George Woolliscroft Rhead‘s etching, “Magnolia Grandiflora”, 1885

George Woolliscroft Rhead (1855-1920)

“Magnolia Grandiflora”, 1885, published in 1886 in New York by Dodd, Mead, and Co., as an original etching in George W. H Ritchie and Roger Riordan’s “Ten etchings: Examples of the etched work of Masse, Casanova, Rhead, Gravesend [sic], Jacomb-Hood, Ballin, L'hermitte, Jacquemart, Steele, Veyrassat.”

Following in the spirit of the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood with whom the artist is closely associated—mindful that Rhead is included in Percy Bate's (1890) "English Pre-Raphaelite Painters"—the portrayed lady in this very beautiful etching is not only a metaphorical personification of the majestic flower of the print’s title, but her long tresses and even the colour of the etching ink seem (at least to my eyes) to embody the curling locks of loose red hair that the Pre-Raphaelites have become identified.

Regarding this print, Ritchie & Riordan (1886) offer the following insights:

“The artist has found a superb living incarnation of the splendid flower of the South in the grand beauty whom he presents to us embowered in the floral splendor she is made to typify. Her loveliness has the abundant and expansive character of the great blossom she is wreathed and crowned with.” ([n.p.] descriptive text for “Magnolia Grandiflora”).

Etching (and drypoint?) with plate tone printed in brown ink on cream laid paper with full margins as published.

Size: (sheet) 42.5 x 31.1 cm; (plate) 28 x 21.5 cm; (image borderline) 26.2 x 20.4 cm.

Inscribed on plate within the image borderline: (on banderole) “MAGNOLIA/ [GRAND]IFLORA”. (Note that the artist’s name is not inscribed.)

Condition: a richly inked, superbly printed (near faultless) impression in exceptionally fine/museum quality condition with no tears, holes, folds, abrasions, stains or foxing.

I am selling this magnificently strong impression with a poetically rich subject exemplifying the spirit of the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood for AU$239 (currently US$175.77/EUR147.91/GBP131.65 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.

If you are interested in purchasing this expecially beautiful 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

Pietro Aquila’s engraving, “Apollo's Abduction of Hyacinth; Polyphemus and Galatea”, c1674, after Annibale Carracci

Pietro Aquila (1650–1692)

“Apollo's Abduction of Hyacinth; Polyphemus and Galatea” (aka “The Apotheosis of Hyacinthus by Apollo; Polyphemus and Galatea”; “Hyacinthus ab Apolline in florem conuersus” [plate title]), c1674, plate 1 from the series, “Galeriae Farnesianae Icones”, after a detail of the famous fresco paintings in the Palazzo Farnese in Rome by Annibale Carracci (1560–1609), published by Giovanni Giacomo de' Rossi (aka Jo Jacobus de Rubeis; Giovanni Jacomo de' Rossi) (1627–1691) in Rome.

Etching with engraving on laid paper trimmed along (or close to) the platemark, backed with a support sheet.

Size: (sheet) 45.3 x 60.5 cm.

Lettered on plate: (upper centre) “HYACINTHVS ab APOLLINE in florem conversus”; (lower left) “Annibal Carraccius pinx. in. Ædibus farnesianis”; (lower centre) “Ardet amans, scopuloque sedens POLYPHEMVS acuto,/ Ad numerum inflatis calamis, dat sibila cantu;/ Concomitata choro gaudet GALATEA sub antro,/ Et latitans rauci suspiria ridet amantis.”; (right of lower centre) “Io. Iacob. de Rubeis formis Romæ ad Templ. S. Mariæ de Pace cū. Priu. S. Pont.”; (lower right) “1/ Petrus Aquila delin et sculp.”

State i (of i)

Borea XLII D.5 i/i

The British Museum offers the following description of this print:

“Plate 1: Scene from the vault of the Farnese Gallery: Polyphemus and Galatea; Polyphemus seen at centre, seated in a rock, playing the pipes; Galatea seen to right, approaching in a carriage carried by dolphins and accompanied by two nymphs; above, the scene of Hyacinthus and Apollo; surrounding both scenes, various 'ignudi', putti and other mythological figures; c.1674 Etching with some engraving”

(https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/object/P_1896-1118-114-4).

See also the descriptions offered by the National Gallery of Victoria (NGV), the Wellcome Collection and the Hamburger Kunsthalle:

https://www.ngv.vic.gov.au/explore/collection/work/34360/; https://wellcomecollection.org/works/ht26382e;

https://www.hamburger-kunsthalle.de/sammlung-online/pietro-aquila-annibale-carracci-giovanni-giacomo-de-rossi/die-apotheose-des#.  

Condition: a strong impression with restored tears, but without significant stains or foxing. The sheet has been laid onto a support of archival (millennium quality) washi paper.

I am selling this huge etching translating a section of Carracci’s fresco in the Farnese Gallery into a composition of line and dot for AU$294 (currently US$215.44/EUR189.95/GBP161.21 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.

If you are interested in purchasing this spectacular masterwork of interpretative printmaking, 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

 

Émile Rousseaux’s engraving, “La Marquise de Sevigné”, 1874, after Robert Nanteuil

Émile Rousseaux (aka Émile Alfred Rousseaux) (1831–1874)

“La Marquise de Sevigné” (aka “Oval Bust of Madame de Sévigné”; “Portrait of Marie de Rabutin-Chantal” [1626–1696]—an icon of 17th-century French literature for her letter writing), 1874, after the pastel portrait (dated 1666 on plate) in the Musée Carnavalet in Paris (see https://www.carnavalet.paris.fr/fr/collections/la-marquise-de-sevigne-1626-1696-0), by Robert Nanteuil (aka Robert Nantueil) (1623–1678), published in Paris as plate 76 by the Société Française de Gravure (1868–), printed by Charles Chardon aîné (fl. mid-1800s).

Engraving with etching on chine collé (China paper) on heavy wove (Lafuma Navarre Madagascar?) paper with wide margins.

Size: (sheet) 70.9 x 52 cm; (plate) 46.8 x 35.5 cm; (chine collé) 44.2 x 32.5 cm; (image borderline) 32.1 x 24.4 cm.

Inscribed on plate within the image borderline: (left) “R. Nanteuil pinxt 1666.”; (right) “E. Rousseaux sculpt 1874.”

Lettered and numbered on plate below the image borderline: (centre) “SOCIÉTÉ FRANÇAISE DE GRAVURE/ 76/ Imp. Ch. Chardon aîné, Paris.”

Béraldi 13 (Henri Béraldi 1891, “Les graveurs du 19e siècle; guide de l'amateur d'estampes modernes”, vol. 11, Paris, L. Conquet, p. 272, cat. no. 13 [see https://archive.org/details/lesgraveursdu19e11berauoft/page/272/mode/2up0]).

Henri Béraldi (1891) offers the following appraisal of this print:

 (Transl.) “A remarkable plate, and one that the engravers of the seventeenth century would not deny. — What they would disavow, for example, is the use of china paper glued on paste paper for printing!” (Planche remarquable, et que les graveurs du xvne siècle n( desavoueraient pas. — Ce qu'ils desavoueraient, par exemple, c'est l'emploi du papier de Chine colle sur papier pate pour le tirage!) (p. 272).

Condition: well-printed (near faultless) impression. The sheet is an excellent condition for its age and size with no tears, holes, folds, losses, significant stains or foxing.

I am selling this huge masterpiece of engraving—a true tour de force designed to establish the reputation of the engraver who sadly passed away prematurely in the same year that he executed the plate—for AU$267 (currently US$195.12/EUR164.48/GBP146.80 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.

If you are interested in purchasing this exceptionally beautiful engraving exemplifying the highest order of skill—to my eyes the level of skill is almost unbelievable! ...note for example the engraver’s ability to visually “explain" the curling flow of each hair in the marquise’s hurluberlu coiffure, the mathematical precision of rendering her widow’s attifet (headdress) and the transparently thin fabric of her bertha contrasting with the satin sheen of the bows—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 

Giovanni Battista Piranesi’s etching “View of the bridge known as Ponte Molle”, 1762

Giovanni Battista Piranesi (1720–1788)

“View of the bridge known as Ponte Molle” (aka “XXXIX. Scenographia Pontis hodie Mollis ...”), 1762, lifetime impression from the the early Roman edition, plate XXXIX (39) from the series, “Il Campo Marzio dell' Antica Roma, Opera di G.B. Piranesi socio della reale società degli antiquari di Londra” (The Campus Martius of Ancient Rome, the Work of G.B. Piranesi, Fellow of the Royal Society of Antiquaries, London).”  

Etching on coeval laid paper (3 cm chainlines, but without showing the watermark, “double circle and lily with letters CB”) with full margins as published.

Size: (sheet) 37.3 x 54.8 cm; (plate) 23.8 x 35.7; (image borderline) 22.2 x 35.1 cm.

Numbered on plate within the image borderline: (upper right corner) “ Tab. XXXIX.”

Lettered on plate below the image borderline: (left) “Vide indicem ruinar. num. 3.”; (centre) “Scenographia Pontis hodie Mollis, ostendens quod remanserat antiqui operis cum a Nicolao V. Pont. Max. restitutus fuit. A. Tiberis fluvius.”; (right) “Piranesi F.”

Wilton Ely II.655.600 (John Wilton-Ely 1994, “Giovanni Battista Piranesi, The Complete Etchings”, vol. 2, San Francisco, Alan Wofsy, p. 655, cat. no. 600); Taschen/Ficacci 522 (Luigi Ficacci 2011, “ Piranesi: The Complete Etchings”, vol. 2, Cologne, Taschen, p. 417, cat. no. 522); Focillon 469; Giesecke 28, 118; Hind 85.

The Metropolitan Museum of Art offers a description of this print:

https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/90080757?rpp=20&pg=1&ft=View+of+the+bridge+known+as+Ponte+Molle++Tab+XXXIX&pos=1.

Condition: a richly inked and well-printed lifetime impression. Beyond a pin hole in the upper-right corner of the margin and remnants of mounting verso, the sheet is in almost pristine condition with no tears, folds, abrasions, stains, foxing or signs of handling.

I am selling this exceptionally beautiful and rare etching by one of the most important printmakers of the 18^th century, for AU$714 (currently US$521.70/EUR440/GBP392.58 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.

If you are interested in purchasing this masterwork of etching—note how the well-lit areas of the bridge are rendered with short fine lines spaced far apart while the deep shadows are rendered with long thick lines close together—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 Meryon’s etching, “François Viète”, 1861

Charles Meryon (1821–1868)

“François Viète” (Seigneur de la Bigotière [1540–1603], known by mathematicians as the “Father of Algebra”), 1861, after a drawing by Jean Rabel (aka Joannes Rabellius) (c1520–1603), published by Benjamin Fillon (aka Benjamin Fillion) (1819–1881) and Octave Guillaume Rochebrune (1824–1900) in “Poitou et Vendée, études historiques et artistiques” (Vol II) and printed by Abraham Beillet (aka Beillet & Forestier) (fl.1850–1876), from the second last state before the plate was destroyed.

Regarding this portrait of François Viète, the British Museum points out that he is wearing a Renaissance costume and is gesturing towards a scroll held in his left-hand inscribed "A+B+C"—presumably referring to Viète’s mathematical studies (see https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/object/P_1865-0114-134).

Etching with pale plate tone on laid paper (partial watermark “AM”) with wide margins.

Size: (sheet) 29.8 x 21.4 cm; (plate) 19 x 11 cm; (plate tone/image borderline) 18 x 10.2 cm.

Lettered on plate along the lower edge: (left) “A. Beillet. Imp"; (left of centre) “FRANÇOIS”; (centre) [Meryon’s ligature monogram “CM”]; (right of centre) “VIÈTE”.

State viii (of ix) before the addition of the words “d’après Rabel 1861” and the flattening of the borderline at top.

Delteil&Wright 79 (8^th state) (Loys Delteil & Harold JL Wright 1989, “Catalogue Raisonné of the Etchings of Charles Meryon”, San Francisco, Alan Wofsy Fine Arts, [n.p.] cat. no. 79).

Delteil & Wright (1989) in the description of this plate, offer Meryon’s personal account about his execution of this print:

"The full-length portrait from which I copied this etching, forms part of the frontispiece to a mathematical work by Viète which is in the Imperial Library. I have considerably enlarged it and, in so doing, had perforce to depart from the original a little. ... As to the author's general observations on my methods of working, and the qualities of my work which have been occasioned by the appearance of this portrait, I must hasten to qualify them somewhat. I use the burin much more frequently than formerly, but still with considerable hesitation as it is a very difficult tool to work with, and one needs much practice, if one is to become skilful with it, and I cannot say that I have had much. I took it up rather late and never had the advantage of that almost indispensable instruction in the use of it which is best undertaken when one is young and should be sought from a master of the art" (Meryon, My observations...) (see cat. no. 79 [n.p.]).

Condition: a superb impression retaining the guide-lines for the lettering and with wide margins. Beyond a small spot of thinness on the right edge of the margin (only visible if the sheet is held to the light) and a few faint marks on the lower edge, the sheet is in near pristine condition for its age with no tears, holes, folds, losses, stains, foxing or signs of handling.

I am selling this exceptionally rare treasure of an etching by arguably one of the most famous printmakers of the 19^th century, for AU$374 (currently US$273.57/EUR230.26/GBP206 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.

If you are interested in purchasing this sensitively executed etching of the “Father of Algebra”, 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