Etching, 97 x 83 mm. B. 268; K.G.Boon 268; BB 37-C; New Hollstein 164, ii/ii. Superb impression printed on watermarked laid paper (upper part of the Strasbourg lily watermark); small margins (sheet: 109 x 100 mm). In excellent condition. Slight trace of vertical fold visible in grazing light; two small rust spots on right edge, otherwise in excellent condition. Very rare (Nowell-Usticke RR). The New Hollstein counts as a 1st state an impression kept by the Bibliothèque nationale de France showing a small additional line at the back of the hat and a few dots on the model's left cheek. Nowell-Usticke considers it a trial proof. Our impression shows burr visible on the earliest impressions: on the hair, upper lip, chin, left eye, dark areas on the background and clothing folds; as well as the two scratches: a horizontal wavy line to the left of the face and a vertical line above the beret (Nowell-Usticke). Such a fine impression with good margins and in excellent condition is very rare for this print, even in museum collections. Provenance: Louis Jouas-Poutrel collection (b. 1874); by descent. Louis Jouas-Poutrel was an aquafortist from Normandy. The Musée du Petit Palais holds his views of Rouen. The model for this portrait, which Bartsch entitled Jeune homme assis et réfléchissant, was assumed to be Ferdinand Bol (Nowell-Usticke) before the old ink inscription Petrus Sylvius on the reverse of an impression was taken to be the sitter's name (DeHoop Scheffer, Liber Amicorum Karel J. Boon, Amsterdam, 1974, pp. 96-101). This impression, which belonged to Vivant Denon, is now in the Musée cantonal de Lausanne. Petrus Sylvius was the son of Pastor Jan Cornelis Sylvius, of whom Rembrandt etched two portraits (NH 124, NH 235).

New Hollstein (Joannes and Lucas van Doetecum) 216, Riggs 9. Fine impression printed on laid paper, enhanced at the time in gouache colours and cloth-backed. Two small repaired losses of paper, without ink retouching, one in the lower left corner, the other on the right edge downwards, and a tiny repaired loss under the frog, some minor surface rubbing and small creases. Usual central vertical fold. Very rare. Several prints by the van Doetecum brothers in period colors are known, including an exceptional print of a procession engraved in thirty-three plates and a print of Landscape with Pilgrims at Emmaus, engraved after Bruegel (Painted prints: the revelation of color in Northern Renaissance & Baroque engravings, etchings & woodcuts, p. 42 et p. 159 to 161 ). Susan Dackerman notes in particular about the prints engraved after Bruegel: “In 1558, the Antwerp book publisher and dealer Christopher Plantin sent the Paris bookseller Martin Le Jeune several painted impressions of prints after Bruegel for him to distribute in France. The prints were among a batch published by Hieronymus Cock, the publisher of Bruegel’s design. Timothy Riggs surmines that Plantin, because he frequently hired colorists to paint the illustrations for the books he published, commissioned the coloring of these prints.” (Painted prints, pp. 160-161). Our impression of The Temptation of Saint Anthony, contemporary with these prints after Bruegel, could have been colored in the same circumstances. Traditionally described as the Temptation of Saint Anthony, the print could also represent the temptation of Saint Christopher. "The holy giant - who is indeed depicted taller than the other figures - is nonchalantly lying under a sod shelter, his staff resting on one of the branches supporting the roof. The hermit mentioned in the legends of Saint Christopher is indeed represented on the left, engaged in a fight against multiple assailants. This character does not usually appear in the stories about St. Anthony, who was himself a hermit." (Matthijs Ilsink, in Hieronymus Cock, La Gravure à la Renaissance, p. 252, translated by us). In the estate of Volcxken Diericx, widow of Hieronymus Cock, the copper is described as "a copper plate of Saint Christopher by Hieronymus Bosch" [Een coperen plaete van Sinte-Christoffel van Jheronimus Bos]. The authors of the New Hollstein volumes, however, refer to another copper: "Een coperen plaete van Sint-Anthuenis Temptatie".

Bartsch 228; Biörklund and Barnard 45-1; New Hollstein 202. Rare. Fine impression of the unique state, the sulphur tint still visible in the sky, but the details in the far right slightly beginning to wear. Thread margins all around the platemark. Sheet: 145 x 215 mm. Julian Marshall’s collection stamp printed verso (Lugt 1494) Provenance: Julian Marshall (Lugt 1494); Paul Prouté S.A., Catalogue “Centenaire” 1re partie Estampes, 1978, n°39: « Très belle épreuve, filet de marge. » (‘Very fine impression, thread margins’). In very good condition. Light stains in the upper corners. Minimal retouching in grey ink on the mast of the sailboat, as well as touches along the platemark, to the left and to the right. Because the light strokes in drypoint wore out quickly, a number of good impressions were retouched in ink, as Erik Hinterding observes about the impression in the Frits Lugt collection, acquired in 1919 from P. and D. Colnaghi & Obach: “The print was lightly etched and impressions are almost always a little faint and misty (…) Like some other impressions of this print, this sheet has been retouched with grey ink, including on the post on the left beside the road.” (Erik Hinterding, 2008, vol. I, pp. 430-433). Hinterding mentions specifically the impression in the Teylers Museum in Harleem. The New Hollstein volume also mentions retouched impressions in the collections of the Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam (brush and grey ink, and pen and black ink), of the Staatliche Museum, Berlin (foliage added with pen and brown ink), of the Staatliche Kunstsammlungen, Dresden (framing lines in pen and black ink), of the British Museum (two impressions retouched in pen and grey ink), in the Rothschild collection in the Louvre (brush and grey ink), in the State Hermitage in St Petersburg (framing lines in pen and black ink), among others (New Hollstein, Rembrandt, Text II, p. 90). The landscape drawn by Rembrandt has not been clearly identified and the etching received different titles in different catalogues: La barque à voile [Barge with a sail] (Bartsch), Cottages beside a canal, with a church & sailing boat (Nowell-Usticke), Cottage beside a canal, a view of Diemen (Boon and White). Its date is likewise uncertain: Bartsch thinks that Rembrandt etched it around 1645, Hinterding around 1641. We go with the date given in the New Hollstein by Erik Hinterding; like Frits Lugt, he places the landscape near Ouderkerk on the banks of the Amstel, south of Amsterdam. The lightness of the strokes on the right of the impression, the grounds which have been left almost blank and the streaks of sulphur tint sweeping across the grey sky give this landscape a wintery feel that is quite rare in Rembrandt’s etched oeuvre. References: Erik Hinterding, Rembrandt Etchings from the Frits Lugt Collection, 2008, vol. I, no. 180, pp. 430-433; New Hollstein, Rembrandt, text II, compiled by Erik Hinterding and Jacob Rutgers; Paul Prouté S.A., Catalogue “Centenaire” 1978, 1re partie Estampes.

Mannocci 18, state III A (of B, of VI). Very rare impression of the state III A, with the number 4 added in the left margin, but before the accident in the upper right corner producing a few short curved scratches in the top right corner of the state III B, and before the later rework, including the horizontal strokes on the small bird to the immediate right of the central trees. Impressions of the state III A are lifetime impressions. Lino Mannocci adds that in the earliest impressions of state III A the head of the cow on the far left is still quite dark, as is visible on the impression in the National Gallery of Art, Washington, which Mannocci makes reference to. On our impression the head is still quite dark too. Superb impression printed on laid paper. A very tiny fold in the upper right corner of the sheet and a few tiny foxmarks. In excellent condition. Small margins (sheet: 140 x 210 mm). Provenance: former Arkady Nicolayevitch Alferoff collection (1811-1872) with his stamp on the back (Lugt 1727). The print is described under number 251 in Catalogue de la collection magnifique et d'un choix exquis d'estampes, d'eaux-fortes et de bois, sale of 10-13 May 1869: “251. The Cowherd. (R. Dum. 8) Superb impression from the second state, before the bird, near the middle of the image, was covered in lines; with margins. Very rare. (Coll. Simon)” (our translation); the collection mentioned in this catalogue entry is that of Auguste Simon, born in 1776; formerly in the Marcel Lecomte (1916-1996) collection, his stamp on the back (Lugt 5684). “With unfailing regularity, students of Claude’s etched work have found in this print the highest manifestation of Claude’s genius as an etcher.” To this judgment, Lino Mannocci adds several quotations, one of which, by Francis Seymour Haden, seems particularly apt: not only because Seymour Haden himself tirelessly made etchings of landscapes, but also because he collected old master prints. This quote comes fom the introductory text that prefaces the catalogue of his collection: About etching: Notes by Mr. Seymour Haden on a collection of etchings by the great masters lent by him to the Fine Art Society’s Galleries to illustrate the subject of etching. Seymour Haden writes: “The greatest of all Claude’s etchings seems to me to be the ‘Bouvier’. In quality it is surprising, and in touch, magical – one never tires of wondering at it. Though highly finished it has the true ring of an etching, and in its texture it is what the printers of steel engravings would call ‘a rotten plate’. It need scarcely be said that this rottenness is its chief recommendation.” (About etching, 1878-79, p. 32-33). Seymour Haden is referring here to the very peculiar treatment that Claude Gellée gave to the copperplate, and in particular his unconventional use of tools and acid to bite into the copper, making it rougher in places and creating textures that would horrify those who love the clean strokes and neat surfaces of steel. Claude Gellée is thought to have used pumice stone to scratch the copper, or some form of roulette instrument. He might also have used, in between two stages of the work, a specific ground that only protected the finest strokes: this would have enhanced the effects of the acid on larger strokes, and would have greatly accentuated the contrast between the full light, and the shadow in which the cowherd is resting. However, finer strokes are soon erased by the printing process, and as a result only the first impressions, very rare, like this one, show this contrast faithfully. References: Lino Mannocci : The Etchings of Claude Lorrain, 1988.

Bartsch 80 undescribed state, Pauli 84, 1st state (of 2) Very rare impression of the first state (of 2), before the reduction of the plate. Very fine impression printed on laid paper. Impression trimmed 1 mm outside the image on three sides, to the borderline at the left sheet edge and very slightly inside the image in the bottom left corner. In very good condition. A thin vertical fold almost invisible on the recto of the sheet. Provenance: - collection D. G. de Arozarena (c.1860) (Lugt 109). This impression is number 44 of his March 1861 sale (Paris, expert Clément): "Magnificent impression of a first state unknown to Bartsch, before the plate was reduced". - collection Graf Ludwig Yorck von Wartenburg (Lugt 2669). This impresssion is number 231 of his May 1932 sale (Leipzig, C. G. Boerner) : "Erster Abdruck von seltener Schönheit. Vor Verkleinerung der Platte. Von P. angeführtes Exemplar und aus der Sammlung Arozarena." [First impression of a rare beauty. Before reduction of the plate. Copy quoted by P[auli] from the Arozarena collection]. - collection Pierre Lallier (1946-2021), printer (Lugt undescribed). This print is cited by Pauli ("Klein Oels, Graf York" ) and Hollstein. Adam Bartsch describes only the 2nd state, as indicated by the dimensions mentioned (4 inches 4 lines x 3 inches 4 lines) corresponding to the copper reduced to 119 x 90 mm. He also makes a mistake on the date that is engraved. Pauli notes: "The figure is partly original and partly copied from the Venus of Mark Anton (Marc Antonio Raimondi)". (translated by us). If the two compositions indeed present similarities, the tragic figure of Dido is far from resembling Raimondi's Venus, quietly leaning forward to perform the harmless gesture of wiping her foot: while Venus's bent leg, bent face and outstretched arm express the grace of the goddess, Dido's bent back, slumped shoulder and hanging arm mark her despair.

Etching, 83 x 182 mm (image), 100 x 200 mm (platemark). Mellerio 4, undescribed state; Harrison 3, 1st state or state between 1st and 2nd (of 3). Extremely rare impression, before the second state described by Harrison: before the whole upper half of the plate was modified, before the addition of new works in the lower part and of the signature O. REDON onto a rock, bottom right. The first state described by Harrison is known through one impression only, “in collection David Tunick, Inc., New York (ex-coll. Richard Bühler, Winterthur), with penciled signature "Odilon Redon" in small capitals lower right” (Harrison). According to Harrison, the first state, that is, the impression in the David Tunick collection, is “Nearly complete except for the sky. ‘Od. Redon’ lightly etched lower left platemark”. There is a photograph of the impression belonging to David Tunick in the catalogue raisonné by Harrison, but its quality is not good enough to allow comparison with our impression. It is possible that our impression has some new works in the sky and on the rocks, and that the borderline is better defined. This could only be clarified by comparing the two impressions. On our copy, we cannot see the signature ‘Od. Redon’ in the lower left platemark, but perhaps it wasn’t inked. Only two impressions from the second state are known, one in the Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam, the other one in the Art Institute of Chicago. The third state, in which the plate has been cut down by a third lengthwise on the right side, was printed in 1886; 30 impressions were made, signed in pencil. A posthumous print run was made in 1922, at the request of Madame Redon. Superb impression, with rich, deep black tones, printed on thick white wove paper, signed in small capitals in pencil in the lower right platemark: ODILON REDON. Wide margins (sheet: 200 x 300 mm). Very good general condition. Some foxing in the margins; the platemark, slightly fractured on the right and left edges due to sustaining too much pressure during printing, has been repaired. Some tiny areas of paper skinning verso. Horsemen in combat is part of a group of etchings Odilon Redon made while he was learning engraving with Rodolphe Bresdin. Several of these etchings feature the same gloomy, barren landscape of menacing rocks, errant or fighting horsemen and stormy skies. (Read the full text on our website)