Ancient Prints
not including broadsides
Except otherwise stated, all results include the premium.
See also : Prints Political writing Literature Poems and lyrics Origins of sports
Except otherwise stated, all results include the premium.
See also : Prints Political writing Literature Poems and lyrics Origins of sports
masterpiece
1649 Christ healing the Sick by Rembrandt
Rijksmuseum Amsterdam
Great masters of painting such as Dürer, Rembrandt, Goya, Munch and Picasso also aimed to create images. In the 1640s, Rembrandt looks for new effects by mingling the techniques of etching, drypoint and burin. He executed the prints himself without assistant.
The prototype is a theme from the Gospels, Christ healing the Sick, completed ca 1649. In competition with the new mezzotint technique, Rembrandt is skilled in obtaining half tones by varying the inking. Contrasts in the sharpness of the lines create an atmosphere by highlighting some areas of the image. The image of the example in the Rijksmuseum is shared by Wikimedia.
In 1650 the Shell is a search for a wider number of themes, here highlighted in a bold oblique composition. An example was sold for £ 730K by Christie's on December 7, 2023, lot 70.
The prototype is a theme from the Gospels, Christ healing the Sick, completed ca 1649. In competition with the new mezzotint technique, Rembrandt is skilled in obtaining half tones by varying the inking. Contrasts in the sharpness of the lines create an atmosphere by highlighting some areas of the image. The image of the example in the Rijksmuseum is shared by Wikimedia.
In 1650 the Shell is a search for a wider number of themes, here highlighted in a bold oblique composition. An example was sold for £ 730K by Christie's on December 7, 2023, lot 70.
1653 St. Jerome by Rembrandt
2023 SOLD for £ 1.55M by Christie's
The early 1650s are very difficult for Rembrandt. He is a widower and his life with his son's nanny creates a scandal. Orders cease and his financial situation is very bad.
St. Jerome reading in an Italian Landscape was prepared in that intermediate period. Its terminus ante quem is 1653 with the first image of the unfinished Passion series.
An example of the first state of two, made by etching and drypoint on 26 x 21 cm warm toned Japan paper, was sold for £ 1.55M from a lower estimate of £ 500K by Christie's on December 7, 2023, lot 31 in the sale of the Josefowitz collection.
St. Jerome, who is a recurring character in Rembrandt's prints, is here identified only by the lion which looks at the Italian scenery. There is a contrast between the sketched figure of the saint in a blank sunlight and the detailed landscape in the Venetian style of Giorgione and Titian.
St. Jerome reading in an Italian Landscape was prepared in that intermediate period. Its terminus ante quem is 1653 with the first image of the unfinished Passion series.
An example of the first state of two, made by etching and drypoint on 26 x 21 cm warm toned Japan paper, was sold for £ 1.55M from a lower estimate of £ 500K by Christie's on December 7, 2023, lot 31 in the sale of the Josefowitz collection.
St. Jerome, who is a recurring character in Rembrandt's prints, is here identified only by the lion which looks at the Italian scenery. There is a contrast between the sketched figure of the saint in a blank sunlight and the detailed landscape in the Venetian style of Giorgione and Titian.
#AuctionUpdate #Rembrandt's 'Saint Jerome reading in an Italian Landscape' achieved £1,522,500 (more than 3x the low estimate). This magnificent sheet has everything Rembrandt achieved as a printmaker in his later, experimental years: https://t.co/FIGR4o5Ui7 pic.twitter.com/S75jkltNiH
— Christie's (@ChristiesInc) December 7, 2023
The Passion by REMBRANDT
Intro
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 stylus in the copper is shallow, allowing a harmony between the drawing and the inkings left voluntarily on the plate to bring brightness and shadows.
His second work and first masterpiece in these improved techniques is The Three Crosses, also known as Christ crucified between the two thieves, 38 x 45 cm. The innovative tumultuous composition also features a crowd of mourners including the fainted Mary, plus a centurion converted by the last breath 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 stylus in the copper is shallow, allowing a harmony between the drawing and the inkings left voluntarily on the plate to bring brightness and shadows.
His second work and first masterpiece in these improved techniques is The Three Crosses, also known as Christ crucified between the two thieves, 38 x 45 cm. The innovative tumultuous composition also features a crowd of mourners including the fainted Mary, plus a centurion converted by the last breath of Christ.
1
1653 Christ crucified between the Two Thieves
2022 SOLD for £ 1.46M by Christie's
A richly tonal example of the second state of the Christ crucified between the two thieves was sold for $ 1.38M by Christie's on October 23, 2024, lot 20. It is printed with full 1 mm margins on laid paper with Strasbourg watermark. Its condition is very good.
The third state with a dramatically increased shade was considered as finished by Rembrandt who dated it 1653 and signed it. 22 impressions of that state are known including three in private hands. One of them on white laid paper with the Strasbourg watermark was sold for £ 1.46M from a lower estimate of £ 800K by Christie's on July 7, 2022, lot 17.
Another copy from the third state, also on white laid paper with the Strasbourg watermark, was sold for £ 1.23M by Christie's on December 7, 2023, lot 19. Its margins in all sides are wider than the example above, 396 x 465 mm overall paper size compared to 388 x 453 mm.
1653 was otherwise a very difficult year for the artist facing the consequences of Saskia's death on his family life, financial issues close to bankruptcy and the continuation of the Anglo-Dutch war that slowed the demands of the customers.
The third state with a dramatically increased shade was considered as finished by Rembrandt who dated it 1653 and signed it. 22 impressions of that state are known including three in private hands. One of them on white laid paper with the Strasbourg watermark was sold for £ 1.46M from a lower estimate of £ 800K by Christie's on July 7, 2022, lot 17.
Another copy from the third state, also on white laid paper with the Strasbourg watermark, was sold for £ 1.23M by Christie's on December 7, 2023, lot 19. Its margins in all sides are wider than the example above, 396 x 465 mm overall paper size compared to 388 x 453 mm.
1653 was otherwise a very difficult year for the artist facing the consequences of Saskia's death on his family life, financial issues close to bankruptcy and the continuation of the Anglo-Dutch war that slowed the demands of the customers.
The next state of the Three Crosses was a further technical development made necessary from the wear out of the plate. It was possibly made just before the 1655 Ecce Homo that does not use the same Strasbourg watermarked paper. Before that consideration, it had been dated ca 1661.
Rembrandt worked differently for that fourth state, replacing on the same plate the subtle smoky contrasts by diagonal strokes. The scene is now closed like by two dark curtains that focus the viewer's eye on the figure of the dying Christ. The drawings are highly modified.
The example from the Josefowitz collection had been printed without trimming and without margins on laid paper without watermark. This early impression from the fourth state has been darkly and evenly suffused with burr in dramatic contrasts. it was sold for £ 1.25M by Christie's on December 5, 2024, lot 29.
A richly inked impression from the fourth state with the Strasbourg watermark was sold for £ 420K by Christie's on December 2, 2008, lot 49. A fine impression of the same state on Japan paper was sold for £ 470K on December 5, 2006, also by Christie's, lot 201.
These processes 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, after a mere 3 runs of low production. He will not reuse this technique, giving up the possible project of a dry point series on the Passion of Christ.
A fifth state was created after a local printer acquired the plate.
Rembrandt worked differently for that fourth state, replacing on the same plate the subtle smoky contrasts by diagonal strokes. The scene is now closed like by two dark curtains that focus the viewer's eye on the figure of the dying Christ. The drawings are highly modified.
The example from the Josefowitz collection had been printed without trimming and without margins on laid paper without watermark. This early impression from the fourth state has been darkly and evenly suffused with burr in dramatic contrasts. it was sold for £ 1.25M by Christie's on December 5, 2024, lot 29.
A richly inked impression from the fourth state with the Strasbourg watermark was sold for £ 420K by Christie's on December 2, 2008, lot 49. A fine impression of the same state on Japan paper was sold for £ 470K on December 5, 2006, also by Christie's, lot 201.
These processes 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, after a mere 3 runs of low production. He will not reuse this technique, giving up the possible project of a dry point series on the Passion of Christ.
A fifth state was created after a local printer acquired the plate.
#AuctionUpdate Rembrandt's 'Christ crucified between two Thieves: ‘The Three Crosses’' sells above estimate for £1,482,000. pic.twitter.com/PihbcLToDI
— Christie's (@ChristiesInc) July 7, 2022
2
1655 Ecce Homo
2018 SOLD for £ 2.65M by Christie's
1655 is another difficult year for Rembrandt closer than ever to bankruptcy.
After his Christ crucified, the artist prepares in the same size another multi-figure scene of the Passion, Ecce Homo (Christ presented to the people). The Japan paper is smaller than his copperplate and he adds a narrow extra stripe at the top of the image.
A 38 x 45 cm impression of the first state of Ecce Homo was sold for £ 2.65M by Christie's on July 5, 2018, lot 22. It is the only copy remaining in private hands from the first four states of this image.
The Ecce Homo is inspired from the same theme printed by Lucas van Leyden in 1520, Rembrandt displaying a closer view conducing to a theatrical staging of the action in which Christ is presented on a raised terrace in front of Pilate’s palace. The figures including Christ are described in outlines. This voluntarily sketchy impression improves the immediacy of the action.
Christ's presentation matches the contemporary Netherlandish judicial practice. The viewer is pushed by the artist in the midst of the attending crowd. The palace is in the style of the new Amsterdam town hall opened in the same year, 1655.
The copper plates wear out, preventing large printing. From the fourth state the plate is cut down by about 25 mm in height, removing the architrave. The artist deliberately blurs some damaged areas of the Ecce Homo after its fourth state.
A 36 x 46 cm impression from the fifth state on heavy laid paper without watermark was sold for £ 510K by Sotheby's on December 6, 2023, lot 13.
Rembrandt changed the composition drastically in the later states. The eighth and last state is dated 1655.
After his Christ crucified, the artist prepares in the same size another multi-figure scene of the Passion, Ecce Homo (Christ presented to the people). The Japan paper is smaller than his copperplate and he adds a narrow extra stripe at the top of the image.
A 38 x 45 cm impression of the first state of Ecce Homo was sold for £ 2.65M by Christie's on July 5, 2018, lot 22. It is the only copy remaining in private hands from the first four states of this image.
The Ecce Homo is inspired from the same theme printed by Lucas van Leyden in 1520, Rembrandt displaying a closer view conducing to a theatrical staging of the action in which Christ is presented on a raised terrace in front of Pilate’s palace. The figures including Christ are described in outlines. This voluntarily sketchy impression improves the immediacy of the action.
Christ's presentation matches the contemporary Netherlandish judicial practice. The viewer is pushed by the artist in the midst of the attending crowd. The palace is in the style of the new Amsterdam town hall opened in the same year, 1655.
The copper plates wear out, preventing large printing. From the fourth state the plate is cut down by about 25 mm in height, removing the architrave. The artist deliberately blurs some damaged areas of the Ecce Homo after its fourth state.
A 36 x 46 cm impression from the fifth state on heavy laid paper without watermark was sold for £ 510K by Sotheby's on December 6, 2023, lot 13.
Rembrandt changed the composition drastically in the later states. The eighth and last state is dated 1655.
Rare Rembrandt Print at Christie’s London in July https://t.co/99TSYVaBkp pic.twitter.com/wwG1KoLWE4
— Art Market Monitor (@artmarket) May 2, 2018
BLAKE
Intro
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 a hostile reaction against the evil philosophers of Reason.
To prepare his illuminated books, he develops in 1788 a technique of relief etched copper printing. The poem and the figure are prepared with an acid resistant varnish, backwards of the plate because the printing process reverses the figures. After the plate is etched in an acid bath, the print is executed on recto and verso by inking the relief and roll pressing.
A prophetic book by Blake is made of individual etched plates. Each page contains the text of a poem supplemented or amended by a correlated illustration. Each copy is hand painted with another set of color by the poet-artist and his wife. They were unprecedented examples of what is now known as artists' books.
The 1788 experimental sets titled There is no Natural Religion and All Religions are One clearly position Blake's mystical target.
Of modest origin, son of a hosier, he follows an original path, wishing the union of all religions, in a hostile reaction against the evil philosophers of Reason.
To prepare his illuminated books, he develops in 1788 a technique of relief etched copper printing. The poem and the figure are prepared with an acid resistant varnish, backwards of the plate because the printing process reverses the figures. After the plate is etched in an acid bath, the print is executed on recto and verso by inking the relief and roll pressing.
A prophetic book by Blake is made of individual etched plates. Each page contains the text of a poem supplemented or amended by a correlated illustration. Each copy is hand painted with another set of color by the poet-artist and his wife. They were unprecedented examples of what is now known as artists' books.
The 1788 experimental sets titled There is no Natural Religion and All Religions are One clearly position Blake's mystical target.
1
1794 Illuminated Book : Urizen
1999 SOLD for $ 2.53M by Sotheby's
The First Book of Urizen, conceived by Blake in 1794, is a parody of the Book of Genesis. In the invention of the artist, the long white bearded elderly patriarch is the evil God who manages the fall of the world at its origins. He is combining deism, the laws of Newton and the laws of Moses. The four elements are his sons.
8 copies are known. Only one, described as Copy E by Bentley, is in private hands. It was sold for $ 2.53M from a lower estimate of $ 500K by Sotheby's on April 23, 1999, lot 535 in the Whitney estate sale.
This 24-leaf book was presented in a slim green morocco slip case. Other copies had up to four more plates.
8 copies are known. Only one, described as Copy E by Bentley, is in private hands. It was sold for $ 2.53M from a lower estimate of $ 500K by Sotheby's on April 23, 1999, lot 535 in the Whitney estate sale.
This 24-leaf book was presented in a slim green morocco slip case. Other copies had up to four more plates.
2
1795 Songs of Innocence and of Experience
2024 SOLD for $ 4.3M by Sotheby's
Originally in 1789, Songs of Innocence is a collection of 23 poems dealing with a happy childhood and juvenile education in a pastoral harmony, a temporary and vulnerable condition rejecting the dogma of the original sin. Their 26 counterparts dealing with the fallen world including child labor and aging, conceived in 1794, are the Songs of Experience.
The apart production of the Songs of Innocence was about 20 copies. After the first trial copy, the next four examples were printed in green ink mixed with Prussian blue and hand colored in pastel tones by the artist and his wife. One of them made of 21 plates in 12 leaves was sold for $ 1.26M by Christie's on June 10, 2025, lot 29.
The first issue of the Songs of Experience is made of 4 sets of 17 plates printed on rectos. A disbound set executed in 1793 and dated 1794 was sold for $ 1.87M by Christie's on June 10, 2025, lot 30.
Some songs may jump from one series to the other, and the final combining of both in one volume is titled from 1794 as Songs of Innocence and of Experience Shewing the Two Contrary States of the Human Soul. The whole is the cornerstone of Blake's social commentary.
24 copies of the full set are known. Some of them are composite.
A composite set of 53 plates including the intermediate frontispieces is identified as the Copy J. Plates were inlaid to a larger sheet 20 x 12 cm in the later 19th century and bound in one volume ca 1900. It was sold for $ 4.3M from a lower estimate of $ 1.2M by Sotheby's on June 26, 2024, lot 1. It includes a detailed manuscript appreciation established by Coleridge in 1818, ranking the quality of the images. The image of the title page of this copy is shared by Wikimedia.
The poems were certainly intended by Blake to be sung. They were to inspire many musicians including Vaughan Williams, Britten and Dylan and albums were released by Allen Ginsberg and U2.
The apart production of the Songs of Innocence was about 20 copies. After the first trial copy, the next four examples were printed in green ink mixed with Prussian blue and hand colored in pastel tones by the artist and his wife. One of them made of 21 plates in 12 leaves was sold for $ 1.26M by Christie's on June 10, 2025, lot 29.
The first issue of the Songs of Experience is made of 4 sets of 17 plates printed on rectos. A disbound set executed in 1793 and dated 1794 was sold for $ 1.87M by Christie's on June 10, 2025, lot 30.
Some songs may jump from one series to the other, and the final combining of both in one volume is titled from 1794 as Songs of Innocence and of Experience Shewing the Two Contrary States of the Human Soul. The whole is the cornerstone of Blake's social commentary.
24 copies of the full set are known. Some of them are composite.
A composite set of 53 plates including the intermediate frontispieces is identified as the Copy J. Plates were inlaid to a larger sheet 20 x 12 cm in the later 19th century and bound in one volume ca 1900. It was sold for $ 4.3M from a lower estimate of $ 1.2M by Sotheby's on June 26, 2024, lot 1. It includes a detailed manuscript appreciation established by Coleridge in 1818, ranking the quality of the images. The image of the title page of this copy is shared by Wikimedia.
The poems were certainly intended by Blake to be sung. They were to inspire many musicians including Vaughan Williams, Britten and Dylan and albums were released by Allen Ginsberg and U2.
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3
1795 Large Color Print
2004 SOLD for $ 3.9M by Sotheby's
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, 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.
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, 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.
1816 La Tauromaquia by Goya
2013 SOLD for $ 1.9M by Christie's
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, was sold for $ 1.9M from a lower estimate of $ 400K by Christie's on April 9, 2013, lot 67. 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.
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, was sold for $ 1.9M from a lower estimate of $ 400K by Christie's on April 9, 2013, lot 67. 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.
1824 facsimile of the US Declaration of Independence
2021 SOLD for $ 4.4M by Freeman's
On July 19, 1776, a resolution from the US Congress decided that a manuscript duplicate of the Declaration of Independence had to be prepared for signature by every Congress member. It was made on parchment with the title The Unanimous Declaration of the thirteen united States of America. The original copy signed on July 4 by John Hancock and Charles Thomson had not resurfaced, probably lost or scraped in the process of preparation of the Dunlap broadside.
The duplicate signed by the 56 delegates in early August, 1776 was becoming a symbol of the American liberty. Unfortunately it was badly deteriorating. In 1820 the Secretary of State and future President John Quincy Adams commissioned the printer William J. Stone to print an exact facsimile.
The engraving was made with a wet ink process by which some of the original ink was transferred to a copper plate which was etched. The engraving was completed and dated in 1823 and the printing was made in 1824 in 201 copies on 80 x 70 cm vellum. Approximately fifty are located.
Two copies were presented to one of the three surviving original signers, Charles Carroll of Carrollton, former delegate and senator of Maryland, aged 87. They were presented by Carroll to his grandson-in-law in 1826 after the death of the last two other signers, former Presidents John Adams and Jefferson.
One of them, inscribed by Carroll, went in 1844 to the Maryland Historical Society. The grandson-in-law copied this inscription on the other document with a reference to the autographed Carroll copy.
This second Carroll copy was discovered in a Scottish attic by Cathy Marsden, specialist of rare books at the Edinburgh auction company Lyon and Turnbull, and transferred for auction to their sister company Freeman's based in Philadelphia. It was sold by Freeman's on July 1, 2021 for $ 4.4M from a lower estimate of $ 500K, lot 1. Please watch the video shared by Freeman's.
After the release of the commissioned vellum copies, their printer W.J. Stone prepared a paper edition for his own trade. A proof copy was presented by the Secretary of State to Brigham Young after he was appointed governor of Utah Territory in 1851. It was sold for $ 600K by Sotheby's on June 28, 2024, lot 1039.
The duplicate signed by the 56 delegates in early August, 1776 was becoming a symbol of the American liberty. Unfortunately it was badly deteriorating. In 1820 the Secretary of State and future President John Quincy Adams commissioned the printer William J. Stone to print an exact facsimile.
The engraving was made with a wet ink process by which some of the original ink was transferred to a copper plate which was etched. The engraving was completed and dated in 1823 and the printing was made in 1824 in 201 copies on 80 x 70 cm vellum. Approximately fifty are located.
Two copies were presented to one of the three surviving original signers, Charles Carroll of Carrollton, former delegate and senator of Maryland, aged 87. They were presented by Carroll to his grandson-in-law in 1826 after the death of the last two other signers, former Presidents John Adams and Jefferson.
One of them, inscribed by Carroll, went in 1844 to the Maryland Historical Society. The grandson-in-law copied this inscription on the other document with a reference to the autographed Carroll copy.
This second Carroll copy was discovered in a Scottish attic by Cathy Marsden, specialist of rare books at the Edinburgh auction company Lyon and Turnbull, and transferred for auction to their sister company Freeman's based in Philadelphia. It was sold by Freeman's on July 1, 2021 for $ 4.4M from a lower estimate of $ 500K, lot 1. Please watch the video shared by Freeman's.
After the release of the commissioned vellum copies, their printer W.J. Stone prepared a paper edition for his own trade. A proof copy was presented by the Secretary of State to Brigham Young after he was appointed governor of Utah Territory in 1851. It was sold for $ 600K by Sotheby's on June 28, 2024, lot 1039.
A historic discovery! Our sister auction house, Freeman’s, is pleased to announce the sale of a signer’s copy of William J. Stone’s 1823 printing of the #DeclarationofIndependence recently rediscovered in Scotland by Lyon & Turnbull. Find out more: https://t.co/RiosDcVn4k pic.twitter.com/xSL20pV2Do
— Lyon & Turnbull (@LyonandTurnbull) June 24, 2021
1831 Thirty Six Views of Mount Fuji by HOKUSAI
Intro
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. He is one of the pioneers on the Japanese landscape art.
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 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 specialized craftsman had chiseled seven separate cherrywood blocks 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. About 130 prints remain from an edition of about 8,000.
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.
The quiet boats wrapped in the wave are certainly intended to counter an Edo interdict to report on disasters. Hokusai is indeed never an illustrator of disasters.
This wave is a natural force that probably inspired van Gogh's Starry Night.
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 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 specialized craftsman had chiseled seven separate cherrywood blocks 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. About 130 prints remain from an edition of about 8,000.
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.
The quiet boats wrapped in the wave are certainly intended to counter an Edo interdict to report on disasters. Hokusai is indeed never an illustrator of disasters.
This wave is a natural force that probably inspired van Gogh's Starry Night.
1
full set
2024 SOLD for $ 3.56M by Christie's
A Hindu fan of mountaineering gathered in ten years with the support of a Tokyo gallery a full collection of the 46 views after appreciating how Hokusai had captured the pure essence of the mountain.
The set was sold for $ 3.56M by Christie's on March 19, 2024, lot 135. All prints are signed by the artist.
The auction house comments that less than 10 complete sets are in existence.
The set was sold for $ 3.56M by Christie's on March 19, 2024, lot 135. All prints are signed by the artist.
The auction house comments that less than 10 complete sets are in existence.
Vollständige Sammlungen der Serie von Hokusai sind sehr selten – und werden noch seltener versteigert.#Auktion #Rekord #Hokusai #Ukiyoe
— Barnebys.de (@Barnebysde) April 15, 2024
2
The Great Wave
2023 SOLD for $ 2.76M by Christie's
The early prints of The Great Wave have a sharper line and a visibility on a faint pink clouds in the sky.
A well preserved very early example 25.1 x 37.1 cm was sold for $ 2.76M from a lower estimate of $ 500K by Christie's on March 21, 2023, lot 122. It had been printed before the title cartouche was slightly worn, creating breaks at that place in most surviving examples. It had been kept in the same family since the early 1900s.
At Christie's, the sale of March 16, 2021 had two copies of the Great Wave. The best one still has a narrow right margin. Its overall size is 26.0 x 38.4 cm. It was sold for $ 1.6M from a lower estimate of $ 150K, lot 144, The other example is smaller, 24.4 x 36.2 cm. It was sold for $ 440K, lot 138 in 2021 and for £ 480K by Sotheby's on December 19, 2023, lot 14.
An example 25.1 x 37.1 cm of the Great Wave was sold for $ 1.26M by Christie's on September 19, 2023, lot 58. Another copy was sold for $ 1.1M by Christie's on September 22, 2020, lot 117. Its size is large, 27.5 x 38.1 cm, but with no margin visible on the photo in the catalogue.
A copy of the second opus, the Red Fuji, was sold for $ 510K by Christie's on March 19, 2019, lot 235. Its size is 25.4 x 37.8 cm. The simple and effective geometry anticipates the Montagnes Sainte-Victoire by Cézanne.
A well preserved very early example 25.1 x 37.1 cm was sold for $ 2.76M from a lower estimate of $ 500K by Christie's on March 21, 2023, lot 122. It had been printed before the title cartouche was slightly worn, creating breaks at that place in most surviving examples. It had been kept in the same family since the early 1900s.
At Christie's, the sale of March 16, 2021 had two copies of the Great Wave. The best one still has a narrow right margin. Its overall size is 26.0 x 38.4 cm. It was sold for $ 1.6M from a lower estimate of $ 150K, lot 144, The other example is smaller, 24.4 x 36.2 cm. It was sold for $ 440K, lot 138 in 2021 and for £ 480K by Sotheby's on December 19, 2023, lot 14.
An example 25.1 x 37.1 cm of the Great Wave was sold for $ 1.26M by Christie's on September 19, 2023, lot 58. Another copy was sold for $ 1.1M by Christie's on September 22, 2020, lot 117. Its size is large, 27.5 x 38.1 cm, but with no margin visible on the photo in the catalogue.
A copy of the second opus, the Red Fuji, was sold for $ 510K by Christie's on March 19, 2019, lot 235. Its size is 25.4 x 37.8 cm. The simple and effective geometry anticipates the Montagnes Sainte-Victoire by Cézanne.
Der bisherige Spitzenpreis wurde nach zwei Jahren überboten. #rekord #weltrekord #auktion #auktionsmarkt
— Barnebys.de (@Barnebysde) March 31, 2023
