Edouard Levy Montefiore’s etching, “Rue dans une Ville, au Japon”, c1872

Edouard Levy Montefiore (aka Eliezer Levi Montefiore) (1820–1894)—the first director of the Art Gallery of New South Wales (Australia)

“Rue dans une Ville, au Japon” (Street in a Town, Japan), c1872, proof-state impression with scratch lettering before formal lettering and publication by Alfred Cadart (1828–1875) in Paris for the art journal, “L'Illustration Nouvelle”, 1872, plate no. 153.

Etching and aquatint printed with a warm black ink on buff coloured Japanese paper with wide margins.

Size: (sheet) 28.2 x 39.2 cm; (plate is too soft to give exact measurements); (image borderline) 10.7 x 16.7 cm.

Inscribed on plate below the image borderline; (left) “Rue dans une ville de Japon”; (right) “E.L. Montefiore”.

The National Gallery of Australia (NGA) offers a description of this print in its published state:

https://cs.nga.gov.au/detail.cfm?irn=77363; see also http://www.printsandprintmaking.gov.au/impressions/1938/.  

The National Gallery of Victoria (NGV) offers marvellous biographical insights about this artist:

https://www.ngv.vic.gov.au/essay/an-enthusiastic-amateur-of-the-arts-eliezer-levi-montefiore-in-melbourne-1853-71/

Condition: a richly inked, near faultless scratch lettered impression with generously wide margins on very thin paper in near pristine condition with no tears, holes, folds, abrasions, stains, foxing or signs of handling. There is a pencil inscription from a previous collector giving the title of the print and the artist’s name on the lower edge of sheet.

I am selling this exceptionally rare, proof state etching in museum-quality/near faultless condition for a total cost of AU$314 (currently US$245.35/EUR198.78/GBP179.60 at the time of 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 superb etching showing a scene of rural Japan as perceived by an artist who was born in Barbados, trained in London and worked in Australia, please contact me (oz_jim@printsandprinciples.com) and I will send you a PayPal invoice to make the payment easy.

Salvatore Castiglione’s etching, “Head of an Old Man with Beard”, 1645–1650

Salvatore Castiglione (1620–1676)—brother of Giovanni Benedetto Castiglione (aka Il Grechetto) (1609–1664)

Regarding the attribution of the artist who executed this etching, the Curator of the British Museum offers the following insights:

“Always considered to be by Giovanni Benedetto until 2004, when the correct authorship was established by Jaco Rutgers on the basis of a very early signed impression in Turin (see 'Print Quarterly', XXI 2004, pp.163-4). He also notes that Bellini's state descriptions for this series are in the reverse order to the truth. For a third state wiith extra hatching, see Mathew Norman, Print Quarterly, XXX 2013, p.318.” (https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/object/P_W-6-19)

“Head of an Old Man with Beard” (Rijksmuseum title) (aka “Bearded Old Man Wearing Shoulder-Length Headdress, Facing Right” [TIB title]; “Un vieillard à grande barbe, vu de profil …” [Bartsch title]), 1645–1650, from the series of 16 plates (TIB 32–47), “Small Studies of Heads in Oriental Headdress”, printed from the original plate by McCreery in his 1816 edition of “200 Etchings”.

Etching on fine China paper trimmed along the platemark (as published for the McCreery edition) and backed with a support sheet.

Size: (sheet) 11.2 x 8.2 cm.

State ii (of ii)

TIB 46(21).36(29) (Paolo Bellini [ed.] 1982, “The Illustrated Bartsch: Italian Masters of the Seventeenth Century”, vol 46, New York, Abaris Books, p. 46, cat. no 36 [29]); Bellini 1982 27 (Paolo Bellini 1982, “L'Opera incisa di Giovanni Benedetto Castiglione”, Milan, Comune di Milano, p. 112–113, cat. 27); Bartsch XXI.29.36 (Adam Bartsch 1803, “Le Peintre Graveur”, Vienna).

The British Museum and the Rijksmuseum offer descriptions of this print:

https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/object/P_1871-0812-30;

http://hdl.handle.net/10934/RM0001.COLLECT.34972.

Condition: a well-printed impression with no sign of wear to the printing plate, trimmed along the platemark and laid upon an archival support sheet of millennium quality washi paper. The sheet is in an excellent condition with no tears, holes, folds, abrasions, stains, foxing or signs of handling.

I am selling this superb etching by the brother of the inventor of the monotype for AU$325 (currently US$250.43/EUR204/GBP184.21 at the time of 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 very beautifual study of an elderly man’s head showing the artist’s amazing skill in suggesting the form and silvery sheen of the man’s beard and his quiet reflective mindset in a minimal number of strokes, please contact me (oz_jim@printsandprinciples.com) and I will send you a PayPal invoice to make the payment easy.

Hand-notated sheet of folk music, c1790

Unidentified late-18^th century German Musican

Hand-notated sheet of folk music, c1790 (based on the early style of hand-written notation—especially the G-clef, the use of a quill for the lines (rather than the later dip pen), the unevenly dispersed pulp of the crude heavy laid paper and the patina of age of the sheet).

Music notations and music titles written in German by an old hand in black ink on heavy laid paper with binding holes on the centrefold.

Size: (unfolded sheet) 23 x 33cm.

Condition: although the sheet shows clear signs handling in terms of marks and has a rich patina of age toning, the heavy paper is structurally sound with no tears, holes (beyond the binding holes), abrasions, bumped edges or other fractures.

I am selling this small double-sided sheet of early hand-notated music, for AU$205 (currently US$158.60/EUR129.08/GBP115.82 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.

If you are interested in purchasing this historical gem of sheet music—possibly arrangements for a beginning musican based on the lettering under the music notations (but I am out of my depth in making meaningful assessments as my piano playing days are long passed)—please contact me (oz_jim@printsandprinciples.com) and I will send you a PayPal invoice to make the payment easy.

Mary Morton Allport’s lithograph, “Comet of March 1843”

Mary Morton Allport (1806–1895)—Australia’s first professional woman printmaker and artist (see https://www.utas.edu.au/library/companion_to_tasmanian_history/A/Mary%20Morton%20Allport.htm)

“Comet of March 1843”, 1843, lithograph of a comet passing over Tasmania (previously called “Van Diemen’s Land”) in Australia on 4^th March 1843. This information has been extracted from a watercolour study of a similar composition by the Colonial army officer, (Captain) Walter Synnot (1773–1851), who inscribed the following note on his painting (verso): “Sketch of a comet as it appeared on the evening of the 4 March 1843 7 oclock pm bearing nearly west from Launceston Van Diemen's Land. The body of the comet was set before 8 oclock pm. The tail formed an angle of about 60 degrees from the plain of the horizon and was of astonishing brilliancy. The view is a part of the Cataract Hill from Canning Street” (see https://librariestas.ent.sirsidynix.net.au/client/en_AU/library/search/detailnonmodal/ent:$002f$002fSD_ILS$002f0$002fSD_ILS:80077/one?qu=Comet&qu=of&qu=March&qu=1843 & https://stors.tas.gov.au/AUTAS001136168234).

Lithograph printed in back ink on wove paper with wide margins.

Size: (sheet) 28.4 x 22.5 cm; (outer image borderline) 16.4 x 11.5 cm.

Lettered on plate below the image borderline: (centre) “Comet of March 1843 / Seen from Aldridge Lodge V.D. Land.”; (right) “M.M. Allport.”

Handwritten pencil inscription at the upper edge.

Allport Library and Museum of Fine Arts (Libraries Tasmania) offers a description of this print:

https://librariestas.ent.sirsidynix.net.au/client/en_AU/library/search/detailnonmodal/ent:$002f$002fSD_ILS$002f0$002fSD_ILS:91720/one?qu=Comet&qu=of&qu=March&qu=1843.

Day Gallery offers insights about this Mary Morton Allport and a description of another lithograph by this historically important colonial artist: https://daygallery.com.au/catalog/mary-morton-allport-new-norfolk-vd-land.

Condition: a strong impression with generously wide margins in near pristine condition with no tears, holes, folds, abrasions, significant stains, foxing or signs of handling. Note that there is a very light pencil inscription at the upper edge (recto).

I am selling this small but historically major lithograph by the first professional woman artist and printmaker in Australia—note that the National Gallery of Australia does not hold a copy of this print—for AU$467 (currently US$359.53/EUR293.96/GBP263.11 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.

If you are interested in purchasing this lithograph of the utmost rarity, 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

Marco da Ravenna’s engraving, “Noah’s Sacrifice”, c1523, after Raphael

Marco da Ravenna (aka Marco Dente) (fl.1515–1527)

Note that the British Museum attributes this print to Marco da Ravenna, but advises that it is “placed under Marcantonio Raimondi” (1470/1482–1527/1534) (see https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/object/P_V-4-32). I understand by this advice and the insight in the BM’s biographical details for Marco da Ravenna that the “identification of his [Marco da Ravenna’s] work is vexed”, that the attribution has shifted from Marcantonio Raimondi to Marco da Ravenna. I am also mindful that “The Illustrated Bartsch: The Works of Marcantonio Raimondi and of his School” (1978) has this print catalogued with Marcantonio Raimondi’s oeuvre (see vol. 26, p. 13).

“Noah’s Sacrifice”, c1523 (1519–1527), after Raphael's (1483–1520) design for the fresco executed by Gianfrancesco Penni (1490–1528) and Giulio Romano (1499–1546) in the third arcade of the Vatican Logge.

The curator of the British Museum advises:

“There is a drawing of the same subject and in the same direction as the print in the Albertina (inv. 169, SR 207) believed to be a copy by Penni as well as one in Weimar in the Grobherzoglich Sammlung” (https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/object/P_H-1-10). 

Engraving on laid paper with a narrow margin around the image borderline and a collector’s ligature monogram ink stamp (not in Lugt) on the lower edge, backed with a support sheet.

Size: (sheet) 20.9 x 24.5 cm; (image borderline) 20.7 x 24.3 cm.

(Under Marcantonio Raimondi) TIB 26.4(6) (Konrad Oberhuber [ed.] 1978, “The Illustrated Bartsch: The Works of Marcantonio Raimondi and of his School”, New York, Abaris Books, p. 13, cat. no. 4 [6]).

The British Museum offers the following description of this print:

“The Sacrifice of Noah; Noah at right in a gesture of prayer in front of an altar, three figures preparing two rams for sacrifice; behind the altar two men leading two cows and a camel; after Raphael”

(https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/object/P_V-4-32).

See also the descriptions of this print at the Rijksmuseum, the Metropolitan Museum of Art and the Childs Gallery: http://hdl.handle.net/10934/RM0001.COLLECT.104583;

https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/341434;

https://childsgallery.com/work/noahs-sacrifice-after-raphael-sanzio-1483-1520/.

Condition: a strong impression (possibly a lifetime impression based on the quality of the lines showing no sign of wear to the printing plate) with a narrow margin around the image borderline and laid onto a sheet of archival (millennium quality) washi paper. There are restored fractures (nearly invisible) where the sheet may have once been folded and I am uncertain whether the impression is on naturally grey laid paper or if the paper that has been evenly darkened with time, otherwise the sheet is in very good (restored) condition with no significant stains, or foxing.

I am selling this exceptionally rare and very beautiful engraving executed around the final year of Raphael’s life (or shortly after), for a total cost of AU$439 (currently US$337.98/EUR276.33/GBP247.34 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.

This print has been sold