Wenceslaus Hollar’s etching, “A Female with Hair Tied Back and a Bald Male Facing Each Other”, 1645, after Leonardo da Vinci

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

“A Female with Hair Tied Back and a Bald Male Facing Each Other”, 1645, after drawings by Leonardo da Vinci (1452–1519),  plate 3b from the series of fourteen etched plates (including the title plate) after studies of heads and grotesques by Leonardo (New Hollstein [Hollar] 737–750), “Varie Figuræ et Probæ”, published in Antwerp.

Etching on watermarked laid paper with a small margin around the platemark and backed with a support sheet.

Size: (sheet) 10.8 x 15.3 cm; (plate) 9.5 x 14.1 cm.

Inscribed on plate: (upper centre) Leonardö da Vinci inu:/ W. Hollar fecit. 1645”; (lower right corner) “3 b”.

State iii (of iii) with the addition of the plate number.

Pennington 1596 ii (Richard Pennington 1982, “A Descriptive Catalogue of the Etched Work of Wenceslaus Hollar, 1607–1677”, Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, p. 275, cat. no. 1596 ii); New Hollstein (Hollar Part III) 744 III/III.

The British Museum offers the following description of this print:

“Bust-length image of a young woman in profile to right, wearing a turban at an angle and low-cut bodice, facing a bald old man, wearing a jacket with narrow collar; after Leonardo da Vinci; third state. 1645” (https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/object/P_1875-0710-726).

See also the description of this print offered by the Metropolitan Museum of Art:

https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/360763.  

Condition: a near faultless, well-printed impression with a small margin laid onto a support of archival (millennium quality) washi paper. Beyond a fracture/mark in the upper margin, the sheet is in an excellent condition for its considerable age with no holes, folds, abrasions, significant stains or foxing.

I am selling this exceptionally beautiful and rare etching from a series that Richard T Godfrey [1994] in “Wenceslaus Hollar: A Bohemian Artist in England” proposes “exerted [an] enormous influence on the development of the caricature in England in the eighteenth century” (p. 100), for the total cost of AU$423 (currently US$323.22/EUR274.12/GBP234.54 at the time of posting this print) 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 small but important 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