John Laporte’s soft-ground etching, “A View near Uxbridge”, 1801–02, after Gainsborough

John Laporte (1761–1839)

“A View near Uxbridge”, 1801/2, a soft-ground etching after a drawing by Thomas Gainsborough (1727–1788), published in London in 1802 by John Peter Thompson (aka Darling & Thompson) (c.1792–1813), possibly from Laporte's series of progressive lessons in landscape, “from nature, in imitation of pencil, from the original drawings” (see the documentation about Laporte’s published prints provided by Ken Spelman’s Books, “The Drawing Project”: https://www.kenspelman.com/ARTBIB/ARTBIB%20L.pdf).

Soft-ground etching on fine wove paper, backed with a support sheet.

Size: (sheet) 25.4 x 33.5 cm; (plate) 19.6 x 27 cm; (image borderline) 15.5 x 24.2 cm.

Lettered in plate below the image borderline: (left) “J. Laporte del & Sculp.”; (centre) “A View near Uxbridge./ London Published April 13,1802, by John P. Thompson G^t.Newport Street, and N^o.51, Dean Street, Soho.”

Condition: a strong and well-printed (near faultless) impression with reasonably wide margins (as published?). The sheet is in an excellent condition with no tears, holes, folds, abrasions or significant stains and is laid onto a support of archival (millennium quality) washi paper providing support and large margins.

I am selling this light-filled portrayal of what must have been an open rural area, when this print was made, on the outskirts of London, for AU$196 (currently US$128.78/EUR119.07/GBP101.50 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 remarkable pre-Impressionistic portrayal of a spreading tree, purportedly after a drawing by one of the greatest of British Landscape artists, Gainsborough, please contact me (oz_jim@printsandprinciples.com) and I will send you a PayPal invoice to make the payment easy.

Félix Bracquemond’s etching, “The Sands of Tombelaine and Mont St. Michel”, 1887

Félix Bracquemond (aka Joseph Auguste Félix Bracquemond) (1833–1914)

“The Sands of Tombelaine and Mont St. Michel” (aka “Les Grèves de Tombelaine et du Mont Saint-Michel”), 1887, impression from the final lettered state published in 1895 in Paris by Georges Petit (1856–1920) in Rene Maizeroy’s (1856–1918) “La Mer”.

Etching on heavy wove paper with full margins as published.

Size: (sheet) 31.5 x 44.3 cm; (plate [faint]) 21.3 x 28.1 cm; (image borderline) 16 x 23.6 cm.

Lettered in plate below the image borderline: “Bracquemond inv & sc.”

Beraldi 781; IFF 409

The British Museum offers the following description of this print from an earlier state: “Landscape of the sea with a rock beyond at left and Mont Saint-Michel in the far distance; the beach in the left foreground with sticks in the sand; a flock of birds in flight at left towards Mont Saint-Michel; dramatic clouds in the sky; intended for the unpublished album 'La Mer'. Etching” (https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/object/P_1926-0710-113).

Condition: a strong impression with generously wide margins in a near pristine condition with no tears, holes, folds or significant stains.

I am selling this very poetic portrayal of the mystical tidal island of Mont-Saint-Michel with its awe-inspiring abbey by one of the most famous printmakers of the nineteenth century, for the total cost of AU$298 (currently US$196.16/EUR180.88/GBP154.53 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 the deceptively inviting tidal path leading to Mont-Saint-Michel—mindful that this dangerous walkway that was upgraded to a causeway in 1879, has now been made safe by a connecting bridge in 2014—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

Orazio Borgianni’s etching, “Adoration of the Golden Calf”, 1615, after Raphael

Orazio Borgianni (aka Orazio Borgiani) (c1578–1616)

“Adoration of the Golden Calf” (aka “The Israelites Adoring the Colden Calf”), 1615 (inscribed in plate), plate 34 from the series of 52 etchings, “Paintings in the Loggia of Raphael”, after Raphael’s (1483–1520) Loggia frescoes in the Vatican.

Etching on fine laid paper.

Size: (sheet) 17.9 x 21.4 cm; (plate) 16 x 19.5 cm.

Inscribed in plate: (outside the image borderline at lower-left ) “34”; (within the image borderline at lower-left) “1615/ [monogram of artist]”.

Lifetime impression, state i (of i) (my attribution of this impression to a lifetime copy is based on the quality of line showing no sign of wear to the printing plate).

TIB 38.34 (Walter L Strauss [ed.] 1979, “The Illustrated Bartsch”, vol. 38, New York, Abaris Books, p. 393, cat. no. 38 [318]).

The Rijksmuseum offers the following description of this print: (transl.) “The Israelites dance and kneel before the golden calf. In the background on the left, Moses, out of anger over the idolatry of the Israelites, smashes the tablets of the law” (http://hdl.handle.net/10934/RM0001.COLLECT.85386).

See also the description of this print offered by the British Museum: https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/object/P_1893-1018-19-30.

Condition: a strong impression with small margins (approx. 1 cm) in an excellent condition for its considerable age with no tears, holes, folds or significant stains.

I am selling this superb etching executed in the last year of the artist’s life and based on the design of the legendary Raphael who had passed away only 95 years before this print was created, for AU$287 (currently US$188.75/EUR174.02/GBP148.68 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 rare and very interesting Renaissance period print—note the artist’s somewhat crude attempt to create the illusion that the image is edged with a window-box frame by portraying light and shadow cast on it from a light source at upper right—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

Amédée Michel Besnus’ etching, “Chevaux de Halage”, 1871

Amédée Michel Besnus (1831–1909)

“Chevaux de Halage” (aka “Hauling Horses”; “Boat Horses”; “Tow Horses”), 1871 (date of publication [IFF]), plate 97 illustration to the art periodical, “L’Illustration Nouvelle”, published in 1871 and printed in Paris by Cadart & Luce (fl.1867–1870/1).

Etching with pale plate tone on laid paper (with watermark).

Size: (irregular sheet) 31.5 x 41.9 cm; (plate) 15.6 x 23.7 cm; (image borderline) 12.2 x 20.3 cm.

Numbered in plate above the image borderline: (upper right) “97.”

Inscribed in plate within the image borderline: (on sign) “CHEMIN/ DE HALAGE/ AVIS”; (lower right corner) “A. Besnus.”

Lettered in plate below the image borderline: (left) “A. Besnus sculp.”; (centre) “CHEVAUX DE HALAGE”; (right) “Paris, CADAT & LUCE, Editeurs Imprimeurs, Rue N^ve des Mathurins, 58.”

IFF 5 (Jean Laren 1937, “Inventaire du Fonds Français après 1800”, Paris, Bibliothèque Nationale de France, Département des Estampes, vol. 2, p. 350, cat. no. 5 [see https://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bpt6k5488531x/f359]).

Condition: a richly inked and well-printed (near faultless) impression, with generously wide margins in a near pristine condition with no tears, holes, folds, abrasions or significant stains.

I am selling this strong and beautifully executed etching showing tethered towpath horses and free-range domestic fowl, for the total cost of AU$238 (currently US$156.54/EUR144.17/GBP123.25 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 marvellous rendering of horses—note the subtle way that the artist has suggested the different tones/colours each horse—please contact me (oz_jim@printsandprinciples.com) and I will send you a PayPal invoice to make the payment easy.

Claude Lorrain’s etching, “Harbour with Rising Sun”, 1635

Claude Lorrain (aka Claude Gellée; Le Lorrain; Claudio di Lorena) (1600–1682)

“Harbour with Rising Sun” (aka “Le Soleil Levant”), 1635, printed from the original plate and published in 1816 by J. McCreery in the “200 Etchings” folio. This impression is from the Schulze edition of 1816.

Etching on wove paper, trimmed with a small margin around the image borderline and with a section of an engraving from the 1784 Paris edition of “Stirpes Novae” shown verso (documented as a feature of the McCreery impressions; see Mannocci [1988] p. 28).

Size: (sheet) 13.1 x 19.9 cm; (image borderline) 12.4 x 19.4 cm.

Inscribed in plate: (on end of plank in foreground) “CLA”; (partially decipherable below image borderline at right) “Cl[aud]ius. Cla[u]diu[s] in[v.] et F. Romae - sup Licentia.”

State viii (of viii) as published in the 1816 Schulze edition with the distant mountains and rays of the sun strengthened.

Mannocci 15 viii (Lino Mannocci 1988, “The Etchings of Claude Lorrain”, New Haven, Yale University Press, pp. 113–121, cat. no. 15, eighth state); Blum 10; Robert-Dumesnil 15; Russell 23 (H. Diane Russell 1982, “Claude Lorrain 1600–1682), Washington, National Gallery of Art, p. 341, cat. no. 23).

The British Museum offers the following description of this print: “Harbour scene with rising sun; triumphal arch on the left 1635 Etching” (https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/object/P_1875-0508-167 ).

Regarding the plate for this etching (and the others printed by McCreery), Andrew Brink (2013) in “Ink and Light: The Influence of Claude Lorrain’s Etching on England” (McGill Queen’s University Press) offers the following insight: “The plates of Claude’s etchings disappeared without trace as mysteriously as they had first come to London” (p. 74). From my very unreliable memory, I recall being told in a chat with a “knowledgeable friend” who was told by another “knowledgeable friend” that the plates were discovered as ballast on a ship, but this information may be far from the truth.

Diane Russell (1982) offers the following insights about this print: “The print records, in reverse, a painting now in the Hermitage, Leningrad [….] This etching makes an interesting comparison, and companion to […] “The Tempest”, dated 1630, and indeed the figures in the boats and laboring on the shore are quite similar. In the earlier work, the moon strikes and articulates a turbulent sea, while here the rising sun seems to dispel the clouds and calm the sea. Each image is thus an exploration in etching of different time so day and climatic condition…” (pp.341–42).

Condition: a richly inked and well-printed impression, trimmed around the platemark. Beyond a few pale stains, the sheet is in an excellent condition with no tears, folds, holes or abrasions. Note that the verso shows a section of an engraving from the 1784 Paris edition of “Stirpes Novae” (documented as a feature of the McCreery impressions).

I am selling this amazingly strong impression of a very beautiful etching by Claude Lorrain, for the total cost of AU$398 (currently US$261.77/EUR241.09/GBP206.11 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 by one of the most famous of all landscape 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