Franz Xaver Jungwierth’s etchings, “Boy reading a book” and “Boy with a pick”, after Giovanni Battista Piazzetta

Franz Xaver Jungwierth (aka Franz Xaver Jungwirth; Franz Xaver Andreas Jungwierth) (1720–90)

“Boy reading a book”, c1750, after Giovanni Battista Piazzetta (1682–1754), Plate 17 from the series of 40 plates of head studies after Piazzetta, published by Johann Christian Leopold (1699–1755) in 1753 (see George Knox 1983, 'Piazzetta: A Tercentenary Exhibition of Drawings, Prints and Books', exh. cat. Washington). Note: I have described this print as plate 17 in the series based solely on the inscription, “17”, featured in the text lines.

Etching on laid paper with small margins lined onto a support sheet of washi paper. 

Size: (sheet) 15.3 x 11.2 cm; (plate) 14.5 x 10.2 cm; (image borderline) 12.8 x 9.2 cm

Lettered in two lines below the image borderline: “I. B. Piazetta delineavit”, “F. X. Iungwierth Sc. Mon.”, “17” / “Cum Gratia et Privilegio Sacrae Caesareae Majestatis”, “Iohann Christian Leopold excudit Augustae Vindebicorum"

Nagler 20 (G K Nagler 1835, “Neues allgemeines Künstler-Lexikon”, 22 vols, Munich)

Condition: near faultless impression with small margins in excellent condition for the age of the print (i.e. there are no tears, holes, folds, abrasions, stains or foxing). The print has been laid upon a conservator’s support sheet.

I am selling this very beautiful study for the total cost of AU$106 (currently US$83.10/EUR70.41/GBP62.09 at the time of posting this listing) including postage and handling to anywhere in the world.

If you are interested in purchasing this interpretative masterwork from the early 1700s, 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

Franz Xaver Jungwierth (aka Franz Xaver Jungwirth; Franz Xaver Andreas Jungwierth) (1720–90)

“Boy with a pick”, c1735 after Giovanni Battista Piazzetta (1682–1754), Plate 1 from the series of 40 plates of head studies after Piazzetta, published by Johann Christian Leopold (1699–1755) in 1753 (see George Knox 1983, 'Piazzetta: A Tercentenary Exhibition of Drawings, Prints and Books', exh. cat. Washington). Note: I have described this print as plate 1 in the series based solely on the inscription, “1”, featured in the text lines.

Etching on laid paper with small margins lined onto a support sheet of washi paper. 

Size: (sheet) 14.7 x 10.7 cm; (plate) 14.1 x 10 cm; (image borderline) 12.8 x 9.3 cm

Lettered in two lines below the image borderline: “I. B. Piazetta delineavit”, “1”, “F. X. Iungwierth Sc. Mon.” / “Cum Gratia et Privilegio Sacrae Caesareae Majestatis”, “Iohann Christian Leopold excudit Augustae Vindebicorum"

Nagler 20 (G K Nagler 1835, “Neues allgemeines Künstler-Lexikon”, 22 vols, Munich)

Condition: near faultless impression with small margins in excellent condition for the age of the print (i.e. there are no tears, holes, folds, abrasions, stains or foxing). The print has been laid upon a conservator’s support sheet. (Note: the horizontal stroke on the middle of the right edge of the plate is a part of the impression and is not damage.)

I am selling this very beautiful study for the total cost of AU$106 (currently US$83.10/EUR70.41/GBP62.09 at the time of posting this listing) including postage and handling to anywhere in the world.

If you are interested in purchasing this interpretative masterwork from the early 1700s, 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 there are 40 plates in this series of Jungwierth’s etchings and, accordingly, there should be many of these prints in museums and the art marketplace, they are in fact curiously rare. For example, neither of these etchings are held by the British Museum, the Rijksmuseum or the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Strange!

What makes them special for me is not that they are uniquely different, in terms of technical attributes, to other reproductive prints (i.e. prints that translate—copy—other artworks such as paintings into black and white lines). After all the images of the boy are crafted with only the most basic of rendering techniques (viz. contour lines and hatched strokes) and with almost formulaic stylistic consistency. Instead, my attraction is to the great sensitivity in the way that Jungwierth has rendered light and shade so that the transitions from light to dark are almost imperceptible. Going further, I like the way that Jungwierth captures ambient light. What I mean by this is that the etchings glow with the effect of scattered light so that even the shadows are luminous. If I were to draw comparisons with other artists, my mind drifts to other masters who “bottled light” like Vermeer and Tiepolo.