William Edgar Marshall’s engraving, “George Washington”, 1862, after Gilbert Stuart

William Edgar Marshall (1837–1906)

“George Washington”, 1862, after Gilbert Stuart’s (1755–1828) unfinished 1796 portrait in the Boston Athenaeum—I understand that Stuart made more than 60 copies of this portrait and in 1869 it served as design for the American one-dollar note (see https://npg.si.edu/object/npg_NPG.80.115)—published in Boston by Ticknor & Fields (1831–) and printed as a proof on India paper by the National Bank Note Company (1861–1872).

Interestingly, I understand that a copy of this engraving hung at Ford’s Theatre (Washington, D.C.) below the President’s box on the evening of April 14, 1865, when President Lincoln was assassinated (see https://farm7.staticflickr.com/6053/6238572925_6b360c5a46_o.jpg).

Engraving and etching on tissue-thin India paper, trimmed with a narrow margin around the image borderline and backed with a support sheet.

Size: (support sheet) 56.4 x 43.5 cm; (sheet); 35.4 x 30.1 cm; (image borderline) 34.6 x 29.2 cm.

Condition: a strong and well-printed impression trimmed close to the image borderline and laid upon an archival support sheet of millennium quality washi paper that provides a wide margin. There are many small spots of watercolour retouching but they are virtually invisible.

I am selling this famous engraving—a masterwork of engraving based on the incredible fineness of its execution—for AU$349 (currently US$248.81/EUR220.66/GBP187.75 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 historically important 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

William Harry Warren Bicknell’s etching, “Portrait of an Elderly Woman Praying at a Table”, 1914, after Nicolaes Maes

William Harry Warren Bicknell (1860–1947)

“Portrait of an Elderly Woman Praying at a Table”, 1914, hand-signed in pencil, proof-state impression, after Nicolaes Maes’ (1634-1693) painting, “The Prayer Without End” (aka “Old Woman Saying Grace”), c1656, in the collection of the Rijksmuseum (inv. no. SK-C-535).

Regarding the portrayed subject, the Rijksmuseum offers the following insights: (Transl.) “An old woman prays devoutly before eating her meal. She does not let the begging cat tugging impatiently on the tablecloth distract her. The virtue of the old woman lies in her self-control and sense of duty to God. Just like his teacher Rembrandt, Maes focuses attention on the essence of the scene through restricted lighting” (http://hdl.handle.net/10934/RM0001.COLLECT.8948).

Etching on handmade wove paper (Normandy Vellum) with wide margins and scratch lettering, hand- signed by the artist in pencil at lower right.

Size: (sheet) 44.7 x 33.1 cm; (plate) 32.5 x 24.3 cm; (image borderline) 26.5 x 21.3 cm.

Inscribed in plate below the image borderline: (left) “W H W Bicknell sc 1914”.

Signed in pencil by the artist below the image borderline at right.

Condition: a rich and near faultless impression with generously wide margins. There is a mark in the margin at left, otherwise the sheet is in an excellent condition with no tears, holes, folds or foxing.

I am selling this very beautiful etching after Nicolaes Maes’ Rembrandtesque painting of a woman saying grace—note the wonderful note of distraction to the gravitas of the scene in the form of an inquisitive cat at lower right—for AU$248 (currently US$176.37/EUR156.26/GBP133.49 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 etching—note how the etcher gives life to the shadows with small rhythms of line and his skill in creating an exceptionally subtle transition from darkness to light—please contact me (oz_jim@printsandprinciples.com) and I will send you a PayPal invoice to make the payment easy.

Barthel Beham’s engraving, “Bookplate of Hieronymus Baumgartner”, c1530

Barthel Beham (1502–1540)

“Bookplate of Hieronymus Baumgartner” (aka “Exlibris von Bartel Beham für Hieronymus Baumgartner”; “Les Armoiries de Jerôme Baumgärtner”), c1530— Hieronymus Baumgartner the Elder (aka Hieronymus Paumgartner I) (1498–1566) was an influential and close friend of Albrecht Dürer and famous for holding “one of the finest libraries of the period, and he has been revered up until the twentieth century for his translations of essential Greek and Latin texts into German” (see https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/object/P_1910-0212-310).

The Curator of the British Museum offers the following insights regarding this print: “Hieronymus Baumgartner or Paumgartner (1498-1565) was a Nuremberg patrician and humanist and, like Willibald Pirckheimer, commissioned a bookplate for use in his library […]. His coat of arms is surrounded by a shield with three stars, which according to Warnecke is the arms of the Derrer family, and a clock, an hourglass and a skull (F. Warnecke, 'Die deutschen Bücherzeichen - Ex-Libris - von ihrem Ursprunge bis zur Gegenwart', Berlin, 1890, no. 137). The latter three emblems relate to his motto, which refers to the passage of time, and which is inscribed in Latin, Greek and Hebrew, the three languages of the scholar, in the border of the print [not featured in this impression]” (https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/object/P_1870-1008-2396).

Engraving on a buff coloured handmade/wove paper (possibly China), trimmed close to the platemark with narrow margins.

Size: (sheet) 9.1 x 7.5 cm; (plate) 8.6 x 7 cm; (image borderline) 6.9 x 5.3 cm.

State ii (of ii) This impression is from a later edition.

TIB 15.57-(II) (106) (Robert A Koch 1978, “The Illustrated Bartsch: Early German Masters”, vol. 15, New York, Abaris Books, p. 30, cat. no. 57); Hollstein 89.II; Pauli 89.

The British Museum offers the following description of this print: “Bookplate for Hieronymus Baumgärtner; a coat of arms with a parrot sitting on a lily, the same motif repeated on the helmet with plume feathers above. In the four corners clockwise starting from the top left: an hour class, a dial, a coat of arms with three stars and a skull. 1530s Engraving” (https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/object/P_1870-1008-2396).

See also the descriptions of this print offered by the Rijksmuseum; National Gallery of Art (Washington); Bassenge Auctions; and, the Louvre:

http://hdl.handle.net/10934/RM0001.COLLECT.31013

https://www.nga.gov/collection/art-object-page.34661.html; https://bassenge.com/lots/111/63060; 

https://collections.louvre.fr/en/ark:/53355/cl020572898.

Condition: a strong and well-printed impression trimmed with a narrow margin around the platemark and in a near pristine condition.

I am selling this small and exceptionally fine engraving in near faultless condition rich with vanitas symbolism (viz. hour glass, sundial and skull) for AU$523 (currently US$371.15/EUR329.73/GBP280.72 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 extraordinary engraving designed as an ex-libris engraving by a key artist in the group of German masters known as the "Little Masters" (Kleinmeister)—because of the diminutive size of their prints—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

Charles Émile Jacque’s etching with drypoint, “Portrait of J.J. Guiffrey”, 1866

Charles Émile Jacque (1813–1894)

“Portrait of J.J. Guiffrey”—Jules Joseph Guiffrey (1840-1918) is an art historian, archivist and, importantly, the cataloguer of Jacque’s prints published in 1866 in “L'Oeuvre de Charles Jacque: Catalogue de Ses Eaux-Fortes et Pointes Seches”—1866, printed in Paris by Auguste Delâtre (aka Auguste Marie Delâtre) (1822–1907) and in a later edition printed without chine collé by François Liénard (fl. c. 1860s–1880s). This impression is from the first edition.

Etching and drypoint on light grey chine collé (China) paper on heavy ivory wove paper with wide margins.

Size: (sheet) 42.6 x 29.9 cm; (plate) 14.8 x 10.2 cm; (chine collé) 9.4 x 7.2 cm;  (image borderline) 8.9 x 6.9 cm.

Inscribed in plate within the image borderline: (lower left) “1866”; (upper right) “ch. J.”

Lettered in plate below the image borderline: (left) “CH.JACQUE.”; (centre) “J.J. GUIFFREY./ Littérateur.”; (right) “IMP. DELÂTRE, PARIS/ N^o. 36_3.”

Beraldi 421 (Henri Béraldi 1889, “Les Graveurs du XIXe Siècle: Guide de l'Amateur d'Estampes Modernes”, vol. VIII, Paris, Librairie L. Conquet, p. 189, cat. no. 421); IFF 316 (Jean Adhémar & Jacques Lethève 1954, “Inventaire du Fonds Francais Apres 1800”, Paris, Bibliothèque nationale de France, p. 116, cat. no. 316).

Regarding Guiffrey’s catalogue of Jacque’s prints, Jacque’s portrait of Gauiffrey is not included as the Guiffrey catalogue was published in the same year that Jacque’s print was executed (1866). Henri Béraldi’s catalogue of Jacque’s prints (vol. 8), published in 1889, augments Guiffrey’s catalogue by listing prints executed in and after 1866 (see pp. 166–192; cat. nos. 421–187).

The Art Institute of Chicago and the Rijksmuseum offer descriptions of this print: https://www.artic.edu/artworks/35687/portrait-of-j-j-guiffrey; http://hdl.handle.net/10934/RM0001.COLLECT.128736. 

Condition: a strong and near faultless impression in pristine condition (i.e. there are no tears, holes, folds, abrasions, stains, foxing or signs of handling) with generously wide margins.

I am selling this extraordinarily fine portrait—note how the artist has captured the sheen of light on the sitter’s beard and the thin line of “white” running from his temple to his jaw—for AU$278 (currently US$198.15/EUR176.17/GBP149.67 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 very beautiful etching in pristine condition executed by one of the key luminaries of the Barbizon School, 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 

Utagawa Hiroshige II’s colour woodblock, “Waterfall River at Ôji”, 1860

Utagawa Hiroshige II (歌川広重) (1826-1869)

“Waterfall River at Ôji” (aka “Ôji Takinogawa”), 1860, plate 14 from the series, “Forty-Eight Famous View of Edo” (aka “Yedo Meisho Shijū Hakkei”), published in Edo by Tsutakichi (aka Tsutaya Kichizo [蔦屋吉蔵]) (fl.1830–1859).

Colour woodblock print (nishiki-e) with bohashi gradations on fine fibrous washi paper and margins as published, backed with a support sheet.

Size: Chuban (sheet) 24.8 x 18.2 cm; (image borderline) 22.7 x 16.7 cm; (support sheet) 35.8 x 28.2 cm.

Seal inscriptions (in translation): (left red cartouche) “Hiroshige gwa”; (upper right in red cartouche showing the title of the series) “Famous Views of Yedo” (Yedo meisho dzuye); (upper right scroll showing the title of the print) “Waterfall River at Ôji” (Ôji Takinogawa); (upper right scroll on its rolled underside showing the number of the print) “14”. Note that this information is based on my understanding of the seals described in Edward Fairbrother Strange’s (1983) “Hiroshige’s Woodblock Prints”.

Toshidama Gallery offers the following excellent insights about the scene portrayed in this print: “[The] area around Oji (now in Tokyo) was wild and a confluence of rivers created seven natural waterfalls near the Inari Temple. This was a famous place to visit and view the natural beauty of the rivers. The area is now a busy urban scene and the original waterfalls are long goneIn this view we see the natural caves and one of the famous falls; a small bridge crosses the water in the middle distance and there are sightseers crossing the bridge and exploring the caves” (https://www.toshidama-japanese-prints.com/item_316/Hiroshige-II-48-Famous-Views-of-Edo-14--Waterfall-River-at-Oji.htm).

Condition: a well-printed impression, restored with replenished losses (visible when the sheet is held to the light) and laid upon an archival support sheet of millennium quality washi paper.

I am selling this subtly coloured woodblock print of caves and waterfalls around Tokyo that I understand no longer exist, for AU$388 (currently US$276.55/EUR245.88/GBP208.89 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 original and very beautiful woodblock print by one of the most famous of the 19th century Japanese artists, please contact me (oz_jim@printsandprinciples.com) and I will send you a PayPal invoice to make the payment easy.