The
Home Page Selection
If
you require further information on any
print featured here, please contact
us.
When
a print has been sold it will be marked
as Sold.
A
growing archive of selections
from previous Home pages is featured in
the
Home
Page Selection Archive |
|
See
also :
Click
on a thumbnail (left)
to link directly with the entry for that
print, or scroll down to view all the selected
prints from the current Home
Page.
Images
are not to relative scale (see stated dimensions) and also at only modest resolution.
If you wish to view extracts of an image at higher resolution, please Contact us.
|
|
|
|
| |
GEORG PENCZ
1500 – 1550 Leipzig (en route to Königsberg)
One of the German Small Masters, so called for the generally small
scale of their engravings, Pencz was also a painter; official painter
to the city of Nuremberg from 1532, and in 1550 appointed Court
Painter to Duke Albert of Saxony, though he died on the journey
from Nuremberg to Königsberg, to take up the post.
His origins are unknown. He settled in Nuremberg around 1520,
and may have trained with Dürer. He applied for citizenship, as a painter,
in 1523. It was probably on his return from his first trip to Italy, in 1529,
that Pencz took up engraving, for which he is best known today.
The Triumph of Love
Landau 116 a/b; Bartsch 117; Hollstein 97
151 x 209 mm
Original engraving, c1539.
The plate signed with the monogram.
The first of the series of six, of The Triumphs of Petrarch.
Undescribed 2nd state, with ‘Quomiam’, in the Latin inscription,
corrected to 'Quoniam’.
The fine guide lines of the inscription still clear.
Trimmed to the plate.
Watermark: Bishops cap, above coats of arms
with horse and cross.
£850
Probably engraved in Italy, on Pencz’s second visit, in 1539.
Petrarch’s sonnets I Triomfi, were written from 1351-1374,
and inspired many pictorial representations, in illuminated manuscripts;
paintings on chests; tapestries; and by the 16th century, series of prints.
The poems are allegories conceived as ancient Roman triumphs.
Love triumphs over mankind and even the gods; but is itself triumphed
over by Chastity; Death triumphs over Chastity; and in its turn is overcome
by Fame. Fame is conquered by Time; and Time by Eternity.
In the poems, only Love, the first conqueror, rides on a chariot.
Cupid is attended by a multitude of his conquests, including historical,
literary, mythological and biblical figures, ancient and medieval poets,
forming a procession which ends up in Cyprus, birthplace of Venus.
From the mid-15th century most 'illustrators’ extended a chariot to each victor,
as does Pencz in his series.
Return to top ^ |
|
|
|
|
|
CHARLES MERYON
Paris 1821 – 1868 Charenton-St Maurice Asylum
The illegitimate son of an English physician, Charles Lewis Meryon,
and a dancer at the Paris Opéra, Meryon initially trained and served
in the French navy, sailing round the world, before he decided to become
an artist in 1846.
He had begun drawing and took some lessons while in the Navy.
Discovering he was colour blind, he would dedicate himself to etching.
In Paris he met and became a friend of Eugène Bléry, who taught him to etch, by encouraging him to make copies after the old masters.
Meryon was particularly fond of the Dutch 17th century etcher Reynier Nooms
(called Zeeman) who had also been a sailor before taking up etching, and had
etched a set of views of Paris.
In 1849-50 Meryon made his first original etchings, of what became the series
of twenty-two Eaux-fortes sur Paris. He dedicated the set to Zeeman.
He published the etchings himself in three Parts from 1852 to 1854.
Individual plates from the series were exhibited at the French Salon from 1850
onwards.
Le Petit Pont
Schneiderman 20 vi/ix; Delteil/Wright 24 v/vii
261 x 190 mm
Original etching, 1850 and later.
Sixth state of nine, initialled in the plate and
lettered at the foot.
The printer Delâtre’s name in upper and lower script.
Published 5 December 1858 in L’Artiste, edition of 600.
(One of the impressions where L’Artiste has not been inked for printing.)
Printed in brown-black on cream chine appliqué on wove.
Time-stained and foxed.
£600
Exhibited at the Salon 1850.
Although it would be numbered 2 in the series Eaux-fortes sur Paris (in the final state, 1861, for the edition of thirty) this was Meryon’s first etching
of the series, and his first original etching.
He made numerable preparatory drawings, and in his first study made use
of a camera lucida.
A view of the twin towers of Notre Dame soaring above the houses of the Quai
Marche-Neuf, seen from the towpath beneath the Quai de la Tournelle.
Return to top ^ |
|
|
|
 |
|
THOMAS MEDLAND
c1765 – 1833 Hailey, Hertfordshire
Medland worked in London as a draughtsman and engraver ,
until he was appointed drawing master at the Haileybury College,
Hertfordshire, founded in 1806 by the East India Company.
Westminster Abbey
232 x 293 mm (the sheet as published)
Engraving, after (James) Miller, for the series Select Views in London
and Westminster, published by Colnaghi in 1796.
On wove paper watermarked with the date(?) 94.
Trimmed to the platemark,
as issued by Colnaghi, with sewing holes at the left edge of the sheet.
A little soiled.
£100
James Miller (fl.1773-1791) exhibited drawings at the Society of Artists 1773-1791
and at the Royal Academy 1781-88.
Return
to top ^ |
|
|
|
 |
|
SIMON BRETT S.W.E., R.E.
Born Windsor 1943
Much of Simon Brett’s wood engraving has been for reproduction
as book illustrations, but separate editions, printed from the original
wood blocks occur too.
The Ugly Beast was engraved to illustrate The Sailor and the Ugly Beast,
one of the short stories by J C Bretherton, in The Road to Advent,
published by Brett at his Paulinus Press, where the images were printed
by off-set lithography.
Impressions from the block itself were also published by Merivale Press,
in a single issue.
The Ugly Beast
103 x 130 mm
Original wood engraving, 1986, printed from the original holly wood block.
Signed in pencil, entitled and numbered 286/500.
On wove,
in the original paper folder.
Mint condition.
£200
The sailor exhibits the beast for gain, but comes to realise that the only
ugliness is the greed within himself.
The sympathetic image recalls Pietro Longhi’s painting,
Exhibition of a rhinoceros at Venice, c1751, in the National Gallery.
Return to top ^
|
|
|
|
 |
|
JEFF CLARKE R.E.
Born Brighton 1935
Always inspired by the views from his studio window, or back garden,
Jeff’s latest prints explore different textures in a new approach to familiar themes.
Oxford Chimney Pots
99 x 148 mm
Original deep bite and tonal etching, 2024.
Artist’s proof, signed in pencil.
Printed in brown ink on white wove.
£200
Return to top ^ |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
