Cornelis Bloemaert’s engraving, “Sitting Madonna”, after Titian, 1633–84

Cornelis Bloemaert II (1603–1692)

“Sitting Madonna” (Rijksmuseum title), 1633–84, after a detail of the painting (arguably) by Titian in the Thyssen-Bornemisza Collection (see https://www.museothyssen.org/en/collection/artists/titian/virgin-and-child)

Engraving on laid paper trimmed with thread margins around the platemark and lined with a support sheet.

Size: (sheet) 32.6 x 26.2 cm; (plate) 32.3 x 26 cm; (image borderine) 28.1 x 25.2 cm

Lettered below the image borderline in four rows of Latin: “DILECTUS MEUS MIHI INTER UBERA MEA COMMORABITUR. Cant: I / Ill. mo  Dno Francisco Hobier Consiliario Regis Christ. mi in suis consilijs status et a privatis. D.D. / Titianus pinxit. […] Cornelius Bloemaert sculp./ Cum privil: S.C.M.tis et Regis Christ. mi Romae Superiorum licentia.”

(Google Trans. “Beloved to me between my breasts. Cant: 1 / Ill. mo Mr. Francisco Hobius advisor of King Christ. In my own state and private Councils. D.D. / Titian painting. [...] Cornelius Bloemaert sculp./ when Privil: S.C.M.tis and King Christ. my permission of superiors in Rome.”)

Hollstein 22

The British Museum offers the following description of this print:

“The Virgin, three-quarter length, holding the Child sitting on her knee, both looking forward; an oval composition after Titian (?) Engraving”

(http://www.britishmuseum.org/research/collection_online/collection_object_details.aspx?objectId=3190764&partId=1&searchText=cornelius+bloemaert&page=1)

See also the description of this print at the Rijksmuseum: http://hdl.handle.net/10934/RM0001.collect.81327

Condition: a faultless impression trimmed close to the platemark in near pristine condition (i.e. there are no tears, holes, folds, abrasions, stains, foxing or signs of use) laid on an archival support sheet.

I am selling this museum quality engraving of the highest order for AU$300 (currently US$187.63/EUR191.09/GBP169.30 at the time of posting this listing). Postage for this print is extra and will be the actual/true cost. Note that the impressions of this print held by the British Museum and the Rijksmuseum are both flawed whereas this impression is near perfect.

If you are interested in purchasing this stunningly beautiful engraving by the master engraver, Cornelis Bloemaert, described by the British Museum in the artist’s bibliography as “the major figure of the day”, 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

The curator of the British Museum advises that Bloemaert’s engraving “is a detail from a composition known through a painting which is now in the Thyssen-Bornemisza collection, and where the Virgin is depicted whole-length” and notes that “the extent of the repaints make it difficult to judge whether the canvas is indeed a work by Titian” (see BM no. X,1.44). The curator also points out that there is a copy of the painting in the Palazzo Spada, Rome.

Leaving aside the question as to whether the painting that this engraving reproduces is actually by the hand of the great Titian or not, Maria del Mar Borobia, the Head Curator of Old Master Painting at the Museo Thyssen-Bornemisza in Madrid, makes the insightful observation that the “Virgin’s pose suggests the 'Rest on the Flight into Egypt' in the collection of the Marquis of Bath while that of the Child recalls Titian’s canvas in the Alte Pinakothek, Munich” (https://www.museothyssen.org/en/collection/artists/titian/virgin-and-child)  

Mar Borobia also cites Niccolò Boldrini’s print, “Venus and Cupid” as “repeating” the same composition (see https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/362022), but from what I can see when looking at Boldrini’s print I’m not too sure about this … of course everyone has their own opinions about such relationships.