Pierre Brebiette’s etching, “Frieze with a Bacchanal and the Sacrifice of a Satyr”, c1620

Pierre Brebiette (c1598–1642)

“Frieze with a Bacchanal and the Sacrifice of a Satyr”, c1620 (1617–1625), plate 3 (possibly from the series, “Opera Diversa”, with the title plate by Pierre Brebiette [see https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/object/P_1854-0614-397]),  published by François Langlois, il Ciartres (aka François Langlois; Ciartres) (1588–1647) with royal privilege (as inscribed in plate).

Etching on fine laid paper with small margins backed with a support sheet to provide wider margins.

Size: (support sheet) 26.9 x 38.3 cm; (sheet) 9.6 x 26.7 cm; (plate) 7.5 x 26.3 cm; (image borderline) 6.6 x 25.5 cm.

Inscribed in plate within the image borderline: (lower right) “roma/ P. Brebiette fecit”.

Lettered and numbered in plate below the image borderline: (left) “F. L. D. Ciartres excudit Cum Priuilegio.”; “3”.

IFF 163 (Inventaire du Fonds Français: Bibliothèque Nationale, Département des Estampes, Paris). Note that the British Museum advises: “Brebiette etched a large number of frieze-like compositions; the IFF catalogue tries to group them together into 'sets' according to the subject or the dimensions (see Nos. 107 to 170), but this is an arbitrary cataloguing and it is unlikely that the plates were actually meant to be grouped together like this” (https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/object/P_1854-0614-473).

The British Museum offers the following description of this print:

“Frieze-like composition with draped women dancing while a satyr lying on a pyre on the right is about to be sacrificed/ Etching” (https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/object/P_R-8-59).

Condition: a strong and well-printed impression with small margins laid upon a support of archival (millennium quality) washi paper. The sheet is in an excellent condition for its considerable age with no tears, holes, folds, abrasions, stains or foxing.

I am selling this exemplary Baroque etching showing a frieze of mythological figures engaged in a bacchanal celebration including a satyr being sacrificed on a pyre, for the total cost of AU$256 (currently US$198.96/EUR178.03/GBP151.53 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 small frieze from the early 1600s exemplifying an interest of that time in mythological subjects underpinned with eroticism, please contact me (oz_jim@printsandprinciples.com) and I will send you a PayPal invoice to make the payment easy.