The London Original Print Fair

Philipp Melanchthon 1558

woodcut; 272 x 213 mm (10 11/16 x 8 3/8 inches); sheet: 398 x 232 mm (15 11/16 x 9 1/8 inches)

Heller, p. 226, no. 538 (304); Dodgson, p. 347 nos. 31 and 31a; Geisberg 673 (Geisberg/ Strauss, p. 637); Hollstein p. 152, no. 49; cat. Basel, p. 719, no. 649; Strauss, p. 149, no. 6

WATERMARK animal

PROVENANCE Pierre Sentuc (Lugt 3608)

The print is one of the highlights in the graphic oeuvre of the younger Cranach, displaying a style that is clearly distinct from that of his father. Woodcuts by Lucas the Younger are characterized by a less dramatic deployment of light and shade. They show a more calligraphic delineation of the composition which can here be seen in the closely observed features of the old reformer. Prints such as this one demand meticulous cutting of the block and the quality of work of the Formschneider can only be appreciated in early impressions of which merely a handful survive. Only one other impression is known with the complete Latin text of 1560 (British Museum, London; the BM owns another early impression without the text and there are two in the Albertina, both without the text).

Based on the date and accompanying text of the British Museum’s impression (to which ours can now be added), the print was always seen as a memorial portrait of Melanchthon who died on April 19, 1560. However, the recent discovery of an impression with a laudatory poem by Johannes Stigel and the date 1558 printed below the image in Weimar establishes that the woodcut was actually created as a life-time portrait of Melanchthon in old age. After Luther’s death in 1548, the responsibility to continue the work of the reformer fell jointly on Melanchthon and Johannes Bugenhagen. The latter died in 1558 – which was in all likelihood the instigation to publish this imposing portrait of the last important member of the first generation of the Wittenberg movement.

Martin Luther (after Luchas Cranach) 1523

etching; 229 x 156 mm

Bartsch 86; Hollstein 96 first state (of two); Metzger 102 first issue (of four)

Ephraim Bonus, Jewish Physician 1647

etching, engraving, and drypoint; 240 x 177 mm

Bartsch 278, White-Boon second (final) state; Hind 226; The New Hollstein 237 second (final) state

Panorama near Bloemendaal Showing the Saxenburg Estate (“The Goldweigher’s Field”) 1651
etching and drypoint; 126 x 323 mm (4 15/16 x 12 3/4 inches)

Bartsch 234, White/Boon only state; Hind 249; The New Hollstein 257 only state

PROVENANCE
William Esdaile, London (Lugt 2617)
Ambroise Firmin-Didot, Paris (Lugt 119; Lugt praises Firmin-Didot’s Rembrandt holdings as “extraordinaire,” mentioning, among various other highlights, “plusieurs beaux paysages”)
Kennedy Galleries, New York

A very fine impression with passages of rich burr, especially in the foreground. Further evidence that this impression belongs to the earliest edition are the tiny spots and a faint vertical line in the upper left corner; those were soon removed and are no longer visible in later impressions.

In excellent, untreated condition, retaining a vertical fold at left due to an earlier album mounting; with small margins all round.

Traditionally, this print was linked to Johannes Uytenbogaert, the tax collector whom Rembrandt portrayed in 1639 in an etching known as The Goldweigher (Bartsch 281). However, more recent scholarship was able to conclusively identify the setting of this print as the Saxenburg estate in the dunes near Bloemendaal outside of Haarlem, making it the only landscape by Rembrandt that does not depict the immediate environs of Amsterdam. The representation is quite accurate and was probably composed with the aid of preparatory sketches, the only surviving example of which is in the Boijmans Van Beuningen Museum in Rotterdam (Benesch 1259). Incidentally, the Rotterdam drawing was once owned by the London banker William Esdaile (1758–1837), an avid collector of drawings and prints and also an earlier owner of this impression of the print.

Rare in good impressions and sought-after by collectors, the Goldweigher’s Field very much “resembles the style of [Rembrandt’s] drawings. Rather than his habitual trails of etched lines, he employed short ticks and stabs of the etching and drypoint needles, retaining the character of some of his informal sketches made from nature in pen and brown ink. […] The economy of technique is remarkable, whether in the wide expanses of receding terrain or the staffage” (Martin Royalton-Kisch in Rembrandt the Printmaker, exhibition catalogue, Amsterdam/London, 2000–01, no. 65, here p. 268).

Cliff Ackley points out that more than perhaps in any other of Rembrandt’s landscape prints, the patches of drypoint that are markedly visible in early impressions “are absolutely essential to the depth and definition of the space. In later impressions as the burr wore away the space tended to flatten out.” He sums up the appeal of this etching by calling it “the ultimate expression of the panorama in Dutch landscape art” (Rembrandt’s Journey, exhibition catalogue, Boston/Chicago, 2003–04, no. 185, here p. 272).

The Cow in a Swamp ca. 1799

etching on wove paper; 305 x 414 mm (12 1/16 x 16 5/16 inches)

Jentsch 237; Martens 89 second state (of four)

LITERATURE
Antony Griffiths/Frances Carey, German Printmaking in the Age of Goethe, British Museum, London, 1994, no. 73
Carl Wilhem Kolbe d. Ä. Künstler, Philologe, Patriot, Anhaltische Gemäldegalerie, Dessau/Städtische Galerie, Paderborn/Kunsthaus Zürich, Petersberg 2009, no. 27
Christien Melzer, Idyllisches Arkadien. Landschaftsradierungen von Carl Wilhelm Kolbe d. Ä., Kunsthalle Bremen, 2013–14, no. 1
John Ittmann, The Enchanted World of German Romantic Prints 1770–1850, Philadelphia Museum of Art, 2017, no. 143

A very good impression in excellent, untreated condition; with wide margins all round.

JOHANN MARTIN FRIEDRICH GEISSLER
1778 – Nuremberg – 1853

Landscape with a Couple on a Hilltop across from an Old Mill (Roundel) 1815

etching on wove paper; sheet 108 x 112 mm (4 1/4 x 4 7/16 inches)

PROVENANCE
John S. Phillips, Philadelphia; bequeathed in 1876 to
Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts;
de-accessioned in 1985 and acquired by
Philadelphia Museum of Art
(Muriel and Philip Berman Gift in 1985; acc. nos. 1985-52-33947)
de-accessioned in 2017

LITERATURE
Alice Rössler, Katalog der Graphiksammlung Luthardt der Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg, Erlangen 1990; vol. 3: Druckgraphiken des 19. und frühen 20. Jahrhunderts, no. L III, A 703
The Enchanted World of German Romantic Prints 1770–1850, Philadelphia Museum of Art, 2017, no. 68 and p. 59, fig. 43

The Nuremberg artist Geissler studied with Heinrich Guttenberg. In 1803 he followed his teacher to Paris where he stayed until 1814. This earned him the occasional nickname “Paris Geissler.” In Paris he contributed to various large publishing projects engraving reproductive prints after old master paintings. During his later years he also made topographical steel engravings.

This charming and delicately etched roundel stands out among Geissler’s reproductive work and is clearly his original invention. In its center it shows an old mill building reminiscent of the architecture found in the background of prints by Dürer and other artists of his era. Although the two figures in the foreground are clearly contemporary and wear fashionable Biedermeier costumes, the scenery as a whole evokes the late-medieval period that established Nuremberg’s fame and was worshipped by the German Romantics who strived to revive it in multifaceted ways.

Geissler’s print can be seen in this context. Executed shortly after his return from Paris (he only obtained a work license in Nuremberg in 1816) it starkly differs from his earlier reproductive work and also from his later, faithfully topographic prints. The roundel must have clearly appealed to the same clientele that was eagerly collecting prints by the early German masters.

The print is rare. All the standard handbooks merely catalogue Geissler’s topographical and reproductive works.

Six Nude Figures

etching on wove paper; 190 x 262 mm (7 1/2 x 10 3/8 inches)

Jentsch 67; Martens 35 first state (of two)

WATERMARK
Anchor with three balls and cross and leter HD (Martens, p. 130f., fig. 2)

LITERATURE
Carl Wilhem Kolbe d. Ä. Künstler, Philologe, Patriot, Anhaltische Gemäldegalerie, Dessau/Städtische Galerie, Paderborn/Kunsthaus Zürich, Petersberg 2009, p. 203, no. 11
Christien Melzer, Idyllisches Arkadien. Landschaftsradierungen von Carl Wilhelm Kolbe d. Ä., Kunsthalle Bremen, 2013–14, no. 16

A superb and very early impression before the added number 67 was added in the upper right corner; with wide margins and deckled edges all round.

ALBRECHT DÜRER
1471 – Nuremberg – 1528

Die Heilige Anna Selbdritt – The Virgin and Child with Saint Anne ca. 1500

engraving; 115 x 71 mm (4 1/2 x 2 13/16 inches)

Bartsch 29; Meder 43 a (of c); Schoch/Mende/Scherbaum 27

WATERMARK
bull’s head (Meder 62)

LUDWIG EMIL GRIMM
1790 Hanau – Kassel 1863

Künstler Unterhaltung in München – Artists’ Conversation in Munich [1813]

etching on chine appliqué; 185 x 387 mm (7 1/4 x 15 1/4 inches)

Andresen, vol. 5, p. 165, no. 129; Stoll, pp. 618f., no. 177 first state (of three)

PROVENANCE
Philadelphia Museum of Art (acc. no. 68-56-32)

The artists are grouped around Joseph Anton Koch’s painting “The Sacrifice of Noah”, painted for the competition of the Munich Academy, announced in October 1812 for the year 1813. Koch ended up the winner for landscape painting. Grimm therefore should have given 1813 as the date of the print.

RUTH MARTEN
b. New York City 1949

Japonisme 2019

pen and ink and watercolor with inserts using the etching Portrait of Ariost by Raffaello Morghen (1758–1833)

sheet: 14 7/8 x 11 3/16 inches along with a Portrait of Ariost by Raffaello Morghen (1758–1833)

RAFFAELLO MORGHEN
1758 Portici – Florence 1833

La Poesia

etching; 12 ¾ x 8 7/8 inches

unfinished proof impression

Die Grablegung – The Deposition ca. 1509/10
from Small Woodcut Passion

woodcut; 132 x 102 mm (5 316 x 4 inches) Bartsch 43; Meder 152, before the text (before the crack in the borderline above the trunk of the cross); Schoch/Mende/Scherbaum 213

PROVENANCE
Duc d’Arenberg, Brussels and Nordkirchen (Lugt 567) Hermann Marx, Cobham, Surrey (Lugt 2816a)

A good and clear impression; with small margins all round.

Christus vor Herodes – Christ before Herod ca. 1509
from Small Woodcut Passion

woodcut; 129 x 101 mm (5 1/16 x 4 inches) Bartsch 32; Meder 141, with the text; Schoch/Mende/Scherbaum 202

PROVENANCE
with C.G. Boerner, Düsseldorf, in 1962 (our stock no. in pencil on the verso 5652)

A good and dark impression; with small margins all round.

Die Beweinung Christi – The Lamentation ca. 1509/10
from Small Woodcut Passion

woodcut; 132 x 102 mm (5 316 x 4 inches) Bartsch 43; Meder 152, before the text (before the crack in the borderline above the trunk of the cross); Schoch/Mende/Scherbaum 213

PROVENANCE
Duc d’Arenberg, Brussels and Nordkirchen (Lugt 567)
Hermann Marx, Cobham, Surrey (Lugt 2816a)

A good and clear impression; with small margins all round.

A Beggar Seated on a Bank (Self-Portrait) 1630

etching; 117 x 70 mm (4 ⅝ x 2 ¾ inches)

Bartsch 174, White/Boon only state; Hind 11; The New Hollstein 50 first state (of two)

PROVENANCE
Josef V. Novák, Prague (Lugt 1949);
his sale, H.G. Gutekunst, Stuttgart, May 16–20, 1904, lot 1117, sold for 55 Marks
Friedrich Quiring, Eberswalde (Lugt 1041c)
Richard Zinser, Forest Hills, N.Y. (stamped, not in Lugt)
private collection

A superb impression of the first state; Erik Hinterding and Jaco Rutgers, the authors of The New Hollstein, describe early impressions as showing “rough, uneven plate edges” while, still in the first state, “in later impressions two horizontal scratches appear over the man’s right foot.” One can also observe considerable wear in the upper-left edge and in the deep shadows behind the back of the seated man in later impressions of the first state. This impression shows neither the wear nor the scratches. Rembrandt also left a thin layer of ink on the wiped plate, creating a subtle plate-tone that helps to define the composition even in areas without any etched lines. The ink also shows the fine scratches left from polishing the plate; the latter usual disappear in the course of successive stages of the printing process.

The sheet survives in impeccable, untreated condition with narrow margins all round.

Rembrandt produced numerous small plates showing beggars and street people during his Leiden period between ca. 1629 to 1630, partly inspired by the famous series of 25 images of beggars by the Lorraine etcher Jacques Callot. The Beggar Seated on a Bank in his ragged cloak, with his untamed hair and beard and hand open for alms, is especially remarkable since he has the unmistakable features of the artist himself. Indeed, the beggar’s expression is especially similar to that in one of Rembrandt’s small vivid etchings of the same year, Self-Portrait Open Mouthed, as if Shouting (Bartsch 13). However, as Clifford Ackley suggests, “this extraordinary bit of roleplaying need not necessarily be taken as signifying a Christ-like identification on Rembrandt’s part with the beggar’s lot, but should perhaps be viewed—Rembrandt had a robust sense of visual humor—as a good, if inside, joke. The twenty-four-year-old artist was not yet fully established and could use some financial assistance!” (cat. Boston/Chicago, p. 91).

Blonde Frau – Blond Woman 1917
woodcut on rough, greenish wove paper; 303 x 243 mm (11 15/16 x 9 9/16 inches)

signed in pencil at lower right; annotated in the lower left corner I.5

Schiefler/Mosel 145

PROVENANCE
Galerie Kornfeld, Berne, June 15, 1988, lot 808
R.E. Lewis, Inc., San Francisco
private collection, San Francisco (acquired in 1989)

The pencil annotation in the lower left corner of the sheet describes this as the fifth impression pulled from the block in the first state. Schiefler/Mosel document seven impressions of the first state. We have been able to trace merely two on the market since 1974 when an impression was sold at Christie’s, London (July 4, 1974, lot 155, this one numbered six). The only other time this print appeared for sale was when our impression came up for auction in 1988 at Galerie Kornfeld in Berne.

The second state is not strictly speaking a state: the block cracked in the middle, but Nolde apparently pulled some impressions from the cracked block.

A superb impression, showing all inking gradations from grainy to solid black; the intended coarseness of the composition is further enhanced by the rough surface of the paper; on an impeccably preserved sheet with deckled edges at top and right.

Portraits of Six Bavarian Princesses (after Joseph Karl Stieler) 1813

chalk lithographs with tone stone on wove paper; each ca. 396 x 306 mm (15 9/16 x 12 1/16 inches)

Winkler 965 sub-nos. 41.5 second state (of three), 42.5, 43.5 third (final) state, 44.5, and 46.5

The six portraits show the Bavarian princesses Amalie and Elisabeth (twins, born in1801), Maria and Sophie (both born in 1805), Louise (born 1808), and Maximiliane Karoline (born in 1810). They were the daughters of King Maximilian I Joseph of Bavaria and his second wife, Karoline. The portraits were drawn on the stone by Piloty in 1813 after studies by Stieler from 1812. The prints therefore belong to the incunabula of this new graphic technique, developed by Alois Senefelder by 1798 in Bavaria. In 1799 he had already received an official government patent for the lithographic process. Crown Prince Ludwig and his sister Charlotte, both children of the king’s first marriage, paid an official visit to Senefelder’s workshop in 1809. It is conceivable, therefore, that the portraits of their six half-sisters were translated into the new technique of lithography in order to demonstrate royal endorsement of it.

The portraits were part of the comprehensive series titled Les OEuvres lithographiques made by Johann Nepomuk Strixner and Ferdinand Piloty and printed initially by Senefelder; it mainly included reproductions of works of art from the royal collections. It was published between 1810 and 1816 in 72 installments, each including six lithographs—a truly monumental project (see Winkler 964 and 965).

Piloty based the portraits on drawings that Joseph Karl Stieler (1781–1858) had made in preparation for his oil paintings of the princesses. The first one, painted in 1812, depicts Elisabeth, Maria, and Sophie dancing in a field; the second, realized two years later, shows the other three sisters (both paintings are today in the collection of Fürst von Thurn und Taxis, Regensburg). Stieler’s first painting was very much admired by the royal family and, as a result, Stieler was appointed royal Bavarian court painter.

Piloty perfectly translates the beauty and charm of the young princesses in Stieler’s drawings into the new medium—one that was especially well suited to the reproduction of the delicacy of the drawn line. The princesses are shown in the characteristic neo-classical dresses of the day, intended to suggest the simplicity of antique costume. The six prints can be seen as graphic equivalents to Johann Gottfried Schadow’s celebrated marble group of the Prussian princesses Luise and Friederike from 1797 (Staatliche Museen zu Berlin, Alte Nationalgalerie, inv. B II 34). In his entry on Stieler in the Künstler-Lexikon in 1847, Nagler called him “einen der berühmtesten Meister unserer Zeit” (one of the most famous masters of our time). He further pointed out that the “lieblichen Bildnisse der Prinzessinnen als Kinder” (the lovely portraits of the princesses as children) are well known through these lithographs (vol. 17, p. 348).

Portraits of Six Bavarian Princesses (after Joseph Karl Stieler) 1813

chalk lithographs with tone stone on wove paper; each ca. 396 x 306 mm (15 9/16 x 12 1/16 inches)

Winkler 965 sub-nos. 41.5 second state (of three), 42.5, 43.5 third (final) state, 44.5, and 46.5

The six portraits show the Bavarian princesses Amalie and Elisabeth (twins, born in1801), Maria and Sophie (both born in 1805), Louise (born 1808), and Maximiliane Karoline (born in 1810). They were the daughters of King Maximilian I Joseph of Bavaria and his second wife, Karoline. The portraits were drawn on the stone by Piloty in 1813 after studies by Stieler from 1812. The prints therefore belong to the incunabula of this new graphic technique, developed by Alois Senefelder by 1798 in Bavaria. In 1799 he had already received an official government patent for the lithographic process. Crown Prince Ludwig and his sister Charlotte, both children of the king’s first marriage, paid an official visit to Senefelder’s workshop in 1809. It is conceivable, therefore, that the portraits of their six half-sisters were translated into the new technique of lithography in order to demonstrate royal endorsement of it.

The portraits were part of the comprehensive series titled Les OEuvres lithographiques made by Johann Nepomuk Strixner and Ferdinand Piloty and printed initially by Senefelder; it mainly included reproductions of works of art from the royal collections. It was published between 1810 and 1816 in 72 installments, each including six lithographs—a truly monumental project (see Winkler 964 and 965).

Piloty based the portraits on drawings that Joseph Karl Stieler (1781–1858) had made in preparation for his oil paintings of the princesses. The first one, painted in 1812, depicts Elisabeth, Maria, and Sophie dancing in a field; the second, realized two years later, shows the other three sisters (both paintings are today in the collection of Fürst von Thurn und Taxis, Regensburg). Stieler’s first painting was very much admired by the royal family and, as a result, Stieler was appointed royal Bavarian court painter.

Piloty perfectly translates the beauty and charm of the young princesses in Stieler’s drawings into the new medium—one that was especially well suited to the reproduction of the delicacy of the drawn line. The princesses are shown in the characteristic neo-classical dresses of the day, intended to suggest the simplicity of antique costume. The six prints can be seen as graphic equivalents to Johann Gottfried Schadow’s celebrated marble group of the Prussian princesses Luise and Friederike from 1797 (Staatliche Museen zu Berlin, Alte Nationalgalerie, inv. B II 34). In his entry on Stieler in the Künstler-Lexikon in 1847, Nagler called him “einen der berühmtesten Meister unserer Zeit” (one of the most famous masters of our time). He further pointed out that the “lieblichen Bildnisse der Prinzessinnen als Kinder” (the lovely portraits of the princesses as children) are well known through these lithographs (vol. 17, p. 348).

Portraits of Six Bavarian Princesses (after Joseph Karl Stieler) 1813

chalk lithographs with tone stone on wove paper; each ca. 396 x 306 mm (15 9/16 x 12 1/16 inches)

Winkler 965 sub-nos. 41.5 second state (of three), 42.5, 43.5 third (final) state, 44.5, and 46.5

The six portraits show the Bavarian princesses Amalie and Elisabeth (twins, born in1801), Maria and Sophie (both born in 1805), Louise (born 1808), and Maximiliane Karoline (born in 1810). They were the daughters of King Maximilian I Joseph of Bavaria and his second wife, Karoline. The portraits were drawn on the stone by Piloty in 1813 after studies by Stieler from 1812. The prints therefore belong to the incunabula of this new graphic technique, developed by Alois Senefelder by 1798 in Bavaria. In 1799 he had already received an official government patent for the lithographic process. Crown Prince Ludwig and his sister Charlotte, both children of the king’s first marriage, paid an official visit to Senefelder’s workshop in 1809. It is conceivable, therefore, that the portraits of their six half-sisters were translated into the new technique of lithography in order to demonstrate royal endorsement of it.

The portraits were part of the comprehensive series titled Les OEuvres lithographiques made by Johann Nepomuk Strixner and Ferdinand Piloty and printed initially by Senefelder; it mainly included reproductions of works of art from the royal collections. It was published between 1810 and 1816 in 72 installments, each including six lithographs—a truly monumental project (see Winkler 964 and 965).

Piloty based the portraits on drawings that Joseph Karl Stieler (1781–1858) had made in preparation for his oil paintings of the princesses. The first one, painted in 1812, depicts Elisabeth, Maria, and Sophie dancing in a field; the second, realized two years later, shows the other three sisters (both paintings are today in the collection of Fürst von Thurn und Taxis, Regensburg). Stieler’s first painting was very much admired by the royal family and, as a result, Stieler was appointed royal Bavarian court painter.

Piloty perfectly translates the beauty and charm of the young princesses in Stieler’s drawings into the new medium—one that was especially well suited to the reproduction of the delicacy of the drawn line. The princesses are shown in the characteristic neo-classical dresses of the day, intended to suggest the simplicity of antique costume. The six prints can be seen as graphic equivalents to Johann Gottfried Schadow’s celebrated marble group of the Prussian princesses Luise and Friederike from 1797 (Staatliche Museen zu Berlin, Alte Nationalgalerie, inv. B II 34). In his entry on Stieler in the Künstler-Lexikon in 1847, Nagler called him “einen der berühmtesten Meister unserer Zeit” (one of the most famous masters of our time). He further pointed out that the “lieblichen Bildnisse der Prinzessinnen als Kinder” (the lovely portraits of the princesses as children) are well known through these lithographs (vol. 17, p. 348).

Portraits of Six Bavarian Princesses (after Joseph Karl Stieler) 1813

chalk lithographs with tone stone on wove paper; each ca. 396 x 306 mm (15 9/16 x 12 1/16 inches)

Winkler 965 sub-nos. 41.5 second state (of three), 42.5, 43.5 third (final) state, 44.5, and 46.5

The six portraits show the Bavarian princesses Amalie and Elisabeth (twins, born in1801), Maria and Sophie (both born in 1805), Louise (born 1808), and Maximiliane Karoline (born in 1810). They were the daughters of King Maximilian I Joseph of Bavaria and his second wife, Karoline. The portraits were drawn on the stone by Piloty in 1813 after studies by Stieler from 1812. The prints therefore belong to the incunabula of this new graphic technique, developed by Alois Senefelder by 1798 in Bavaria. In 1799 he had already received an official government patent for the lithographic process. Crown Prince Ludwig and his sister Charlotte, both children of the king’s first marriage, paid an official visit to Senefelder’s workshop in 1809. It is conceivable, therefore, that the portraits of their six half-sisters were translated into the new technique of lithography in order to demonstrate royal endorsement of it.

The portraits were part of the comprehensive series titled Les OEuvres lithographiques made by Johann Nepomuk Strixner and Ferdinand Piloty and printed initially by Senefelder; it mainly included reproductions of works of art from the royal collections. It was published between 1810 and 1816 in 72 installments, each including six lithographs—a truly monumental project (see Winkler 964 and 965).

Piloty based the portraits on drawings that Joseph Karl Stieler (1781–1858) had made in preparation for his oil paintings of the princesses. The first one, painted in 1812, depicts Elisabeth, Maria, and Sophie dancing in a field; the second, realized two years later, shows the other three sisters (both paintings are today in the collection of Fürst von Thurn und Taxis, Regensburg). Stieler’s first painting was very much admired by the royal family and, as a result, Stieler was appointed royal Bavarian court painter.

Piloty perfectly translates the beauty and charm of the young princesses in Stieler’s drawings into the new medium—one that was especially well suited to the reproduction of the delicacy of the drawn line. The princesses are shown in the characteristic neo-classical dresses of the day, intended to suggest the simplicity of antique costume. The six prints can be seen as graphic equivalents to Johann Gottfried Schadow’s celebrated marble group of the Prussian princesses Luise and Friederike from 1797 (Staatliche Museen zu Berlin, Alte Nationalgalerie, inv. B II 34). In his entry on Stieler in the Künstler-Lexikon in 1847, Nagler called him “einen der berühmtesten Meister unserer Zeit” (one of the most famous masters of our time). He further pointed out that the “lieblichen Bildnisse der Prinzessinnen als Kinder” (the lovely portraits of the princesses as children) are well known through these lithographs (vol. 17, p. 348).

Portraits of Six Bavarian Princesses (after Joseph Karl Stieler) 1813

chalk lithographs with tone stone on wove paper; each ca. 396 x 306 mm (15 9/16 x 12 1/16 inches)

Winkler 965 sub-nos. 41.5 second state (of three), 42.5, 43.5 third (final) state, 44.5, and 46.5

The six portraits show the Bavarian princesses Amalie and Elisabeth (twins, born in1801), Maria and Sophie (both born in 1805), Louise (born 1808), and Maximiliane Karoline (born in 1810). They were the daughters of King Maximilian I Joseph of Bavaria and his second wife, Karoline. The portraits were drawn on the stone by Piloty in 1813 after studies by Stieler from 1812. The prints therefore belong to the incunabula of this new graphic technique, developed by Alois Senefelder by 1798 in Bavaria. In 1799 he had already received an official government patent for the lithographic process. Crown Prince Ludwig and his sister Charlotte, both children of the king’s first marriage, paid an official visit to Senefelder’s workshop in 1809. It is conceivable, therefore, that the portraits of their six half-sisters were translated into the new technique of lithography in order to demonstrate royal endorsement of it.

The portraits were part of the comprehensive series titled Les OEuvres lithographiques made by Johann Nepomuk Strixner and Ferdinand Piloty and printed initially by Senefelder; it mainly included reproductions of works of art from the royal collections. It was published between 1810 and 1816 in 72 installments, each including six lithographs—a truly monumental project (see Winkler 964 and 965).

Piloty based the portraits on drawings that Joseph Karl Stieler (1781–1858) had made in preparation for his oil paintings of the princesses. The first one, painted in 1812, depicts Elisabeth, Maria, and Sophie dancing in a field; the second, realized two years later, shows the other three sisters (both paintings are today in the collection of Fürst von Thurn und Taxis, Regensburg). Stieler’s first painting was very much admired by the royal family and, as a result, Stieler was appointed royal Bavarian court painter.

Piloty perfectly translates the beauty and charm of the young princesses in Stieler’s drawings into the new medium—one that was especially well suited to the reproduction of the delicacy of the drawn line. The princesses are shown in the characteristic neo-classical dresses of the day, intended to suggest the simplicity of antique costume. The six prints can be seen as graphic equivalents to Johann Gottfried Schadow’s celebrated marble group of the Prussian princesses Luise and Friederike from 1797 (Staatliche Museen zu Berlin, Alte Nationalgalerie, inv. B II 34). In his entry on Stieler in the Künstler-Lexikon in 1847, Nagler called him “einen der berühmtesten Meister unserer Zeit” (one of the most famous masters of our time). He further pointed out that the “lieblichen Bildnisse der Prinzessinnen als Kinder” (the lovely portraits of the princesses as children) are well known through these lithographs (vol. 17, p. 348).

Portraits of Six Bavarian Princesses (after Joseph Karl Stieler) 1813

chalk lithographs with tone stone on wove paper; each ca. 396 x 306 mm (15 9/16 x 12 1/16 inches)

Winkler 965 sub-nos. 41.5 second state (of three), 42.5, 43.5 third (final) state, 44.5, and 46.5

The six portraits show the Bavarian princesses Amalie and Elisabeth (twins, born in1801), Maria and Sophie (both born in 1805), Louise (born 1808), and Maximiliane Karoline (born in 1810). They were the daughters of King Maximilian I Joseph of Bavaria and his second wife, Karoline. The portraits were drawn on the stone by Piloty in 1813 after studies by Stieler from 1812. The prints therefore belong to the incunabula of this new graphic technique, developed by Alois Senefelder by 1798 in Bavaria. In 1799 he had already received an official government patent for the lithographic process. Crown Prince Ludwig and his sister Charlotte, both children of the king’s first marriage, paid an official visit to Senefelder’s workshop in 1809. It is conceivable, therefore, that the portraits of their six half-sisters were translated into the new technique of lithography in order to demonstrate royal endorsement of it.

The portraits were part of the comprehensive series titled Les OEuvres lithographiques made by Johann Nepomuk Strixner and Ferdinand Piloty and printed initially by Senefelder; it mainly included reproductions of works of art from the royal collections. It was published between 1810 and 1816 in 72 installments, each including six lithographs—a truly monumental project (see Winkler 964 and 965).

Piloty based the portraits on drawings that Joseph Karl Stieler (1781–1858) had made in preparation for his oil paintings of the princesses. The first one, painted in 1812, depicts Elisabeth, Maria, and Sophie dancing in a field; the second, realized two years later, shows the other three sisters (both paintings are today in the collection of Fürst von Thurn und Taxis, Regensburg). Stieler’s first painting was very much admired by the royal family and, as a result, Stieler was appointed royal Bavarian court painter.

Piloty perfectly translates the beauty and charm of the young princesses in Stieler’s drawings into the new medium—one that was especially well suited to the reproduction of the delicacy of the drawn line. The princesses are shown in the characteristic neo-classical dresses of the day, intended to suggest the simplicity of antique costume. The six prints can be seen as graphic equivalents to Johann Gottfried Schadow’s celebrated marble group of the Prussian princesses Luise and Friederike from 1797 (Staatliche Museen zu Berlin, Alte Nationalgalerie, inv. B II 34). In his entry on Stieler in the Künstler-Lexikon in 1847, Nagler called him “einen der berühmtesten Meister unserer Zeit” (one of the most famous masters of our time). He further pointed out that the “lieblichen Bildnisse der Prinzessinnen als Kinder” (the lovely portraits of the princesses as children) are well known through these lithographs (vol. 17, p. 348).

Blick auf das Städtchen Herrnhut in der Oberlausitz – View of the Town of Herrnhut in Upper Lusatia ca. 1800

outline etching with brown wash on wove paper; with the artist’s stamp in the upper-right corner; tipped in at three corners on a contemporary album sheet; inscribed on the mount in pen and ink at lower right A. Zingg fec. and on the verso Herrnhuth

302 x 430 mm (11 ⅞ x 16 ⅞ inches)

The hand-colored print offered here is in pristine, fresh condition and survives on its contemporary mat.

SOLD