Portrait of Jacques Molaert
Arnold Houbraken (1660-1719), Portrait of Jacques Molaert (1649-1727), mezzotint, c. 1710, engraved by Nicolas Verkolje (1673-1746). Reference: Charles Le Blanc 5, first or second state (of three). [With the letters A. Houbraken, Inv. lower left, and N. Verkolje fecit lower right in the plate]. In good condition (very slight staining verso), trimmed on the plate mark and then backed along the edges. 10 1/4 x 7 5/8, the sheet 11 5/8 x 8 5/8 inches.
A very good proof impression, before the inscription letters, which are handwritten in this proof in a brown ink in a blank square.
Le Blanc notes that the first state was before letters, the second state had an inscription of 4 lines, and the third state an inscription with 6 lines. In this proof the area for the inscription is left blank, and an inscription of 6 lines is written in; thus this could be an impression of the first state or, possibly the second state (with the inscription covered to stay blank with the lines later written in).
Houbraken was a painter and author, best known today for his massive Schouburgh, a compilation of 500 biographies of seventeenth-century Dutch “Golden Age” painters.
Nicolas Verkoljie was a painter and engraver, a student of his father Jan, also an expert mezzotinter.
detail