Weird and Wonderful, A Halloween Catalogue.

WEIRD & WONDERFUL

HALLOWEEN 2017 Sanders of Oxford Antique Prints & Maps

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Weird & Wonderful A Halloween Catalogue From Friday 13th October, 2017.

The days grow colder, the nights are closing in, and the staff at Sanders of Oxford have come over all peculiar. This Friday the 13th, in the lead up to Halloween, we are pleased to present a selection of weird and wonderful prints, a celebration of all things ghastly, ghoulish, grotesque, and gruesome.

The items in the following catalogue range from the hellish and horrific to the arcane and amusing.

Highlights include a sixteenth century Lutheran world map of the Antichrist, a separately published memento mori optical illusion, a collection of freakish figures from the Monstrorum Historia, and an exquisite piece of baroque phantasmagoria depicting the Temptation of St Anthony.

All works are available to purchase and will be on display in the gallery.

Sanders of Oxford.

Antique Prints & Maps Salutation House 104 High Street Oxford OX1 4BW www.sandersofoxford.com - 01865 242590 - info@sandersofoxford.com Monday - Saturday 10am - 6pm. Sundays 11am - 5pm.

Contents

Pg.

01-13: Death, Devils, & Discord

06

14-34: Freaks, Monsters, and Fantastic Beasts

20

35-44: Magic, Alchemy, and Witchcraft

40

45-50: Visions, Dreams, and Nightmares

52

Biographies: Artists, Printmakers, & Publishers

62

DEATH, DEVILS, & DISCORD

1. In Place, En Emploi after Robert Dighton Mezzotint with original hand colouring Printed & Sold by Carington Bowles, No.69 in St. Paul’s Church Yard, London. Published as the Act directs. 2. September. 1784.

Image 328 x 247 mm, Plate 352 x 250 mm, Sheet 366 x 262 mm A satire showing a lawyer on the left, clinking glasses with a government official and the devil to the right.

The floor is scattered with books and money bags with inscriptions such as: ‘Bribes &c.’, ‘Received for a Place under Government’, ‘For bad votes’, ‘Places and Pensions’, ‘His Majesty’s Speech on the Meeting - £10,000 for the Borough of Bribewel’, ‘Perquisites in Office’.

The government official is holding a sheets of paper titles ‘Contrivance to raise New Taxes’ and the documents on the table between him and the lawyer read ‘Places to be let or sold enquire at the bar’, ‘Treasury documents’, etc.

BM Satires 3772 Condition: Excellent condition with fine hand colouring. Minor damages to the surface of the sheet and light blue staining to lower right corner. Water damage to verso of paper. Printed on watermarked eighteenth century paper.

[43845] £550

7

2. Blossom and Decay [Anonymous] Lithograph with hand colouring [Published by J. K. Defeher and lithographed by Day and Sons, 1860] Image 273 x 231 mm, Sheet 380 x 328 mm A fantastic Victorian optical illusion memento mori. A young man and woman underneath an archway, the woman presents her lover with a miniature tree, while food and drink has been laid out before them.

The image forms an optical illusion of a skull, which became a popular theme during the late nineteenth and twentieth century. This anonymous design is one of the oldest examples of a skull illusion and was replicated in several postcards and even puzzles.

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Inscription underneath the image: ‘Dedicated by permission to the Right Honourable the Earl of Zetland M. W. G. M. Grand Master of England. By A. A. Defeher.’

Condition: Lithograph with hand colouring, treated with gum arabic to give extra definition. Trimmed to image and laid to titled backing sheet, as issued. End of inscription slightly rubbed.

[43848] £1,500

9

3. Hieroglyphicks of the Natural Man Carington Bowles after I. Bakewell Etching and engraving with hand colouring Printed for Carington Bowles, Map and Printseller, No. 69 in St. Pauls Churchyard, London. Published as the Act directs, 1 January 1771 Image 325 x 240 mm, Plate 355 x 240 mm, Sheet 365 x 260 mm Extremely scarce eighteenth century allegorical and moral engraving. Inscription beneath the image: ‘Hieroglypicks of the Natural Man. Cut it down, why cumbreth it the Ground. Luke XIII. ver. 7.’

A tree rooted in ‘Unbelief’ is standing at the centre, along the bark and branches it reads ‘Pride’, ‘Selfwill’, ‘Lust of the Flesh’, ‘Pride of Life’ and ‘Lust of the Eye’.

The tree is being watered by the devil to the left and therefore bears a lot of ‘bad’ fruit such as ‘Adultering’, ‘Gluttony’ and ‘Murder’. A snake is resting amongst the branches of the tree and several other snakes as well as some scorpions are scurrying underneath the tree, while a white dove and an angel are seen flying away from the tree. A skeleton is ready to cut down the tree with his axe, the tree stump his right suggests that he has already cut down a similar one.

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The tree is being struck by lightning symbolising God’s ‘Wrath’ while in the background chaos has erupted, with people caught in a fire to the left, broken down ships at sea and several trees cut down or ripped from the ground.

This scene allegorises The Parable of the Fig Tree in Luke’s gospel (Luke 13:6-9) were Jesus preaches “unless you repent, you will likewise perish”, telling them about a vineyard owner who did not find any fruit on a fig tree growing in his garden and telling his gardener to cut it down, the gardener then argued to keep the tree alive for a little longer while he fertilised it, if the tree did not bear fruit after another year, they could cut down the tree. The vineyard owner in this parable refers to God judging his people and Jesus as the gardener, asking his father to spare the sinners a little longer while he spread God’s word.

Condition: Good impression. Colours slightly faded, light toning to sheet. Minor pin holes to top and bottom centre. Framed in original eighteenth century frame.

[43846] £900

4. The Tree of Life [Anonymous] Etching and engraving with hand colouring [c. 1770] Image 328 x 247 mm, Plate 355 x 260 mm, Sheet 368 x 270 mm

Below Christ crucified on the tree, several preachers are trying to warn a crowd of people of the consequences of their sins and direct them away from ‘The Broad Way’ which leads to the gates of hell indicated as a ‘Bottomless Pit’ and is guarded by three demons and ‘Babylon the mother of harlots’.

Very rare, separately published, eighteenth century allegorical and moral engraving. Inscription underneath the image: ‘The Tree of Life which bear twelve manner of fruits and yielded her Fruit every Month and the Leaves of the Tree were for the healing of the Nations. Rev. Ch. XXII. ver, 2./ Likewise a View of the New Jerusalem & this present Evil World with the Industry of Gospel Ministers in endeavouring to pluck Sinners from the Wrath to come.’

Instead they should go to the gated wall enclosing Jesus on the tree and ‘New Jerusalem’ behind him.

‘New Jerusalem’ refers to Ezekiel’s prophecy in the Old Testament in which he describes a city built around a new Holy Temple in Jerusalem, where God’s people can live eternally in their spirit form.

Christ is crucified on a tree which roots read ‘Omnipresent’, ‘Almighty’, ‘Wise’, ‘Just’, ‘Holy’, ‘Gracious’ and ‘Glorious’, bears twelve enormous pieces of fruits such as ‘Everlasting Love’, ‘Perseverance’, ‘Refuge’ and ‘Election’ which are growing in-between leaves inscribed with negative as well as positive qualities such as ‘Temptation’, ‘Poverty’, ‘Obedience’ and ‘Victory’. Above the tree, the three aspects of the Holy Trinity - ’Word’, ‘Father’, ‘Spirit’ - are symbolised in three overlapping triangles with ‘God’ in the middle, surrounded by a halo and rays of light.

BM Satires 4570 Condition: Good impression. Colours slightly faded, light toning to sheet. Minor damages to sheet at upper right corner. Framed in original eighteenth century frame.

[43847] £900

11

5. Septima Musculorum Tabula Jan Wandelaar after Andreas Vesalius Copper engraving I. Wandelaar fecit. [Leiden, 1725] Image 343 x 208 mm, Plate 357 x 214 mm, Sheet 457 x 266 mm

6. TAB. CXXV. Exodi Cap. VIII. V. 2 - 14. Ranarum Forma et Metamorphosis Johann Georg Pintz Copper engraving [Christian Ulrich Wagner, Ausburg and Ulm, 1731] Image 272 x 185 mm, Sheet 308 x 195 mm

An anatomical diagram of the human muscular system engraved by Jan Wandelaar after the famous series of 16th century woodcuts by Vesalius for a 1725 edition of Vesalius’ De Humani Corporis Fabrica. The figure is supported by a rope, which is strung through the eye sockets. This was a common method of display for Vesalius in his dissection lectures, as it was easier for larger crowds to see the cadaver than if it was lying on a table. The figure is flayed, with areas of skin hanging from the muscles, in order to expose the muscles and the abdominal cavity. Nailed on the wall behind is an excised diaphragm, below which the title is inscribed.

The various muscles are marked in Latin and Greek characters.

A scene depicting the Biblical plague of frogs that befell the people of Egypt, when the Pharaoh refused to release the Hebrews he had enslaved. A corpse is being ravaged by frogs in the foreground as many other frogs are about to jump over the city walls in the background. The scene is enclosed by a decorative border, depicting the different life stages of frogs. From the German edition of Johann Jakob Scheuchzer’s ‘Physica Sacra’.

Condition: Minor time toning and foxing to sheet.

[41460] £250 12

Inscription below image: ‘Exodi Cap. VIII. V. 2 - 14.

Ranarum Forma et Metamorphosisi’ ‘The Form and Life Cycle of frogs.’ Inscription to top of decorative border: ‘Iudaeorum nugae’, ‘The Jewish people.’

Condition: Trimmed within plate mark. Bottom left corner is slightly creased. Watermark coat of arms.

[43840] £45

7. Satan in Council.

John Martin Mezzotint London Published Feb 1, 1831, by Jennings & Chaplin, 62 Cheapside Image 480 x 700 mm, Sheet 615 x 830 mm An early impression of Martin’s epic depiction of Satan, enthroned before his demonic council in the hellish capital of Pandaemonium. The scene illustrates the first stanza of Book 2 of Milton’s Paradise Lost. The fallen angel, beautiful and terrible in equal measure, wears a radiate crown, an ironic reflection of his former role as the bringer of light, with a piece of heavy cloth draped over his shoulder.

His throne, decorated with a frieze of the opulence of worldly kings, sits atop an enormous globe, a perverse mockery of the figure of Christ Pantokrator. Behind him, in the cavernous dark, the hordes of hell are seated in exultation, listening to their leader’s newest plot to bring about the corruption of creation. A single shaft of light illuminates the King of Hell himself, while the monumental architecture of his arena is lit only by the witch lights that hang in circles in the vaults.

Inscription below image reads: HIGH ON A THRONE OF ROYAL STATE WHICH FAR / OUTSHONE THE WEALTH OF ORMUS AND OF IND, / OR WHERE THE GORGEOUS EAST WITH RICHEST HAND / SHOW’RS ON HER KINGS BARBARIC PEARL AND GOLD / SATAN EXHALTED SAT, BY MERIT RAISED / TO THAT BAD EMINENCE; AND FROM DESPAIR / THUS HIGH UPLIFTED BEYOND HOPE, ASPIRES / BEYOND THUS HIGH, INSATIATE TO PURSUE / VAIN WAR WITH HEAVEN; AND BY SUCCESS UNTAUGHT / HIS PROUD IMAGINATIONS THUS DISPLAY’D. CW 87, Campbell, Visionary Printmaker, p.111.

Condition: Good dark impression, trimmed just outside the plate. Two small repaired scuff marks to top right of image and one to the top left of image. Light staining to the margins and inscription space not affecting the image, lines of text to bottom left of sheet rubbed. Small tear to bottom left corner of sheet.

[33703] £4,900 13

Farinate’s Grotesques Plates 20 and 21 from Abraham Bosse’s Diverses figures a l’eau forte de petits Amours, Anges vollants, et Enfants, propre a mettre sur frontons portes et autres lieux ensemble plusieurs sortes de masques de l’invention de Paul Farinaste Italien. The plates each features a pair of demonic masques, or decorative grotesques, after designs by the Italian draughtsman and artist, Paul Farinate.

8. [Masques] Abraham Bosse after Paul Farinate Etching A Paris Chez A Bosse Graveur en taille douce, en l’Isle du Palais, avec Privilege. 1644 Image 120 x 162 mm, Plate 132 x 164 mm Lothe 1203-1232, Blum 358-387, Duplessis 504-533 Condition: Crisp impression with full margins. Framed in antique style frame.

[41955] £175 9. [Masques] Abraham Bosse after Paul Farinate Etching A Paris Chez A Bosse Graveur en taille douce, en l’Isle du Palais, avec Privilege. 1644 Image 122 x 162 mm, Plate 132 x 167 mm Lothe 1203-1232, Blum 358-387, Duplessis 504-533 Condition: Crisp impression with full margins. Framed in antique style frame.

[41956] £175

14

10. [Pikeman] Jacob de Gheyn II after Hendrick Goltzius Copper engraving [Assuerus Londerseel, before 1595] Image 200 x 154 mm, Sheet 212 x 158 mm

11. [Sergeant] Jacob de Gheyn II after Hendrick Goltzius Copper engraving [Assuerus Londerseel, before 1595] Image 196 x 153 mm, Sheet 213 x 156 mm

A whole-length portrait of a pikeman holding a shaft or pike and wearing a full suit of armour, with a marching army and a city in the background.

Inscription: ‘Conserte turbac acies forte agmine amicas. Si paret hostis atrox nostra sarissa vetat.’

The 9th plate of the series ‘12 Officers and Soldiers’.

A whole-length portrait of a sergeant, wearing the dress of a nobleman while holding the sharp end of a spear and stretching out his other arm to the right. Several soldiers and a city in the background.

Inscription: ‘Ante serox signanus ago promptum agmen ad arma. Haudq parum debent parta trophaea mihi.’

The New Hollstein Dutch & Flemish, (The De Gheyn family), 184 (9), copies (a).

Condition: Good impression. Trimmed close to plate mark. Foxing to pen inscription on lower right corner of sheet, not affecting image.

[43805] £575

The New Hollstein Dutch & Flemish, (The De Gheyn family), 183 (8), copies (a).

Condition: Good impression. Trimmed close to plate mark. Foxing to pen inscription on lower right corner of sheet, not affecting image.

[43806] £650

15

12. [Horatius Cocles] Hendrick Goltzius Copper engraving [Haarlem, Hendrick Goltzius, 1586] Image 360 x 235 mm, Sheet 374 x 239 mm Heroic full-length portrait of Horatius Cocles. He is holding aloft a shield in one hand and a sword in the other, he is wearing a decorative helmet and his Roman military dress is almost transparent in order to show off his muscles.

Inscription: ‘Solus in aduersos stans improger hostes Speratum, abrupto ponte, negauit iter. nempe haec imperij sunt incrementa futuri Vnum tot remorae millibus esse virum.’ [”The diligent hero stood against the enemy alone, denying them passage, hoping and waiting for the bridge to be broken down. Protecting the future and growth of the empire by delaying thousands of men.”]

Second print in Goltzius’s series The Roman Heroes.

This series was dedicated by Goltzius to the emperor of the Holy Roman Empire, Rudolf II (1552-1612). The twelve heroes who are represented, sacrificed themselves to ensure the survival of the Roman people.

16

Horatius Cocles (late 6th century BC or legendary) was a Roman hero who defended the Sublician bridge in Rome against the Etruscan King Lars Porsena and his army. He faced these enemies alone, to give the Romans time to cut down the bridge and prevent the enemies from taking the city. Cocles is then reported to have jumped into the Tiber, but sources disagree if he made it safely to the shore or if he drowned. This story may have been told to explain an ancient statue of a crippled one-eyed man in the nearby Temple of Vulcan, which was said to represent the hero who was left crippled and one-eyed (”cocles”) after the battle. However, this statue could also have represented the god Vulcan himself, who was also crippled and associated with the mythical Cyclops.

The New Hollstein (Dutch & Flemish) Hendrik Goltzius, 165 II/II. This second state is identified by the changed inscription in the bottom margin.

Condition: Excellent impression. Trimmed to border and below inscription. Minor repair to top right corner.

Two pinholes to top. Watermark with mythical feline.

Framed in a period style frame.

[43803] £1300

17

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13. [Oliver Cromwell, Lord Protector of England, Scotland, France and Ireland, And the territories thereunto belonging] Charles Turner after William Faithhorne Mezzotint Printed by J. McCreery, Black Horse Court, Fleet Street, London, 1816.

Image 340 x 245 mm, Plate 390 x 295 mm, Sheet 415 x 280 mm A proof before letters of Charles Turner’s emblematical mezzotint of Oliver Cromwell, after the earlier engraving by William Faithorne. Cromwell in armour, and holding an open book in left hand and sword in right, stands between two pillars, in the guise of a latter day Hercules.

His right foot stands upon a prostrate woman, the Whore of Babylon as the embodiment of the Catholic Church, her crown and rosary fallen nearby. She pours a chalice of liquid upon the Serpent of Error and Faction, who is likewise crushed under foot. Beside Cromwell, Fama blows her trumpet in victory, while a dove flies above the Protector’s head, carrying the ‘Olive of Peace.’ The pillars themselves represent the foundations of English Society and the Union itself, with the kneeling kings representing Anglia, Scotia, and Hibernia each presenting Cromwell with the wreaths of the triumphator.

The remainder of the allegory is composed of vignettes of biblical scenes, including the Ark, here representing the Ship of State, making its way through troubled waters to safely, as well as the various accountrements of war being turned to those of agrarian peace. A large visored helmet in the bottom left is now a beehive, while a farmer has turned his sword into a ploughshare to the bottom right.

At the very top, an inscription in Greek reads ‘mono to theo loxa,’ a confusing sentiment most likely deriving from a mistranscription of the word doxa as loxa. If this is the case, then the passage, reads ‘Glory to God Alone,’ a somewhat ironic attempt to imbue this paean of the Protector’s deeds with an appropriate level of Puritan god-fearing humility.

Whitman 472, Lennox-Boyd ii/v Ex. Col.: Hon. Christopher Lennox-Boyd.

Condition: Foxing to margins, not affecting image.

Framed in a period frame.

[24656] £475

19

FREAKS, MONSTERS, & FANTASTIC BEASTS

14. Tab 62 [Pelican, Phoenix, Harpy, Gryphon] Matthäus Merian II Copper engraving Franz Eckebrecht, Heilbronn, 1756.

Plate 288 x 175 mm, Sheet 370 x 220 mm A plate depicting a pelican, a phoenix, a harpy, and a gryphon from the 1756 edition of John Jonston’s Theatrum universale de avibus. Libri VI. Originally published in 1657, Jonston’s six volumes of work which became a standard 17th century encyclopaedia of natural history. Remarkable more for its breadth and arrangement than any particular advancement of the study and classification of animals, it was an extremely popular work, in great part because of numerous engravings by Matthäus Merian the Younger and his younger brother Caspar Merian. It was translated and reprinted in many editions into the later half of the 18th century.

The pelican illustrated in this print is based on medieval depictions of pelicans which likened the bird to Christ.

It was recorded in medieval bestiaries that adult pelicans would kill their young and then revive them after three days by shedding blood on them. The other legend was that if baby pelicans were starving, their mother would wound herself and feed them her blood.

[43171] £120

21

Aldrovandus’ Monstrorum Historia Ulisse Aldrovandi (1522-1605), often known simply as Aldrovandus, was an Italian humanist, naturalist, and author, often hailed as the father of modern natural history. A professor of philosophy, logic, and natural history at the University of Bologna, Aldrovandus championed the creation and development of the Orto Botanico di Bologna, one of the oldest botanic gardens in the world. Having studied widely in the humanities, law, philosophy, medicine, logic, zoology, botany, and geology, Aldrovandus was one of the most important scholars in Europe at the end of the sixteenth century.

Indeed, Aldrovandus is widely considered to have been the first to use the term ‘geology’ for this branch of science. His treatises covered many aspects of natural history, and his own collections, housed in a cabinet of curiosities bequeathed to the Senate of Bologna, formed the basis of his monumental Theatrum, an illustrated work of natural history covering more than 7000 specimens demonstrating the diversity of life.

The Monstrorum Historia is undoubtedly the most famous of Aldrovandus’ works, and the seminal text of the history of natural monstrosities and medical aberrations. The illustrations of early editions mostly focussed on medical irregularities, with a particular focus on birth defects and the physical results of disease or injury. The most successful publication, a posthumous edition printed in Bologna by Nicolo Tebaldino in 1642, expanded Aldrovandus’ work to include over 300 woodcut illustrations focussing on the full range of monsters, mythical creatures, and medical oddities.

Figures of classical and near eastern mythology, such as chimaeras and zoomorphic Egyptian deities, appeared alongside conjoined twins, hermaphroditic figures, and the mythical humanoid creatures which in the Medieval mind dwelled in unexplored regions and the dark corners of the world. In so doing, the work became an amalgam of comparative physiology, medicine, natural history, mythography, antiquarianism, ethnography, and occult theology.

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15. Infans seganopus, cum promuscide, & capitibus animalium/ Monstrum tetrachiron alatum capite humano aurito Ulisse Aldrovandi Woodcut [Bononiae. Typis Nicolai Tebaldini MDCXLII. Superiorum permissu.]

Image 170 x 105 mm/ 172 x 145 mm, Sheet 350 x 247 mm A pair of illustrations, on either side of the same sheet, depicting a winged four-armed figure with horns and animal legs and a long-snouted monster with several animal heads attached to his limbs, from the 1642 edition of Aldrovandus’ seminal treatise on medical oddities and natural irregularities, the Monstrorum Historia. On the recto, a male figure with claws, a tail and an insect-like snout is shown, with several small animal heads attached to his arms, chest and knees.

On the verso a type of winged satyr with four arms is depicted. Neither of these figures is identified by any particular name.

Condition: Strong impressions. Minor time toning to edges of sheet.

[43809] £200

23

16. Harpyae prima icon/ Harpyae secunda icon Ulisse Aldrovandi Woodcut [Bononiae. Typis Nicolai Tebaldini MDCXLII. Superiorum permissu.]

Image 132 x 140 mm/ 95 x 110 mm, Sheet 350 x 247 mm A pair of illustrations, on either side of the same sheet, depicting two types of harpies, from the 1642 edition of Aldrovandus’ seminal treatise on medical oddities and natural irregularities, the Monstrorum Historia. On the recto, a harpy is depicted as a bird of prey with a woman’s head.

24

On verso the harpy is shown as a hieroglyph of a winged woman. The name harpy comes from the Greek word for “snatchers” and these creatures personified the destructive force of wind.

Condition: Strong impressions. Minor time toning to edges of sheet.

[43810] £175

17. Pater annorum quadraginta, & filius annorum viginti toto corpore pilosi/ Homo pedibus auersis Ulisse Aldrovandi Woodcut [Bononiae. Typis Nicolai Tebaldini MDCXLII. Superiorum permissu.]

Image 102 x 150 mm / 183 x 115 mm, Sheet 350 x 245 mm A pair of illustrations, on either side of the same sheet, depicting a father covered with body hair, and a man with reversed feet, from the 1642 edition of Aldrovandus’ seminal treatise on medical oddities and natural irregularities, the Monstrorum Historia. On the recto the father and son are dressed in rich medieval garments, their faces are covered with long hair but the hair on the younger man’s face has not yet grown to its fullest extent.

On the verso a young man is struggling to stand up straight as his feet are turned the wrong way round.

Condition: Strong impressions. Minor time toning to edges of sheet.

[43820] £175

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18. Cyclops, sive Monopthalmos / Homo, ore & collo Gruis Ulisse Aldrovandi Woodcut [Bononiae. Typis Nicolai Tebaldini MDCXLII. Superiorum permissu.]

Image 181 x 125 mm / 180 x 118 mm, Sheet 350 x 245 mm A pair of illustrations, on either side of the same sheet, depicting a Cyclops and a long-necked beaked figure, from the 1642 edition of Aldrovandus’ seminal treatise on medical oddities and natural irregularities, the Monstrorum Historia. On the recto, the Cyclops is shown in medieval dress, wearing a buttoned tunic that ends in ragged lobes, tights, a pair of simple leather boots, and a frilled collar. His single eye is the size of a normal human eye, but located in the centre of his face. This differs from most classical depictions, which tend to describe the Cyclopes as having a single central eye much larger than the normal human eye. Above the figure, the Greek word ‘monopthalmos,’ literally ‘oneeye,’ is rendered in Greek type.

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On the verso, another figure in medieval dress is shown with the long snakelike neck and pointed beak of a crane or heron. Aside from the beak, his face is still mostly human, with curly hair, eyes, nose, and ears.

He wears a puffy-sleeved tunic and a pair of cleft-toed leggings. The figure, though not identified by any particular name, is a relatively common one in medieval and early renaissance maps, featuring most notably in the Nuremberg Chronicle and the Cosmographia of Sebastian Munster.

Condition: Strong impressions. Minor time toning to edges of sheet.

[43788] £150

19. Puer cornutus Ulisse Aldrovandi Woodcut [Bononiae. Typis Nicolai Tebaldini MDCXLII. Superiorum permissu.]

Image 180 x 120 mm, Sheet 350 x 242 mm

20. Faetus quaternis brachijs, & pedibus Ulisse Aldrovandi Woodcut [Bononiae. Typis Nicolai Tebaldini MDCXLII. Superiorum permissu.]

Image 180 x 130 mm, Sheet 354 x 245 mm

A depiction of a naked youth with cranial horns, from the 1642 edition of Aldrovandus’ seminal treatise on medical oddities and natural irregularities, the Monstrorum Historia.

A depiction of a young man (according to the inscription a “foetus”) with four arms and four legs, from the 1642 edition of Aldrovandus’ seminal treatise on medical oddities and natural irregularities, the Monstrorum Historia.

Condition: Strong impression. Minor time toning to edges of sheet.

[43814] £150

Condition: Strong impression. Minor time toning to edges of sheet. Slight water damage to sheet, not affecting image.

[43817] £120

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21. Monstrum tribus oculis, & quatuor manibus/ Puella alia oculis, & naribus carens Ulisse Aldrovandi Woodcut [Bononiae. Typis Nicolai Tebaldini MDCXLII. Superiorum permissu.]

Image 180 x 120 mm / 162 x 105 mm, Sheet 350 x 245 mm A pair of illustrations, on either side of the same sheet, depicting a three-eyed monster with four arms and girl without a nose or eyes, from the 1642 edition of Aldrovandus’ seminal treatise on medical oddities and natural irregularities, the Monstrorum Historia. On the recto, the male figure is shown in medieval dress, wearing a tunic with tights. His eyes, three in number, are next to each other in the centre of his broadened face. He has abnormally large ears, breasts, and four arms.

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On the verso, a childlike female figure is depicted without eyes or a nose.

Condition: Strong impressions. Minor time toning to edges of sheet.

[43815] £120

22. Monstrum ex Regione Betica Hispaniae/ Monstrum capite asinino, pedibus, manibisq. vngue auium refertis Ulisse Aldrovandi Woodcut [Bononiae. Typis Nicolai Tebaldini MDCXLII. Superiorum permissu.]

Image 157 x 95 mm / 185 x 90 mm, Sheet 350 x 245 mm A pair of illustrations, on either side of the same sheet, depicting a “Spanish monster” and a hybrid of a donkey and bird, from the 1642 edition of Aldrovandus’ seminal treatise on medical oddities and natural irregularities, the Monstrorum Historia. On the recto the monster that is indicated as coming from Balearica has a dog-like body, but an otherworldly head and webbed fingers to his front legs.

On the verso a hybrid monster has two arms and two legs resembling the legs of a bird, but the back and snout of a donkey, as well as a tail with a tiny donkey’s head attached to it.

Condition: Strong impressions. Minor time toning to edges of sheet.

[43818] £150

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23. [Bird skeleton/ Human skeleton] Ulisse Aldrovandi Woodcut [Bononiae. Typis Nicolai Tebaldini MDCXLII. Superiorum permissu.]

Both images 185 x 110 mm, Sheet 350 x 245 mm A pair of illustrations, on either side of the same sheet, depicting a human skeleton and a skeleton of a bird, both with a key to their different parts, from the 1642 edition of Aldrovandus’ seminal treatise on medical oddities and natural irregularities, the Monstrorum Historia. The pair were evidently intended to show normal physiology, as opposed to the various aberrant examples in the rest of Aldrovandus’ work.

Condition: Strong impressions. Minor time toning to edges of sheet.

[43819] £150

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31

Scheuchzer’s Alpine Dragons An uncommon series of plates depicting various Alpine Dragons from Johann Jakob Scheuchzer’s Ouresiphoítes helveticus, sive Itinera per Helvetiæ alpinas.

Johann Jakob Scheuchzer (August 2, 1672 – June 23, 1733) was a Swiss scholar born in Zürich.

Scheuchzer published a variety of works, of which his writings relating to his scientific observations and his travels are often regarded as the most important.

During his travels, he collected various materials for his scientific works.

He had one of the largest collections of fossils in the world during his lifetime. He believed the Old Testament gave a factual account of the history of the earth and therefore makes references to the 1611 King James Bible in his masterpiece, the ‘Physica Sacra’.

After travelling extensively throughout Switzerland, Scheuchzer wrote his Ouresiphoítes helveticus. In this work detailing his travels and observations through Switzerland in the period 1702-22, Scheuchzer set out dispel Swiss myths and superstitions. He did, however, devote a chapter to detailing all the species of dragons know to exist in the Alps. Scheuchzer felt compelled to do this after seeing a ‘dragon stone’ in Lucerene and felt that the existence of dragons could be logically established.

He recorded eye witness accounts of dragons and included illustrations of them. Even though Scheuchzer expressed serious doubts about the existence of dragons within the text, attributing them to natural phenomena such as rock falls and the misidentification of animal bones, some scholars felt this work undermined his work as a naturalist.

He is now, however, considered to be one of the founders of paleobiology.

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24. Fig. I. [Alpine Dragon] after Johann Jakob Scheuchzer Copper engraving Leiden, Pieter Van der Aa, 1723.

Image 168 x 150 mm, Plate 175 x 156 mm, Sheet 249 x 195 mm

25. Fig. IV. [Alpine Dragon] after Johann Jakob Scheuchzer Copper engraving Leiden, Pieter Van der Aa, 1723 Image 168 x 150 mm, Plate 175 x 156 mm, Sheet 249 x 195 mm

[43892] ÂŁ95

[43896] ÂŁ95

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26. Fig. VII. [Alpine Dragon] after Johann Jakob Scheuchzer Copper engraving Leiden, Pieter Van der Aa, 1723 Image 168 x 150 mm, Plate 175 x 156 mm, Sheet 249 x 195 mm [43898] ÂŁ95

27. Fig. IX. [Alpine Dragon] after Johann Jakob Scheuchzer Copper engraving Leiden, Pieter Van der Aa, 1723 Image 168 x 150 mm, Plate 175 x 156 mm, Sheet 249 x 195 mm [43899] ÂŁ95

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28. Fig. IV. [Alpine Dragon] after Johann Jakob Scheuchzer Copper engraving Leiden, Pieter Van der Aa, 1723 Image 168 x 150 mm, Plate 175 x 156 mm, Sheet 249 x 195 mm [43900] ÂŁ100

29. Fig. IV. [Alpine Dragon] after Johann Jakob Scheuchzer Copper engraving Leiden, Pieter Van der Aa, 1723 Image 168 x 150 mm, Plate 175 x 156 mm, Sheet 249 x 195 mm [43901] ÂŁ95

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30. A Lynx [Anonymous] Copper engraving [c. 1740] Image 100 x 160 mm, Plate 107 x 167, Sheet 122 x 200 mm A depiction of a lynx with a spotted pelt, tufts of black hair on his ears, and a short tail. The name ‘lynx’ comes from the Greek word for light or brightness, referring to the big, reflective eyes of the cat. In mythology, the lynx’s eyesight was believed to have supernatural strength, even allowing the lynx to see through solid masses or objects. This perceived power has made the lynx a symbol of clairvoyance and the unravelling of secrets.

Condition: Time toning to edges of the sheet. Slight tear to lower left corner.

[43842] £50

31. XXXV [Bats] Martin Elias Ridinger after Johann Elias Ridinger Etching [Ridinger family, Ausburg, 1778] Image 333 x 265 mm, Plate 380 x 287 mm, Sheet 482 x 253 A pair of flying bats, possibly engaged in a fighting or mating ritual, with detailed shrubbery underneath them and two toads. From ‘Zu den besonderen Ereignissen und Vorfallenheiten bey der Jagd’ (’Special incidents and events while hunting’), published by Johann Elias and Martin Elias Ridinger. After their father Johann Elias Ridinger’s death, the two sons took over his publishing house in Ausburg and reissued prints from their father’s most popular series.

Condition: Good impression with full margins. Overall time toning and foxing. Two minor pinholes to top of the sheet, not affecting image.

[43844] £120

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32. TAB. XVI. Johannus Augustus Corvinus Copper engraving [Christian Ulrich Wagner, Ausburg and Ulm, 1731] Image 275 x 188 mm, Sheet 310 x 193 mm A plate with five types of whales, including a narwhal and a separate tusk, from the German edition of Johann Jakob Scheuchzer’s ‘Physica Sacra’. Until the late eighteenth century, biological knowledge of cetaceans was derived mainly from specimens killed by whaling or those that washed up dead upon the seashores of Europe. The latter, often already heavily decayed, gave rise to many folk traditions about sea monsters.

One of the most popular of these, which Corvinus and Scheuchzer seem to be attempting to debunk, was the interpretation, both innocent and deliberate, of narwhal horns as the magical horns of unicorns. Such attestations were popular in the medieval era, with travellers often bringing examples back from pilgrimages and journeys as evidence of the mythical creatures.

By the Renaissance, a pocket industry in narwhal ‘Unicorn Horns’ was firmly established, with sailors often cashing in on gullible collectors, who would proudly display these wonders of nature in their cabinets of curiosity, or grind them up for use in folk medicine.

Inscription below image: ‘Genesis Cap. I. V. 21. Opus quintae Diei.’

Condition: Trimmed within plate mark. Watermark featuring a coat of arms.

[43839] £45

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33. [Two fishes] Jacques-Fabien Gautier d’Agoty Mezzotint printed in colours [Paris, Delaguette, Rue Saint Jacques, a Olivier, 1754] Image 150 x 208 mm, Sheet 180 x 250 mm An enigmatic colour mezzotint plate depicting two fishes, from the scientific journal ‘Observations sur l’histoire naturelle, sur la physique et sur la peinture avec des planches imprimées en couleurs’ which was published from the middle of the eighteenth century until the first quarter of the nineteenth century. In 1754 the journal was directed by Jaques-Fabien Gautier d’Agoty (c. 17101781).

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Inscription: ‘Pl. VII. Annee 1754. XII. part in 4o. page 60./ Obs. de M. Gautier’ Condition: Minor repair to bottom centre. Framed in a period style frame.

[43807] £450

34. Musical Monster John Hamilton Mortimer Etching Published Decr. 8. 1778 by I. Mortimer Image 221 x 155 mm, Plate 237 x 170 mm, Sheet 272 x 190 mm A sea monster with a fishtail is playing panpipes whiles reclining on a bank. Another sea monster has fallen asleep behind him to the left, some fish bones lying in front of him. This scene is reminiscent of a chapter in Ovid’s Metamorphoses wherein Mercury is sent by Zeus to kill the many-eyed giant Argos, who was a servant of Hera. Mercury charms the giant by playing the pipes and telling him the story behind the creation of these pipes. When Argos is lulled to sleep and all his eyes are closed, Mercury wastes no time to chop off his head. This story would have been well known to an eighteenth century educated viewer and the evil look on the musical sea monster’s face suggests that the sleeping monster behind him may suffer a fate similar to Argos.

The last plate from the series ‘Fifteen etchings dedicated to Sir Joshua Reynolds’.

Alan Cunningham wrote down an account of Sir Joshua Reynolds’ reaction to the series of monsters dedicated to him by Mortimer: “He [Mortimer] was so fond of the monsters which belong to a disturbed fancy or wild dream, that he actually drew and etched a set of those capricious creations, and dedicated them to Sir Joshua Reynolds.

The calm, contemplative President, a lover of the medium of all things, was not a little startled when he saw these wonderings and vagaries of one whom he esteemed: but advice to an artist so will-o-wispish as Mortimer he knew was useless; so he looked pleasant- complimented him on his twofold skill with the pencil and graver, and laid them carefully aside among his other curiosities.” (Pressly, The Artist as Original Genius, 2007: 68-70) Condition: Excellent impression. Minor stain to bottom centre of plate, not affecting image.

[43804] £550

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MAGIC, ALCHEMY, & WITCHCRAFT

35. Credulity, Superstition and Fanaticism. A Medley.

William Hogarth Copper engraving and etching Design’d and Engrav’d by Wm: Hogarth. Publish’d as the Act directs March ye 15th 1762. [J & J Boydell c.1795] Image 370 x 320 mm, Plate 382 x 333 mm, Sheet 588 x 435 mm A reworking of one of Hogarth’s earlier works, Enthusiasm Delineated. The earlier satire, though never published, was an attack on the excessive religious enthusiasm demonstrated in by Methodist congregations, and particularly the sermons of the contemporary preacher George Whitefield, who was said to stir such emotion in himself and his listeners that in most cases he and others were reduced to ecstatic tears. This earlier print, dedicated to the Archbishop of Canterbury, was intended to support the calm, traditional nature of Anglican worship, while at the same time acting as an artistic challenge to Reynolds’ encouragement of ‘enthusiasm’ in art.

The ‘enthusiasm’ and overly dramatic nature of much religious art was seen by Hogarth as ultimately vulgar.

Hogarth’s decision to rework the plate into its current form as ‘Credulity, Superstition, and Fanaticism,’ was probably a result of the concerns of his friends that his original was too subtle in its message, and may have led some to see it as a criticism of religion more generally, rather than just the ‘enthusiastic’ nature of Methodism.

As a result, most of the overtly Christian symbolism of the original has been removed, replaced with overt references to demonology, witchcraft, esoteria, and folk superstition.

The scene is set in a chapel, but the iconography is a curious mix of religious traditions. The crowd, screaming, crying, and grinning madly, listen to the sermon of an impassioned preacher, who speaks with such force from his pulpit that his eyes bulge and his periwig falls back from his balding head. Under his religious garments, he wears the motley of a fool.

In one hand he holds up a puppet of a witch on her broomstick, who suckles a black-cat with her breast.

In the other hand, he holds another puppet of a winged devil, who carries a griddle-iron, as if threatening the congregation visually with the punishments Hell has in store for practitioners of witchcraft. His sermon book is open and reads only ‘I speak as a Fool,’ suggesting that unlike the practiced and rational sermons of the Anglican faith, he ascribes to the spontaneous, divinely inspired ranting of the renegade cleric.

His pulpit is depicted with figures who failed to heed the esoteric warnings of fate, including Julius Caesar and Sir George Villiers, both of whom were stabbed to death after failing to take seriously the predictions of a soothsayer (Caesar) and a ghost (Villiers). In the foreground, a cross-eyed cleric is hassled by winged cherubs, a devil whispers in the ear of a sleeping man, and another cleric pushes a religious icon down the blouse of a maid, his eyes rolling back in his head as he does so.

On the floor, a woman has collapsed in her ecstacy and is being brought round with smelling salts, while a ‘possessed’ boy vomits nails and bits of rusted metal onto the floor. Down the right hand side are two meters which measure the levels of credulity, superstition, and fanaticism of the congregation. The depiction of ghosts on the capital of the lower meter was probably inspired by the infamous hoax of the Cock Lane Ghost in 1762. Below the image, an inscription on a separate plate reads, below the title, ‘Believe not every Spirit, but try the Spirits whether they are of God: because many false Prophets are gone out into the World. I.John. Ch.4.VI’ Paulson 210a iii/iii, BM Satires 1785 Condition: Excellent impression with full margins.

Light foxing and manuscript number to margin, not affecting image or plate.

[38134] £350 41

36. Figures de Magie Blanche devoileé Denis Diderot and Jean le Rond d’Alembert Copper engraving [A Paris. Avec Approbation et Privilege Du Roy. c.17511772] Image 240 x 161 mm, Plate 255 x 185 mm, Sheet 293 x 220 mm A depiction of ‘Figures of White Magic Unveiled,’ the introductory plate in a series of illustrations of magic tricks and illusions from the Encyclopédie, ou dictionnaire raisonné des sciences, des arts et des métiers.

The top vignette depicts a magician midway through the performance of an illusion. He holds a magic wand, from which a puff of smoke has exploded, scattering a deck of cards.

His performance space, a dark high-ceiling room with candelabra and fleur-de-lis wallpaper, features four tables of magical aids, including a small bird in a bottle between two candlesticks, a large locked chest, a figurine of a turbaned Turk, and a small crank-handled piece of equipment attached to a candle-holder.

The scene below seems to be an explanation of an escape act. The two men involved are chained to a pair of columns, the chains wound around their necks and ankles. A small diagram to the top left corner shows the use of mirrors in creating simple optical illusions.

Condition: Minor time-toning to edges of sheet. Small wormhole to bottom right corner, without loss to plate or image.

[43949] £80

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37. Figures de Magie Blanche Denis Diderot and Jean le Rond d’Alembert Copper engraving [A Paris. Avec Approbation et Privilege Du Roy. c.17511772] Image 240 x 160 mm, Plate 255 x 185 mm, Sheet 292 x 215 mm

38. Tours de Gibecière Denis Diderot and Jean le Rond d’Alembert Copper engraving [A Paris. Avec Approbation et Privilege Du Roy. c.17511772] Image 240 x 160 mm, Plate 255 x 190 mm, Sheet 292 x 215 mm

A depiction of ‘Figures of White Magic,’ Plate 5 in a series of illustrations of magic tricks and illusions from the Encyclopédie, ou dictionnaire raisonné des sciences, des arts et des métiers. The 24 boxed vignettes show the position of the fingers of the left and right hand in a variety of different card tricks, from shuffling to sleight of hand, and concealment of cards above and below a table top.

A depiction of ‘Bucket Towers,’ Plate 1 in a series of illustrations of magic tricks and illusions from the Encyclopédie, ou dictionnaire raisonné des sciences, des arts et des métiers. The different figures show the various stages in the setup and execution of the popular sideshow challenge of guessing under which cup the ball resides. To the right of this, and below, are a series of diagrams of various urns, funnels, and vessels used in illusions for disappearing liquids, most of which contain false bottoms, hidden chambers, or one-way valves.

Condition: Minor time-toning to edges of sheet. Small ink stain to ‘Figure 5.’ Small wormholes to top and bottom right corners, without loss to plate or image.

[43950] £75

Condition: Minor time-toning to edges of sheet. Small ink stain to ‘Figure 5.’ Small wormhole bottom right corner, without loss to plate or image.

[43951] £75

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39. Cunicularii or the Wise men of Godliman in Consultation William Hogarth Etching [London, J & J Boydell, 1810] Image 160 x 243 mm, Plate 192 x 255 mm, Sheet 257 x 428 mm

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The scene depicted here refers to the story of Mary Toft (1703-1763), an illiterate servant who had miscarried in 1726, only to seemingly give birth to a dead cat a few months later. During the next couple of weeks, she was attended by her local obstetrician, John Howard, who witnessed her giving birth to many more animals and animal parts, often bunnies.

Mary Toft attributed the pregnancies to having been startled by and chasing a rabbit when working in a field one day, dreaming of bunnies in her lap the following night and having a strong craving for rabbit meat ever since. John Howard wrote letters to the king and some of England’s best scientists and doctors about the supernatural births, most notably of nine dead rabbits in one day.

The king replied by sending his secretary, Samuel Molyneux, and doctor to the court, Nathaniel St. André. When visiting Mary Toft, she had been moved to Guildford for close observation by John Howard. They witnessed Toft giving birth to several more dead rabbits, which let St. André to quickly become enthralled by her miraculous pregnancies and bring back some of the animal parts to the king.

The king was still unconvinced and dispatched Cyriacus Ahlers to look into the case as well. Ahler discovered corn, hay and straw in the rectum of one of the rabbits and concluded that they could not have developed inside of Mary’s womb.

By the end of the year, Mary Toft had been moved to a bath house in London were she was under constant observation of the doctors, who could not agree on the legitimacy of the miraculous births. She continued to appear to go into labour, but did not produce any more rabbits.

A little while later one of the servants was caught trying to sneak in a small bunny on the request of Mary’s sister-in-law. Mary was taken into question, but only confessed to committing fraud after Richard Manningham had threatened to perform an experimental and painful surgery to look at her internal sex-organs. She finally admitted to manually inserting dead rabbits into her vagina and then pretending to give birth to them. She was sent to jail for the fraud, but was released after just a couple months and lived out the rest of her life in relative obscurity.

In Hogarth’s scene, a woman is in labour and has already given birth to bunnies, most of which are scurrying around on the floor, while a few others have died. A numbered key is included, indicating the different main players in Mary Toft’s story. Conspiring with Mary (F) are her husband Joshua Toft (E) and his sister Margaret (G), the local doctor John Howard was also suspected to be part of the conspiracy and is seen receiving a dead rabbit from a butcher by the door (D).

Several of the other doctors are shown to the right of Toft. The one assisting her in labour says “It Pouts, it swells, it spreads, it comes” (B), another “A Sooterkin” (C) and the third one, identified as St. André shouts out “A Great Birth”.

Paulson 106 ii/ii BM Satires 1779 Condition: Light foxing to sheet. Printed on 1810 watermarked paper.

[43843] £200

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40. Le Soleil, Premier Planéte et son influxion.

George Balthasar Probst Copper engraving with original hand colouring Cum Gratia et Privilegio Sac; cæs: Majestatis. c.1770 Image 280 x 410 mm, Sheet 320 x 450 mm One of a series of alchemical vues d’optique depicting the planets. This print features the Sun, depicted as Helios, with a bow in his left hand , his right hand holding a lyre and on his back a bundle of arrows. To his left sits a lion. Below is a colonnaded room lined with statues and large vases of live and dead plants and flowers alluding to the sun as a symbol of life.

Eight monarchs seated on thrones run the length of the room, as in alchemic and Hermetic terms the sun can be employed to symbolise ‘The King’. Allegorical figures, including Janus, and symbols of life, death, vanity, and wisdom alongside onlookers in period dress feature in the foreground and a jousting match, the ‘Sport of Kings’, in the background.

Below the image the title is inscribed in Latin, French, Italian and German. The German title is preceded by the alchemical symbol for the sun.

Perspective views, or vues d’optique, were a special type of popular print published in Europe during the eighteenth century. These prints were a form of entertainment meant to be seen through devices called ‘optical machines,’ optiques, zograscopes or ‘peepshows.’

The prints were exhibited by travelling showmen in the streets throughout Europe and also were collected by those in the professional and upper classes who had the optical machines at home.

There was a great curiosity about the appearance of unvisited European cities and exotic locations in the further reaches of the globe, and these prints were one of the only ways the general public could get a look at the wider world.

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When displayed in the optique, the prints were able to transport the viewer into a far away place-an unknown city, or perhaps into the midst of a dramatic bit of contemporary history or to the distant past.

The optical machines used for these prints had a lens which enhanced for viewers the magnification and perception of three-dimensional depth of the scenes depicted. A mirror was often used so that the perspective prints could be viewed when laid flat, and in these cases the images were viewed in reverse. It is therefore not unusual that the scenes shown were drawn in reverse, and there is also often a title printed in reverse along the top, allowing the viewers to quickly read the title.

There was usually further text at the bottom of the prints, often in several languages, which could be read by the operator of the optique for the benefit of his audience. The most characteristic feature of the perspective views is their emphasised linear perspective, done to further intensify the enhanced appearance of depth and illusionistic space in the prints when viewed through an optique. Another attribute of these prints is their bright, often crude hand colouring, applied boldly so to show the tints when viewed through the lens.

The prints usually have a series of colours-blue, pink and yellow are common-crossing in bands from side to side, with bright highlights often including red. These cheerful and colourful images, with their fascinating history and peculiar appearance, make for unusual and appealing eighteenth-century prints.

Condition: Light stain to centre of sheet and margins.

Trimmed to plate. Framed in antique black and gold frame.

[39183] £400

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41. Monstrum triceps capite Vulpis, Draconis, & Aquilae Ulisse Aldrovandi Woodcut [Bononiae. Typis Nicolai Tebaldini MDCXLII. Superiorum permissu.]

Image 182 x 130 mm, Sheet 350 x 245 mm A depiction of a three-headed monster with the body of a man, from the 1642 edition of Aldrovandus’ seminal treatise on medical oddities and natural irregularities, the Monstrorum Historia.

One of the monster’s heads is of a fox, another is a dragon’s head and the third is the head of an eagle. The monster has the body of a man but is covered in scales from the midriff down, he has two human feet but also has an animal paw and a webbed fin flanking his human feet. He has one human and one birdlike arm, as well as a hairy tail.

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In form, the creature closely resembles the composite Greco-Egyptian deity Abraxas, a popular mystical figure in Gnostic cults, and both black and white magic. The name ‘Abraxas’ appears regularly in magical incantations, and may be a cipher or rubric representing the Seven Alchemical Planets and their associated metals.

Condition: Strong impression. Minor time toning to edges of sheet.

[43821] £150

42. TAB. III. [Mandragora/Mandrake] Matthäus Merian Copper engraving with hand colouring [Frankfurt, 1719] Image and plate 248 x 160 mm, Sheet 399 x 247 mm An early engraving of a mandrake from Michael Bernhard Valentini’s 1719 publication Viridarium Reformatum, seu Regnum Vegetabile: Krauter Buch.

Valentini’s publication drew upon an earlier publication

by Matthäus Merian; Florilegium renovatum et auctum: variorum maximeque rariorum germinum, forum ac plantarum. Merian’s Florilegium, first published in 1641, was an enlarged version of Johann Theodor de Bry’s Florilegium novum. First published in 1611, with several issues being published over the following few years, de Bry’s version drew upon a variety of sources for the illustrations, including Pierre Vallet’s Le Jardin du Roy (1608), Basilius Besler’s Hortus Eystettensis (1613) and Crispian van de Pass’s Hortus floridus (1614-1616).

De Bry’s plates, however, were much more than simply copies. Careful composition, confident lines and fine shading are vividly apparent in de Bry’s illustrations.

18 years after de Bry’s death, Merian produced Florilegium renovatum et auctum. Merian’s version contained nearly double the amount of plates as de Bry’s, and depicted the exotic flowers and plants growing in the gardens in and around Frankfurt. A later edition of Florilegium renovatum et auctum was published in 1644.

Condition: Excellent impression with full margins.

Watermark initials.

[43658] £220

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43. The Wine of Circe after Sir Edward Coley Burne-Jones Photogravure Published by the Berlin Photographic Company Berlin.

London W.133 New Bond Street. _ New York 14 East 23rd Street. [c.1900] Image 310 x 468 mm, Plate 378 x 426 mm, Sheet 507 x 667 mm Plate 46, after Burne-Jones’ 1863-9 watercolour of the same title, from ‘The Work of Edward Burne-Jones, Ninety-One Photogravures Directly Reproduced from the Original Paintings’. Only two-hundred copies of the ‘The Work of Edward Burne-Jones...’ were produced, each of which was signed by Philip Burne-Jones, the eldest son of Edward.

Circe is a mythological figure who features in Homer’s Odyssey, and one of the archetypal witches of Western literature. According to the epic poem, she presided over the island of Aeaea, and turned six members of Odysseus’ crew into pigs after offering them wine. In Burne-Jones’ work, Circe is bent over a vase of the broth as she measures out drops of the poisonous pharmakon kakon.

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Two black panthers prowl in the foreground as the three penteconters of Odysseus and his men can be seen through the window. Dante Gabriel Rossetti, so inspired by the original painting, wrote a sonnet on the subject which appeared in his 1870 collection of poetry.

Printed on India laid paper.

Condition: Foxing and discolouration to edges of sheet, water stain to upper left and lower right corners, slightly affecting upper left of image.

[41568] £550

44. The Wizard after Sir Edward Coley Burne-Jones Photogravure Published by the Berlin Photographic Company Berlin. _ London W.133 New Bond Street. _ New York 14 East 23rd Street. [c.1900] Image 270 x 159 mm, Plate 341 x 215 mm, Sheet 667 x 507 mm Plate 77, taken from Burne-Jones’ unfinished oil painting of his daughter, from ‘The Work of Edward Burne-Jones, Ninety-One Photogravures Directly Reproduced from the Original Paintings’. Only twohundred copies of the ‘The Work of Edward BurneJones...’ were produced, each of which was signed by Philip Burne-Jones, the eldest son of Edward.

It is believed that the wizard is Burne-Jones in his younger years, whilst the young maiden is said to have been modelled on Frances Graham Horner, the daughter of Burne-Jones’ primary patron, William Graham. The painting from which this photogravure was taken is now in the collection of Birmingham Museums and Art Gallery.

Set within a panelled chamber, a wizard stands beside a young maiden. With his left hand, the wizard holds back a curtain, revealing to the maiden a shipwreck within a magic mirror, possibly referencing Shakespeare’s ‘Tempest’, whilst with his right hand, turns the pages of an ancient book. Beside the maiden, resting upon a tripod, is a copper cauldron, heated by a brazier.

Printed on India laid paper.

Condition: Foxing and discolouration to margins, water stain to lower edge of sheet, not affecting image.

[41634] £375 51

VISIONS, DREAMS, & NIGHTMARES

45. Visio Danielis Propheta In Cap VII De Romano Et Aliorv Imperio [The Prophet Daniel’s Vision of the Roman and Other Empires (Daniel Chap. 7)] Giacomo Lauro Copper engraving [Roma, c.1612] Image 106 x 228 mm, Sheet 178 x 233 mm An engraving of the four beasts seen in a vision by the prophet Daniel, engraved by Lauro as an introductory plate to his collection of Roman buildings and antiquities published in the Antiquae Urbis Splendor.

In chapter 7 of the Book of Daniel, the young prophet describes a vision that came to him in a dream. From a primordial sea, four beasts appeared in turn, each eclipsing the other.

The interpretation of the dream revealed that each beast represented one of four great kingdoms of the biblical and classical worlds, and that after the passing of the fourth and most terrible, an everlasting kingdom of saints would be established. The Roman Empire was located in this millenarian scheme as the last of the four beasts, represented by a hideous goatlike figure with iron jaws and a crown of horns upon its head.

The other beasts in the scene are a winged lion, Babylon, a tusked bear, the Persians and Medes, and a four headed leopard, representing the fractious diadochoi, the Hellenistic kings who succeeded to the fragmented empire of Alexander the Great. The beasts are here depicted emerging onto the land from the turbulent sea, while four wind-heads blow gales from the top corners of the scene.

Below, a lengthy description in Latin interprets the relevant chapter from the Book of Daniel, with reference to descriptions in the classical corpus to the key battles, figures, and events of the four great empires, including the turbulent history of the Romans with Jerusalem and Christianity. This particular example has been trimmed to the plate and tipped to an album page, and bound into an extra illustrated English bible.

LeBlanc 2, 1641 Condition: Trimmed to plate and tipped to album page.

[33792] £180 53

46. [Wittenberg World Map] Solis, Virgil and Amman, Jost after Lufft, Hans Woodcut [Gervinus Calenius et Johan Quentels. Köln, c. 1564] 115 x 155 mm Shirley 65A (After) Condition: Time toning to sheet. Offsetting from woodblock text on back of sheet. Gothic title above and two columns of German text below. Monogrammed ‘A’ and ‘VS’ at bottom of woodblock.

[43929] £900

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The second state of Virgil Solis’ world map, a close copy of the famous ‘Wittenberg World Map’ by Hans Lufft, featuring a visual representation of the Dream of the Four Beasts from the Book of Daniel, this example from a German bible published in Cologne by Calenius and Quentell. Cartographically, the map presents the world in an essentially Ptolemaic fashion with the three continents of Europa, Asia, and Africa. Britain and Scandinavia are absent, and the Western Mediterranean features four unnamed islands, presumably Sicily, Sardinia, Corsica, and either Malta or the Balearics.

The sweep of the Aegean is greatly exaggerated, perhaps deliberately exaggerating the position of Constantinople as the lynchpin between East and West.

Above the Bosporus, the Black Sea and Caucasus are also absent. In the Far East, the putative landmass of India Meridionalis, or the ‘Dragon’s Tail’ can be seen, while the Indian subcontinent has a curious bulge at its tip, perhaps representing a conjoined Sri Lanka. In Africa, the Nile and its theoretical sources are clearly depicted, emanating from the mountains of the Moon.

The rest of the continent is heavily truncated, excluding everything south of coastline running horizontally from the Horn of Africa to the bulge of West Africa. Much of the North of the map is obscured by roiling clouds, from which wind-heads blow. A ship can be seen in the southern Atlantic, buffeted on the seas. The whole is surrounded by an elaborate strapwork border, featuring garlands of fruits and leaves, and cupids carrying urns.

The most arresting features of the map are the visual depictions of Daniel’s dream, located geographically.

The first beast, the Lion of the Babylonians, appears in Northern Asia, winged and with gaping jaws. Below, the Bear of the Medes and Persians, occupies central Asia. The third beast, a winged leopard with four heads representing the fractious kingdoms of the successors to Alexander the Great, stands in Europe, facing the vital crossing between East and West.

The final beast, Rome, is a hideous goat-like creature, its head crowned with horns. It paces menacingly across Africa, having already subdued the nations of Europe and Asia. In the centre of the map, threatening Europe just as the third beast had threatened Asia is an army on horseback, their lances held aloft. These represent the forces of the Ottoman Turks, whose conquests during the fifteenth and sixteenth century were seen by many in Europe as the first signs of the coming of the biblical apocalypse.

The Lufft map, upon which this map was based, was originally cut to illustrate Martin Luther’s 1529 pamphlet Vom Kriege wider die Türken. Luther had first discussed the religious implications of the Turks in his Explanation of the Ninety-Five Theses in 1518, where he saw the Ottomans as agents of God’s punishment visited upon the excesses of the Catholic Church, and as such, a welcome necessity for the cleansing of sinful Christians.

By 1529, with the Ottoman forces knocking on the gates of Vienna, Luther’s opinions had changed, and his new pamphlet encouraged Christians to rise to defend themselves against the Turk.

In this latter sense, the Turks were seen as the humanheaded horn on the crown of the final beast, which in Daniel’s Dream erupted from the beast’s head, displacing three horns as it did so. The three were seen as the Christian kingdoms of the East, now fallen to the dominion of the Ottomans. The concept proved popular, and the so-called ‘Dream Map’ was reprinted in Lutheran bibles and theosophical tracts numerous times during the sixteenth century. Lufft’s map was superseded in the 1560s by a smaller but much more ornate example designed by Jost Amman and cut by Virgil Solis.

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47. Zalma, Eikon Babylonica, vel Imago, Quatuor Monarchias Totius Orbis Repraesentans, Danielis 2.V31 Wolfgang Kilian Copper engraving Wolfgangus Kilianus, Eiconographus et civis Augustanus 1623 Image 462 x 366 mm, Plate 470 x 374 mm, Sheet 545 x 403 mm A large and heavily annotated depiction of the giant figure from the Dream of Nebuchadnezzar in the biblical Book of Daniel. One of Kilian’s rarest and most esoteric compositions, it was separately published by the artist in 1623. The present example, having a central fold, was likely bound into an illustrated bible, most probably to accompany the Book of Daniel or Revelations.

The giant, clad in ornamental armour in the Dutch classical style, stands on a sea shore beside a rocky cliff.

He carries a sceptre and rests his left hand against his hip, where a large, eagle-pommelled falchion hangs from his belt. On his head, he wears an open faced helmet with an elaborate plumed crest. The figure’s entire body is covered in text, outlining the history and individuals of the Four Ages of man: Gold, Silver, Bronze, and Iron. Behind the figure, four islands have risen from the turbulent sea. Each houses a different allegorical beast, representing each of the ages in decline. The winged lion represents Babylon and Assyria, and the age of Gold, where Saturn and Jupiter reign supreme. The tusked bear is the Empire of the Medes, the age of Silver and the coming of Mars and Sol. The third kingdom, that of bronze, is depicted as a winged, four-headed leopard, a creature which represents the fractious kingdoms of the successors of Alexander the Great. Finally, the Age of Iron and the Empire of Rome is depicted as the Beast of Revelations, a dog like creature crowned with horns numbering 10 and 7.

The figure is the central part of a recurring dream that afflicts the Babylonian king Nebuchadnezzar. The king, troubled and unable to interpret the dream, describes it to his various soothsayers, mystics, and magicians, but each in turn is unable to elucidate its meaning. Their fraudulence is punished by Nebuchadnezzar with death.

The Hebrew captive, Daniel, is finally able to provide the king with an answer, explaining that the figure’s constituent parts, of gold, silver, bronze, and iron, represent the great empires that will rise and fall before the coming of the Messiah. The figures helmet, its ‘head of gold’ contains the names of the great tyrants of the Old Testament.

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Nebuchadnezzar’s own name is emblazoned across the figure’s moustache, while the names of Daniel and Ezekiel, the ‘eyes’ of the Lord, are written across his eyebrows. The second age is written across the figure’s pectorals, and includes the names of the most famous Persian kings, including Cambyses, Darius, and Xerxes. At the figure’s abdomen, the empires of the world fragment. Below Alexander, the line of kings and tyrants is divided geographically, into the Empires of the Ptolemies in Egypt, the Seleucids in Babylon, and the Antiochids in Asia Minor. The final kingdom is ushered in with the conquests of Julius Caesar, and the dominance of Rome. The emperors themselves are listed on the figure’s kilt. Each age is also annotated with its date of commencement, measured from the year of creation (’Anno Mundi’), and its duration.

Unlike most interpretations of the Dream of Nebuchadnezzar, Kilian’s depiction does not end with the rift of the Roman empire into East and West, but instead presents the division as ongoing. Each leg, made of mingled clay and iron, includes a list of monarchs of East and West, drawing particular attention to the conflict between Christianity and Islam as personified by the Holy Roman Emperor Ferdinand II and the Ottoman Sultan Mustapha. The world itself is divided into nations on the figures toes. On the right foot are Germania, Hispania, Anglia, Italia, and Gallia. On the left are the lands of the Ottoman empire, Graecia, Syria, Asia, Aegyptus, and Aphrica. To the right of the scene, the fatal boulder teeters on the cliff-side, ready to sweep away the Kingdoms of Men, and become the mountain that will hold the Kingdom of Heaven.

Condition: Central horizontal fold. Repaired cut to centre fold, with minor loss. Minor creasing to centre fold. Otherwise a strong and crisp impression with full margins. Framed in a period style frame.

[41102] £2,750

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48. Midsummer Night’s Dream Alfred Clarence Alais after Sir Edwin Landseer, R.A. Mezzotint London Henry Graves & Co. 6 Pall Mall 1882 Copyright Image 138 x 224 mm, Plate 217 x 278 mm, Sheet 348 x 507 mm A reduced copy of Landseer’s only depiction of a Shakespearean play. A stunning depiction of a scene from A Midsummer Night’s Dream, with Bottom seated on the ground in the centre, with one shoe off, being caressed by Titania who reclines beside him, her left arm through his right, and a rose held in her right hand.

An elf undraped stands in front and looks up at Bottom’s ass’s head, with rabbits and fairies on the right.

The face of the mischievous Puck can be seen peeking through the bushes at the back of the scene.

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Proof impression before all letters on india laid paper.

Printsellers’ Association blind stamp in bottom left of sheet - SK Condition: An excellent impression with full margins, some foxing in margins and a few foxing marks within the platemark.

[43837] £300

49. TAB. CCCXXVII. Deut. Cap. IV. V. 19.

Johann Georg Pintz Copper engraving [Christian Ulrich Wagner, Ausburg and Ulm, 1731] Image 280 x 195 mm, Sheet 311 x 200 mm A scene depicting people worshipping an idol of a sun god, within a decorative border. Although the palms, the reed huts in the distance, and the idol itself suggest a far eastern location, the roundels in the border at the top feature the radiate head of the god Helios and the Ionian rose, the two symbols of the Greek island of Rhodes.

The inscription refers to the law in the book of Deutronomy that forbids idolatry and worship of false gods: ‘And take heed, lest you lift your eyes to heaven, and when you see the sun, the moon, and the stars, all the host of heaven, you feel driven to worship them and serve them, which the Lord your God has given to all the peoples under the whole heaven as a heritage.’

From the German edition of Johann Jakob Scheuchzer’s ‘Physica Sacra’. Inscription below image: ‘Deut. Cap. IV. V. 19. Aischrolatreia’, and the German translation of the inscription to the right.

Condition: Trimmed within plate mark. Overall time toning and light foxing. Minor hole to centre of sheet.

[43841] £45

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50. La Tentation de Saint Antoine Abbe Pierre Picault after Jacques Callot Copper engraving and etching Iaques Callot invenit. Petrus Picault Blesensis sculpsit.

A Paris chez F. Chereau rue St. Jacques aux deux pilliers d’or. [Paris, c.1729] Image 460 x 680 mm, Plate 512 x 700 mm

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A very large, impressive, and fascinating depiction of the Temptation of Saint Anthony, engraved by Picault after the famous 1635 etching by Jacques Callot. The scene is a veritable phantasmagoria, with hundreds of arresting details both humorous and horrific. The massive figure of Satan dominates the scene, exploding across the sky like a giant simian-avian hybrid. His leg is chained, no doubt keeping him in the Pit above which he rises.

His bearded and heavily eyebrowed face gleams with wickedness, and his jaws disgorge a swarm of demonic imps, which flit above the scene accosting each other, and the hapless Saint Anthony. The Hallow himself, dragged from his cave, can be seen in the bottom right corner, tormented and beaten by various devils as he raises the Holy Cross.

The Satanic retinue that surrounds him is of form and action of the most diverse and perverse. Winged sprites with arrows, spears, and barbs violate their fellows in all imaginable ways, while others fling fire at the ruinous structures they inhabit. Figures part animal and part machine belch weapons of war, serpents, and brimstone, while others play discordant music on instruments blown by both head and tail.

The Temptation of Saint Anthony is one of the most well represented devotional scenes in the history of Western art, and a particularly popular subject in print making. Saint Anthony (AD 251-356) was a Christian monk, born in the Hellenised Egyptian village of Coma.

He is often referred to as the ‘first monk’ as tradition holds him to have been the first saint to lead an ascetic life in the wilderness.

According to Athanasius of Alexandria, the main source responsible for popularising St Anthony’s life and deeds, the saint experienced a number of apocalyptic visions while residing as a hermit in the Eastern Desert. Because of the fantastical elements of Anthony’s visions, the ‘Temptation’ became an excellent outlet for an artist’s inventiveness and imagination. Some of the most famous examples are the woodcuts of Durer, Lucas Cranach, and Heinrich Aldegrever, and their legacy can clearly be seen in some of the more esoteric works of artists such as Hieronymus Bosch, Breughel, Callot, and Hieronymus Cock.

The publication date of this print is somewhat contested. The engraver, Picault, died in 1711, which places the engraving of the plate in the first decade of the 18th century. However the publisher, François Chéreau, did not start publishing from the address ‘... aux deux pilliers d’or’ until 1718. Chéreau’s premature death in 1729 saw the continuation of his publishing business by his widow, Madame le Veuve Chéreau and his son, François II Chéreau.

Condition: Clean, dark impression with full margins.

Minor creasing to inscription space. Small tear just into plate-mark along bottom margin, without loss.

[43941] £2,500

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Artists, Printmakers, & Publishers

BIOGRAPHIES

Alfred Clarence Alais (1838-1895) was a British engraver who work in line, mezzotint, and stipple. He mainly made prints after Victorian painters such as Landseer and Bonheur.

Ulisse Aldrovandi (1522-1605), often known simply as Aldrovandus, was an Italian humanist, naturalist, and author, often hailed as the father of modern natural history. A professor of philosophy, logic, and natural history at the University of Bologna, Aldrovandus championed the creation and development of the Orto Botanico di Bologna, one of the oldest botanic gardens in the world. Having studied widely in the humanities, law, philosophy, medicine, logic, zoology, botany, and geology, Aldrovandus was one of the most important scholars in Europe at the end of the sixteenth century.

Indeed, Aldrovandus is widely considered to have been the first to use the term ‘geology’ for this branch of science. His treatises covered many aspects of natural history, and his own collections, housed in a cabinet of curiosities bequeathed to the Senate of Bologna, formed the basis of his monumental Theatrum, an illustrated work of natural history covering more than 7000 specimens demonstrating the diversity of life.

Jost Amman (1539-1591) was a Swiss-German printmaker and publisher, born in Zurich, but working for the majority of his life in Nuremberg, where he was apprenticed to the woodcut artist Virgil Solis. One of the most prolific woodcut artists of the sixteenth century, Amman is believed to have drawn and cut over 1500 prints. He is particularly celebrated for his numerous biblical prints, and a series of Bavarian topographical views commissioned by the cartographer and mathematician Philipp Apian.

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The Berlin Photographic Company, (fl. 18801920) or the Berlin Photographische Gesellschaft, was a German print publishers who specialised in photogravures after Old Masters and contemporary painters. High quality photographs were taken of the original works. The negatives were then exposed onto a gelatin covered copper plate, etched with acid, and printed in a similar fashion to an engraving.

The main series of the Berlin Photographic Company’s publications is kept together at Blythe House, West Kensington.

Abraham Bosse (1604-1676) was a French printmaker and painter born in Tours, and a member of the Royal Academy of Painting and Sculpture. He was a student of the surveyor Girard Desargues, founder of projective geometry. Bosse was a prolific printmaker, producing etched plates on many different subjects.

Carington Bowles (1724-1793) was one of the leading print publishers, printers and sellers of the eighteenth century. He apprenticed with his father John Bowles and worked with him as John Bowles & Son from 1753 to 1762, after which he took over his uncle’s business in St Paul’s Churchyard, London.

Sir Edward Coley Burne-Jones, 1st Bt (1833-1898) was a painter and designer closely associated with the later phase of the Pre-Raphaelite movement. BurneJones met William Morris as an undergraduate of Exeter College, Oxford, whilst studying for a degree in theology. The pair went on to work very closely together on numerous decorative arts projects including stained glass windows, tapestries, and illustrations. Originally intending to become a church minister, Burne-Jones never finished his degree, choosing instead to pursue an artistic career under the influence of Dante Gabriel Rossetti.

Rossetti heavily inspired his early work, but by the 1860’s his idiosyncratic style was beginning to develop.

His mature work, however different in total effect, is rich in conscious echoes of Botticelli, Mantegna and other Italian masters of the Quattrocento. Thusly, Burne Jones’ later paintings of classical and medieval subjects are some of the most iconic of the Pre-Raphaelite movement. He was at the height of his popularity during the 1880’s, though his reputation began to decline with the onset of the Impressionists. He was created a baronet in 1894, when he formally hyphenated his name.

Jacques Callot (c.1592-1635) was a Lotharingian artist, draughtsman, and engraver, and one of the most significant Old Master printmakers. Born in Nancy, after training as a goldsmith he travelled to Rome where he was taught engraving by Philippe Thomassin and etching by Antonio Tempesta. For much of his life, he lived in Florence, often producing works for the Medici Court. Callot’s corpus of over 1400 works had a profound effect on printmaking across Europe, not only due to their treatment of genre scenes and domestic subjects, but also for his technical developments in etching. Among the most important of these was the introduction of the echoppe from engraving, the development of a new varnish-based ground to help reduce foul-biting, and the extensive use of ‘stoppingout’ to achieve much greater subtleties in light and dark on his plates.

Johannus Augustus Corvinus (1683-1738) was a German painter and printmaker.

Jacob de Gheyn II (c.1565 - 29th March 1629) was a Dutch painter and engraver, instrumental in the early Dutch Realism movement. de Gheyn was among the first group of artists to paint the female nudes, vanitas paintings, and still lifes that would come to typify Dutch Realism. His first work as a military engraver was a commission from Maurice, Prince of Orange, to depict the Siege of Geertruidenberg. His most celebrated achievement was De Wapenhandelinghe van Roers, Musketten ende Spiesen, a military manual produced in a number of languages.

Robert Dighton (1752 - 1814) was an English draughtsman and printmaker. He was the son of the art dealer John Dighton, and father of the artist’s Robert junior, Denis and Richard. Dighton was especially well known for his satirical prints, which he initially supplied to Carington Bowles and Haines. Later plates he etched, published and sold himself. Dighton infamously stole prints from the British Museum to stock his shop in Charing Cross. When this was discovered in 1806, Dighton escaped prosecution, but was forced to lie low in Oxford until the scandal died down.

Encyclopédie was a general encyclopaedia published in France between 1751 and 1772, with later supplements, revised editions, and translations. It had many writers, known as the Encyclopédistes. It was edited by Denis Diderot and, until 1759, coedited by Jean le Rond d’Alembert. The Encyclopédie is most famous for representing the thought of the Enlightenment. According to Denis Diderot in the article “Encyclopédie”, the Encyclopédie’s aim was “to change the way people think”. He and the other contributors advocated for the secularisation of learning away from the Jesuits. Diderot wanted to incorporate all of the world’s knowledge into the Encyclopédie and hoped that the text could disseminate all this information to the public and future generations. It was also the first encyclopaedia to include contributions from many named contributors, and the first to describe the mechanical arts.

Franco Estius (fl. 1580’s-1594) was a humanistic poet who wrote many of the Latin verses for prints by Hendrick Goltzius.

William Faithorne (c.1620-1691) was an engraver and draughtsman. He apprenticed first to printseller Robert Peake and then to engraver John Payne, Faithorne was captured during the civil wars, imprisoned, and exiled as a royalist. By 1652, Faithorne had returned to London.

His close links with the international print trade enabled him to establish his own print shop. In addition to selling prints, he continued to work as a printer and engraver, and published The Art of Graving and Etching in 1662. On the Restoration of the monarchy in 1660, Faithorne was appointed engraver in copper to the king.

One of his sons, also named William Faithorne, was a mezzotint engraver.

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Jacques Fabien Gautier d’Agoty was a French painter and engraver, born into a family of artists who were active during the eighteenth century. Gautier d’Agoty moved to Paris in 1735, worked for Jacob-Christoph Leblond and took over his business in 1741, after Leblond died. Later in life he became a member of L’Academie des Sciences & Belles-Lettres de Dijon and was also granted the title of ‘anatomiste pensionne du roi’.

Gautier d’Agoty’s published a dozen works on anatomy and physics.

Hendrick Goltzius (1558-1617) was a Dutch painter and printmaker who was a leading figure of the Dutch Mannerist movement in engraving. Goltzius was born into a family of artists and learnt painting from his father as a child. He then became a student of Dirck Volckerszoon Coornhert (1537-1590) in Haarlem, were he would also meet and learn from Philip Galle (15371612). Goltzius was able to set up an independent business in Haarlem through his marriage in 1579 to Margaretha Jansdr., who was a rich widow. They lived in Haarlem for the rest of their lives, but Goltzius did travel to Germany and Italy in 1590. Goltzius was a skilful artist who made very precise reproductions of famous engravings in his early career. When he started developing his own original compositions, he often produced series, such as the The Story of Lucretia and The Roman Heroes. Between 1585 and 1590 he worked closely together with Bartholomeus Spranger (1546-1611). In the 1590’s he would start painting in the Mannerist style, which he also employed in his engravings, but was less successful in this medium.

William Hogarth (1697 - 1764) was born in London, the son of an unsuccessful schoolmaster and writer from Westmoreland. After apprenticeship to a goldsmith, he began to produce his own engraved designs in about 1710. He later took up oil painting, starting with small portrait groups called conversation pieces. He went on to create a series of paintings satirising contemporary customs, but based on earlier Italian prints, of which the first was The Harlot’s Progress (1731), and perhaps the most famous The Rake’s Progress. His engravings were so plagiarised that he lobbied for the Copyright Act of 1735, commonly referred to as ‘Hogarth’s Act,’ as a protection for writers and artists. During the 1730s Hogarth also developed into an original painter of lifesized portraits, and created the first of several history paintings in the grand manner.

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Jennings & Chaplin was a British publishing firm active between 1830 and 1839. Established by Robert Jennings and William Chaplin they worked from 62 Cheapside, London.

John Jonston (15 September 1603 – 1675) was a Polish scholar, naturalist, and physician of Scottish parentage.

He studied at St. Andrews, Cambridge, and Leiden. He practiced medicine for some years and earned a great reputation. He was offered several university chairs but turned them down preferring to study independently.

Jonston wrote extensively on a number of subjects and his work is seen by many as compilations of learning.

Wolfgang Kilian (1581-1662) was a German artist and printmaker, and a member of the Augsburg-based Kilian family of engravers. He was the son of Bartholomaus Kilian the Elder, brother to Lucas Kilian, and father of Bartholomaus Kilian the Younger and Philipp Kilian.

Edwin Landseer (1802 - 1873) was a painter of sentimental animals, lithographer, etcher and occasional sculptor, illustrator, and playing-card maker. He was born in London and was the son of the line engraver John Landseer. He entered the RA School in 1816 and exhibited at the RA throughout his life.

Giacomo Lauro (fl.1583 - 1645) was an Italian engraver, printmaker, antiquarian, and connoisseur, most famous for his 1599 perspective map of Rome, and the publication, between 1612 and 1628, of a series of views of Roman buildings called the Antiquae Urbis Splendor. Very little is known of his life outside of these two works. He may be the son of another Giacomo Lauro of Treviso (1550-1605), though the fact that Lauro frequently signed his name as ‘Jacobus Laurus Romanus’ would suggest a Roman, rather than Trevisan, origin. Considering the rudimentary nature of many of the plates from his Antiquae Urbis Splendor, it would be easy to see Lauro as an engraver of only moderate talent, but his cartography, and the small number of portraits in his name indicate he was an artist of some skill.

Instead, the Antiquae Urbis Splendor should be seen as Lauro’s attempt at producing a work that demonstrates his skill as an antiquarian and historian, the images intended to elucidate and educate.

Assuerus Londerseel (1572-1635) was a Flemish printmaker who was active in Antwerp, Amsterdam and Rotterdam.

Hans Lufft (1495-1584) was a German printer and bookseller. Based in Wittenberg, he became one of the most prominent figures of the Reformation, due to his publishing of the first complete edition of Luther’s Bible, as well as Luther’s subsequent theological works.

Matthäus Merian II (1621-1687) was a portrait painter, engraver and publisher. Born in Basel he was the she son of Matthäus Merian and half brother of Maria Sibylla Merian. In 1650, after his father’s death he took over the business.

John Martin (1789-1854) was an English painter, illustrator and mezzotint engraver. He achieved huge popular acclaim with his historical landscape paintings which featured melodramatic scenes of apocalyptic events taken from the Bible and other mythological sources. Influenced by the work of J.M.W. Turner (1775-1851) as well as Theodore Gericault (17911824), Eugene Delacroix (1798-1863) and Paul Delaroche (1797-1856), his paintings are characterised by dramatic lighting and vast architectural settings.

Most of his pictures were reproduced in the form of engravings, and book engravings, from which he derived his fortune.

John Hamilton Mortimer (1740 - 1779) was a British Neoclassical painter known for his romantic paintings and pieces set in Italy and its countryside, various other works depicting conversations between people, and works portraying war scenes, very similar to those of Salvator Rosa. Among other things, Mortimer took the place of President of the Society of Artists in 1774, only several years before his death, at age 39.

Despite his popularity, Martin’s work was spurned by the critics, notably John Ruskin, and he was not elected to the Royal Academy. His fame declined rapidly after his death, although three of his best known works of religious art toured Britain and America in the 1870s: The Great Day of his Wrath (1853, Tate, London), The Last Judgment (1853, Tate) and The Plains of Heaven (1851-3, Tate). A great contributor to English landscape painting, Martin was a key influence on Thomas Cole (1801-48), one of the founding members of the Hudson River School.

Matthäus Merian the Elder (22 September 1593 - 19 June 1650) was a Swiss engraver born in Basel.

Beginning his career in Zürich where he learned the art of copperplate engraving, Merian went on to study and work in various cities throughout France. In 1615, Merian returned to Basel. His return to Basel, however, was short lived, moving to Frankfurt the following year to work for the publisher Johann Theodor de Bry. Merian later married de Bry’s daughter. He was also the father of Maria Sibylla Merian, one of the greatest natural history artists of the late 17th and early 18th centuries. Following de Bry’s death in 1623, Merian took over his father-in-law’s publishing house. Gaining his citizenship in Frankfurt in 1626, Merian was able to work as an independent publisher, where he spent the majority of his career.

Pierre Picault (1680-1711) was a French engraver and printmaker. Little is known of his life, aside from the fact that he was born in Blois and likely died in Paris.

His works suggest some manner of cooperation, most likely as an apprentice, with the celebrated engraver Gerard Audran.

Johann Georg Pintz (1697 - 1767) was a German engraver based in Augsburg. He is best-known for his book illustrations.

Georg Balthasar Probst (1732-1801) was a German artist, engraver and publisher in Augsburg, a major European publishing centre in the 17th and 18th centuries. He produced architectural views of places around the world intended as vues d’optique, which were published in various places during the last half of the 18th century, including Paris, Augsburg and London.

He was also known for his portraits.

Sir Joshua Reynolds (1723-1792) led the eighteenthcentury art world as first President of the Royal Academy and Britain’s leading portrait painter. In his attempt to raise the status of portraiture, he created the Grand Manner which borrowed from classical antiquity and the Old Masters to fill his portraits with moral and heroic symbolism. An incredible socialite, social climber and self-promoter, Reynolds used his contacts to advance himself. Appointed President of the newly established Royal Academy in 1768, his annual lectures - or ‘Discourses on Art’ - had a lasting impact on the contemporary theory of art and practice.

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Johann Elias Ridinger (1698-1767) was a German painter and engraver who studied at Ulm before establishing himself in Augsburg where he soon made a great reputation for animal paintings, particularly equestrian ones. He became the official painter for several great nobles addicted to the hunt. As here he represented animals accurately and naturally in the midst of beautiful landscapes.

Martin Elias Ridinger (1730-1780) was a German etcher and the son of Johann Elias Ridinger.

Johann Jakob Scheuchzer (August 2, 1672 – June 23, 1733) was a Swiss scholar born in Zürich. Scheuchzer published a variety of works, of which his writings relating to his scientific observations and his travels are often regarded as the most important. During his travels, he collected various materials for his scientific works. He had one of the largest collections of fossils in the world during his lifetime. He believed the Old Testament gave a factual account of the history of the earth and therefore makes references to the 1611 King James Bible in his masterpiece, the ‘Physica Sacra’.

Virgil Solis (1514-1562) was a German printmaker and publisher, and the scion of a large family of Nuremberg artists. Solis produced illustrations on all manner of subjects, though he is best known for his biblical and classical scenes, particularly the large number of woodcuts which appeared in numerous sixteenth century editions of Ovid’s Metamorphoses.

Charles Turner (1774-1857) was an English mezzotint engraver and draughtsman. Hailing from Woodstock, Oxfordshire, Turner moved to London at the age of fifteen. He enrolled in The Royal Academy and, like many other engravers of the time, initially relied upon the patronage of wealthy and influential people. Turner had the considerable backing of the Marlborough family, for his grandmother had been a close companion of the Duchess. This relation led to important commissions. Turner would, for instance, engrave the Marlborough family portrait after the painting by Sir Joshua Reynolds. He was subsequently employed by the influential publisher John Boydell. Diversely gifted, Turner was as adept in the medium of mezzotint as he was in stipple and aquatint. This leant great scope to the subjects he could depict. Whether it was the engraving of Van Dyck or Rembrandt, or the topography of his namesake, Turner excelled.

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Andreas Vesalius (31st December 1514 - 15th October 1564) was a Dutch surgeon, and medical author, often hailed as the father of modern anatomical study. His most influential work was the De Humani Corporis Fabrica, published in Basel in 1543. The most important and influential part of this text were the many anatomical plates, included to illustrate the authors focus on the primacy and importance of dissection in understanding the workings of the human body. These plates, engraved by Pietro da Cortona and Titian’s protégé van Calcar, found immediate currency in medical circles across Europe, quickly inspiring various forgeries, piracies, and reprintings, but also establishing a precedent for anatomical drawing that continued long into the eighteenth century, when the elaborate poses and landscaped backgrounds of Vesalius’ subjects gradually fell out of fashion.

Jan Wandelaar (1690 - 1759) was a Dutch draughtsman and etcher who was mainly active in Amsterdam. He was believed to have been a pupil of Johannes Jacobsz Folkema, Gilliam van der Gouwen, and Gerard de Lairesse. Wandelaar produced engravings after Jacob Houbraken, as well for Carl Linnaeus’ Hortus Cliffortianus. Following his work engraving anatomical plates for a number of early eighteenth century editions of Vesalius’ De Humani Corporis Fabrica, he assisted the German anatomist Bernhard Siegfried Albinus with the illustrations for his Tabulae sceleti et musculorum corporis humani.

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Sanders of Oxford

Antique Prints & Maps 104 High Street, Oxford. OX1 4BW info@sandersofoxford.com - 01865 242590 - www.sandersofoxford.com