Karel Dujardin’s etching, “Recumbent Sheep by a Fallen Tree Trunk”, c1655

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

“Recumbent Sheep by a Fallen Tree Trunk” (TIB title) (aka “Le mouton couché près du tronc d’arbre”), c1655, plate 36 (as inscribed in plate).

Etching on fine buff laid paper trimmed along the image borderline with a narrow margin and backed with a support sheet.

Size: (support sheet) 21 x 22.2 cm; (sheet) 7.5 x 9.7 cm; (image borderline) 7.2 x 9.6 cm.

Inscribed in plate: (upper-right corner [in reverse]): “K.D.I. fe”; (lower-right corner) “36”.

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

TIB 1.36 (186) (Leonard J Slatkes [ed.] 1978, The Illustrated Bartsch: Netherlandish Artists, vol. 1, New York, Abaris Books, p. 205, cat. no. 36 [186]); Hollstein 36 (F.W.H. Hollstein 1952, “Dutch and Flemish Etchings, Engravings and Woodcuts 1450–1700: Douffet–Floris”, vol. 6, Amsterdam, Menno Hertzberger, cat. no. 36).

The British Museum offers the following description of this print: “A sheep resting near a trunk. A sheep resting, seen in three-quarter view with rear leg extended and head turned to the right, pieces of a felled tree at left and flies hovering above” (https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/object/P_Sheepshanks-897).

See also the description of this print offered by the Rijksmuseum: http://hdl.handle.net/10934/RM0001.COLLECT.38359.

Condition: a well-printed impression trimmed around the image borderline with a narrow margin and laid onto a sheet of archival (millennium quality) washi paper. Beyond restored chips to the upper left and lower right edges, the sheet is in a good condition with no tears, holes, folds, abrasions, significant stains (but there is a faint mark from verso on back leg) or foxing.

I am selling this sensitively executed etching of a sheep that, to my eyes, is seemingly oblivious, or at least unbothered, by a squadron of flies above its head—my apologies if I am wrong in my reading of the sheep’s mindset, but I had just read the interesting research article by Marjorie Coulon, Raymond Nowak (et al.) (2015), “Do Lambs Perceive Regular Human Stroking as Pleasant? Behavior and Heart Rate Variability Analyses”,  and was fascinated to learn about symmetry and axial positioning of ears (see https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0118617)—for AU$226 (currently US$157.52/EUR146.66/GBP129.69 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 closely observed sheep—note the way the artist has left a tiny gap around the sheep’s head so that the head seems to advance forward and how the back foot is visually “anchored” onto the ground with tuffs of grass on the heavier aspects and a delicate line along the shaft of (what I understand to be) its cannon bone—please contact me (oz_jim@printsandprinciples.com) and I will send you a PayPal invoice to make the payment easy.