Wenzel Hollar (aka Wenceslaus
Hollar; Václav Hollar) (1607–77)
“Randerigl” (aka “The Danube with Castle
Rannariedl”, 1652–1677
Etching and drypoint on laid paper trimmed
along the image borderline/platemark and backed with a support sheet
Size: (support sheet) 11.5 x 19.2 cm;
(sheet) 5.9 x 13.7 cm
Inscribed on plate within image borderline:
(upper left above castle) "Randerigl"; (lower left on river) “Danubius”.
Lifetime impression of the only state
Pennington (2002) 777; New Hollstein
(German) 2489 (Hollar)
Richard Pennington (2002) offers the
following description of this print in “A descriptive catalogue of the etched
work of Wenceslaus Hollar 1607–1677”, Cambridge University Press:
“A river marked 'Danubius' [the Danube]
flows between wooded banks on r[ight] and wooded his on l[eft] on the top of
which is a castle with 'Randerigl' [Rannariiedl] in sky above. Two barges with
cabins, and passengers sitting on the cabin roofs, are being rowed on the
river. Unsigned. The original sketch is at LBM. The castle of Rannariedl is
near Passau on the Danube. The two barges shown may be those of Arundel's suite"
(p. 130).
See also the description of this print
at the British Museum:
Condition: crisp and well-printed
impression trimmed along the image borderline/platemark and backed with a support sheet
of archival (millennium quality) washi paper. There are pale stains and light
surface dustiness near the centre of the image, otherwise the print is in good
condition (i.e. there are no tears, holes or creases).
I am selling this simple but graphically
strong etching by one of the greatest printmakers of history, for the total
cost of AU$221 (currently US$164.37/EUR141.77/GBP126.75 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
rare and elegantly minimal composition, 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
I like being able to compare an artist’s
preliminary study with the finished print and this is one of those rare times
that the original drawing is available (see the BM: http://www.britishmuseum.org/research/collection_online/collection_object_details/collection_image_gallery.aspx?assetId=259394001&objectId=752104&partId=1)
What is interesting for me when comparing Hollar’s ink and wash drawing with
his etching is that the direction of lighting in the scene has changed: in the
drawing the scene is lit from the left, whereas in the etching the scene
is lit from the right. Note that this reversal in lighting direction is not the
result of “mirror-imaging”, resulting from the printing process, as both
compositions share the same design arrangement.
The reason for this anomaly in the
lighting directions may be as simple as the artist deciding that the darkening
of the trees with shadow on the right helps to “stop” a viewer’s attention from
sliding out of the composition … but I really don’t know.
For those who may have a deep affection
for the Danube, the British Museum offers the following description of the
composition:
“Rannariedl ('Randerigl') from the SW;
view looking down the Danube in mid-stream, presumably from one of Lord
Arundel's house-barges, two others of which are seen at some distance away, on
the high wooded left bank, the castle of Rannariedl, and on the right, clumps of
trees, hills in the distance”
No comments:
Post a Comment
Please let me know your thoughts, advice about inaccuracies (including typos) and additional information that you would like to add to any post.