Helmut H. Rumbler: Catalogue 53 /2019/ (En)

Catalogue 53

2019

PEEP BOX

Catalogue 53 2019

KU NST H A N DLU NG

H E L M U T H . RU M B L E R OW N E R : PET R A RU M BL E R

6 0 31 3 F R A N K F U R T A M M A I N · G O E T H E S T R A S S E 2 P H O N E + 4 9 (0 ) 6 9 - 2 9 11 4 2 · FA X + 4 9 (0 ) 6 9 - 2 8 9 9 7 5 d r w e i s @ b e h a m 3 5 . d e · w w w . h e l m u t r u m b l e r. c o m

ANNE ALLEN Ca. 1749/50

1 Nouvelle Suite de Cahiers arabesque chinois a l’usage des Dessinateurs et des Peintres.

London – (?) after 1808

Ca. 1798

After J. Pillement

Series of 4 sheets (title sheet missing). Etching printed in colors “à la poupée.”

Each ca. 19.3 x 14.0 cm Guilmard p. 189; Inventaire du Fonds Français. Graveurs du XVIIIeme siècle, tome I, p. 153, no. 3; M. Gordon-Smith, Pillement, Craców 2006, ills. 291–29 (the present exemplars) Provenance: Maria Gordon-Smith

Certainly the most visual, colorful and imaginative series of Pillement’s new chinoiseries.

(M. Gordon-Smith) The complete series, except for the title sheet, of unquestionably the most charming chinoiseries which A. Allen etched and printed in colors after designs by her then future husband, and printed congenially in colors using plates dyed ‘à la poupée,’ entirely in the spirit of his airy, delicate, watercolored sketches in colored chalk.

Three sheets with the still uncut, wide paper margins and old traces of stitching above; one sheet cut just within the platemark, but nonetheless including the entire depiction, with traces of an earlier mounting visible along the edges on the reverse.

Even as individual sheets, Allen’s etchings are of the greatest rarity.

All sheets from the private collection of Maria Gordon-Smith, the author of the most recent monograph on J. Pillement, in which all of these prints are illustrated, and hence particularly well authenticated.

In contrast to the three Nouvelle Suite de Cahiers chinois, etched by Allen, which are clearly shaped by Pillement’s designs from the 1770s, the compositions of the present Suite de Cahiers arabesque chinois are clearly derived from the early chinoiseries etched in London by the artist himself, which were published by John June in 1756 under the title A New Book of Chinese Designs and by Robert Sayer under the title A New Book of Chinese Ornaments in 1757.

They show Pillement at his most outrageously imaginative best; witty and funny, more joyful and charming, and, if possible, even more skillful than ever before. For her part, Anne Allen’s masterful proficiency in the art of etching ‘à la poupée’ created small jewel-like masterpieces with brilliant choices and associations of colors… (M. Gordon-Smith)

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ANON YMOUS 16TH-CENTURY GERMAN ARTIST

2 The Great Crucifixion. Circa 1570–1600 Engraving, 31.4 x 22.4 cm Passavant 109/I (of II); Dodgson 107. Second plate/II; Meder 225. 2 nd plate/II; Hollstein 25th copy/II; Schoch-Mende-Scherbaum A3. copy /II Watermark: double eagle with imperial orb and attached shield with the letter ‘E’ (Meder Wz. 236) Provenance: duplicate exemplar from the Albertina (Lugt 5e and 5h)

This rare composition, long a topic of controversy among Dürer researchers, in a quite beautiful, tonally rich impression from the second plate. Without the artist’s monograph on the right below the cross.

As mentioned specifically by Meder, printed on paper with the double-eagle watermark (Meder Wz. 236). With extremely fine margins around the platemark.

In a f lawless state of preservation.

First referred to as a work from Dürer’s own hand in Sandrart 1679, the Great ­C rucifixion has remained a subject of scholarly controversy ever since. Unmentioned by Bartsch, it entered the master’s oeuvre through Passavant. Meder ­follows him, with a reference to the work’s similarity to proofs of Adam and Eve…, as well as the precise use of available drawings. Panofsky even regarded it as one of the most ­complex of Dürer’s compositions.

As early as 1887 (Jahrbuch der Königlich Preußischen Kunstsammlungen, 8. vols. 1887, pp. 56 –66), J. Springer disagreed, identifying the engraving as the work of a ­compiler, who devised the compositional outline during the second half of the 16th century using drawings by Dürer then still accessible in Nuremberg. It was also Springer who, on the basis of the Berlin copy, first established the existence of a second copper plate which preceded the version described by Passavant.

Among the various minimal deviations, the dot at the center of the concentric circle on the church tower on the left represents the most conspicuous criterion for distinguishing the two. It is missing from the first version, where the circle, moreover, is not closed.

Most recently, M. Mende takes up and validates Springer’s argument, concluding that: The “Great Crucifixion” is one of a series of prints that paraphrase Dürer, and­ which were produced beginning around 1530 for a receptive European market. Dürer’s plates, many of which had worn out already during his lifetime, could not satisfy the ­g rowing demand for his engravings. Copyists enjoyed a boom. The most skillful among them invented new “Dürer engravings”… The acceptance of a so-called Dürer Renaissance around 1600, centered in the courts in Prague and Munich, is now obsolete. In truth, we see an astounding continuity in Dürer reception, beginning with Dürer’s death, and ending with the outbreak of the Thirty Years’ War. The center of Dürer copying was Nuremberg.

The Dürer drawings that were integrated into this composition were found in the art ­collection of Willibald Imhoff the Elder (1519–1580), which incorporated the Dürer in­ventory of his grandfather, Willibald Pirckheimer.

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ANON YMOUS 16TH-CENTURY NETHERLANDISH ARTIST

3 Allegory of Transience – QUIS EVADET? Ca. 1590 After H. Goltzius, after Ag. Caracci (?)

Engraving, 21.8 x 16.0 cm Bartsch III, 98, 11; Hollstein (after Goltzius) 488; T.I.B. 3 commentary, p. 346, no. 0302.011; New Hollstein (Prints after Inventions by Goltzius) 529/I (of II) Watermark: Adler (New Hollstein [Muller] eagle watermark 6) Provenance: K ing Frederick August II of Saxony (Lugt 971) R. Weigel, Dresden, auction of November 17, 1856 and the following days, no. 476 The striking memento mori in an excellent early impression, prior to later inser­ tion of the address of Visscher.

With 5 mm paper margins around the platemark. Flawless and pristine apart from isolated pale brown f lecks.

Behind this composition, published by Goltzius and engraved by one of his ­students, Bartsch hypothesized the existence of a printed model by Agostino ­C arracci, which has however never been identified. For Hirschmann, the characteristic splayed position of the legs of the bubble-blowing putto suggested an ­i nspiration by Titian’s little tambourine player, which was engraved by J. Matham around 1595 (New Hollstein 165). The composition may however go back to ­G oltzius himself.

Here, unlike Goltzius’s bubble blower of 1594 (New Hollstein 128), the boy does not support himself on a death’s head as he contemplates the fate of the iridescent spheres he has just sent aloft. He almost gives the impression of wanting, full of energy, to ride the half-decayed, macabre skull, or even leap over it in order to chase after his creations as they rise into the air. He fails to recognize that these forms – identified as ‘nihel’ – are in reality nothing, nor does he heed the ­c autionary admonitory verse found along the lower edge of the sheet: Who will escape?

In an instant, this life passes away, conquered by certain death, like smoke, soap bubbles, and blossoms. Why then do we – we fools! – trust in younger years, why do we not choose­ to die of our own accord before our time! When the shackles of flattering flesh have been shaken off, as long as life lasts, the spirit hurries after death with voluntary steps toward the stars, where a dwelling place has already been erected for it, and the celestial multi­tudes ­recognize their residents.

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ANONYMOUS 17TH-CENTURY NETHERLANDISH ARTIST 1586 Amsterdam 1652 CAES JANSZ. VISSCHER (?)

4 Judith with the Head of Holofernes. Ca. 1610 After C. van Sichem I after H. Goltzius

Etching. 13.4 x 10.1 cm Bartsch III, 126, 1, copy (without Goltzius’s monogram); Hollstein /C. van Sichem I 131 copy 2; Bialler, Chiaroscuro Woodcuts 58, copy d/I (of IIb); New Hollstein (Prints after Inventions by Goltzius) 396, copy c/II Provenance: C hevallier J. Camberlyn (Lugt 514) Gustave Francotte (Lugt 3196)

Excellent, homogenous, deep black impression.

Labeled l. 3. along the upper edge of the composition, which was included in this form in DEN GROOTEN EMBLEMATA SACRA …, published in Amsterdam by Jan Philipsz. Schabaelje in 1654.

Cut down to the platemark or with extremely fine margins around it.

This etching, which the Metropolitan Museum in New York attributes to Claes Jansz. Visscher, is regarded by Bartsch as a reversed copy after C. van Sichem I’s woodcut after a lost drawing by Goltzius, while Bartsch mentions a state prior to the master’s monogram that is no longer traceable today. Only N. Bialler, who was the first to distinguish two states (with the two markings “l.z.” and “HG” referring to the first state, and “HG” alone referring to the second state, which exists with impressions on blue paper as well), assumed that the anonymous etcher himself had direct recourse to a model by Goltzius. Nonetheless, he emphasizes – like Bartsch before him – the etching’s woodcut-like character: The relationship between the woodcut and the etching in reverse is particularly intriguing. The etching is well-executed and the impressions on blue paper look deceptively like Van Sichem’s and Goltzius’s woodcuts on blue paper.

Recently, M. Leesberg convincingly revised the accepted chronology between the two states, but erroneously identified the sheet as a copy of the coarse, somewhat more narrowly framed woodcut copy which C. van Sichem II produced based on a sheet by his father.

Goltzius was preoccupied at various times with the subject of Judith and Holofernes, as documented by the drawings in Amsterdam (R. 19) and Sacramento (R. 20), as well as by Saenredam’s engraving (Hollstein 7) of circa 1600.

The present composition is however quite different in style and relates to a group of works modeled on Lucas van Leyden… (N. Bialler)

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HANS BALDUNG GRIEN

1484/85 Gmünd (Swabia) – Strasbourg 1545

5 The Body of Christ Carried by Angels towards Heaven. Ca. 1515/17 Woodcut. 22.1 x 15.5 cm Bartsch 43; Hollstein 56; exhib. cat. Hans Baldung Grien, Karlsruhe 1959, no. 15; Geisberg/Strauss 82; Mende 39 Watermark: small curved coat-of-arms of Augsburg with pine cone and attached letter “A” (cf. Briquet 2117 et seqq.)

Provenance: private collection, Southwest Germany

H. Baldung’s daring vision of the heavenly lamentation over the dead Redeemer in a very fine impression that already shows (as so often) a few small gaps at the edges and an incipient crack in the printing block on the left in the gloriole of God the Father.

According to J. Lauts, completely flawless exemplars of individual compositions… are apparently very rare… The woodcuts produced since 1510 already show cracks, gaps, and other breaches even in relatively early impressions… The comparatively good printing quality of many exemplars with wormholes suggests that a number of Baldung’s woodblocks were reprinted after extended periods of disuse.

Printed on the same paper as the impression in the Augustinermuseum, Freiburg.

With fully visible borderline and tiny margin beyond. In a pristine state of preser­ vation.

Probably the artist’s most revolutionary devotional work. In a way that is without precedent iconographically, the ascension of the dead Christ to heaven, effected by angels, undoubtedly alludes to traditional types such as the pietà with angels or the mercy seat .

In his Trinity woodcut of 1511, Dürer had already combined the two subjects with marvelous results (Meder 187). In this composition, however, Baldung leaves ­a rtistic convention far behind. With great dramatism and vigor, he uses extreme foreshortening and an unconventional perspective to stage the effortful transport of the maltreated corpse by the little winged beings towards heaven, where God the Father in glory awaits his dead son. One almost has the impression that the weighty, lifeless body, the head thrown back, is about to slip from their grasp and fall back to earth . Simultaneously an image of earthy suffering and celestial glory: This unresolved juxtaposition of the vision of a cosmic heaven and the harsh reality of Christ’s ignominious death constitutes the expressive core of the print; by boldly accentuat­ ing the inherent contradiction between Christ’s divine nature and his suffering humanity, Baldung gives visual form to one of the central mysteries of the Christian faith. (L. Jacobs)

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HANS BALDUNG GRIEN

1484/85 Gmünd (Swabia) – Strasbourg 1545

6 St. Jerome in the Desert. Ca. 1511 Woodcut. 22.1 x 15.5 cm Bartsch 35; Hollstein 118; exhib. cat. Hans Baldung Grien, Karlsruhe 1959, no. 52; Geisberg/Strauss 106; Mende 23 Watermark: small, curved Augsburg coat of arms with pineapple and attached letter “A” (cf. Briquet 2117 et seqq.)

Provenance: C . G. Boerner, Düsseldorf, Neue Lagerliste 43, 1966, no. 29 Private collection, southern Germany

Very fine impression of this rare composition.

As usual, already with small marginal gaps and incipient wormholes on the printing block, which have been carefully retouched in the present exemplar.

According to E. Brochhagen and J. Lauts, completely flawless exemplars of individual compositions…are apparently very rare…The woodcuts produced beginning in 1510 already show cracks, gaps and other breaches even in relatively early impressions…The comparatively good printing quality of many exemplars with wormholes suggests that a number of Baldung’s woodblocks were reprinted after extended periods of disuse.

Printed on the same paper as the impression in the Augustinermuseum, Freiburg.

With 2–3 mm margins around the framing line. Except for two short, unobtrusive marginal tears, in an excellent state of pristine preservation.

The largest of the woodcuts the artist devoted to Saint Jerome around 1511. In contrast to the two smaller ones, Baldung relies here on dramatically exaggerated landscape forms with rugged, closely configured rocks and wildly overhanging trees that are lashed by the wind in order to strikingly convey the sense of oppression experienced by the church father. Gesticulating furiously, the saint is afflicted by nagging temptations, and chastises himself in the presence of the Cross, which hangs on the wall of rock, while the lion satisfies its thirst at the babbling alpine brook in the foreground – a typical specimen of expressive art from the period about 1500.

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FEDERICO BAROCCI

Ca. 1535 Urbino 1612

7 Madonna and Child in the Clouds. Ca. 1581 Etching and engraving. 15.4 x 10.9 cm Bartsch 2; exhib. cat. Italian Etchers of the Renaissance & Baroque, Boston, 1989, no. 43 Provenance: D uke of Devonshire, Chatsworth Settlement Christie’s, London, Sale on December 5, 1985, no. 126 C. G. Boerner, Neue Lagerliste 85, 1986, no. 47 Private Collection, Germany

Superb early impression of this extremely rare composition.

Especially brilliant in the sooty blacks, which produce almost burr-like effects in the overbitten dark areas. The foul biting at the lower left and right corners still printing prominently – an additional and significant indication of an early impression.

With 3–4 mm margins around the inky platemark.

One of only four etchings by this artist, whose conceptual and technical strengths set essential new standards for Italian seventeenth-century printmaking.

The design, lighting concept, and modeling of the figures are excellent, and the suggestion of space and atmosphere is well conveyed. The free and joyous draftsmanship of the print is never codified or uniform. The light stippling of the flesh is delicate and effective. Barocci was suggestive rather than explicit; for example, in the contours of the right hand of the Child, raised in blessing, he employed dots as well as line. The overall effect is painterly and suggests color. (S. Welsh Reed)

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CORNELIS BEGA

1631/32 Haarlem 1664

8 The Mother Seated in an Inn. Ca. 1660 Etching. 15.3 x 12.0 cm Dutuit and Hollstein 31/I (of II)

Brillant early impression of the charming composition, especially appealing due to its unfinished state. Prior to the reworking of the white spaces on the woman’s right eye and bodice, as well as in front of the child’s hair. The spots on the leg of the seated peasant and in the foreground are still distinctly visible.

With 4 mm paper margins around the platemark, itself preserved without f lattening. In a pristine, fresh state of preservation.

Rarely so beautiful.

According to Coenen, the only unfinished composition among the artist’s larger etchings. The upper part is fully finished, whereas the lower half shows only the rough outlines and contours of figures and objects. Unfinished and incomplete etchings like the present one shed intriguing light on Bega’s practice. As usual, he worked from the background towards the foreground, drawing the contours first and etching them ­s ystematically before, finally, adding hatching lines to shadowed areas.

(B. Coenen in: exhib. cat. Cornelis Bega. Eleganz und raue Sitten, Aachen/Berlin 2012, p. 55)

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HANS SEBALD BEHAM

9 Nessus and Dejanira.

1500 Nuremberg – Frankfurt am Main 1550

Ca. 1531–55

Engraving. 7.2 x 5.2 cm Bartsch 108 copy (Bartsch confuses original and copy); Pauli and Hollstein 110 Provenance: Karl Krauskopf (not in Lugt)

Brilliant impression of this extremely rare, erotic composition. Of the most beautiful clarity and transparency, so that the brilliant softness in the use of the burin specifically emphasized by Pauli achieves a pitch of perfection. With great effectiveness in the use of graphic resources, Dejanira’s nude body is subtly modeled through a precisely observed play of light and shadow. The conspicuously pure tone of the paper allows the untreated, brightly illuminated areas of her skin to shine forth in a particularly seductive manner in sharp contrast to the deeply shadowed form of the brutish Nessus. Cut down to the platemark or with very fine margins beyond it. A small, inconspicuous area at the lower left corner has been retouched with a pen – an insignificant detail in view of the superlatives quality and beauty of this impression.

Beham’s Nessus and Dejanira represents a radical break with the iconographic tradition based on the story, drawn from Greek mythology, of the violent rape of Hercules’s wife by a centaur. While avoiding all illusions to the violent act itself, Beham interprets the encounter between this dissimilar pair as an Arcadian, bucolic love scene in which Nessus has, correctly, been given the form of a satyr, toward whom Dejanira turns lovingly.

STEFANO DELLA BELLA

1610 Florence 1664

10 Divers Paysages. Ca. 1643/ 46 Series of 12 sheets. Etching, each 11.2–12.2 x 25.7–25.9 cm De Vesme – Massar 757–768/II Watermark: coat of arms with 3 lilies and suspended Maltese cross; countermark heart between an “A” and an “M” (cf. exhib. cat. Jacques Callot…, Washington DC 1975, p. 330, dates there Nancy or Paris, 1625–1635)

The complete series, only very rarely complete, in a homogenous set of splendid impressions of the highest quality.

All with paper margins measuring 2–5 cm.

Della Bella’s most extensive series of landscapes, published by Israel Henriet and produced during the artist’s stay in Paris (1639–50), nonetheless displays unmis­ takably Italian locales which are related to the gentle formations of the Campania.

Populated by shepherds, travelers, hunters, and fishermen, along with the architectural evidence of human civilization and history, these landscapes succeed in unifying the remote in the proximate in a balanced fashion, conveying a richly varied impression of meditative luminosity and a tranquil summertime atmos­ phere.

Observable here in the loveliest way is the etching style so characteristic of della Bella, which is closely comparable to that of Callot (cf. his “Diverse Vedute…”).

Light as a feather yet at the same time meticulous, he repeatedly evokes the impression of f luent brushwork, employing his delicate manner to allow the ­shapes of the trees, their crowns swaying in the wind, some enveloped in deep shadows, others by gleaming sunlight, to assume form in an exceedingly sensual manner.

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WILLEM VAN BEMMEL

1630 Utrecht – Wöhrd near Nuremberg 1708

11 The Angler. 1654 Etching. 19.2 x 13.2 cm Wurzbach and Hollstein 1/II Watermark: HK beneath a coat of arms (?)

Provenance: King Frederick August II of Saxony (Lugt 971)

The first composition from a series of six landscapes published by W. van B ­ emmel in 1654.

With the borderline, as described by Wurzbach and Hollstein for the second state (to date, no exemplar has been identified that lacks the edging line).

Of the greatest rarity, like all of the etchings of van Bemmel, whose print oeuvre consists of only nine etched landscapes; missing even from Amsterdam.

Cut down to the platemark. In a state of immaculate freshness.

Like the other landscapes in the cycle, this atmospherically attractive landscape with an angler, characterized by its sketchy style and light etching technique, ­d isplays clear traces of the work of H. Saftleven, who is generally regarded as van Bemmel’s teacher. In its function as a title sheet (and in contrast to the other members of the series), it has been signed along the lower border in mirror ­reversed writing with the artist’s name and dated 1654. At this point in time, van Bemmel was presumably still in the service of Landgrave Ernst I of Hessen-Rheinfels-Rotenburg. Shortly thereafter, he seems to have embarked ­ upon an extended trip to Italy, before settling finally in Nuremberg in 1662, where he was known as a fürtrefflicher (excellent) landscape painter (Sandrart).

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JAN DE BISSCHOP

1628 Amsterdam – The Hague 1671

12 Joseph Distributing Grain in Egypt. Before 1648?

After B. Breenbergh

Etching. 40.4 x 69.3 cm Hollstein 1/II (of III); Roethlisberger 204, Engravings 2 Watermark: crowned Strasbourg lily Provenance: P. Mariette 1669 (Lugt 1789 and 1790)

Excellent early impression of the monumental composition, before the later address of P. Schenck. Brilliantly deep black and, through the emphasized plate tone, of superb atmospheric charm.

With 4–5 mm margins around the tonally distinct platemark. Considering the size of the sheet, in a state of remarkably beautiful preservation aside from minor, unnoticeable blemishes along the edges.

Thanks to its dramaturgical tension and scenic possibilities, the episode from the legend of Joseph that tells of the distribution of grain during the seven years of famine in Egypt (transmitted in Genesis) was a popular subject for biblical ­h istory painting during the 17th century. Breenbergh’s version of the subject, a painting dating from 1644 which fell victim to the bombing of Dresden in 1945, is among the artist’s most inf luential pictorial inventions, and the artist himself contributed to its celebrity with his own etching (Hollstein 30). According to Roethlisberger, Bisschop’s etching – which has the same dimensions – may have been executed even before 1648, at a time when the young artist still belonged to the master’s workshop. Unlike Breenbergh, Bisschop used only a single copper plate for his etching, and mastered the commensurately greater technical ­challenge quite brilliantly .

In a piece of revealing propagandistic juxtaposition, the caption quotes chapter 42 of Genesis: “For there was famine in the land of Canaan. But Joseph was the governor over the land and he it was that sold grain to all the people of the land,” as well as an aphorism from J. Lipsius’s De una religione Liber of 1591, according to which the sovereign counts as an image and example of God on earth, and bears responsibility , as the highest authority, for welfare and life. Joseph is stylized as the prototype of the good ruler, who, with wisdom and foresight stores enough grain to distribute to the starving people during times of famine.

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FERDINAND BOL

13 St. Jerome.

1616 Dordrecht – Amsterdam 1680

1644

Etching and drypoint. 28.4 x 24.5 cm Bartsch, Rovinski 3; Dutuit 3/I (of II) and Hollstein 3/I-II (of III) Watermark: crowned Strasbourg lily Provenance: R. Dighton (Lugt 727) Dr. A. Edler von Marenzeller (Lugt 790) Albert Kende, Vienna, auction of April 25, 1905 and following days, no. 229

Excellent early impression, still with the uncleaned upper spandrels of the plate, which are however preserved here only as a narrow border measuring 3 mm around the upper semicircular framing line, an indication nonetheless of the striking initial irregularities of the plate. With the only weakly etched date “1644” behind the signature “f Bol fe.”

Subtle in the rendering of finely differentiated luminous ref lections, in particular in the brightly lit skin areas of the saint, where extremely fine dotting due to the porous etching ground tempers contrasts, endowing the composition with unsurpassably beautifully atmospheric effects.

In an impeccable state of preservation aside from a single carefully repaired small tear in upper middle area.

Rembrandtesque not just in the composition itself, which appears to be closely related to Rembrandt’s Jerome of 1632 (B. 101), but also with regard to chiaroscuro effects, to the broad spectrum of hatchings, and the dynamic use of line: The contours of Saint Jerome’s head and upper body are very lightly etched and meld with the lightly shaded wall of the cave behind him, evoking a soft pool of light. On the unworked areas of the saint’s body a fine, irregular tone is visible, apparently resulting from the porosity of the etching ground. This granular tone forms an integral part of the delicate gradations of greys and the concentration on tone rather than on line that characterizes the print. Hercules Segers frequently used a porous ground that left an irregular tone on the plate, which he retained and which furthered the painterly aims of his etchings. In the 1640s Rembrandt repeatedly made use of such a granular bitten tone in a surprisingly controlled manner. (C. S. Ackley)

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FR ANÇOIS BONVIN

1817 Vaugirard – Saint-Germain-en-Laye 1887

14 Graveur, effet de lampe. 1861 Etching and drypoint. 21.6 x 162 cm Béraldi 2.4; IFF, Après 1800, vol. III, p. 137; no. 9 Watermark: ARC…

Charming studio scene showing an etcher at his work.

Beautiful, highly contrastive impression. The drypoint work on the lampshade still clearly visible.

With full margins (sheet dimensions: 44.3 x 30.9 cm). With a crease mark along the extreme right margin above left and an area of reddish discoloration well outside of the scene itself.

Produced immediately before the founding of the Société des Aquafortistes, this composition was first published by Delâtre in 1861 as the fourth sheet of a series of six etchings by the artist.

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RODOLPHE BRESDIN

1822 Montrelais – Sèvres 1885

15 La Baigneuse et le Temps. 1857 Lithograph. 16.0 x 11.1 cm Van Gelder 89º; Préaud, exhib. cat. Rodolphe Bresdin…, Paris 2000, no. 134

A marvelous, deep black impression of incomparable quality.

Printed on white chine collé, which emphasizes the composition’s strong light/ dark contrasts and accentuates the figure of the bathing woman in particular.

With full, c. 4 cm margins. Pristine and fresh, in a perfect state of preservation.

Cette lithographie constitue, sur le plan technique, un des dessins à la plume sur pierre les plus raffinés de Bresdin. (D. van Gelder)

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RODOLPHE BRESDIN

1822 Montrelais – Sèvres 1885

16 La Baigneuse et la Mort. 1857 Lithograph. 15.9 x 11.1 cm Van Gelder 90º; Préaud, exhib. cat. Rodophe Bresdin…, Paris 2000, no. 135

Also an incomparably, beautiful, deep black impression.

Printed on white chine collé, which highlights the strong contrasts marvelously.

With full, c. 4 cm margins. Pristine and fresh, in an absolutely perfect state of preservation.

A. Peters comments: Despite the macabre subject, both this and the previous composition are bright, light-flooded scenes that show a radiant young woman in brilliant light being threatened by the figure of Death with an hourglass and scythe who is finally carried off in the second plate, it was Bresdin’s intention that they form… a diptych. They are among the most delicate, technically refined pen and ink drawings on stone (as Bresdin was fond of referring to his lithographs).

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FÉLIX-HILAIRE BUHOT

1847 Valonges – Paris 1898

17 Un Grain à Trouville. 1874 Etching, drypoint, and aquatint. 15.9 x 23.8 cm Bourcard 122/II-III (of IV); Bourcard-Goodfriend 122/IV (of VII) Watermark: ARC Provenance: Paul Sachs (Lugt 2113)

Excellent, burry impression of a print state that still remained unknown to Bourcard, with the number “276” at the upper right.

Prior to the publication of this sheet by A. Cadart in L’llustration Nouvelle on ­February 1, 1875.

Exquisite impression of an incident of freak weather witnessed by Buhot on a beach at Trouville on August 4, 1874.

In his snapshot-style composition, its furious tangle of lines forming a coherent system, and in keeping with the drama of the event, Buhot concentrates first on the group of f leeing people, compressed together to form a web of sharply ­contrasting patches of light and shadow, within which individuals are barely ­d istinguishable, and secondly on the cloud formations that signal the approach of the storm on the right.

In this impression, the mercurial quality of this cheerful summer atmosphere, capable of shifting dramatically in the blink of an eye, is brilliantly reinforced by the tone that has been left on the plate, and in a way that is particularly desirable for this composition. Becoming intensified almost imperceptibly from left to right, it endows the still gleaming sunlight with a gossamer-fine atmosphere, ­w hile additionally muting the contrasts in an effective way in the menacing, dark clouds, which are underlain subtly with aquatint.

With full margins, with the deckle edge of a sheet of paper, only half of which was used, preserved on three sides. Impeccably fresh and radiant.

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HANS BURGKMAIR

1473 Augsburg 1531

18 St. Elizabeth Spinning. Ca. 1510 Woodcut 17.3 x 12.3 cm Bartsch 28; Dodgson II, p. 80, no. 24; Burkhard 90.3; Hollstein 278; Falk Hans Burgkmair.

Das Graphische Werk, exhib. cat., Augsburg, 1973, no. 45 with ill. 63 Provenance: C . G. Boerner, Düsseldorf, Neue Lagerliste 64, 1974, no. 18 Private collection, Southwest Germany

Excellent, uniformly printed impression.

As always, with the text on the reverse: Die gaistlich Spinnerin nach dem Exempel der hailigen wittib Elizabeth / wie sy an ainer gaistigen gunckel / flachs und woll gespunnen hat Geprediget durch den wirdigen Doctor Johannem Gayler von Kaiserßberg. [The sacred spinner according to the example of the saintly widow Elizabeth / how she spun flax and wool / on a sacred spindle, preached by the worthy Doctor Johannem Gayler of Kaiserßberg.]

With ca. 5 mm paper margins around the framing line. In a f lawless, fresh state of preservation.

Burgkmair created this composition as the title woodcut for the third part of­ Das Buch Granatapfel (The Pomegranate Book), a collection of sermons by the Strasbourg preacher Johann Geiler von Kaysersberg, whose first edition was ­printed in 1510 by Johann Ottmar. It shows St. Elizabeth with her nine servants at their distaffs. This activity is a reference to the legend according to which Elisabeth of Thuringia wove the garments of the order as a sign of humility. For the members of the nobility, manual labor was regarded as scandalous, and the coat of arms at her feet alludes to her noble status… In an eight-part cycle of sermons delivered in 1502 to the Strasbourg nuns of St. Catherine’s, Geiler concentrates on what Elisabeth was “engaged in spinning spiritually in her cell, and how a devout person should spin,” which is to say, should ­e ngage in “serious contemplation of divine and spiritual things.” Geiler distinguishes three kinds of people, who work at three types of distaffs (“gunckeln”), an allusion to three differ­ ent ways of life: the wise virgins surrender entirely to God, spinning flax on a consecrated distaff. The others, the ones who have fallen prey to mortal sin, are assigned the carnival distaff. The third group strives to restrict their human needs as far as possible in favor of asceticism: they spin hemp on the “common distaff.” The distaff itself alludes to Christ, whose Passion is recommended in particular by Geiler as a subject for meditation.­ (T. Schwarz in: exhib. cat., Zu Dürers Zeiten, Freiburg 1991, p. 43)

47

WILLEM PIETERSZ. BUY TEWECH

1591/92 Rotterdam 1624

19 Two Ruins. (Huys te Kleef near Haarlem). Ca. 1616 Etching. 8.9 x 12.3 cm Van der Kellen and Hollstein 37/probably II (of III); Haverkamp Begemann vG 23/­probably II (of III) Watermark: foolscap (fragment) Provenance: A. P. van den Briel (Lugt 407a)

One of only three landscapes with ruins from Buytewech’s famous series “ Verscheyden Lantschapjes” in an excellent, delicately toned impression of ­ superb atmospheric charm. With the artist’s monogram and the number “3.”

Rare, like all of this artist’s landscapes, which combine fresh observations of nature with an individual feel for the ornamental value of line in a characteristic way.

With ca. 1.5 cm margins. Impeccable and pristine.

Buytewech’s vision of the ruins of the Huys te Kleef is simpler and more dramatic than ­V isscher’s animated view in the “Pleasant Places” series. The horizon line is low, on the viewer’s eye level, and we enter directly into a continuously flowing landscape space that extends to the distant dunes. The dramatic silhouetting of the ruins against the sky, with its subtle suggestion of a sunset atmosphere, is intensified by the low horizon line. ­B uytewech has chosen to see the ruins from another angle than Visscher, emphasizing their desolation by isolating them and reducing the living human presence to a single, small anonymous figure at the lower left, a peasant with his burden trudging homeward. This figure is so well integrated into the fabric of the landscape as to be almost invisible on first viewing. One of the most quietly radical aspects of Buytewech’s series is that landscapes are either totally devoid of human figures or, more frequently, populated by only a single figure so unified with the landscape as to seem part of it. (C. S. Ackley)

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19

20

MARCUS DE BY E

Ca. 1639 The Hague ca. 1690

20 Pig Sleeping in front of a Wooden Hut. 1657 After P. Potter

Etching. 11.5 x 13.7 cm Bartsch supplement and Hollstein 32h/before I (of III) Provenance: Karl Eduard von Liphart (Lugt 1687)

The very first printing state, which remains undescribed to date: prior to the reinforcement of the framing line and prior to the azure lines in the window-like opening in the wall boards behind which the feeding trough is visible. A directly comparable example is found in the British Museum (Museum number 1871,0812.1933), while both impressions from the first state in Amsterdam ­(RP-P-1893-A-18155 and RP-P-BI-5377) already display the reinforced framing line and the horizontal lines within the ‘window.’

Prior to the later addition of the number 8 above left.

With 4–5 mm paper margins around the tonally distinct plate mark.

Already in his early years, de Bye made a name for himself as an etcher of animal subjects. Serving him as models for the most part were drawings by P. Potter. The present composition, created when the artist was 18 years old, is based on a draw­ ing by Potter now in the British Museum (Museum number 1895,0915.1247).

D ating from the mid-1640s, it may already ref lect Potter’s familiarity with ­ ­R embrandt’s etching, dating from 1643, of a lying pig that is bound and about to be slaughtered (B. 157). Absent from Potter’s drawing however is any allusion to the creature’s imminent and violent demise. This sleeping animal, which lies in the light of the midday sun, is the quintessence of the peaceful, rural idyll, which de Bye has rendered more picturesque and endowed with greater narrative sub­ stance via the addition of the feeding trough which is visible behind the board wall. De Bye’s composition may in turn have served as a source of inspiration for K. Dujardin’s depictions of pigs (Hollstein 15 and 16), produced just a few years later.

51

JACQUES CALLOT

1592 Nancy – 1635

21 Piazza Santa Croce. – View of the Festival. 1616 Etching. 22.5 x 30.0 cm Lieure 182//I (of II) Watermark: king’s head in a circle (Lieure wm. 21)

Superb early impression.

Still with prominent traces of the three horsemen at the end of the cavalry ­p arade,­which the artist erased from the plate, and which are entirely absent only from a few later impressions. This significant mark of distinction for early impressions was first described by J. Blanchard. Neither Meaume nor Lieure seem to have been aware of it.

Printed on paper with the watermark ‘king’s head in a circle,’ as specifically mentioned by Lieure for impressions from the first edition.

The largest of altogether six compositions executed by Callot to commemorate the culmination of the festivities on the occasion of the entry of Prince Federigo of Urbino, the fiancé of Claudia de Medici, into Florence in October 1616.

The culminating event of the visit was “The War of Beauty” on October 16, 1616, a great public display of princely wealth and power. The court diarist Cesare Tinghi estimated that twenty-five thousand people witnessed the event from balconies and rooftops encircling Piazza Croce as well as from the amphitheater…

The festival book for the “War of Beauty” may have served as a program distributed to guests of rank during the festivities themselves. The dedication to the Prince of Urbino by the poet Salvatori, dated October 8, suggests this interpretation. Conceivably Callot also made his prints before the performance, since the floats, costumes and formations had been planned in advance. But it is more likely that the etchings were issued afterwards and inserted as illustrations in some of the festival books… ( J. Blanchard)

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21

54

JACQUES CALLOT

1592 Nancy 1635

22 Balli di Sfesania. 1621 Series of 24 sheets. Etching. each ca. 7.0 x 9.4 cm Lieure 379/I (of III), 380–399/I (of II), 400/II (of III), 401–402/I (of III) Provenance: John Evelyn Christie’s , London, auction of June 29, 1977, no. 49 Kunsthandlung Helmut H. Rumbler, Catalogue 9, 1978, no. 28 Private collection, Brandenburg

A masterpiece produced at the zenith of the artist’s creative powers, unsurpassed with regard to its bizarre and grotesque features.

Uniformly excellent, deep black impressions, without exception extremely rare early states prior to the numbering and Silvestre’s address.

The complete series – from which single sheets are occasionally available on the art market.

Of considerable interest, moreover, is the nearly contemporary acquisition of ­t hese exemplars by the English collector John Evelyn (1620–1706) in Paris around 1645.

Evelyn was draughtsman an engraver and a lover of the belle lettres. He began ­collecting prints already as a young man at university. In 1644–45, the customary educational tour took him to Rome and Naples, where he became aware of the prints of Bellange, della Bella, and Callot. He repeatedly traveled to Paris to ­continue his studies.

In its present form, the series was kept by Evelyn in a collector’s album, which was preserved by his heirs. Some sheets have been trimmed to the platemark, and in some instances, just short of it. Four depictions have minimally mended edges, otherwise in a pristine state.

The effect intended by the artist – with the foreground figures, with their differentiated expressions, the lively middle ground scenery, and the finely and delicately etched backgrounds being fused into a harmonious unity – is only entirely e­ ffective in brilliant early impressions like the present ones.

The “Balli di Sfesania” were long regarded as depicting figures from Commedia dell’Arte, the Italian improvisational comedy. In contrast, Posener has reinterpreted the title as representing Neapolitan Moresca dancing.

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22

22

JACQUES CALLOT

23 Attack on a Coach.

1592 Nancy 1635

1633

Etching. 7.8 x 18.6 cm Lieure 1346/I (of III)

Plate 8 from the series “Grand Misères de la Guerre” Superb early impression before the text and the number.

With fine margins beyond the framing line and with the blank tablet in the lower margin respectively. Perfect.

Exceptionally rare.

In view of the horrors of the Thirty Years’ War, which were also present in Lorraine after its invasion by the troops of Louis XIII, Callot evidentially devoted his attention to the subject of the miseries of war on his own initiative – no commissioning client has been documented. While the so-called “Small Miseries of War” were published posthumously in 1636, Israel Henriet brought out the “Grand Misères de la Guerre” in Paris in 1633, the year Nancy was conquered by the troops of Cardinal Richelieu, and the king made his ceremonial entry into the city. …there is a focus in the “Large Miseries” on specific aspects of the lives and functions of some soldiers; namely, the depredations and consequent punishments of marauding soldiers and the injury and reduction to penury of soldiers in general, both represented in contrast to the more positive prefatory images of “The Recruitment” and “The Battle.” The horrific devastation of the Thirty Years’ War, which embroiled Europe in far greater destruction of civilians and their property than had ever been seen, provoked Callot and his audience to address issues of the conduct of war and the discipline of soldiers that had been gaining increased attention… Callot goes beyond the issue of military discipline, however, by addressing the plight of injured and destitute soldiers, the human jetsam of war. ( J. Clifton)

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61

JACQUES CALLOT

1592 Nancy 1635

24 La petite Passion. 1624 Series of 12 sheets. Etching. Each circa 7.8 x 5.5 cm Lieure 537/I (of III), 538–541/I (of II), 542/I (of III), 543–548/I (of II) Provenance: K unsthandlung Helmut H. Rumbler, catalogue 23, 1988, no. 17 Private collection, Brandenburg

The complete series – extrêmement fine et spirituelle ( J. Lieure) – in a splendid ­specimen of superior quality.

Regarded by Lieure as especially desirable, represented by first states throughout, since pour juger cette série, il faut la voire seulment dans les belles épreuves du 1er état contenant toutes les finesses.

In some cases still with pointed plate corners and inky platemarks respectively.

Evidently, early impressions of such consistent quality are extremely rare (Lieure 542, for ex.,is classified “RRRR” [De la plus grande rareté]).

Praised by Mariette as “une série des plus parfaites que Callot ait produites,” Callot’s Small Passion is set apart from the Great Passion by its greater depth and concentration, but compositionally as well. Singular and oft remarked is Callot’s recourse to German late Gothic and Renaissance art (Dürer, Altdorfer, Beham), as well as Dutch Mannerism, although he always succeeded in achieving new and independent results. Masterful as well is the ­a bundance of animated figures in such a small format. (E. Knab)

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24

24

ANTONIO CANAL called CANALETTO

1697 Venice 1768

25 The Portico with the Lantern. Ca. 1744 Etching. 30.1 x 43.1 cm De Vesme 10/II (of III); Bromberg 10/III; Montecuccoli degli Erri 10/3 0 stato Provenance: C . G. Boerner, Neue Lagerliste 67, 1976, no. 52 Private collection, Germany One of the most stunning etchings in the suite (B. Wallen) Splendid impression of one of the principal sheets of the series. With the n ­ otation “F F 4” at lower left within the image.

With 3.3 – 9.0 cm margins that show traces of earlier sewing at left. In a pristine, crisp state of preservation.

This impressive architectural capriccio is among the most mature compositions from the series, published by the leading master of the Venetian veduta in 1744 under the title “Vedute / Altre prese da Luoghi altre ideata.”

Canaletto dedicated this publication, which comprised his entire graphic œuvre, to Joseph Smith, a merchant banker living in Venice who had been the ambassador of the British Crown since 1744. As a collector of Canaletto’s works as well as his agent, Smith maintained a mutually beneficial relationship with the artist until the latter’s death.

These landscape views, executed beginning in 1735 – probably at Smith’s sugges­ tion – are not faithful recreations of Venetian scenes, but instead freely imagined creations based on places found in the Serenissima.

In a way that is characteristic of Canaletto, Venetian and classical Roman ­elements are fused together in the present composition to create an atmospherically charged image of the city on the lagoon.

In his relatively short career as a painter-etcher, Canaletto developed a highly original ­g raphic style that extended his artistic vision into unforeseen dimensions. Experimenting with informal approaches and new subjects, he evolved a lyrical view of Venice and the Veneto charged with tender nostalgia. The imaginary scenes waft us through a charming world freed from the restrictions of space and time. The etchings continue to seduce us with a rare essence distilled from the faded beauty of “La Serenissima” by one of her most talent­ ed native sons. (B. Wallen)

66

UGO DA CARPI ANDREA ANDREANI

1479 (?) Bologna 1532 ca. 1558/59 Mantua 1629

26 The Miraculous Draught of Fishes. Ca. 1525/1609 After Raphael

Chiaroscuro woodcut from three blocks. 23.9 x 34.7 cm Bartsch vol. XII, p. 37, no. 13/II; T.I.B., vol. 48, p. 39

The uncommonly painterly composition in a superb impression from three blocks in two gray tones and black. With the address of the publisher A. Andreani­ and the date, 1609.

This chiaroscuro woodcut, based on Raphael’s design for a tapestry in the Sistine Chapel, has traditionally been regarded as the work of Ugo da Carpi. Although no longer included by J. Johnson in the catalog of da Carpi’s colored woodcuts, the composition still figures in the exhibition catalogue, In Farbe! Clair-obscur-­ Holzschnitte der Renaissance (Vienna 2013), prepared by A. Gnann, as a work by da Carpi, and is not found, as occasionally in the recent literature, under the name N. Vicentino.

Andreani acquired the three printing blocks for The Miraculous Draught of Fishes and added his own monogram for the new edition of 1609, along with a reference to Raphael as the composition’s inventor, in black line block on the lower left. He cut out the tone block in this area, so that the monogram tablet appears white in the print. He then supplemented it above successively with a narrow strip before restructuring the area of the sky by cutting away the lines from the black line block that appeared pale when printed. In the black line block, he also supplemented the rear contour lines of the boat in which Jesus sits, which are missing from da Carpi.

With very fine margins. A vertical crease produced during printing hardly notice­ able; the deeply impressed relief of the printing blocks has been fully preserved without f lattening.

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26

GIOVANNI BENEDETTO CASTIGLIONE

27 Satyr Resting beneath a Herm.

1609 Genoa – Mantua 1665

Ca. 1645

Etching. 11.7 x 21.5 cm Bartsch 17/III; Bellini 11/II (of III); Percy E9; T.I.B. 46 Commentary, 017. S2 Provenance: collector’s initial ”S” (Lugt 2331) Kunsthandlung Helmut H. Rumbler, catalogue 17, 1986, no. 21 Private collection, Brandenburg

The lovely bucolic-lyric composition in a very fine impression, prior to the subsequent weakening of the azure lines.

With fine margins around the platemark. Formerly mounted along the edges in an old English collector’s album, and accordingly in a pristine state of preservation.

With regard to the chiaroscuroesque shadow effects and the painterly use of parallel hatchings, A. Percy rightly remarks on this print’s affinity with Rembrandt’s etchings.

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74

GIOVANNI BENEDETTO CASTIGLIONE

28 Pan Reclining before a Large Vase.

1609 Genoa – Mantua 1665

Ca. 1645

Etching. 11.5 x 21.2 cm Bartsch 18/III; Bellini 12; Percy E10; T.I.B. 46 Commentary, 018

Very fine impression of the lyric-bucolic composition.

With 5 mm margins around the platemark. Impeccable.

The etching was executed as counterpart to Castiglione’s Satyr Resting beneath a Herm. The large vase and the herm of Priapus are interpretable as symbols of female and male fertility, while the panpipes on which the reclining pastoral god rests his hand allude suggestively to his unrequited love for the nymph Syrinx.

Fleeing along the banks of the River Ladon from the drunken god, she is metamorphosed into reed grass, from which Pan forms the panpipes which he then names for her.

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29

GIOVANNI BENEDETTO CASTIGLIONE

1609 Genoa – Mantua 1665

29 Man with Long Beard and Feathered Headdress. Ca. 1645/50 Etching. 18.8 x 13.4 cm Bartsch 48; Bellini 41; TIB 46 commentary 048

Excellent deep-black impression of the most beautiful quality.

With 2–3 mm margins around the platemark. Impeccable.

This virtuoso study is part of a series of oriental character heads which Castiglione may have begun in Genoa, the greater part portion of which he however etched during his second stay in Rome during the years 1647–51. Found here ­correspondingly is his proud designation of origin: “GENOVESE,” which is rea­ sonably interpretable as referring to a stranger making a foreign sojourn.

Both thematically as well as with regard to etching technique, Castiglione has recourse here to Netherlandish models. Undeniable is the artist’s awareness­ of the so-called ‘tronies’ of Rembrandt and Lievens from the 1630s. As exemplary character studies featuring effective figures in Oriental costume, they soon reached Italy as well. It is well-known that Rembrandt’s etchings were ­a dmired in Italy beginning in the third decade of the 17th century. His inf luence on Castiglione’s work becomes conspicuous in particular during the 1750s, prompting S. Welsh Reed to propose a date of circa 1650 for this print.

77

GIOVANNI BENEDETTO CASTIGLIONE

1616 Genoa – Mantua 1665

30 The Discovery of the Bodies of Saints Peter and Paul Hidden in the Catacombs. Ca. 1650 Etching and drypoint. 39.7 x 20.4 cm Bartsch 14; Percy E. 21; Bellini 57; T.I.B. 46 Commentary 014 Watermark: lily Provenance: B ibliothèque Nationale, Paris [from the plundered possessions of the Jesuits in Cologne] (Lugt 612)

Splendid impression with notably beautiful burring effects and a rare wealth of vertical wipe marks, which further mute the sparse illumination of the nocturnal scene, lit only by torches.

Noticeable in comparison to other impressions is that in this exemplar, the foul biting along the left edge in the middle emerges more clearly, a possible indica­ tion that these areas were later reworked slightly by the artist.

Together with two additional scenes, this composition belongs to a series in which Castiglione attempts to depict nocturnal atmospheres with muted illumination. The result is a tonality that is generated by the mass of etched lines. Except for the torch flames and the lower draperies of the martyrs, the entire surface of the print is covered with fine lines. Organized scribbles, zigzags, crosshatchings, and curved and ­straight combinations of lines summon up dimly seen stone walls and vegetation. After biting the plate, the artist added pale tones by scratching fine drypoint lines into it, particularly noticeable on the lighter patch of the arch above smoke of the torch. Rembrandt’s etching “The Good Samaritan” (1633, Bartsch 90) may have served as a model for the stone textures. (S. Welsh Reed)

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30

ALBRECHT DÜRER

31 A Young Peasant and His Wife.

1471 Nuremberg 1528

Ca. 1497

Engraving. 10.7 x 7.6 cm Bartsch 83; Meder 86/a (of f); Schoch-Mende-Scherbaum 14 Provenance: Stefan Jancsy (Lugt 1529 d) Rhenish private collection

Powerful, deep-black, early impression, prior to the scratch on the woman’s right foot , as described by Meder specifically for the a variant. Prior to the later long scratches to the right of the woman.

With 2 mm margins beyond the partially inky platemark. In excellent condition, consistent with its provenance from the collection of S. Jancsy. Lugt mentions in particular the presence in this collection of prints by Dürer which are en épreuves de première qualité et en parfait état.

The composition belongs to a group of small-format genre scenes with satirical undertones. Through engravings by the Housebook Master and Martin Schongauer, depictions of peasants became popular beginning in the mid-fifteenth century.

Dürer aims less at a realistic depiction of milieu, and more at characterizing peasant behavior. By juxtaposing the magniloquent bragging of the oafish youth with the woman’s hesitancy, Dürer pointedly accentuates the awkward courtship customs of the peasantry. (M. Haas)

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ALBRECHT DÜRER

32 Three Peasants in Conversation.

1471 Nuremberg 1528

Ca. 1497

Engraving. 10.7 x 7.7 cm Bartsch 86; Meder 87/a (of d); Schoch-Mende-Scherbaum 15 Watermark: bull’s head (part) Provenance: P. Mariette1692 (Lugt 1789) Rhenish private collection Magnificent early impression, prior to the vertical scratch to the right of the head of the middle peasant. With tiny margins beyond the platemark. Apart from a few pale foxing marks and residues of old hinges, in excellent condition.

This engraving has given rise to conflicting interpretations. The group of three contrasting men has been regarded as an allegory of the social classes, and their conversation interpreted as a conspiratorial gathering in relation to the Peasant’s War of 1525. The evidence, however, points toward some variation of the late medieval peasant satire.

(M.Haas)

83

ALBRECHT DÜRER

33 Peasant Couple at Market.

1471 Nuremberg 1528

1519

Engraving. 11.4 x 7.2 cm Bartsch 89; Meder 89/b (of c); Schoch-Mende-Scherbaum 88

Superb early impression, with the plate wiped clean.

Since Schoch-Mende-Scherbaum were able to document only a single unequivocal impression of the a-variant described by Meder, in the Louvre, Paris (Rothschild Collection), the earliest state available, with the spots on the eggs and the lower edge of the man’s jacket occurring already on the very first pulls.

As usual, without watermark.

With extremely fine margins. Pristine and fresh.

In this composition executed immediately prior to his trip to the Netherlands, Dürer takes up the peasant genre – toward which he turned frequently beginning in circa 1496 – for the last time in the medium of engraving. In contrast to the depictions of peasants from 1496, the figures are sculpturally accentuated here in front of the dark background by a variety of varied brightness values and gradations of grey. By tightly framing his motif and viewing it slightly from below, he monumentalizes the figures and gives their coarse physiognomies an impression of oppressive severity. This effect is re inforced by the massive wall and the stone slab on which Dürer places his monogram.

(A. B. Eiling in: Albrecht Dürer. Die Druckgraphiken, exhib. cat. Frankfurt 2007)

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85

ALBRECHT DÜRER

1471 Nuremberg 1528

34 The Bagpiper. 1514 Engraving. 11.5 x 7.3 cm Bartsch 91; Meder 90/a (of c); Schoch-Mende-Scherbaum 76

Excellent early impression prior to the numerous vertical scratches in the sky.

Without watermark, as usual. With extremely fine margins or cut down to the platemark. In an excellent state of preservation.

With the bagpiper, Dürer returns to a subject from the peasant genre, to which he had devoted a number of engravings around 1496.

Detached now from the context of late medieval depictions of peasants, this musician was conceived by Dürer as an independent pictorial motif for the first time; entirely absent here is the mocking undercurrent that is ordinarily typical of the peasant satire.

The garments and physiognomy are depicted in a discriminating way within a richly nuanced interplay of light and shadow.

According to A. B. Eiling, The Bagpiper is a worthy successor to the famous master engravings with regard to both originality and technical sophistication.

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ALBRECHT DÜRER

35 Pilate Washing his Hands.

1471 Nuremberg 1528

Ca. 1509

Woodcut. 12.9 x 9.8 cm Bartsch 36; Meder 145/II (of III d); Schoch-Mende-Scherbaum 206 Watermark: high crown (Meder Wz. 20) Provenance: Osbert Howard Barnard (Lugt 2007b)

Sheet 21 of the series The Small Woodcut Passion Latin text edition of 1511 Superb, deep-black, bright and luminous impression.

As mentioned by Meder specifically for the Latin text edition of 1511, printed on paper with the “high crown” watermark. Particularly striking by virtue of the inviolate purity of the fine laid paper, which emphasizes the lustrous bright-dark contrasts in an especially lovely way.

With unusually wide paper margins (sheet dimensions: 19.8 x 14.6 cm).

Rarely so beautiful.

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35

ALBRECHT DÜRER

1471 Nuremberg 1528

36 St. John before God and the Elders. Ca. 1496–98 Woodcut. 39.1 x 27.8 cm Bartsch 63; Meder 166/III (of IV); Schoch-Mende-Scherbaum 114 Watermark: tower with crown and f lower (Meder wm 259)

Plate 4 from the series: The Apocalypse Latin text edition of 1511 Magnificent impression, with unusually even print quality.

With fully visible framing line, except for one place on the lower right where it is cut off slightly.

Impeccably fresh.

The peaceful stillness of this landscape ranks it among Dürer’s most bewitching achievements in this genre.

As in the case of “St. Michael Fighting the Dragon,” here the serene landscape heightens the sense of proximity and explosiveness of the visionary scene. The high vantage point, which developed from Dürer’s alpine landscapes, suspends the observer somewhere between earth and the celestial revelation. (G. F. Ravenel , J. A. Lenenson)

90

36

37

GEORG PAUL ERMELS

1666 Nuremberg – Hildburghausen 1711

37 The Shepherd Family. 1697 The Bull. 1697 2 sheets. Etching. 11.9 x 15.5 cm and 12.0 x 15.7 cm Nagler ( J. F. Ermels) 5 and 6; Nagler Monogrammisten III, nos. 268.3 and 4; Andresen and Hollstein 1 and 2 Provenance: The Princes of Liechtenstein

Splendid impression of this pair of extremely rare pendants.

Marvelous deep black, noticeably burry in appearance, and of a virtually unsurpassable brilliance.

Each with the fully visible framing line. Mounted along the edges on the original collection support of the Princes of Liechtenstein, and correspondingly in a pristine, impeccable state of preservation.

These two cattle pieces in the manner of H. Roos are the only etchings by this art­ ist. After receiving his artistic training from his father Johann Franz in Nuremberg, he went via Coburg to Thuringia, where he worked for the most part in various smaller residence towns as the court painter of Duke Ernst von Sachsen-Hildburghausen.

93

PETER FLÖTNER

c. 1485 Thurgau/Switzerland – Nuremberg 1546

38 Grotesque with Two Foxes. 1546 Woodcut 17.9 x 12.0 cm Passavant III, p. 256, no. 29; Röttinger 66; Nagler Monogrammisten 2935; Hollstein 78

The famous, masterly woodcut ornamental grotesque in a brilliant impression, still with the year 1546.

On the verso – as usual – with the fragment of a head cut by Wyssenbach (Hollstein VI, p. 202).

With narrow margins around the borderline. Apart from a minute dash of draw­ ing ink, in perfect condition.

According to A. N. Holzförster, Flötner’s grotesque is brought to life in particular by the emergence of the bright motifs from the dark background. In a way that is typical for such grotesques, the individual objects and figures form a fragile framework and are arranged – with a few exceptions such as the cloth hanging on the horizontal bar – alongside one another on a single plane.

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38

39

GAETANO GANDOLFI

1734 San Matteo della Decima – Bologna 1802

39 The Tavern Brawl. Ca. 1785 Etching. 12.1 x 15.8 cm De Vesme 15

Quite excellent impression of the rare composition – the only genre scene among the 14 sheets listed by de Vesme as being executed by the artist according to his own designs.

Born to a Bolognese family of artists, Gandolfo received his initial training from his older brother Ubaldo. Formative in particular however were the impressions he received from the art of G. B. Tiepolo during a one-year stay in Venice in 1760.

This is true in particular of his loose, sketch-like, dynamic graphic and etching style.

The Tavern Brawl, whose protagonists are literally at one another’s throats, was preceded by a reversed sketch that lays out the composition in a summary fashion (Christie’s, sale 8582, Old Master Drawings, January 30, 1997, no. 102). With the exception of the innkeeper in the background, his arms f lung outward in a ges­ ture of helplessness, all of the guests gathered around the table are involved in the savage melee, which probably erupted from a dispute over cards. In the etched version, however, Gandolfi has replaced the combatant who leans across the table and grabs the hips of the ruffian who kneels on the bench with a pair of revelers who enjoy their drink in seeming indifference to the fisticuffs taking place next to them – an adroit compositional modification which, together with the skillful lighting effects, accentuates the vigorous drama of the scuff le in an especially effective way.

97

CLAUDE GELLÉE Called LE LORR AIN

1600 Chamagne (Lorraine) – Rome 1682

40 The Rape of Europa. 1634 Etching and drypoint. 19.9 x 26 –2 cm Robert-Dumesnil 22/III (of V); Blum 9/II (of V); Russell 22/III (of V); Mannocci 14/III (of VII) Watermark: the letters ‘PDM’ Provenance: A .-P.-F. Robert Dumesnil (Lugt 2200) Collection Defer-Dumesnil (Lugt 739)

The key work among Claude’s early etchings.

Very fine, vibrantly deep black impression of marvelous transparency. After the corners of the plate were rounded, but before the mark of the vise at the center of the upper framing line, before the strengthening of the framing line and the later inscription “42 p 4” and its subsequent removal.

With the unusual uncut margins measuring up to 5.3 cm. Flawless.

This print enjoys an exceptional pedigree by virtue of its provenance from the famous Lorrain-collection of Robert-Dumesnil, which was sold at auction in Paris under the supervision of P. Denfer on April 3–5, 1843. Denfer acquired the present impression for his private collection, and bequeathed it as part of his extensive collection to his son-in-law Henri Dumesnil.

The etching, the most sophisticated composition in any medium before 1635, records in reverse a painting, presumably executed in the same year, entitled “Coast scene with Europa and the Bull” (Roethlisberger 1977, no. 48), which is in the Kimbell Art Museum collection at Fort Worth. (L. Mannocci)

98

41

HENDRICK GOLTZIUS

1558 Mühlbracht – Haarlem 1617

41 Homo Bulla – Allegory of Transience. 1594 Engraving. 21.2 x 15.4 cm Bartsch III, 97, 10; Hollstein 110; Strauß 323; T.I.B. 3 commentary p. 158, no. 160j; New Hollstein 128 Watermark: WH Provenance: K ing Frederick August II of Saxony (Lugt 971) R. Weigel, Dresden, auction of November 17, 1856 and following days, no. 475

The perhaps most famous depiction of the antique vanitas proverb homo bulla est, popularized by Erasmus, according to which the human being is an airborne bubble, and just as fragile and ephemeral.

A splendid impression of the most beautiful clarity and brilliance.

With uniform paper margins measuring 3 mm and the tonally distinct plate­ mark. Flawless.

Regarded by Bartsch as the work of an anonymous engraver from the Goltzius school, this engraving is believed today to be from the master’s own hand. In light of the no less than 16 copies catalogued by M. Leesberg, the composition can be regarded as one of his most inf luential inventions.

The image brings together the metaphor of human life as a soap bubble, first verbalized by Varro (de re rustica 1.1.1), with a putto resting on a death’s head, an emblem of impermanence which may have been familiar to Goltzius through the emblematic literature, so strongly shaped by humanism.

A nude child, a Herculean putto, ponders with a puzzling expression. He is seated on the ground resting one arm on a skull and bones, holding a scalloped shell with water and soap in one hand. With the other hand, the curly-haired putto plays with the bubbles formed­ from the water and soap. As he watches the formation of the beautiful clear bubbles floating in the air, he also sees them bursting, evaporating, and disappearing on their contact with natural air. He also experiences the fumes emerging from a burning urn, which is located on a marble pedestal behind him; they too vanish in mid-air. Metaphysically, the open sky or the air becomes recipient of the water bubbles and fumes or smoke. Goltzius’s humanistic awareness combined the physical elements of air, water, fire and earth (the landscape, flow­ ers, trees and the putto), forming natural aspects of the cosmos with metaphysical notions about human life and death. (L. De Girolami Cheney in: Cultural and Religious ­S tudies, May 2018, vol. 6, no. 5 p. 277) Goltius inserts his title on the ashlar fragment that lies at the foot of the putto, the question QVIS EVADET? (Who Escapes?), and adds a verse by his friend F. Estius along the older lower edge, a literary re-translation of sorts of his pictorial creation: The new silvery blossoms, and the air, perfumed with spring, wilt and fade quickly; it decays, alas, beauty decays, and so does human life, even for newborns, alas, it vanishes like a soap bubble, it slips away like fleeting smoke.

101

HENDRIK GOUDT

Ca. 1580 The Hague (?) – Utrecht 1648

42 Tobias with the Angel Dragging the Fish – The Large Tobias. 1613 After A. Elsheimer

Engraving. 25.,4 x 25.8 cm Bartsch and Hollstein 2; Andrews 25, Engravings (a) Watermark: Strasbourg bend below f leur de lis Provenance: C . G. Boerner, Neue Lagerliste 67, 1976, no. 32 Private collection, Germany

Superb early impression of matchless beauty.

Brilliantly printed in a deep, velvety black, allowing the dense parallel lines to produce the most effective possible chiaroscuro effects of the kind that are so characteristic of mezzotint technique, which was however originated only thirty years later. At the same featuring an exquisite transparency and clarity, allowing both the internal modeling and contours to remain visible in a nuanced way, even in the densest shadowed areas of the small grove in the middle ground.

Still with the slightly scratched guide lines for the calligraphic verses along the lower margin, where fine wipe marks are also noticeable.

With tiny margins beyond the image in places, and with the entire texted area below. Pristine.

The principal sheet among Goud’s seven engravings produced after designs by Elsheimer. According to C. S. Ackley, Goudt can be regarded as one of the most influential printmakers of the Dutch seventeenth century…the pivotal figure in the quest for dark tonalities in seventeenth-century Dutch printmaking.

Goud was in the possession of Elsheimer’s painting, which was well-known under the title The Large Tobias, when he transferred the splendid composition onto a copperplate in 1613. Together with other works by Elsheimer, he brought it from Rome to Utrecht in 1610 after his friend had passed away. The original has been lost since 1673. Copies are found in the Statens Museum for Kunst in Copenhagen and the National Gallery in London.

This…is the latest dated piece and also the most developed. The four centuries of engraver’s art can have produced few things more unforgettable than these figures stalking mysteriously through a fantastic world. (H. S. Reitlinger)

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43

LUDWIG HA ACH

43 Memory of the Cervaro Festival.

1813 Dresden – Rome 1842

1841

Etching. 27.3 x 22.5 cm W. Loose, Lebensläufe Meißner Künstler (Mitteilungen des Vereins für Geschichte der Stadt Meissen, 1889) no. 9; Andresen Nachträge, in Mitteilungen der Gesellschaft für vervielfältigende Kunst, 1906, p. 40; Thieme Becker XV, p. 382

The rare, delectable etching (E. Sigismund), initially unknown to Andresen, in a quite excellent impression.

With ca. 3 cm paper margins around the platemark, which has been preserved without f lattening. Impeccable.

This exceedingly fantastical and poetic depiction – conceived in the form of a grottesca – of the celebrated festival of the German artists’ colony in Rome, which Haach witnessed in 1841, may have been produced at the instigation of R. Reinick, who led the so-called “Cerara party” that year as General of the Ponte Molle Association.

At the opening of the summer season, during which the landscape painters of Rome left in order to travel, the participants donned daring costumes and gathered at the ancient stone quarry of Cervaro, followed by an extensive retinue, along with wagons filled with provisions and wine casks. Taking place at the quarry were festive ceremonies, which were inaugurated when the “court sculptor” chiseled the logoi of the respective parties, which were ranked in the style of the ancient Olympic Games, into the rock face. Then, all of the attendees gathered in one of the rearward grottoes to request a prognosis for the coming year from the Sybil. This was followed by a festal meal at which wine f lowed freely.

Permitted at the ensuing “Olympic games” were unclassical field events such as lance-hurling at the figures of critics and a sack race.

These boisterous goings-on inspired the young artist to produce one of his most important graphic works, so richly inventive down to every detail of the vegetalornamental border, which unifies the individual scenes into a symphonic spectacle.

107

NICOLAS WALR AVEN VAN HAEFTEN

Ca. 1663 Gorkum – Paris 1715

44 Self-Portrait. Ca. 1700 Mezzotint. 14.4 x 9.7 cm Bartsch, Dutuit and Wurzbach 1; Hollstein 1/II Provenance: V it van Berkels verk. 1761 King Frederick August II of Saxony (Lugt 971) C. G. Boerner, Leipzig, auction 183, 1933, no. 349

Excellent, richly nuanced early impression of the 2nd state. With the guide lines for the text along the lower edge still clearly visible.

Hollstein was able to document only the 1st state – prior to the address of the publisher Gilles de Mortain – in a single copy in Amsterdam.

With fine borders around the platemark. In an immaculately fresh state of pres­ ervation.

According to the artist’s own testimony, the inscription Se ipse Pinxit et sculpsit, van Haeften did indeed create the present sheet, which bears his striking self-­ portrait, after a painting that was found until 1816 in the collection of Richard de Ledan in Paris. As the text along the lower edge suggests, it was however published only after his death in 1715, for it already extols the sitter in the past tense: Nicolas van Haeften from Gorkum depicted smokers and drinkers like no one else known.

Probably from Antwerp, the artist settled in Paris around 1694, making a name for himself primarily through genre paintings in the style of Brakenburg. His print oeuvre encompasses all together 43 works, among them 17 mezzotints, all of them rare.

108

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45

WILLIAM HOGARTH

1697 London 1764

45 The Laughing Audience. 1733 Etching. 18.9 x 17 cm Paulson 130/IV

One of the so-called “subscription tickets” which served as receipt of payment and entitled the bearer to obtain, in this instance, a copy of “Southwark Fair” or an exemplar of the series “A Rake’s Progress.”

Cut down to the platemark. Flawless.

This bold, concentrated composition, with the character of a cursory pen and ink drawing, displays a portion of the interior of the theater: in the foreground, where the performing musicians display countenances of the utmost seriousness, the simple public response to the performance with un­i nhibited laughter, while the delicate aristocrats in the loge remain wholly indifferent, instead devoting their attention to another form of diversion.

Here, Hogarth sought to demonstrate, in the spirit of an ‘advertisement,’ his capacities with regard to the rendering of varied physiognomies, and the precision and pitilessness with which he could practice his art, without however resorting to ‘caricature,’ which is to say to exaggeration. It is conceivable that he sought at the same time to suggest responses to his own art: acclaim from the bourgeoisie, with the exception of the so-called connoisseurs, i.e. lovers of traditional art; indifference among the aristocracy. True of this regardless is: “We laugh at the laughers, not a rare occurrence in good company when general laughter erupts.” (K. Arndt in: exhib. cat, William Hogarth. Der Kupferstich als moralische Schaubühne, Hannover 1987) A frontispiece of sorts for “Southwark Fair,” but in particular for “A Rake’s Progress,” the present composition is a felicitous translation of the saying: “All the world’s a stage.”

111

WENZEL HOLLAR

1607 Prague – London 1677

46 Still Life with a Group of Muffs, Gloves, Handkerchiefs, Fans, and a Mask. 1647 Etching. 11.0 x 20.4 cm Parthey and Pennington 1951; New Hollstein 799 Provenance: J. Thorel (Lugt 1542) J. A. Boerner (Lugt 269) H. F. de la Motte-Fouquet (Lugt 778) L. A. Lindsay (Lugt 3388)

The most elaborate of the singular muff still lifes by this artist, which are justly the best loved and admired of all Hollar’s prints, and […] constitute his most original contribution to the history of printmaking. (R. T. Godfrey) Brilliant, marvelously deep-black impression. Of the greatest transparency and clarity, so that both the soft, f luffy materiality and glossy sheen of the fur, as well as the strongly contrasting textile structure of the handkerchiefs, the silk gloves, the black velvety mask, and the feather fan acquire an almost haptic presence.

The extremely delicate, almost unbelievably dense system of lines with which Hollar works here make possible only a very few fully satisfactory copies, includ­ ing the present one.

With extremely fine margins around the platemark. In excellent, impeccable condition.

Rarely so beautiful.

112

46

WENZEL HOLLAR

1607 Prague – London 1677

47 Spinning Top Shell – Trochus Nilodicus L. Ca. 1644/52 Etching. 9.5 x 14.3 cm Parthey and Pennington 2222; New Hollstein 1307 Provenance: A . Alferoff (Lugt 1727) E. Geller (Lugt 1126) R. Gutekunst (Lugt 2213a) P & D Colnaghi, London, stock number C.12279 Private collection, Germany

Superb impression.

Of the most beautiful brilliance and clarity. The guidelines for the subdivision of the originally larger copperplate prominent along the right and lower edges, as specifically mentioned by S. Turner.

Cut down to the platemark. In an excellent state of preservation aside from a small number of tiny brown f lecks.

One of the celebrated shell etchings that have long been associated with Hollar, and regarded as a genuine masterwork of the art of etching (G. Parthey) – Technically, the etchings reveal Hollar at the height of his powers… (T. Godfrey).

Without exception – even as individual sheets – of the greatest rarity, the 39 such compositions known to date are present in complete form only in Windsor.

Although doubtless originally conceived as a series, they never appeared as an edition, and probably remained unsigned for this reason, prompting Godfrey to designate the few surviving copies as proofs.

It seems unlikely that Hollar would have embarked on such an ambitious project or labored on it with such evident intensity unless there was the firm prospect of some commercial outlet.

The likeliest scenario is that a commission existed from a print or book publisher and that negotiations failed or that funding was not forthcoming. In any event, the unfortunate ­Hollar seems to have lost possession of the plates. (T. Godfrey)

114

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48

MORITZ KELLERHOVEN

1758 Altenrath – Munich 1830

48 Man with a Fur Cap. 1794 Etching and aquatint. 19.5 x 15.2 Missing from Nagler, Boetticher, and Heller-Andresen

Splendid impression printed in brown-black ink of an aquatint etching by K ellerhoven, one that remains undescribed in the literature to date, which ­ ­p ortrays a man with a fur cap and is characterized in particular by its Rembrandtesque chiaroscuro.

Signed on the background left with the artist’s monogram and dated 1794, like a series of similar compositions by Kellerhoven which were published by D. Artaria in Mannheim.

We were able to document only a single additional copy, which is found in the British Museum (Museum number 1976,0131.9).

Kellerhoven, who received his initial training at the Düsseldorf Academy, resolved to devote himself to the art of portraiture under the inf luence of the art of van Dyck. In Vienna, where he settled in 1779 with the intention of receiving further instruction from Füger, he rapidly acquired a reputation as a brilliant portraitist, and was appointed by the Elector Karl Theodor as court painter at his residence in Munich in 1784. His likenesses were prized in particular for their faithfulness and their dazzling imitation of various materials.

According to an obituary that appeared on July 2, 1831 in Kunstblatt no. 44, ­K ellerhoven’s slender print oeuvre was produced on the side, with the artist etch­ ing small, ingenious portraits in the manner of Rembrandt, which were highly prized by art collectors and much coveted.

117

JOSEPH ANTON KOCH

1768 Obergiblen – Rome 1839

49 Battle of Satan with St. Francis for the Soul of the Monk Guido of Montefeltro. Ca. 1808/09 Etching. 37.6 x 30.3 cm Nagler 3; Andresen and Lutterotti 23

One of the presumably very few proofs taken prior to Koch’s abandonment of work on his ambitious illustration project on Dante’s Divina Commedia. …perhaps the clearest example among the five Dante prints of what Koch meant when he talked of their being made ‘in the manner of Dürer’s woodcuts’. (Exhib. cat. German Printmaking in the Age of Goethe, London 1994, no. 104) With fine margins around the framing line. Pristine and impeccable apart from a few brown f lecks and minimal traces of printer’s ink on the reverse.

Koch is regarded as the most outstanding interpreter of Dante among German artist of the Goethe era (G. Lammel).

Inspired by C. L.Fernow, an aesthete and writer on art, who had familiarized the German artists in Rome with Dante’s Divina Commedia in the partial translation

by W. Schlegel, Koch developed a plan for a comprehensive cycle. But all attempts to find a publisher for the project miscarried, and in 1809, when F. X. Dall’ Armi, a native of Munich, who had prompted Koch to execute at least five etchings with shadow and light in the manner of Dürer’s woodcuts, also withdrew as a consequence of the unfavorable response from Germany, Koch set the work to one side. The five etched plates, from which only a few proofs were taken, remained with him in Rome.

The present composition illustrates a scene from the XXVII Canto from the Inferno: on his wanderings through Hell, the poet encounters the monk Guido da Montefeltro, who relates his story. At one time, Guido had been a jealous military commander, and had been persuaded by a promise of absolution by Pope Silvester to betray the besieged city of Palestrina. When he died, however, even the inter­ cession of St. Francis could do nothing to prevent the “Black Cherub” from carry­ ing off the traitor. Koch, however, illustrates the text with notable freedom. He depicts not Dante’s encounter with the monk, but instead the hour of Guido’s death. The group of morning monks and the dispute between the angels and the second devil are also the artist’s own inventions. On the scrolls, Koch inscribes the relevant passages of the poem in the original medieval Italian, so fundamental for the scene. With the dead monk, it is the false promise of the pope; with the devil and angels, the justification for their taking possession of his soul.

The expressive “Black Cherub” goes back to a design by B. Thorvaldsen, for whom Koch himself served as a model when they lived together in Rome.

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49

CARL AUGUST LEBSCHÉE

1800 Schmiegel – Munich 1877

50 Mary Nursing the Christ Child. 1843 After A. Dürer

Original copperplate. 13.4 x 9.4 cm Cf. Nagler Monogrammisten vol. 2, p. 122, no. 333; not in Huber; Cf. Meder 39; still not in Heller; missing from T.I.B. vol. 10, commentary 036

A faithful and hitherto undescribed copy after Dürer’s engraving of 1511, which was consequently produced after Heller’s inventory of engravings and woodcuts by the master, which was published in 1827, and included all copies known up to that point. Also unknown to Strauss, who lists only two additional engravings alongside the 8 copies registered by Heller.

On the right alongside Mary, along the upper shelf of the grassy bank, the original copperplate shows the (not readily visible) ligated monogram of Carl August ­L ebschée “CL” with the date “1843.”

Within the oeuvre of the Munich “architecture and landscape painter,” this ­extraordinarily deceptive engraving copy remains singular. “In search of historical truth,” Lebschée placed his graphic and printmaking talent primarily in the service of the at times reconstructive documentation of architectural monuments in Munich, Upper Bavaria, and Franconia that were threatened by decay or ­demolition.

This copperplate must have been produced as a small exercise in virtuosity under the inf luence of the artist’s acquaintanceship with Joseph Heller in Bamberg – perhaps even as an act of personal homage to this important scholar of art and Dürer researcher. To be sure, a direct contact between the two is confirmed by a letter dated August 28, 1845, in which Lebschée announces his plans to visit ­B amberg, but it hardly seems coincidental that the artist engraved this composi­ tion by the master true to scale on a somewhat larger copperplate during the very same year when he traveled to Franconia for the first time.

Lebschée had been familiar with the technique of copper engraving since receiv­ ing training at the Royal Academy of Fine Arts in Munich. As a 16 -year-old, he had reworked worn-out engraved copper plates on the recommendation of his instructor C. E. Hess (1755–1828). Alongside etching and aquatint techniques, he seems also however to have deployed lithography in a masterful way. He was even receptive to the newly emergent technology of photography, and attempted to reproduce his own watercolor architectural drawings in a photographic laboratory he installed himself in his workrooms. The bravura which with Lebschée engages in a competition of sorts with the master therefore seems all the more admirable.

A modern copy is included.

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50

JEAN-LAURENT LEGEAY

Ca. 1710 Paris – Rome after 1788

51 Monumental Tomb with Three Leaning Female Figures. Ca. 1768 Etching. 19.5 x 16.5 cm Guilmard, p. 238; catalog of the collection of ornamental engravings of the Staatliche Kunstbibliothek Berlin, from 4182; cf. Inventaire du Fonds Français, Graveurs du XVIIIe siècle, tome XIII, pp. 513, 513; Erouart 135/I

One of the bizarre tomb designs from the series TOMBEAUX INVENTIONE DI GIOVANNI LORENZO LE GEAY…, which is incomplete even in the Bibliothèque Nationale in Paris.

Extremely rare first state prior to additional shading, specifically in the area of the tomb’s base.

With uncut (?) paper margins up to 8.7 cm in width, and with traces of former thread stitching below.

Inspired by G. B. Piranesi’s fantastical decorative designs, this composition presumably dates from the artist’s stay in England in circa 1768. In 1770, after his return to Paris, he published it together with three additional series of altogether 6 sheets each under the title Collection de Diverse Sujects de Vases, Tombeaux, Ruines et Fontaines, Utile aux Artistes, Inventée et Gravé par G. L. Le Jeay, Architecte à Paris, chez Mond’hare.

Today, these are Legeay’s most celebrated graphic works, imaginary projects for monuments or scenes of ancient ruins where fantasy has run riot. Highly personal, eccentric visions, they bring to mind Cochin fils’ description of Legeay as an architect of great inspiration and genius, admired by his students, but flawed by his megalomaniac ambitions.

(V. I. Carlson)

123

MELCHIOR LORCK

52 The Mole.

Ca. 1526 –27 Flensburg – Copenhagen (?) after 1583

1548

Engraving. 7.1 x 10.6 cm Bartsch 5; Harbeck pp. 33–34; Hollstein 18; Fischer 1548.3 Provenance: H. S. Theobald (Lugt 1375) H. G. Gutekunst, Stuttgart, auction 68, 1910, no. 437 Sotheby’s, London, auction of December 6, 2001, no. 53 Private collection, Germany

Excellent impression of this extremely rare print.

With the commonly trimmed lower edge. The corners left above and below minimally trimmed, otherwise with the fully visible platemark or with extremely fine margins beyond it. With isolated pale brown f lecks. Pristine.

This iconographically singular depiction of a mole dates from 1548, when the artist, then just 21 years old, was engaged in peregrinations through southern Germany. The meaning of the image – which shows a mole lying on a riverbank before the backdrop of a village that is set below an elevated fortress, itself under construction – is disclosed by a Latin verse that has been appended to the lower edge of the composition: it is an emblem of the futility of human action and striving in the absence of genuine faith: As quickly as a feeding mole becomes forgetful, so your prayers are followed by futility, oh godless one!

124

JACOB MATHAM

1571 Haarlem 1631

53 Venus, Bacchus, and Ceres. Ca. 1600–1602 Series of 3 sheets. Engraving. 19.6 –19.8 cm in diameter Bartsch III, 139, 18–20; Hollstein 223–225; New Hollstein 196 –198 Watermark: eagle or basilisk (like Heawood 840)

The complete series in a homogenous set of exquisite prints of the most beautiful brilliance.

Still with the complete paper margins of the ca. 39.9 x 26.5 cm sheets of paper.

Fresh and pristine.

Rarely so beautiful.

This series of circular images, presumably engraved according to the artist’s own designs, illustrates the proverb Sine Cerere et Baccho friget Venus (Without Ceres and Bacchus, Venus would freeze), which goes back to Terence, and which Goltzius had illustrated just a few years earlier in a much-copied series of oval compositions set in rectangular ornamental frames (New Hollstein 144–146).

It almost appears as though Matham – shortly after taking over the Goltzius workshop – wished to consciously distance himself through these almost classically stringent compositions from the Mannerist creations of his stepfather, from whom he has – as a verbal link, so to speak – borrowed only the for the most part literal verses of Schoneus. Even the inner structure of the series constitutes a ­deliberate contrast. Initially, Matham intended to order the series like Goltzius, beginning with Bacchus and followed by Venus, the goddess of love, and Ceres, the goddess of farming and fertility. This is confirmed by the still visible numbers found on the first two sheets, situated below the final numbering. For reasons of symmetry, however, he rearranged the series, positioning Bacchus between the two goddesses, with Venus on the left as sheet 1, and Ceres on the right as sheet 3.

126

FR ANZ ANTON MAULBERTSCH

1724 Langenargen – Vienna 1796

54 The Peepshow Man. Ca. 1785 Etching and drypoint. 33.3 x 40.9 cm Nagler 9; Le Blanc 10; Knab 42; Garas 1974, p. 259; exhib. cat. Franz Anton Maulbertsch und sein schwäbischer Umkreis, Langenargen 1996, pp. 266,267, no. A8

Very fine impression of the composition, classified already by Nagler as rare.

With 5 mm margins around the framing line. A tiny early backed spot on the right outside of the image, otherwise in very good condition.

Together with its counterpart The Charlatan, dated 1785, The Peepshow Man is among the very few genre motifs in this artist’s oeuvre.

Maulbertsch prepared the etching meticulously in two oil sketches – the first in grisaille (Germanisches Nationalmuseum, Nuremberg), with the central group of the minstrels, but without the boys romping in the foreground, and then in an oil sketch in color (Staatsgalerie, Stuttgart), where the composition already seems fully developed.

As in the work’s English models, i.e. Hogarth, the central iconographic significance of the man with a peep box is that he displays something that remains unseen for the observer.

This act of concealment, which frequently involved erotic or risqué spectacles that were of necessity veiled from the curious eyes of the public, finds expression in the gleeful face of the man who, together with his peep box, forms the center of the composition. The peep box is a mirror of the times, and the scene transports us into the realm of Dutch, English, and Aus­ trian funfair scenes, which served as fertile soil for the presentation and display of such content. At the same time, contemporary theatre in Vienna served as a breeding ground erotic genres. (K. Seltzer)

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54

CHARLES MERYON

55 Le Pont au Change.

1821 Paris 1868

1854

Etching. 15.3 x 33.4 cm Delteil-Wright 34/V (of XII); Schneiderman 40/V (of XII) Watermark: HUDELIST Provenance: H. M. Petiet (Lugt 5031)

Excellent impression of the 5th state, with the balloon in the background but before the changes to the carriage on the bridge, and in particular before the decisive reworking of the sky.

Delteil-Wright knew 13 impressions of this state, 5 of them in public collections.

With the delicate, extraordinarily fine plate tone that is typical of the pulls printed before 1855 in collaboration with A. Delâtre on paper of especially high quality.

The present impression is printed on lightly brownish-toned hand-made-paper with the watermark “HUDELIST” that was highly prized by the artist.

Except for slight discoloration and a tiny spot within the margin, which measures up to 5 cm, in a perfect state of preservation.

According to M. Stuffmann: In this composition, in contrast to his earlier preference for interlocking spatial configurations, Meryon strove for an effect of expansive spatiality …

Whereas Meryon had concentrated previously on the intensive shaping of architecture, the main emphasis here is on the shaping of the sky. The repeated, far-reaching changes between the various states, the vocabulary employed are […] interpretable as signs of Meryon’s psychological difficulties… Typical here is the conceptual link between terms such as “balloon,” “hope” and “life,” and “human existence” found in Meryon’s poem:

HOPE O divine hope! Light balloon! Like a fail bark rocked By the rolling wave, stirred by the careless autumn Breezes, rise and amid the mists driven by the wind, Show thyself sometimes to our eager eyes and let us See thee against the blue skies of those placid Upper regions where the fecund rays of the brilliant Sun outline with gold the windows of the doubtful Future; come and restore the courage of the sailor Exhausted by the storm; of the warrior who on Chance of meeting a better fate is braving Misfortune; of the poor wounded heart which seeks In vain on earth that as yet unexperienced Happiness which it beholds afar and longs to attain!

134

But, O sad dreamer, why wander thus amid the Clouds when pictures are demanded? Come back!

Come back to earth and cease to climb those rough Roads to the skies; fear thus to tempt the caprices of Fate, for she is ever miserly with her favors towards us men. Since a new destiny has made a needy etcher of thee, thou over-frail sailor, and has given the etching-needle into thy hand may leave traces of that ripple which should always follow every skiff that sails the stormy sea called ‘Life’, that bitter ocean where all too frequently, alas! The lying hope that led us on desert as just as we approach the shore!

55

CHARLES MERYON

1821 Paris 1868

56 La Morgue. 1854 Etching and drypoint. 22.9 x 20.5 cm Delteil-Wright 36/IV (of VII); Schneiderman 42/IV (of VIII) Watermark: HUDELIST

One of this artist’s principal works.

Before the erasure of the inscription in the lower margin, and before the later imprint by Delâtre.

Superb impression with an uncommonly suggestive impact that is further ­enhanced by the use of a delicate ivory-toned chine collé. While most other impressions are printed only in brownish-black ink, the present copy displays a striking deep black. With beautiful burring effects. Wiped completely clean, so that the extremely dense hatchings remain utterly transparent, even in the deep­ est shadows.

Printed on crème-colored paper, with the “HUDELIST” watermark particularly favored by Meryon. The sheet is almost uncut (31.8 x 46.5 cm). Apart from isolat­ ed, unobtrusive brown stains, pristine and fresh.

In the eyes of some amateurs, this print is perhaps the most remarkable of all his works. It would be impossible to extract a more moving treatment of a corner of houses, which, in reality, were far from producing a similar impression on the soul. These bizarre, superim­ posed roofs, these colliding angles, this blinding light which renders the contrasts of the masses of shadow so striking, this monument which acquires a vague resemblance to an antique tomb under the burin of the artist, offers to the spirit some unknown enigma about which the characters speak a sinister word; the massed crowds hanging on the parapet of the quay look upon a drama which unfolds on the back: a corpse has just been dragged from the Seine; a little girl sobs; a woman turns her back, distraught, chocked by despair; the policeman gives the order to the sailors to carry this derelict of misery or debauchery to the ­m orgue. (P. Burty)

136

56

CHARLES MERYON

1821 Paris 1868

57 L’Abside de Notre Dame. 1854 Etching. 16.7 x 29.8 cm Delteil-Wright 38/IV (of VIII); Schneiderman 45/IV (of IX) Provenance: Dr. S. W. Pelletier (Lugt 4193)

The striking view of the eastern side of Notre Dame Cathedral, which serves as the conclusion and climax of the “Eaux-fortes sur Paris,” in a splendid impression from the 4 th state. Published in 1854, with the artist’s name, the date, and the address along the lower edge, but prior to the title and subsequent revisions.

As with all of the copies printed up until 1855 in collaboration with A. Delâtre, displaying a fine, deliberately applied plate tone, i.e. on the wall of the quay and the roof of the cathedral apse, where the delicate film of printing ink has been removed, and where the muted daylight is marvelously ref lected.

Meryon’s preparatory works date from the years 1853–54, during which Violet-­ le-Duc resumed work on his vast restoration project on the Cathedral of Paris.

Rendered with detailed precision and an emphasis on monumentality is the architectural situation after completion of the southern facade with the treasury, and prior to the erection of the crossing tower with spire.

With Meryon’s consent, P. Burty cites Victor Hugo’s novel Notre-Dame de Paris of 1831 as a spiritual parallel: Cette vue de Notre-Dame, – dit-il, – es tun aspect magistral. L’église de Notre-Dame semble d’aillleurs avoir exercé une grande attraction sur l’esprit rêveur de l’artiste. Elle avait dicté à un poète un des plus beaux livres de notre génération, elle a inspiré à Meryon sa plus belle planche.

138

57

58

JAN HARMENSZ. MULLER

1571 Amsterdam 1628

58 Pyramus and Thisbe. Ca. 1587 After H. Goltzius

Engraving. 21.5 x 15.4 cm Bartsch III, 103, 29; Hollstein (after Goltzius) 506; T.I.B. 3 commentary, p. 352, no. 030; not in New Hollstein (Muller Dynasty); New Hollstein (Prints after Inventions by Goltzius) 585/III Watermark: double-tower with city gate (like New Hollstein [Muller] Wz. Tower 1) Provenance: F. Bernstein (Lugt 982b)

One of the first engravings produced by Muller, from the period of his activity in the workshop of H. Goltzius.

Listed by Bartsch as one of the Pièces gravées d’après des dessins de H. Goltius par ­différens graveurs anonymes, this engraving was attributed recently by M. Leesberg to J. Muller as an early work, and is therefore still missing from the Hollstein ­volumes devoted to the Muller dynasty, which are authored by J. P. Filedt Kok. The earliest state available on the market, given that the two preceding proof prints are known only as unica in Amsterdam, one of which bears a notation (first mentioned by M. Leesberg) that indicates its origin from Muller’s estate.

The tragic story of Pyramus and Thisbe originates in the Orient, and is narrated in detail in Ovid’s Metamorphoses: as the children of antagonistic neighbors, the two lovers arrange a romantic tryst under a mulberry tree beyond the town. Thisbe, who arrives first, seeks shelter from an approaching lion in a cave, losing her veil in the process, which the creature, just returning from the hunt, meanwhile seizes in its jaws, covering it in animal blood. Shortly thereafter, the love-drunk Pyramus discovers the torn, bloodstained veil and turns his sword on himself in the mistaken belief that his beloved has fallen victim to wild beasts. He lies, close to death, under the mulberry tree, when Thisbe reaches the appointed place for a second time. In measureless sorrow, she takes up his sword and slays herself, directing a plea to the gods that in the future, the fruit of the mulberry tree should display the same dark color as the spilt blood of the lovers.

143

FR ANZ NADORP

1794 Anholt – Rome 1876

59 The Betrayal of Judas. Ca. 1828 Etching. 18.9 x 26.9 cm Andresen 3

Splendid working proof of the magnificent composition, which captures the ­d ramatic event of the betrayal in the Garden of Gethsemane with great psycho­ logical penetration, along with the terror of Christ’s disciples, who witness their master’s arrest from a distance. Prior to the subsequent changes, specifically on the garments and Christ’s face. Prior to the later address “F Nadorp inu et inc” in mirror writing, as seen in the impression at the Thorvaldsens Museum in Copenhagen, but still with the conspicuous etching test on the left margin.

With the old, handwritten pencil notation “Notiz ‚Cornelius radiert von Nadorp” along the broad paper margin above. Impeccable.

A native of Anholt, Nadorp settled in Rome in 1828, soon after completing his training at the Prague Academy of Fine Arts with J. Bergler, and immediately joined the Nazarene circle there. Here, it was in particular P. Cornelius, with his intense striving to infuse his protagonists with dramatism and powerfully expressive gestures and facial expressions, who impressed the young artist, so strongly­ drawn toward history painting that Nadorp occasionally referred to himself as Cornelius’s pupil. Nevertheless, the handwritten pencil note “Cornelius radiert von Nadorp” (Cornelius etched by Nadorp) on the present working proof of the composition, probably executed soon after the artist’s arrival in Rome, appears deceptive. The later inscription explicitly identifies Nadorp as the creator of this pictorial invention, and hence corresponds to the handwritten note “F. Nadorp inv. del & inci. Romae,” found on the impression cited by Andresen.

144

145

60

JAN VAN OSSENBEECK

Ca 1624 Rotterdam – Vienna 1674

60 Man Loading an Oxcart. Ca. 1645 Etching. 9.1 x 13.8 cm Bartsch 20; Bartsch supplement and Hollstein 20/I (of II) Provenance: E. Fabricius (Lugt 847a and 919 bis)

One of the six compositions singled out by Bartsch among the etchings he lists by van Ossenbeeck as celles qui réunissent le plus de goût dans le dessin et de la facilité de pointe, in an excellent early print, prior to the artist’s name on the lower left.

Cut down for the most part to the platemark, minimally inside of it below, and on the left with extremely fine margins beyond it. In an old ‘window mounting,’ other ­w ise pristine.

Of great rarity, as remarked already by Bartsch: Les estampes de Jean van Ossenbeeck sont difficiles à trouver, les bonnes épreuves en sont même rares.

A native of Rotterdam, van Osssenbeeck was formed as an artist in Rome. Upon his arrival in 1645, his compatriot P. van der Laer had already been absent from the Holy City for two years. Nevertheless, the young artist seems to have been schooled in particular by that artist’s Bamboccianti-style works, genre pictures based on the lives of the simple Roman people, as reported already by Sandrart.

In 1647, when Ossenbeeck left the eternal city for Brussels, he took Rome along with him, as Houbraken phrased it.

In the present etching, presumably produced in Rome, he employs a deliberately unpretentious manner to illustrate the loading of an oxcart at the edge of the Forum Romanum, used at that time to graze cattle. Three columns of the antique Temple of the Dioscuri loom up like a trademark, while visible alongside it in the middle of the composition is the granite basin of a fountain which is being used as a watering trough for cattle.

147

ADRIAEN VAN OSTADE

61 Small Bust of a Laughing Peasant. Before Small Bust of a Peasant Woman. Before

1610 Haarlem 1685

1647 1647

Two companion pieces. Etching. 3.4 x 3.0 cm and 3.2 x 2.9 cm cm Davidsohn, Godefroy, and Hollstein 1/I (of IV) and Davidsohn, Godefroy, and Hollstein 2/II (of V) Provenance: Sotheby’s, London, auction, June 29, 1987, no. 224 Private collection, Germany

Exceptionally splendid specimens of these studies of heads, conceived as pendants.

Printed together on a single piece of paper with a remarkable degree of plate tone, and clearly characterizable as early prints by the still extremely rough edges of the plate.

The Small Bust of a Laughing Peasant was printed prior to the diagonal stroke on the hair on the left below the cap. The Small Bust of a Peasant Woman still with the pointed edges of the plate, and with the needle error on the chin. Both are rare states, and hence classified by Godefroy as très rare.

With lovely margins, and with the edges of both plates creating a conspicuous relief in the paper. Flawless and pristine.

By accompanying his extremely early dating of 1636 with a question mark, Godefroy left things open to question. While Schnackenburg and S. W. Pelletier, both of whom refer to these small character studies as mature works, regard a dating to the years 1647–52 as probable, and L. J. Slatkes proposes the more restricted period of 1650–52, T. Rassieur recently proposed shifting both of these tronies back once again to the very inception of Ostade’s print oeuvre: As a pair, the woman in full-face and the man in profile appear to constitute a test of how to handle modeling in a unfamiliar medium; thus, they exhibit skill and tentativeness at the same time.

Character studies of peasant heads (têtes de caractère) had been regarded as worthy artistic subjects since the 1600s, and developed into a specialized genre of the so-called tronie during the 17th century. Furnished with derisive nicknames such as “Koen Slockspeck” (boozer) or “Listighe Jorden” (cunning Jorden), they quickly became a form of caustic peasant satire much enjoyed by condescending townspeople.

In contrast, Ostade’s affectionately typecast figures are free of satirical hyperbole.

148

149

ADRIAEN VAN OSTADE

62 The Knife Fight.

1610 Haarlem 1685

1653

Etching. 12.6 x 14.6 cm Davidsohn, Godefroy, and Hollstein 18/V (of VIII)

Brilliant impression of the 5th state, classified by Godefroy as rare.

With the vertical boundary lines on the left-hand side window sash, but prior to the subsequent fine work in the shadows, added for the later Picart edition.

With fine margins around the tonally distinct platemark.

This harsh scene is singular within Ostade’s print oeuvre. Comparable motives are however familiar from his oil paintings and those of his contemporaries, i.e.

B. A. Brouwer and J. Steen.

Such scenes, hardly unusual, serve as snapshots of the everyday life in Dutch taverns of the time.

151

ADRIAEN VAN OSTADE

1610 Haarlem 1685

63 The Quacksalver. 1648 Etching. 14.8 x 12.2 cm Davidsohn 43/I (of VIII); Godefroy 43/II (of IX); Hollstein 43/III (of X) Provenance: P. Davidsohn (Lugt 654) S. Barden (Lugt 218) C. G. Boerner, Leipzig, auction 136, no. 490

Delicate early impression.

This 2 nd state, classified as extrêmement rar by Godefroy, who was able to document the 1st state only in a single copy in the collection of M. P. Mathey (today in the National Gallery, Washington). The intermediate state, meanwhile newly ­described by Hollstein, has been traced only to Haarlem.

With the signature on the lower right and the clumped foliage in the branches of the tree, but before the addition of the group of children on the left, which ­replaces the pair of figures that were removed from the background, along with a number of other reworkings.

With fine margins around the platemark. In an impeccable state of preservation, and particularly well-qualified through its provenance from the Davidsohn Collection.

In his etching, Ostade brings a new element to the ancient theme of the “quacksalver.” He clad his medicine vendor in a theater costume. With his flat cap and the cloak around his frilled collar, he conforms to the standard character type of the physician found in the “Commedia dell’arte,” performed throughout Europe, and is hence distinguished from the village residents in their everyday attire… The clothing… indicates that in contrast to earlier versions of the scene, Ostade pursues a different intention. No longer is universal deceit lamented in moral terms; instead, a familiar comedian draws a smile. (K. Renger in: exhib. cat. Graphik in Holland, Munich 1982)

152

63

CRISPIN DE PASSE

Ca. 1565 Arnemuiden – Utrecht 1637

64 The Four Continents. Ca. 1589 –1611 Europe Asia Africa America Series of 4 sheets. Engraving. 18.6 –19.4 x 22.1–22.8 cm Franken 1198–1202; Hollstein 597–600 Watermark: eagle with suspended letters “CN” (Briquet 2096, dated Aachen 1585 – Cologne 1598)

The complete series in a homogenous set of brilliant early impressions. Still with the clearly visible guidelines for the verses along the lower margin.

All printed on sheets of paper with broad margins (ca. 29.0 c 36.5 cm). In an excellent state of preservation One of a series of allegorical works produced by the artist in exile in Cologne which attempt to describe the phenomena of the world through a tetradic Pythagorean-­ Platonic model.

With the discovery of the Americas, the continents could now be ordered in a four-part schema. In his compositions, executed according to his own designs, Passe renounces all cosmological allusions while characterizing the continents from a Eurocentric perspective according to their respective “levels of civiliza­ tion”: Europe is the crowned ruler of the world, equipped with a sword and ­helmet, but also a cornucopia as an emblem of superabundance, and surrounded by symbols of the sciences and arts. Asia is an elegant lady with a camel and a ­d ragon, as well as a vessel filled with polished gemstones at her feet. Africa is a nude figure set upon a reptilian creature and riding amidst the treasures of nature, some of them brought to her by faun. Finally, America, is an Indian woman clad only in a feathered loincloth, who is offered severed human heads by her partner while human body parts simmer in a cooking pot – a reference to the cannibalism held to be customary on the newly discovered continent.

154

155

64

GERRIT PIETERSZ

1566 Amsterdam before 1616 (?)

65 The Rest on the Flight into Egypt. 1593 Etching. 21–3 x 26.2 cm Wurzbach 1; Burchard 4; Hollstein 4/II; TIB 53, p. 330, no. 003 S2 Watermark: C oat of arms of Braunschweig-Lüneburg (similar to Briquet 1987 and 1989, dated 1593 and 1596 respectively)

Indisputably the principal sheet among the group of only six etchings by the artist, who, like perhaps only B. Spranger, tried to capture the feverishly exaggerated Mannerism of the late sixteenth century so to speak experimentally with the ­g raphic style of etching technique on a copper plate.

A superb impression of virtually unsurpassable beauty.

Printed in brilliant deep black ink with intense and for the most part vertical ­p olishing marks on the evidently imperfectly smoothed copperplate, and hence directly comparable to the sole impression of the 1st state – before the address of the publisher Johannes Staterus – found in Amsterdam. In conjunction with the pronounced plate tone, these marks soften the light of the rising or setting sun in a way that is particularly effective in the shadow of the large cloth that has been draped over the knotted branches of a tree, beneath which the Holy Family has seated itself in order to nurse the infant Jesus.

With margins measuring up to 4 cm which show traces of former sewing on the left. Pristine apart from a tiny worm hole, with a harmonious warm-toned paper patina.

The six etchings by Gerrit Pietersz, five of which are dated 1593, occupy a unique place in late 16th-century Dutch graphic art. They were made at a time when drudging printmakers in Goltzius’s workshop and elsewhere were producing very elaborate engravings that in execution were far removed from these freely rendered etchings. The free treatment is remi­ niscent of three etchings by Bartholomeus Spranger from around 1589, although the latter handling of line is far tauter. The etchings by Spranger and Pietersz exemplify the kind of work done by a painter as a means of exploring an unfamiliar technique. Given their ­scarcity, it is questionable whether such prints were ever printed in an edition of any ­m agnitude. (G. Luijten)

158

65

GIOVANNI BATTISTA PIR ANESI

1720 Venice – Rome 1778

66 Sepolcoro di Metella detto Capo di Bove. Ca. 1748 Etching. 13.5 x 27.1 cm Focillon 62; Hind p. 76, no. 29; Salamon 22/II (of III); Wilton-Ely 124 Watermark: Letters (Robison 78)

Sheet 20 of the series “ALCUNE VEDUTE DI ARCHI TRIONPHALI” Excellent, splendidly deep-black impression.

With the altered number “22” (written in brown ink over the former number “20”), but prior to the later “369a” on the upper right for the edition of 1835/39, published by Firmin-Didot.

One of the exquisite plates, based on sketches made during Piranesi’s travels in Italy, c.

1743–47… may be considered among the artist’s graphic masterpieces ( J. Wilton-Ely).

First published in 1748 under the title “ANTICITA ROMANE DE’ TEMPI DELLA REPUBLICA, E DE’ PRIMI IMPER ATORI,” the series received the title, current until today, of “ALCUNE VEDUTE…” in 1756, after the publication of the ­“ANTICITA ROMANE OPER A IMPER ATORI DI GIANBATTISTA PIR ANESI…” With lovely, 6 –8 cm paper margins around the platemark, which has been pre­ served in striking relief entirely without pressing. in remarkably fresh condition.

Evident here in comparison with the “PRIMA PARTE” of 1743 are distinctive changes to Piranesi’s etching style: After his stay in Venice, his strokes become lighter, freer, and more varied under the influence of Giovanni Battista Tiepolo. Now, the render­ ing of a luxuriously proliferating nature is bound up inextricably with the depiction of the ruins, whose deterioration is interpreted in painterly terms. Piranesi’s intention is still to produce “pictures,” with archaeological documentation remaining in the background, as later in the ANTICITA ROMANE [OPERA DI GIANBATTISTA PIRANESI]. Nor is the isolated building his theme, but instead its integration into its surroundings. In these views, Piranesi’s gaze always assumes a lowered observation point, so that the ruins loom up high above, illustrating their monumentality … In 1748, when still working on the series, or after its completion, Piranesi seems to have immediately begun translating his artistic conceptions of the vedute into large formats, thereby laying the foundations for the task which accompanied him throughout his life in the VEDUTE DI ROMA. (C. Höper)

162

GIOVANNI BATTISTA PIR ANESI

1720 Venice – Rome 1778

67 Tempio detto volgarmente di Giano – The Arch of Janus, with the Arch of the Moneychangers. 1771 Etching. 47.4 x 70.9 cm Hind 96/I (von IV) Watermark: Lily in a double circle

Splendid impression of the 1st state prior to the later numbers.

With paper margins measuring up to 3 cm around the platemark. The usual central fold barely noticeable, with an early reinforcement on the reverse. One small brown f leck on the left in the sky, otherwise in an excellent state of preservation.

Large scale and dark handling lend this image its power and eeriness, as do subtle distortions, like those of a wide-angle camera lens, in which receding orthogonal lines promise to converge nearer than seems natural. This distortion is most evident in the entablature of the Arch of the Moneychangers. The inhabitants of the scene also contribute to the spooky effect. All are alone. None engages our gaze, even though the figure at the lower right acknowledges our existence by directing our attention to the caption, which occupies his space like some ancient tablet… (A. G. Weinstein in: exhib. cat. Piranesi: Rome ­R ecorded, New York, Rome 1990, p. 108)

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67

68

MARIA K ATHARINA PRESTEL

1739 Nuremberg – London 1794

68 Les Chanteurs rustiques. Ca. 1775 After J. A. Dietzsch

Etching and aquatint and brush etching. 35.3 x 27.1 cm Nagler ( J. T. Prestel) 21; Le Blanc ( J. T. Prestel) 109; not in Weigel; Schwaighofer 15; Kiermeier-Debre/Vogel 2200a,b Provenance: The Princes of Liechtenstein

A splendid impression printed in black.

With fine margins around the framing line; with the title as well as the address of the artist and publisher along the lower edge. Mounted along the edges in places on the original collection support of the Princes of Liechtenstein.

One of the first sheets etched in aquatint by Maria Katharina Prestel 1775 for the publishing house of J. G. Hertel after designs by J. A. Dietzsch, an artist who, according to C. G. Murr, achieved fame in particular for his figural pieces in the Dutch style, executed with wash. Schwaighofer assumed that prior to her mar­ riage with J. T. Prestel, Maria Katarina Höll had received instruction in drawing from one of Dietzsch’s sisters, and was therefore in close contact with that family of Nuremberg artists.

Nagler and Le Blanc attributed this composition erroneously to J. T. Prestel, presumably on the basis of a copy that had been trimmed along the lower edge, not unlike the one found in the Städel in Frankfurt.

167

REMBR ANDT HARMENSZOON VAN RIJN

1609 Leiden – Amsterdam 1669

69 Christ at Emmaus. 1654 Etching. 21.2 x 16.0 cm Bartsch and Rovinski 87/II; Seidlitz 87/II (of IV); White-Boon 87/II (of III); Hind 282/II (of III); Biörklund-Barnard 54-H/II (of III); Hinterding-Rutgers 283/II (of V) Watermark: five-pointed fool’s cap (Hinterding variant F.a.)

Provenance: duplicate from the Kupferstichsammlung of the königliche Museen, Berlin (Lugt 1606 and sales stamp 234)

Excellent early impression of a composition that was intensively reworked by Rembrandt with drypoint. Still with rich burr and delicate plate tone which ­integrates the powerful contrasts between the linear elements into the lucid atmosphere in a harmonious way.

Printed on paper with the fool’s cap watermark that is specifically mentioned by Hinterding for copies printed around 1645.

With 5–8 mm paper margins around the still strongly delineated platemark. ­F lawless and fresh.

In his print works, Rembrandt treated the theme of Christ at Emmaus on two occasions. In contrast to the rather anecdotal and informal character of the first etching, which dates from 1634, the present composition of 1654 is characterized by a far more tranquil, even solemn mood. In “Christ at Emmaus,”… Rembrandt combines the light of the day that lends credence to Christ’s physical resurrection with the light of divine revelation. The ritual of the Eucharist takes place in a stagelike setting in an upper room accessed by stairs in the immediate foreground. The figure of the curious innkeeper who pauses to look acts as an intermediary between the viewer’s everyday world and the sacred mystery of the symbolic transformation of bread and wine. (C. S. Ackley)

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69

REMBR ANDT HARMENSZOON VAN RIJN

70 Christ at Emmaus: The Smaller Plate.

1606 Leiden – Amsterdam 1669

1634

Etching and drypoint. 10.3 x 7.4 cm Bartsch, Rovinski, Seidlitz and White-Boon 88; Hind 121; Biörklund-Barnard 34-K; New Hollstein 129 Provenance: J. Cantacuzène (Lugt 4030 Hotel Drouot, auction of June 4–6, 1969, no. 215

Rembrandt’s first etched version of the Christ at Emmaus theme in a fine, transparent impression.

With tiny margins beyond the platemark. Except for a small splash of glue and remains of old hinges on the verso, in a perfect state of preservation.

The small 1634 etching is anecdotal and informal in conception, almost a vignette from everyday life. At left, a traveler’s stick and satchel lie on the floor and at right a mangy undernourished dog begs for scraps from the table, while one of the disciples slices meat. There is a sense of action interrupted: Christ grasps the loaf of bread vigorously, and, in an explosive burst of light, reveals himself to his followers’ startled eyes.

The patterns of light and shadow are stark and dramatic in their contrasts. (C. S. Ackley)

170

171

REMBR ANDT HARMENSZOON VAN RIJN

1606 Leiden – Amsterdam 1669

71 Canal with an Angler and Two Swans. 1650 Etching and drypoint. 8.3 x 10.8 cm Bartsch 235, Rovinski, Seidlitz and White-Boon 235/II; Hind 238/II; Biörklund-Barnard 50-A/II; New Hollstein 253/II Watermark: Strasbourg lily (Hinterding variant H.a.)

Provenance: private collection, Germany

One of the landscape capricci from the early 1650s, in which Rembrandt’s intense preoccupation with Italian landscape drawing, for example Titian, finds powerful expression. Elements of the mountainous landscape, with which Rembrandt had no direct experience, are conf lated here with components from the artist’s immediate surroundings to form fantastic, atmospheric landscapes which are nonetheless Dutch in character: For Rembrandt, however, the imaginary scenery ­p rovides the backdrop for a typically Dutch landscape, with a canal and polder. Rembrandt’s method of shading the water with parallel vertical lines also resembles that of Titian. (C. P. Schneider) Excellent, richly-nuanced impression of the composition, finished with additional hatchings, primarily in the middle ground. The drypoint work still showing delicate burr.

With fine margins around the platemark. Impeccably fresh.

172

71

KER-XAVIER ROUSSEL

1867 Lorry-lès-Metz – L’Étang-la-Ville 1944

72 La Source. Ca. 1900 Lithograph. Printed in five colors. 31.2 x 41.1 cm (image), 35.9 x 48.9 cm (sheet) Heusinger 21; Salomon 20

Perfectly fresh impression of the light-f looded composition.

One of 100 impressions printed on ‘chine volant.’

Uncut sheet. Pristine and impeccable.

This charming bucolic idyll, which transports the beholder into a poetic world, was part of a series of 12 lithographs commissioned by A. Vollard for the third Album des Painter-Graveurs, to have been published in 1897. When the previous two suites, the work of Bonnard and Vuillard, proved virtually unsalable, Vollard cancelled the publication on short notice. Six compositions (Salomon 14–19) were republished around 1900 by A. Clot, Vollard’s master printer, in an edition of 100 as Album de Paysages. Five further compositions were printed only in 1–3 proof impressions. Uniquely, La Source was published separately in an edition of 100,as a rule unsigned.

Just as Mallarmé’s poem “L’Après-midi d’un faune” and its musical realization by Debussy represented entirely new and independent invocations of antique themes, and were of bold and forward-looking originality in their forms and symbolism, things are no different with the pictorial conjuring of a bucolic world of figures by the painter and graphic artist using new forms and new meaning. And while Roussel himself may have invoked Mallarmé, and may have repeatedly mentioned Poussin, Delacroix, Corot, Puvis de Chavannes, and their Greek archetypes as the forebears of his art – he made of them something very different.

Manifest in these scenes, to be sure, in which goddesses and gods, nymphs and Erotes, along with other figures from Greek mythology, appear in a joyous dance, is the ancient yearning for a life without sin, without history, in the shimmering light of happiness. But Roussel was the first who dared to position this yearning quite naively in the light of the contemporary day. And moreover in a literal sense. If antiquity served his great or greater predecessors to effect rapture or exultation in a quasi-historical ‘mythical light’…, then Roussel shifts his Dianas and Graces, his satyrs and bacchantes, into the bright daylight of the ‘everyday’ sunshine that was first discovered in all of its beauty by Monet…

Coming to expression in his print works even more insistently than in his paintings are artistic traits: the capacity for intimation, the undertone, but also a poetry of the melan­ cholic, and at times even the somber… (G. Busch)

174

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73

JAKOB VAN RUISDAEL

1629 Haarlem 1682

73 The Three Oaks. 1649 Etching and drypoint. 12.8 x 14.8 cm Dutuit 6/I (of II); Bradley, (Print Collectors Quarterly, vol. VII, p. 153–174); Keyes 5/I (of II); Hollstein 6/I (of II); Slive E9/I (of II) Watermark: Foolscap Provenance: D uke of Portland Sotheby’s sale of December 8, 1972, no. 73 C. G. Boerner, Neue Lagerliste 62, 1973, no. 45 Private Collection, Germany

A landmark of European printmaking An exceptionally rare 1th state of the artist’s magnificent masterwork.

This is the only impression in a private collection mentioned by Slive, alongside the four other known impressions in public collections.

Marvelous early impression of genuinely exquisite printing quality. The fine ­ orderline only finely and incompletely delimited, and not yet strengthened. b Before the reworking of the shadows in the tree on the shaded bank at the extreme right, and the willows at the foot of the bank. Before the address of­ F. van Wyngaerde.

Using the drypoint stylus for the foliage of the oaks, the artist achieves beautifully modeled, rich sculptural effects. The delicate horizontal wipe marks and the effective utilization of plate tone produce a convincing sense of space and a vibrant atmosphere.

Cut down to the platemark. With isolated pale foxing marks, tiny abrasions in the sky, and two short, carefully mended tears at the edges, otherwise in excellent condition.

With its clear dependency on de Gheyn and Buytewech, Ruisdael’s small print œuvre represents a substantial reformulation and a decisive turning point in the art of landscape etching. According to Hind and Bode, comparable only to the masterpieces of Hercules Seghers and to Rembrandt’s The Three Trees of 1643.

177

FERDINAND RUSCHEWEYH JULIUS THAETER

1785 Neustrelitz 1846 1804 Dresden – Munich 1870

74 Bilder zu Goethe’s Faust. – Illustrations to Goethe’s Faust. 1813–25 After P.Cornelius

Set of 12 plates. Engraving. 38.0–47.5 x 38.2–57.9 cm and 44.0–51.5 x 36.8–41.0 cm respectively Nagler (Ruscheweyh) 72–83 and (Thaeter) 13; Andresen (Ruscheweyh) 6; Bötticher (P. Cornelius) 28/I (of II); exhib. cat. German Printmaking in the Age of Goethe, London 1994, no. 117; cf. P. Maisak, exhib. cat. Goethes “Faust,”, Frankfurt/M. 2007, no. 47

The Masterpiece of the Nazarene revival of engraving. (A. Griffiths, F. Carrey) The complete set, consisting of the title page, dedication page, and 10 illustrations to Goethe’s Faust engraved by F. Ruscheweyh and J. Thaether after pen and ink drawings executed by P. Cornelius in Frankfurt and Rome.

The 1rst edition described as early as Nagler as bereits sehr selten geworden (having already become quite rare). J. F. Wenner in Frankfurt inaugurated his publication in 1816 with 2 portfolios of 4 plates each, followed by 3 additional plates (Gretchen Kneeling before the Mater Dolorosa, Valentin’s Death, and Faust with Gretchen in the ­Dungeon), which did not appear before late 1817. All were engraved by­ F. Ruscheweyh in London. It was not until 1825 that the series was completed with the publication of the Easter Promenade, engraved by J. Thaeter.

Prior to the later new edition of 1845, brought out by G. Reimer in Berlin, and the jubilee edition of 1916.

When working on illustrations to Goethe’s Faust in the spirit of Dürer during a stay in Frankfurt in 1810, Cornelius had intended to publish a series of engrav­ ings from the outset. The first part had already been published in a finalized version two years earlier. Bringing with him a well-intentioned letter from the author, to whom S. Boiserée had presented five drawings for his appraisal, ­C ornelius succeeded in winning J. F. Wenner in Frankfurt as his publisher before his departure for Rome. But it was only in Rome that he made the acquaintance of F. Ruscheweyh, the leading engraver of the Nazarene circle, and established him successfully against Wenner’s initial resistance.

Austere in character and suffused with dramatic power, the Faust illustrations, congenially and lucidly engraved by Ruscheweyh, are regarded as Cornelius’ master­piece. According to M. Sonnabend, they are an impressive testimony of the Romantic quest for a revival of art. With their aspiration toward purity of style and old-masterly technical meticulousness in execution, the sheets can be regarded as incuna­ bula of the N ­ azarene art of drawing. They are ‘an art of ideas,’ their design based on a conception that strives to supplant the normative aesthetic of Classicism with historical thinking. Certainly, they try to recover the ‘lost paradise’ of a ‘German Middle-Ages’ that is understood as fully intact, identical, and filled with meaning, yet do not remain at the level of historic or nationalistic chauvinism. Their handling of the new and challenging potential of their models, which become historical sources, proceeds with an intellectual and artistic discipline that does not strive merely to reproduce a glorified past, but instead to be modern with a historical consciousness, and to discover an identity for the present day through the study of history.

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JAN SAENREDAM

Ca. 1565 Zaandam – Assendelft 1607

75 The Birth of Christ. Ca. 1595 After H. Goltzius

Engraving. 14.1 x 27.3 cm Bartsch III, 94, 1; Hollstein (after Goltzius) 478; T.I.B. 3 commentary, p. 342, no. 001; New Hollstein (Prints after Inventions by Goltzius) 421 Provenance: King Frederick August of Saxony (Lugt 971)

Splendid, sooty, deep-black impression of the most beautiful brilliance.

Cut down to the framing line or with extremely fine margins around it, and with the verse by C. Schoneus below. Impeccable.

Bartsch still classified this engraving, designated as an invention by Goltzius only through the artist’s monogram, as the anonymous work of a student. Today, the sheet is generally regarded as being the work of J. Saenredam, who worked again intensively with his former master in the mid-1590s, engraving numerous designs for him.

This engraving is based on a drawing by Goltzius (Reznicek p. 247, no. 29) which dates from 1594, when he was practicing the art of aemulatio, i.e. in the master engravings, which is to say, when he sought to demonstrate his virtuosic crafts­ manship through imitations of various stylistic modes of the great 16 th -century masters. In his Adoration of the Shepherds (1594), according to Reznicek, Goltzius displays his precise knowledge of the art of Federigo Zuccaro.

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JAN SAENREDAM

Ca. 1565 Zaandam – Assendelft 1607

76 Spring. 1601 After H. Goltzius

Engraving. 22.0 x 16.1 cm Bartsch III, 247, 87; Hollstein 89/I-II (of IV); New Hollstein (Prints after inventions by Goltrzius) 680/I (of V) Watermark: double eagle Provenance: T. Falkeisen & J. F. Huber (Lugt 1008)

The enchanting first sheet of the delightful Seasons series featuring pairs of ­children, which Saenredam engraved after designs by his teacher H. Goltzius.

With a verse by C. Schonaeus along the lower edge, which reads translated into English: I enliven the spirits of men, as well as of birds and wild animals. Everything experiences joy in the richly blossoming time of spring.

Early impression prior to all of the later addresses of the new additions of this popular composition.

With fine margins around the platemark. Glue residues on the reverse from an earlier mounting in a collection album, otherwise impeccable.

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ELISABETTA SIR ANI

1638 Bologna 1665

77 The Holy Family with the Infant St. John the Baptist. 1659 Etching. 16.4 x 13.5 cm Bartsch and Le Blanc 3; Bellini 3/II (of III) Provenance: H. Dreux (Lugt 1302)

Superb impression. Sooty deep-black in the linear forms, with an almost burry effect in the shadowed areas. Prior to the later address “G. Reni inv inc” on the lower left.

Bellini was able to document the 1st state, bearing the address “Elisab ta Sirani F 1659,” which still remained unknown to Bartsch, only in a single copy in Bologna.

For the most part with extremely fine margins around the platemark, in places cut inside of it. In a pristine, f lawless state of preservation.

E. Sirani was regarded as one of the most talented of the many artists in Reni’s circle (R. Wallace). Although born only three years after Reni’s death, she grew up as the daughter of A. Sirani, one of the master’s colleagues, and hence so to speak in his immediate orbit. Just how close she comes to her great model in the ­present Holy Family with the Infant St. John the Baptist is suggested by the later, deliberately deceptively addition of “G. Reni.” The motif of the sleeping infant Jesus who ­nestles into his mother’s shoulder is undoubtedly a virtuoso paraphrase of Reni’s etching Madonna with Child in the Round (Bartsch 2), which achieved greater ­p opularity than virtually any other print work by the artist.

The composition exists as a painting as well (Pinacoteca Nationale, Bologna), although it remains unclear whether it is the work of Elisabetta herself, or instead of her younger sister Barbara, also trained by their father.

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ELISABETTA SIR ANI

1638 Bologna 1665

78 The Rest on the Flight into Egypt. Ca. 1650–60 Etching. 16.2 x 17.6 cm Bartsch and Le Blanc and Bellini 4 Provenance: A. Boerner (Lugt 270)

A quite excellent, finely nuanced impression, composed with a ‘rapid’ needle like a pen and ink sketch.

With fine margins around the platemark. With a lovely paper patina.

In her slender print oeuvre, which encompasses only 12 sheets in all, E. Sirani took up the subject of The Rest on the Flight into Egypt on two occasions. While in the second version (B. 5), St. Joseph reads a book, and is virtually a nonparticipant, while Mary nurses the child, he has been directly integrated here into the action. His affectionate gaze is directed toward the Jesus child who lies in his mother’s lap, gesticulating wildly with all of his limbs, and he extends his left hand as though wanting to calm or caress the child.

With great virtuosity, Sirani exploits the effects of staged etching in order to ­s uggest spatial depth. Noticeably, the figure of Joseph alongside the palm tree is etched more weakly than the figure of Mary with the child, which leans against a tree trunk, or even the curving ground in the foreground.

Although schooled by her father A. Sirani entirely in the classical tradition of­ G. Reni, the artist occasionally achieved a heightened emotional expression, as in the present composition, working with intensified contrasts of light and shadow.

In this regard, she seems almost closer to S. Cantarini than to the master ­h imself.

Her two etchings of the Rest on the Flight into Egypt generally resemble Cantarini’s in their freedom and sketchiness. Like Cantarini, Sirani sometimes used staged biting to separate lightly bitten backgrounds from more strongly bitten foregrounds. (B. Wallace)

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JAN SMEES

Traceable beginning in 1705, active in Amsterdam until 1729

79 Italian Landscape with Dilapidated Houses on the Banks of River.

Ca. 1710

Etching. 13.8 x 21.4 cm Bartsch and Nagler 2 Provenance: Dr. W. Ackermann (Lugt 791)

One of only five known etchings by this artist, described by Bartsch as d’une pointe legère et, en plusieurs endoits, spirituelle, and said to therefore have a good value on the market (Nagler).

Quite excellent, deep-black impression, with the extremely weak etching of the background lines, so crucial for the structuring of Smees’s compositions, show­ ing to great advantage.

With fine paper margins around the platemark. Impeccable.

Of great beauty, like all sheets by this artist.

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ANDREAS STOCK

80 Landscape with the Fall of Icarus.

Ca. 1580 Antwerp – The Hague ca. 1648

Ca. 1610

After J. de Gheyn II

Etching and engraving. 11.0 x 17.6 cm Wurzbach 250; Hollstein (de Gheyn II) 288; New Hollstein (The de Gheyn Family) 217 Watermark: three coats of arms between lions beneath a crown in an oval (W. F. Tschudin, The Ancient Paper-Mills of Basle and their Marks, Hilversum 1958, no. 399, dated 1607 and J. Lindt, The Paper-Mills of Berne and their Watermarks, Hilversum 1964, no. 509, dated 1600–1609) Provenance: C. W. von Blücher (Lugt 2710)

Superb early impression from the 1st edition by N. de Clerck in Delft, as evidenced by the exquisite printing quality and the early watermark. Prior to the later new edition by H. Hondius, who acquired the printing plates in 1623 from de Clerck’s estate.

With fine margins around the in places inky platemark. Pristine.

The Landscape with the Fall of Icarus belongs to an extraordinarily rare series of six landscapes after designs by J. de Gheyn. Formerly attributed to the master himself, these etchings, which have been reworked intensively with the burin, are now regarded – following a remark by Mariette – as being by his student A. Stock.

Closely related stylistically to the mountain landscapes of Goltzius, and traceable in part to the fantastic designs of the Bruegel era, they also draw to some degree on more recent developments, i.e. those of Coninxloo and Abraham Bloemaert… (K. Oberhuber)

195

FÉLIX VALLOTON

1865 Lausanne – Paris 1925

81 Print Fanciers. 1892 Woodcut. 18.7 x 25.3 cm (sheet size: 25.3 x 32.6 cm) Valloton-Goerg 107/c (of d)

A composition based on pure black/white contrasts, without intermediate tones.

Commissioned by Edmond Sagot in 1892 as a visiting card for his art gallery on Rue Guénégaud, and distributed to customers free of charge.

Very beautiful impression prior to the later version in a reduced paper format, which was always folded, and bore a text on the reverse.

To call attention to the new gallery address, the present copy was stamped on the upper right in violet: “ACTUELLEMENT 39bis, Rue de Chateaudun, 39bis.” A variant that remains unmentioned in the literature. Normally, this print is seen only in the photo reproduction, reduced in size, which was prepared at a later point in time.

Printed on cream-colored vellum paper, as mentioned specifically by Valloton-­ Goerg. in the marginal area, two barely visible reinforcements, as well as a diagonal crease mark above the left lower corner. Uncut.

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FR ANZ EDMUND WEIROTTER

1733 Innsbruck – Vienna 1771

82 Two Landscapes Landscape with the Cottage on the Water Figural Group in a Vast Landscape / Two Men at a Ford. 1760 7 sheets. Etching. 21.4 x 15.6 cm, and 15-1 x 15.3 and 5.9 x 15.1 cm Winterberg 57 and 210 Provenance: The Princes of Liechtenstein

A highly interesting compilation of seven to date for the most part undescribed state proofs which make it possible to reorder the sequence proposed by Winterberg. These impressions strikingly document the tentative working approach of this young artist in developing these Rembrandtesque landscape compositions: A: the undivided plate (21.4 x 15.6 cm) In a first working step, the Landscape with the Cottage on the Water was etched onto the lower half of the vertical copperplate, with the sky left entirely free. Signed along the lower middle, approximately 0.7 mm above the edge of the plate, in mirror writing: “F. Weirotter.” Recognizable near the upper edge are the sketchy beginnings of a second inverted landscape that has been partially etched with the drypoint stylus. (State A.I).

The uppermost scene is extended via a figural group and a background land­ scape. (State A.II = Winterberg 57/57a proof copy) The uppermost scene is completely ground down and laid out a new as a land­ scape with two men at a ford. (State: A.III) B: after the division of the plate in two: a: 6.1 x 15.6 cm and b: 15.3 x 15.6 cm The earlier uppermost scene still unaltered (state B.a.I) The earlier uppermost landscape supplemented with a cloudy sky and given a framing line. Signed along the lower edge: “F. E. Weirotter f ” (state B.a.II) The earlier uppermost landscape reworked and given additional linear elements, specifically along the contours of the mountain in the background on the left and right. Signed along the upper left edge with the “a” and to the right with the number “12” from >Suite de XVIII Paysages….< (State B.a.III = Winterberg 210) The earlier lower scene with a framing line and dark clouds on the left and along the upper edge. (State B.b.I) The clouds reworked and enlarged with the drypoint stylus. (State B.b.II) The clouds on the right are again burnished out. (State B.b.III = Winterberg 57,I) Labeled along the lower edge “F. E. Weirotter fecit,” and along the upper edge to the right, the letter “a” and to the left, the number “11,” from >XII Vues de la Normandie<. (State B.b.IV = Winterberg 57,II)

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FR ANZ EDMUND WEIROTTER

1733 Innsbruck – Vienna 1771

83 Two Landscapes The Cottage Beneath the Large Trees Coastal Landscape with Passing Military Column. 1760 7 sheets. Etching. 21.0 x 15.8 and 14.6 x 15.4 and 5.8 x 15.5 cm Winterberg 58 and 209 Provenance: The Princes of Liechtenstein

A highly interesting compilation of seven still for the most part undescribed state proofs which make it possible to reorder the sequence proposed by Winterberg.

These impressions strikingly document the tentative working approach of this young artist in developing these Rembrandtesque landscape compositions: A: the undivided plate (21.0 x 15.8 cm) On the lower half of the vertical copperplate, The Cottage Beneath the Large Trees was etched without sky. Inscribed along the right-hand edge with “Weirotter.” ­P rior to the uppermost scene. (state A.I).

The uppermost scene added without sky. With the mirror-reversed signature­ “F E Weirotter.” (state A.II) The contour of the central tree directly alongside the cottage in the upper middle area adjusted and the feathery branches burnished out. (State: A.III = Winterberg 58/209 proof copy) B: after the division of the plate into a: 6.0 x 15.8 cm and b: 15.0 x 15.8 cm The earlier upper scene still unaltered (state B.a.I) The earlier uppermost landscape given a sky, supplemented minimally at the sides, the embankment on the left crosshatched. A framing line is added. Still with the signature on the lower left. (state B.a.II = Winterberg 109,I) The signature on the lower left removed. Inscribed now at the lower edge with: “F. E. Weirotter f.” and along the upper edge the letter “a” on the right and the number “11” from >Suite de XVIII Paysages…< at left. (State B.a.III = Winterberg 209,II) The earlier lowermost scene still unaltered. (state B.b.I) The earlier lowermost scene given a dark sky, partially through the use of drypoint. Now, smoke rises from the chimney. The trunks of the grove on the left behind the dead tree trunk more strongly shadowed. The lower corners of the composition supplemented. With the framing line (state B.b.II) The clouds partially brightened again through polishing, specifically above the shrub along the left-hand side edge, as well as above the signature on the right.

The smoke is intensified. (State B.b.III = Winterberg 58,I) Along the lower edge with the inscription “F. E. Weirotter fecit,” along the upper edge the letter “a” on the right and the number “12,” from >XII Vues de la Normandie< at left. (State B.b.IV = Winterberg 57,II)

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B.a. I

A. I

B.b. I

A. II

B.b. II

B.a. II

B.b. III 83

CONTE ANTONIO MARIA ZANETTI

84 Winged Genius.

1680 Venice 1767

1722

After F. Parmigianino

Chiaroscuro woodcut from three blocks. 15.5 x 7.9 cm Bartsch XII, p. 167, no. 15; T.I.B. 48, p. 280, no. 15

Splendid impression in a delightful combination of pale ocher, anthracite, and gray-blue. The white of the unprinted paper emerges from the few gaps in the ocher-colored printing block quite effectively as highlights.

With extremely fine margins around the framing line, which is partially overlaid by a thin, painted golden fillet. Flawless, and in particular with regard to the colors, displaying the most beautiful freshness and brilliance.

This composition is one of the early chiaroscuro woodcuts by this artist. It dates from after Zanetti’s return from his two-year ‘grand tour,’ which took him to London via Paris in 1720. The group of 130 drawings by Parmigianino he was able to acquire there from the collection of the Earl of Arundel would become an inexhaustible source of inspiration. They served as a stimulus toward his intensive preoccupation with the 16th century Italian chiaroscuro woodcut, for which purpose some of the drawings were originally executed. For his own virtuoso reproductions, Zanetti effected a brilliant revival of the technique.

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INDEX OF ARTISTS 1 A. Allen A. Andreani 25 Anonym Deutsch 2 3, 4 Anonym Niederländisch H. Baldung Grien 5, 6 F. Barocci 7 C. Bega 8 H. S. Beham 9 10 S. della Bella W. van Bemmel 11 J. de Bisschop 12 F. Bol 13 F. Bonvin 14 B. Breenbergh -› 12 R. Bresdin 15, 16 F.-H. Buhot 17 H. Burgkmair 18 19 W. Buytewech M. de Bye 20 21– 24 J. Callot A. Canal gen. Canaletto 25 Ag. Caracci -› 3 26 U. da Carpi G. B. Castiglione 27–30 P. Cornelius -› 74 J. A. Dietzsch -› 68 A. Dürer 31–36 A. Elsheimer -› 42 G. P. Ermels 37 G. Gandolfi 39 C. Gellée gen. Le Lorrain 40 J. de Gheyn -› 80 H. Goltzius 41 H. Goltzius -› 3, 4, 58, 75, 76 H. Goudt 42

Catalogue: Michael Weis English Translation: Ian Pepper

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43 L. Haach N. W. van Haeften 44 W. Hogarth 45 W. Hollar 46, 47 M. Kellerkoven 48 J. A. Koch 49 C. A. Lebschée 50 51 J.-L. Legeay M. Lorck 52 J. Matham 53 F. A. Maulbertsch 54 C. Meryon 55–57 58 J. Harmenz. Muller F. Nadorp 59 J. van Ossenbeeck 60 A. van Ostade 61–63 C. de Passe 64 J. Pillement -› 1 66, 67 G. B. Piranesi 68 M. K. Prestel Raphael -› 26 Rembrandt 69–71 K.-X. Roussel 72 73 J. van Ruisdael F. Ruscheweyh 74 J. Saenredam 75 C. van Sichem -› 4 E. Sirani 77–78 J. Smees 79 A. Stock 80 J. Thaeter 74 81 F. Valloton F. E. Weirotter 82, 83 A. M. Zanetti 84

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