Tempesta, Antonio (Florence 1555 – Rome 1630). Fox Hunt. In mountainous landscape with big pack on horseback and on foot, with nets, pikes, stakes, and swords. In front a hound gets a fox just while entering the earth. Etching by Egbert Jansz (end of 16^th century)? 10.7 x 14.1 cm.

From the collection EK (not in Lugt) with its round stamp on the back, nearly identical with the mark CK (L. 583) of the Carl König Collection, Vienna, known for paintings, drawings, and objects d’art. – No. 3 of the 18-sheet collection with repeated numbers by a contemporary, presumably Netherlandish copyist available here with provenance EK on uniformly fine, wide-margined laid paper, partly with watermark Amsterdam coat-of-arms flanked on one side by lion. Below overwhelmingly with wide white platemark with just the number at the right, what points to

early  impressions  before  the  letter .

The more so as in the few cases of only narrow margin the number appears directly in the image itself.

Highly  instructive  and  also  painterly  sheet

worked after one of the numerous Tempesta sets, e.g. the equal-sized Primo libro di Caccie varie (“This set was nicely copied, too”, Nagler), the collector’s reference to the first/second of the totally four Christoffel van Sichems (ca. 1546-1624 and ca. 1581 – before 1658 resp.) under providential inclusion of the contemporary Karel, too, seems not plausible based on the knowledge of their work here. More interesting in this regard should be Egbert Jansz, little known in his living conditions, of whom de Brys in Frankfort/Main published a collection “Icones Venantum Species Varias … per Antonium Tempestinum” in 1598 which Schwerdt I, 266 lists with 11 sheets, Thieme-Becker with 12 and Wurzbach with only 6 sheets. Not impossible that there are even more. These with 12 x 17 cm somewhat larger, however, and without numbering. Otherwise Schwerdt: Egbert Jansz was perhaps the best of those engravers who reproduced these and similar hunting scenes by Tempesta.
Offer no. 28,566 / EUR  145. (c. US$ 202.) + shipping

„ heute kam das Paket – vielen Dank für die excellente Verpackung. Das Bild ist wirklich sehr schön … Wir freuen uns auf Ihre (weitere) Nachricht. Herzliche Grüße aus F. “

(Herr + Frau T. C., 13. Mai 2002)