Ancient Prints
1515 Masterpieces of Printing by Albrecht Dürer
2013 SOLD 870 K$ including premium
PRE SALE DISCUSSION
Albrecht Dürer is the best example of a precocious and overgifted artist. All graphic arts were his passion: painting, drawing, engraving. Few ancient artists have reached his level with regard to the accuracy of lines and proportions. He was also lucky to be born in the right place at the right time.
Nuremberg was one of the cultural capitals of northern Europe. In 1493 in that city, Koberger published hisChronicles, illustrated with 1800 woodcuts, the most impressive of all incunabula.
Koberger had been a goldsmith before turning to editor. He was also the godfather of the young Albrecht, 22 years old in 1493. The printing of the Chronicles was entrusted to Wolgemut, at a time when Dürer was an apprentice in the latter's workshop. In this multidisciplinary surrounding, Dürer early became a master of copper engraving, which was perfectly suited to the extreme accuracy of his drawing.
On January 29 in New York, Christie's sells in 61 lots an exceptional collection of prints by Dürer. Within half a century, the collector had gathered the finest copy of each of the greatest images.
The most prestigious piece, whose estimate is not published, is a St Eustace. Made circa 1501, it is the largest of Dürer's prints, 36 x 26 cm, and a favorite of the artist himself who liked to used it as a show-piece.
Selected among other major works in this auction: Adam and Eve, the most famous (1504, 25 x 20 cm, estimated $ 300K), Melencolia I, the most emotional (1514, 24 x19 cm without the margins, estimated $ 400K), Knight, Death and the Devil, the beautiful conclusion of the medieval world (1513, 25 x 19 cm, estimated $ 500K), St. Jerome in his study(1514, 25 x 20 cm, estimated $ 300K).
The catalog cover is a vanity, 1503, 22 x 16 cm, estimated $ 250K.
POST SALE COMMENT
This exceptional collection has been greeted with a deserved enthusiasm. The highest price of the sale, $ 870K, was focused on the famous Rhinoceros (1515, 24 x 30 cm) which had been listed with a very conservative estimate of $ 100K.
Five engravings discussed above were sold : St Eustace: $ 720K. Adam and Eve: $ 660K. Melencolia I: $530K. St Jerome: $ 360K, and the vanity: $ 340K.
These prices include premium.
Albrecht Dürer is the best example of a precocious and overgifted artist. All graphic arts were his passion: painting, drawing, engraving. Few ancient artists have reached his level with regard to the accuracy of lines and proportions. He was also lucky to be born in the right place at the right time.
Nuremberg was one of the cultural capitals of northern Europe. In 1493 in that city, Koberger published hisChronicles, illustrated with 1800 woodcuts, the most impressive of all incunabula.
Koberger had been a goldsmith before turning to editor. He was also the godfather of the young Albrecht, 22 years old in 1493. The printing of the Chronicles was entrusted to Wolgemut, at a time when Dürer was an apprentice in the latter's workshop. In this multidisciplinary surrounding, Dürer early became a master of copper engraving, which was perfectly suited to the extreme accuracy of his drawing.
On January 29 in New York, Christie's sells in 61 lots an exceptional collection of prints by Dürer. Within half a century, the collector had gathered the finest copy of each of the greatest images.
The most prestigious piece, whose estimate is not published, is a St Eustace. Made circa 1501, it is the largest of Dürer's prints, 36 x 26 cm, and a favorite of the artist himself who liked to used it as a show-piece.
Selected among other major works in this auction: Adam and Eve, the most famous (1504, 25 x 20 cm, estimated $ 300K), Melencolia I, the most emotional (1514, 24 x19 cm without the margins, estimated $ 400K), Knight, Death and the Devil, the beautiful conclusion of the medieval world (1513, 25 x 19 cm, estimated $ 500K), St. Jerome in his study(1514, 25 x 20 cm, estimated $ 300K).
The catalog cover is a vanity, 1503, 22 x 16 cm, estimated $ 250K.
POST SALE COMMENT
This exceptional collection has been greeted with a deserved enthusiasm. The highest price of the sale, $ 870K, was focused on the famous Rhinoceros (1515, 24 x 30 cm) which had been listed with a very conservative estimate of $ 100K.
Five engravings discussed above were sold : St Eustace: $ 720K. Adam and Eve: $ 660K. Melencolia I: $530K. St Jerome: $ 360K, and the vanity: $ 340K.
These prices include premium.
As it's #NationalTriviaDay here's 10 things to know about #AlbrechtDürer who was perhaps the finest print maker in the history of art, and responsible for bringing the Renaissance to Northern Europe. https://t.co/6LFCLNTInr pic.twitter.com/EuVpukXVdO
— Christie's (@ChristiesInc) January 4, 2019
1515 Exodus on a Large Scale
2017 SOLD for $ 750K including premium
A contemporary of Dürer, Titian contributed to the renewal of imaging by a project that was grand altogether in its theme and in its size. Printed circa 1515, the Submersion of the Army of Pharaoh in the Red Sea is a woodcut composed of twelve blocks in three rows of four for a total dimension of 123 x 222 cm.
In the tradition of the images of battles previously renewed by Leonardo in his Battle of Anghiari, Titian offers a complex narrative. The well balanced picture is centered on the waves, sufficiently stormy on the left to engulf a whole army of horsemen and quiet enough on the right to lead the Israelite refugees on a peaceful coast.
Moses manages this epic operation with his long rod. Near him a dog defecates, symbolizing the fact that the enemy is only deserving scorn. This detail displays the hatred of the Venetians for the Imperial troops at the time of the war of the Holy League.
The joints between the twelve blocks are finely accurate without miss or overlap and the unidentified engraver, who was probably not the artist himself, assembled the twelve sheets with the utmost care. This technical feat is perhaps one of its kind at that time.
Complete surviving copies are very scarce. One of them characterized by a very beautiful contrast was sold for $ 850K including premium by Christie's on January 30, 2013 over a lower estimate of $ 250K. On January 25 in New York, Christie's sells another example with a nice uniformity in the execution, lot 77 estimated $ 200K.
In the tradition of the images of battles previously renewed by Leonardo in his Battle of Anghiari, Titian offers a complex narrative. The well balanced picture is centered on the waves, sufficiently stormy on the left to engulf a whole army of horsemen and quiet enough on the right to lead the Israelite refugees on a peaceful coast.
Moses manages this epic operation with his long rod. Near him a dog defecates, symbolizing the fact that the enemy is only deserving scorn. This detail displays the hatred of the Venetians for the Imperial troops at the time of the war of the Holy League.
The joints between the twelve blocks are finely accurate without miss or overlap and the unidentified engraver, who was probably not the artist himself, assembled the twelve sheets with the utmost care. This technical feat is perhaps one of its kind at that time.
Complete surviving copies are very scarce. One of them characterized by a very beautiful contrast was sold for $ 850K including premium by Christie's on January 30, 2013 over a lower estimate of $ 250K. On January 25 in New York, Christie's sells another example with a nice uniformity in the execution, lot 77 estimated $ 200K.
One of all time's greatest prints at Christie's: Titian, Pharaoh's army submerged in the Red Sea. From 12 woodblocks pic.twitter.com/zxoeMg3IL9
— Rembrandt's Room (@RembrandtsRoom) January 23, 2017
1515 Humanist Cosmography
2011 SOLD 360 K£ including premium
PRE SALE DISCUSSION
At the time of Dürer, Nuremberg is a major center of learning and curiosity. The woodcut engravings help spread the knowledge.
Circa 1515, the mathematician Stabius obtained from the Emperor Maximilian the permission to publish a map of the stars, in two sheets showing the sky as seen from each hemisphere, 46 x 44 cm each. The cartouche that includes his name also attributes the positioning of the stars to the astronomer Heinfogel and the drawing to "Albertus Durer ".
Although the scientific rigor is not contested, the view of the northern hemisphere is confusing with its tangled allegories of the Almagest constellations and of the zodiac signs. At the corners, the four authorities of ancient astronomy are each holding a globe. This picture is shown in the press release shared by AuctionPublicity.
The view of the southern sky is made more pleasant. Very sparse, it tells the learned community of its time that this mapping is still largely unknown.
We will have some reticence to include this edition among the masterpieces of Dürer, but its position in the history of knowledge is important: it was the first engraved map of the sky.
A very nice copy of these two sheets, hand colored at the origin, is estimated £ 120K, for sale by Sotheby's in London on March 30.
POST SALE COMMENT
Rare, in excellent condition, with original hand colouring: the price, £ 360K including premium, rewards a lot exceptional in its class.
At the time of Dürer, Nuremberg is a major center of learning and curiosity. The woodcut engravings help spread the knowledge.
Circa 1515, the mathematician Stabius obtained from the Emperor Maximilian the permission to publish a map of the stars, in two sheets showing the sky as seen from each hemisphere, 46 x 44 cm each. The cartouche that includes his name also attributes the positioning of the stars to the astronomer Heinfogel and the drawing to "Albertus Durer ".
Although the scientific rigor is not contested, the view of the northern hemisphere is confusing with its tangled allegories of the Almagest constellations and of the zodiac signs. At the corners, the four authorities of ancient astronomy are each holding a globe. This picture is shown in the press release shared by AuctionPublicity.
The view of the southern sky is made more pleasant. Very sparse, it tells the learned community of its time that this mapping is still largely unknown.
We will have some reticence to include this edition among the masterpieces of Dürer, but its position in the history of knowledge is important: it was the first engraved map of the sky.
A very nice copy of these two sheets, hand colored at the origin, is estimated £ 120K, for sale by Sotheby's in London on March 30.
POST SALE COMMENT
Rare, in excellent condition, with original hand colouring: the price, £ 360K including premium, rewards a lot exceptional in its class.
1655 The Art of Dry Point
2018 SOLD for £ 2.65M including premium
The greatest painters such as Dürer, Rembrandt, Goya and Munch also wanted to create images. In 1653 Rembrandt manages to enlarge the format of his prints.
His solutions are innovative. The dry point was used until then in addition to etching and chisel for minor reworks of the drawing. Rembrandt attempts compositions entirely in dry point. Applied obliquely like a pencil, his needle improves the variety of the line. The incision of the point in the copper is shallow, allowing a harmony between the drawing and the inkings left voluntarily on the plate to bring contrasts and shadows.
A fine image deserves a great paper. Rembrandt was seduced by a stock recently imported in Amsterdam by the Dutch East India Company, with a beautiful light brown-yellow hue and a fibre that does not absorb ink and provides a sharpness comparable to vellum.
His first masterpiece in these improved techniques is The Three Crosses (Christ crucified between the two thieves), 38 x 45 cm, made in 1653. He prepares shortly after in the same size another scene of the Passion, Ecce Homo (Christ presented to the people). The oriental paper is smaller than his copperplate and he adds a narrow extra stripe at the top of the image.
An impression of the first state of Ecce Homo is for sale by Christie's in London on July 5, lot 22. The press release of April 30 announces an estimate in the region of US $ 3M to 5M. It is the only copy remaining in private hands from the first four states of this image.
The copper plates wear out, preventing large printing. The artist deliberately blurs some damaged areas of Ecce Homo after its fourth state. The eighth and last state is dated 1655. For the fourth and penultimate state of the Three Crosses around 1661, he works differently, replacing the subtle smoky contrasts by diagonal streaks.
This solution could not satisfy the artist because of the painstaking preparation of the ink shades and of the necessarily incomplete and frustrating repairs to the worn plates. He will not reuse this technique, giving up the possible project of a dry point series on the Passion of Christ.
His solutions are innovative. The dry point was used until then in addition to etching and chisel for minor reworks of the drawing. Rembrandt attempts compositions entirely in dry point. Applied obliquely like a pencil, his needle improves the variety of the line. The incision of the point in the copper is shallow, allowing a harmony between the drawing and the inkings left voluntarily on the plate to bring contrasts and shadows.
A fine image deserves a great paper. Rembrandt was seduced by a stock recently imported in Amsterdam by the Dutch East India Company, with a beautiful light brown-yellow hue and a fibre that does not absorb ink and provides a sharpness comparable to vellum.
His first masterpiece in these improved techniques is The Three Crosses (Christ crucified between the two thieves), 38 x 45 cm, made in 1653. He prepares shortly after in the same size another scene of the Passion, Ecce Homo (Christ presented to the people). The oriental paper is smaller than his copperplate and he adds a narrow extra stripe at the top of the image.
An impression of the first state of Ecce Homo is for sale by Christie's in London on July 5, lot 22. The press release of April 30 announces an estimate in the region of US $ 3M to 5M. It is the only copy remaining in private hands from the first four states of this image.
The copper plates wear out, preventing large printing. The artist deliberately blurs some damaged areas of Ecce Homo after its fourth state. The eighth and last state is dated 1655. For the fourth and penultimate state of the Three Crosses around 1661, he works differently, replacing the subtle smoky contrasts by diagonal streaks.
This solution could not satisfy the artist because of the painstaking preparation of the ink shades and of the necessarily incomplete and frustrating repairs to the worn plates. He will not reuse this technique, giving up the possible project of a dry point series on the Passion of Christ.
Rare Rembrandt Print at Christie’s London in July https://t.co/99TSYVaBkp pic.twitter.com/wwG1KoLWE4
— Art Market Monitor (@artmarket) May 2, 2018
1661 Rembrandt, Printmaker
2008 SOLD 420 K£ including premium
PRE SALE DISCUSSION
I am always surprised that prints of great ancient masters are still on the market at affordable prices. Yet some of these sheets have survived several centuries and represent an important part of the vision of these artists.
Christie's sale on December 2 in London helps to know the value of Rembrandt and Dürer whose works are presented in a very wide price range.
I do not comment the lowest prices, because that should lead me to spend too much time analyzing the sizes, the printing dates, the issued quantities, the quality of inking and the condition reports, but I invite those interested in this topic to do it. I think I have listed above the important parameters to be considered.
From my top-down method, I present to you the two major lots, being guided by the press release, and trying to explain how they are exceptional.
At Lot 49, we see the Christ crucified between two thieves, estimated 350 K £. The image is large (39 x 46 cm), rich and sharp. This is a print of fourth state, 1661, which had been so reworked if compared to the previous state that it almost became an original edition. By this transformation, Rembrandt wanted to strengthen the emotional power in a very nice effect of chiaroscuro. The printing of this specific example is very successful. Christie's prefers it to the copy in the British Museum!
At Lot 44 for 180 K £, we see the Christ healing the sick. This image of 1649 including many characters represents for many connoisseurs the best summary of the techniques used by Rembrandt: etching, drypoint and burin.
POST SALE COMMENT
The most important of the Rembrandt prints of this sale got a price that was justified by its unique characteristics, well described in the catalog: 420 K £ inclusive (Lot 49).
Lot 44 has not been sold.
I am always surprised that prints of great ancient masters are still on the market at affordable prices. Yet some of these sheets have survived several centuries and represent an important part of the vision of these artists.
Christie's sale on December 2 in London helps to know the value of Rembrandt and Dürer whose works are presented in a very wide price range.
I do not comment the lowest prices, because that should lead me to spend too much time analyzing the sizes, the printing dates, the issued quantities, the quality of inking and the condition reports, but I invite those interested in this topic to do it. I think I have listed above the important parameters to be considered.
From my top-down method, I present to you the two major lots, being guided by the press release, and trying to explain how they are exceptional.
At Lot 49, we see the Christ crucified between two thieves, estimated 350 K £. The image is large (39 x 46 cm), rich and sharp. This is a print of fourth state, 1661, which had been so reworked if compared to the previous state that it almost became an original edition. By this transformation, Rembrandt wanted to strengthen the emotional power in a very nice effect of chiaroscuro. The printing of this specific example is very successful. Christie's prefers it to the copy in the British Museum!
At Lot 44 for 180 K £, we see the Christ healing the sick. This image of 1649 including many characters represents for many connoisseurs the best summary of the techniques used by Rembrandt: etching, drypoint and burin.
POST SALE COMMENT
The most important of the Rembrandt prints of this sale got a price that was justified by its unique characteristics, well described in the catalog: 420 K £ inclusive (Lot 49).
Lot 44 has not been sold.
1782 Roman Engravings by Piranesi
2014 SOLD 610 K€ including premium
PRE SALE DISCUSSION
At the time of the vedutisti, Giovanni Battista Piranesi is the great image maker of Rome.
On March 6 in Paris, Alde sells a remarkable set of fifteen volumes in folio size 53 x 40 cm in bindings made in the late eighteenth century, including 21 books published in Rome from 1748 to 1780. They are offered as a single lot estimated € 600K, number 117 in the catalog.
The 15 volumes are not a complete collection, and the connoisseur who assembled this group in the lifetime of the artist or shortly after his death in 1778 did not specifically sought the first editions.
This set of 829 engravings along with the texts of the books is nevertheless exceptional. Some additional pictures by his son, dated 1782, are the latest prints in the lot.
Rome and its vicinity are the unique theme of the art of Piranesi, fascinated by the ancient architecture.
The grandeur of Roman monuments has also inspired his Carceri of invenzione, here represented by the second edition corrected circa 1770. This unusual and amazing work designed in 1749 and 1750 anticipates Romanticism.
POST SALE COMMENT
This collection was impressive but few works were from the first issue. I think that the price, € 500K before fees, is very good although it does not reach the lower estimate.
At the time of the vedutisti, Giovanni Battista Piranesi is the great image maker of Rome.
On March 6 in Paris, Alde sells a remarkable set of fifteen volumes in folio size 53 x 40 cm in bindings made in the late eighteenth century, including 21 books published in Rome from 1748 to 1780. They are offered as a single lot estimated € 600K, number 117 in the catalog.
The 15 volumes are not a complete collection, and the connoisseur who assembled this group in the lifetime of the artist or shortly after his death in 1778 did not specifically sought the first editions.
This set of 829 engravings along with the texts of the books is nevertheless exceptional. Some additional pictures by his son, dated 1782, are the latest prints in the lot.
Rome and its vicinity are the unique theme of the art of Piranesi, fascinated by the ancient architecture.
The grandeur of Roman monuments has also inspired his Carceri of invenzione, here represented by the second edition corrected circa 1770. This unusual and amazing work designed in 1749 and 1750 anticipates Romanticism.
POST SALE COMMENT
This collection was impressive but few works were from the first issue. I think that the price, € 500K before fees, is very good although it does not reach the lower estimate.
1793-1794 The Images from the Ivy Shop
2016 SOLD for € 750K including premium
The editor Tsutaya Jūzaburō elevated the Japanese printmaking to the rank of a work of art.
The technique of engraving used for the multicolor prints of the floating world or ukiyo-e was developed for over a century. The original drawing was glued to a wood piece that was carved and black inked. Paper copies are in turn glued on wooden blocks which are recessed to define the surface to be inked with a predetermined color. Wedges define a sharp position of the blocks during the subsequent color inkings. About 300 copies could be printed before a significant wear of the woods.
Ukiyo-e is a bourgeois art that develops along with the social changes of the Edo period. The aristocrats do not like these multiple images that often honor illicit activities and the censorship is becoming increasingly severe.
The biography of the artists is not well known because of their plebeian origin and of the risk brought by the censorship. They often change their pseudonym and their real name is usually not identified. Tsutaya is not a personal name but the sign of the Ivy Shop. It however refers to a single publisher, Jūzaburō, who died in 1797 of our calendar.
Utamaro is a friend of Tsutaya with whom he resides. His artistic contribution is greatly innovative. He draws the head in close-up, which is shocking with reference to the Japanese artistic tradition, with a strong psychological intensity. He also innovates in the detailed drawing of the hair. His kira-e technique of embellishing the background with mica flakes provides a luxurious illusion that deliberately breaks with the traditional use of the ukiyo-e prints.
Sharaku is the pseudonym used by an unidentified artist who was perhaps Utamaro or Tsutaya for a series of portraits of actors of the Kabuki theater in which the female roles are played by men.
The sale held on June 21 in Paris (Drouot) by Beaussant Lefèvre in collaboration with Christie's enables to compare images by Utamaro and Sharaku in the standardized Oban tate-e format around 35 x 24 cm. Here is the link to the auction house's website.
Lot 6 is the portrait by Utamaro of a woman dreaming of love. This image from one of the most famous ukiyo-e series was printed by Tsutaya in 1793 or 1794 with the kira-e on a salmon-colored background. Lot 3 is the portrait of an actor in a female role executed by Sharaku in 1794 with a kira-e gray background and a collar also slightly improved by mica.
RESULTS
Utamaro : SOLD for € 750K including premium
Sharaku : SOLD for € 40K before fees
The technique of engraving used for the multicolor prints of the floating world or ukiyo-e was developed for over a century. The original drawing was glued to a wood piece that was carved and black inked. Paper copies are in turn glued on wooden blocks which are recessed to define the surface to be inked with a predetermined color. Wedges define a sharp position of the blocks during the subsequent color inkings. About 300 copies could be printed before a significant wear of the woods.
Ukiyo-e is a bourgeois art that develops along with the social changes of the Edo period. The aristocrats do not like these multiple images that often honor illicit activities and the censorship is becoming increasingly severe.
The biography of the artists is not well known because of their plebeian origin and of the risk brought by the censorship. They often change their pseudonym and their real name is usually not identified. Tsutaya is not a personal name but the sign of the Ivy Shop. It however refers to a single publisher, Jūzaburō, who died in 1797 of our calendar.
Utamaro is a friend of Tsutaya with whom he resides. His artistic contribution is greatly innovative. He draws the head in close-up, which is shocking with reference to the Japanese artistic tradition, with a strong psychological intensity. He also innovates in the detailed drawing of the hair. His kira-e technique of embellishing the background with mica flakes provides a luxurious illusion that deliberately breaks with the traditional use of the ukiyo-e prints.
Sharaku is the pseudonym used by an unidentified artist who was perhaps Utamaro or Tsutaya for a series of portraits of actors of the Kabuki theater in which the female roles are played by men.
The sale held on June 21 in Paris (Drouot) by Beaussant Lefèvre in collaboration with Christie's enables to compare images by Utamaro and Sharaku in the standardized Oban tate-e format around 35 x 24 cm. Here is the link to the auction house's website.
Lot 6 is the portrait by Utamaro of a woman dreaming of love. This image from one of the most famous ukiyo-e series was printed by Tsutaya in 1793 or 1794 with the kira-e on a salmon-colored background. Lot 3 is the portrait of an actor in a female role executed by Sharaku in 1794 with a kira-e gray background and a collar also slightly improved by mica.
RESULTS
Utamaro : SOLD for € 750K including premium
Sharaku : SOLD for € 40K before fees
#WorldRecord : 745 800 € pour cette estampe de Kitagawa UTAMARO à l'instant chez #BeaussantLefèvre #JapanArt pic.twitter.com/Jw6ndUYXis
— Drouot (@Drouot) June 21, 2016
1795 Large Color Print by William Blake
2004 SOLD for $ 3.9M including premium by Sotheby's
narrated in 2020
From his childhood and throughout his life, William Blake claims to have visions of God and the Angels. To please the archangels, he writes poems on the other world, illustrated in hand-colored engravings. That world shelters the dead, with whom he also communicates.
Of modest origin, son of a hosier, he follows an original path, wishing the union of all religions, in hostile reaction against the philosophers of Reason. To prepare his illuminated books, he develops in 1788 a technique of relief etching.
In 1795 Blake is tempted by using engraving techniques for images in larger format. He takes up twelve themes from his previous works, inspired by the Bible, Shakespeare and Milton, without forgetting the famous figures of Newton and Nebuchadnezzar. This set is known as the Large Color Prints. He reworked the finishing of several prints around 1805.
For this series he is preparing his drawings on gessoed cardboard, with perhaps one exception on copper. Each matrix can be used two to four times. The technique was not documented in period, but these images should not be assimilated to monotypes. The watercoloring is often very different between works from the same matrix.
The total surviving production for the 12 themes is 30 copies, three of which are in private hands. On May 5, 2004, Sotheby's sold a Large color print for $ 3.9M including premium, lot 5. Its theme of Good and Evil Angels struggling for possession of a child is inspired from Swedenborg. This image 44 x 58 cm is vividly colored.
Of modest origin, son of a hosier, he follows an original path, wishing the union of all religions, in hostile reaction against the philosophers of Reason. To prepare his illuminated books, he develops in 1788 a technique of relief etching.
In 1795 Blake is tempted by using engraving techniques for images in larger format. He takes up twelve themes from his previous works, inspired by the Bible, Shakespeare and Milton, without forgetting the famous figures of Newton and Nebuchadnezzar. This set is known as the Large Color Prints. He reworked the finishing of several prints around 1805.
For this series he is preparing his drawings on gessoed cardboard, with perhaps one exception on copper. Each matrix can be used two to four times. The technique was not documented in period, but these images should not be assimilated to monotypes. The watercoloring is often very different between works from the same matrix.
The total surviving production for the 12 themes is 30 copies, three of which are in private hands. On May 5, 2004, Sotheby's sold a Large color print for $ 3.9M including premium, lot 5. Its theme of Good and Evil Angels struggling for possession of a child is inspired from Swedenborg. This image 44 x 58 cm is vividly colored.
1799 The Sleep of Reason
2014 SOLD 1.45 M$ including premium
Painter to the King of Spain, Goya lives a successful career, long interrupted in 1793 by a serious illness. This encounter with death, that just missed him out, led him to unleash his social caricature. Inspired by philosophers, he wants to issue a strong message against corruption, stupidity and bestiality.
In his detailed view, civilization is a collection of physical and moral horrors. Goya chooses to print these images by himself. The aquatint enables a beautiful sepia tone that made him from his first trials one of the best imagemakers of his time. He will be also up to the end of his life a passionate experimenter with all modern printing techniques.
Composed of 80 plates 30 x 20 cm, the Caprichos series is designed and prepared in 1797 and 1798. The famous image "El sueño de la razón produce monstruos" was not chosen as the title of the whole, but is a guide to open our eyes to the fact that the nightmare of attitudes or the abjection of heads and bodies are not only in the dream.
He went too boldly for his time in this amalgam of religion, nobility and witchcraft. Yet he hoped for success and prepared 300 copies in 1799, but hurriedly decided to suspend the sale after a few days because of the disgrace of his patron Godoy.
On January 28 in New York, Christie's sells a complete set of proof prints of Los Caprichos, before the original edition, including five plates that will be slightly modified in the published version. This collection in a binding of that time is estimated $ 400K, lot 9 of the catalog.
POST SALE COMMENT
This outstanding complete set which preceded the first issue was sold for $ 1.45 million including premium.
In his detailed view, civilization is a collection of physical and moral horrors. Goya chooses to print these images by himself. The aquatint enables a beautiful sepia tone that made him from his first trials one of the best imagemakers of his time. He will be also up to the end of his life a passionate experimenter with all modern printing techniques.
Composed of 80 plates 30 x 20 cm, the Caprichos series is designed and prepared in 1797 and 1798. The famous image "El sueño de la razón produce monstruos" was not chosen as the title of the whole, but is a guide to open our eyes to the fact that the nightmare of attitudes or the abjection of heads and bodies are not only in the dream.
He went too boldly for his time in this amalgam of religion, nobility and witchcraft. Yet he hoped for success and prepared 300 copies in 1799, but hurriedly decided to suspend the sale after a few days because of the disgrace of his patron Godoy.
On January 28 in New York, Christie's sells a complete set of proof prints of Los Caprichos, before the original edition, including five plates that will be slightly modified in the published version. This collection in a binding of that time is estimated $ 400K, lot 9 of the catalog.
POST SALE COMMENT
This outstanding complete set which preceded the first issue was sold for $ 1.45 million including premium.
1816 The Beast won !
2013 SOLD 1.9 M$ including premium
Joselito in 1920, Manolete in 1947: in the corrida de toros, it happens even to the greatest matadores to be defeated by the bull. Goya has honored one of the most oustanding, Pepe Illo (or Hillo), killed by the toro Barbudo in the plaza of Madrid on 11 May 1801.
Goya himself had practiced bullfighting. He had admired Illo, who was with Pedro Romero one of the great reformers of that art. Horrified as we know by wars, Goya could not fail to devote a full set of prints to this deadly game in which the man was not always the winner.
La Tauromaquia is the saga of the corrida de toros, published in 33 prints by Goya in Madrid in 1816, and showing the feats and death of Illo. The aquatints were prepared by drypoint, and two of them are enhanced by a wash.
A complete original set, remarkably homogeneous, is estimated $ 400K, for sale by Christie's in New York on April 9. Images on an oblong sheet 28 x 40 cm are accompanied by a page on the same paper with the handwritten list of titles. The set is assembled in a binding of that time. Here is the link to the catalog.
POST SALE COMMENT
For ancient and modern prints, perfect examples of the most prestigious editions have no price limit. They are works of art in their own right: $ 1.9 million including premium.
Goya himself had practiced bullfighting. He had admired Illo, who was with Pedro Romero one of the great reformers of that art. Horrified as we know by wars, Goya could not fail to devote a full set of prints to this deadly game in which the man was not always the winner.
La Tauromaquia is the saga of the corrida de toros, published in 33 prints by Goya in Madrid in 1816, and showing the feats and death of Illo. The aquatints were prepared by drypoint, and two of them are enhanced by a wash.
A complete original set, remarkably homogeneous, is estimated $ 400K, for sale by Christie's in New York on April 9. Images on an oblong sheet 28 x 40 cm are accompanied by a page on the same paper with the handwritten list of titles. The set is assembled in a binding of that time. Here is the link to the catalog.
POST SALE COMMENT
For ancient and modern prints, perfect examples of the most prestigious editions have no price limit. They are works of art in their own right: $ 1.9 million including premium.
1816 The Image Ledger of the Duc de Mirepoix
2017 SOLD for £ 510K including premium
The duc de Laval, from the de Montmorency family, died in 1837. His daughter and her husband, the duc de Mirepoix from the de Lévis family, inherited the castle and its contents and his Spanish title of duque de San Fernando Luis.
During an inventory the descendants inspect an old ledger forgotten in a bookshelf since the mid-19th century. In this large pre-printed volume, almost all pages have been used to paste an image. An inscription inside the cover by an unidentified craftsman indicates that this operation was to cost 5 fr 50 c to M. de Mirepoix.
The discoverers are not excited by the 90 hand-colored lithographs of military uniforms by Hippolyte Bellangé but this beginning leads to a treasure : the complete series of the 33 etchings of La Tauromaquia by Goya. They appreciate that the ledger was used because its 54 x 36 cm size enabled to install these 30 x 45 cm sheets with their full margin.
La Tauromaquia was published by Goya in 1816, shortly after the return of the Bourbon dynasty in France and Spain. Laval is the French ambassador to Spain from 1814 to 1823.
The theme of the death-fight between beast and men allows the artist to escape the censorship that already threatens his favorite social themes. Goya is very familiar with the details of a corrida and his images show the full variety of the action. The fact that the toro is not always the loser is an underlying political message.
Goya is a master of all engraving techniques. In 1799 the beautiful sepia tones of his aquatints of Los Caprichos are masterpieces. La Tauromaquia is printed in dark ink with very beautiful contrasts brought by the aquatint.
Maintained in very fine condition thanks to its very long storage without handling, the image album of the duc de Mirepoix isestimated £ 300K for sale by Sotheby's in London on April 4, lot 34.
A complete set in 28 x 40 cm sheet size of La Tauromaquia with the addition of a handwritten list of the images in a binding contemporary to the edition was sold on April 9, 2013 by Christie's for $ 1.9M including premium over a lower estimate of $ 400K.
During an inventory the descendants inspect an old ledger forgotten in a bookshelf since the mid-19th century. In this large pre-printed volume, almost all pages have been used to paste an image. An inscription inside the cover by an unidentified craftsman indicates that this operation was to cost 5 fr 50 c to M. de Mirepoix.
The discoverers are not excited by the 90 hand-colored lithographs of military uniforms by Hippolyte Bellangé but this beginning leads to a treasure : the complete series of the 33 etchings of La Tauromaquia by Goya. They appreciate that the ledger was used because its 54 x 36 cm size enabled to install these 30 x 45 cm sheets with their full margin.
La Tauromaquia was published by Goya in 1816, shortly after the return of the Bourbon dynasty in France and Spain. Laval is the French ambassador to Spain from 1814 to 1823.
The theme of the death-fight between beast and men allows the artist to escape the censorship that already threatens his favorite social themes. Goya is very familiar with the details of a corrida and his images show the full variety of the action. The fact that the toro is not always the loser is an underlying political message.
Goya is a master of all engraving techniques. In 1799 the beautiful sepia tones of his aquatints of Los Caprichos are masterpieces. La Tauromaquia is printed in dark ink with very beautiful contrasts brought by the aquatint.
Maintained in very fine condition thanks to its very long storage without handling, the image album of the duc de Mirepoix isestimated £ 300K for sale by Sotheby's in London on April 4, lot 34.
A complete set in 28 x 40 cm sheet size of La Tauromaquia with the addition of a handwritten list of the images in a binding contemporary to the edition was sold on April 9, 2013 by Christie's for $ 1.9M including premium over a lower estimate of $ 400K.
How a rare set of Goya etchings were discovered in a French castle. Now, they're going up for auction: https://t.co/Obk63Iqt9q pic.twitter.com/S4dktNxBxQ
— As It Happens (@cbcasithappens) March 13, 2017
Son 33 los grabados de #Goya que se han encontrado en un castillo del Loira francés y que subastará @Sothebys #LOart pic.twitter.com/veWvgUFXeW
— L´Officiel Art (@LOfficielArtES) March 12, 2017
1831 The Great Wave by Hokusai
2020 SOLD for $ 1.1M including premium by Christie's
narrated post sale in 2020
Hokusai divided his own career into periods. He considered that his art had to improve continuously until it reached a divine level at the age of 110, which he obviously did not reach. In 1820 CE, when illustration became his main concern, he was Iitsu. The name of the next phase, which begins in 1834, shows his enthusiasm : he was Gakyo Rojin Manji, the Old man crazy about drawing.
Begun in 1831 at the age of 71, the series of 26 x 38 cm prints titled 36 Views of Mount Fuji is his most ambitious work, which will include not 36 plates but 46. The sacred mountain is shown on all its faces, at any time, in any weather, in all seasons, with an interpretation of perspective that is new in Japanese art. It occupies a larger or smaller section of the horizon and is almost always faced with human occupation. This series should not be confused with its continuation, the 100 Views of Mount Fuji, prepared from 1834 to 1840.
The woodcut was done by a specialized craftsman who chiseled the wood through the drawing. The original piece was lost and the prints weakened irreparably as production went on. The catalogers of the auction houses clearly fail to highlight the sharper impressions.
The first three opus of the first series are masterpieces, by the balance of the composition based on a strict geometry, the beauty of the Prussian blue recently imported to Japan, and the emotional dimension.
The very first is the Great Wave off Kanagawa. A gigantic wave surrounds fishing boats while rejecting its foam and spray over the entire surface of the image. It has the shape of a double comma simulating yin and yang, in the background of which Mount Fuji is posed like a deity impassive to the perdition of men. This wave is a natural monster that probably inspired van Gogh's Starry Night.
A copy of the Great Wave was sold for $ 1.1M including premium by Christie's on September 22, 2020 from a lower estimate of $ 150K, lot 117.
A copy of the second opus, the Red Fuji, was sold for $ 510K including premium by Christie's on March 19, 2019 from a lower estimate of $ 90K, lot 235. Its simple and efficient geometry anticipates the Montagnes Sainte-Victoire by Cézanne.
Begun in 1831 at the age of 71, the series of 26 x 38 cm prints titled 36 Views of Mount Fuji is his most ambitious work, which will include not 36 plates but 46. The sacred mountain is shown on all its faces, at any time, in any weather, in all seasons, with an interpretation of perspective that is new in Japanese art. It occupies a larger or smaller section of the horizon and is almost always faced with human occupation. This series should not be confused with its continuation, the 100 Views of Mount Fuji, prepared from 1834 to 1840.
The woodcut was done by a specialized craftsman who chiseled the wood through the drawing. The original piece was lost and the prints weakened irreparably as production went on. The catalogers of the auction houses clearly fail to highlight the sharper impressions.
The first three opus of the first series are masterpieces, by the balance of the composition based on a strict geometry, the beauty of the Prussian blue recently imported to Japan, and the emotional dimension.
The very first is the Great Wave off Kanagawa. A gigantic wave surrounds fishing boats while rejecting its foam and spray over the entire surface of the image. It has the shape of a double comma simulating yin and yang, in the background of which Mount Fuji is posed like a deity impassive to the perdition of men. This wave is a natural monster that probably inspired van Gogh's Starry Night.
A copy of the Great Wave was sold for $ 1.1M including premium by Christie's on September 22, 2020 from a lower estimate of $ 150K, lot 117.
A copy of the second opus, the Red Fuji, was sold for $ 510K including premium by Christie's on March 19, 2019 from a lower estimate of $ 90K, lot 235. Its simple and efficient geometry anticipates the Montagnes Sainte-Victoire by Cézanne.
#AuctionUpdate Katsushika Hokusai, 'Kanagawa oki nami ura (Under the well of the Great Wave off Kanagawa)' achieved $1,110,000 -- over 7x its low estimate. https://t.co/jDM4CDE8tW pic.twitter.com/CkTEKOfW0S
— Christie's (@ChristiesInc) September 22, 2020
1831 The Red Fuji by Hokusai
2019 SOLD for $ 510K including premium by Christie's
Narrated and linked above.
