Valentine Green’s mezzotint, “Samson Betrayed by Delilah”, 1793

Valentine Green (1739–1813)

“Samson Betrayed by Delilah”, 1793, after the painting by Peter Paul Rubens (1577–1640), “The Capture of Samson”, 1620, in the Staatsgalerie im Schloß Schleißheim (Old Pinakothek), Munich, published by Valentine Green and his son, Rupert Green (1767/8–1804), in London, as plate 269 in Pigage's Catalogue of the Düsseldorf Gallery.

Mezzotint on laid paper with a small margin around the platemark.

Size: (sheet) 57.2 x 61.9 cm; (plate) 56.7 x 61.3 cm; (image borderline) 52.7 x 60.7 cm.

Lettered below the image borderline: (left) “Painted by P.P. Rubens”; (left of centre) “SAMSON BETRAYED BY DELILAH./ In Monsr. Pigage's Catalogue of the Dusseldorf Gallery, this Subject is No. 269.”; (centre) emblem of a crowned cartouche inscribed “CT” (probably the coat of arms of Charles Theodore, Elector of Bavaria [1724–1799]); (right of centre) “SAMSON TRAHI PAR DALILA./ Published Novr. 1. 1793 by V. & R. Green No.13 Berners Street, London.”; (right) “Engraved by V. Green Mezzotinto Engraver to his Majesty & to the Elector Palatine”.

State i (of ii) lifetime impression before the addition of “J. Daniel & Co. Excud.” and the change of date to “March 25^th 1799.”

Whitman 269 (Alfred Whitman 1902, “Valentine Green”, London, A H Bullen, p. 169, cat. no. 269; see this catalogue online:

https://archive.org/details/valentinegreen00whit/page/n191/mode/2up).

The British Museum offers the following description of this print:

“Samson being taken from Delilah by group of soldiers, Delilah on couch, holding shears, being restrained by her servant”

(https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/object/P_1900-0411-45).

Condition: richly inked and well-printed impression with a narrow margin around the platemark. The sheet has minor scuffing (with some retouching) and small restored tears to the margins, otherwise the print is in very good condition for its age and huge size.

I am selling this first state, lifetime impression of this large and spectacular mezzotint by one of the most famous mezzotinters of his time, for the total cost of AU$544 (currently US$323.49/EUR297.90/GBP274.85 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 exceptionally beautiful mezzotint showing the Philistines entering Delilah’s tent to capture Samson after she cut off his hair, 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

Harmen Jansz. Muller’s engraving, “The Destruction of the House of Baal”, c.1567, after Maarten van Heemskerck

Harmen Jansz. Muller (1540–1617)

“The Destruction of the House of Baal” (aka “Verwoesting van Tempel van Baalia”, c.1567, after a drawing by Maarten van Heemskerck (aka Maarten van Veen; Martin Heemskerk) (1498–1574), plate 4 from the series, “The story of Joash and Queen Athaliah” (aka “Geschiedems Van Ioas en koningin Atalja”), with lettered Latin verses by Hadrianus Junius (1511–1575) below the image borderline, published in 1579 in “Prentbijbel met voorstellingen uit het Oude Testament” (Picture Bible with scenes from the Old Testament), Part 2, by Gerard de Jode (1516/17–1591) in Antwerp (see the description of this publication held by the Rijksmuseum: http://hdl.handle.net/10934/RM0001.COLLECT.324041).

Engraving on fine laid paper with watermark and full margins as published.

Size: (sheet) 28.5 x 37.7 cm; (plate) 18.7 x 24.7 cm.

Inscribed and numbered within the image borderline: (lower centre in reverse with letters “HMVL” interlaced) “HMVL FE”; (right of lower-centre with letters “MH” interlaced) “MHeemskerck In”; (lower-left corner) “4”.

Lettered in Latin below the image borderline: “Balicolas sacris operatos mactat & aris/ Excisis populus de marmore signa refringit 2. Regum.11.18.”

State ii (of ii) with the addition of the text reference (“2. Regum.11.18”) and repositioning of the plate number (“4”).

New Hollstein 32-2(2) (Heemskerck) (Ilja M Veldman [comp.] 1993-94, Roosendaal, “The New Hollstein: Dutch and Flemish Etchings, Engravings and Woodcuts 1450–1700: Maarten van Heemskerck”, vol. 1, Roosendaal, Koninklijke Van Poll, p. 123, cat. no. 142); New Hollstein 32-2(2) (Muller) (Ger Luijten & Christiaan Schuckman [eds.] 1999, “The New Hollstein: Dutch and Flemish Etchings, Engravings and Woodcuts 1450–1700: The Muller Dynasty”, vol. 1 Rotterdam, Rijksprentenkabinet, p. 111, cat. no. 32).

The British Museum offers the following description of this print:

“The destruction of the house of Baal; a group of soldiers pulling down a statue with a rope tied around its neck; another soldier attacking a priest with a halberd and other statues lying smashed on the ground; Jehoida and Joash, seen from behind, observing; after Heemskerck”

(https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/object/P_1873-0809-1458).

See also the description of this print at the Rijksmuseum and the Metropolitan Museum of Art:

http://hdl.handle.net/10934/RM0001.collect.156991;

https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/628099.

Condition: near faultless impression (showing no sign of wear to the printing plate) on very fine laid paper with generous margins. The sheet is in exceptionally good—museum quality—condition (i.e. there are no tears, holes, folds, losses, abrasions, significant stains or foxing), but there are remnants of mounting verso.

I am selling this rare print—in the sense that the print is seldom seen on the art market—executed by the father of Jan Harmensz. Muller for AU$233 (currently US$155.04/EUR139.70/GBP125.77 at the time of posting 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 fascinating scene of the Temple of Baal being destroyed and the priests killed—note that the hand of the high priest (Jehoiada) is held by the seven-year-old king (Joash)—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

Antonio Tempesta’s etching, “Civilis’ Troops Crossing the Maas River”, 1611

Antonio Tempesta (1555?–1630)

“Civilis’ Troops Crossing the Maas River” (TIB’s title) (aka “Troops of Julius Civilis cross the Maas” [Rijkesmuseum’s transl. title]), 1611, after the design by Otto van Veen (1556–1629), plate 11 from the series of 37 plates (including the frontispiece/titlepage), “The War of the Romans against the Batavians” (Romanorvm et Batavorvm societas), illustrating Tacitus’ “Histories” (c.100–110), Book IV, lifetime impression published in the first edition with Latin text verso by Otto van Veen in 1611 in Antwerp.

Etching (with letterpress text verso) on laid paper trimmed with a narrow margin around the platemark and backed with a support sheet.

Size: (sheet) 17.4 x 21.4 cm; (plate) 16.7 x 21.3 cm; (image borderline) 14.7 x 21.1 cm.

Monogrammed on plate at lower left corner: “AT” (in ligature).

Lettered on plate below the image borderline: (in four lines of Dutch text at left): "Civilis de Ceulsche daer hy op verbittert was (mits dien sy hun/ vaderlandt verloochenende, eenen Roomschen naem, tweten Agrippynen/ aenghenomen hadden) verslaghen hebbende, schickt syn volck over de Mase,/ quellende de Geldersche, Triersche, ende Terouaensch frontieren."; (center within a circle) “11”; (in four lines of Latin text at right) “Ciuilis cæsis Vbijs (quos, eó quòd vetus exuentes no:/ men, Romanum assumsissent, exosos habebat) suos/ trans Mosam dirigit, qui Menapios, Treuiros, et/ Morinos fines infestant, damnaque varia inferunt.”

Latin letterpress text verso.

State i (of ii) Note: TIB lists this impression with Latin text verso as “SI II” and the impressions without the text verso as “SI I2”. In the second state the plate is “heavily retouched” and with “PLANCHE XII./ INVASION DE CIVILIS/ DANS LA GAULE BELGIQUE.” (among other changes). There is also a copy in the same direction executed by Joseph Mulder and inscribed, “I. Mulder fecit."

TIB (Leuschner 2007) 3501.507 S1 11 (Eckhard Leuschner 2007, “The Illustrated Bartsch: Antonio Tempesta, vol. 35. Commentary, Part 2, New York, Abaris Books, p. 121); TIB (Buffa 1984) 570 (Sebastian Buffa [ed.] 1984, “The Illustrated Bartsch: Italian Masters of the Sixteenth Century: Antonio Tempesta”, vol. 35, New York, Abaris Books, p. 299, cat. no. 570); Nagler XVIII.179.560-.595 (G K Nagler 1835–52, “Neus allgemeines Künstler-Lexicon” [22 vols]); Bartsch XVII.145.570 i/ii (Adam von Bartsch 1803, “Le Peintre graveur,” vol. 17, Vienna, p. 145, cat. no. 560–595).

The Rijksmuseum and the Metropolitan Museum of Art offer descriptions of this print:

http://hdl.handle.net/10934/RM0001.COLLECT.183536;

https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/401439.

Eckhard Leuschner (2007, TIB, vol. 35, Commentary Part 2) offers the following insights about the letterpress text on verso; “…Civilis’s military operations against neighboring tribes are described, especially against the Ubii which he hated more than the others because they had romanized their name and now called themselves Agrippinenses” (p. 121).

Condition: well-printed lifetime impression trimmed with a small margin around the platemark and laid upon a support sheet of archival (millennium quality) washi paper. The upper left and lower right corners and a small hole above the helmet of Civilis have restorations otherwise the sheet is in excellent condition for its considerable age.

I am selling this superb first state/first edition/lifetime impression of one of the more desirable of Tempesta’s etchings from the series, “The War of the Romans against the Batavians”, for the total cost of AU$274 (currently US$181.95/EUR164.08/GBP147.64 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 graphically strong image full of swirling action, but without the extreme use of distortions typifying the earlier period style of Mannerism, and executed when Rembrandt was only a five-year-old boy, please contact me (oz_jim@printsandprinciples.com) and I will send you a PayPal invoice to make the payment easy.

Note that this is the second impression of Tempesta's same etching that I have listed. The previous copy is from the later edition without the text verso and has been sold.

This print has been sold

Anthonie Waterloo’s etching, “The Plank Bridge”, c.1650

Anthonie Waterloo (aka Antoni Waterlo) (1609–90)

“The Plank Bridge” (aka “Le Pont de Planches”; “Landschap met een bruggetje van planken”), c.1650 (1630–1663), plate six from the series, “Six landscapes” (H.47–52) (aka “Hilly Landscapes”; “Heuvellandschappen”), from the François Basan (1723–1797) edition of “Eighty-Eight Landscapes of Different Sizes” printed on forty-nine sheets published in 1776–77.

Etching on laid paper trimmed with a small margin around the platemark and laid onto a support sheet.

Size: (sheet) 13.7 x 15.9 cm; (plate) 12.6 x 15 cm; (image borderline) 12.5 x 14.9 cm.

Inscribed on plate at upper-right: “Antoni Waterlo fe. et in.”

State ii (of ii) I may incorrect in my attribution of this impression to the second state as the distance between the chain-lines suggest that the print is from edition earlier than the Basan folio. Moreover, I see little difference when comparing the first state impression with this one regarding Morse’s (1992) description that in the second state there is “[v]ertical shading added along the lower part of the trunk of the large tree at the left and next to its lowest branch …” (p. 59). My attribution to the second state is based on comparing the treatment of the slightly blurry reproduction of BM’s first state impression of the mound left-of-centre in the foreground which I perceive as showing less mechanical hatching strokes than in this impression.

TIB 0201.052 S2(Peter Morse [ed.] 1992, “The Illustrated Bartsch: Antoni Waterloo”, vol. 2, Part 1, Commentary, New York, Abaris Books, p. 59, cat. no. .052 S2; see also vol. 2, p. 43, cat. no. 52 [59]); Hollstein 52–2 (Christiaan Schuckman [comp.] 1997, “Dutch and Flemish Etchings, Engravings and Woodcuts c.1450–1700: Antoni Waterloo”, vol. 50, Rotterdam, Sound and Vision Rijksprentenkabinet, p. 124, cat. no. 52); Bartsch II.59.52 (Adam Bartsch 1803, “Le Peintre Graveur”, 21 vols, Vienna).

The British Museum offers the following description of this print:

“The plank bridge; crossing a small stream in a wooded landscape at right; two men seated on the side of the road at right”

(https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/object/P_F-3-52).

See also the description of this print offered by the Rijksmuseum:

http://hdl.handle.net/10934/RM0001.COLLECT.193721.

Condition: richly inked and well-printed impression showing minimal wear to the printing plate. The sheet is trimmed with a small margin around the platemark and is laid onto a support of archival (millennium quality) washi paper. The sheet is in excellent condition for its considerable age (i.e. there are no tears, holes, folds, losses, abrasions, stains or foxing).

I am selling this very beautiful etching executed with great sensitivity—note the artist’s approach to rendering foliage with strokes that give form and weight to the leaf masses as well as creating rhythms inviting a viewer’s eye to move to critical points of interest—for the total cost of AU$293 (currently US$194.14/EUR176.08/GBP158.27 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 complexly interesting landscape by one of the most famous autodidact artists of the 17^th century, 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

Swelinck’s engraving, “Sibe Nequam Cui Bonus?”, 1712

Jan Gerritsz Swelinck (1601–c.1649) after the design by Adriaen van der Venne (aka Adriaen Pietersz. van de Venne) (1589–1662)

“Sibe Nequam Cui Bonus?” (“Who is hurtful to himself, benefits no one”; “To whom is one good who is bad for himself?”; “He is a fool that forgets himself”—an old English proverb (c.1270) revived in Chaucer’s “Troylus”: “He is a fool that wol for-yete himselve” [1611]), 1712 (note that there are earlier versions of this design), plate XXXIV (34) in Jacob Cats’ (1577–1660)—known with respect and affection as “Father Cats”—1712 edition of “Alle de Wercken van den heere Jacob Cats …” (Complete Works of Jacob Cats) (aka “Alle de wercken van den Heere Jacob Cats. De laatste druck: war in het Twee-entachtig jaarig leeven des dichters, beneffens desselfs slaapeloose nachten, met printverbeeldingen sijn verrijkt”), published in Amsterdam by J. Ratelband, p. 68.

The publication (“Alle de Wercken van den heere Jacob Cats …”) in which this print features may be viewed online or downloaded free-of-charge from archive.org (this print features in the text on page 68 and online on page 98):

https://archive.org/details/JSH.31962001408628Images/page/n97/mode/2up.

My understanding of this proverb (“Sibe Nequam Cui Bonus?”)—which may be far from the intended meaning—is that one should not place oneself in unnecessary danger as the outcome is not helpful to anyone, but rather one should enjoy life and let your pleasure spread to others. Regarding the image of the small bird within the jaws of a crocodile, the composition may be understood in terms of the following crude translation from a similar emblem print: “Do as the pretty bird that satisfies its fill on the banks of Nile without offering service to the Crocodile.” (My apologies to those who know the true meaning.)

Engraving on heavy laid paper with letterpress text recto and verso in Dutch, Latin and French and full margins as published.

Size: (sheet) 45.6 x 27.8 cm; (plate) 12.5 x 12.5 cm; (image borderline) 12.1 x 12.1 cm.

Numbered and lettered above the plate: (left) "68"; (centre) “SIBE NEQUAM CUI BONUS?/ XXXIV.”

Lettered in two columns below the plate (and verso) in lines of Dutch, Latin and French.

A brief description of this print is offered by the New York Public Library (digital collection):

https://digitalcollections.nypl.org/items/510d47e2-c6de-a3d9-e040-e00a18064a99.

Condition: full page (as published) in pristine condition apart from several printer’s creases created in the printing process.

I am selling this magnificent, museum-quality leaf for the total cost of AU$197 (currently US$131.06/EUR119.50/GBP106.35 at the time of this listing) including postage and handling to anywhere in the world.

If you are interested in purchasing this superb engraving of the highest quality on the huge, double-sided, lettered sheet as published, please contact me (oz_jim@printsandprinciples.com) and I will send you a PayPal invoice to make the payment easy.