ALBRECHT DÜRER
Nuremberg 1471 – 1528

VIRGIN AND CHILD WITH THE PEAR

1511

15 x 108 mm

Engraving, dated up on the center and monogrammed lower left

Private Collection. A very fine Meder a/c impression, with traces of burrs on the drapery of the Virgin and on the trunk to the right, features of the first state.

Bartsch n. 41; Meder-Hollstein n. 33; Schoch-Mende-Scherbaum, n. 63 a/c. Printed on paper with Bull’s Head with JZ watermark (Meder 70), datable between 1506 - 1516. In excellent condition.
The present work is based on a preparatory drawing preserved in the Berlin Kupferstichkabinett. Dürer, after the Virgin and Child on a grassy plot 1503 (B. 34), abandoned this subject to resume it after his second trip to Italy, enriched by new experiences.
The Virgin seated on a grassy plot gazes at the Christ Child in her lap, who rises his right hand in the act of bless. The buildings in the background are of North Italian taste.

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LUCAS VAN LEYDEN (1494 – 1533)

THE VIRGIN AND CHILD WITH TWO ANGELS

1523

148 x 101 mm at the plate, 149 x 102 mm sheet

Engraving, Signed at the center bottom on a stone with monogram and date

Provenance: Pierre Mariette (1634 – 1716) dated 1669 Paris (Lugt 1789); Gustav von Rath (1888- ?); Krefel, Germany (Lugt 2772).

Bartsch, Hollstein, New Hollstein 84. A very fine atmospheric impression, on laid paper with watermark Gothic P with small Flower, of the first state of three, printing with great clarity and depth, with thread margins, trimmed to or just into the platemark in places, in fine condition. Early impression with nuanced contrasts of light and shade are very rare. This impression is equally fine as the example preserved in the British Museum (museum number Kk, 6.98). This sheet is not the most ambitious engraving by Lucas Van Leyden but is one of his most beloved subjects. It is image of the peaceful moment of motherly affection: The Virgin holds the Child in her lap showing him a flower, two angels are watching this scene in adoration. The artist evokes this scene illuminated by a full moon.

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JACQUES BELLANGE (Nancy 1575c - 1616)

JARDINIÈRE AU VASE

Robert-Dumensnil 44; Walch 11 I/II; Worthen-Reed 15; Griffi ths-Hartley 35; Tuillier 41c.

Sheet 354 x 213 mm

Etching, signed lower left

References: Alexandre-Pierre François Robert-Dumesnil, Le Peintre-graveur français, ou catalogue raisonné des stampe gravée par les peintres et les dessinateurs de l’école française, vol. V, Paris, 1841, pp. 91- 97 and vol. 11, Paris 1871, pp. 9-12 Nicole Walch, Die Radierungen des Jacques Bellange. Chronologie und kritischer Katalog, München, 1971 Amy N. Worthen-Sue Welsh Reed, The Etchings of Jacques Bellange, catalogue of the exhibition, Des Moines Art Center – Museum of Fine Arts, Boston – Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, Boston, 1975 Ger Luiten, La Bella Maniera. Druckgraphik des Manierismus aus Sammlung Georg Baselitz, Bern-Berlin, 1994, pp. 251-265 Paulette Choné, Jacques Bellange, in Allgemeines Künstler Lexikon, vol. 8, München – Leipzig, 1994, pp. 434-437 Antony Griffi ths-Craig Hartley, Jacques Bellange, ca. 1575-1616. Printmaker of Lorraine, catalogue of the exhibition, British Museum, London, 1997 Rainer Michael Mason Le Beau Style, 1520-1620. Gravures maniéristes de la collection Georg Baseliz, Köln, 2001, pp. 260-269 Jacques Thuillier, Jacques Bellange, catalogue of the exhibition, Musée des Beaux-Arts de Rennes, 2001

Robert-Dumensnil 44; Walch 11 I/II; Worthen-Reed 15; Griffi ths-Hartley 35; Tuillier 41c. An extremely fine impression printed with plate tone and wiping scratches on paper with watermark Grape (Griffi ths and Hartelt 1), in the first state of two, before the addition of Le Blond’s address. In very good condition, apart two printer’s creases in the middle of the composition and another upper left in the white paper, trimmed within the platemark on the bottom. Our impression is the one exhibited at the British Museum in 1997 and published in the catalogue by Griffiths and Hartley. The etching is related to a fine drawing in pen, washed in blue, kept at the Stockolm National Museum (Inv. 81/1874, n.88). The print belongs to a series of four sheets, depicting female figures. These graceful gardeners testify the taste and the tradition of the late ‘500 and early ‘600 of representing the various trades and occupations of life. According to the most recent literature, (Griffiths-Hartley, p. 113), the artist, beyond the tradition and inspired by the ancient world, reaches refined effects. Our Hortulana, with her elegant gait, announce the world of the court festivals, wearing stylish shoes, she carries on her head a basin which evokes the Mannerism and the taste of the Fontainebleau school.

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GAETANO GANDOLFI
S. Matteo della Decima 1734 - Bologna 1802

STUDY OF HEADS

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106 x 154 mm

Etching, Monogrammed in lower center: GGF

References: Fausto Gozzi, Ubaldo, Gaetano e Mauro Gandolfi : Le incisioni, 2002.

De Vesme no. 17; Gozzi no. 15 II/II. Very fine impression, brilliant and richly inked, in the second state of two, monogrammed GGF in lower center, printed on lad paper, without watermark.
In excellent condition, with regular margin all around.
This rare print was attributed by De Vesme to Gaetano Gandolfi in 1906. De Vesme knew an impression in the Cabinet of Prints of the National Library of Parma.
The sheet was erroneously attributed by Nagler (N. II, 3006) to Ch. G. Geisler.
Fausto Gozzi, in his Catalogue on Gandolfi ’s prints, published another fine impression of our etching, which is in private collection (no. 15).
The sheet depicts a Capriccio of heads. In the foreground, frontally, there is a man with mustache, turban and a plume, which bears on his shoulder the artist’s monogram. On the left we can see two female profiles and on the right side, in the shadow, two male profiles.
The Capricci di teste were very much in vogue at the time of the Gandolfi and all three of the artists competed in the genre with graceful and refined drawings and engravings.
This vogue is documented also by the existence of an album of 23 etchings made by Luigi Tadolini (1758-1823); a specimen of the complete series is kept in the Jacques Doucet Library in Paris (see D. Biagi Maino, 1994, Gaetano Gandolfi ’s capricci of heads: drawings and engravings, in The Burlington Magazine, CXXXVI, n. 1905, June, pp. 375-379).

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GIOVANNI ANTONIO CANAL (IL CANALETTO)

LE PORTE DEL DOLO

1743/4

Plate 300 x 434 cm sheet 33,5 x 48,5 cm

Etching, Bromberg 6 II (of III)

Watermark Shield surmounted by a crown.
This print executed at the end of Canaletto’s etching career is one of seven large titled views executed during the 1740’s trip in Italy.

Fine, brilliant impression, in the second state of three, printed on paper with fragment of watermark fleur-de-lis inside a crowned coat of arms. The platemark retains traces of ink and the corners are sharp and squared.
In fine condition with wide margins all round.

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GIOVANNI ANTONIO CANAL (IL CANALETTO)

VILLAGGIO SUL FIUME BRENTA

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300 x 430 mm; sheet 345 x 474 mm

Etching
Meyer and De Vesme 9; Bromberg, 1993, 9, first state of two.

Superb and brilliant impression, in the first state of two, printed on heavy Venetian paper. Our print shows with utmost clarity even the more lightly etched marks. The platemark retains traces of ink and the corners are sharp and squared.

In fine condition with margins all round.

The print depicts houses and a campanile on the far bank of the river. Along the waterfront a pile fence and waterwheels. On the nearer bank a man with a pole descends into a gully, spanned by a wooden bridge. Figures and a mule are grouped at the river’s edge. A gnarled, bare-limbed tree occupies the centre foreground.

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