Jaspar Isaac (aka Gasper
Isac; Jaspar Isac; Gaspard Isac; Jaspar Isacsz; Jasper de Isaac) (fl.1585–1654)
“Hercules and the Horses of Diomede”, c1609, after Antoine Caron (aka Antoine Charon) (1521–1599), illustration
to Blaise de Vigenère’s (1523 –1596) translation of Philostratus’ (170?–245 AD), “Les images ou tableaux de platte peinture
des deux Philostrates …”, first published in Paris in 1609 by Claude
Cramoisy and later republished in 1614/15, 1617 and 1637 (see the plates
from the 1637 edition at http://jjgueron.free.fr/LIVRES-VIGENERE-1637-MINIATURES.htm)
This plate is the illustration to the
epiode of Hercules killing the horses belonging to Diomede (the King of
Thrace) with his club. These mares had a taste for human flesh and had freshly
eaten his close mate—VERY close mate!—Abdère, shown dead in the foreground on Heracles' lion skin.
Note that Getty images attribute this
engraving (“The Burial of Abdère”) to Leonard Gaultier who also engraved plates
in the same publication, but to my eyes the style of this image is much closer
to Isaac than Gaultier
Note: the 1637 edition of the
publication in which this plate features (p. 499) is available online or may be
downloaded free of charge from archive.org: https://archive.org/details/gri_33125008279552/page/n519
Engraving on fine laid paper with letterpress
text on verso, trimmed with thread margins near the image borderline and backed
with a support sheet.
Size: (sheet) 23.8 x 18.9 cm; (image
borderline) 23.5 x 18.8 cm
Condition: superb crisp impression trimmed
close to the image borderline (with loss of text lines beneath the image
borderline). The sheet is softly mellowed in colour by its age and is in
excellent condition (i.e. there are no tears, folds, holes, significant
abrasions, stains or foxing) and has been laid onto a support sheet of archival
(millennium quality) washi paper.
I am selling this graphically arresting
engraving from c1609 for AU$320 (currently US$231.18/EUR203.02/GBP181.04 at the
time of this listing) including postage and handling to anywhere in the world.
If you are interested in purchasing this
marvellous example of the stylistic attributes of late Mannerism with
theatrical lighting and equally dramatic composition “filled to the rafters”
with swirling rhythms, 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
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.