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Friday, 19 April 2019

Henri Felix Vion’s engraving, “Self-portrait of young Courbet”, c1880


Henri Felix Vion (1863–1891)

“Self-portrait of young Courbet” (aka “Portrait d’Homme”; “L'Homme à la ceinture de cuir”), c1880, after Gustave Courbet’s (1819–1877) painting (1845/6) in the Musée d’Orsay, Paris (see http://www.gustave-courbet.net/fr/oeuvres-celebres/homme-ceinture-de-cuir.18.html). Note that the National Gallery holds a replica of this painting (1880) (see https://www.nationalgallery.org.uk/research/close-examination/self-portrait)

Engraving (with etching) on fine buff-coloured wove (China) paper, proof impression before lettering for publication, trimmed within the platemark with generous margins surrounding the image borderline, backed with a support sheet.
Size: (sheet) 49.4 x 39.7 cm; (image borderline) 39.5x 30.7 cm.
Inscribed on plate below the image borderline: (left) “Henri Vion”.
Lifetime proof impression before lettering with title and publication details.

See descriptions of this print at:
Centre national des arts plastiques
Les collections du département des arts graphiques, Louvre

Condition: richly inked and well-printed proof impression on fine China paper which I suspect is chine collé laminated to another sheet, but this is hard for me to be certain as the sheet is trimmed slightly within the plate mark and is now laid upon a support of archival (millennium quality) washi paper. There are two scratches infilled with watercolour (virtually invisible), otherwise the print is in excellent condition (i.e. there are no tears, holes, folds, stains or foxing).

I am selling this magnificent and large engraved translation of Courbet’s youthful self-portrait, showing the almost legendary artist holding the buckle of his heavy leather belt—a pose that I should mention lightly references Titian’s portrait, “Man with a Glove”, that x-ray investigations have revealed was copied beneath Courbet’s overpainted self-portrait and which is a pivotal portrait in history by giving emphasis to portraying the psychological mindset of a sitter—for AU$220 (currently US$157.37/EUR139.92/GBP120.99 at the time of this listing) including postage and handling to anywhere in the world.

If you are interested in purchasing this supremely beautiful engraving that (to my eyes) softly glows with inner life—note in particular the angle of the subject’s eyes and the relation of this gaze to the body language signified by the strong way that his hand clasps his belt and the soft way that he holds hand next to his face—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










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