Johannes Glauber’s etching, “Landscape with a River, a Boat with Four Men”, c.1680

Johannes Glauber (aka Jan Glauber; Joannes Glauber; Polidoro Polydor) (1646–c.1726) (Note: Johannes Glauber is the elder brother and master of Jan Gotlieb Glauber featured in the previous post.)

“Landscape with a River, a Boat with Four Men” (BM title) or “Landscape with Two Women in a Boat” (TIB title), c.1680, from the final plate in the series “Twelve Landscapes” (see TIB [1978] pp. 201–13)

Etching on laid paper with small margins.

Size: (sheet) 28.2 x 38.6 cm: (plate) 27.7 x 38 cm; (image borderline) 27 x 37.4 cm

Inscribed below the image borderline (lower right) “J. Glauber fe.”

State: i (of i)

TIB 7 (5). 19 (391) (Walter L Strauss & Otto Naumann [Eds.] 1978, “The Illustrated Bartsch”, vol. 7, p. 213); Bartsch V.392.19; Hollstein 22; Weigel 1843 undescribed; Weigel 1838 7274

The British Museum offers the following description of this print:

“Landscape with a boat carrying four men on a river in the centre, two other figures watching them from the river-bank in the foreground, trees on either side, mountains in the background”. The BM also notes (as is the case with this print): “The paper shows a crease in the middle”. This crease is most likely a publication fold as the print is large in size. (http://www.britishmuseum.org/research/collection_online/collection_object_details.aspx?objectId=1668203&partId=1&searchText=Glauber&page=1)

Condition: very good impression with narrow margins, traces of use (i.e. small marks/stains); otherwise in good condition.

I am selling this stunning etching epitomising how a great printmaker can capture the sparkling effects of light in a landscape for the total cost of AU$216 (currently US$162.11/EUR148.69/GBP125.41 at the time of posting this listing) including postage and handling to anywhere in the world.

If you are interested in purchasing this very beautiful and luminous etching, 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

Although the academic gatekeepers of art history have not found sufficient reasons to shout out loud the names of the Glauber brothers—Johannes Glauber and his younger brother, Jan Gottlieb Glauber, whose print features in the previous post—I believe that they simply haven’t looked properly at prints like this one to see what is really being portrayed and, importantly, its significance as a precursor to Impressionism.

Superficially, this print may have all the hallmarks of a follower of Poussin in terms of showcasing a landscape vista with a small narrative “happening” in the middle-distance. To my eyes, however, this print is more than this. It’s about the effects of light sparkling on the surfaces of landscape features—especially the trees. Moreover, a light that is so intense that it even hurts my eyes to look at the landscape. There are, of course, other old masters (for example, the amazing Canaletto) who were able to capture the shimmering effects of light, but their approach is different to the Glauber brothers. For example, instead of relying on harsh contrasts of light and shade to express intense light, Johannes Glauber uses small patches of cross-hatching in this print, executed in wavy lines, to create the visual illusion of light glittering on uneven surfaces. Indeed, I wish to argue that his use of these slightly misaligned small patches of cross-hatching are not too dissimilar to the Impressionist use of their famous “broken brushstrokes” (i.e. small square-ended brushstrokes laid at different angles).