JMW Turner’s etching with mezzotint, “Jason”, 1807

(Etcher) Joseph Mallord William Turner (1775–1851)

(Engraver) Charles Turner (pseudonym: Renrut) (1774–1857)

“Jason”, 1807, from the series, “Liber Studiorum”, published in Part I by JMW Turner in London.

Mezzotint and etching printed in a brown ink on laid paper (presumably Auvergne paper made by T Dupuy [see Finberg p. 1xxvii]) with a narrow margin around the plate mark and backed with a support sheet.

Size: (sheet) 21.3 x 29.5 cm; (plate); 21 x 29.2 cm; (image borderline) 18.4 x 25.9 cm.

Lettered on plate above the image borderline: (centre) "H".

Lettered on plate below the image borderline: (left) “Drawn & Etched by J.M.W. Turner R. A.”; (centre) “JASON./ Published as the Act directs by J.M.W. Turner Harley Street.”; (right) “Engraved by C. Turner”.

State i/ii (of v) with “Marginal line at right and other lines imperfectly bitten” before the second state showing “Marginal line completed. … Margins cleaned” (Finberg pp. 23–24). The state may however be from the second state as the initial (“H”) is no longer an open letter (i.e. it is filled in).

Finberg 6; (Alexander J Finberg 1988, “J. M. W. Turner’s Liber Studiorum with a Catalogue Raisonné”, San Francisco, Alan Wofsy Fine Arts, pp. 21–24, cat. no. 6).

The British Museum offers the following description of this print:

“On the right, Jason climbs over broken tree-trunks in the foreground towards a cavern in the rock in which a coil of a serpent is seen emerging”

(https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/object/P_1900-0824-10).

The Tate Gallery offers the following explanation of the portrayed subject based on JMW Turner’s painting of the same title (see URL below):

“Jason was a Greek hero, challenged to bring home from Colchis a golden fleece belonging to a marvellous ram. Here, Jason is seen stealing up on a dragon which he must outwit to gain the fleece.

The hero’s courage is emphasised by the way Turner suggests, rather than shows, the size and ferocity of the dragon. A single coil of its body emerges from the deep shadow, while the bones of previous human victims are scattered in front of its lair”

(https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/turner-jason-n00471).

Condition: a richly inked early impression showing no sign of wear to the printing plate. The sheet is trimmed close to the platemark with chips to the margin edges and laid onto a support of archival (millennium quality) washi paper.

I am selling this exceptionally rare early impression of an important print in Turner’s oeuvre, for AU$433 (currently US$319.81/EUR267.08/GBP239.65 at the time of this listing) including Express Mail (EMS) 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 superb etching showing Turner’s amazing creative invention—note, for example, his use of a latticework of lines to create shadow at the lower left—and imagination to suggest the awesome might of the dragon lurking in the cave by showing only a section of its arching tail, 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 

Gabriel/Nicolas/Adam Perelle’s circular etching, “Plate 6”, c1660

Gabriel Perelle (aka Gabriel Pairelle) (1604–1677)/Nicolas Perelle (1631–c1695)/Adam Perelle (1640–1695)

Note: all prints in the British Museum that are inscribed with the name, “Perelle,” are catalogued under the father’s name, “Gabriel Perelle” (https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/term/BIOG41615). The Rijksmuseum advises: (transl.) “Prints with the signature 'Perelle' can be made by father Gabriel as well as by sons” (see RP-P-OB-72.016).

Etching on fine laid paper with wide margins.

Size: (sheet) 30.1 x 25.7 cm; (plate) 18 x 17.5 cm; (image borderline dia.) 17.1 cm.

Inscribed on plate below the image borderline at lower left: “Inuenté et graué par Perelle […] Auec priuil.du Roy […]  VI”.

Condition: a superb, richly inked and well-printed impression with wide margins. Beyond a printer’s mark on the plate edge at right, the sheet is in a museum-quality condition with no tears, holes, folds, abrasions, significant stains, foxing or signs of handling.

I am selling this very strong impression of a round formatted landscape framed by trees with boatmen in the foreground, travellers/herdsmen with cattle in the middle distance and a distant view over rough terrain to a watch tower and other buildings, for AU$256 (currently US$189.18/EUR158.04/GBP142.09 at the time of posting this listing) including Express Mail (EMS) 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 superb landscape etching rendered with the finest of details and capturing the sparkling light and clean air of the rural countryside in the 17^th century, please contact me (oz_jim@printsandprinciples.com) and I will send you a PayPal invoice to make the payment easy.

Omer Bouchery’s etching, “Nuit Maudite”, 1922

Omer Bouchery (1882–1962)

“Nuit Maudite” (Cursed Night), 1922, illustration to Kermario’s (pseud. Barthélemy Saurel) “Ombres et Clartés” (Shadows and Clarities), featuring 26 etchings by Omer Bouchery, published by Librairie Dorbon-Ainé (1894–1954) in Paris and printed by Henri Braun (early 1900s).

Etching on wove paper with printed text verso and recto with full margins and centrefold as published.

Size: (sheet) 24.8 x 32.8 cm; (plate) 17.5 x 11.5 cm; (image borderline) 11.9 x 8.7 cm.

This etching illustrates Kermario’s poem “Nuit Maudite” (Cursed Night) printed at right:

 

On croit voir d'étranges fantômes, [We think we see strange ghosts,]

Immobiles, les bras tendus,           [Motionless, arms outstretched,]

Entourés de nombreux pendus.     [Surrounded by many hanged.]

Évoquer farfadets et gnomes.        [Evoke leprechauns and gnomes.]

 

C'est le gibet fatal, hideux               [It is the fatal, hideous gallows]

Avec ses crocs patibulaires            [With its sinister fangs]

Et ses cadavres légendaires           [And his legendary corpses]

Déchiquetés, croulants, affreux!      [Shredded, crumbling, awful!]

 

Autour de l'horrible édifice,              [Around the horrible building,]

Les sorcières, quand vient minuit,   [Witches, when midnight comes,]

Rôdent, nombreuses et sans bruit,  [Prowl, numerous and silent,]

Sous la forme la plus propice.          [In the most auspicious form.]

 

Tantôt un animal velu                        [Sometimes a hairy animal]

Glisse, sournoisement agile,             [Glide, slyly agile,]

S'insinuant, comme un reptile,          [Creeping in like a reptile]

Par le joint d'un ais vermoulu.            [By the joint of a worm-eaten board.]

The description of this publication printed verso offers the following interesting insights:

(Transl.) “This book is that of a soul that dark forebodings, soon followed by immense pain, seem at first to push towards the abyss.  He moves us by the description of certain terrifying visions.  Kermario, in verses which resonate like the sonorous syllables of his name, makes pass there, before our eyes, strange scenes in powerfully coloured and always very impressive paintings, which the illustrator Omer Bouchery, with his great talent, set in his admirable series of etchings.”

Condition: richly inked impression with full margins (and accompanying printed text) as published. Beyond a light crease at upper left margin and light signs of handling, the sheet is in an excellent condition with no tears, holes, abrasions, stains or foxing.

I am selling this macabre but visually riveting image illustrating an equally dark poem (shown on the right) for AU$225 (currently US$165.92/EUR139.11/GBP124.55 at the time of this listing) including Express Mail (EMS) 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 etching, 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

Dirck Volkertsz. Coornhert’s engraving, “King Francis Taken Prisoner at the Battle of Pavia”, 1555, after Maarten van Heemskerck

Dirck Volkertsz. Coornhert (aka Dirk Volkertsz Coornhert; Dirk Volkertsz Cuerenhert) (1522–1590)

Note: “The Illustrated Bartsch” (1991) catalogue raisonné for Coornhert lists this print as by the hand of Dirck Volkertsz. Coornhert (vol. 55 [Supplement], p. 243), but the Rijksmuseum is more tentative and advises that it is possibly by Coornhert or possibly by Cornelis Bos (c1506/10–1555).

“King Francis Taken Prisoner at the Battle of Pavia” (TIB title) (aka “Captured by Francis I during the Battle of Pavia, 1525” [Rijksmuseum title]), 1555, plate 2 from the series of twelve plates, “The Victories of Charles V (1555–56)” (aka “Divi Caroli. V. imp. opt. max. victoriae, ex multis praecipuae”), after the design by Maarten van Heemskerck (aka Martin Heemskerk; Maarten van Veen) (1498–1574), published by Hieronymus Cock (aka Jérome Cock) (c1517–1570) in Antwerp.

Engraving and etching trimmed around the image borderline (with loss of Latin text below the borderline) and backed with a support sheet.

Size: (sheet) 14.6 x 23.3 cm.

Inscribed on plate within the image borderline: (lower left) “II”; (lower right on shield rim) “MH [ligature letters] eemskerk Inuent.”

State ii or later (of iv) Note: Although this impression is not from the first state, because it has the plate number (“II”), the loss of the text lines below the image borderline make the attribution of the exact state problematic.

TIB 5501.070.2 (Ilja M Veldman [ed.] 1991, “The Illustrated Bartsch: Dirck Volkertsz. Coornhert”, vol. 55 [Supplement], New York, Abaris Books, p. 243, cat. no. [5501].070.2); Hollstein 217 (F W H. Hollstein 1951, “Dutch and Flemish Etchings, Engravings and Woodcuts c.1450–1700: Brun to Coques”, vol. 4, Amsterdam, Menno Hertzbergerp, p. 231, cat. no. 217).

The Rijksmuseum offers the following description of this print:

(Transl.) “The capture of Francis I, King of France, at the Battle of Pavia (1525). The king on horseback is surrounded by three knights, also on horseback. In the foreground is the body of a defeated knight. In the background tents and armies with the city of Pavia in the distance. The print is part of a twelve-part series about the victories of Charles V”

(http://hdl.handle.net/10934/RM0001.COLLECT.98309).

See also the description of this print by the British Museum: https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/object/P_1868-0208-58.

Condition: a strong and well-printed impression showing very little wear to the plate but there are many small replenished losses and restored tears. The sheet is trimmed around the image borderline with loss of the lower margin and laid onto a support of archival (millennium quality) washi paper.

I am selling this extraordinary (but restored) Renaissance period battle scene for AU$302 (currently US$222.51/EUR186.78/GBP166.54 at the time of this listing) including Express Mail (EMS) 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 remarkable engraving almost shimmering with action and the reflections of shiny armour, 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

John Laporte’s soft-ground etching, “Wooded Country Scene with a Horse-Drawn Cart”, 1802, after Gainsborough

John Laporte (1761–1839)

“Wooded Country Scene with a Horse-Drawn Cart” (descriptive title only), 1802, soft-ground etching (possibly plate 30) reproducing a chalk(?) drawing by Thomas Gainsborough (1727–1788) in the collection of John Laporte (as inscribed on plate), published on 1^st May 1802 in London in the very rare and relatively small edition by John Laporte and William Frederick Wells (1764–1836) from the series of seventy-two plates, “A Collection of Prints, Illustrative of English Scenery, from the Drawings and Sketches of Thos. Gainsborough, R. A.”. Sixty of the plates from the first edition were later republished in the larger 1819 edition by H R Young (fl.1819) with the original publication details of the first edition erased.

Soft-ground etching printed on wove (Whatman) paper with full margins as published in the first edition.

Size: (sheet) 32.5 x 39.4 cm; (plate) 24.5 x 31.2 cm; (image borderline) 19 x 26.2 cm.

Lettered on plate below the image borderline: (left) “T. Gainsborough R.A. del.”; (centre) “From the Original in the Collection of J. Laporte./ Published by J. Laporte & W. F. Wells. May 1.1802.”; (right) “J. Laporte sculp.”

Condition: a strong and well-printed (near faultless) impression with generously wide margins. Beyond a small tear in the lower margin, the sheet is in near pristine condition for its age with no holes, folds, abrasions, losses, stains or foxing.

I am selling this marvellous early impression from the exceptionally rare first edition of 1802 (as inscribed on plate) for AU$218 (currently US$160.05/EUR134.50/GBP120.19 at the time of this listing) including Express Mail (EMS) 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 fine example of soft-ground etching with its imitation of the grainy lines of Gainsborough’s chalk drawing, 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