Nicolaas Aartman (1713-1793), Village Fair, etching, c. 1750; etched by Jan Schouten; in good condition except glued down at corners (small tear lower right where glue hinged); 187 x 276 mm.
A good impression of this mid-18th C. Northern Netherlands rural scene, with a quack (and two clowns) selling their wares on center stage; a game of nine pins and dancing in the foreground.
Francis Barlow (1626-1702) Cock, Hen, Chicken, Dove (after); etching, c. 1680. Etched by Francis Place (1647-1728). With the names of Barlow, Place, and Cooper (ex.) etched in the plate, as well as the names in of the birds depicted, as follows: Cock gallus coq ; hen gallina poulle ; chicken pullus poulcin ; dove columbus pigeon ; F. Barlow delin. ; F. Place fecit ; E. Cooper ex. From Barlow’s series Various Birds and Beasts.
A good impression, in only fair condition (the paper toned due to placement in a non-archival mat), but the matrix satisfactory, with a small margin, 8 1/4 x 11 1/8 inches, the margin approx. 3/8 inch around.
Place has been considered a student of Wencelaus Hollar, but in a letter Place clarified the relationship: “Hollar was a person I was intimately acquainted with…but never his disciple nor anybodys else. which was my misfortune.” (from Pennington’s catalog raisonne for Hollar, p. XIV)
Barlow ranks among the most prolific book-illustrators and printmakers of the 17th century, working across several genres: natural history, hunting and recreation, politics, and decoration and design. He has come to be regarded as a “surprisingly neglected artist”. Art historian Mark Hallett accounts for this by noting that Barlow’s time is British art’s “forgotten era” – one that “has tended to be overshadowed by the achievements of earlier artists, such as Van Dyck, or those that came later, such as Hogarth”; Hallett finds this unjust: Barlow made a significant contribution to what “in reality [. . .] was a remarkably rich, vibrant and cosmopolitan period for the visual arts in Britain.
Pieter de Bailliu (1613-1660), Virtutis et Vitii Lucta, etching and drypoint, circa 1650, after a drawing by Peter van Lint (1609-1690). In fair/passable condition, the paper darkened brown; slight discoloration at top margin due to hinging, with margins, 5 1/2 x 6 1/4 inches. With the engraver and painter’s names in the plate below the Latin text.
Watermark: Strasbourg Lily (?)
A good impression of this rather rarely encountered print.
An impression is in the Albertina (H/11/40/64).
This is an allegory of combat between the Putto Satyr and a child representing virtue.
Heinrich Zille (1858-1929), The Model (Das Modell), c. 1908, color etching, on wove paper, numbered in pencil (21/100), from the presumed edition of 100, on a large sheet, 10 3/4 x 6 1/4, the sheet 26 x 16. With the artist’s stamp verso, the sheet with the artist’s chop mark lower right.
A fine impression, in very good condition.
A drawing for this print was sold at Christie’s New York in October, 2020.