Girard Audran’s etching with engraving, “Judith with the Head of Holofernes”, c.1667, after Domenichino

Girard Audran (aka Gérard Audran) (1640–1703)

“Judith with the Head of Holofernes” (aka “Judit met het hoofd van Holofernes” “Erit memoriale nominis tui, cum manus fœminoæ deiecerit eum“; “It will be a memorial to your name, when the hand of a woman casts it down”), c.1667 (1666–68), from the series of four plates, “Scenes from the Old Testament in the San Silvestro in Rome” after the frescoes by Domenichino (aka Domenico Zampieri) (1581–1641) in the pendentives of the Bandini Chapel in San Silvestro al Quirinale in Rome (c.1628), with privilege from Louis XIV (King of France).

Note that Jakob Frey (1681–1752) executed an etching of the same composition in reverse in the early 1700s: see https://mskgent.be/collection/work/data/2015-LY.

Etching with engraving on laid paper (with watermark).

Size: (sheet) 53.6 x 39.7 cm; (plate) 48.7 x 36.3 cm; (outer image borderline) 43.8 x 36.1 cm.

Lettered in plate: (lower left) “Dominique Pinx.”: (centre) “Cum privil. Regis/ Erit memoriale nominis tui, cum manus fœminoæ deiecerit eum. Judith Cap.9.“; (right) “G.Audran Sculp. Rome”.

IFF 112 (Bibliothèque Nationale de France 1939–, “Inventaire du Fonds Français: Graveurs du XVIIe Siècle”, Paris, Bibliothèque Nationale, Départment des Estampes, vol. 1, p. 142, cat. no. 112); Robert-Dumesnil 104 (Robert-Dumesnil 1835–71, “Le Peintre-Graveur Français” , Paris, vol. 9, p. 297, cat. no. 104).

The British Museum offers the following description of this print: “Judith holding up the head of Holophernes to a crowd of Israelites, her maid holding the bag to the left, after Domenichino; within oval/ Etching and engraving” (https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/object/P_U-4-23).

See also the description of this print offered by the Rijksmuseum: http://hdl.handle.net/10934/RM0001.COLLECT.72896.

Condition: a strong with well-printed (near faultless) impression with reasonably large margins around the platemark in an excellent/museum quality condition with no tears, holes, folds, losses, abrasions, significant stains or foxing.

I am selling this large and visually arresting etching after a fresco by Domenichino—for those who like intrigue and drama, Domenichino’s painting was completed thirteen years after (alleged) attempts on his life by a mate who cut planks in his scaffold but finally succeeded with poison—for AU$312 (currently US$208.54/EUR188.69/GBP166.10 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 beautifully executed (but pictorially dreadful) etching, please contact me (oz_jim@printsandprinciples.com) and I will send you a PayPal invoice to make the payment easy.