline) 19.8 x 27.3 cm

Inscribed on plate within the image borderline: (lower right) “P Bril inuent: R. Sadeler scalp.”

TIB 7101.200 (Isabelle de Ramaix [ed.] 2006, ‘The Illustrated Bartsch: Raphael Sadeler I”, vol. 71, Part 1 [Supplement], Abaris Books, p. 287); Nagler 1835–52, no. 138, 2; Le Blanc, no. 125; Wurzbach, no. 125, 2; Hollstein 1980, vol. 21, no. 218; Edquist, p. 319, no. 48a.

The Rijksmuseum offers the following description of this print:

(transl.) “A hilly landscape with a wooden bridge in the foreground. Two travelers walk towards a chapel on the right in the background.”

(http://hdl.handle.net/10934/RM0001.COLLECT.168902)

State i (of i) Note: the crisp linework with no sign of wear to the plate suggests that this is a lifetime or an early impression.

Condition: richly inked and in excellent condition (apart from a patch of restoration in the upper margin) with generous margins. The sheet has been laid onto a support sheet of archival (millennium quality) washi paper.

I am selling this museum quality impression—radiant with strong contrasts of light and dark—that literally invites the eye to stroll along the portrayed pathways into the far distance, for AU$345 in total (currently US$246.53/EUR213.96/GBP188.14 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 early masterpiece of landscape etching (with engraving), 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

What I love about 17^th century landscapes, like this superb example, is that the context in which they were created helped to shape the meanings that they project. For instance, the composition of this print is based on a drawing by Paul Bril whose underpinning interest in landscape fits into the tradition of “Weltlandschaft”/ “World Landscape” (i.e. to portray a landscape from a great height as if the view were a crystallisation of the cosmos complete with allegorical narratives), the period style of Mannerism (i.e. a leaning to portray the landscape with a theatrical touch) and the notion of the landscape as having an inner soul of natural forces—a way of looking at landscape termed “Lady Landscape”. Mixed into this contextual brew helping to shape this landscape is Raphael Sadeler’s personal leaning to the 17^th century notion of “Quietism” (i.e. creating spiritually tranquil scenes replete with vanitas and memento mori symbolic moral guides—for example, the broken tree trunks in the foreground, the path with a dangerously frail bridge and the spotlit chapel with ringing bells on the escarpment).

Hieronymus Cock’s etching, “Landscape with Mercury and Argus”, 1558

Hieronymus Cock (aka Jérome Cock) (c.1510–1570)

“Landscape with Mercury and Argus”, 1558, after the drawing by his brother, Matthijs Cock (aka Matthys Cock; Matthijs Wellens de Cock; Matthijs Kock; Matthias Cock) (c.1510/5–1548), from the series of 12 etchings, “Landscapes with Biblical and Mythological Scenes”, published in 1558 by Hieronymus Cock.

Note also that the drawing by Hieronymus’ elder brother, Matthijs, which this etching is thought to be based depicted a “Landscape with the Flight into Egypt” that was once in the Lugt Collection but its location is now unknown.

Etching on fine laid paper with watermark, "Arms", trimmed along the image borderline.

Size: (sheet) 22.4 x 32.1cm.

Inscribed on plate within the image borderline: (lower left with partial losses to the text) "[Mer]curius [Argum] interficit"; (lower left of centre) "Cock fecit 1558".

Lifetime impression of the only state

Hollstein Dutch 14 (F W H Hollstein 1949, “Dutch and Flemish etchings, engravings and woodcuts c.1450-1700”, Amsterdam); Riggs 1977 43 (Timothy Allan Riggs 1977, “Hieronymus Cock, Printmaker and Publisher”, New York, Garland Press, pp. 273–9, cat. no. 43).

The British Museum offers the following description of this print:

“Landscape with Mercury on a road and holding the head of Argus in his left hand, Argus' body lying on the ground, fields at left, a city along a bay and mountains in the background. 1558 Etching”

(http://www.britishmuseum.org/research/collection_online/collection_object_details.aspx?objectId=3024499&partId=1&searchText=landscape+with+Mercury+and+Argus&page=1).

See also the description of this print by the Rijksmuseum:

(transl.) “Hilly landscape with a harbor town in the distance. Right before Mercury, who cut off the [head of] giant Argus. Mercury holds his head in his hand. In the clouds Juno rides in her carriage drawn by two peacocks. Picture from a series of 13 landscapes with biblical and mythological scenes”

(http://hdl.handle.net/10934/RM0001.collect.95838).

Condition: an exceptionally rare lifetime impression that is richly inked and well-printed. The sheet is trimmed along the borderline with restored paper losses, closed tears and other small repairs, backed with thin conservator’s paper.

I am selling this lifetime impression of the utmost rarity by one of the most important 16^th century printmakers for AU$650 (currently US$478.12/EUR415.05/GBP364.72 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 simply magnificent Renaissance etching from the start of the Occidental landscape tradition, 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

At the time that this etching was executed, artists leaned towards two different approaches to portraying the landscape.

The first approach—as employed here—is to portray a largely imagined landscape from a great height as if it were an exemplary extraction of the cosmos with allegorical narratives being played out. This first approach is known by the German world, “Weltlandschaft”, or “World Landscape” (see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_landscape), was initiated by Joachim Patinir (c1480–1524). According to Dominique Allart (2013) in the “must have” exhibition catalogue, “Hieronymus Cock: The Renaissance in Print”, this approach to landscape was “… to stimulate the imagination, sometimes at the expense of all visual plausibility” (p. 343).

The second approach, which also plays a role in this etching, but to a lesser extent, is driven by the idea of a “Lady Landscape”—a not so politically correct mindset in which the landscape’s natural forces are perceived as femininely evil with a façade of beauty (see Udo Becker 2000, “The Continuum Encyclopedia of Symbols”, Continuum, p. 169). Artists who approach the landscape with this mindset tend to employ focal points in the landscape where the veil of external appearance is stripped bare, such as natural arch shown here in the distant mountain allowing the eye to explore the mountain’s subterranean depths. Although I may be very wrong in my reading of this particular landscape, I see Cock’s approach to rendering the superficial details of this vast panorama—e.g. the trees, roads, streams, cattle and even the mythological figure of Mercury holding the head of the now headless Argus (see Ovid, Metamorphoses I 723)—as being underpinned by natural forces that are bulging the superficial details like muscles flexing beneath them.

Sébastien Le Clerc’s etching, “Rocky Landscape with River”, 1693

Sébastien Le Clerc (aka Sébastien Leclerc) (1637–1714)

“Rocky Landscape with River”, 1693, plate 5 from a series of 12 landscapes, first published by Nicolas Langlois in 1693; a second edition was issued by Lamy in 1784. This impression is from the second edition of 1764.

Etching on laid paper lined with a conservator’s support sheet.

Size: (sheet) 11.1 x 19 cm; (plate) 10.3 x 19 cm; (image borderline) 9.4 x 18 cm

Inscribed within the image borderline at the lower-left corner, “S. le Clerc. f.”, and numbered, “5”, below the image borderline at the lower-left corner.

State ii (of ii) (Note: I have also listed an impression of the first state).

IFF 1010.II (Inventaire du Fonds Français: Bibliothèque Nationale, Département des Estampes, Paris, 1930); Jombert 1774 107.5 (Charles-Antoine Jombert 1774, “Catalogue raisonné de l'oeuvre de Sébastien Leclerc, chevalier romain”, 2 vol, Paris)

The British Museum offers the following description of this print:

“Plate 5: rocky landscape with river running through the middle.” (http://www.britishmuseum.org/research/collection_online/collection_object_details.aspx?objectId=1628529&partId=1&searchText=S%25u00e9bastien+Leclerc&page=1)

Condition: crisp impression, trimmed along the platemark on the left and right sides with narrow margins at the top and bottom edges and laid upon a support sheet of fine washi paper. The print is in good condition for its age (i.e. there are no tears, holes, stains or foxing), but the surface shows slight signs of use (i.e. the sheet is not pristine).

I am selling this stunning impression by the "graveur du Roi" for Louis XIV, Sébastien Le Clerc, for a total cost of AU$142 (currently US$108.75/EUR95.51/GBP83.75 at the time of this listing) including postage and handling to anywhere in the world.

If you are interested in purchasing this small but graphically powerful etching of an idealised landscape, 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

This is a print that has everything that I believe might appeal to a late 17^th century taste for landscape: craggy mountains with a rock pinnacle and a natural arch—the arch is somewhat disguised in shadows but is nevertheless shown on the far right—and natural forces forming the land in terms of waterfalls, streams and even eddying currents—the latter suggested by the agitated water in the foreground. Going further, this was the time when popular notions of landscape, especially in the Netherlands, had been shaped by artists like Joachim Patinir (c.1480–1524) whose vision of landscape is what is now termed as “world landscape” or to use the more common German expression: “Weltlandschaft.” To borrow the explanation for this term from Wikipedia, Weltlandschaft is “a type of composition in Western painting [and prints] showing an imaginary panoramic landscape seen from an elevated viewpoint that includes mountains and lowlands, water, and buildings” (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_landscape).

Adriaen van der Cabel’s etching, “Extensive Landscape with River, Mountains, and Village”

Adriaen van der Cabel (aka Adriaen van der Kabel) (1631–1705)

“Extensive Landscape with River, Mountains, and Village” (Le paysage au grand lointain) , 1660–1700, plate 5 in the series, “Landscapes VI” (only five of the six landscapes have been identified by Bartsch), published by N Robert (1650–1700; fl. c.) using a French privilege. (Interestingly, the BM proposes that this publisher may be “identified with Nicolas Robert, the painter of vélins”. If this is true then the date of the print may be narrowed to between 1660 and 1685 as Nicholas Robert died in 1685.)

Etching on fine laid paper with watermark, small margins around the image borderline and stamped (verso) with a collector’s mark

Size: (sheet) 23.1 x 35 cm

Lettered below the image borderline: (left) "Adr. Vander Cabel jnu. et fecit. Cu. priuil. Regis."; (right) "N. Robert ex. Cu. P. R.".

State i (of ii) before the number '5' is added to the text line. This must be a very early impression as the fine burnishing marks left on the plate from its original polishing are clearly visible. (Note: later impressions do not have these tiny “scratch” marks as the inking and wiping process involved in printing the plate wears them away.)

The British Museum offers the following description of this print:

“Plate 5: Landscape with a draped woman conversing with a seated man in lower right corner, a fisherman seated on a river-bank beyond, trees on either side, towns and mountains in the background; on full sheet; from a series of six prints (7ème) showing landscapes.” (http://www.britishmuseum.org/research/collection_online/collection_object_details.aspx?objectId=3063813&partId=1&searchText=van+der+cabel&page=1)

Hollstein 48.I (F W H Hollstein, 1949 “Dutch and Flemish etchings, engravings and woodcuts c.1450-1700”, Amsterdam); Bartsch 4 (5).42 (254) (Walter L Strauss, 1979, “The Illustrated Bartsch”, vol. 5 New York, , p. 253; Adam Bartsch, 1803 “Le Peintre graveur”, vol. 4, Vienna)

Condition: A richly inked and well-printed early (lifetime) impression from the first state. There is a flattened fold mark (only visible verso), a few tiny tears at the margins, mounting hinges, pencil notations and a stamp on the back of the sheet from previous collectors; otherwise the sheet is in excellent condition for its age.

I am selling this remarkably strong, museum quality, lifetime impression from the late 17^th century for a total cost of AU$297 (currently US$220.78/EUR208.79/GBP177.13 at the time of this listing) including postage and handling to anywhere in the world.

If you wish to purchase this rare landscape print exemplifying the classical tradition, 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

I have been collecting prints by Adriaen van der Cabel for many years and the reason for my fascination is simple: I like the way in which he composes his landscapes.

To explain what I mean about this artist’s compositions, I need to draw upon two much earlier traditions of landscape imagery dating back to Joachim Patinir (c.1480–1524) and Pieter Bruegel the Elder (c.1525–69): the Weltlandschaft (German for “World Landscape”) and—to borrow the term coined by Max Dvořák—“Mannerist inversion.”

Regarding the Weltlandschaft/World Landscape, this tradition celebrated elevated views of landscape constructed with all that is spectacular in an ideal world: grand mountains, statuesque trees, vast stretches of water and a sprinkling of monumental buildings with folk dressed from an Olympian past engaged in symbolic acts. This print exemplifies all these attributes of the Weltlandschaft tradition and presents the key ingredients in an endless moment.

Regarding the tradition that Dvořák’ perceived as “Mannerist inversion”, what this approach to composition involves is to give maximum attention to the landscape as the key subject of the image rather than the figures portrayed within it. In the case of van der Cabel, his use of figures leans towards them being generic folk—staffage for the landscape—rather than “real” people.