Comte de Caylus’ “The Holy Spirit descending on the Apostles” (green variant), c1729–64

Anne Claude Philippe de Tubières, Comte de Caylus (aka Caylus; Anne Claude de Caylus; Anne Claude de Pestels) (1692–1765)

“Le Saint Esprit descendant sur les Apôtres” (The Holy Spirit descending on the Apostles), c1729–64, from the series, “Recueil d'estampes d'après les plus beaux tableaux et d'après les plus beaux desseins qui sont en France” (Collection of prints from the most beautiful paintings and from the most beautiful designs that are in France”) (aka “Recueil Crozat”; “Cabomet Croza”), after the drawing by Giovanni Battista Lenardi (1656–1704).

Etching and aquatint imitating a chiaroscuro woodcut, printed in two shades of green, on laid paper, trimmed unevenly and well within the image borderline with substantial loss to the upper section of the print (see the whole composition at Gallica: http://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/btv1b6956138w.item ) and backed with a support sheet.

Size: (unevenly trimmed sheet) 27.3 x 23 cm

Condition: crisp, well-inked and well-printed impression, trimmed within the image borderline with significant losses on all sides, otherwise the sheet is in excellent condition for its age (i.e. there are no tears, holes, folds, abrasions, stains or foxing) and backed with a support sheet of archival (millennium quality) washi paper.

I am selling this FRAGMENT of a larger print for study purposes only, for AU$104 (currently US$78.60/EUR67.37/GBP59.10 at the time of posting this print) including postage and handling to anywhere in the world.

If you are interested in purchasing this FRAGMENT of a historically important print (see previous post), 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

At first glance, this fragment of a print might seem to be a green version of the brown print shown in the previous post, but this is only partly true. Certainly, the composition is the same, but the portrayed figures in this fragment reveal a stage of refinement that is a step beyond the treatment of the same figures in the brown version. Essentially this green fragment is from a late state in the evolution of the print and the brown version of the previous post is from an early state. To my eyes the subtle changes made to the image from the early to the late state—and there are MANY changes—is like a psychological portrait of comte de Caylus in terms of revealing his aesthetic sensitivities. 

Comte de Caylus’ “The Holy Spirit descending on the Apostles”, c1729–64

Anne Claude Philippe de Tubières, Comte de Caylus (aka Caylus; Anne Claude de Caylus; Anne Claude de Pestels) (1692–1765)

“Le Saint Esprit descendant sur les Apôtres” (The Holy Spirit descending on the Apostles), c1729–64, from the series, “Recueil d'estampes d'après les plus beaux tableaux et d'après les plus beaux desseins qui sont en France” (Collection of prints from the most beautiful paintings and from the most beautiful designs that are in France”) (aka “Recueil Crozat”; “Cabomet Croza”), after the drawing by Giovanni Battista Lenardi (1656–1704).

Etching and aquatint imitating a chiaroscuro woodcut, printed in two shades of brown, on laid paper with wide margins (as published).

Size: (sheet) 50.5 x 36.8 cm; (plate) 39.7 x 25.6 cm; (image borderline) 36 x 24.9 cm

Lettered below the image borderline in three lines of French text: “Le S.t Esprit descendant sur les Apôtres. / Dessein de Jean Baptiste Lenardi, qui est dans le Cabinet de Mr Crozat / Gravé à l'eau forte par Mr le C... de C... et en bois sous sa conduite par Nicolas le Sueur […] 130”.

IFF 308 (undescribed state) (Inventaire du Fonds Français: Bibliothèque Nationale, Département des Estampes, Paris, 1930)

The British Museum offers the following description of this print:

“The Pentecost, with the Virgin standing at centre, surrounded by the Apostles, and the Holy Spirit flying above them; after a drawing by Lenardi.”

(http://www.britishmuseum.org/research/collection_online/collection_object_details.aspx?objectId=3170397&partId=1&searchText=Nicolas+le+Sueur&page=1) 

Condition: near faultless impression that is crisp, well-inked and well-printed with full margins as published. The sheet is in very good condition for its age but the margins are slightly dusty and show minor signs of use (e.g. the lower left corner is bumped and there is a pencil notation at the lower right edge).

I am selling this 18^th century curiosity of an intaglio print (viz. etching with aquatint) that is skilfully crafted to simulate the attributes/“look” of a chiaroscuro woodcut (i.e. a woodcut involving more than one tone of a colour) for AU$204 (currently US$154.56/EUR132.04/GBP115.82 at the time of posting this print) including postage and handling to anywhere in the world.

If you are interested in purchasing this historically important print showcasing an 18^th century artist’s somewhat deceptive practice, 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 this intaglio print was clearly intended to deceive the viewer into believing that the image is a relief print, the artist’s motivation was more complex than simply a case of skulduggery.

After all, comte de Caylus was commissioned to execute this print as a late addition to the grand catalogue project, “Recueil Crozat”, by the French collector, Pierre Crozat (1665–1740), who had the vision to create a paper museum reproducing famous paintings and drawings of the era. In the first two volumes (published 1729 and 1737 respectively), Crozat commissioned woodcut prints, but after his death, the famous art dealer and publisher,  François Basan (1723–1797), replaced the woodcut prints in the “Recueil” with intaglio prints such as this one. 

Mindful that the decision to mix mediums—or at least the superficial attributes of mediums—may have been a requirement of the “Recueil” project overseen by Basan helps to explain comte de Caylus’ motivation. After reading Margaret Morgan Grasselli’s (2003) essay in “Colorful Impressions: The Printmaking Revolution in Eighteenth-Century France” (cat. National Gallery of Art, Washington), however, I have a better understanding of comte de Caylus’ choice to use etched line. For example, Grasselli, proposes that intaglio lines “captured the quality of pen lines in a way that woodcut line blocks could not” (p. 6).

In short, comte de Caylus’ motivation was not simple skulduggery, Instead his approach may have been a requirement set by Basan and personal insight about what was needed to make a strong reproductive translation of Lenardi’s drawing.

Francesco Bartolozzi’s stipple engraving, “The Spirit of a Child”, 1787

Francesco Bartolozzi (1728–1815)

“The Spirit of a Child”, 1787, after the painting by Rev. Matthew William Peters (1741/2–1814), published in 1801 by J & J Boydell.

Etching and stipple engraving with early hand-colouring (as published?) on laid paper with small margins backed with a support sheet.

Size: (support sheet) 64.4 x 44.7 cm; (sheet) 58.4 x 41.1 cm; (plate) 57 x 39.5 cm; (inner image borderline) 50.1 x 37.5 cm.

Lettered below the image borderline: (left) “Painted by the Rev. Wm, Peters of Exeter College Oxford & R.A; (centre); (centre in six lines of text with a coat of arms breaking the first four lines at the centre) “The SPIRIT of a CHILD arriv'd […] in the PRESENCE of the ALMIGHTY. / And the Lamb which is in the midst of the Throne […] shall feed them and shall lead them unto / living fountains of waters, and God shall wipe away […] all Tears from their Eyes. / To Her Grace Mary Isabella Dutchess of Rutland […] […]c. […]c. This Print from a Picture by Mr Peters / is humbly Inscrib’d by Her Graces most humble and most Oblig’d Servants. F. & F Boydell. / London. Pub. July 1, 1801, by J. & J. Boydell, at the Shakspeare [sic] Gallery, Pall Mall; & No. 90. Cheapside.”; (left) “Engraved by F. Bartolozzi".

I do not have a listing of the various states of this print, but as the fifth state is the edition published by W Dickinson in 1787 showing this publisher’s details and the publication details were changed with the edition by Boydell in 1801, this impression is either from the six or a later state.

Calabi & De Vesme 1928 342 (Augusto Calabi & Alexandre De Vesme 1928, “Francesco Bartolozzi. Catalogue des estampes et notice biographique d'après les manuscrits de A. De Vesme entièrement réformés et complétés d'une étude critique par A. Calab”i, Milan, Guido Modiano).

The British Museum offers the following description of this print from the fifth state published by William Dickinson [1746–1823]):

“An angel, clothed in swirling draperies with a palm in its right hand, ascends upwards with a child at its side. 1787 Hand-coloured etching and stipple”

(http://www.britishmuseum.org/research/collection_online/collection_object_details.aspx?objectId=1506115&partId=1&searchText=Bartolozzi+the+spirit+of+child&page=1)

Condition: a well-printed crisp impression with delicate hand-colouring and small margins laid upon a support sheet of archival (millennium quality) washi paper. There are many closed tears that have been professionally restored with watercolour, abrasions and chipping to the margins otherwise the sheet is in a very good restored condition.

I am selling this exceptionally large and sublimely beautiful engraving—one of Bartolozzi’s masterworks—for AU$334 (currently US$252.59/EUR215.23/GBP188.56 at the time of posting this print) including postage and handling to anywhere in the world.

If you are interested in purchasing this masterpiece of stipple engraving, 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 is a large print and one of Bartolozzi’s masterworks of stipple engraving that made him one of the most famous practitioners of this slow, labour intensive and highly disciplined process. To offer an insight into what was involved in executing this print, Herbert Baily (1907) in “Francesco Bartolozzi, R.A.” (Otto, London) gives the following outline of the process:

“In the ordinary way of engraving, a copper plate was coated with wax, and the engraver then sketched out his subject with an etching needle, these lines afterwards being bitten on to the plate with acid. The wax was then removed, and the engraver went over the bitten dots with a finely pointed tool called a stipple graver, with which he put in, at the cost of considerable labour, and only by the surest and most sensitive touch, the fine effects of light and shade required in this style of engraving, which depended entirely for its success upon the appearance of softness and delicacy” (p. xiv).

Charles Émile Jacque’s etching, “Le Petit Faune”, 1845, after Giovanni Battista Tiepolo

Charles Émile Jacque (1813–1894)

“Le Petit Faune” (title on plate), 1845, after Giovanni Battista Tiepolo’s (aka Giambattista Tiepolo) (1696–1770) etching of the same subject in reverse (see http://hdl.handle.net/10934/RM0001.COLLECT.35112), printed by Auguste Delâtre (1822–1907) and published in “L’Artiste” in 1846.

Etching and drypoint on wove paper with small margins and re-margined with a support sheet.

Size: (support sheet) 35.1 x 38.4 cm; (sheet) 20 x 23.7 cm; (plate) 16.4 x 19.4 cm; (image borderline) 14.2 x 17.3 cm

Lettered on the plate above the image borderline: (centre) “L’ARTISTE.”

Inscribed on the plate within the image borderline: (on the Tambourine) “Tiepolo”

Lettered on the plate below the image borderline: (centre) “LE PETIT FAUNE / Gravé par CH. JACQUES d’aprés / TIEPOLO”; (left) “...[?] Delȃtre fres imp”

Condition: richly inked and crisp impression in near pristine condition (i.e. there are no tears, holes, folds, stains, abrasions or foxing). The sheet has been re-margined with a support sheet of archival (millennium quality) washi paper.

I am selling this beautifully preserved etching by one of the luminaries of the Barbizon School after one of the most famous of all artists, Giovanni Battista Tiepolo, for AU$138 (currently US$104.16/EUR88.88/GBP77.94 at the time of posting this print) including postage and handling to anywhere in the world.

If you are interested in purchasing this etching that is seldom seen on the art market, please contact me (oz_jim@printsandprinciples.com) and I will send you a PayPal invoice to make the payment easy.

Although there will always be exceptions to what motivates artists to choose a subject—such as Jacque’s choice to copy this particular composition by Tiepolo­—a theory that was first proposed by Friedrich Shiller in “On Naïve and Sentimental Poetry” (1796) is that artists choose subject matter that helps to satisfy their psychological needs. Or to express this differently, artists choose subject matter that is the complementary opposite of what they normally experience in everyday life to give their lives balance. (For more information about this theory see Alain de Botton & John Armstrong [2013] in “Art as Therapy”, Phaidon Press, London, p. 34.)

Indeed Shiller may be correct in terms of Jacque’s choice to copy this mythological scene of a woman holding a tambourine and the child satyr, Saturn, with an agitated goat behind her. After all, at the time that Jacque was celebrating the natural beauty of his rural lifestyle his world was changing with the spread of the industrial revolution where the only place for idyllic peace was in a fantasy world of mythology.

Herman van Swanevelt’s etching, “The Magdalen Repentant”, c.1650

Herman van Swanevelt (aka Herman Swaneveld) (1603–55)

“The Magdalen Repentant” (La Madeleine en penitence) (TIB title) or “Penitent Mary Magdalene in the Wilderness” (Rijksmuseum title), 1643–55, from the series of four plates, “Landscapes with Penitent Saints”, published by André Vanheck with privilege from Louis XIV (King of France).

Etching on laid paper with margins and backed with a support sheet.

Lettered on plate below the image borderline: (left) “Herman van Swanevelt Inventor fecit”; (right) AParis chez Vanheck / cum privilegio Regis”

Size: (sheet) 27.8 x 36.7 cm; (plate); 25.3 x 32.9 cm; (image borderline) 23.6 x 32.5 cm

State iii? (of iv) with the lettered addition of Vanheck as publisher.

TIB 2.107 (312) (Mark Carter Leach & Peter Morse [eds.] 1978, “The Illustrated Bartsch: Netherlandish Artists”, vol. 2, Abaris Books, New York, p. 311); Hollstein Dutch 12-3 (4); Bartsch 312.

See also the description of this print at the Rijksmuseum:

“Mary Magdalene is lying on a rug in front of a cave. Next to her are a skull and a cross, her attributes. Two musical angels kneel on a cloud above her. The left angel plays a harp and the right angel plays a violin. The surrounding landscape is upholstered with many tree parties.”

(Note: the above description is a Google translation. I decided not to alter the last sentence because it is simply marvellous!)

(http://hdl.handle.net/10934/RM0001.COLLECT.181762)

See also the description of this print in its first state offered by the British Museum:

“The penitent Magdalene in a landscape; reclining in front of a cave in the rockface at left; looking at the cross and skull next to her; two angels playing a harp and violin above her; at right a crooked tree in foreground; the sea in background; from a series of four plates.”

(http://www.britishmuseum.org/research/collection_online/collection_object_details.aspx?objectId=1630952&partId=1&searchText=swanevelt+Penitent+Mary+Magdalene&page=1)

Condition: crisp and well-printed impression with small margins (approximately 2cm but smaller at the lower edge) in near faultless condition (i.e. there are no tears, holes, folds, abrasions, stains or foxing). The sheet is backed with a support sheet of archival (millennium quality) washi paper.

I am selling this large and fascinating etching that delicately merges Mary Magdalene in her state of repentance accompanied by the sound of angels playing musical instruments and a sublime image of wildness in the spirit of Italian classical composition, for the total cost of AU$198 (currently US$148.76/EUR126.36/GBP110.45 at the time of posting this etching) including postage and handling to anywhere in the world.

If you are interested in purchasing this this wonderful print, 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 title of this print underlines what ostensibly is the point of this large and very beautiful etching—an illustration of the repentant Magdalene in the wilderness—to my eyes the “real” subject is the wilderness as a sublime vision and the portrayed Magdalene is only a momentarily curious diversion. Not that the choice to give primacy to the Magdalene as the “real” subject should be a surprise. After all, at the time that Swanevelt composed this image, artists were commercially compelled to make their artworks important by use of subject matter of social or religious significance.

Regarding this composition being a celebration of the beauty of landscape and its natural forces, I wish to point out the broken tree shown in the right foreground. This tree is showcased in blaze of light for a very good reason: this regenerating tree is the often employed visual device used by artists in the 17^th century to symbolise continuity in the cycle of life. I would love to connect the symbolism of this tree with the scene of the Magdalene in her state of repentance, but I suspect that I might be going too far with my reading of the composition.

Karel Dujardin’s etching, “Mule with a Bell”, 1653

Karel Dujardin (aka Carel Dujardin; Carel du Jardin; Karel Du Jardin; Bokkebaart) (1626 –78)

“Mule with a Bell” (“Le Mulet aux Clochettes”) (TIB title); “Mule with bell on halter and two lying donkeys” (Rijksmuseum title), 1653

Size: (sheet) 20.7 x 17.4 cm; (plate) 20.3 x 16.7 cm; (outer borderline) 19.8 x 16.3 cm;

(image borderline) 19.5 x 16.3 cm

Etching on laid paper with small margins backed on a support sheet.

Inscribed on plate below the image borderline: (left of centre) "K. DV. IARDIN.1653 fe"; (right corner) “29”.

State ii (of iii)

Bartsch 1.182.29; Hollstein 29.II

The British Museum offers the following description of this print in its second state:

“The hinny with the little bell. Landscape with a mule standing at centre, in profile to right, wearing a halter from which two bells hang, two other asses resting in right background, trees enclosed within a straw fence beyond; second state with number. 1653” (http://www.britishmuseum.org/research/collection_online/collection_object_details.aspx?objectId=1617819&partId=1&searchText=dujardin+bell&page=1)

See also the Rijksmuseum’s description of their second state impression: http://hdl.handle.net/10934/RM0001.COLLECT.38342

Condition: crisp and well-inked impression showing little or no wear to the plate suggesting that this is an early impression. (Note: compare this strong impression with the copy held by the BM [S.878]). The sheet is in near faultless condition for its age (i.e. there are no tears, folds, holes, abrasions, stains or foxing). The sheet is backed with a support sheet of archival (millennium quality) washi paper.

I am selling this exceptionally well-preserved and superb impression from an unworn plate by one of the most famous of the Golden Age Dutch artists for the total cost of AU$246 (currently US$184.68/EUR156.70/GBP136.92 at the time of posting this print) including postage and handling to anywhere in the world.

If you are interested in purchasing this remarkable print showcasing Dujardin’s skill in representing light, space and subtle differences of texture, 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

Dujardin is famous for his “warts and all” representations of rural life—sheep and cows pissing and pooping accompanied by flies—he is also remembered as a true master of suggesting light, space and mimetic treatments of a full range of textures. For example, note how Dujardin describes the contours of the mule in the foreground (actually a hinny rather than a mule) using only line while simultaneously expressing the surface textures of the mule’s hair. Note also how Dujardin’s treatment of the foreground mule is quite different from his rendering of the mules further back and how well he suggests the spatial distance separating them. Such skill is rare and is the hallmark of great artist.

Pierre Bulliard’s engraving, “Common Daisy”, 1780

Jean Baptiste François Pierre Bulliard (aka Pierre Bulliard) (1742–93)

“Plate 173: Bellis perennis (Common daisy), 1780, from “Herbier de la France, ou Collection complette des Plantes Indigènes de ce Royaume; avec leurs détails anatomiques, leurs propriétés, et leurs usages en Médecine.” (one of the first botanical books printed in colour and, interestingly, one of the few with plates designed and printed by the artist himself).

Engraving coloured by the painstaking and rare Le Blon-Gauthier process (i.e. these impressions are not coloured by watercolour or retouched by hand, but rather the prints were created through the superimposition of up to four plates inked separately by the technique called "à la poupée" for each colour).

Size: (sheet) 27 x 20.8 cm; (plate) 23.1 x 17.1 cm; (image borderline) 18 x 15.4 cm

See this print at Alamy: https://www.alamy.com/stock-photo-common-daisy-bellis-perennis-28958611.html

See additional plates from this publication (“Herbier de la France”): http://www.biusante.parisdescartes.fr/histoire/medica/resultats/?cote=08338x04&do=pages 

Condition: faultless impression of this rare print with fine colouring by the Le Blon-Gauthier method. The sheet is in pristine condition (i.e. there are no tears, holes, folds, abrasions, stains or foxing), backed on a support sheet of archival (millennium quality) washi paper.

I am selling this colour printed (as opposed to hand coloured) engraving from one of the first colour printed botanical books, for the total cost of AU$143 (currently US$107.46/EUR91.03/GBP79.57 at the time of this listing) including postage and handling to anywhere in the world (but not, of course, any import duties/taxes imposed by some countries).

If you are interested in purchasing this beautiful botanical illustration that is also an historical milestone in colour printing, 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 seemingly simple botanical illustration is a milestone in colour printing. What makes it special is that the colours are printed (rather than coloured by hand) by the superimposition of up to four engraved plates inked separately by the technique called "à la poupée" for each colour. Not only was the process (called the Le Blon-Gauthier process) slow and laborious, but in the case of this print and the others illustrating “Herbier de la France …” it was engraved, inked, wiped and printed at each stage by the artist. In short, this print when it was being printed has only been touched by Bulliard himself.

To a certain extent, colour woodblock prints (like the previous one that I posted) also involve separate plates of different colours superimposed to create a single image, but any artist who has explored working with multiple colours using oil-based inks on an intaglio plate (unlike the water-based inks of woodblock prints) knows that the viscosity of each colour—i.e. its oil content—needs to be adjusted so that the colours “stick.”