Ferdinand Gaillard’s engraving, “Gattamelata”, 1866, after Donatello

Ferdinand Gaillard (aka Claude-Ferdinand Gaillard) (1834–1887)

“Gattamelata”, 1866, after a bronze study in the Newerkerque collection attributed to Donatello (aka Donato di Niccolò di Betto Bardi) (c1386–1466) for the equestrian statue of the Venetian mercenary leader nick-named “Gattamelata” (transl. “spotted cat”)—because of his cunning—now standing in the Piazza del Santo, Padua.

Engraving on warm grey chine collé, printed by Alfred Salmon (fl.1863–1894) and published in the “Gazette des Beaux-Arts” (January 1, 1866) in Paris. The sheet has been trimmed slightly within the plate mark on the sides and backed with a support sheet providing wide margins.

Size: (support sheet) 42 x 31.8 cm; (sheet) 27 x 17.8 cm; (chine collé) 20.2 x 16.3 cm.

Lettered in plate below the image: (left) “Gazette des Beaux-Arts”; (centre) “F. GAILLARD DEL. ET SCULP. / GATTAMELATA / STATUE ÉQUESTRE DE DONATELLO”; (right) “Imp. A. Salmon à Paris”.

State v (of v) with the publication details for the Gazette des Beaux-Arts.

Beraldi 18.v (Henri Beraldi 1887, “Les Graveurs du dix-neuvième siècle: DORÉ–GAVARD”, vol 6, Paris, Librairie L. Conquet, p. 200, cat. 18); IFF 34 (Département des Estampes 1930, “Inventaire du Fonds, Français: graveurs du XVIIe siècle”, Paris, Bibliothèque Nationale).

See also the description of this print offered by the British Museum: https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/object/P_1870-0709-168.

For a superb analysis of Gaillard’s contribution and historical context, see Stephen Bann’s article, “Photography by Other Means? The Engravings of Ferdinand Gaillard” in “The Art Bulletin”, vol. 88, No. 1 (Mar., 2006), pp. 119–138 (https://www.jstor.org/stable/25067228).

Condition: faultless impression that is so finely executed and well-printed that it resembles a photograph or photogravure—but it is an engraving executed (almost unbelievably) solely by hand. Beyond darkening on the lower left corner, the sheet is in an excellent condition and laid upon an archival support sheet of millennium quality washi paper.

I am selling this true masterpiece of engraving by one of most famous of the nineteenth century engravers who is described by Félix Bracquemond as the “continuer and renovator of burin engraving” (see Bann’s [2006], p. 124), for the total cost of AU$208 (currently US$132.81/EUR133.94/GBP115.37 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 remarkable print that (arguably) will never be surpassed for the skill and discipline employed to engrave in microscopic detail, please contact me (oz_jim@printsandprinciples.com) and I will send you a PayPal invoice to make the payment easy.

Note that this is the second copy of this engraving that I have listed. The previous copy has been sold.

This print has been sold

Adolphe Martial Potémont’s 3 etchings, “Des Instruments de L’Aquafortiste”, 1873

Adolphe Martial Potémont (aka Adolphe Théodore Jules Martial Potémont; Martial) (1828–1833)

“Des Instruments de L’Aquafortiste”, 1873, plates 1, 2, and 3, published by Alfred Cadart (1825–1875) as illustrations to the artist’s treatise on printmaking, “Nouveau Traité de la Gravure à L'Eau-Forte pour Les Peintres et les Dessinateurs” (New Treatise on Etching for Painters and Draftsmen).

The British Museum and the Metropolitan Museum of Art offer descriptions of this book: https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/object/P_1880-1114-123-135; https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/394010.

Plate 1: etching needles, a bottle of mordant (acid) and a feather to release bubbles in the etching process; etching on laid paper with plate tone; (sheet) 24.6 x 16.2 cm; (plate) 17.8 x 10 cm; (image borderline) 15 x 8.5 cm; inscribed in plate with the artist’s monogram at lower centre.

Plate 2: a hand vice (plate clamp) and dabbers (employed to spread the etching ground onto the printing plate); etching on laid paper with plate tone; (sheet) 24.8 x 15.6 cm; (plate) 18.1 x 11.4 cm; (image borderline) 16.5 x 10.1 cm; numbered in plate at upper centre “2” and inscribed with the artist’s monogram at lower centre.

Plate 3: a hand vice and taper flame (to smoke/blacken the etching ground); etching on laid paper with plate tone; (sheet) 24.6 x 15.9 cm; (plate) 18.1 x 11.4 cm; (image borderline) 16.2 x 9.6 cm; numbered in plate at upper centre, “3”, inscribed in plate at upper left “ENFUMER”, and with the artist’s monogram at lower centre.

Condition: richly inked and well-printed (near faultless) impressions with margins as published in excellent (near pristine) condition with no tears, holes, folds, significant stains or foxing.

I am selling this remarkably beautiful suite of three etchings showing the tools of etching— for the total cost of AU$240 (currently US$153.93/EUR154.46/GBP132.53 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 these etchings executed by one of the masters of printmaking in 19^th century France, please contact me (oz_jim@printsandprinciples.com) and I will send you a PayPal invoice to make the payment easy.

This set of etchings has been sold

Honoré Broutelle’s woodcut, “Le Cavalier Saint Georges”, 1924

Honoré Broutelle (1866–1929)

“Le Cavalier Saint Georges”, 1924, I understand that this woodcut was published in Paris by the Sociéte de la Gravure sur Bois Originale in 1929 in a series of fifty-three woodcut illustrations to Francis de Miomandre’s (aka François Félicien Durand) “Le Patriarche”

Woodcut on cream wove paper.

Size: (sheet) 28 x 22.3 cm; (image borderline) 23 x 17.9 cm.

Lettered in plate along lower edge: (left) “1924”; (right) “HB [ligature initials] routelle”.

Condition: a richly inked and near faultless impression in near pristine condition as published.

I am selling this visually arresting image of St George on horseback about to engage in battle with a cave-dwelling dragon who has been disturbed from its meal of the local king’s daughter, for the total cost of AU$179 (currently US$114.81/EUR115.20/GBP98.84 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 bold woodcut, please contact me (oz_jim@printsandprinciples.com) and I will send you a PayPal invoice to make the payment easy.

Baron Dominique Vivant Denon’s etching, “Christ on the Mount of Olives”, c1800, after Rembrandt

Baron Dominique Vivant Denon (aka Vivant De Non; Vivant Denon) (1747–1825)

“Christ on the Mount of Olives”, c1800 (late 18th–early 19th century), after Rembrandt (aka Rembrandt Harmensz van Rijn) (1606–1669), published as plate 12 in a series of prints illustrating the collection of Baron Dominique Vivant Denon (“Tiré du Cabinet de Mr Denon”).

Etching with roulette (and possibly aquatint?) printed in a warm black ink on heavy wove paper.

Size: (sheet) 48.2 x 54 cm; (plate) 38.5 x 44.7 cm; (image borderline) 31.4 x 41.6 cm.

Numbered in plate above the image borderline: (right) “12.”

Lettered in plate below the image borderline: (left) “Rembrandt Pinx^t.”; (centre) “Tiré du Cabinet de M^r. Denon,”; (right) “Denon Sculp^t.”

The Metropolitan Museum of Art offers a description of this print: https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/369865.

Condition: a richly inked and well-printed (near faultless) impression with generous margins. Beyond minor marks and spots of roughening in the margins, the sheet is in an excellent condition with no tears, holes, folds, significant stains or foxing.

I am selling this fascinating translation into line of a Rembrandt painting that the artist owned in his vast collection—I use the word “fascinating” as (for me) Denon’s copy shows the attributes of the painting that caught his eye— for the total cost of AU$256 (currently US$164.22/EUR165.19/GBP142.54 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 this bold interpretation of Rembrandt’s composition, 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

Marcantonio Raimondi’s engraving, “The High Priest Refuses Joachim's Sacrifice”, 1510–1515, after Albrecht Dürer’s woodcut

Marcantonio Raimondi (aka Marcantonio) (1470/82–1527/34)

“The High Priest Refuses Joachim's Sacrifice” (aka “Joachims offer wordt geweigerd”; “Le Prêtre Refusant le Présent de Saint Joachim”), 1510–1515, plate 1 from the series of seventeen prints with the Life of Mary as subject, “The Life of the Virgin”, after the woodcuts by Albrecht Dürer (aka Albrecht Duerer) (1471–1528) (see a view and description of Dürer’s woodcut offered by the Rijksmuseum: http://hdl.handle.net/10934/RM0001.COLLECT.33300).

This print features in one of history’s pivotal points regarding copyright, as Dürer famously printed a stark warning in the colophon for the 1511 edition of his series of woodcuts, “The Life of the Virgin”: “Beware you envious thieves of the work of invention [Laboris et inguenii] of others, keep your thoughtless hands from these works of ours. We have received a privilege from the famous Emperor of Rome, Maximilian, that no one shall dare to print these works in spurious forms, not sell such prints within the boundaries of the Empire …” (see Lisa Pon 2004, “Raphael, Dürer, and Marcantonio Raimondi: Copying and the Italian Renaissance Print”, New Haven, Yale University press, p.39). Although Dürer was rightly enraged by the copying of his prints, this print was engraved and published before the colophon warning was circulated.

Engraving on laid paper trimmed around the image borderline with a narrow margin.

Size: (sheet) 29.3 x 21.4 cm; (image borderline) 29 x 21.1 cm.

Lettered in plate in the style of Albrecht Dürer’s monogram on tablet at lower centre: “AD”; numbered in plate (lower centre) “I”.

Lifetime impression (based on the line quality showing no sign of wear to the printing plate).

TIB 27. 621 (Konrad Oberhuber [ed.] 1978, “The Illustrated Bartsch: The Works of Marcantonio Raimondi and of his School”, Part 2, vol. 27, New York, Abaris Books, p. 307, cat. no. 621 [406]); Bartsch 406; Delaborde 235.

The Metropolitan Museum of Art, The Rijksmuseum and The Fine Art Museums of San Franscisco offer descriptions of this print: https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/342705; http://hdl.handle.net/10934/RM0001.COLLECT.34809; https://art.famsf.org/marcantonio-raimondi/high-priest-refuses-joachims-sacrificepl-1-series-life-virgin-after-woodcuts.

Condition: a strong, near faultless, impression, trimmed with a narrow margin around the image borderline. There is a small tear at upper left and there is a curious spread of glue verso, otherwise the sheet is in a remarkably good condition for its size and age with no holes, folds, significant stains or foxing.

I am selling this rare masterwork of engraving for the total cost of AU$448 (currently US$290.33/EUR288.38/GBP250.29 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 this exceptionally fine engraving that is also an historical marking point in the change of copyright restrictions in 1511, 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