Le Prince, Jean Baptiste (Metz 1734 – St. Denis du Port 1781). Le Remouleur. The knife-grinder sharpening the ax of the carpenters. These themselves joining together the trunks for a blockhouse. Etching. (1767/68.) 16.2 x 18.4 cm.

Beall as addition to R 4, not in series. – On snow-white especially strong watermarked laid paper.

“ No pictorial record is known of these fociferous people (the Russian cries operating since the 16^th century) until the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries when English, French, German, and Russian artists all turned their attention to the city’s hawkers …

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 pp. 484 f.). – With subtext:

„ La Hache est le seul instrument dont se servent les Paysans et les Charpentiers pour construire entirement une maison de bois. “

Offer no. 14,695 / EUR  238. (c. US$ 331.) + shipping

“ Sir, yes, (the Rubens) is closer to the one in London (recte Dresden), but the one we have is on copper. Thank you for your time. Highest regards, D… A… (and yes America could use a blessing about now) ”

(Mr. D. A., November 4, 2003)