Hercule Gaulois, ou L’Éloquence
c 1729. Chiaroscuro woodcut printed from two blocks in beige and olive with etching and aquatint on cream laid paper, 11 1/8 x 10 inches (281 x 252 mm) (plate), full margins with the text printing clearly below in olive ink. In very good condition with no visible defects other than one pinpoint sized spot of foxing on the verso, left sheet center. Charles Nicolas Cochin père did the etching, Vincent Le Sueur did the chiaroscuro woodcut. After a Drawing by Raffaello Sanzio. (The supposed Raphael drawing on which the print is based is now identified as “school of,” but the print remains as beautiful despite the re-attribution).
The Cabinet Crozat was a collection of prints after drawings in the collection of Pierre Crozat, then known as one of the finest collections in the world. Many of the prints, which were by various hands, were made in the unusual combination of etching with chiaroscuro woodcut superimposed upon it. In this case, Cochin did the etching and Le Sueur the chiaroscuro woodcut. Registration must have been a problem, but here, at least, the plate and the blocks are almost perfectly aligned.
Item number: 606
Price: $2,500.00
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