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EVERY
PICTURE TELLS A STORY
 Every
figurative image is illustrative in some way, if
only as a proof, or otherwise, of the artist's competence.
Over and above the purely aesthetic appeal of the
formal language of the design, its quality of line,
shapes, tonality or colour, the image can be informative
as regards the artist's interests and perhaps his
sympathies or affiliations. As well as presenting
the physical appearance of a person, object, or landscape
etc, the image may generate in the viewer direct
or indirect associations which enrich the appreciation
and the narrative content.
Of
all the visual arts prints are most open to the suggestive
complexity of ancillary layers of meaning; that many,
especially earlier, prints include lettering, is
a significant factor. Long associated with the book
trade, prints too can quite literally, as well as
interpretatively, be 'read'. The very title of an
image can enhance our response.
Les
trois crayons de Watteau.
Original drypoint, c.1895, by Paul Helleu.
The artist’s wife looking at identifiable Watteau
chalk drawings in the Louvre.
Lettering on old master prints not only complements and explains the image, it details the artists involved and through the publisher's names, if supplied, can be indicative of the date the impression was actually printed and be a guide to the print's lasting relevance or popularity of the theme.
Reflecting the ethos of their time, 16th & 17th century prints are predominantly concerned with themes from religion or classical mythology, be it narrative depictions of scenes or personalities or allegorical expressions of the moral precepts to be drawn therefrom, or simply as visual icons of the most popular saints or classical heroes. The educated audience at whom they were directed was familiar with the symbolic conventions and enjoyed artists' variations on the themes. To them the whole story was implicit in a single detail or character pictured.
Prints were often produced in narrative cycles of consecutive episodes. In the later 16th century new themes that lent themselves to series became very popular, the twelve Months of the Year, the four Seasons, the four Times of Day, the Ages of Man. There was also crossover or combination of themes, as well as typological analogies between Christian and antique heroes, and Old Testament figures considered prophetic symbols of Christ.
The
catalogue offers imagery from all the above - including
the infancy of Christ; Christ's sayings; a 'portrait' of
the Apostle Thomas; the four Evangelists; Saints
Jerome and Barbara; Old Testament characters David
and Samson (both prototypes of Christ); the Antique
strong man Hercules; Apollo; and additionally, allegories
of love; an early caricature (Titian's drawing with
apes acting the part of Laocoon and his sons); and
a few small scenes from Maximilian's huge propaganda
woodcut projects, The Triumphal Arch and his fictional
autobiography Der Weisskunig, as well as Dürer's
portrait of the Holy Roman Emperor.
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A
Battle of Engravers. Original etching, 1828
by George Cruikshank after an idea by Thomas Wilson.
(The catalogue back cover illustration.)
An
etched tailpiece for Thomas Wilson’s
own Catalogue Raisonné of the
Select Collection of Engravings of an Amateur,
in which he lists in the caption some of
the engravers illustrated in the etching
and comments “all these engravers were
rivals”.
In the foreground Hogarth, uniquely carrying
a palette as his shield, and with paintbrushes
in his quiver, wields an etching needle in
his fight with Antoine Masson (1636-1700),
who is ‘en garde’ with a burin
for a rapier.
Beyond them William Woollett (1735-85) and
J.J. Baléchou (1719-64) hold engraved
copperplates as shields and attack each other
with burins. At the back, Dürer, with
his monogram on his shield, attacks Marcantonio
Raimondi (c1480-c1530) with an axe.
These
three pairs are named in the caption
to the etching in the book. Other unnamed
combatants may include Rembrandt with
a feather in his hat fending off a firebrand.
At the right a figure is firing off the
stopper from a jar of acid and elsewhere
a cast of the Apollo Belvedere and other
studio props contribute to the melée. |
Some of these themes continue through into modern printmaking, particularly in prints designed for book illustration, though otherwise artists' symbolism tends to become more specifically personal. However, the thematic emphasis generally is on scenes or comment on contemporary life but not without an awareness of the past and the changes which resulted from the industrial revolution. Modern images offered here include some of Stanley Anderson' craftsmen; Ardizzone's Soho street corner - with street girls;
Edward
La Dell's souvenir of a holiday in Trier; Bruno Gorlato's
metaphysical dreams of Padua; and a pleasing and
interesting variety of others, all with some story
attached if not specifically narratives as such.
I
very much enjoyed putting this catalogue together,
and I hope you will have an equal pleasure in the
prints it contains and in reading about them.
Published
Summer 2013
56 pages, 103 items, with 129 illustrations, 6 being
in colour.
(UK
Price: £12, International orders £16)
Prints
still available
Some prints from this catalogue are still
available and have been featured
within the Selections section
of the website.
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Artists
included in the catalogue:
- Aldegrever
H.
- Anderson
S.
- Ardizzone
E.
- Austen
W.
- Barrett
T.
- Bawden
R.
- Beck
L.
- Berssembrugge
H.
- Blampied
E.
- Bockstorffer
C.
- Boldrini
N.
- Brett
S.
- Brown
F. M.
- Burgkmair
H.
- Cari
G.
- de
Charpentier F. P.
- Collaert
A.
- Corinth
L
- Cruikshank
G.
- Daumier
H.
- Detmold
E. J.
- Deville
J.
- Dürer
A.
- Elsheimer
A.
- Endlinger
J.
- Fisher
A. H.
- Freeth
H. A.
- Galle
P.
- Gheyn
J.
- de
Gill E.
- Gooden
S.
- Gorlato
B.
- Goudt
H.
- Hartrick
A. S.
- Heemskerk
M. van
- Helleu
P.
- Hill
V.
- Hondius
H.
- Jegher
C.
- Jordaens
J.
- Kosas
J.
- Laboureur
J. E.
- La
Dell E.
- Ladenspelder
J.
- Lautrec
H. de
T.
- Lindsay
L.
- Lucas
van Leyden
- Macbeth
R. W.
- Major
T.
- Maleuvre
- Master
of the Die
- May
G.
- Meier
M.
- Menzel
A. von
- Mitchell
F. J.
- Molien
- Monogrammist
MF
- Moore
G.
- O'Neill
G. B.
- Orovida
Pencz G.
- Pennell
J.
- Peruzzi
B.
- Piranesi
G. B.
- Pryse
G. S.
- Rhead
G. W.
- Renton
M.
- Rubens
P. P.
- Sadeler
J.
- Scultori
A.
- Sloan
J.
- Snellinck
J.
- Sparks
N.
- Springinklee
H.
- Sustris
F.
- Taylor
E.
- Tempesta
A.
- Titian
- Toulouse-Lautrec
H. de
- Traut
W.
- Vos
M.
- de
Wailes
- Wierix
A.
- Wierix
J.
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