Nicolas Pierre Loir’s etching, “Holy Family with John”, c1650

Nicolas Pierre Loir (aka Nicolas Loire; Nicolas Loyr) (1624–1679)

“Holy Family with John” (aka “Heilige familie met Johannes”), c1650, plate 6 from the series of twelve plates, “Holy Families and Mary with Child and John” (aka “Heilige families en Maria met kind en Johannes”). First state impression (of three states) before numbering and the addition of the address of the publisher, P. Mariette. This state is described by Robert-Dumesnil as “Très rare” (p. 184) and is the only print from the series that the British Museum does not hold (see the Curator of the British Museum’s comment: https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/object/P_1869-0410-2351).

Etching on laid paper  with small margins.

Size: (sheet) 21.3 x 14.9 cm; (plate) 15.3 x 11.3 cm; (image borderline) 14.6 x 11.3 cm.

Lettered in plate below the image borderline: (left) “N. L.I.F.”; (right) “C. P. R.”

State i (of iii); lifetime impression

Robert-Dumesnil 6 (Alexandre-Pierre-François Robert-Dumesnil 1835, “Le peintre-graveur français, ou Catalogue raisonné des estampes gravées par les peintres et les dessinateurs de l'école française: Ouvrage faisant suite au Peintre-graveur de M. Bartsch”, vol. 3, Paris, p. 185, cat. no. 6).

Robert-Dumesnil offers the following description of this print: (transl.) “Saint John is prostrated before the seated baby Jesus. The Blessed Virgin, kneeling behind her divine Son, seems to lend an attentive ear to Saint Joseph leaning on a wall, on the left.” (p. 185, cat. no. 6 [see https://archive.org/details/bnf-bpt6k65575384/page/n203/mode/2up]).

See also the description of this print offered by the Rijksmuseum: http://hdl.handle.net/10934/RM0001.COLLECT.141513.

Condition: a strong and well-printed (near faultless) impression with small margins. Beyond mounting hinges verso, the sheet is in a near pristine condition with no tears, holes, abrasions, stains, foxing or signs of handling.

I am selling this exceptionally rare lifetime impression that still shows the guidelines for the lettering and printed before the addition of the plate number and the publisher’s details, for the total price of AU$398 (currently US$275.94/EUR271.93/GBP228.94 at the time of posting this listing) including Express Mail 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 freely handled etching capturing in its composition the artist’s admiration for Poussin, please contact me (oz_jim@printsandprinciples.com) and I will send you a PayPal invoice to make the payment easy.