“ … an important part
of the pictorial record of the time ”
Le Prince, Jean Baptiste (Metz 1734 – St. Denis du Port 1781). La diseuse de bonne Avanture. Old fortune-teller in tent ambience figuratively busied reading coming luck from the hands of a young Votyak (Udmurdi) girl in the painterly costume of her tribe. Etching with aquatint. 1764. 22.5 x 17.7 cm.
Plate 2 from the 8-sheet set Nagler 9, Divers amusements et usages de Russie, drawn from nature during Le Prince’s stay in Russia (1758-63). – The subtext marking the Votyaks incorrectly as a Siberian people (“La fille … est habillée a la maniere des Votiacks peuple de Siberie”). –Subtext and white wide margin slightly foxed. – Typographical watermark.
“ Foreign artists visited Russia as well and in 1757 the Frenchman Jean-Baptiste Le Prince toured to Finland, St. Petersburg, and Moscow. His prints of Russian people published a few years later constitute
an important part of the pictorial record of the time “
(Beall p. 485).
Early example of using aquatint for the invention of it in 1768 (sic!) Le Prince had been seen generally. This may be no longer applicable since a work by Charpentier of 1756 in this manner is known. But already in 1884 Waldow in Illustrierte Encyclopädie der graphischen Künste considered Johann Adam Schweikard’s (b. Nuremberg 1722) efforts as “first, but still imperfect experiments of this kind”.
Offer no. 14,694 / EUR 298. / export price EUR 283. (c. US$ 385.) + shipping
„ sehr herzlich für die sehr unkomplizierte Kaufabwicklung dankend, möchte ich Ihnen mitteilen, dass auf meinem Konto bereits der entsprechende Betrag eingegangen ist.
Mit besten Grüßen und guten Wünschen für ein sehr angenehmes, erholsames Wochenende “
(Frau U. K., 19. August 2011)