Léon Bonnat’s etching, “Jacob Wrestling with the Angel”, 1876

Léon Bonnat (aka Léon Joseph Florentin Bonnat) (1833–1922)

“Jacob Wrestling with the Angel” (aka “La Lutte de Jacob”; “The Battle of Jacob”), 1876, after Bonnet’s painting exhibited in the Paris Salon of 1876—see another version of this painting showcased in Sotheby’s Auctions (July 13, 2022, lot 35) https://www.sothebys.com/en/buy/auction/2022/european-british-art-part-i-2/la-lutte-de-jacob —printed in Paris by Alfred Salmon (aka Adolphe Ardail; Salmon & Ardail; Alfred Fortuné Salmon) (fl.1863–1894) and published in the June, 1876 issue of the art journal, “Gazette des Beaux-Arts”, between page 696 and 697.

Etching on laid paper (with partial watermark)—note that the National Gallery of Art proposes that this print is a drypoint (see https://www.nga.gov/collection/art-object-page.86066.html),

Size: (sheet) 27.8 x 20.3 cm; (plate) 22.6 x 16.3 cm; (image borderline) 19.4 x 13.1 cm.

Inscribed in plate within the image borderline with the artist’s monogram: (lower right corner) “LB”.

Lettered on plate below the image borderline: (left) “: L. BONNAT PINX. & SCULP./ Gazette des Beaux-Arts.”; (centre) “LA LUTTE DE JACOB”; (right) “SALON DE 1876./ Imp. A. Salmon, Paris.”

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

Beraldi 3 (Henri Beraldi 1885, “Les Graveurs du XIXe Siècke; guide de l'amateur d'estampes modernes”, vol. 2, Paris, L Conquet, p. 162, cat. no. 3); IFF 1 (Bibliothèque nationale de France 1930–, “Inventaire du Fonds Français”, Paris, Bibliothèque Nationale, Départment des Estampes., p. 124, cat. no. 1).

Condition: a strong and well-printed (near faultless) impression in a near pristine condition with no tears, holes, folds, abrasions, significant stains or foxing.

I am selling this superb etching of Bonnat's painting exhibited in the Paris Salon in the same year that this etching was executed (1876), for the total cost of AU$288 (currently US$192.50/EUR174.17/GBP153.32 at the time of posting this print) 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 visually arresting, but small, etching illustrating the Biblical verses describing Jacob’s night-long fight with an angel (Book of Genesis, chapter 32, verses 24–30)—a fight leading to the dislocation of Jacob’s thigh and the angel’s blessing of Jacob with the name “Israel” and the current Jewish tradition of not eating the sinew of the thigh (my apologies for all inaccuracies), 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