Virgil Solis' woodcut: “David and Goliath”, 1560

Virgil Solis (1514–1562)

“David and Goliath” (1 Sam. 17) (TIB title), 1560 (and 1561–1565 with the strapwork border as shown here), from the two-part series of 218 woodcuts in woodcut borders by Vigil Solis, published in 1561 and 1562 by Sigmund Feierabend (1528–1590) in Frankfurt and printed by Johann Rasch (fl.1556–1562) and David Zöpfel (aka David Zephelius) (fl.c.1555–1563), as illustrations to “Biblische Figuren des Alten Testaments / Biblische Figuren des Neuwen Testaments”. The impression shown in TIB is from the 1565 edition.

Archive.org offers an online view of this print in its context in the 1562 edition of the publication: https://archive.org/details/VirgilSolisBible1562/page/n59/mode/2up.     

Regarding the publication in which these prints feature, the Curator of the British Museum advises: “The first edition was published in 1560. [This print with its strapwork frame features in] the second, enlarged edition, with 74 new images and woodcut borders from the 1561 Bible. The New Testament part is wrongly dated 1552 on the title-page” (https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/object/P_1870-0625-191-411).

Jane S Peters in TIB (1987) advises that there are thirty-one different and interchangeable strapwork borders and not the twenty-four as Bartsch states (p. 283).

Woodcut on laid paper, printed with letterpress text verso, trimmed with a small margin around the strapwork borderline and backed with a support sheet providing wide margins.

Size: (sheet) 12.2 x 15.8 cm.

Inscribed within the inner image borderline with the artist's monogram at the lower-left corner: "VS".

TIB 19 (Part 1) 1.50 (Jane S Peters & Walter L Strauss [eds.] 1987, “The Illustrated Bartsch: German Masters of the Sixteenth Century”, vol. 19 [Part 1], p. 308, cat. no. 1.50 [316]).

Condition: a strong and well-printed early impression showing minimal wear to the printing plate, trimmed with a small margin around the strapwork borderline and laid onto a support of archival (millennium quality) washi paper providing wide margins. The sheet is in an excellent condition with no tears, holes, folds or significant stains.

I am selling this superb impression of a remarkably fine Renaissance woodcut for a total cost of AU$237 (currently/approximately US$159.19/EUR147.54/GBP124.88 at the time of posting this listing) including Express Mail (EMS) postage and handling to anywhere in the world, but not (of course) any import duties/taxes imposed by some countries. Note that payment is in Australian dollars (AU$237) as this is my currency.

If you are interested in purchasing this small but visually arresting woodcut, 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