Eric Gillis Fine Art - Catalogue 20 - October 2020 by Eric Gillis

1480 1900 Fine Prints

Catalogue 20

1480 1900 Fine Prints

ERIC GILLIS FINE ART T +32 2 503 14 64 | W www.eg-fineart.com | M noemie@eg-fineart.com

1, rue aux laines | 1000 Brussels | Belgium

October 2020

Art lives upon discussion, upon curiosity, upon variety of attempt, upon exchange of views and the comparison of standpoints. Henry James (1893)

Dear Friends, To Henry James’ quotation, we could add Art lives upon boundaries, whatever they are in the present time. These past twelve months, for our annual October show in New York, we had carefully gathered a group of seventy old and modern masters prints. It is an endless pleasure to seek them out, in particular rare ones. It is truly amazing, in 2020, to still be able to find, and to handle, impressions of which there are only a few known copies. We – you and us – have this great privilege. The boundary of our time, the Covid-19 outbreak, has unfortunately made it difficult for us to show you these remarkable prints in person, discuss their minute detail and share their stories. Our love for master prints is however too strong to let these lay dormant, and we have therefore taken steps to present them to you, via two catalogs. The first of which is available now, the second will come to you early next year. Here are a few of the highlights close to our heart. Just three among many others. Our first coup de cœur is for the Ecce Homo now firmly attributed to Cornelis Cort (see detail on the left). It is a magnificent sample of mid-16 th century printmaking. A true chef d’oeuvre with only two known copies. Secondly, we have gathered an extraordinary group of three large, double-sheets prints, ca. 1550-60, by leading Italian mannerist printmakers, Fantuzzi, de’ Cavalieri, and Fontana. Large etchings and engravings of Italian masters was a first at the time, ca. 1550, and shows the ambition of these exceptional printmakers. The prints are extremely rare, one even has the provenance of Pierre Mariette II, with the date 1690. Our final coup de cœur are the prints of Jacques Bellange. For years, we had seen his impressions on the market but were never swayed by the quality or the subject… Until now. We have acquired two wonderful samples of this fascinating printmaker’s work. This diversity in our prints is at the heart of our adventure. We hope you celebrate and cherish this collection as much as we enjoyed compiling it for you.

Eric Gillis & Noémie Goldman

Master AG Germany, active ca. 1470–1490 Christ Entry into Jerusalem

Engraving on laid paper, ca. 1480-90 Watermark Powder horn (Lehrs 12) Plate 144 × 109 mm Reference Bartsch 345; Lehrs 6, 1st state of three Provenance Eric Stanley, Oxford; thence by heirs Condition In very good condition

A superb impression of this scarce and early engraving, in 1st state. Master AG has now been identified most probably as Anton Gerbel von Pforzheim, one of the most talented pupils of Martin Schongauer in his workshop at Colmar. Twenty-eight engravings are known from his hand, including several copies after prints by his teacher. Six unsigned works are known from his early work, the monogrammed works may belong to his late work around 1480-90. Master AG was the first to include engravings in books instead of woodcut illustrations. Just for the records, an rather old possible identification by Sandart was given to the Nuremberg woodcutter Albert Glockendon but it has been fully rejected by Lehrs and scholars.

Part of a Passion series (no complete ensemble recorded), the present print is marked by a great delicacy of touch. Its engraving techniques bring to mind the manner of Schongauer. Not so its style; the acrid dissonances so characteristic of the Passion series by Schongauer. The Master AG preferred the undulating rhythm of the Netherlandish art, notably Dick Bouts. It demonstrates the impact of Schongauer’s technique and compositions in Germany at his early time and quickly, and then brilliantly mixed with other Northern influences. The series came before the compositions of the same subject by Hans Holbein the Elder and Albrecht Dürer.

Giuilo Bonasone ca. 1498 Bologna – Roma 1576 Nymphs and Satyrs Bathing

Engraving on laid paper, ca. 1531-74

Watermark Plate Reference Provenance Condition

indistinct single Circle 201 × 280 mm Bartsch 97; Massari (1983), no 116 Pierre Mariette II (1634-1716), Paris (Lugt 1789), dated 1694; Earl Spencer (18th century), Althorp (Lugt 2341a), with a probably associated number 405 (stamped in black ink verso); with Artemis Fine Arts, London, 1984; Eric Stanley, Oxford; thence by heirs In very good condition, with thread margins in places and retaining a fillet of blank paper

It is a very fine impression of this rare print of Bonasone’s own invention. It is worth mentioning the exceptional and distinguished provenance, testifying the interest of this plate and impression: Pierre Mariette and then the Earl of Spencer, acquired in the course of the 18th century. The Spencers collected through the 18 th century an outstanding ensemble of Renaissance prints and then put in albums. It was kept intact until Artemis Fine Art bought a part of the albums from the family, in 1984.

artists of the period, including Parmigianino, Giulio Romano, Perino del Vaga, Primaticcio and Titian, as well as his own inventions. The plates were mostly published by Salamanca, Barlacchi and Lafreri. His graphic œuvre is 354 numbers, which is considerable, and he played a major role in the development of reproductive prints after drawings, as we now understand this genre did not exist during the earlier generation of Renaissance engravers. With Caraglio and the Master of the Die, Bartsch called them the School of Marcantonio. Prints of his own invention are rarer, and thus the present example is very interesting to have. The subject is a typical theme in Renaissance print, there are three nymphs and two satyrs bathing, two are embracing and in the left background a nymph chastises a satyr.

Painter, engraver and etcher, Bonasone was born about 1498 in Bologna, where he was pupil o the painter Lorenzo Sabbatini. He might have learned engraving from Marcantonio Raimondi, who was in Bologna after the Sack of Rome in 1527. Bonasone was active between 1531 and 1574, years during which he certainly spent time in Rome. He reproduced designs by all the leading Italian

Nicolas Beatrizet ca. 1507/15 Luneville – Rome ca. 1573 Man Walking or Joseph of Arimathea

Engraving on laid paper, ca. 1546-49 Watermark Letter M with Star in a Shield (similar to Briquet 8390 and 8391) Plate 362 × 190 mm Literature Evelina Borea, “Stampe da modelli fiorentini nel cinquecento”, in Il primate del disegno, exh. cat., Florence, Palazzo Strozzi, 1980, p. 283, no 783; Bruce William Davis Mannerist Prints: International style in the sixteenth century, exh. cat., Los Angeles, LACMA, 1988, no 7; Bulletin van het Rijksmuseum, 2002, p. 86; Bernadine Barnes, Michelangelo in Print: Reproductions as Response in the Sixteenth Century, Farnham, 2010, no 68 Provenance With Artemis Fine Arts in 1989, London; Eric Stanley, Oxford; thence by heirs Condition In very good condition, with a made-up platemark at left and below

master’s designs. It is the style of the print, however, that is the clinching factor for the attribution. The fine network of lines shading the anatomy and drapery is consistent with Beatrizet’s manner and contrasts with Bonasone’s considerably looser modeling. The mesh of crosshatching in this engraving, interspersed with patches of closely spaces, long strokes of parallel lines, is found in other engravings by Beatrizet, such as The Death of Meleager after Francesco Salviati, 1543, and Aaron, ca. 1542. The greater delicacy of modeling in the present Man Walking, however, suggests a date of a few years later.

A very fine impression of this rare and impressive plate, printed with a light plate tone and many wiping marks. This striking print of a soldier with arms folded was contemporarily taken from the figure of Joseph of Arimathea that occurs at far right in Michelangelo’s late fresco the Crucifixion of St Peter completed 1549 in the Cappella Paolina in the Vatican. The plate was not recorded by Bartsch. Formerly, Mario Rotili gave first the plate to Giulio Bonasone, but from the 1960s, however, Evelina Borea, Arthur E. Popham (British Museum), Richard Godfrey and others have all agreed to identify the engraver as Nicolas Beatrizet. The image’s source in a work by Michelangelo undoubtedly inspired the attribution to Beatrizet, who engraved many of the

It has been noted by Geoffrey Keynes that this engraving served as the model for William Blake’s engraving Joseph of Arimathea among the Rocks of Albion, 1773.

Antonio Fantuzzi ca. 1500 Bologna – Fontainebleau 1550 The Banquet of Scipio After Giulio Romano

Etching on laid papers, on two joined sheets, 1543 Watermark Small Fleur-de-Lys (similar to Briquet 6925, Valence 1549) Plate 395 × 570 mm Reference Bartsch 28; Felix Herbert, Les graveurs de l’école de Fontainebleau, Fontainebleau, 1896, no 61; Henri Zerner, The School of Fontainebleau, Etchings and Engravings. New York, 1969, cat. no AF 57; Catherine Jenkins, Prints at the Court of Fontainebleau, c. 1542–47, Ouderkerk, 2017, cat. no AF 57 Literature Stefania Massari, Giulio Romano pinxit et delineavit, Rome, 1993, cat. no 78 Provenance Pierre Mariette II (1634-1716), Paris (Lugt 1790), dated 1690 and inscribed in his hand Jules Romain tapisserie; with Artemis Fine Arts, London; Eric Stanley, Oxford; thence by heirs Condition In very good condition, trimmed to the platemark, with a vertical and a horizontal central fold, a few short repaired tears

This etching depicts one of the scenes from the Triumphs of Scipio tapestry series, woven in Brussels after designs by Giulio Romano, completed by 1535, and purchased by François I. The original tapestry series was burnt for its metal in 1797, but copies survive, including a set bought by Mary of Hungary in 1544, now in the Patrimonio Nacional in Madrid. The original modelli for the Triumphs survive: nine in the Louvre and the tenth, depicting the present Banquet of Scipio, in the Musée Condé, Chantilly. A copy of this modello is in the Louvre and Giulio’s sketch for the Banquet is in the Royal Collection in United Kingdom. Fantuzzi follows Giulio’s animated figural composition but changes the details of the background. The banquet takes place in a large hall surrounded by a richly decorated colonnade beyond which is an apsidal space lined with niches. Fantuzzi adheres to the basilica-like structure, though he strips the already busy scene of its background ornamentation, notably the spiral flutes of the columns and the coffers and niches of the apse. This simplified backdrop – own adaptation of Giulio’s design – allows the mass of lively figures to be read more clearly.

This is a very good impression of this large, rare and impressive plate, printing only a little dryly at upper right. We have been able to trace only four impressions, Paris (BnF), British Museum, Albertina and in the MET. Bartsch knew only one copy and trimmed (Albertina). The size of the plate made of two sheets is unusual and remarkable. Fantuzzi is among the most talented etchers of the 16th century Renaissance, and especially of the mannerist School of Fontainebleau, under the aegis of François I. He made at least twenty-one etchings after drawings by Giulio Romano, probably brought to Fontainebleau by Primaticio, who had worked with Giulio in Mantua from about 1526 and 1532. Fantuzzi worked closely with Léon Davent, one of the other leading Fontainebleau printmakers. It is thought that Fantuzzi taught Davent the artist’s technique of etching. In return Fantuzzi adopted a number of technical tricks developed by engravers and translatable to etching, very likely with instruction from Davent. His early style is “rather brutal in appearance” when copying Giulio Romano, and “angular and restless” when copying Rosso Fiorentino, but he moved to a gentler and more harmonious style closer to Primaticcio1. Suzanne Boorsch expresses that his early style was “full of energy but lacked discipline, so that in some of the prints a violent light and strokes in many directions cause figures and grounds to be confused… His later works retain this liveliness but are calmer and more controlled” 2.

It is worth mentioning one of the most famous provenances: Pierre Mariette II, with his acquisition date 1690.

1. Sue Welsh Reed, Italian Etchers of the Renaissance and Baroque, exh. cat., Boston, Museum of Fine Arts, 1989, p. 27. 2. Suzanne Boorsch, The French Renaissance in Prints, 1994, exh. cat., Los Angeles, Grunwald Center (UCLA), p. 85.

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Giovanni Battista de’ Cavalieri ca. 1525 Villa Lagarina – Roma 1601 The Massacre of the Innocents After Francesco Salviati or Baccio Bandinelli

Engraving on laid paper, on two joined sheets, ca. 1561 Plate 470 × 596 mm Reference Le Blanc 7, 1st state of three Literature Paola Pizzamano, Giovanni Battista Cavalieri: un incisore trentino nella Roma dei papi del Cinquecento: Villa Lagarina 1525 - Roma 1601, Rovereto, 2001, p. 112 Provenance Eric Stanley, Oxford; thence by heirs Condition In very good condition, with thread margins and trimmed on the platemark in places, a couple of short nicks and tears left and upper sheet edges

A very fine impression of this large print in the extremely rare first state (of three). We have been able to trace only one impression of the first state in Paris (BnF), plus the present one. The British Museum has a 2nd state, another impression of that same state is in the collection of the Philadelphia Museum of Art.

The plate shows the one of the most regarded subjects in the Italian Renaissance prints, i.e. the depiction of the Massacre of the Innocents, with at centre Herod seated enthroned on a raised platform, surrounded by soldiers, and below his men slaying the Hebrew children. The composition of this design has traditionally been attributed to Bandinelli, but in 1999, Suzanne Boorsch 1 attributed it instead to Francesco Salviati based on a reading of the first state of the plate, which has the lettering “Jo. Baptista de Cavalleris Lagerinus incideb. in Aedibus Salvianis. MDLXI Romae”. Michael Bury2 suggested that the inscription relates to the printer and publisher Ippolito Salviani, in whose workshop the engraving was presumably printed; a view then also shared by Boorsch in that same issue of the Print Quarterly. The question of the attribution of the composition hence remains unresolved.

De’ Cavalieri has been mainly active between 1550 and 1590 in Venice and then Roma. His style of engraving resembles that of Aeneas Vico, it is precise and strong. Many of his plates are after the great Italian masters, and his graphic work is quite large, with 380 numbers. For any collection, De’ Cavalieri prints are among the perfect examples of the 16th century mannerist printmaking in Italy, about its sources in Italian painting, and its spread across Europe. They played such a significant role in the development of the mannerist style in all the arts. The present also adds another point: the unusual ambition for larges plates, most of the time printed on two joined sheets.

1. In Print Quarterly, vol. XVI, 1999, pp. 271-30. 2. In Print Quarterly, vol. VII, 2000 p. 190.

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Giovanni Battista Fontana 1524 Alea (Verona) – Innsbruck 1587 The Bearing of the Cross After Domenico Campagnola

Etching and engraving on paper, on two joined sheets, ca. 1569-1573 Watermark Ladder (not in Briquet) Plate 408 × 665 mm Reference Bartsch 13, 1st state of two Literature Gianvittorio Dillon, “Stampe e libri a Verona negli anni di Palladio”, in Palladio e Verona, exh. cat., 1980, Verona, Palazzo della Gran Guardino, p. 284, no 56 Provenance Christie’s, London, 4 July 1979, lot 27; with P. & D. Colnaghi, London; Eric Stanley, Oxford; thence by heirs Condition In very good condition, trimmed outside the borderline, a few old creases and a printer’s crease at the upper sheet edge, a few short repairs along the sheet edges

leads a group of women including the Virgin. Above preparations are underway to raise the crosses. The composition is much affected by the influence of Lucas van Leyden. The print is dedicated to the Prior of the church of the Trinità in Venice, Pierto Lippomani.

The multi-figure, monumental “Große Kreuztragung” is one of the artist’s most ambitious sheets and is extremely rare. This is a very fine impression of the first state (of two), printing with some tone in places. We have been able to trace only three impressions of the present plate in public collections, among them only one impression of the first state, in the collections of the Boston Museum of Fine Art. The British Museum and the Rijksmuseum have only got impressions of the 2nd state. The second state was published later by Domenico Zenoi in 1584 in Venice.

Giovanni Battista Fontana was significantly influenced by Titian, Veronese and Giulio Romano in his early years in Verona. Fontana worked in Vienna since 1562 and then in Innsbruck from 1573, where he was appointed court painter to Archduke Ferdinand of Austria in 1575. A little more than seventy sheets are attributed by Bartsch and Passavant to Fontana, which were mainly executed as etchings.

This large etching that is printed from two plates depicts the different stages of Christ’s procession to Calvary. He falls in the center under the weight of the cross. At left Saint Veronica who approaches Christ to wipe his face,

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Attributed to Cornelis Cort ca. 1533 Hoorn – Rome 1578 Ecce Homo After Titian

Engraving on laid paper, 1566 Watermark Crossed arrows with star (Woodward 199, dated Rome 1549) Plate 251 × 191 mm Literature Birte Rubach, Ant. Lafreri Formis Romae, Verleger Antonio Lafreri und seine Druckgraphikproduktion, Berlin, 2016, pp. 62-64, and no 68 Provenance Private Collection, Germany Condition In fine condition

This fascinating and top-end quality engraving after a composition by Titian is not signed in the plate and so would remain the work of an anonymous engraver. However, given the technically highly distinguished, refined printmaking method, it is argued to assign the engraving to a Nordic artist in Rome, at the time, i.e. the Dutch Cornelis Cort. From the pre-Goltzius generation of Netherlandish printmakers, Cort was unquestionably among the best ones. Formerly active in the Netherlands since 1553, he moved to Venice in 1565 and lived in the house of Titian for nearly a year. He produced there a few remarkable engravings based on Titian’s works.

an asset for him. In the present hypothesis, Cort then created the current engraving in the year of his arrival in Rome, as for instance if he was trying to convince his new clients of his technical skill. Not sure it was necessary: also called the Cornelio Fiammingo, Cort at that time was the only Netherlandish printmaker in the Lafreri team and undeniably his most talented engraver. Cort made another Ecce homo for Lafreri but later, in 1572 and after Etienne DuPérac (Rubach no 66). The two plates are recorded together in Lafreri’s own inventory as “Doi effigie diuerses di Ecce homo”, i.e. “Two different images of Ecce homo” (see Rubach, no 68).

In early 1566, Cort arrived in Rome, and he immediately produced for the publishers Antonio Lafreri and Antonio Salamanca, sometimes with the help of Taddeo Zuccari, some profane and religious subjects after Venetian artists, i.e. Titian and Federico Zuccari. Lafreri clearly attempted to corner the Venetian topics and market, and the links and experience of Cort in that matter were certainly

The present sheet is a magnificent impression, nuanced and slightly printed with tone, and with margins. The print is extremely rare. Only one other copy is recorded, in the collection of the Escorial Library, close to Madrid (see La Colécion de Grabados de El Escorial, Barcelona, 1988, p. 369 and ill. 4b). Given its upmost rarity, the plate might also have been a trial and then never really published.

Jacques Bellange ca. 1575 Bassigny – Nancy 1616 The Virgin and Child with a Rose

Etching on laid paper, ca. 1613 Plate 212 × 142 mm Reference Robert-Dumesnil 4; Walch 25, 2nd state (of two); Worthen/Reed 43; Griffiths & Hartley 7 (this impression illustrated); Thuillier 57 Provenance Private collection, France Condition In very good condition. Part of the empty tablet at the lower margin has been slightly trimmed off.

A stunning impression of this rare plate. It is this copy which was reproduced in the reference book by Griffiths & Hartley in 1997. According Walsh, the only differences with the first state is the addition of the Le Blond address in the empty space, lower right, and missing here. Sue Welsh Reed published a unique surviving impression of a state before Walch’s first state (see Print Quarterly, vol. 9, 1992, pp. 383–386, fig. 202); the artist not only erased the coat of arms but added the signature and adjusted the shading. Given the up-most quality of the present impression, it should not really be ruled out, however, that it was printed before Le Blond’s edition.

Barnet, which are seen before erasure on the unique impression of the first state in Boston. This suggests that, like The Vision of St. Norbert (Walch 3), this print may have originally been commissioned by Barnet, then Abbot of the Premontre Abbey of Jovilliers in Lorraine between 1592 and 1617, in connection with the reforming Premontre Order, one of the most active orders in the Counter-Reformation and one that might have encouraged demand for Bellange’s images of popular devotional figures, like the present one. The Virgin was often depicted with a rose in prints after both Northern and Italian designs, although it is sometimes the infant Christ who actually holds the flower. And early Christian Legend mentioned by Saint Ambrose tells how the rose grew without thorns until the Fall of Man and his explosion from Paradise. It therefore became associated with the Virgin who was called “the Rose without thorns” because of her sinless state and her own Immaculate Conception, which fitted her to be Mother of Christ.

This is one of the smallest of Bellange’s etchings and the pose of the child, albeit here in a more refined and tightly structured composition, closely resembles that in his earlier Virgin Wrapping the Child in Swaddling Clothes (Walch 8). Griffiths and Hartley point to traces of arms of Nicolas

Jacques Bellange ca. 1575 Bassigny – Nancy 1616 The Virgin and Child with Distaff and an Angel

Etching on laid paper, ca. 1615 Watermark partial Large Grapes (see Griffiths & Hartley no 11) Plate 258 × 188 mm Reference Walch 9, 2nd state (of three); Worthen/Reed 8; Griffiths & Hartley 8a; Thuillier 41 Provenance Private collection, United Kingdom Condition In very good condition, with a wide margin at right, small margins elsewhere

This is a very fine and rich impression of this scarce subject, Walch’s second state (of three), before the address of Le Blond, and on paper with a partial Large Grapes. The left sheet edge slightly frayed presumably due to removal from an album, with a pen and ink number at upper and lower right. The first state, just before the addition of the signature, is known in only two impressions.

and the use of an engraving tool to provide final accents and adjustments. The variety of etched marks and their subtle modulation by burnishing on the lit area of the Virgin’s drapery is particularly remarkable. Most magical is the depiction of the fragile thread represented by a single etched line that meanders unbroken across patches of shading and blank paper.

Sue Welsh Reed draws attention to the possible influence of Barocci’s pint of the Annunciation on the setting in this print. The closest points of similarity are the window at the back which, Bellange seems to have closed off at the left during work on the print , and the divine light coming through the drapes above. But it is the technical example of Barocci’s prints that would have given Bellange most reason to study them, particularly the carefully built-up layers of hatching combined with stippling,

The subject of the Virgin spinning thread while the Christ Child sleeps was quite common in scenes of the Holy Family in Egypt, and Reed points to Dürer’s woodcut as one such example (Bartsch 90). The distaff and basket of wool had become associated with the Virgin through a legend telling of her upbringing in the Temple of Jerusalem, where she would spin and weave the priests’ vestments.

Lucas I Vorsterman 1595 Zaltbommel – Antwerp 1675 Peasants Fighting over a Game of Cards

Engraving on laid paper, ca. 1620 Plate 430 × 523 mm Reference Hymans 129, Hollstein 126, Orenstein (New Hollstein) A 67; Schneevoogt 152.124; van Bastelaer 218; Lebeer 89 Provenance Friedrich August II of Saxony (Lugt 971)

Condition

In very fine condition

This is probably the most spectacular impression we have ever seen of this plate, and one of the best examples of top-end impressions in the Vorsterman oeuvre, the most talented of the printmakers after Peter Paul Rubens. It is worth mentioning the distinguished provenance, Friedrich August II of Saxony, known for his exceptional collection of prints.

rather than on the Brueghel’s original work, as far as this one was still preserved. One of these works is a drawing kept today in the Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen (Rotterdam), and the other one is presently a lost painting which is only recorded in Rubens’ posthumous estate inventory in 1640. On the other hand, the present engraving is also dedicated to Jan Brueghel the Elder who most likely was the owner of the Pieter Brueghel’s original.

This composition is clearly inspired by the lively and iconic Pieter Brueghel the Elder scenery, with everyday peasants’ life and dynamicity of compositions. Although no drawing or painting of this subject by the latter are today recorded, the design of this composition seems likely of his invention, as the letter at the bottom states: “Pet. Bruegel inuent”. According to some scholars, Vorsterman’s engraving, especially the principal group of fighting figures, is however more based on two Rubens works, both then supposed to be after Brueghel the Elder,

In anyway, Vorsterman’s engraving is obviously a testimony that this composition and Brueghelian subjects were still few decades later very well-known and appreciated. Beside its artistic mastery, this scenery also reveals how from a mere dispute during a play of cards, a conflict between peasants could degenerate into a violent fighting with a pitchfork and a wheat flail as weapons. This piece is thus also a sociological document witnessing the violence of the times.

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Johannes Van Vliet ca. 1610 – Leyden – 1668 Man in a Gorget and Cap with Feather, after Rembrandt

Etching on laid paper, 1631 Watermark Fleur-de-Lis on a crowned shield Plate 149 × 130 mm Reference Bartsch 26; Hollstein 26, 2nd state (of 4); Christiaan Schuckman, Martin Royalton-Kish & Erik Hinterding, A Collaboration on Copper, Rembrandt and Van Vliet, Amsterdam, Museum Het Rembrandthuis, 1996, p. 51, no 5 (2nd state ill.) Provenance Private collection, Belgium; Private collection, France Condition In perfect condition

An extremely fine and early impression of this scarce print, in second state, comparing favourably with the Rijksmuseum’s impression and as fine as the British Museum’s impression. The second state has regular hatching done with a burin in the shadow on the forehead (vertical lines) and on the cap.

as the designer. There is in fact no matching painting recorded but the print may have been inspired by a lost painting or drawing by the Master. Almost all the articles of clothing seen here could witness a clear inspiration from paintings by Rembrandt. However, the profile of the head resembles those painted by the young Jan Lievens. Indeed, in about 1631 Lievens made a series of etchings in Leiden which were character studies, practically of the same size, as for the Bust of a Young Man in a Velvet. These may have influenced Van Vliet.

A beautiful portrait of possibly Gorget Rákóczy I (1593-1648), a Prince of Transylvania, Hungary (between 1630-48) and son of Sigismond II Rákóczy. Gorget came in The Hague as ambassador of his father and, possibly after 1630, in Amsterdam. He was favourable to Protestantism alongside with Sweden and France against the Habsburg. This is the earliest dated print by Van Vliet to stand Rembrandt’s name

On his turn, Rembrandt made in 1635 etched copies after Lieven’s heads but in reverse, like the Four Oriental Heads. Van Vliet’s Man in Gorget and Cap may reflect the impact of Lievens on Rembrandt.

Adriaen van Ostade 1610 – Haarlem – 1685 The Peasants’ Quarrel

Etching with plate tone on laid paper, 1653 Plate 127 × 146 mm Reference Bartsch and Hollstein 18; Godefroy 18, 3rd state of eight Provenance Jiles Boon, Holland Condition In very good condition, a rust spot in the paper

This is a particularly fine impression of the rare third state (of eight). As a classic genre traced through the history of printmaking, the “quarrel of peasants” and the “peasant dancing” themes tend to form a genuine iconography group with a lot of similarities, e.g. leaving undecided if they are fighting or dancing. It obviously reminds of the vivid Dürer’s engraving, The Peasant Couple Dancing of 1514 (Bartsch 90).

on the Prado tabletop has already showed the same motif. We also see this in a series of prints which warn the viewer to irarum causas fugito (flee from the causes of anger), like that of Marcel Laroon’s Quarrel during Backgammon (Hollstein 4) or Jacob Matham’s Consequences of Dipsomania (Hollstein 312-315). Adriaen Brouwer and Jan Steen, contemporaries of Ostade, produced similar themes. The same subject appears in the Ostade’s watercolor, kept in the École des Beaux-Arts, Paris (see Bernhard Schnackenburg, Adriaen van Ostade, Isack van Ostade, Zeichnungen und Aquarelle, Hamburg, 1981, no 86); and in his paintings Fight over Cards and Card-Players Quarelling in an Inn of 1647 (Munich, Alte Pinakothek and Sotheby’s London, 9 Dec. 1987, lot 63). The present plate is the only print from this theme.

A narrative scene of Dutch life in the 17th century, the plate however depicts a group of noisy peasants in an unusually violent setting in van Ostade oeuvre. One man raises a dagger to another who cowers away from across the table. A woman protects a young child from the chaos, causing the watcher to ponder the safety of the woman and the child in this perilous situation. The seated man with his back turned to the viewer grabs at the peasant with the knife in an attempt to stop his violent action, relaying a sense of motion and suspense. The cards present on the toppled barrel table are clearly the subject of dispute and this can be related to an old Netherlandish moralizing tradition. Hieronymus Bosch’s depiction of Ira (Anger)

Van Ostade brilliantly exploits line and shadow creating a three dimensional space in which the eye discover a back window and a room beyond the one in which the peasants stay. The piece has a somewhat voyeuristic feel to it, as if the viewer is mutely peaking in on a private dispute.

Jacques Callot 1592 – Nancy – 1635 The Three of a Kind

Etchings and engraving on laid paper, ca. 1628-29 Watermark La Mariée (Lieure 40) Plate 216 × 280 mm Reference Meaume 666; Lieure 596, 2nd (final) state Literature Ellen G. D’Oench, Prodigal Son Narratives 1480–1980, Yale University Art Gallery and Davison Art Center, Wesleyan University, 1995, no 6 and p. 7 Provenance Henri Grosjean-Maupin, Paris; his sale, Hotel Drouot, 26-27 March 1958, no 189; Marcel Lecomte, Paris; thence by heirs, Paris Condition In fine condition, with a strip on the four sides at the back

Superb impression with large margins. It is one of the most sought-after prints by Jacques Callot, one of his most famous compositions in the genre of effet de nuit and interior scene. The piece is also called by Lieure Les Joueurs de Cartes, or L’Enfant prodigue trompé par une bande de filous, i.e. The Card Players, or the Prodigal Son tricked by a group of thieves.

to show the cards she holds to a partner sitting opposite on a bench. To the left of the prodigal child, a woman standing plays the harp, and other players are on either side of the table. The prodigal child actually looks like Callot according Lieure. The artist probably wanted to represent himself sitting next to his young wife, sometime after his marriage.

The scene depicts some card players sit around a rectangular table. In the middle, the prodigal child sits next to a woman who holds the cards and whose game he directs. Behind this woman, a crook uses a small mirror

A brilliant clair-obscur in the history of printmaking.

Abraham Bosse 1602 Tours â&#x20AC;&#x201C; Paris 1676 The Ball

Etching and engraving on laid paper, ca. 1634 Watermark Grapes Plate 261 Ă&#x2014; 337 mm Reference Duplessis 1400; Blum 1040, 1st state of two Provenance Marcel Lecomte, Paris; thence by heirs, Paris Condition In pristine condition

As far as we are concerned, it is probably one of the most exquisite 17th century French prints. On top of that, the present impression is an outstanding very rare 1st state, before lines of verses and the name of the printmaker, in splendid condition. Seen as one the chefs-dâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;oeuvre of the master, it is amazingly however very rare to find, whatever the state is.

ribbon. He is wearing floral shoes of a huge ribbon rose, while most of the other men present wear boots. She is dressed in a dark dress that opens onto a square skirt body falling to the ground, as well as a bodice revealing only the top of the bust, with sleeves cut out with stripes. On either side of the print, men and women, in similar fineries, either standing or sitting, converse while waiting to join the dance. In the foreground, on the right, a folding seat covered with tapestry comes to both break and enhance the simple perspective of the scene.

This plate represents perhaps the most refined, in terms of decoration and fashion, at the end of the reign of Louis XIII under the influence of Marie de Medici. The large paved room is decorated with a fireplace that occupies a central place on the back wall and is framed by tapestry. To the sound of an orchestra reduced to a viola da gamba and two violins, a couple walks forward by dancing dressed with the latest chic. He, in the geometrical middle of the composition, is wearing a large hat in variegated. He still wears the cadenette adorned with a ribbon knot, a quilt augmented by passements, and a lace collar, the waist highlighted by a row of needles, and whose wide-open sleeves show the shirt. Her panties, also trimmed with braids, are stopped below the knee by a large floating

The arrangement of Venus and Love in the central painting, above the fireplace, recalls the reason of this dance. Coming to the centre of the ball, the ladies seek to be covered with all eyes, to show their beauty and attract eyes and flames in order to defeat the hearts of men and perhaps gods. Everyone is attentive to the one who dances best, with the most grace, in an assembly where the various pleasures delight the spirits, the sight and the ears. It is at the ballet that Love builds its paradise but the more intimate frolics and hobbies are not yet written.

Jean Morin ca. 1605 – Paris – 1650 Antoine Vitré, the King’s Typographer

Etching on laid paper, ca. 1645 Plate 318 × 216 mm Reference Robert-Dumesnil, vol. 2, p. 69, no 88 (only state) and vol. 11, p. 216, no 3rd (final) state; Hornibrook & Petitjean 49, 3rd state of four; Mazel 094, 3rd (final) state Literature Osbert Barnard, “Jean Morin’s Etched Portraits. Additions and Corrections to Hornibrook’s Catalogue”, in Print Quarterly, vol. II, no 1, 1985, pp. 38-42 Provenance Peter Birmann & Söhne (Lugt 2110 and 414 c) Condition In very fine condition

A very fine impression, with no trace of wear.

Cornelis II van Dalen 1638 – Amsterdam – 1664 Portrait of Painter Giorgione Barbarelli da Castelfranco

Engraving on laid paper, ca. 1655-58 Watermark Fleur-de-Lys in a crowned crest Plate 412 × 293 mm Reference Hollstein 109, 1st state of three, before all letters Literature Anne-Marie S. Logan, The ‘Cabinet’ of the Brothers Gerard and Jan Reynst, Amsterdam-Oxford-New York, 1975, pp. 38-45 Condition In fine condition

Superb impression before all letters. With his fellows Jeremias Falck, Cornelis Holsteyn, Jan Lutma and Theodoor Matham, the young Cornelis II van Dalen was one of the most gifted engravers in Amsterdam from 1653, he was then 15 years old, until his premature death in 1664. Engraved after a painting by Lorenzo Lotto, now in

the Royal Collection at Hampton Court, the plate was intended to be part of series of prints ordered in 1655 by the Amsterdam collector and merchant Gerrit who owned the painting at the time. The series was still not finished at his death in 1658 and it was eventually published in 1671.

Jean-Jacques Flipart 1719 – Paris – 1782 Concours pour le prix de l’Étude des têtes et de l’expression After Charles-Nicolas Cochin le Jeune

Etching and engraving on laid paper, 1763 Plate 250 × 281 mm Reference Le Blanc (Cochin) 93; Portalis & Beraldi 21; IFF 126 Literature Elisabeth Launay, Les frères Goncourt collectionneurs de dessins, Paris, 1985, no 60, pp. 265-6; Victor I. Carlson and John W. Ittmann, Regency to Empire - French Printmaking 1715-1814, exh. cat., Baltimore Museum of Art & Minneapolis Museum of Arts, 1985, no 44, p. 146 Condition In fine condition

This is a very nice, silvery impression with wide margins. Rare to find. In October 29, 1759, the Académie Royale de Peinture et de Sculpture set, at the initiative of the collector Count of Caylus, a competition with a prize for young artists able to render human emotions and expressions in their works, this following the Traité des Passions by Charles Le Brun who had codified this kind of representations in 1678.

The artist Cochin Jr. executed a drawing of the 1761 session (Musée du Louvre), where the posing model is supposed to embody the sweetness, the imposed theme of the year. The competition lasted until 1767. Edmond de Goncourt saw in the model a portrait of the famous actress Mlle Clairon (1723-1803), an assumption we find repeated in Portalis & Beraldi’s description of the print. This has been rejected by Carlson and Ittmann. However, the three men seated on the right, overseeing the competition, have been firmly identified as the key academy members Claude Vassé, Jean Restout and the Comte de Caylus.

In the first year (1759), the prize was not awarded because the results were considered mediocre. The following year the competitors were at a better level and the prize of 200 pounds was awarded, 100 pounds for the winner, 50 for the model and 50 for the expenses incurred.

Louis Germain 1733 – France – ca. 1791 Study Sheet with Character Heads

Etching on laid paper, 1773 Signed, located and dated on the plate on the second dead figurine from the left Dessiné et gravé par Germain a Neuilly 1773 Plate 123 × 153 mm Provenance Private collection, Germany Condition In fine condition

In the 2nd part of the 18th century, Louis Germain made a name by etching classical landscapes which were highly appreciated by travellers, as for instance Les Ruines de Paestum after Gabriel-Pierre-Martin Dumont. Because it depicts tronies, this interesting and unusual print shows

another side of his mastery. It also a testimony of his artistic knowledge; the skulls at the bottom are direct quotes from Stefano della Bella’s Les Cinq Morts (De Vesme 87-91).

Dominique-Vivant Denon 1747 Chalon-sur-Saône – Paris 1825 Rest on the Flight into Egypt

Lithograph in brownish ink on wove paper, 1809 Signed Denon in. et fecit Munich 1809 Image 175 × 142 mm Reference Petra ten-Doesschate Chu, Dominique Vivant Denon. French master of the nineteenth century, vol. 2, 1988, no 459, p. 255 (ill.) Literature Wilhelm Weber, Saxa loquuntur, Steine reden, Geschichte der Lithographie, Heidelberg/Berlin, 1961, p. 55 (ill.); Michael Twyman, Lithography. 1800-1850, London, 1970, p. 48 (not ill.); Michael Henker Karlheinz Scherr and Elmar Stolpe, De Senefelder à Daumier. Les débuts de l’art lithographique, Munich, 1988, p. 53 ; Dominique-Vivant Denon, L’œil de Napoléon, Musée du Louvres, exh. cat., Paris, 1999, no 69 Provenance Private collection, France Condition In fine condition

Rare example of Dominique Vivant Denon’s early lithographic work. The artist spent some time in the German countryside after having followed Napoleon during the 4th Coalition War. While initially critical toward the lithography technique, he adopted it in 1809 after his stay in Munich. His visit of Aloys Senefelder’s studio with his close collaborator Benjamin Zix, was a turning point for Vivant Denon.

It is on this occasion that both Zix and Denon executed the same biblical scene, Rest on the f light into Egypt, which were printed by Mann lich in his Œuvres lithographiques (Munich, 1811). Following this anecdote, corroborated by the datum inscribed, this artwork would be therefore the first example of Denon lithographic practice, dated 15 9bre [Novembre] 1809.

Théodore Géricault 1791 Rouen – Paris 1824 Chariot Carrying Wounded Soldiers

Lithograph on wove paper, 1818

Image Reference Provenance Condition

285 × 295 mm Clément 10; Delteil 11, 2nd (final) state Alexis Hubert Rouart (Lugt 2187a and 4898); Henri M. Petiet (Lugt 5031) In fine condition

This extraordinary impression is cited by Delteil, and was described as “very rare” in the Henri M. Petiet’s sale catalogue in 1993. Delteil only listed seven impressions. The earliest provenance is even richer, Alexis Hubert Rouart. If the Rouart is a well-known family of collectors, Alexis had a beautiful ensemble of works illustrating particularly the Romantism movement. No surprise then, to find this print by Géricault is such a prestigious collection. We must say that it is the most beautiful impression of this stone we have ever seen. The difference between the two states is only the addition of the names of Géricault and Motte on the lower right.

and hatched soldiers who have left the battlefield and piled up in this cart. François Bergot, former director of the Musée des Beaux-Arts in Rouen – with the largest collection of prints by Géricault – described this print as “une pyramide de souffrance” 1, which can be translated by a pyramid of suffering. There is indeed a tension, between the pile of wounded men and the violent scene of two horses attacking each other on the foreground. A perfect example of Géricault’s vision and mastery in the art of lithography. The related painting of the subject is in the Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge (Eitner 53), and a pen drawing for the picture is in the Boymans Museum, Rotterdam.

Related in theme to the Retour de Russie, Géricault seems to have included himself as the standard-bearer at the right, somewhat removed from the central scene of suffering. Géricault deals here with the miseries of the Napoleonic campaign, a world without glory of exhausted, wounded

1. François Bergot, “Le Blanc et le Noir ou la vérité romantique de Géricault”, in Gericault. Tout l’œuvre gravé et pièces en rapport, exh. cat., Musée des Beaux-Arts de Rouen, 1981-82, p. 6.

Honoré Daumier 1808 Marseille – Valmondois 1879 Nadar Elevating Photography to Art

Lithograph on thick wove paper, 1862

Dry-stamped Souvenirs d’Artistes, in the middle of the lower margin Image 273 × 222 mm Reference Delteil 3248, 2nd (final) state Condition In perfect condition

This is a perfect impression on “white paper” of one of the most iconic lithographs by Daumier, showing Nadar “elevating” photography to art. The only difference between the two states is the addition of the letters Souvenirs d’artistes on the upper left, and the number 367 on the upper right.

this image came right after a court decision in 1862 that permitted photographs to be considered works of art. Daumier depicts Nadar as a bizarre, daring photographer and taking risks. His hat is flying off, and in his own excitement to capture the perfect shot, he almost falls out of his balloon. Using the metaphor of the balloon in the air, Daumier laughs at Nadar and he mocks the new declaration that photography could be equal to “high art”.

The image could be seen as a promotion of the photography and Félix Tournachon, called Nadar, who took the first photograph from the air in 1858. Indeed later on, this composition became the most representative image of Nadar and his adventurous projects. But actually,

In a way, it also foreshadows modern aerial-surveillance photography, as Nadar’s balloon was used in the 1870 Siege of Paris for intrusive photography.

Felix Bracquemond 1833 – Paris – 1914 The Top of a Half-Door

Etching on old laid paper, 1852

Signed and dated lower right with ink Bracquemond 1891 Watermark Strasbourg Lily Plate 278 × 381 mm Reference Béraldi 110, 3rd state of five; Bouillon Ac1, 3rd state of ten Provenance Alfred Beurdeley (Lugt 421); Private collection, Paris Condition In fine condition

From Avenin’s printing, the plate got worn and the effect is no longer the same. It remains nevertheless a very powerful iconographical image and a great display of printmaking capacity.

This is a magnificent, early and sharp impression of the Bracquemond’s most celebrated image. It has been printed on an old laid paper, the third state of ten, with a distinguished provenance – if not the best for the late 19 th century corpus – i.e. Alfred Beurdeley, and signed and dated by Bracquemond in ink. Given this signed date – 1891 – the present impression most likely remained in Bracquemond’s hands until then. As famous, this audacious etching is however one of his earliest.

Bracquemond was famous for his prints of birds. John Taylor Arms even notes that he was called “the Michelangelo of ducks” 1. Here, on an old barn door are nailed a crow and a long-eared owl flanking a bat; beneath them is a sparrow-hawk. The most interesting aspects of the print – precise attention to natural detail, along with the careful outline and formal placement – could as easily have been derived from French influences as from Japanese ones.

There are only three impressions of the 1st and 2nd states, all together. The 3rd state was thus printed at Delâtre in 1852, according Béraldi’s estimation a printing of thirty copies. The 4th state – with the legend – was equally printed. Then the copperplate with others was sold to the publisher Mme Avenin, and later Cadart bought them out in 1864. He published it for the first time in 1865.

1. John Taylor Arms, “By-Path in Print Collecting”, in Prints, vol. VII, no 4 (April 1937), p. 199.

Marcellin Desboutin 1823 Cérilly – Nice 1902 Portrait of Edgar Degas with a Hat

Drypoint on laid paper, 1876

Plate Reference Provenance Condition

225 × 145 mm Clément-Janin 62, 1st state of two Desboutin’s heirs; with Paul Prouté, Paris; Private collection, France In perfect condition, with very large full margins

This is an undeniably superb and strong impression of the first state, printed on laid paper and with tone. The first state, before the legs of Degas were erased, is extremely rare. In total, there are only around twenty impressions of the first and the second states.

The strong friendship between Desboutin and Degas is famous and led to a fine collaboration. Desboutin encouraged Degas to start printmaking again in 1875, and Degas painted his friend. Desboutin is well-known as a printmaker, especially as a master of the drypoint portrait.

Camille Pissarro 1830 Charlotte Amalie (USA) – Paris 1903 The Old Cottage

Etching, aquatint and soft ground on wove paper, 1879

Entitled and inscribed lower left in the margin with pencil 2e état – n°1 / La Masure Plate 167 × 170 mm Reference Delteil 20, 2nd state of 7 Literature Barbara S. Shapiro, Camille Pissarro, The Impressionist Printmaker, 1973, cat. 13-14 (states 4 and 7 ill.); Anne Röver (ed.), Camille Pissarro. Radierungen, Lithographien, Monotypien aus deutschen une österreichischen Sammlungen, 1991, cat. 8 (states 3 and 4 ill.) Provenance Private collection, France

Condition

In fine condition

“One can be simple, natural and yet very expressive!” 1

which were clarified in successive states by additional etched lines, here to delicately delineate the cottage, the sky and the landscape. The only other second state impression of La Masure is at the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam.

This is a superb proof of the second state in almost pure aquatint, existing in only two exemplars, numbered by the artist, and one of the most famous landscapes by Camille Pissarro as a printmaker. In a certain way, this aquatint is a rare, typical and stunning example of the quintessence of the impressionist print, as set by Degas and Pissarro in 1879 when they were very close, working together to the project of Le Jour et la Nuit, and experimenting a lot about techniques and inking. This was a key moment in the history of printmaking.

Pissarro presented three different states of this plate at the Cinquième exposition impressionniste in 1880, which proves that he was very interested in these variations. There are seven states in total. The delicacy of the early aquatint disappeared with the later states, the atmospheric light was sharply reduced with the addition of coarser aquatint grains and etched lines all over the plate.

There are only two impressions of the first state. On the second state, Camille Pissarro added only a few etched lines to the aquatint, on the house and in the sky. Carefully printed with plate-tone, this second state creates a highly decorative surface pattern, and reflects the extraordinary equilibrium that the artist was able to achieve between light, dark and texture. As in a few other landscapes of that period, he created these early states primarily using a variety of aquatint tones,

It is evident that Pissarro studied Japanese woodcuts prints by Ukiyo-e [“floating world”] artists, and especially Hiroshige and Hokusai prints. In the first states, he designed a very intriguing image where the house is the only presence in an almost abstract Nature. This is a shimmering balance between the recognizable and the illusionistic. 1. Camille Pissarro: Letters to His Son Lucien, 1943, p. 352.

Odilon Redon 1840 Bordeaux – Paris 1916 Captive Pegasus

Lithograph printed on chine appliqué on wove paper, 1888

Signed in pencil by the artist upper left ODILON REDON Image 339 × 296 mm References Mellerio 102, first state of two; Werner, p. XX & pl. 80 Provenance Franck P. and Caroline Flausch, Brussels (Franck died in 1927); by descent to their grand-son André Flausch. The Flausch’s were gallerists in Brussels in the 1920s, famously known to have supported the cubist artist Maria Blanchard, and to have been close to Paul Valery. Condition In fine condition

This is a very fine impression of the 1st state, also called the “black state” to distinguish it from the second. Redon lightened and reworked this extensively, scraping-back and employing liquid tusche on the horse’s wing, probably in 1891, around three years later. Along with the Spider and the Tree, the present composition Pégase Captif is one of the most powerful and important lithographs by Redon, if not one of the rarest in the present first state.

for impressions – Redon mentioned that he had only printed eight sheets. We may assume that he was thinking of this first state, printed in 1888 (the 2nd state was printed in ca. 1893). To give another example, the Bibliothèque Nationale of France only has two copies from the 2nd state (although one of them was sometimes wrongly considered as a 1st state, they have the typical features of the 2nd state: lighter wings and lithograph retouches).

This first state is more dramatic in terms of effect and tension of the subject. Only about seven or eight proofs of this first state are currently recorded – at The Art Institute of Chicago, The British Museum (presented by Achille Sirouy in 1888), three in private collections and the current impression. Of those in private collections, one appeared on the English market in the 1960s (location unknown), another was formerly owned by Otto Schäfer (now private collection, USA), and the last came from a private collection in France (now private collection, USA). The BM provenance is meaningful: Sirouy was a member of the Société des Artistes Français, which promoted the rich blacks, obtainable in lithography instead of the colour lithograph.

The present one is resplendent, with all the power of Redon’s deep blacks, and large margins. The wings are full of black. Redon is known to have signed only the fine impressions from the press. When signed by pencil in capitals, most of the time is in the upper left. The tiny white dots visible on the horse’s belly are typical of the 1st state, a detail that can also be seen, for instance, on the 1st states at The Art Institute and the British Museum. The subject reflects Redon’s study of the myth of Parnassus, most particularly of the figure of Mercury in harmony with the winged horse Pegasus. He may have been inspired by Mantegna’s Parnassus painting at the Louvre, where the two figures appear at the right side. In the lithograph, Mercury holds Pegasus captive by the muzzle, while the powerful but tamed Pegasus seems to protect Mercury. Redon was attracted to this motif and utilized it in a number of his own Pegasus compositions from the early 1890s to 1900. Others have linked this composition to the myth of Bellerophon, who captured Pegasus.

Both first and second state copies bear the same information about an edition of 100 impressions. However, both Destrée (1891), who had the information from Redon himself, and Mellerio (1913) stated that only around twenty-five impressions were in fact printed of the 1st state, and fifty for the 2nd. In a letter dated 7 November 1891 to his friend and editor Edmon Deman – who had asked

Henri Charles Guérard 1846 – Paris – 1897 At the easel – Portrait of the Artist Jeanne Gonzalès

Mezzotint on laid paper, before 1890

Inscribed and signed in ink in the lower margin 3e Etat. Tiré à 6. n°6 HGuérard, and in pencil Au chevalet Plate 474 × 297 mm Reference Bertin 100, 3rd state of four Provenance Private collection, France Condition In very fine condition

A superb and a rare impression of one of the best Henri Guérard’s manière noire, i.e. the technique of the mezzotint. Guérard no longer needs further introduction as he was one of the foremost actors in the 19th century revival of printmaking in France. He most notably founded with Félix Bracquemond in 1889, La Société des Peintres Graveurs to promote printmaking in Paris. Less known, was his role in the rediscovery of the manière noire. This technique, which was very popular in England in the 18th century, was almost forgotten in France when Guérard started experimenting it. Through this technique, he aimed at creating harmonious effects of gradation in shades and a softness in the contrast.

Eva and Jeanne were sisters and were both artists. After Eva’s death in 1883, Jeanne became Guérard’s second wife. When Guérard realized this portrait of Jeanne at her easel, was Eva still alive or it was after her death? It is hard to answer without evidence. Whatever the exact date, the inventor and the model were very intimate relatives in Guérard’s life, and we could assume that the subject was emotionally charged for him. The result is actually pretty strong in dark and contrast, not as soft as one could have expected. At the second Salon of the Société des Peintres Graveurs, in 1890, Guérard exhibited the composition, and again at the 1891 exhibition of the Théâtre d’Application, with great success. The first and second states hotline the face and then the figure, nothing else. There is only one impression of each. Of the 3rd – present – state, Bertin only knew three impression, including the present numbered 6. The 4th state is lightened in the background but loses its mystery. It is a very rare plate.

The subject of this print was inspired by a painting made by his late wife, Eva Gonzalès: Portrait of Jeanne Gonzalès. Now in a private collection, it was painted in ca. 1871-72 and was exhibited in the major and posthumous Gonzalès’s retrospective at La Vie Moderne in 1885.

Édouard Vuillard 1868 Cuiseaux – La Baule-Escoublac 1940 Interior with Five Posed Figures

Lithograph on wove paper, ca. 1893

Stone Reference Provenance Condition

237 × 295 mm Roger Marx 7 (only state), an edition of around 20 Private collection, Paris In fine condition

A superb impression situated at the core of Vuillard most confidential works. In the 1890’s, the French artist produced a series of works depicting intimiste interiors. In 1884, when Vuillard’s father died, his mother, a former corsetière transformed the family house into a workshop of needlewomen. The artist, immerged in this feminine environment, became a privileged witness of the privacy and confined life of these women.

such confined environment. Only working with black and white, in this print, Vuillard demonstrate how subtle and clever is his representation of luminous atmosphere. Our work is a testimony of the variety of Vuillard’s inspirations. Fascinated by Dutch paintings, especially by Vermeer, Vuillard was also under the influence of Japanese prints and the posters of Toulouse Lautrec. Inspired by Dutch interiors, elegant feminine figures are focused on their activities, and paid no attention to us; just as if we just opened the door and surprised them in their everyday life. The repetition of figures, with similar features, contribute to the decorative quality of the work. Vuillard skilfully created a harmony of patterns and lines, not only abstracts but also inhabited by these feminine silhouette.

A key figure of the Nabis group, Vuillard detached himself from the usual symbolist subjects illustrated by his friends, to simply represent his environment and his familiar life. However, Vuillard achieved to reinvent the tradition of interior scenes by confronting it to his modern vision. Furthermore, he experimented with lithography, since 1891, to focus on the unique light that immerge from

Édouard Vuillard 1868 Cuiseaux – La Baule-Escoublac 1940 Across the Fields

Lithograph on thin wove paper, 1899

Signed lower right with pencil and annotated EA Image 260 × 350 mm Reference Roger Marx 34, 3rd (final) state; Johnson 155-3 Provenance Henri Petiet, Paris (stamp on the reverse, Lugt 5031); thence by descent Condition In fine condition. A former area of missing paper has been filled.

An exceptional impression, annotated as an artist’s proof. Roger Marx mentioned in his catalogue the characteristics of a few proofs of the present 3rd state: with yellow and

currant-red figures (different than the usual purple and green). Extremely rare, according to him.

Théophile Alexandre Steinlen 1859 Lausanne – Paris 1923 Young Girls on the Way

Monotype on wove paper, ca. 1893

Signed lower right Steinlen Plate 235 × 180 mm Provenance Private collection, France Condition In pristine condition

Monotypes by Theophile Steinlen are extremely rare. Ernest de Crauzat in 1913 recorded only eleven copies, to which we can add the present sheet, a portrait of Jeahn Rictus, and three tracing-paper monotypes made later in ca. 1912. The INHA in Paris has two of those recorded by de Crauzat, bought at Sagot in 1912. The Bibliothèque Nationale de France has no one.

by Steinlen – in 1893 – are rather close, especially in the use of the brush but not by scratching the inking as used by Degas. In the de Crauzat list, there is only one landscape, Sur la Route, which actually seems close in subject matter, with wild grass along a path, two figures (adults) and large clouds in the sky. Its location remains unknown.

Technically, Steinlen was obviously influenced by the work of Degas in that matter, and the first ones made

Maximilien Luce 1858 – Paris – 1941 Portrait of Édouard Vuillard

Lithograph on Chine appliqué, ca. 1895-1900

Signed lower right in pencil Luce Image 305 × 238 mm Reference I.F.F not described Condition In perfect condition

Edvard Munch 1863 Løten – Ekely 1944 The Girl at the Window

Drypoint with roulette on wove paper, 1894

Signed in pencil Edvmunch lower right and inscribed at the bottom 2 Tryk Plate 208 × 146 mm Reference Schiefler 5, 2nd state of five; Woll 5, 2nd state of six Provenance Edvard Munch; Klipstein & Kornfeld, Bern, June 1969; sold to C G Boerner, Lagerlist 54, 1970, no 55; sold to a Private collection, Düsseldorf Condition In perfect condition

This exceptionally fine 2nd state impression is part of the earliest prints Edvard Munch made in 1894, when he started working on this medium. A young girl dressed in a nightgown is standing melancholically by a window. If the figure is shown turning her back to the shadows, pushing a curtain with her right hand and letting the light filter in the room, she also seems to be shying away from it. This is suggested through the motifs of her hair hiding her face and the delicate movement of her foot, as she was standing on her toes to avoid the moonlight or to not be seen. It is a powerful scene filled with mystery, evoking motifs of dreamers looking at the moon, inherited from German Romanticism, reinterpreted through Symbolism.

Most importantly, the present sheet is an astonishing impression before the plate was steel-faced for its publication in a portfolio issued by Julius Meier-Graefe in 1895. The present impression perfectly reveals Munch’s great skilful as a printmaker, in contrast to the impressions issued by Meier-Graefe and or after steel-facing when the plate had lost its tonal effects. In a certain way, Munch did an “debutant mistake” in trusting the plate to Meier-Graefe. Impressions before steel-facing (i.e. the final state) are extremely rare. In 1928 Schiefler listed a few impressions that Woll was not even able to locate. There is one impression of the 1st state at the Much-Museet. For the 2nd state, the present one described by Schiefler and three at the MunchMuseet. For the 3rd state, one impression was mentioned by Woll, another one by Schiefler but never seen by Woll. The same situation applies for the fourth and fifth states, mentioned by Schiefler but never seen again. So, a total of only seven impressions for the first four states were located by Woll, plus possibly two others mentioned by Schiefler.

The composition is directly related to a painted version of 1892-93 and now at The Art Institute of Chicago. The canvas depicts the same image, in reverse, using different tones of blue to suggest the nocturnal atmosphere and the contrasts between lights and shadows. Munch made this piece after his travels to Paris and Berlin, while experimenting different types of brushworks, in contact with impressionist and symbolist imageries. The translation of an originally painted motif into an etching characterized his beginnings as printmaker (see Woll nos 3-5, 7, 9-15, 17). For this image, the ice blue atmosphere of the painting is replaced by grey contrasts, obtained with different intensity of scratching, intensifying the melancholic dimension of the representation. Later, ca. 1896-97, the artist painted again the same subject on a panel, based on the print, as it presents the same leftright composition (Private coll., see Woll, p. 47).

According Schiefler and the inscription 2 Tryk, the present impression belonged to the artist, still in 1928 when Schiefler published his catalogue. It then came up in auction in 1969 at Kilptsein & Kornfeld, sold the year after through the dealer C G Boerner to a private collection in Dusseldorf, where it was kept until now, for fifty years.

Eugène Delâtre 1864 – Paris – 1938 Child in the Garden

Etching and aquatint on laid paper, 1900

Stamp on the back of the Inselverlag (L.2861a) Plate 160 × 230 mm Literature Phillip Dennis Cate and Marianne Grivel (ed.), From Pissarro to Picasso. Colour Etching in France, Amsterdam and Paris, 1992–1993, p. 22 (ill.) Provenance Private collection, Italy Condition In very fine condition

A very fine impression. Published for the album Die Insel-Mappenwerk in 1900, in an edition of 100 impressions.

Index of artist names BEATRIZET, Nicolas BELLANGE, Jacques BONASONE, Giuilo BOSSE, Abraham BRACQUEMOND, Félix CALLOT, Jacques CORT, Cornelis DAUMIER, Honoré DE’ CAVALIERI, Giovanni Battista DELÂTRE, Eugène DENON, Dominique-Vivant DESBOUTIN, Marcellin FANTUZZI, Antonio FLIPART, Jean-Jacques FONTANA, Giovanni Battista

p. 8 p. 24, 26 p. 6 p. 38 p. 54 p. 36 p. 22 p. 52 p. 14 p. 74 p. 48 p. 56 p. 10 p. 44 p. 18

GÉRICAULT, Théodore GERMAIN, Louis GUÉRARD, Henri Charles LUCE, Maximilien MASTER AG MORIN, Jean MUNCH, Edvard PISSARRO, Camille REDON, Odilon STEINLEN, Théophile Alexandre VAN DALEN, Cornelis II VAN OSTADE, Adriaen VAN VLIET, Johannes VORSTERMAN, Lucas I VUILLARD, Édouard

Catalogue entries Eric Gillis Noémie Goldman Zoé Marty Design Tia Džamonja Editing Eric Gillis, Jean-Marie Gillis & JC Ketchell Scan Jérôme Allard, Imprimerie HORS NORME, Bruxelles Special thanks (by alphabetical order) to Sarah Avenel Tafani, Michael Beck, Elisabeth De Coninck, Olivier Dengis, Julie Dumont, Melissa Hughes, Dominique Lejeune, Corinne Letessier, Didier Martinez, Emile-Victor Portenart, Thomas Unger.

p. 50 p. 46 p. 62 p. 70 p. 4 p. 40 p. 72 p. 58 p. 60 p. 68 p. 42 p. 34 p. 32 p. 28 p. 64, 66

ERIC GILLIS FINE ART T +32 2 503 14 64 W www.eg-fineart.com M noemie@eg-fineart.com 1, rue aux laines 1000 Brussels | Belgium