Jan de Bisschop’s etching of six old master studies

Jan de Bisschop (aka Johannes Episcopius) (1628–71) after drawings by: Angelo Bronzino (1503–72) (?); Annibale Carracci (1560–1609); Domenichino (1581–1641) (?); Michelangelo (1475–1564); Jacopo da Pontormo (1494–1557) (?); Raphael (1483–1520).

“Plate 28”, from the first edition of “Paradigmata Graphices Variorum Artificum” printed in The Hague in 1671.

Etching on fine laid paper with margins and binding crease (as published).

Size: (sheet) 20 x 31.2 cm; (plate) 14.5 x 23.3 cm

Inscribed below the images:  "Annib. Carats. inv.''; "Mich. Ang. inv."; "Rafael"; “JE” (monogram of the artist) “F.”; "28".

The British Museum offers the following description of this print:

“Five male figures, nude or partly nude, in different attitudes and of different scales; the figures are described below in the following order: top row left, top row centre, followed by the bottom row from left to right; (a) male nude, bowed over his right bent knee, turning away from the spectator; (b) male nude, lying face downward and forward, only the upper part of the body is shown; (c) labouring slave, holding a piece of wood at right with both hands, facing right; (d) male nude seen from the back and turned away from the spectator, kneeling on his right knee and holding both hands before his face; (e) male nude, the upper part of the body turned away from the spectator, one arm raised ;after Carracci, Michelangelo and Raphael” (http://www.britishmuseum.org/research/collection_online/collection_object_details.aspx?objectId=3374911&partId=1&searchText=Bisschop+28&page=1?bibId=4603)

Hollstein 6 (Hollstein, F W H, Dutch and Flemish etchings, engravings and woodcuts c.1450-1700, Amsterdam, 1949); Van Gelder 1985 I.249.2 (Van Gelder, Jan; Jost, Ingrid, Jan de Bisschop and his Icones & Paradigmata, 2, Doornspijk, Davaco, 1985).

Condition: a marvellous first edition impression with margins and binding crease (as published). There is light yellowing to the centre of the binding crease and towards the edges of the sheet, as to be expected in such an early print.

I am selling this highly desirable and historically significant, 17th century, first edition print for AU$176 in total (currently US$131.81/EUR118.31/GBP101.46 at the time of posting this listing) including postage and handling to anywhere in the world.

If you are interested in purchasing major etching by Bisschop, 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

This engraving from the first edition of “Paradigmata Graphices Variorum Artificum” printed in 1671 is one of the more complex engravings by Bisschop involving graphic translations of drawings by old masters.

The curator of the British Museum offers the following insights about the six figure studies featured in this print:

“These examples were chosen after different drawings and arranged according De Bisschop's own ideas. The figures are described below in the following order: top row left, top row centre, followed by the bottom row from left to right.

(a) This figure is similar to the youth in the bottom left corner of Annibale Carracci's fresco 'Romulus marking the boundaries of Rome' in the Palazzo Magnani in Bologna, and, to a lesser extent to Annibale's drawing of a 'Kneeling Youth with Books' in the Uffizi (inv. no. 12 413 F).

(b) This is probably a detail of the lost 'Deluge' by Pontormo and Bronzino in the choir of the S. Lorenzo in Florence. The inscription of Michelangelo's name might be intended for this figure, as other parts of the same fresco reproduces by De Bisschop in plates 12 (1850,0810.765) and 13 (1896,0528.766) are also inscribed with his name.

(c) De Bisschop's etching is a reduced reproduction in reverse of a drawing by Annibale Carracci called 'Galley Slave labouring at the Oar' in red chalk, inscribed "Annibale Carracci", now in the Claude Aubry collection in Paris.

(d) Close to this figure is the inscription "Rafael". In the Rutgers collection however, De Bisschop's model was regarded as a Domenichino drawing. Neither this, nor any intermediary drawing by de Bisschop has been traced.

(e) Van Gelder states that this is in all likelihood a detail, reproduced in reverse, from Pontormo's 'Ascension of Souls', formerly on the rear wall on either side of the window in the choir of S. Lorenzo in Florence.

No intermediary drawings by De Bisschop have come to light. The image was rotated 90º to right to fit page.” (http://www.britishmuseum.org/research/collection_online/collection_object_details.aspx?objectId=3374911&partId=1&searchText=Bisschop+28&page=1?bibId=4603)