Karel Dujardin’s etching, “Man and Two Donkeys by a Stream”, 1660

Karel Dujardin (aka Karel Du Jardin; Carel Dujardin; Carel du Jardin; Bokkebaart) (1626–1678)

“Man and Two Donkeys by a Stream” (“Le goujat et les deux ânes” [Bartsch title]), 1660, plate 19.

Etching on laid paper trimmed around the platemark with a thread margin and hand-inscribed in ink verso ex-collection Naudet (fl.c1769–1810) (Naudet [Lugt 1937]) with the date 1790.

Frits Lugt in “Les Marques de Collections de Dessins & d’Estampes” (Fondation Custodia) offers the following information regarding this collector:

(transl.) “NAUDET (circa 1800), printmaker, established in the Louvre, Paris. […] Naudet is the printmaker who figures among the guests of the “Meal given on March 7, 1806 by the Mds d'Estampes de Paris, to their Confrère and their friend Le Clerc” (anonymous engraving of the time). He used to sign on the back the beautiful prints that passed through his hands. We see his signature accompanied by vintages varying from 1769 to 1810. He is probably from the family of Joseph Naudet, who was professor, and director of the Royal Library from 1840 to 1860 (http://www.marquesdecollections.fr/detail.cfm/marque/8618).

Size: (sheet) 14.4 x 18 cm; (image borderline) 14 x 17.7 cm.

Inscribed in plate: (upper left corner) “K. DV. IARDIN / 1660 fec”; (lower right corner) “19”.

Hand-inscribed in brown ink verso: “Chez Naudet M[archand] & D[’]estampes au Louvre 1790”.

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

TIB 1.19 (175) (Leonard J Slatkes [ed.] 1978, The Illustrated Bartsch: Netherlandish Artists, vol. 1, New York, Abaris Books, p. 189, cat. no. 19 [175]); Hollstein 19.II.

The British Museum offers the following description of this print:

“The packer and the two asses by a river. Landscape with a man seen from behind and an ass standing near another resting, a crooked tree in left foreground, a rocky outcrop at left and a low waterfall at right surrounded by trees and shrubbery; second state with number. 1660 Etching” (https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/object/P_Sheepshanks-853).

See also a description of this print offered by the Rijksmuseum: http://hdl.handle.net/10934/RM0001.COLLECT.38316.

Condition: a remarkably strong and near faultless impression, trimmed with a thread margin. The sheet is in a near pristine condition with no tears, holes, folds, abrasions, stains or foxing with a hand-written collector’s inscription in ink verso.

I am selling this superb impression with a hand-written inscription verso that I understand was once in violet ink, but has faded now to brown, testifying that this print was part of the ex-collection of the famous art collector, publisher and dealer Naudet—see biographical details offered by the British Museum: https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/term/BIOG39925—for the total cost of AU$251 (currently US$194.4/EUR159.56/GBP137.31 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 extraordinarily beautiful etching with its interesting composition featuring a V-shape created by leaning trees and a rocky outcrop drawing attention to the somewhat diminutive muleteer resting beside a stream, 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