Odoardo Fialetti’s etching, “A Satyr with a Jawbone Striking a Lion who attacks a Man”, c1625

Odoardo Fialetti (1573–1626/27)

“A Satyr with a Jawbone Striking a Lion who attacks a Man” (TIB title), c1625, from the series of ten plates (including the titlepiece), “Vertical Grotesques” (aka “Disegni varii di Polifilo Zancarli”), after Polifilo Giancarli (fl.c.1620–57) (“Disegni varii di Polifilo Zancarli”), possibly published by Tasio Giancarli (fl.1625) in Venice.

Etching with plate tone on laid paper with small margins backed with a support sheet.

Size: (sheet) 25.4 x 16.4 cm; (plate) 23.9 x 15 cm; (image borderline) 22.4 x 14.7 cm

Inscribed on plate below the image borderline: (left) ”Poliphilvs Giancarli In.”; (right) “OF [monogram] inci”

State i (of i)

TIB 38.49 (Sebastian Buffa [ed.) 1983, “The Illustrated Bartsch: Italian Artist of the Sixteenth Century”, vol. 38, p. 239); Bartsch XVII.280.49; Berlin 1939 559 (P Jessen 1939, “Katalog der Ornamentstichsammlung der Staatlichen Kunstbibliothek Berlin”, Berlin).

The Rijksmuseum offers the following description of this print:

(transl.) “The lower body of the man who gets bitten ends in a leaf with flowers. Leaf from series of 10 sheets with vertical panels full of foliage, figures and animals.”

(http://hdl.handle.net/10934/RM0001.COLLECT.460142)

See also the description of this print at the British Museum:

http://www.britishmuseum.org/research/collection_online/collection_object_details.aspx?objectId=1448971&partId=1&searchText=Odoardo+Fialetti+&page=1

Condition: crisp impression showing very little wear to the printing plate in very good condition (i.e. there are no tears, holes, folds, abrasions but there are a few minor marks commensurate to the age of the print). The sheet has small margins and is laid onto a support sheet of archival (millennium quality) washi paper.

I am selling this exceptionally rare etching for AU$350 in total (currently US$249.95/EUR217.90/GBP191.78 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 ornamental design, 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 I often stumble into the dangerous territory of making broad generalisations, I feel compelled once again to propose a sweeping statement that helps to explain the slightly silvery quality of this rather beautiful etching … (hold your breath for a second as I make a statement that I will probably regret in the future): Italian printmakers and draughtsmen in the 16^th and 17^th centuries tended to use organic based blacks which lends their artworks a greyish tonality compared to the German artists of the same period who tended to use mineral based blacks which gives their artworks strong tonal contrasts.

Now that I’ve made my very arguable proposal, this print is not an impression taken from a worn plate, but rather it is an impression made with a greyish coloured ink. If I may go a little further with very debatable generalisations—and this time I fully expect to be hauled over hot coals—Italian printmakers tend to be less fastidious in the way that they ink and pull their prints compared to the German printmakers of this time period. This leaning not to care too much helps to explain the curiously interesting thumb print of the printmaker that may be seen on the left arm of the chap being attacked by the lion. Lack of concern, also helps to explain the crumbled edge on the left side of this impression that signals (at least to me) that the press pressure was not adjusted perfectly.

(My apologies if my sweeping statements are too sweeping.) 

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).

Antoine Duruisseau’s crayon-manner (stipple) etching, “La Tete Vue de Face”, 1788

Antoine Duruisseau (1754-1800)

“La Tete Vue de Face” (as titled on plate), 1788, after a drawing by Philippe-Louis Parizeau (1740-1801), published by Jacques Chéreau (1688–1776)—as Chéreau had passed away in 1776 and the design for this print was executed in 1788 (as inscribed on the plate) I presume that Chéreau’s name as the publisher is with regard to his publishing house under the direction of Charpentier.

Crayon Manner stipple etching printed in sanguine on laid paper with margins (as published?) backed with a support sheet.

Size: (sheet) 29.6 x 42.1 cm; (plate) 24.8 x 37.3 cm; (image borderline) 23.7 x 36.7 cm

Numbered on plate within the image borderline: (upper left corner) “me / 2” [?]; (upper right corner) “IIIe. Cahier / B”; indexed on plate with numbers on left face from “1” to “5”.

Lettered on plate within the image borderline: (lower centre) “LA TETE VUE DE FACE/ Il faut commencer …/ …/ …/ … cela donne la largeur du Col.”; (lower left corner) “Ph. L. Parizeau Del 1788.”; (lower right corner) “L. F. Duruisseau Scu[…].”

Lettered on plate below the image borderline: (centre) “J. Chereau Exc.”

Condition: good impression but with surface dustiness, handling marks, flattened folds and a replenished hole in the forehead of the centre face. The sheet has been laid onto a support sheet of archival (millennium quality) washi paper.

I am selling this late 18^th century stipple etching used by art students as an instructional study for understanding the proportions of the facial features, for AU$92 in total (currently US$65.50/EUR56.93/GBP49.99 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 curious etching designed to replicate the coarse texture of a crayon drawing through lines of very fine dots, please contact me (oz_jim@printsandprinciples.com) and I will send you a PayPal invoice to make the payment easy.

While I was examining the proportions proposed by this instructional study and shaking my head that the width of the mouth seems too short—usually the width of a mouth is the equivalent size to the gap between the centrepoint of the subject’s eyes—the thought occurred to me that the artist may not wrong. I might be wrong … heaven forbid! Indeed, the ideal mouth for ladies in the 18^th century might have been small. Perhaps too small to munch properly on a scone! Even the width of the faces seems very odd to me—usually the space between the eye and the ear should be around a half of the width of an eye. Again, however, the ideal 18^th century woman must have had a very round face.

A pair of woodcuts (recto and verso on the same sheet) by Jost Amman, featuring military figures in uniform, 1563

Jost Amman (aka Jost Ammon) (1539–1591)

Double-sided woodcuts featuring on each side a military figure formatted within an oval border of strapwork and figures,1563, published as illustrations to Sigismund Feyrabend's (1528–90) and Simon Hüter's (fl.1560s), “Kriegsordnung” (Warfare), 1563–64, Frankfurt am Main.

(left image/recto) “Schantzmeisters Besoldung” (Supervisor of fortifications [?]), 1563.

(right image/verso) “Der Profosz der Arthollerey” (Provost/Chief of Artillery), 1563.

Two woodcuts printed recto and verso on fine laid paper re-margined with a window-cut support sheet.

Size: (sheet) 14.3 x 13.4 cm

Ref. recto woodcut: Andresen 226-46r (Andreas Andresen 1872–78, “Der deutschen Peintre-Graveur oder die deutschen Maler als Kupferstecher, nach ihrem Leben und ihren Werken, von dem letzten Drittel des 16. Jahrhunderts bis zum Schluss des 18. Jahrhunderts”, Leipzig, dl. 1, pp. 360–70, cat.nr. 226).

Ref. verso woodcut: New Hollstein German (Amman book illustrations) 1415; New Hollstein German (Amman book illustrations) 2707

See also the Rijksmuseum’s description of the recto woodcut (http://hdl.handle.net/10934/RM0001.COLLECT.47827) and verso woodcut (http://hdl.handle.net/10934/RM0001.COLLECT.47842).

Condition: both impressions (recto and verso on the same sheet) are well-inked and well-printed with little or no evidence of wear to the plates (i.e. the prints are probably lifetime impressions or at least from an early printing before the printing plates became worn). The sheet is in excellent condition for its considerable age and has been re-margined with a support sheet of archival (millennium quality) washi paper so that both sides of the sheet can be examined without damaging the delicate paper.

I am selling these rare early/lifetime woodcut impressions from 1563 printed on both sides of the same sheet for [deleted] 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 these woodcut illustrations of military figures by one of the most famous and productive printmakers of the 16^th century, please contact me (oz_jim@printsandprinciples.com) and I will send you a PayPal invoice to make the payment easy.

This double-sided woodcut leaf has been sold

From my understanding of Amman’s practice as prolific printmaker, his designs often served as illustrations for more than a single publication. Certainly the ornamental borders surrounding the recto and verso oval images of military men were separate plates and served to frame different prints. For example, the Rijksmuseum’s copy of the recto woodcut (see http://hdl.handle.net/10934/RM0001.COLLECT.47827) has a different border to the print shown here. Essentially the borders were interchangeable. I have also found the same portrayed figures in other prints by this artist. For example the portrayed figure in the verso woodcut is described in “Kriegsordnung” (Warfare)—the text that this print illustrates—as “Der Profosz der Arthollerey” (the Provost/Chief of Artillery) and yet the same figure wearing the same costume is featured in the woodcut from another publication, “Panoplia” (Armour), as “the Chief Artilleryman’s Lieutenant” (see TIB 8.119 [371]; Jane S Peters [ed.] 1985, “The Illustrated Bartsch: German Masters of the Sixteenth Century”, vol. 20 [Part 2], p. 697).

Stefano della Bella’s frontispiece etching for “Ornamenti o Grottesche”, c1653

Stefano della Bella (1610–1664)

“Ornamenti o Grottesche”, c1653, title/frontispiece plate from the series of 12 plates (including this title plate), “Ornamenti o grottesche” (Ornaments and grotesques).

See all the plates this series at the Meropolitan Museum of Art: https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search#!/search?perPage=20&offset=0&pageSize=0&sortBy=relevance&sortOrder=asc&q=Ornamenti%20o%20Grottesche&searchField=All

Etching on fine laid paper trimmed to thread margins around the platemark and backed with a support sheet.

Size: (sheet) 17 x 6.6 cm

Inscribed on plate within the round cartouche: “ORNAMANTI/ O/ GROTTESCHE/ di Stef. Della Bella" (Note: there is a tiny “I” inscribed above the “T” creating the first word, “ORNAMANTI”.)

Early impression (based on the lack of wear to the plate) of the only state (?)

De Vesme/Massar 1971 1003 (A.de Vesme 1971, revised by Phyllis D.Massar, “Stefano della Bella”, New York)

The British Museum offers the following description of this print:

“Frontispiece to series; ornament panel with two lion heads at base, their bodies forming looping branches around two eagles, surmounted by a circle containing title lettering. c.1653”

(http://www.britishmuseum.org/research/collection_online/collection_object_details.aspx?objectId=1507457&partId=1&searchText=Ornament+with+Eagles+and+Lion+Heads&people=132763&page=1)

See also the description of this print at the Cooper Hewitt Collection (https://collection.cooperhewitt.org/objects/18218879/) and the Metropolitan Museum of Art (https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/377609?searchField=All&sortBy=relevance&ft=Ornamenti+o+Grottesche&offset=0&rpp=20&pos=1).

Condition: crisp impression in very good condition (i.e. there are no tears, holes, folds, abrasions or foxing, but there is a dot stain at the centre of the right edge) trimmed to thread margins around the platemark and backed with an archival support sheet of millennium quality washi paper.

I am selling this small vertical ornamental panel featuring two eagles with spread wings framed by entwined palm leaves and banderoles that merge into lion heads at the bottom of the design for [deleted] 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 graphically strong ornamental design, 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

Jan van de Velde II’s etching, “Four gentlemen on a path near a castle”, c1620

Jan van de Velde II (c1593–1641)

“Four gentlemen on a path near a castle”, c1620 (but no later than the last definitively dated etching by this artist in 1633), second plate in the series of eight etchings, “Landscapes of Oblong Format”, published by Robert de Baudous (1574/5–1659).

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

Size: (backing sheet) 14.8 x 40.8 cm; (image borderline) 14.3 x 40.3 cm

Numbered on plate within the image borderline: (lower right) “2”.

Hollstein Dutch 293 (F W H Hollstein 1949, “Dutch and Flemish etchings, engravings and woodcuts c.1450–1700”, Amsterdam, p. 96, cat.no. 293); Franken & van der Kellen 332 (D Franken & J P van der Kellen 1883, “L'oeuvre gravé de Jan van de Velde II”, Amsterdam, p. 129, cat.nr. 332).

See also the description of this print at the Rijksmuseum: http://hdl.handle.net/10934/RM0001.COLLECT.333653

Condition: a crisp and well-printed impression, trimmed around the image borderline and backed with an early support sheet. The sheet is lightly age-toned (yellowed) with a flattened centre-fold, otherwise it is in excellent condition (i.e. there are no tears, holes, abrasions or stains). The support/backing sheet is slightly mottled with signs of age.

I am selling this exceptionally rare and long panoramic etching by one of the most celebrated Dutch artists of the early 1600s for AU$435 (currently US$234.84/EUR203/GBP178.60 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 major print executed at the dawn of the Dutch Golden Age, 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

Trying to look at this print through the eyes of Van de Velde’s contemporaries is difficult, but there are a few features in the composition that held very special significance in the 17^th century. For example, the two leafless trees at left and the leafless tree towards the centre of the composition are unlikely to be viewed as simply dead trees. Instead, I suspect that these trees would be perceived in the 17^th century as vanitas symbols (i.e. signifiers that life is brief). Similarly, the Christian cross at far right is more than a landmark curiosity as it might be seen today. Instead, the cross often signified a moral cross-road for weary travellers such as those shown resting below it.

Jan Sadeler I’s engraving “The Seventh Day: God Blesses Adam, Eve, and the Animals”, c1585

Jan Sadeler I (aka Johannes Sadeler; Johann Sadeler) (1550–1600)

“The Seventh Day: God Blesses Adam, Eve, and the Animals” (TIB title), c1585, plate 7 from the series, “Creation of the World”, after a lost drawing by Maarten de Vos (aka Marten de Vos; Maerten de Vos) (1532–1603), published by Jan Sadeler I as an illustration to “Thesaurus sacrarum historiarum veteris testament …”, Antwerp (1585). Note that there is a copy of this print published by Claes Jan Visscher without Sadeler’s name and God the Father has been replaced by a Tetragrammaton.

Engraving on laid paper trimmed close to the platemark.

Size: (sheet) 19.4 x 25 cm; (image borderline) 18.3 x 24.9 cm.

Numbered on plate within the image borderline: (top centre edge) “VII”.

Inscribed on plate within the image borderline: (lower left) “Genes. Cap: 2”; (lower right) “D/ figuravit.”; (lower right corner) “Joă sadeler/ aut: et scalpt:/ exc.”

Lettered in two columns of two lines on plate below the image borderline: "Ornamenta novo, iam onstant omnia Mŭdo./ .../ …// …/ …/ Constituens, dextra, Sabbatha dia, sacrat."

State i (of i)

TIB 7001.016 (Isabelle de Ramaix 1999, “The Illustrated Bartsch”, vol. 70, Part 1 [Supplement], Abaris Books, p. 34); Le Blanc, no. 20; Wurzbach, no. 6; Hollstein 1980, vol. 21, no. 16; Hollstein 1995–96, vol. 44, no. 18; Edquist, p. 4, no. 6a.

The Rijksmuseum offers the following description of this print:

(transl.) “God the Father in the clouds. He blesses Adam, Eve and the animals in the Earthly Paradise. The print has a Latin caption.”

http://hdl.handle.net/10934/RM0001.COLLECT.168190

Condition: richly inked and well-printed (near faultless) impression in excellent condition (i.e. there are no tears, folds, holes, abrasions, significant stains or foxing). The sheet is trimmed close to the platemark.

I am selling this marvellous engraving—no doubt a lifetime impression based on the crisp quality of the lines showing no wear to the printing plate—portraying an earthly paradise filled “to the brim” with a plethora of animals for AU$330 (currently US$234.84/EUR203/GBP178.60 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 masterwork of engraving by one of the most famous of the Flemish old 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

Like most early illustrations of Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden before their fall from grace, this scene of earthly paradise shows the first couple with their modesty intact from the viewer’s gaze. Interestingly, the spiky thistle that shields Adam’s manhood hints at the sin of disobedience about to unravel as the verse in Genesis 3:18 advises that the cursed ground “… will produce thorns and thistles”.

What I find interesting about this portrayal of paradise is how the viewer is made to feel at ease. Note for instance that the immediate foreground is bathed in an inviting warm light and that the viewpoint is elevated above any potential trouble on earth.