Bernard Picart's etching, “Orpheé tué par les Baccantes”, 1724, after Poussin

Bernard Picart (1673–1733)

“Orpheé tué par les Baccantes” (Orpheus killed by the Bacchantes), 1724 (as dated in plate), after Nicolas Poussin (1594–1665), plate 43 in the series, “Impostures Innocentes, ou Recueil d'estampes d'après divers peintres illustres”, published in Amsterdam by Picart’s widow (chez la Veuve B. Picart) in 1734.

Etching on wove paper with a pale plate tone and printed in sienna coloured ink.

Size: (sheet) 27.8 x 42.5 cm; (plate) 20.6 x 33.4 cm; (image borderline) 19.1 x 32.4 cm.

Numbered in plate: (upper right corner) “43”.

Lettered in plate below the image borderline: (left) “N. Poussin pinxit, B. Picart sculpsit 1724.”; (centre) “Orpheé tué par les Baccantes. Ovid. metam. livr. XI.”

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

LeBlanc 83 (J.Ch. Brunet & Ch. Leblanc 1854[–1889], “Manuel de l'amateur d'estampes, contenant un dictionnaire des graveurs de toutes les nations: ouvrage destiné à faire suite au Manuel du libraire”, vol. 3, Paris, p. 192, cat. no. 83).

The British Museum offers the following description of this print (not reproduced): “Death of Orpheus, after Nicolas Poussin; Bacchanalia set in a landscape, with, in the middleground, a group of Bacchantes gathered before Orpheus, who lies on the ground and seems to be imploring them; in the foreground, women drinking at centre, and two women with thyrsus standing at right. 1724 Etching” (https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/object/P_1861-1109-785).

The Rijksmuseum offers the following description of this print: (transl.) “The maenads of Ciconia kill Orpheus after he loses Eurydice. During a bacchanal they beat him with sticks and stones” (http://hdl.handle.net/10934/RM0001.COLLECT.303447).

Condition: a very strong and well-printed impression with generous margins. Beyond minor surface marks and age-toning in the margins, the sheet is in an excellent condition with no tears, holes, folds, abrasions or significant stains.

I am selling this stunningly beautiful etching of a Bacchanalian gathering of Thracian women (Maenads) shown drinking and dancing before they ultimately kill and tear apart love-sick Orpheus, for the total price of AU$226 (currently US$148.40/EUR137.12/GBP117.10 at the time of posting 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 superb etching, 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