Harris Schrank Fine Prints

Jean Mignon(France active circa 1535-circa 1555). After Luca Penni (Italy 1500-1556). “The Judgment of Paris”. Etching on laid paper, with a small fleur-de-lys watermark, S. 31.2×42.7 cm.
Bartsch 72 (as Anonymus); Zerner 40. Circa 1544-1545.



According to the British Museum, London, where there is another impression of this etching, this is the first plate, “From a set of six works representing various episodes from the Trojan war. Although sometimes adapted from plates engraved by Marcantonio after Raphael, the original compositions are nevertheless attributed to Penni. For a discussion of these sources, see Cordellier, Luca Penni. Un disciple de Raphal Fontainebleau’, Paris 2012, pages 47-59.

The Muse du Louvre keeps the original drawing for the present etching (inventory number 1395) though, in the present case, the landscape is Mignon’s own invention. Also see ‘cole de Fontainebleau’, Paris 1972, catalogue number 413.

Penni’s Judgment of Paris’ in turn derives most directly from Marcantonio’s famous engraving after Raphael (see Bartsch 245).

PROVENANCE
The collection of Engineer and Major Frank Bensow (1883-1969), with the ink stamp verso (Lugt 982c).

Hendrik Goltzius(1558-1617). “The Crucifixion”. Signed with the initials in the plate. Engraving and drypoint on laid paper, S. 10.8 cm (diameter). Bartsch 40; Hollstein 48. Circa 1590.

PROVENANCE
Nationalmuseum, Stockholm, with the duplicate ink stamp verso (Lugt 1982); Axel Gabriel Bielke (Sweden 1800-1877) with the ink stamp verso (Lugt 414a); Dr. C. Axel Widstrand (Sweden 1866-1956), with the ink stamp verso (Lugt 2630a); The collection of Engineer and Major Frank Bensow (1883-1969), with the ink stamp verso (Lugt 982c).

Hendrik Goltzius(1558-1617). “Standing Female holding a Book (St. Mary Magdalene)”. Signed H. Goltzius fecit in the plate. Engraving and drypoint on laid paper, with a rampant lion watermark, S. 22.5×12.1 cm.
Bartsch 129; Hollstein 54.

PROVENANCE
Nationalmuseum, Stockholm, with the duplicate ink stamp verso (Lugt 1982); Axel Gabriel Bielke (Sweden 1800-1877) with the ink stamp verso (Lugt 414a); Dr. C. Axel Widstrand (Sweden 1866-1956), with the ink stamp verso (Lugt 2630a); The collection of Engineer and Major Frank Bensow (1883-1969), with the ink stamp verso (Lugt 982c).

Hendrik Goltzius (1558-1617). “The Life of the Virgin”. Each signed with the monogram in the plate. The complete set of six engravings, on laid paper, each S. approximately 49.0×37.0 cm.
Bartsch 15-20; Hollstein 9-14. 1593-1594.

”The Annunciation” from the second state, of five, on laid paper with a six-pointed star in a circle watermark. “The Visitation” from the third state, of five. “The Adoration of the Shepherds” from the third state, of five, on laid paper with a small pointed star in a diamond shape in a circle watermark. “The Circumcision” from the third state, of five, on laid paper with a six-pointed star in a circle watermark. “The Adoration of the Magi” from the second state, of five, on laid paper with a small pointed star in a diamond shape in a circle watermark. “The Holy Family” from the third state, of five, on laid paper with a six-pointed star in a circle watermark.

PROVENANCE
Dr. C. Axel Wistrand (Sweden 1866-1956), each with the ink stamp verso (Lugt 2630a); The collection of Engineer and Major Frank Bensow (1883-1969), with the ink stamp verso (Lugt 982c).

Il Bronzino (Agnolo di Cosimo) (1503-1572) (After), “The Crossing of the Red Sea and Moses Appointing Joshua”. Signed ANG. BRONSINO. INVE. in the plate. Engraving on laid paper, S. 31.4×42.2 cm.
Nagler 9. Circa 1550-1570.



This engraving is based on a fresco painting by Il Bronzino in the Palazzo Vecchio, Florence, completed in 1542. It represents the Old Testament scenes of the Israelites crossing the Red Sea from the Book of Exodus (Exodus 12:33-39 and 14:21-29) and Moses appointing Joshua to lead the Israelites into the Promised Land from the Book of Numbers (Numbers 27:18-23).

PROVENANCE
The collection of Engineer and Major Frank Bensow (1883-1969), with the ink stamp verso (Lugt 982c).

Hieronymus Bosch (The Netherlands 1450-1516). After. “The Last Judgment”. Signed HIERONYMVS BOS INVENTOR in the plate. Engraving on laid paper, with a small coat-of-arms with a flower watermark, S. 34.9×50.6 cm.
Hollstein 7, from the first state, of two, with the address of the publisher Cock, an early impression in this state with the guidelines for the text in the lower margin distinct. Circa 1550-1570.



According to the Princeton University Art Museum, New Jersey, where there is another impression of this engraving, “This densely populated triptych represents the popular apocalyptic theme of the fate of human souls at the moment of the Last Judgment. Angels battle demons in the central scene, while the side panels represent heaven and hell: on the left, blessed souls frolic in an idyllic setting, presided over by Christ; on the right, the damned are tortured in a rocky landscape. Much of the imagery is reminiscent of the work of Hieronymus Bosch. This large engraving, printed in Antwerp by the publisher Hieronymus Cock, is a pastiche of motifs deriving from altarpieces by Bosch and his followers. The illusionistic frame implies that the print is a reproduction of an actual altarpiece.”

PROVENANCE
The collection of Engineer and Major Frank Bensow (1883-1969), with the ink stamp verso (Lugt 982c).

Giulio Romano (Italy circa 1499-1546). “The Fall of the Giants” (after). engraved by Cornelis Bos (The Netherlands, died 1555); signed with the initials in the plate. Engraving on laid paper, with a small coat-of-arms with a flower watermark, S. 31.4×41.3 cm.
Hollstein 56. Circa 1550.

PROVENANCE
The collection of Engineer and Major Frank Bensow (1883-1969), with the ink stamp verso (Lugt 982c)

Bartolomeo Biscaino(Italy 1632-1657). “Moses Rescued from the Nile”. Signed BISCAIVS GENOVSIS F. in the plate. Etching on laid paper, with an indiscernible watermark, S. 19.6×25.0 cm.
Bartsch 2, from the third state, of eight, with the address of the publisher Daman. Circa 1655.

PROVENANCE
The collection of Engineer and Major Frank Bensow (1883-1969), with the ink stamp verso (Lugt 982c).

Giulio Romano (Italy circa 1499-1546). “Christ Nailed to the Cross” (after), engraved by Ferdinando Bertelli (born 1525). Signed f. Bertelli f. and IV RO IN in the plate. Engraving on laid paper, with the letter C in a double circle with a cross watermark, S. 30.0×43.5 cm.
Meyer 5; Nagler 3. Circa 1540-1550.

PROVENANCE
The collection of Engineer and Major Frank Bensow (1883-1969), with the ink stamp verso (Lugt 982c).

Michelangelo Buonarroti (Italy 1475-1564) (after), engraved by Martino RotaCroatia and Italy (circa 1520-1583). “The Last Judgment”. Engraving on laid paper, with a coat-of-arms watermark, S. 39.3×27.0 cm.
Bartsch 28. 1569.



This is among the earliest engravings of Michelangelo’s fresco on the altar wall of the Sistine Chapel, which took four years for him to complete between 1536 and 1541. Rota was a draughtsman and engraver. He was born in Sabenico, Dalmatia (now Croatia), and was active in Rome during the 1540s-1560s, after which he moved to Florence and then Venice. Rota used etching and engraving together in his plates and while few original compositions are known by his hand, his prints after paintings by Italian Renaissance masters were important for the dissemination of these images through Europe during the mid to late 1500s. By 1568, Rota was employed at the imperial Hapsburg court in Vienna and moved to Prague in the late 1570s when Rudolf II relocated the court.

PROVENANCE
The collection of Engineer and Major Frank Bensow (1883-1969), with the ink stamp verso (Lugt 982c).

Francesco Salviati (Italy 1510-1563) (after), by Girolamo Fagiuoli, Italy (active 1530-1574). “The Death of Meleager”. Engraving on laid paper, with an anchor in a circle watermark, S. 43.3×32.8 cm.
Bartsch 41 from the first state, of five, as published by Salamanca. 1543.

This print was formerly thought to be by Nicolas Beatrizet (France and Italy 1507-1565), though more recently it has been convincingly attributed to Girolamo Fagiuoli by Suzanne Boorsch and Bernard Barryte in Myth, Allegory and Faith, Cantor Arts Center, Stanford, 2015, page 110, catalogue number 71.

PROVENANCE
The collection of Engineer and Major Frank Bensow (1883-1969), with the ink stamp verso (Lugt 982c).

Viewers of this vigorous and sculptural engraving are invited into the scene by the extended paw of the hunting dog, which breaks out of the pictures frame at the lower left. The hound barks at a fractured frenzy of bulging muscles and twisting hair centered upon the dying man. The dense, claustrophobic composition heightens the terrible drama of the scene. The dying figure is the ancient Greek hero Meleager, and his story underscores the primacy of family loyalty in Greek culture. At his birth, the Fates decreed that Meleager would live only until a burning log was consumed. His mother removed the log from the fire to grant him immortality, but when he killed her brothers over a dispute relating to the Caledonian boar hunt (seen in the background), she threw the log back on the fire. Girolamo Faccioli was only recently suggested as the author of this print. A goldsmith as well as an engraver, his skill and training is evident in the forceful parallel lines that delineate the richly modeled forms. [note from St. Louis Art Museum]

Giorgio Ghisi, Italy (1520-1582). After Luca Penni (Italy 1500-1556). “Apollo and the Muses”. Signed GEORGIVS MANT. F. and L. PENNIS R. IN in the plate. Engraving on laid paper, S. 33.7×41.4 cm.
Bartsch 58, from the first state, of three, before the publishers address. Circa 1557.

PROVENANCE
Dr. Carl Axel Widstrand (Sweden 1866-1956) with the ink stamp verso (Lugt 2630a); The collection of Engineer and Major Frank Bensow (1883-1969), with the ink stamp verso (Lugt 982c).

Michelangelo Buonarroti (Italy 1475-1564) (after), by Nicolas Beatrizet, France and Italy (1507-1565). Tityus. Signed MICH A.B. INVENT in the plate. Engraving on laid paper, with an anchor or fleur-de-lys in a circle watermark, S. 28.6×37.1 cm.
Bartsch 39, an early impression with the guidelines for the text in the lower margin and the vertical wiping marks distinct, as published by Salamanca. Circa 1540-1566.This engraving is based on Michelangelo’s drawing of the same subject in the Royal Collection, Windsor (Inventory number RCIN 912771).

PROVENANCE
Josef Viktor Kuderna (Austria 1886-1952), with the ink stamp verso (Lugt 1626a); The collection of Engineer and Major Frank Bensow (1883-1969), with the ink stamp verso (Lugt 982c).

In a myth recounted in Ovids Metamorphoses, the giant Tityus was punished for attempting to rape Lato, mother of Apollo and Diana, by being chained to a rock in Hades. Every day a vulture would rip out his liver, the seat of lust; every night the liver would grow back, for the torment to be repeated the next day, for all eternity.

Nicolas Beatrizet,France and Italy 1507-1565. After Michelangelo Buonarroti (Italy 1475-1564). Tityus. Signed MICH A.B. INVENT in the plate. Engraving on laid paper, with an anchor or fleur-de-lys in a circle watermark, S. 28.6×37.1 cm.
Bartsch 39, an early impression with the guidelines for the text in the lower margin and the vertical wiping marks distinct, as published by Salamanca. Circa 1540-1566.This engraving is based on Michelangelo’s drawing of the same subject in the Royal Collection, Windsor (Inventory number RCIN 912771).

PROVENANCE
Josef Viktor Kuderna (Austria 1886-1952), with the ink stamp verso (Lugt 1626a); The collection of Engineer and Major Frank Bensow (1883-1969), with the ink stamp verso (Lugt 982c).

In a myth recounted in Ovids Metamorphoses, the giant Tityus was punished for attempting to rape Lato, mother of Apollo and Diana, by being chained to a rock in Hades. Every day a vulture would rip out his liver, the seat of lust; every night the liver would grow back, for the torment to be repeated the next day, for all eternity.

Francesco Salviati (Italy 1510-1563) (after), by Nicolas Beatrizet France and Italy (1507-1565). “The Sacrifice of Iphigenia”. Signed N. BEATRIZET LOTARINGVS F. in the plate. Engraving on laid paper, with a shield with the letter M and a six-pointed star watermark, S. 33.2 x 44.8 cm.

Bartsch 43 from the first state, of two, with the address of the publisher Tramezini. 1553.

Provenance
The collection of Engineer and Major Frank Bensow (1883-1969), with the ink stamp verso (Lugt 982c).

In Greek mythology, Iphigenia was a daughter of King Agamemnon and Queen Clytemnestra, and thus a princess of Mycenae. In the story, Agamemnon offends the goddess Artemis on his way to the Trojan War by hunting and killing one of Artemis’s sacred stags. She retaliates by preventing the Greek troops from reaching Troy unless Agamemnon kills his eldest daughter, Iphigenia, at Aulis as a human sacrifice. In some versions, Iphigenia dies at Aulis, and in others, Artemis rescues her.

Nicolas Beatrizet,France and Italy (1507-1565). After Francesco Salviati (Italy 1510-1563). Signed N. BEATRIZET LOTARINGVS F. in the plate. Engraving on laid paper, with a shield with the letter M and a six-pointed star watermark, S. 33.2×44.8 cm.
Bartsch 43 from the first state, of two, with the address of the publisher Tramezini. 1553.

PROVENANCE
The collection of Engineer and Major Frank Bensow (1883-1969), with the ink stamp verso (Lugt 982c).

In Greek mythology, Iphigenia was a daughter of King Agamemnon and Queen Clytemnestra, and thus a princess of Mycenae. In the story, Agamemnon offends the goddess Artemis on his way to the Trojan War by hunting and killing one of Artemis’s sacred stags. She retaliates by preventing the Greek troops from reaching Troy unless Agamemnon kills his eldest daughter, Iphigenia, at Aulis as a human sacrifice. In some versions, Iphigenia dies at Aulis, and in others, Artemis rescues her.

Raffaello Sanzio da Urbino (Italy 1483-1520) (after), by Gian Giacomo CaraglioItaly 1505-1565. The Battle with a Shield on a Lance. Signed I IACOBVS VER F in the plate. Engraving on blue laid paper, with an indiscernible watermark, S. 33.0×48.3 cm, remargined.
Bartsch 59. Circa 1527.

PROVENANCE
Johann Andreas Boerner (Germany 1785-1862), with the inscription and dated 1831 in ink verso (Lugt 270); Karl Ewald Hasse (Germany 1810-1902), with the ink stamp verso (Lugt 860); The collection of Engineer and Major Frank Bensow (1883-1969), with the ink stamp verso (Lugt 982c).

Gian Giacomo Caraglio, Italy 1505-1565. After Raffaello Sanzio da Urbino (Italy 1483-1520). The Battle with a Shield on a Lance. Signed I IACOBVS VER F in the plate. Engraving on blue laid paper, with an indiscernible watermark, S. 33.0×48.3 cm, remargined.
Bartsch 59. Circa 1527.

PROVENANCE
Johann Andreas Boerner (Germany 1785-1862), with the inscription and dated 1831 in ink verso (Lugt 270); Karl Ewald Hasse (Germany 1810-1902), with the ink stamp verso (Lugt 860); The collection of Engineer and Major Frank Bensow (1883-1969), with the ink stamp verso (Lugt 982c).