Bolognino Zaltieri, “Sirens”, c.1571

Bolognino Zaltieri (fl.1555–1576)

“Sirens”, c.1571 (see https://www.christies.com/en/lot/lot-5698355), printed by Guichard Lullieron (fr.1574–1607) and published by Stephanum Michaelem in Lugduni (now Lyon, France), in the 1581 Latin edition translated by Antoine du Verdier of Vincenzo Cartari’s (1520/31–1569/71) “Imagines deorum, qui ab antiquis colebantur: in quibus simulacra, ritus, caerimoniae, magnaq[ue] ex parte veterum religio explicatur” (Images of the gods who were worshipped by the ancients: in which the images, rites, ceremonies, and great religion of the ancients are explained), as a woodcut illustration to page 167.

Archive.org offers an online view of this print in this publication; see https://archive.org/details/ARes63505/page/n177/mode/2up. Although this impression is from the Latin edition, the woodcut was also published in the same year (1581) in an Italian edition by Barthélemy Honorat (aka Bartholomeo Honorati) (c.1550–1589) on page 205; see https://archive.org/details/McGillLibrary-rbsc_imagini-antichi_BL720C21581a-16006/page/204/mode/2up.

Woodcut on laid paper, trimmed with a narrow margin and backed with a support sheet.

Size: (sheet) 13.5 x 10cm; (image borderline) 13.3 x 9.7cm.

Condition: a well-printed early impression (based on the line quality showing no sign of wear to the printing plate) in an excellent condition with no significant stains, trimmed around to the image borderline with a narrow margin and laid onto a support sheet of archival (millennium quality) washi paper.

I am selling this remarkable woodcut showing a bevy of sirens from the legendary island of Anthemoessea (or Anthemusa) in the waters near Capri (Italy) making music to bewitch beguilable sailors to their doom—note the bones of soft-eyed sailors who succumbed to the sirens’ charms—for AU $253 in total (currently/approximately US $158.18/ EUR 151.60/ GBP 125.86 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 $253) as this is my currency.

If you are interested in acquiring this finely executed woodcut from the late Renaissance period, 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

Conrad Faber von Kreuznach, “Hannibal Refused to Accept the Surrender of his People”, c.1530-33

Conrad Faber von Kreuznach (aka Konrad Faber von Creuznach; [formerly] “Master of the Holzhausen Portraits”) (1495–1558)

“Hannibal Refused to Accept the Surrender of his People” (title based on my reading of the introductory lines), c.1530, original leaf with woodcut (printed recto and verso), page 117 (CXVII), published c.1533 in Mainz in the German edition of the Roman Historian, Livy’s (aka Titus Livius) (59/64 BC–17 AD) “Roemische Historien” (Roman Histories), edited by Johannes Schoeffer (c1475–1531), and translated from Latin by Bernhard Schöfferlin (c1436–1501) and Ivo Wittich (1456–1507) with contributions by Nicolaus Carbach (aka Nicolaum Carbachium) (1485–c1534) and Jakob Micyllus (aka Jacobum Micyllum) (1503–1558).

Note that the later 1538 edition of the same publication has the two images printed on this leaf separated on different pages: the upper image is shown facing page 114 (CXIIII) (see https://archive.org/details/gri_33125011080492/page/n255/mode/2up) and the lower image is shown facing page 117 (CXVII) (see https://archive.org/details/gri_33125011080492/page/n261/mode/2up).

Woodcut with letterpress German text recto and verso on fine laid paper with margins as published.

Size: (sheet) 30.6 x 19.3cm; (image borderline) 15.4 x 14.6cm.

Condition: a strong and well-printed lifetime impression (based on the quality of the printed line). The sheet is in an excellent condition for its considerable age with no tears, holes folds, abrasions or significant stains.

I am selling this superb leaf of Renaissance period woodcuts for AU$308 in total (currently US$200.14/ EUR190.13/ GBP157.74 at the time of 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$308) as this is my currency.

If you are interested in purchasing this superb leaf with a double panel woodcut of extraordinary quality and in an excellent condition, please contact me (oz_jim@printsandprinciples.com) and I will send you a PayPal invoice to make the payment easy.

This leaf has been sold

Circle of Ambroise Paré, “Crocodile”, c1575

Unidentified 16^th century printmaker from the circle of Ambroise Paré (aka Ambrosio Paræo) (1510–1590)—author and father of modern surgery

“Crocodile”, c1574/5, initially published by Gabriel Buon (fl.1558–1595) in Paris in 1575 (note that work commenced on the publication in 1574) with Royal privilege on page LXXXIII (83) in Ambroise Paré’s “Les Oeuvres d'Ambroise Paré” (see https://archive.org/details/BIUSante_01709/page/n107/mode/2up). The woodcut was republished in the same publication with the following publishers: in 1614 and 1652 by Pierre Rigaud in Lyon; in 1628 by Nicolas Buon (fl.1624–1628) in Paris; in 1664 by Jean Gregoire.

Based on the letterpress text verso, this impression is from Nicolas Buon’s 1628 Paris edition; see page 18 [81]: https://archive.org/details/BIUSante_00249D/page/80/mode/2up . 

Woodcut with letterpress text (verso) on laid paper trimmed around the image and backed with a support sheet.

Size: (sheet) 8 x 16 cm.

Condition: a strong and well-printed impression, trimmed around the image with a small margin and laid onto a support of archival (millennium quality) washi paper.

I am selling this marvellous woodcut showing a what may one of the first representations of a crocodile in a natural setting—curiously unattached to the ground or water—for AU$228 in total (currently US$157.43/EUR140.96/GBP117.68 at the time of 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$228) as this is my currency.

If you are interested in purchasing this early woodcut representation of a crocodile with nipple-like plated skin, 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

Albrecht Altdorfer, “St Christopher Bearing the Christ Child”, 1513 (2nd copy)

Albrecht Altdorfer (1482/5–1538)

“St Christopher Bearing the Christ Child” (aka. “S. Christophe portant l’enfant Jésus”), 1513, a later impression—note that Baron Hans Albrecht von Derschau printed an edition of this print between 1808 and 1816 on a greyish paper and further impressions were taken from the original block, now in the Kupferstichkabinett (Berlin), between 1922 and 1963.

Woodcut on wove (Japanese?) paper trimmed with a narrow margin around the image borderline.

Size: (sheet) 17.4 x 12.7 cm; (image borderline) 16.5 x 12.1 cm.

Dated and signed in the block with the artist’s monogram: (on tree at right) “1513/ [monogram with ligature initials] AA”.

TIB 14(6).53(79) (Robert A Koch 1980, “The Illustrated Bartsch: Early German Masters; Albercht Altdorfer; Monogrammists”, vol. 14, New York, Abaris Books, p. 159, cat. no. 53 [79]); New Hollstein w.56 (Ursula Mielke [comp.] 1997, “The New Hollstein German Engravings, Etchings and Woodcuts 1400-1700: Albrecht and Erhard Altdorfer”, Rotterdam, Sound and Vision Interactive, p. 130, cat. no. w.56).

The Rijksmuseum offers the following description of this print: (transl.) “Saint Christopher wading through the river with the Christ Child on his back. He bends under the weight of the child and holds on to his staff” (http://hdl.handle.net/10934/RM0001.COLLECT.30781).  

The Curator of the British Museum offers the following insights about this print (note that the numbers in brackets reference the BM’s inv. nos.): “Altdorfer has reduced the amount of hatching normally seen in his woodcuts to a minimum, restricting it to the areas of deepest shade, so that the outlines of the woodcut are firmly emphasised. Like Baldung's 'St Christopher' of c.1511 (1895,0122.227), it is conceivable that it was designed with a tone block in mind, so that parts of the sheet were left intentionally blank to receive the coloured areas. But no such colour print is known, and the small size of this woodcut would seem to argue against this idea; colour prints of the period, such as Altdorfer's 'Beautiful Virgin' of Regensburg (1909,0612.3), were usually of larger dimensions. It is possible that Altdorfer was attempting to reproduce the outline effect of a pen drawing or an etching in the medium of woodcut with not altogether successful results, in much the same way as he aspired to mimic the effects of small, finely detailed engravings in his accomplished woodcut series of the 'Fall and Redemption of Man' (1837,0616.225-226; 1845,0809.1191-1192; 1837,0616.229; 1845,0809.1194; 1837,0616.231 and 1845,0809.1196)” (https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/object/P_1895-0122-363 [BM inv. no. 1895,0122.363]).

Condition: a very strong impression trimmed with a narrow margin around the image borderline in a near pristine condition.

I am selling this magnificent late impression of a Renaissance period woodcut by one of the founders of landscape painting, Albrecht Altdorfer, for AU$368 in total (currently US$254.09/EUR227.51/GBP189.99 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$368) as this is my currency.

If you are interested in purchasing this amazing woodcut—note Altdorfer’s inventive use of bold diagonals and the subtlety of his portrayal of the infant Christ advising St Christopher as the saint struggled to wade across a river with increasing weight on his shoulders that he was carrying not only the king of world but also the weight of the world—please contact me (oz_jim@printsandprinciples.com) and I will send you a PayPal invoice to make the payment easy.

Note that this is the second copy of this woodcut that has been listed. The previous impression has been sold.

This print has been sold

Virgil Solis, “The Beast is Thrown into a Lake of Burning Sulphur”, c1560

Virgil Solis (1514–1562)

Double-sided woodcut printed leaf: (recto) “The Beast is Thrown into a Lake of Burning Sulphur”; (verso) “The Angel Throws Satan into the Abyss”;  (TIB titles), 1560 (and 1562 with the strapwork border as shown here), from the series of 220 woodcuts in woodcut borders by Vigil Solis, published in 1562 by Sigmund Feierabend (1528–1590) in Frankfurt and printed by Johann Rasch (fl.1556–1562) and David Zöpfel (aka David Zephelius) (fl.c.1555–1563) as illustrations to “Biblische Figuren des Alten Testaments / Biblische Figuren des Neuwen Testaments”.

Archive.org offers an online view of these prints in their context in the publication: https://archive.org/details/VirgilSolisBible1562/page/n231/mode/2up.

Regarding the publication in which these prints feature, the Curator of the British Museum advises: “The first edition was published in 1560. [This print with its strapwork frame features in] the second, enlarged edition, with 74 new images and woodcut borders from the 1561 Bible. The New Testament part is wrongly dated 1552 on the title-page” (https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/object/P_1870-0625-191-411). Note that the title page to the edition of shown by Archive.org shows the date “MDLXII” (1562): https://archive.org/details/VirgilSolisBible1562/page/n115/mode/2up. 

Woodcuts printed on both sides of laid paper trimmed with a small margin around the strapwork borderline (recto) and backed with a support sheet with a window so that each side of the sheet may be seen.

Size: (sheet) 14.4 x 17 cm.

Letterpress text recto: (above the image borderline) “APOCALYPSIS XIX./ Vltima narrantur cœlestis prælia pugnæ,/ Qua ferus æthereo concidit ense Draco.// Iā pereunt quotquot Dominū impugnare parabāt,/ Mergitur ardenti bestia sæualacu.” ([transl.] “Revelation 19 The last heavenly battles are recounted. With this the ethereal beast fell down with the dragon's sword. Now perish as many as were preparing to attack the Lord. He is drowned in the burning beast of the sea.” Note that Revelation 19 is the nineteenth chapter of the Book of Revelation or the Apocalypse of John in the New Testament of the Christian Bible.)

Lettered recto in plate with the artist’s monogram along the lower edge: (left) “V”; (right) “S”.

Lettered verso in plate with the artist’s monogram in cartouche at lower centre: “VS”.

TIB 19.1.215–1.216 (Jane S Peters & Walter L Strauss [eds.] 1987, “The Illustrated Bartsch: German Masters of the Sixteenth Century”, vol. 19 [Part 1], p. 392, cat. nos. 1.215–1.216).

Condition: strong and well-printed impressions showing very few signs of wear to the printing plate, trimmed around the strapwork borderline(s) with small margins and laid onto a support of archival (millennium quality) washi paper that is window-cut allowing both sides of the sheet to be seen. The sheet is in an excellent condition with no tears, holes, folds or significant stains.

I am selling this superb double-sided leaf of woodcuts for a total cost of AU$227 (currently US$155.72/EUR139.65/GBP116.68 at the time of 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$227) as this is my currency.

If you are interested in purchasing this small but visually arresting double-sided leaf of woodcuts, please contact me (oz_jim@printsandprinciples.com) and I will send you a PayPal invoice to make the payment easy.

This leaf of woodcuts has been sold