Raphael
Sadeler I (1560/61–1628/32)
“Landscape with a Chapel” (Rijksmuseum title) (aka “Mountain
Landscape with a Wooden Bridge and a Chapel on a Rock’ [TIB title]), c1590,
after a drawing by Paul Bril (c1553/4–1626)
in the Duke of Devonshire Collection, Chatsworth.
Etching and engraving on fine laid paper backed with a support
sheet.
Size: (sheet) 26.3 x 33.7 cm; (plate) 206 x 27.4 cm; (image
borderline) 19.8 x 27.3 cm
Inscribed on plate within the image borderline: (lower right) “P Bril
inuent: R. Sadeler scalp.”
TIB 7101.200 (Isabelle de Ramaix [ed.] 2006, ‘The Illustrated
Bartsch: Raphael Sadeler I”, vol. 71, Part 1 [Supplement], Abaris Books, p. 287);
Nagler 1835–52, no. 138, 2; Le Blanc, no. 125; Wurzbach, no. 125, 2; Hollstein
1980, vol. 21, no. 218; Edquist, p. 319, no. 48a.
The Rijksmuseum offers the following description of this print:
(transl.) “A hilly landscape with a wooden bridge in the
foreground. Two travelers walk towards a chapel on the right in the background.”
State i (of i) Note: the crisp linework with no sign of wear to
the plate suggests that this is a lifetime or an early impression.
Condition: richly inked and in excellent condition (apart from a
patch of restoration in the upper margin) with generous margins. The sheet has
been laid onto a support sheet of archival (millennium quality) washi paper.
I am selling this museum quality impression—radiant with strong
contrasts of light and dark—that literally invites the eye to stroll along the
portrayed pathways into the far distance, for AU$345 in total (currently US$246.53/EUR213.96/GBP188.14
at the time of posting 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 early masterpiece of
landscape etching (with 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
What I love about 17th century landscapes, like this
superb example, is that the context in which they were created helped to shape
the meanings that they project. For instance, the composition of this print is based
on a drawing by Paul Bril whose underpinning interest in landscape fits into
the tradition of “Weltlandschaft”/ “World Landscape” (i.e. to portray a
landscape from a great height as if the view were a crystallisation of the
cosmos complete with allegorical narratives), the period style of Mannerism
(i.e. a leaning to portray the landscape with a theatrical touch) and the
notion of the landscape as having an inner soul of natural forces—a way of
looking at landscape termed “Lady Landscape”. Mixed into this contextual brew
helping to shape this landscape is Raphael Sadeler’s personal leaning to the 17th
century notion of “Quietism” (i.e. creating spiritually tranquil scenes replete
with vanitas and memento mori symbolic moral guides—for example, the broken tree
trunks in the foreground, the path with a dangerously frail bridge and the spotlit chapel with
ringing bells on the escarpment).
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