Louis Marin Bonnet's crayon-manner engraving, “Jupiter et Danae”, 1774

Louis Marin Bonnet (1736-1793)

“Jupiter et Danae”, 1774, crayon-manner engraving—the technique invented by the Louis Marin Bonnet—printed in colour (black, blue and sanguine) after François Boucher (1703–1770), proof impression (first state of three) before lettering with title and publication details.

Crayon-manner engraving printed in black, blue and sanguine colours (i.e. the impression is not directly hand-coloured but rather by the colour applied to the roulette stippled printing plate—a novel printing technique invented by Bonnet to reproduce the texture and colour of crayon/pastel drawings), on laid paper backed with a support sheet.

Size: (sheet) 38.7 x 48.4 cm; (plate) 33 x 41.5 cm; (image borderline) 29.5 x 39.5 cm.

State i (of iii) before lettering.

The National Gallery (London) has a second state impression with the lettered title and publication details ("JUPITER ET DANAÉ/ Gravé d'après le Dessin de F. boucher, par L. Bonnet, Gratifié Pensionné du Roi pour l'invention de la Gravure au Paste. A Paris, chez Bonnet rue St. Jacques au coin de celle du Platre"):

https://www.nga.gov/collection/art-object-page.131387.html

Hérold 1935 28 (Jacques Herold 1935, “Louis-Marin BONNET. Catalogue de l'oeuvre gravé”, Paris, Rousseau, cat. no. 28); Jean-Richard 1978 354 i (iii) (P Jean-Richard 1978, “L'Oeuvre gravé de François Boucher dans la collection Edmond de Rothschild”, Paris, Musée du Louvre, cat. no. 354).

Condition: well-printed museum-quality impression, but with restoration to a line of abrasion on Danae’s leg (almost invisible) and minor restored breaks in the borderline. The sheet is in excellent condition for its considerable age (i.e. there are no holes, folds, losses, significant stains or foxing) and is laid onto a support of archival (millennium quality) washi paper.

I am selling this large first state, lifetime impression of the utmost rarity exemplifying the technical advance in colour printing using the crayon-manner (i.e. a stipple roulette tool rolled over the printing plate to duplicate crayon-like textures) devised by Bonnet, for AU$647 in total (currently US$454.07/EUR404.85/GBP342.43 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 acquiring this exceptionally rare print, 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