Timothy Cole's wood engraving after a detail of Botticelli’s "Madonna, Child, and Saint John", 1890

Timothy Cole (1852–1931)

“Detail after Sandro Botticelli’s, ‘Madonna, Child, and Saint John’ in the Louvre, Paris”, 1890, artist’s proof printed by J C Bauer in 1892 in preparation for a limited edition of 125 proof impressions. This particular impression (acquired from the liquidation of the inventory held by Kennedy Galleries) is a proof taken before (or extra to) those signed by Bauer—one of the best printers of wood engravings in New York at the close of the 19th century—and features as an illustration to the famous historical account of art by W.J. Stillman (1909) with notes by Timothy Cole, “Old Italian Masters” (New York, The Century Co.), facing page 161 .

Wood engraving on tissue-thin (Japan) paper with letterpress annotations (lower left) and a fragment of the relief printed diagram of Botticelli’s painting (lower right), backed with a support sheet.

Size: (sheet) 42.1 x 27.7 cm; (plate/imageborderline) 20 x 12.4 cm.

Inscribed on plate within the image borderline: (lower right) “T COLE Sc 1890” (indistinct).

Letterpress testimonial text by Bauer in the lower left margin: “This impression, taken by hand on Japan paper, is one of one/ hundred and twenty-five copies printed by me from the original/ wood block in the year 1892. / Professional Proof-printer/ for Wood-engravers."

Handwritten number in blue crayon: (lower right corner) “99”.

For an excellent account of the printing of Cole’s wood-engravings by Bauer, see Scott Ponemone’s blog post, “New School Wood Engravers: Forgotten 19th-Century Celebrities”: http://www.scottponemone.com/new-school-wood-engravers-forgotton-19th-century-celebrities/

Condition: exceptionally well-preserved and well-printed artist’s proof impression with wide margins, backed with a support sheet of archival (millennium quality) washi paper. Trimmed on the far right diagram, otherwise the print is in excellent condition with inventory pencil notations.

I am selling this very rare proof impression by one of the most famous of the reproductive wood engravers of the late 19th and early 20th centuries for the total cost of AU$200 (currently US$102.03/EUR87.15/GBP77.02 at the time of posting this print) 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 small masterpiece of wood 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