Claudine Bouzonnet Stella’s engraving, “Christ before Pilate”, c1670

Claudine Bouzonnet Stella (aka Claudia Bouzonnet-Stella) (1636–1697)

“Christ before Pilate” (aka “Christus voor Pilatus”), c1670 (1646–1697), plate 11 from the series of 13/14 plates, “Life and Passion of Christ (aka “La Vie et la Passion du Christ”; “Het leven en lijden van Christus”), published in Paris, after the intermediary design by Jacques Stella (1596–1657), after the painting of the same composition previously attributed to Nicolas Poussin (1594–1665).

Regarding the series of which this print is a part, the Curator of the British Museum offers the following insights:

“From a series of thirteen (or fourteen?) plates depicting the Passion of Christ.

The set is now thought to have been engraved after designs by Jacques Stella rather than by Poussin.

Indeed, Claudine Stella's will (1697) states that she owned a series of thirty paintings by Jacques Stella depicting the Passion, and that although she had intended on reproduce them, she had only been able to engrave ten plates (entry into Jerusalem; Last Supper; Jesus washing the Apostles' feet; the prayer at Gethsemane; capture of Christ; Christ before Annas; St Peter's denial; Christ before Caiaphas; Christ mocked by the soldiers; Christ led to Pilate). She bequeathed these paintings and these plates to her cousin Michel de Masso and explicitly asked him to engrave or to commission the engraving of the remaining plates. It is believed that De Masso or one of his heirs then replaced Jacques Stella's name by that of Poussin.

For practical reason, the whole series is kept under the name of Claudine Stella.

See Anthony Blunt 'Jacques Stella, the De Masso family and falsifications of Poussin', Burlington Magazine vol. CXVI, December 1974, pp.744-749.” (https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/object/P_U-7-37)

Engraving with etching on distinctively fibrous laid paper with full margins as published.

Size: (sheet) 50.5 x 43.5 cm; (plate) 46.5 x 35.3 cm; (image borderline) 43.9 x 34.9 cm.

Lettered in plate below the image borderline: (left) “N Poussin in. et pinx.”; (right) “Claudia Stella Sculp./ 11.”

State ii (of ii) with the addition of publication details.

LeBlanc 7 (Charles Le Blanc 1854, “Manuel de l'amateur d'estampes, contenant un dictionnaire des graveurs de toutes les nations: ouvrage destiné à faire suite au Manuel du libraire par J.Ch. Brunet”, vol. 3, p. 589, cat. no. 7 [see https://archive.org/details/manueldelamateur03lebl/page/588/mode/2up]); Nagler 6 (G.K. Nagler 1832–52, “Neues allgemeines Künstler-Lexicon oder Nachrichten von dem Leben und den Werken der Maler, Bildhauer, Kupferstecher, Formschneider, Lithographen”, vol. 17, p. 308, cat. no. 6 [see https://archive.org/details/bub_gb_jE1QmVcKYywC/page/307/mode/2up]); Andresen 197a; Wildenstein IX.

The British Museum offers the following description of this print: “Plate 11: Christ before Pilate; Christ stands at left, surrounded by soldiers; Pilate stands in a classical gallery, at right, and points at Christ. before 1697/ Etching and engraving” (https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/object/P_U-7-47).

See also the Rijksmuseum’s description of this print: http://hdl.handle.net/10934/RM0001.COLLECT.179730.

Condition: a richly inked and near faultless impression with wide margins as published in near pristine condition for its considerable age.

I am selling this magnificently strong impression of a large engraving (with etching) executed by one of the few historically documented female printmakers from the late Renaissance period for AU$314 (currently US$234.31/EUR215.38/GBP179.72 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 superb engraving exemplifying not only the period style of Mannerism but also great creative invention—note for instance the spiral of marks describing the convex form and reflective shine of the soldier’s helmet in the foreground as well as (arguably) indicating the centre-point of vision in the scene—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