Erich Heckel's woodcut, "Mädchenkopf", 1913

Erich Heckel (1883–1970)

“Mädchenkopf” (Head of a Girl) (aka “Junges Mädchen [Young Girl]), 1913, printed by W. Drugulin for the periodical, “Genius. Zeitschrift für werdende und alte Kunst” (Genius. Journal for Emerging and Traditional Art), vol. 2, no. 1, p. 115, published by Kurt Wolff Verlag in Munich in 1920.

Woodcut printed in black ink on buff wove paper with full margins and the letterpress note of authenticity verso.

Size: (sheet) 33.8 x 25.3 cm; (image borderline): 25.8 x 17.2 cm.

Lettered verso: (lower left) “Erich Heckel / Mädchenkopf. Original-Holzschnitt.”

State iii (of iii)

Rathenau 264 III; Raabe 74; Söhn 12003-1; Jentsch 72; Dube 264 IIIB; Davis-Riffkind 1038; Brücke 14

Spaightwood Galleries offer marvellous insights about this print and its 1920 edition: http://www.spaightwoodgalleries.com/Pages/Heckel.html.

The Museum of Modern Art offers very good background information about the publication in which this print features as well as technical details about the woodcut:

https://www.moma.org/s/ge/collection_ge/artist/artist_id-2569_role-1_sov_page-73.html.

See also the description of this print at the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco:

https://art.famsf.org/erich-heckel/m%C3%A4dchenkopf-head-girl-or-junges-m%C3%A4dchen-young-girl-genius-zeitschrift-f%C3%BCr-werdende-und.

Condition: faultless impression in near pristine condition (there are minor flattened printer creases in the margins).

I am selling this graphically arresting original woodcut by a founder of the historically important Die Brücke (the bridge) movement (1905–1913) in Dresden—a group that was passionately committed to revitalising art with authentically felt expressive forms—for AU$584 in total (currently US$393.64/EUR357.30/GBP302.38 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 important woodcut exemplifying Heckel’s interest in “primitive” (pre-academic) approaches to expression typified by pre-Renaissance woodcuts and the African artefacts Heckel examined in Dresden’s Ethnological Museum, please contact me (oz_jim@printsandprinciples.com) and I will send you a PayPal invoice to make the payment easy.

Eugène Bléry's etching, “Le Tronc de Hêtre à Fontainebleau”, 1845

Eugène Bléry (aka Alexandre Stanislas Eugène Bléry) (1805–1887)

“Le Tronc de Hêtre à Fontainebleau” (The beech trunk at Fontainebleau), 1845, plate 1 from the series of eight etchings, “Huit eaux-fortes gravées sur nature par Eugène Bléry” (Eight etchings engraved on nature by Eugène Bléry) (Beraldi 1885–92 48–55).

Etching on light grey chine collé (China paper) on wove paper with full margins as published.

Size: (sheet) 35.8 x 27.6 cm; (chine colllé) 17.4 x 12.6 cm; (plate) 17.1 x 12.3 cm.

Inscribed on plate below the image borderline: (left) “EBlery sc.t sur nature F.eau”; (centre) “1”; (right) “aqua forti A.1845”.

Beraldi 1885–92 48 (Henri Beraldi 1885, “Les graveurs du 19e siècle; guide de l'amateur d'estampes modernes”, vol. 2, Paris, L. Conquet, p. 108); IFF 53 (Département des Estampes 1930, “Inventaire du Fonds, Français: graveurs du XVIIe siècle”, Paris, Bibliothèque Nationale).

Archive.org offers an online view of Beraldi’s description of this print including Bléry’s other prints: (transl.) “It is a large hollow trunk that divides in two and leans to the left”; see

https://archive.org/details/lesgraveursdu19e02berauoft/page/108/mode/2up/search/Eug%C3%A8ne+Bl%C3%A9ry.

The British Museum offers the following description of this print:

“View of Fontainebleau: landscape with in the centre foreground an old beech tree. 1845”

(https://research.britishmuseum.org/research/collection_online/collection_object_details.aspx?objectId=3287558&partId=1&people=132133&peoA=132133-2-60&page=1).

See also the brief description offered by the Indianapolis Museum of Art:

http://collection.imamuseum.org/artwork/75210/.

Condition: a superb impression that is richly inked and well-printed—the lower right margin edge of the chine collé is slightly ruffled—with generous margins. The sheet is in excellent condition (i.e. there are no tears, holes, folds, losses, abrasions, stains, foxing or significant signs of use).

I am selling this small and remarkably beautiful etching—an exquisite print exemplifying Bléry’s skills in rendering three-dimensional form and textures with dramatic intensity—that is the first plate in his series of views around Fontainebleau (France), for AU$278 in total (currently US$187.65/EUR170.52/GBP144.24 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 powerful etching of a seemingly angst-ridden gnarled tree trunk, 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

Francesco Bartolozzi's stipple engraving, “Thomas Strange, Knight”, after Hans Holbein

Francesco Bartolozzi (1728–1815)

“Thomas Strange, Knight” (Sir Thomas Lestrange [1493–1545]), 1793, after Hans Holbein the Younger (1497/8–1543), from the famous series of 86 plates, “Persons of the Court of Henry VII”, published by John Chamberlaine (1745–1812) in “Imitations of Original Drawings by Hans Holbein, in the collection of His Majesty, for the portraits of illustrious persons of the court of Henry VIII” in 1793, London, before la poupée colouring.

For details about the book from which this print was extracted, see the description of the copy held by Heritage Book Shop: http://www.heritagebookshop.com/details.php?id=65216.

Etching and stipple engraving printed on sepia coloured ink on cream laid paper (with watermark) with full margins as published with 18th century duty ink stamps verso.

Size: (sheet) 40.8 x 33.5 cm; (plate) 22.9 x 31 cm; (image borderline) 20.5 x 23.6 cm.

Lettered on plate within the image borderline: (upper left) “Tho: Strange Knight”.

Lettered on plate below the image borderline: (left) "From the Original Drawing by Hans Holbein”; (centre) "IN HIS MAJESTY’S COLLECTION / Published as the Act directs March 1 – 1793 by I Chamberlaine”; (right) "Engrav’d by F. Bartolozzi RA Hytorical Engraver to his Majesty”.

State ii (of ii) open-letter state.

De Vesme & Calabi 1160 ii (Alexandre de Vesme & Augusto Calabi, 1928, “Francesco Bartolozzi. Catalogue des estampes et notice biographique d'après les manuscrits de A. De Vesme entièrement réformés et complétés d'une étude critique par A. Calabi”, Milan, Guido Modiano. Milan, cat. no. 1160).

The Antique Print Club offer an insightful description of this print:

https://www.antiqueprintclub.com/Products/Antique-Prints/Portraits-Caricatures/Holbein-portraits/Holbein-portrait-of-Thomas-Strange-Knight-Bartoloz.aspx.

See also coloured versions of this print held by The Metropolitan Museum of Art and Te Papa Tongarewa (Museum of New Zealand):

https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/377202

https://collections.tepapa.govt.nz/object/38044.

Condition: an extraordinarily delicate and beautifully printed impression with full margins as published. There are two ink stamps verso featuring a crown and numbers that I assume are 18^th century duty stamps and thin areas in the paper, otherwise the sheet is in excellent condition (i.e. there are no tears, holes, folds, significant stains or foxing).

I am selling this exceptionally fine stipple engraving executed by the master of the "crayon" method of engraving designed to imitate the gritty lines of a drawing for the total cost of AU$287 (currently US$188.32/EUR170.94/GBP144.63 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 superb print, please contact me (oz_jim@printsandprinciples.com) and I will send you a PayPal invoice to make the payment easy.

Jacob Andreas Friedrich's engraving, “The Ostrich”, 1731

Jacob Andreas Friedrich Snr. (aka I.A. Fridrich; I.A. Friderich) (1684–1751)

(Note: Friedrich Snr. shares the same first names as his son, Jacob Andreas Friedrich Jr. [1714-1779], who signs his prints: "Jac.Andr. Fridrich”, hence my attribution of this plate to the father.)

“The Ostrich” (aka “Struthio”), 1731, plate CCXLV (245), published by Johann Jakob Scheuchzer (1672–1733) in what is one of the most lavishly produced (and expensive) books devoted to the Bible: “Physica Sacra: Iconibus Aeneis” (Sacred Physics: Smaller Icons), Part 2, pp. 413–416 (2 adjoining pages).

Engraving on laid paper (with watermark) with full margins as published and with the adjoining letterpress text page.

Size: (each page) 35.9 x 22.5 cm; (plate) 31.4 x 20 cm

Lettered on plate at upper-right: “TAB. CCXLV.”

Lettered on plate below the image: (left) “LEVITICI Cap. XI. v. 16. / Struthio.”; (centre) “Pollices Parisini.”; (right) the same text as inscribed on the lower left but written in German.

Inscribed on plate at lower-right corner: "I. A. Friderich sculp.”

See another engraving from this publication at Sanders of Oxford: https://www.sandersofoxford.com/shop/product/levitici-capxiv-arnebeth-lepus/  

This is one of the original engravings published in the first (1731) edition of Scheuchez’s almost legendary, “Physica Sacra” (Sacred Physics). I use the word “legendary” as very few books were created with such care, expense and with so many engraved illustrations as this extraordinary book.

For those unfamiliar with “Physica Sacra”, this huge publication was based on what we now know to be a flawed premise: Scheuchez believed that he had irrefutable proof that the events described in the Old Testament were all true because he had the fossilised remains of a victim of the Great Flood (see Genesis chapters 6–9). Sadly, when the “fossilised victim” was later examined by the French naturalist Georges Cuvier in 1811, Cuvier's findings revealed that the "victim" was in fact a large prehistoric salamander.

Regarding the biblical reference underpinning this illustration, the New International Version of the relevant passage (Leviticus chapter 11, versus 13 to 19) advises that The Lord commanded Moses and Aaron to tell the Israelites:

(v.13) “The following birds you will reject and will not eat them, because they will be considered unclean animals: the eagle, the bearded vulture, the sea eagle, (14) all kinds of kites and hawks, (15) all kinds of crows, (16)  the ostrich, the owl, all kinds of seagulls, (17)  the owl, the bird, the swan, (18) the night owl, the pelican, the vulture, (19)  the stork, all kinds of herons, the hoopoe and the bat.” (https://www.biblica.com/america-latina/biblia/biblia-online/nvi/lev%c3%adtico/11/).

Condition: a superb lifetime impression that is richly inked and well-printed. The engraving and its accompanying page of letterpress text is still joined by the glue of publication and, apart from a brown dot at the top edge, both pages are in excellent condition (i.e. there are no tears, holes, losses, folds or significant stains or foxing) with only faint age-toning near the edges.

I am selling this very full composition showing an ostrich’s skeleton, organs and an egg layered like a precursor to today’s embedded digital illustrations and hypertext—a veritable ornithologist’s treasure trove of visual data—from one of the most lavish publications ever made along with an accompanying page of text for AU$230 (currently US$155.53/EUR141.08/GBP119.11 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 remarkable print, 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 Sadeler’s engraving, “Saint Beatus”, 1600 (second copy)

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

“Saint Beatus”, 1600, after a lost drawing by Maarten de Vos (aka Maarten de Vos; Maerten de Vos) (1532–1603), plate 1 in the series, “Oraculum Anachoreticum” (aka “Hermits”), published by Jan Sadeler in Venice with privilege from Rudolf II of Habsburg.

Engraving on fine laid paper with a small margin around the platemark.

Size: (sheet trimmed slightly unevenly) 17.4 x 22 cm; (plate) 16.9 x 21 cm; (image borderline) 15.6 x 21 cm.

Inscribed on plate within the image borderline: (lower left) “Cu[m] priuil Su[m]mi/ Po[n]tif. et Cæs. Mai.”; (lower centre) "Ioa[n] Sadeler scalp. Marti[n] de Vos figur.”

Lettered on plate below the image borderline: Hic vera …/ …// I// … BEATVS …/ …ratus.”

State ii (of iii) before the erasure of the number “1”.

TIB 7001.409S2 (Isabelle de Ramaix 2001, “The Illustrated Bartsch: Johan Sadeler I”, vol. 70, Part 2 [Supplement], New York, Abaris Books, p. 276, cat. no. 409); Hollstein 439; Hollstein 1051 (Maarten de Vos).

The British Museum offers the following description of this print:

“St Beatus praying before a cave over which is a cross; beyond is a mountainous landscape with a dragon”

(https://www.britishmuseum.org/research/collection_online/collection_object_details.aspx?objectId=1549043&partId=1&searchText=Sadeler+Beatus&page=1).

See also the Rijksmuseum’s description of this print:

(Transl.) “In the foreground the H[ermit]. Beatus, a Swiss hermit from the seventh century. He is praying while kneeling for a crucifix near his cave. In the background a mountain landscape with a dragon"

(http://hdl.handle.net/10934/RM0001.COLLECT.169032).

From my understanding of St Beatus’ life, legend suggests that he was either born in Ireland or was the son of a Scottish king and was baptised by St Barnabas and ordained as a priest by the apostle, St Peter. More important to this engraving, he spent his later life as an anchorite hermit (i.e. a recluse who had withdrawn to a fully Eucharist-focused life as a living saint) in a cave on Mount Beatenberg near the lake of Thoune in Switzerland and slew a local dragon that was distracting him from his religious contemplation. (See a formal account of St Beatus [aka Beatus of Lungern; Apostle of Switzerland; Beatus of Beatenberg; Beatus of Thun] offered by Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beatus_of_Lungern.)

Condition: near faultless and well-printed early impression with a small margin around the platemark. The sheet is in an excellent (near perfect) condition for its considerable age (i.e. there are no tears, holes, losses, folds, abrasions, stains, foxing or significant signs of use).

Note: this the second copy of this print that I have showcased. The earlier impression has been sold.

I am selling this stunning jewel of an engraving featuring not only the Saint praying outside his cave—interestingly stocked with his next meal of veggies—but also a marvellously animated dragon to the right of the hermit set against a vast alpine panorama, for the total cost of AU$340 (currently US$230.12/EUR208.67/GBP176.08 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 simply glorious print executed with the lightest of touches, 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