John Raphael Smith’s 1802 mezzotint, “Rosalind”

John Raphael Smith (1751–1812)

“Rosalind”, 1802, published by Rudolph Ackermann in 1813. The British Museum’s curator advises that this print is one “of six large portraits of women thought to be actresses (D'Oench 329, 337, 371, 373, 381, 382)”.

Mezzotint with hand-colouring in watercolour on laid paper attached to a conservator’s support sheet.

The hand-colouring may have been executed by the Ackermann publishing house as they manufactured “Ackermann's Superfine Water Colours” and advertised their skill at finishing prints and other artworks in the “neatest manner”.

Size: (sheet) 54.6 x 41.2 cm; (image) 51.3 x 40.5 cm

Lettered below the image with the title, and "Engraved by J (I?).R. Smith & Published 1802 by R. Ackermann, No. 101, Strand, London".

Chaloner Smith 1883 191; Frankau 1902 294; D'Oench 1999 371

The British Museum offers the following description of this print:

“Portrait of a young woman, almost life-size, half-length, dressed as an Elizabethan page, with a pointed lace collar, a soft hat with a toggle hanging over on the right, grasping a spear in her right hand. 1802” (http://www.britishmuseum.org/research/collection_online/collection_object_details.aspx?objectId=1614303&partId=1&searchText=Rosalind&page=1)

Condition: the original mezzotint may have wear but the watercolour conceals any thinness. There are numerous repairs to the sheet that a conservator has disguised well and the delicate state of the sheet is supported by a conservator on fine, millennium quality washi, paper.

I am selling this huge hand-coloured mezzontint engraved by one of the major printmakers of the late 18^th and early 19^th centuries— John Raphael Smith—for the total cost of AU$140 (currently US$104.93/EUR95.12/GBP79.81 at the time of posting this print) including postage and handling to anywhere in the world.

If you are interested in purchasing this magnificent print from the nineteenth century, please contact me (oz_jim@printsandprinciples.com) and I will send you a PayPal invoice to make the payment easy.

My interest in acquiring this mezzotint by one of the truly great printmakers, who is famous for his skill in using this technically and time demanding medium was originally driven by the eye-catching hand-colouring of the print. After receiving the print through the mail I hadn’t fully appreciated that it was so large and the colour addition made it seem even more monumental.

What is now fascinating to me is that the rich colour may not have been an incidental feature. My research shows that the publisher, Rudolph Ackermann, was also a manufacturer of “Ackermann's Superfine Water Colours.” Moreover, in one of the many advertisements for his publishing company and its subsidiaries, he expresses pride in his workshop’s skills in varnishing, polishing and generally “finishing” paintings, prints and other artworks. Although I cannot be certain that this print was “finished” with watercolour by the Ackermann publishers, I have little doubt about the reason that the print was hand-coloured: the procedure of colouring prints was undertaken when a mezzotint plate began to wear down and the addition of colour was employed to disguise the plate wear.

Regardless, who or why this print is coloured, the effect is magnificent. For those interested in the title of this print, the subject is an actress performing in the role of Rosalind from Shakespeare's “As you like it.”

John Park’s etching, “Strayed — A Moonlight Pastoral”

John Park (1830–91; fl. 1867-91)

“Strayed — A Moonlight Pastoral”, 1864–79, after Cecil Gordon Lawson (1849-82), printed by François Liénard (fl. c.1860s–1880s) and published in the revue “L'Art”

Etching cream laid paper

Size: (sheet) 42.2 x 28.5 cm; (plate) 27.8 x 23.9 cm; (image) 25.7 x 22.4 cm

Lettered below image with title and: "(Grosvenor Gallery)", production detail: "Creil [sic?] Lawson, pinx.", "J. Park, sc.", "Fçois Liénard, Imp. Paris.", and: "L'Art."

The British Museum offers the following description of this print:

“Moonlit view with a herd of sheep in the left foreground, in a field with a bare young tree, boats on the river in the right middle distance, the full moon above; after Cecil Lawson; published in 'L'Art'.” (http://www.britishmuseum.org/research/collection_online/collection_object_details.aspx?objectId=3425478&partId=1&searchText=john+park+Strayed&page=1)

Condition: richly inked and well-printed impression with full margins (as published) in near pristine condition.

I am selling this romantic evening etching of moonlit darkness in superb condition for the total cost of AU$212 including postage and handling to anywhere in the world.

If you are interested in purchasing this dark and evocative original print from the nineteenth century, please contact me (oz_jim@printsandprinciples.com) and I will send you a PayPal invoice to make the payment easy.

Not long ago I discussed another print by John Park which also features an image of the last vestiges of light illuminating a scene. This print, however, is even more romantic, By this I mean that it not only portrays an idyllic evening scene of pastures and sheep that probably has great appeal to city folk who wistfully dream of escape to a similar open countryside, but it also offers an poetic narrative of a solitary sheep that has wandered off from its mates to gaze towards distant harbour lights.

From a technical viewpoint, this is an amazing print in its complexity of layered hatching. What I particularly like about its execution is the way that Park has created tiny rhythms in the darkness so that the image is rich in pictorial energy. Beyond the high level of skill and knowledge shown in the rendering, another quality of this print that I find worthy of close study is the delicate balance of the composition; especially the placement of the softly glowing moon.

Tanomura Chikuden’s ink painting of plum blossoms

Tanomura Chikuden (田能村 竹田) (pseudonyms: Nakaji, Rogashi, Chikudenroho, Chikudentonmin, Kachikuyusoshujin, Kujosenshi) (1777–1835).

Note: Although I am confident that this is a genuine painting by Tamomura Chikuden, based on the stylistic attributes of the artist that can be seen in the painting, the patina of age and the signature, I am not an expert in the field of Japanese painting. There is a strong tradition in the East of copying old masters artworks and this may—although I doubt it—be such a copy.

“Plum Blossoms” (descriptive title only and I may be wrong with my attribution of the type of flower represented. My understanding is that if this were a cherry blossom there would be a tiny split/nick at the ends of the petals.)

Bush and ink on tan paper supported on a silk faced washi paper inscribed with signature, stamp and lines of calligraphy text (I am unable to translate the text but would be VERY thankful for assistance with a translation).

Size: (sheet) 33.9 x 41.2 cm; (image) 25 x 34.2 cm

Condition: good condition, but with small losses where the painting has been rolled (I suspect that the sheet may once have been as scroll that has been cut to the present shape). The outer silk support sheet has minor light stains with minor fraying at the edges, otherwise in a clean condition.

I am selling this original painting of branches and blossoms by Tanomura Chikuden, famous for his delicate brushwork and capturing melancholic moods, for AU$390 (currently US$295.35/EUR268.12/GBP224.13 at the time of posting this painting) including postage and handling to anywhere in the world.

If you are interested in purchasing this painting by a well-documented Japanese artist of the late 18th and early 19th centuries, please contact me (oz_jim@printsandprinciples.com) and I will send you a PayPal invoice to make the payment easy.

This painting has been sold

This lightly executed sketch showcases many of the key attributes that make Tanomura Chikuden’s paintings interesting. For instance, note how the artist has spatially separated the foreground twigs from those further away by changing his stroke from emphatically laid lines of opaque black ink at the front superimposed upon much softer strokes with many breaks laid in light grey ink.

Beyond the knowledge of how to express space through simple changes of brushstroke, there is also the well-known facet to this artist’s work that finds expression here: melancholy. 

Tanomura Chikuden’s paintings are valued for the melancholic mood that they project. In the seemingly simple lines of this painting, for example, note how dots are studded throughout the image. Although not all viewers will sense melancholy through these small jotted marks—after all, I doubt that any picture is ever experienced the same way by everyone—nevertheless, for me these tiny jabbed dots of ink constrain the fluidity of the larger brushstrokes with the feelings of hesitancy and even a smidgen of anxiety.

Crayon-manner stippled engraving of a poppy attributed to Jean-Baptiste Lucien

Unidentified artist but most probably Jean-Baptiste Lucien (c.1748–1806), published by Jacques François Chereau (1742–94).

(Note that the attribution to Jean-Baptiste Lucien and the circa dating is based entirely on the similarity of this prints to the work of Lucien and Chereau’s publication of Lucien’s crayon manner ornamental designs.)

“Poppy Study” (descriptive title only and I may be wrong with my attribution of the type of flower represented), c.1780, (sheet) 34 x 25 cm, (plate) 30.5 x 22.8 cm

Crayon-manner stippled engravings printed in sanguine ink on fine laid paper.

Condition: crisp, strong impression with margins. There are some blurred lines created during the wiping of the lowest leaf. The sheet is in good condition for its age but there are a few dot stains in the lower margin.

I am selling this original stipple engraving attributed to Lucien for the total cost of AU$78 (currently US$59.07/EUR53.62/GBP44.83 at the time of posting this print) including postage and handling to anywhere in the world.

If you are interested in purchasing this beautiful study of a poppy, please contact me (oz_jim@printsandprinciples.com) and I will send you a PayPal invoice to make the payment easy.

My attribution of this flower study to Lucien is probably not as important as simply seeing such a beautiful rendering of what I assume is a poppy. The stipple technique used to render the study gives the image great delicacy and freshness. Moreover, the broken line created by the roulette wheel employed to inscribe each line pictorially melds the form of the poppy with the white of the sheet. Going further, this effect of the stippling helps to suggest that the white of the paper is more than simply the colour of the paper, but rather a void of space of undefinable depth and brilliance.

Charles Jacque's etching after Adriaen van Ostades, “La Famille”

Charles Jacque (aka Charles Émile Jacque) (1813–94) after Adriaen van Ostade (aka Adriaen Jansz. van Ostade) (1610–85)

“La Famille” (The Family), inscribed with Ostade’s signature by Jacque and the date of Ostade’s original plate (1647), published in Philip Gilbert Hamerton's “Etching & Etchers”, 1868.

Etching on laid paper with the centrefold as published by Hamerton and lettered with “5” beneath the image borderline at lower right.

Size: (sheet) 28.5 x 25.3 cm; (plate) 18.5 x 17.4 cm; (image) 17.2 x 15.3 cm

The British Museum offers the following description of Ostade’s etching that Jacque copied:

“Interior of a peasant cottage, a mother in front of a fire-place and feeding a baby in right foreground, behind her a youth eating at a table and another feeding scraps to a dog, the father slicing some bread or cheese, a ladder leading to a loft at top right, various utensils stored on shelves including large pots and a cleaver on the wall, a child's cot near a doorway and bed in left background, some hams hanging at top right.” (http://www.britishmuseum.org/research/collection_online/collection_object_details.aspx?objectId=3093887&partId=1&searchText=ostade&page=7)

Condition: richly inked and well-printed impression with centrefold (as published by Hamerton in 1868) in near pristine condition.

I am selling this original etching by Jacque after Ostade (i.e. Jacque has made a copy of Ostade’s print) for the total cost of AU$128 (currently US$96.93/EUR88/GBP74.14 at the time of posting this print) including postage and handling to anywhere in the world.

If you are interested in purchasing a print by one of the Barbizon School’s most famous artists, please contact me (oz_jim@printsandprinciples.com) and I will send you a PayPal invoice to make the payment easy.

Philip Gilbert Hamerton (1834–94), the publisher of this etching in his famous “Etchers and Etchings” (1868 edition), does not offer the usual accolades of his predecessors in finding good things to say about Ostade as the following advice makes clear:

“The poor … are very repulsive in Ostade and Bega — so repulsive that we only endure them for the sake of the accomplished art … let us say that it is not the poverty which repels us, but the insensitiveness of the painter to all that is best amongst the poor: his incapacity to recognise the true refinement of the rare and delicate natures which are disguised in mean apparel, his blindness to that beauty of character and countenance …. It is not to be believed that when Ostade and Bega studied the Dutch peasantry, the whole of the poor population of Holland was lost in bestiality, or that all the nobler feelings of human nature were utterly crushed out of it by the weight of care, like the juice from trodden grapes. And yet their peasants are universally mere animals, incapable of tenderness and thought, capable only of instinctive cares and besotted sensuality. The males pursue the females, the females give suck to their young, and the height of satisfaction is a swinish contentment in the fullness of the belly, and the apathy of the brain” (pp. 265–66).

Even in Hamerton’s assessment of this rather beautiful copy by Charles Jacque—an original etching by Jacque after Ostade rather than a photomechanical reproduction—of Ostade’s famous “La Famille” does he constraint his words:

“The copy by Charles Jacque given in this volume [the 1868 edition of “Etchers and Etching”] is accurate enough to afford a correct idea of the original plate, but it is not quite so delicate, and the reader would do well, when he has the opportunity, to refer to the proof in the British Museum …” (p. 267).

Notwithstanding, Hamerton’s broad view of Ostade’s art practice, Hamerton’s insight regarding Ostade’s composition are riveting to read:

“It is the most perfect work of the master, and quite remarkable for lighting and composition. Ostade's sense of what was necessary to the support of a group, is like the artistic instinct which led the Gothic builders to use buttresses and low chapels round their edifices, and which in nature gives artistic value to the slopes of debris at the feet of mountains. For example, in this etching the composition rises always towards the right, and is buttressed by slopes to the left. See how amply the figure of the man is supported by the boy and the dog, and by the seated woman. This law of diminution to the left is carried out in the most trifling accessories, in the basins above the door, in the spaces between the three cross-pieces nailed to the beams, in the two boards near the ladder, in the openings of the bed and the door. If the woman had advanced her left foot instead of her right, the man behind her would not have been so well supported; and if the little dog had been absent, the buttressing on that side would not have been continued to the ground. The lighting is, of course, intended to give importance to the group; there are admirable reflections and transparencies in the shade” (p. 267–68).

Samuel Palmer’s etching, “The Willow”

Samuel Palmer (1805–81)

“The Willow”, 1850, from “The Life and Letters of Samuel Palmer”, by A. H. Palmer, 1892, probably printed by F. Goulding.

Etching on cream wove paper

Size: (sheet) 22.5 x 14.5 cm; (plate) 12 x 8.1 cm; (image) 9 x 6.8 cm

Signed and dated in the plate (lower left): “Samuel Palmer 1850”.

State ii (of iii)

(Note:  Following the edition published by AH Palmer, of which this impression is a part, there is a second edition of 75 printed by Frank Short and others in 1926. After this final edition the plate was cancelled. To distinguish the first state from the second state, according to the V&A, “In the first state, there is a white streak across the sky, running from the edge of the plate to the tree, 2 mm. above the cumulus cloud on the left.)

The British Museum offer the following description of this print:

“Tree on the edge of a stream in which two cows stand. 1850 Etching” (http://www.britishmuseum.org/research/collection_online/collection_object_details.aspx?objectId=1416923&partId=1&searchText=samuel+palmer+the+willow&page=1)

Lister 1988 E.1.II (Lister, Raymond, “|Catalogue raisonné of the works of Samuel Palmer”, Cambridge, 1988)

Condition: crisp and well-inked impression with generous margins in very good condition. There are pencil notations from previous collectors and remnants of mounting tape at the edges of the sheet (recto) and collector’s stamps verso.

I am selling this original Samuel Palmer etching for the total cost of AU$678 (currently US$517.14/EUR466.19/GBP391 at the time of posting this print) including postage and handling to anywhere in the world.

If you are interested in purchasing a print by one of Britain’s most famous artists, 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 was executed by Palmer on his admission to the Etching Club, 1850.

The V&A offer the following interesting insight by AH Palmer:

“It should be noted that the tree in this etching was practically copied from a careful water-colour study made from nature, and of a much larger size. Such a proceeding was very rare in any of Palmer's work. In this case, it may have been due, partly to a feeling of timidity in a new process, or, partly to a prudent wish not to endanger his election by anything too characteristic or ambitious.”

(Taken from: Catalogue of an Exhibition of Drawings, Etchings & Woodcuts by Samuel Palmer and other Disciples of William Blake October 20 - December 31, 1926. London : Published under the authority of the Board of Education, 1926. Publication No. 178 E.I.D. p.56) (http://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O827230/the-willow-print-palmer-samuel/)

John Samuel Agar’s stipple engraving (1808) for the Society of Dilettanti

John Samuel Agar (1773–1858)

“Plate LXVII”, 1808, printed by T Bensley, published by T Payne and J White in 1809 for the Society of Dilettanti in “Specimens of Antient Sculpture, Aegyptian, Etruscan, Greek, and Roman”, London. According to Christie’s catalogue for Sale 7725, Lot 151, most of the illustrations in this two-volume book were made from the collections of Richard Payne Knight and Charles Townley. Christie’s also advise that there were 133 engraved plates in an edition of 200 copies, of which 60 were on large-paper reserved for members of the society. This print is from the reserved edition of 60 elephant folio prints.

Stipple engraving in sepia on thick laid paper, watermarked “J Watman 1809”, with extremely large margins (as published in the rare limited edition of 60 reserved for members of the Society of Dilettanti in 1809).

Size: (sheet) 54.5 x 37 cm; (plate) 28 x 22.8 cm

Lettered (lower left) “J. Agar del et sc.”; (lower centre) “BRASS. / same size / R.P. KNIGHT, Esq. / Published by T.Payne & I.White London, Jan 1^st 1808.”; (upper left) “Plate LXII.”

Condition: crisp and strong impression with full margins (as published) in marvellous condition for its age.

I am selling this remarkably rare stipple engraving from 1808, published in the very small edition of only 60 prints, for the total cost of  [deleted] including postage and handling to anywhere in the world.

If you are interested in purchasing this original 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

For those who may be unfamiliar with the remarkable achievements of the Society of Dilettanti, I need to go back to its London roots in 1732 when the group had its first meetings as little more than a dining club with membership restricted to those who had made the grand tour of Europe. By 1736 the group had begun taking minutes of its meetings and the Society of Dilettanti was formed with the mission to give fellow Londoners a touch of culture—or to quote from Wikipedia: “to correct and purify the public taste of the country.”

At this point I should give a quote from none other than Horace Walpole who, in 1743, offered the following cutting insight about the society: "...a club, for which the nominal qualification is having been in Italy, and the real one, being drunk: the two chiefs are Lord Middlesex and Sir Francis Dashwood, who were seldom sober the whole time they were in Italy” (Jeremy Black (1985), “The British and the Grand Tour”, p.120).

Notwithstanding the willingness of some members of the society to indulge themselves with the finer things of life, the society funded archaeological expeditions, Italian opera and, with the help of Sir Joshua Reynolds, helped to establish the Royal Academy.

This print is from the Society of Dilettani’s major two-volume publication of classical antiquities and the elephant folio in which it was bound was limited to an edition of 60 copies available only to the members. It is very rare. 

John Park’s etching and drypoint, “The End of the Voyage”

John Park (1830–91; fl. 1867-91)

“The End of the Voyage”, c.1860–80, published by the revue “L'Art” in 1880, printed by François Liénard (fl. c.1860s–1880s)

Etching with drypoint on fine laid paper

Size: (sheet) 43.5 x 30.8 cm; (plate) 22.5 x 14.9 cm

Lettered below image with title, production detail: "J. Park, del. et sc.", "F. Liénard, Imp. Paris.", and: "L'Art."

The British Museum offers the following description of this print:

“View in a harbour in twilight, shadow of a ship in the right foreground with mast down, further ships mooring behind” (http://www.britishmuseum.org/research/collection_online/collection_object_details.aspx?objectId=3425471&partId=1&searchText=John+Park+the+end+of+the+voyage&page=1)

Condition: rich and well-printed strong impressions with full margins (as published). There are minute insect bite marks that are visible when the print is held to the light and there is a small tear on the far left margin, otherwise the print is in very good condition for its age.

I am selling this romantic evening etching of a harbour scene showing the last vestiges of light before darkness closes in for the total cost of AU$212 including postage and handling to anywhere in the world.

If you are interested in purchasing this remarkable original print from the nineteenth century, please contact me (oz_jim@printsandprinciples.com) and I will send you a PayPal invoice to make the payment easy.

For many years I have been collecting etchings by John Park and the reason is simple: he is a master of rendering shadow with line. Usually, Park builds up his shadowy areas with a layering of knotted lines and spiralling rhythms that to my eyes connote a feeling of unease. With this print, however, the representation of the evening darkness seems relaxed and free of the usual knots and spiral of the artist’s inner turmoil. Instead, the build-up of aligned strokes and velvety drypoint lines project a feeling of tranquillity.

Notwithstanding tranquillity of the scene, the stark silhouette of the foreground ship’s rigging adds a prickly note of tension that—again from my personal reading of the image—complements and underpins the otherwise pervading calmness.

Jean-Baptiste Lucien (attributed) crayon-manner stippled engravings after Jacques François Chereau

Unidentified artist but most probably Jean-Baptiste Lucien (c.1748–1806) after the design by André-Louis Caillouet (c.1778–1817), published by Jacques François Chereau (1742–94).

(Note that the attribution to Jean-Baptiste Lucien and the circa dating is based entirely on the similarity of these prints to the work of Lucien and his publication of crayon manner ornamental designs.)

(upper image) “Plate 56”, c.1780, (sheet) 25 x 34 cm, (plate) 23.8 x 31.1 cm

(lower image) “Plate 71”, c.1780, (sheet) 25 x 34 cm, (plate) 23 x 29.8 cm

Crayon-manner stippled engravings printed in sanguine ink on fine laid paper.

The National Gallery of Art offers the following description of the crayon manner printing process

“Chalk manner (also called crayon manner) is a printmaking technique that imitates the appearance of chalk lines. … Special toothed tools—roulettes, mattoirs (punches), champignons (literally, "mushrooms"), and the like—were used to create dotted patterns on the plate that suggest the grainy appearance of chalk strokes on paper.” (https://www.nga.gov/exhibitions/clrflimpr-tech.shtm)

Lettered with the plate numbers (upper left) and copyright “Privilége du Roȉ”(lower left)

Condition: prints are strong impressions with margins in very good condition for their age (i.e. the sheets have no tears, stains, holes, folds or foxing).

I am selling both of these original crayon-manner stippled engravings for the total cost of AU$128 (currently US$111.93/EUR101.45/GBP86.51 at the time of posting this print) including postage and handling to anywhere in the world.

If you are interested in purchasing this pair of beautiful ornamental designs, please contact me (oz_jim@printsandprinciples.com) and I will send you a PayPal invoice to make the payment easy.

If my attribution of these prints to a folio by Jean-Baptiste Lucien is correct, then the following information offered by The Metropolitan Museum is interesting:

“The publisher Chéreau advertised the work as being in preparation as early as 1778 … : [Google Translation from French] 'Now etched in this way [in imitation of Crayon], a significant result of the Drawings of ornaments from the most beautiful monuments of Rome, this suite will contain rosettes, the friezes, the Capitals, & c. & Will be updated by notebooks of different sizes & at various prices. It will form a very interesting volume useful to artists. The first notebooks [to be published] sometime in 1778.’” (See the original French text at: http://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/712263)