Enea Vico’s engraving, “Giovanni Battista Gelli”, c.1548

Enea Vico (1523–1567)

“Giovanni Battista Gelli” (aka “Portrait of Poet and Philosopher Giovan Battista Gelli” [Rijksmuseum title]), c.1548, after a medal design by Antonio Francesco Doni (1513-1574), from the aborted series of ten portraits engraved by Vico between 1547 and 1550, “Le Medaglie del Doni Fiorentino” (The Medals of the Doni Fiorentino), published in Venice, c.1550.

Engraving on laid paper trimmed unevenly around the image borderline.

Size: (sheet) 15.3 x 11.3 cm.

Inscribed on plate: (below the image borderline at left) “Enea da Parma invent. fac.”; (around the centre medallion) “M.GIO.BATISTA GELLI ACADEMICO FIOREN”; (in the lower round cartouche) “Medaglia/ del Doni/ n. 61.”

TIB 30.246 (355) (John Spike [ed.] 1985, “The Illustrated Bartsch: Italian Masters of the Sixteenth Century: Enea Vico”, vol. 30, New York, Abaris Books, p. 162, cat. no. 246 [335]); Bartsch XV.335.

The British Museum offers the following description of this print:

“Bust portrait of Giovanni Battista Gelli facing right set within an elaborate cartouche”

(https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/object/P_1862-0208-118).

See also the description of this print (no image) at the Metropolitan Museum of Art:

https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/370651?searchField=All&sortBy=Relevance&ft=Enea+Vico&offset=80&rpp=80&pos=89;

and at the Rijksmuseum:

http://hdl.handle.net/10934/RM0001.COLLECT.188421.

Condition: excellent impression, near faultless in the portrait cartouche, but with slightly abraded areas towards the outer edges. The sheet is appropriately age-toned/darken for a Renaissance period print with restoration patches verso reinforcing holes and thin areas in the sheet.

I am selling this lifetime impression (based on the crisp line quality) of a Renaissance period engraving, featuring a portrait of Giovanni Battista Gelli (1498–1563)—a leading Florentine poet, shoemaker, philosopher, consul and a founding member of the Accademia Fiorentina in which he wrote a commentary on the language of Adam in the XXVI canto of Dante 's “Paradise”—following the likeness of Gelli shown on medal designed by Antonio Francesco Doni, for the total cost of AU$437 (currently US$285.78/EUR262.97/GBP229.50 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 strong engraving executed and possibly pulled from the press in Michelangelo’s lifetime, please contact me (oz_jim@printsandprinciples.com) and I will send you a PayPal invoice to make the payment easy. (My apologies for all faults in my understanding of what is illustrated in this scene.)

This print has been sold

Matthäus Merian the Elder’s engraving, “Mocking of Job””, 1620, after Antonie Mirou

Matthäus Merian I (1593–1650)

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My attribution of this print to Merian is based on the unillustrated description of Rijksmuseum’s etching by Merian: “Bespotting van Job” (http://hdl.handle.net/10934/RM0001.COLLECT.432093). My apologies if my attribution is incorrect, but I am unable to verify the print in a catalogue raisonné during the current pandemic. Note that there is a copy of this print by Pierre Mariette (1634–1716) executed in 1670 and published in “L’Histoire du Vieux et du Nouveau Testament (..)” (see https://www.alamy.com/stock-photo-satan-hovers-over-job-as-he-sits-patiently-on-his-dunghill-uncomplaining-105320687.html) described as: “Satan hovers over Job as he sits patiently on his dunghill, uncomplaining despite his afflictions”. The Mariette’s copy is easily distinguished from Merian’s print as the copy lacks Merian’s confident drawing and it is more perfunctory in handling.

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“Mocking of Job” (aka “Job Afflicted”; “Job upon the Dunghill”; “Job sur le fumier”; “Job on the Dunghill Visited by his Wife”), 1620, after Antonie Mirou (aka Anton Mirou) (1578–before1627), published by Peter Aubry II (aka Pierre Aubry) (1596–1666) in Frankfurt am Main.

Etching on laid paper trimmed along the image borderline with letterpress text verso and backed on a support sheet.

Size: (sheet) 31.3 x 23.3 cm; (image borderline) 30 x 22.8 cm.

Inscribed on plate: (lower left on dunghill) “Icob : 5: 11”; (lower edge right of centre) “Cum Privil”; (lower right corner) “Hiob, 1.6”.

Condition: well-printed strong impression trimmed along the image borderline and laid upon a support sheet of archival (millennium quality) washi paper. The sheet is in an excellent condition (i.e. there are no tears, holes, folds, losses, abrasions, stains, foxing or signs of use).

I am selling this amazing etching showing the Biblical figure, Job, afflicted with ulcerous and very smelly sores patiently sitting on an even more smelly dungheap while a serpent-tailed big-breasted demon hovers above watching Job’s wife and friends taunting Job, for the total cost of AU$249 (currently US$162.73/EUR149.76/GBP130.63 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 biblical scene of quiet stoic determination in which a once wealthy man who has lost everything and is afflicted by sores to test his faith is still able to find solace in God by resisting all human contact by virtue of his disgusting stench, please contact me (oz_jim@printsandprinciples.com) and I will send you a PayPal invoice to make the payment easy. (My apologies for all faults in my understanding of what is illustrated in this scene.)

Jan Sadeler I’s (attrib.) engraving, “River Landscape with Island and Round Tower”, 1593

(Attrib.) Jan Sadeler I (aka Johannes Sadeler; Johann Sadeler) (1550–1600)

“River Landscape with Island and Round Tower” (Rijksmuseum title) (aka “Landscape with a Castle on a Rock to the Left” [TIB title]), 1593, possibly after a lost drawing by either Paul Bril (aka Paulus Brill; Paolo Brillo) (1553/4–1626) or Lodewijk Toeput (aka Ludovico Fiammingo; Ludovico Pozzoserrato; Lodewijck Toeput; Lodovico Pozzo da Treviso) (c1550–1603/5), published by Jan Sadeler I in Antwerp.

Engraving on laid paper with watermark (Italian 16^th century [1590–] “Anchor in Circle with Trefoil above” [see https://www.refaiya.uni-leipzig.de/texts/Watermarks_Refaiya.pdf]) trimmed close to the image borderline.

Size: (sheet) 22.5 x 27.9 cm.

Inscribed on plate along lower edge: (left) “Joan Sadeler excudit.1.5.93.”

Lifetime impression (based on the quality of the line showing no sign of wear to the printing plate and the 16^th century watermark) of the only state.

TIB 7002.068 (Isabelle de Ramaix 2003, “The Illustrated Bartsch”, vol. 70, Part 3 [Supplement], New York, Abaris Books, p. 267, cat. no. .068); Hollstein Dutch 26, no. 28 (vol. 21); Edquist, p. 202, no. 33b.

The Rijksmuseum offers the following description of this print:

(transl.) “In a river an island with a tower. A rowing boat navigates the river. In the right foreground a staircase”

(http://hdl.handle.net/10934/RM0001.COLLECT.216115).

Condition: faultless impression trimmed to the image borderline with remnants of mounting verso. The sheet is in excellent/near pristine condition for its considerable age (i.e. there are no tears, folds, holes, losses, abrasions, stains, foxing or significant signs of use) with a collector’s ink stamp, faded ink drawn marks and pencil notes verso.

I am selling this extraordinarily beautiful lifetime impression attributed by the Rijksmuseum to one of the most famous of the Flemish old masters for AU$433 (currently US$280.34/EUR258.89/GBP225.57 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 masterwork of 16th century 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

Wenceslaus Hollar’s etching, “Five Putti and a Satyr”, c.1647, after Peeter van Avont

Wenceslaus Hollar (aka Wenzel Hollar; Václav Hollar) (1607–1677)

“Five Putti and a Satyr” (aka “Five Boys and a Satyr” [Pennington title]), c.1647 (1625–77), from the series of eight plates, “Putti and Satyrs” (aka “Paedopaegnion”) after Peeter van Avont (aka Pieter van Avont) (1600–1652), lifetime impression before numbering, published in Antwerp.

Etching (with a few lines of engraving) on laid paper with full margins and backed with a support sheet.

Size: (sheet) 18.4 x 26.5 cm; (platemark) 12.8 x 21 cm.

Inscribed on plate: (lower left) “Peter van Avont inu: W. Hollar fecit”

Lifetime impression, state i (of ii) before numbering (“5”).

Pennington 515 (Richard Pennington 1982, “A Descriptive Catalogue of the Etched Work of Wenceslaus Hollar 1607–1677”, Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, p. 79, cat. no. 516); New Hollstein (Hollar, Part III) 853 I/II.

Pennington (1982) offers the following description of this print:

“The young satyr sits r.[ight] with two boys standing behind. On l.[eft] a boy with a bunch of grapes falls backwards to the ground. A few burin strokes on l.[eft] thigh of second boy from r.[ight]” (p. 79).

Condition: a slightly over-wiped impression with a few dot stains and surface marks in otherwise excellent condition (i.e. there are no tears, holes, folds, losses, abrasions or significant stains). The sheet has been laid upon a support of archival (millennium quality) wash paper.

I am selling this lifetime impression of the utmost rarity—note that this very beautiful etching is in the collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art (Inv. 2005.97.3), but I have been unsuccessful in finding a copy of it in either the Rijksmuseum or the British Museum—for AU$423 (currently US$272.83/EUR251.52/GBP219.44 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 etching—a magnificent lifetime impression before numbering—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

Alexander Voet II’s engraving, “Judith with the Head of Holofernes”, c.1675, after Rubens

Alexander Voet II (c.1635–c.1695/1705)

“Judith with the Head of Holofernes” (aka “Judith with the Head of Holophernes”) 1650–1695, after Peter Paul Rubens’ (aka Petrus Paulus Rubenius) (1577–1640) painting held in the Soprintenza per i Beni Artistici e Storici per le Provincie di Firenze e Pistoia, Florence (see: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Rubens72.jpg).

Engraving on laid paper trimmed close to the image borderline and backed with a support sheet.

Size: (sheet) 31.3 x 23.3 cm; (image borderline) 30 x 22.8 cm.

Lettered on plate below the image borderline: (left) "Petr. Paul. Rubbens pinxit"; (centre) "ASPICE QVID POTVIT IVDITH PRÆCLARA VIRAGO/ QVE CAPVT IN PALMIS EN HOLOFERNIS HABET."

State IV (with the publisher’s details erased).

Hollstein 1.IV (under Voet); Schneevoogt 1873 10.82; Corpus Rubenianum III 52 (copy).

The British Museum offers a description of this print:

“Judith and Holofernes; the young woman putting the head in a sack held by her maid at left, the beheaded body of the general in right background; fourth state with address removed; after Peter Paul Rubens”

(https://research.britishmuseum.org/research/collection_online/collection_object_details.aspx?objectId=3306083&partId=1&searchText=holofernis&page=1).

Condition: excellent impression trimmed close to the image borderline with a closed tear at lower right, a small spot of restoration at upper right and an unevenly trimmed text box, laid upon a support sheet of archival (millennium quality) washi paper.

I am selling this visually arresting engraving in reverse after Rubens’ painting of the same composition showing the strong-willed and very brave Judith bagging the freshly decapitated head of her  enemy—the powerful Assyrian general of Nebuchadnezzar’s army, Holofernes—for the total cost of AU$279 (currently US$178.51/EUR164.88/GBP144.33 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 biblical scene of grim heroism from the Old Testament, 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