Marcus Gheeraerts I, “The Wood-Splitter and the Forest”, 1567

Marcus Gheeraerts I (aka Marc Garrard; Marcus Geraerts; Marc Gerards; Marcus Gheraerts) (1516/21–c1590)

“The Wood-Splitter and the Forest” (aka “De Houtklover en 't Bosch”; “D’un Bûcheron et d’une forêt”; “Fabel van de houthakker en het bos”), c1567/79, from either the series of 107 etchings and an engraved frontispiece, published in Bruges by Pieter de Clerck (fl.1554–1577) as an illustration to Eduwaert de Dene's (1555–1639) edition of Aesop's Fables, “De Warachtighe Fabulen der Dieren” (The Truthful Fables of the Animals) (1567) or from the third edition in “Mythologia Ethica” (see https://archive.org/details/mythologiaethica00frei/page/114/mode/2up) with 122 plates, published by Christophe Plantin (aka Christoffel Plantijn) (1520–1589) and printed by Philips Galle (Philippus Gallaeus; Philippe Galle) (1537–1612) in 1579 with letterpress text verso. I lean towards this impression being from the 1579 edition, as I have been unable to locate the plate in the online resources available among the plates of the 1567 edition (https://www.dbnl.org/tekst/dene001wara01_01/colofon.php).

Note that Aegidius Sadeler II (aka Egidius Sadeler; Ægedius Sadeler; Gillis Sadeler) (c.1570–1629) executed an etching (with engraving) in 1608 in the reverse direction after Marcus Gheeraert’s etching; see: http://hdl.handle.net/10934/RM0001.COLLECT.168097.

Regarding Sadeler’s print, the Rijksmuseum offers the following description: “A woodcutter chops down a tree with an axe. In the fable of the woodcutter and the forest, the trees of the forest allow the woodcutter to cut an axe from their wood. Then the woodcutter chops down the trees with the axe” (op. cit.).

From my understanding of the fable (and I may be wrong), a farmer finds an axe head without its handle in a forest. He prays to the forest that he may craft a handle from the forest's wood and forest gives him permission. After fitting the newly made handle to the axe, the farmer proceeds to cut down the trees of the forest until there were none left (see https://www.litres.ru/book/joost-van-de-vondel/de-complete-werken-van-joost-van-vondel-2-34283144/chitat-onlayn/?page=4). 

Etching on fine laid paper trimmed with a narrow margin around the platemark/image borderline and backed on a support sheet.

Size: (sheet trimmed slightly unevenly) 9.8 x 11.3 cm.

Condition: a superb early impression, trimmed close to the image borderline and laid upon an archival support sheet of millennium quality washi paper. The sheet is in an excellent condition for its considerable age with no tears, holes, folds, abrasions or significant stains.

I am selling this very beautiful etching executed by an early pioneer of etching at a time when book-illustrations were primarily woodcuts or engravings, for AU$329 (currently US$219.92/EUR199.12/GBP169.66 at the time of 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$329) as this is my currency.

If you are interested in purchasing this small but magnificent etching executed 3 years after Michelangelo hung up his boots for the last time, 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