Jan de Bisschop’s set of three etchings after Michelangelo’s sculpture, "Bacchus with Satyr”, c1670

Jan de Bisschop (aka Johannes Episcopius) (1628–1671)

(left) “Plate 53: Bacchus with Satyr”, c1669–71

(centre) “Plate 52: Bacchus with Satyr”, c1669–71

(right) “Plate 4 Bacchus with Satyr”, c1669–71

Three etchings from the series of 157 plates, “Signorum Veterum Icones” published in two volumes by Nicolaas Visscher II (1649–1702) in 1672. The subject of this set of etchings is Michelangelo’s (1475–1564) sculpture, “Bacchus with Satyr”, which the Curator of the British Museum advises was “executed in Rome perhaps between 1496 and 1497 by Michelangelo, [and] is now in the Museo Nazionale, Bargello in Florence” (BM No. 1901,1022.2531.54). Plate 52 (centre image) is based on an intermediary drawing by Cornelis van Poelenburch (1594/5–1667) (as inscribed on the plate).

Etchings on fine laid paper backed with a support sheet. Plate 53 is trimmed along the platemark. Plate 52 has small margins. Plate 54 is trimmed with a thread margin at the top, along the platemark at bottom and with small margins on the sides.

Sheet size: (Plate 53) 21.5 x 10 cm (this is also the dimensions of the plate); (Plate 52) 23.4 x 10.3 cm; (Plate 54) 21.8 cm.

Each print is inscribed on plate with the relevant plate number at upper right corner and with the artist’s monogram at lower right: ''JE f.'' (Nagler III.2254). Plate 52 is inscribed: "Poelenburch d."

Hollstein 6 (F W H Hollstein 1949, “Dutch and Flemish etchings, engravings and woodcuts c.1450-1700”, Amsterdam); Van Gelder 1985 I.138.52-54 (Jan Van Gelder & Ingrid Jost 1985, “Jan de Bisschop and his Icones & Paradigmata”, 2, Doornspijk, Davaco).

See also descriptions of these prints at the British Museum:

Plate 53: https://www.britishmuseum.org/research/collection_online/collection_object_details.aspx?objectId=3376175&partId=1&people=132153&peoA=132153-2-60&page=3

Plate 52:

https://www.britishmuseum.org/research/collection_online/collection_object_details.aspx?objectId=3376169&partId=1&people=132153&peoA=132153-2-60&page=3

Plate 54:

https://www.britishmuseum.org/research/collection_online/collection_object_details.aspx?objectId=3376174&partId=1&people=132153&peoA=132153-2-60&page=3

Condition: crisp, well-inked and well-printed early impressions (based on the lack of wear to the plates) backed with a support sheet of archival (millennium quality) washi paper. There are minor signs of handling (i.e. there are a few marks/spots).

I am selling this intriguing set of three etchings showing three views of Michelangelo’s famous sculpture of Bacchus (with a restored right arm) holding up a winecup with a small satyr munching on grapes behind his left leg, for AU$510 in total for the set (currently US$368.63/EUR324.98/GBP284.22 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 these marvellous studies of three different viewpoints of Michelangelo’s slightly tipsy God of wine, 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

My understanding of Bisschop’s intention for these multiple viewpoints of Michelangelo’s sculpture—and for all the 157 plates in the series “Signorum Veterum Icones” of which these three etchings are a part—is that this set of prints would serve as artistic study pieces designed for students to copy. Bisschop’s choice of this particular sculpture as a study piece is probably because it marched what was a common notion about beauty at the time: beauty could be perceived in antique artworks of Greece and Rome. Interestingly, Bisschop may not have been aware that this sculpture was by Michelangelo—mindful that the etchings are based on drawings by intermediary draughtsmen and were not inscribed on the plate in front of the original sculpture—as the Curator of the British Museum explains (in reference to “Addres to the Spectator”): “… [Bisschop] did not know what or where it was, but he might also have included it as a work equivalent to the antique” (BM No. 1901,1022.2531.54).

Crispijn de Passe the Elder’s etching with engraving, “God creates the fish and the birds”, c1612

Crispijn de Passe the Elder (aka Crispin Van de Passe; Crispin De Passe) (1564–1637)

“God creates the fish and the birds”, c1612, published in Arnhem in two editions by Johannes Janssonius (aka Joannes Jansonius; Jan Jansson; Jan Jansz) (1588–1664) in the series of sixty plates (incuding the title plate), “Liber Genesis”—the second edition features the four lines of Latin verse in two columns as shown here—and later as a third edition in the 18^th century by Isack Gvree in Amsterdam featuring two lines of Dutch text. (See Ilja M Veldman 2001, “Profit and Pleasure: Print Books by Crispijn de Passe” (Studies in prints and printmaking 4), Rotterdam, pp. 61–72.)

Engraving and etching on laid paper with small margins, backed with a support sheet.

Size: (sheet) 9.2 x 13.8 cm; (plate) 8.3 x 12.7 cm; (image borderline) 7.2 x 12.4 cm

Lettered on plate below the image borderline in four lines of Latin in two columns: “Genus natantum …/ …// …/ …choros.”

State ii (of iii?) lifetime impression with the addition of four lines of Latin text in two columns (1612) signifying the second edition (and second state) before the erasure of these lines of text and lettering with two lines of Dutch text (c1700–50) in the third state.

Franken 1342 (Daniel Franken 1881, “L'oeuvre gravé des van de Passe”, Paris); Hollstein Dutch 855 (F W H Hollstein 1949, “Dutch and Flemish etchings, engravings and woodcuts c.1450-1700”, Amsterdam).

The Rijksmuseum offers the following description of this print (in its third state):

(Google transl.) “God creates fish and birds so that the water abounds with living creatures and flies birds along the sky.” (http://hdl.handle.net/10934/RM0001.collect.161302)

Condition: crisp, well-inked and well-printed life time impression with small margins and backed with a support sheet of archival (millennium quality) washi paper. The sheet is in excellent condition (i.e. there are no tears, holes, folds, abrasions, significant stains or foxing).

I am selling this small luminous print—note the remarkable portrayal of God as a figure modelled in glowing light rather than material substance—for AU$195 in total (currently US$140.95/EUR124.26/GBP108.67 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 engraving from the early 1600s, 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 rare print in that it not only offers an image of what the artist believes God might look like, but also that it is a convincing graphic representation of a figure glowing with spiritual light. Although I have little experience in trying to portray an ethereal vision of any figure—let alone God—I think that this image from the early days of the 1600s is spectacularly successful given that most representations show spiritual figures as if they were made from varying degrees of tangible flesh and blood.

Now that I have explained my appreciation for Crispijn de Passe’s achievement in portraying what God might look like as he creates life in the sea and sky, I wish to point out a somewhat curious spatial anomaly in his representation of the Lord: my perception that the lower half of the Lord is clearly in front of the tree shown on the left and ambiguously BEHIND the same tree in the representation of the Lord’s upper half.

This spatial conundrum is undoubtedly unintentional, but to my eyes the illusion of twisting in the spatial arrangement is very apparent. The reason for the illusion is simple: in the depiction of the Lord’s lower half, the silhouette edge consists of convex curves suggesting that the shape of the Lord’s clouds overlap (i.e. “sit on top” of) the surrounding ground. By contrast, in the depiction of the Lord’s upper half, the silhouette edge consists mainly of concave curves (with the exception of a convexity to the left of the Lord’s head) inviting the eye to perceive that the tree overlaps the Lord’s aura.

John Crome (1768–1821)

"Colney", 1809, first published in Mrs Crome’s 1834 (posthumous) edition of 60 impressions on chine collé.

Soft-ground etching and drypoint on wove paper backed with a support sheet.

Size: (sheet) 22.4 × 29.8 cm; (plate) 16.5 × 23.5 cm

Inscribed on plate at lower right corner: “Crome 1809” (“9” reversed).

State i (of i)

Theobald 1906 32 (Henry Studdy Theobald 1906, “Crome's Etchings”, London, Macmilian); Goldberg 1978 242 (Norman L Goldberg 1978, “John Crome the Elder”, New York, New York University Press).

The British Museum offers the following description of this print:

“Man seen from behind standing against posts and rails in the foreground; two loose wheels leaning against the paling of cottage on r, rows of trees in the background on l.”

(https://www.britishmuseum.org/research/collection_online/collection_object_details.aspx?objectId=1519565&partId=1&searchText=john+Crome+colney&page=1)

See also the description of this print at the Metropolitan Museum of Art:

https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/716581?searchField=All&sortBy=relevance&ft=colney&offset=0&rpp=20&pos=1

Condition: richly inked and well-printed crisp impression with generous margins in excellent/near pristine condition (i.e. there are no tears, holes, folds, abrasions, stains or foxing), laid upon a support sheet of archival (millennium quality) washi paper.

I am selling this etching of utmost rarity that is not only in museum-quality condition, but it is also the first print that Crome executed, for AU$503 in total (currently US$364.20/EUR321.01/GBP279.91 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 seminal print in the oeuvre of one of the first English artists to value etching as a significant medium for portraying 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

From what I understand about the scene portrayed in this first etching that John Crome executed, the location is in the village of Colney “on the borders of Norwich”—according to the description of this print in William Weston Gallery’s 1993 exhibition catalogue (no. 6), “The Essence of English Landscape Etchings by John Crome 1769–1821”. The same catalogue also offers the following insight into Crome’s approach to rendering this landscape:

“…he used a combination of etching and soft-ground etching, possibly inspired by his admiration for Gainsborough’s use of mixed techniques in his prints. It was the first of a group of etchings using soft[-]ground in which he was to achieve quite extraordinarily beautiful effects of tone and line.” (cat.no. 25).

Paul Edme Le Rat’s etching, “L'Argiphonte”, 1881

Paul Edme Le Rat (aka Paul Edmunde Le Rat; Paul Edme Lerat) (1842/49–1892)

“L'Argiphonte”, 1881, published in “L'Art”, 1881, volume XXVII, page 95, printed by Alfred Salmon (fl.1863-1894) after the painting by Gustave Léon Antoine Marie Popelin (1859–1936).

Etching on cream wove paper with margins (as published) backed with a support sheet.

Size: (sheet) 34.7 x 22.6 cm; (plate) 31 x 19.3 cm; (image borderline) 26.4 x 15.2 cm

Lettered on plate below the image borderline: (left) “Gustave Popelin pinx./ L'Art”;

(centre) “L'ARGIPHONTE”; (right) “P. Le Rat sc./ Imp. A. Salmon.”

Beraldi 1885–92 1; IFF 64

Condition: crisp impression with full margins in near faultless condition (i.e. there are no tears, holes, folds abrasions, significant stains). The sheet has been laid onto a support sheet of archival (millennium quality) washi paper.

I am selling this graphically strong etching, for AU$142 in total (currently US$103.56/EUR90.61/GBP79.01 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 visually arresting 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

This eye-catching etching shows the mythological god Hermes (aka Mercury; Argeiphontes; L'Argiphonte) holding aloft the head of Argus (aka Argos) who he has just beheaded with a sickle. For those who may be wondering about the story leading up to this rather dreadful scene, the sequence of events is as complicated as it is fascinating. Let me try to explain …

Hermes was sent by the Zeus—the king of the gods—to slay Argus—a herdsman nicknamed, Argus Panoptes (transl. “all seeing”), because he was literally covered with eyes. The reason for this murder assignment was because Zeus’ wife, Hera, had given Argus the responsibility of guarding a very beautiful black and white heifer named “Io.”

This is where the story has an incredibly interesting twist.

Io was not just any cow, she was actually Zeus’ true love cleverly disguised by Zeus as a heifer so that Hera wouldn’t find out about his sexual proclivity for doe-eyed lovelies. Of course, Hera knew about Zeus’ strong desire for this particular heifer and this is why she gave Argus, the many-eyed herdsman, the job of preventing Zeus from expressing his deep admiration for Io.

The way that Hermes kills Argus is devilishly simple: Hermes pretends that he too is a herdsman like Argus—hence his lightweight skimpy outfit—and bores lonely Argus with so many tiring stories that all of Argus’ eyes went to sleep. At that moment Hermes lopped off Argus’ head with his handy sickle. Needless to say Hera was not impressed and extracts all of Argus’ eyes and places them in a passing peacock’s tail.

Stefano della Bella’s etching, “Satyress and two children in a landscape”, 1656

Stefano della Bella (1610–1664)

“Satyress and two children in a landscape” (descriptive title only), 1656, from the series of six round compositions, “Landscapes and sea ports.”

Etching on fine laid paper.

Size: (sheet) 21 x 16.7 cm; (plate) 13.5 x 13.3 cm; (diameter of image borderline) 13 cm.

Lettered on plate at lower left edge: "Stef. Della Bella fecit. 1656.”

State ii (of ii) with the addition of the artist's name and the date of execution.

Vesme (Della Bella) 745-2 (2) (A.de Vesme 1971, revised by Phyllis D.Massar, “Stefano della Bella”, New York, p. 116, cat.no. 745); Jombert (Della Bella) 188-3 (Charles Antoine Jombert 1772, “Essai d'un catalogue de l'oeuvre d'Etienne de la Belle, peintre et graveur florentin”, Paris, p. 183, cat.no. 180-3).

The British Museum offers the following description of this print:

“Satyress in a landscape; seated under a tree to right, nursing a child seated on her knee, while another child is seated on the ground to left, playing with garlands of flowers; a round composition.”

(https://www.britishmuseum.org/research/collection_online/collection_object_details.aspx?objectId=1499092&partId=1&searchText=della+Bella&page=1)

See also the description of this print at the Rijksmuseum: http://hdl.handle.net/10934/RM0001.collect.77304

Condition: richly inked and well-printed impression (most likely a lifetime impression based on the quality of the lines showing no sign of wear to the printing plate) with generous margins. The print is in museum quality/near pristine condition (i.e. there are no tears, holes, folds, creases, abrasions, stains or foxing).

I am selling this round formatted image, revealing Della Bella’s mature etching style where his linework projects an almost Renoir-like softness of modelling, for AU$233 in total (currently US$169.92/EUR147.90/GBP129.23 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 rare lifetime (?) impression in near pristine condition, 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 artists, Della Bella’s style of drawing and etching evolved through his life. This relatively late print was executed at a time when he had moved from his earlier approach of shading using parallel strokes applied with rigid/cool discipline to his mature style of rendering where Della Bella portrays his subjects as if he were physically touching and feeling their forms. When I look at the face of the mother Satyress, for instance, I am reminded of the softly applied strokes of Renoir’s late portraits where the delicate strokes suggest that Renoir modelled his portrayed forms like a blind person “sees” a subject by sense of touch. Interestingly, Della Bella has not completely abandoned his early approach of using parallel lines as the treatment of the sky reveals.

Félix Bracquemond’s frontispiece etching for “L'Illustration Nouvelle", 1868

Félix Bracquemond (aka Joseph Auguste Félix Bracquemond; Joseph Félix Bracquemond) (1833–1914)

"Eau-Forte: L'Illustration Nouvelle", 1868, published by Cadart & Luce (operational: 1867–1870/1) and printed by Auguste Delâtre (1822–1907) as the frontispiece for the first issue (Première Année) of "L'Illustration Nouvelle par une Société de Peintres-Graveurs à l'Eau-Forte” (1868).

Etching on laid paper with full margins as published.

Size: (sheet) 47 × 31.5 cm; (plate) 23.6 × 15.7 cm

Title lettered on portrayed flag at upper right: "EAU-FORTE/ L'ILLUSTRATION NOUVELLE"

Inscribed on plate along lower edge: (left) “BRACQUEMOND DEL ET SC”; (centre) “CADART & LUCE ÉDITEURS.”; (right) “IMP. DELÂTRE PARIS”

State iii (of iii) with the publication details added along the lower edge of the plate.

Beraldi 1885–92 181.iii (Henri Béraldi 1885–1892, “Les Graveurs du XIXe Siècle”. cat. no. 181, p. 70); IFF III.371.215 (Jean Adhémar & Jacques Lethève 1954, “Inventaire du Fonds Francais Apres 1800”, Bibliothèque Nationale de France, Paris, cat. no. 215, p. 371).

The British Museum offers the following description of this print (from the second state):

“Frontispiece for 'L'Illustration Nouvelle' (Cadart): nude male figure wielding flag "EAU-FORTE/L'ILLUSTRATION-NOUVELLE" against wind at sea's edge.”

(https://www.britishmuseum.org/research/collection_online/collection_object_details.aspx?objectId=1420922&partId=1&searchText=+F%u00e9lix+Bracquemond+L%27Illustration+Nouvelle&page=1)

See also the description at the Metropolitan Museum of Art:  https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/384067?searchField=All&sortBy=relevance&ft=Bracquemond&offset=0&rpp=80&pos=46

Condition: richly inked and well-printed impression with full margins (as published) in excellent condition (i.e. there are no tears, holes, folds, abrasions or stains, but there are a few spots of light foxing in the upper margin).

I am selling this historically important etching expressing symbolically the shipwreck/abandonment of the medium of engraving and the revival of etching as the preferred medium for illustration in the late 19^th century, for AU$172 in total (currently US$124.45/EUR108.95/GBP95.17 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 eye-catching etching by one of the major 19^th century 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

This etching is a milestone in 19^th century illustration. I have no worries about making such a strong statement as this is the showcase print—the frontispiece illustration—for the first issue of "L'Illustration Nouvelle” (1868) promoting the revival of etching. (Note: The British Museum offers a description of this publication and the artists represented: https://www.britishmuseum.org/research/collection_online/collection_object_details.aspx?objectId=3779496&partId=1&people=134191&peoA=134191-2-60&page=1)

By design, Bracquemond’s etching unambiguous features a fluttering flag proclaiming in lettered text that etching is the new medium of illustration. Symbolically, the print also hints at the demise of engraving as the old medium of illustration—represented by a distant ship that has run aground and become wrecked on the same shifting sand as the strongly muscled nude man in the foreground is staking the flag claiming the new medium of etching.