John Godefroy’s etching (with stipple engraving), “Jupiter et Antiope”, c1803

John Godefroy (aka Jean Godefroy, John Godfrey) (1771–1839)

“Jupiter et Antiope” (see the BM description of the subject below), c1803, from the series, “Le Musée Français”, after the intermediary drawing by Pierre Bouillon (1776–1831), after Antonio Correggio’s (aka Antonio Allegri) (1489–1534) painting (c1524/27) in the Musée du Louvre, Paris (inv.42), published by Pierre Laurent (1739–1809) and Robillard-Péronville in 1803 in Paris.

The Curator of the British Museum offers the following information about the series of which this print is a part:

“Part of 'Musée Français, recueil complet des tableaux, statues et bas-reliefs qui composent la collection nationale, avec l'explication des sujets et des discours historiques sur la peinture, la sculpture et la gravure' ['French Museum, complete collection of paintings, statues and bas-reliefs that make up the national collection, with the explanation of historical subjects and discourses on painting, sculpture and engraving'], , a set reproducing paintings and sculptures from the French collections, and formed by four volumes (published by Robillard-Péronville and Laurent in, respectively, 1803, 1805, 1807, and 1809; accompanied by texts written by Croze-Magnan, then by Eméric-David & Visconti for volumes 3-4).

The series was later re-edited under the title 'Musée Royal, ou Recueil de gravures d'après les plus beaux tableaux, statues et bas-reliefs de la collection royale' “

(https://www.britishmuseum.org/research/collection_online/collection_object_details.aspx?objectId=1438972&partId=1&material=18090&page=5378)

Etching and stipple engraving on wove paper with margins as published.

Size: (sheet) 50.6 x 39.6 cm; (plate) 44.8 x 34.2 cm; (image borderline) 34 x 24.4 cm.

Lettered on plate below the image borderline: (left) “Peint par Le Correge.”; (centre) “Dessiné par Bouillon. / JUPITER ET ANTIOPE.”; (right) “Gravé par J. Godefroy.”

IFF 13(1) (after 1800) (Département des Estampes 1930, “Inventaire du Fonds, Français: graveurs du XVIIe siècle”, Paris, Bibliothèque Nationale).

The British Museum offers the following description about this print:

“Long believed to represent Jupiter and Antiope, now thought to depict a satyr, Venus and Cupid.”

(https://www.britishmuseum.org/research/collection_online/collection_object_details.aspx?objectId=1521527&partId=1&searchText=Godefroy+Correggio+&page=1)

Condition: near faultless richly inked and well-printed impression in museum quality, virtually pristine condition (i.e. there are no tears, holes, folds, abrasions, stains, foxing or signs of use).

I am selling this large etching that is a wonderful example showing how an artist can not only employ a wide range of different marks to suggest different surface textures but also how an artist can employ both white and black marks to render a scene, for the total price of AU$220 (currently US$157.41/EUR139.96/GBP121.10 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 masterwork of graphic interpretation of a painting—note in particular how Godefroy is able to differentiate using very subtle changes to his line-work the outer and inner sides of the cloth that the satyr/Jupiter is raising—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