Old Master Prints

This etching with aquatint by the German artist, Johann Gottlieb Theophilus Amadeus Prestel, measures 12 5/8 x 18 1/2 inches, 1784, in two colors on green paper, plate signed and dated, after Parmigianino, artist info on backing, thread margins all around.

Engraving after Rene Guido. First state, with the words "A Paris chez" before the address of N. Poilly. Randall 1670. Image size 14 3/4 x 12 1/8 in, sheet size 16 7/8 x 12 1/2 in.

Engraving, after Raphael;4th state w/ coat of arms erased - center lower edge - and traces of the erasure.

This engraving measures 7 5/8 x 6 inches and has two Latin phrases printed on the bottom margin.

Engraving after Guido Reni, 2nd state, w/ coat of arms before address; LThies,p.281; image size 15 13/16 x 12 5/16 inches

Etching by Nicolas Mignard after the frescoes of Annibale Carracci depicting scenes from Homer's Odyssey. Plate size 10 1/4 x 17 3/4, published by Pierre Mariette in 1637, with lettering in Latin below the image. Printed on a very early watermarked laid type paper.

Etching by Nicolas Mignard after the frescoes of Annibale Carracci depicting scenes from Homer's Odyssey. Plate size 11 3/4 x 13 5/8 inches, published by Pierre Mariette in 1637, with lettering in Latin below the image. Printed on a very early watermarked laid type paper.

Engraving after Titian, two prints:Prov.Gray:3469;prov.Randall 8841, blind stamp Louvre; image size 15 x 217/8 inches; Thies: Rousselet, a designer and engraver born in 1614, studied the works of C. Bloemaert. A copy of Titian's Louvre painting was made for Mamfrini Gallery in Venice - and Schiavoni made an engraving of it. Thus two pair of the image exist.

Etching image size 11 7/8 x 9 3/8 inches, plate signed lower left, Vivares founded an engravers school, member of the Society of Artists he exhibited in 1766 and 1768. His reproductions of Claude de Lorrain were widely appreciated.

A rare early engraving by Hieronymus Wierix after Pieter van der Borcht, printed with an image on both sides of the sheet. Each image measures 4 1/2 x 2 7/ 8 inches, 1583, a good impression on a very early laid type paper, published by 16th century book printer and publisher Christophe Plantin. Both images are scenes from Exodus; one side is titled 'Moses and the Israelites Beside the Red Sea", the other is "Moses Leading the Israelites out of Egypt".

Etching by Nicolas Mignard after the frescoes of Annibale Carracci depicting scenes from Homer's Odyssey. Plate size 9 7/8 x 17 5/8, published by Pierre Mariette in 1637, with lettering in Latin below the image. Printed on a very early watermarked laid type paper.

Engraving after de Latour, 1747, image size 13 1/2 x 9 1/4 in, plate size 14 5/8 x 10 in, sheet size 20 3/4 x 15 1/4 in, Randall Coll. #4356, Fogg Museum provenance

This is an original copper engraving by British artist William Hogarth.  The title of this work is: The Times, Plate II. Created in 1762, this engraving is thought to have been brought by the artist's wife to Boydell of London for publication in 1790. This is the forth state of four.  The image measures 9 1/8X11 7/8 inches, the overall sheet size is: 12 1/2X16 1/4 inches.  This image was printed on an early laid type paper.  Very nice condition but does have some unobtrusive foxing marks, mostly in the border area. 

(information on both plates, I and II...) 

"This pair of engravings have a complicated publishing history. Plate ‘b’ was unfinished at Hogarth’s death and it is unclear whether this first proof state was published by Mrs Hogarth late in life or as the first of the sequence of later states by Boydell after 1790. To further complicate the issue, the contemporary collector George Stevens (1736-1800) has written on his copy of this state that it was ‘taken during the life time of Hogarth’, but it was not until June 1781 that he (according to Malone’s letter to Lord Charlemont) ‘ransacked Mrs. Hogarth's house for obsolete and unfinished plates’, so perhaps the inscription may be taken with a pinch of salt. (sic) With The Times Plate I Hogarth took a decisive political, and at this time unpopular position to support the peace movement against the Seven Years' War (also called the French Indian War) spearheaded by King George III and his chief advisor, Lord Bute. Bute's opponent and leader of the Commons, William Pitt, supported the interests of the war and the economic profit derived from the colonial exploitations it permitted. In this first state Henry VIII (Pitt in later states) marches on stilts to fan the fires of war which the Union Officer of the King is trying to extinguish with a fire engine. William Beckford, the Lord Mayor and Pitt follower, who made a fortune through tobacco and sugar plantations in Jamaica, appears in the doorway on the left and points to a signboard advertising a naked Indian that reads 'Alive from America.' In the foreground women die of starvation in the street and a drunken fiddler plays his violin. Plate II of The Times depicts a more peaceful and prosperous Britain. Plants are nourished by water spouting from the monument of George III, with the elegant Lord Bute as the chief gardener of the State, controlling access to the King. A gigantic palette dangling from the facade of a newly-erected public building indicates that under the reign of the young King art flourishes. 'Ms Fanny' (a reference to the Cock Lane Ghost) and 'Wilkes', a fervent opponent of the King and Bute, appear in the pillory, while to the left those few members of Parliament who are still awake, including Pitt with bandaged legs, shoot at the dove of peace in the sky."

Engraving after H. Pothoven, 1750, image size 13 5/8 x 8 5/8 inches

Engraving after Le Gros, 1730, image size 13 3/4 x 9 7/16 in, sheet 15 1/4 x 10 3/4 in, Randall 3730, Fogg Museum provenance