Stefano Mulinari’s etching and sulphur tint, “Awakening Soldiers at Christ's Tomb", c.1774, after Giulio Romano

Stefano Mulinari (c.1741–c.1796)

“Awakening Soldiers at Christ's Tomb” (descriptive title only), 1774 (pub. date, but may have been executed between 1766–74), plate 28 (“N.XXVIII”) from the series of 100 plates (the first 41 plates were executed by Muliari) “Disegni originali d'eccellenti pittori esistenti nella Real galleria di Firenze [graphic] : incisi ed imitati nella loro grandezza e colori” (Original drawings by excellent painters existing in the Royal Gallery of Florence [graphic]: engraved and imitated in their size and colours), after Giulio Romano (aka Giulio Giannuzzi; Giulio Pippi) (c.1499–1546), published in Florence.

Archive.org offers an online view of this print in its context in the publication: https://archive.org/details/gri_33125011208614/page/n117/mode/2up.

Etching and sulphur tint (viz. a process that is a precursor to aquatint where sulphur is either mixed with vegetable oil into a paste and spread over the plate to corrode it with fine pitting or sprinkled onto the plate and heated), printed in brown ink on laid paper, trimmed with a margin around the image borderline and text lines. The print is the upper half of a larger plate involving three images in total.

Size: (sheet) 30 x 40.9 cm; (image borderline) 25.7 x 39 cm.

Numbered in plate above the image borderline: (right) “N. XXVIII.”

Lettered in plate below the image borderline: (left) “Guilio Romano inv: e del:”; (right) “SM[ligature]ulinari inci:”.

Condition: a strong impression showing no sign of wear to the printing plate, trimmed with a small margin around the image borderline. There are a few scattered chalk lines (?) (see for example the sanguine line on the shoulder of the centre figure), otherwise the sheet is in a very good condition for its age with no tears, folds, holes, abrasions, significant stains (but there are marks verso) or foxing.

I am selling this strong impression glowing with the raw sienna colour of the printing ink and velvety texturing created by the early etching technique termed “sulphur tint”—a process predating aquatint where sulphur is used as the mordant to corrode the copper printing plate to form copper sulphide and fine pitting to the plate—for the total cost of AU$263 (currently US$175.79/EUR159.05/GBP140.01 at the time of this listing) including Express Mail (EMS) 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 rare sulphur tint print, 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