Etching, 14,5 x 12,9 cm, Bartsch 263, New Hollstein 85 iv/v, before reduction of the plate on the right. Very fine impression printed on laid paper before reduction of the plate on the right, with clearly visible marks on the right edge of the plate, the beard and shadows of the garment very deep; plate tone in the upper left corner ; thread margins. Excellent condition. Provenance: Roger Passeron (without collector’s stamp). The sitter is supposed to be the artist's father, dressed in oriental style, in what is thought to be his last portrait by Rembrandt. Erik Hinterding notes that this identification was suggested by Charles Blanc in 1859 and has since been confirmed, in his opinion, by the study of watermarks and comparison with the 'The Artist's Mother Seated, in an Oriental Headdress: Half Length', etched by Rembrandt the same year (NH 86).

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".

Engraving, 100 x 146 mm. Meder 36, 1b-c (of 2), Bartsch 40, Strauss 78. Impression of the 1st state (of 2) before the reworks in particular on the wall and the Child’s cheek. Meder distinguishes three issues for the first state impressions (a, b and c). He does not specify any clear difference between b and c impressions, and the scratches he notes on b impressions are the same as those on c impressions. The difference lies rather in the watermarks found by Meder, which he dates to around 1525 for b impressions and around 1560-1570 for c impressions. Our impression is intermediate between b and c: the scratch reported on the Virgin's drapery is not visible and the one between the tower and the building is barely visible. The dating of the watermark to around 1550 confirms this b-c identification. Fine, uniform silver impression printed on watermarked laid paper. Watermark similar to Meder 46, crown above the city's coat of arms with three towers, which Joseph Meder dates to c. 1550. Excellent condition. Small remnants of mounting paper on the reverse in the corners. Thread margins all around the platemark. 'The Virgin and Child Seated by the Wall' is one of the most beautiful Madonnas with Child engraved by Dürer. For Erwin Panofsky, it represents a culmination of Dürer's work: ‘The acme of perfection—perfection inasmuch as Dürer succeeded in fusing widely divergent tendencies without a sacrifice of either harmony, as in the preceding years, or concreteness and variety, as in later years—was reached in 1514. Compared with the vivid Virgin with the Pear of 1511 (148) on the one hand, and with the stony Virgin with the Swaddled Infant of 1520 (145, fig. 251) on the other, the Virgin by the Wall (147) represents indeed a perfect coincidence of apparent opposites. Regal and virginal, yet humble and motherly, the Virgin Mary is depicted in an environment in which a sense of sheltered intimacy blends with the freedom of the open spaces. The utmost precision of design is combined with an incomparable softness of texture. The lines and strokes, while fulfilling the difficult and varied tasks of modelling form, of indicating direction (as the converging hatchings of the foreshortened walls and the parallel hatchings of the sloping roof), of suggesting luminary values, and of characterizing surface qualities (as in the woolen stuff and silken lining of the Virgin’s mantle), yet maintain what may be called their graphic integrity. The deepest shadows, like the ones above the Virgin’s right knee and beneath her neat “Hausfrau’s” purse, are so small in compass and so softly embedded amidst other areas of varying darkness that they do not impair the impression of perfect transparency and homogeneity. The whole engraving, though far from being lusterless, shimmers with the soft, cool tones of mat silver.’ (Erwin Panofsky, Albrecht Dürer, 1945, vol 1, p. 150) The Virgin and Child Seated by the Wall has often been compared to Melencolia I, also engraved in 1514, one of the three Meisterstiche engraved by Dürer in 1513 and 1514. Walter L. Strauss recognises the same tragic atmosphere in both works, which he links to the death of Dürer's mother in May 1514. The composition of the prints is also very similar. Two similar pairs, the Virgin and Child on the one hand, and the two winged figures in Melencolia I on the other, occupy a similar position in a similarly structured environment: they are seated at the foot of a wall that forms the right-hand background of the engraving, while on the left the eye is drawn to a distant landscape. In the case of Melencolia I, it is a town on the edge of a lake, while behind the Virgin ‘appears the castle of Nuremberg, which Dürer could see from the windows of his house.’ (Strauss, no. 78) The keys and purse attached to the Virgin's belt are also a direct echo of Melencolia I, as the angel carries similar items. However, there is no trace of the many enigmatic objects that fill the space around the figures in Melencolia I: on the ground, there are only a few small stones that have fallen from the crumbling steps and a tuft of grass at the foot of a low wall. References: Erwin Panofsky, Albrecht Dürer, 1945; Walter L. Strauss: The Complete Engravings, Etchings and Drypoints of Albrecht Dürer, 1972.

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)