s2e24 History of Prints Reproductive Prints (part four)

Platemark s2e24 concludes hosts Ann Shafer and Tru Ludwig’s conversation on reproductive prints. The stars of this episode are Hendrick Goltzius and Peter Paul Rubens. It’s about the business of prints, artists getting their designs out there, and how these very transportable pieces of paper travelled throughout Europe and became catalogues of images for artists. Paper museums, if you will.

Once again, for clarity, a reproductive print is one in which an artist creates a design (a drawing, painting, sculpture) and another artist creates a print after that original design. These can be sanctioned by the first artist or not or they can occur long after the first artist‘s death. It is customary to acknowledge all the artists in the strip of lettering at the bottom of the print (called the address). This way credit is given where due. Over time, reproductive prints became quite formulaic and staid—wait until we get to the early-nineteenth century. When photography was developed in the 1830s, it wasn’t long before there was little need for the reproductive print. But without them, there is virtually no history of prints in the West.

Episode image: Christoffel Jegher (Flemish, 1596–1652/53) after Peter Paul Rubens (Flemish, 1577–1640). Hercules Triumphant over Discord, 1633–34. Woodcut. Sheet: 23 3/4 x 14 7/16 in. (60.33 x 36.67 cm.). Minneapolis Institute of Art, Minneapolis.

Hans Sebald Beham (German, 1500–1550). The Large Village Fair, 1535. Woodcut from four blocks. Sheet: 36.7 × 114.9 cm. (14 1/2 × 45 1/4 in.). Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York.

Johann Theodor de Bry (Netherlandish, 1561–1623) after Hans Sebald Beham (German, 1500–1550). Little Village Fair, 1588–1623. Engraving. Sheet: 109 x 281 mm. Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam.

Jasper Isaac (French, active 1585–1654) after Hans Sebald Beham (German, 1500–1550). The Village Fair, 1620–1640. Engraving. Sheet: 154 x 403 mm. British Museum, London.

Albrecht Dürer (German, 1471–1528). Agony in the Garden, 1515. Etching. Sheet: 9 3/16 × 6 9/16 in. (234 × 166 mm.). Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York.

Parmigianino (Italian, 1503–1540). Entombment, c. 1527–30. Etching. Sheet: 13 1/16 x 9 7/16 in. (332 x 240 mm.). Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York.

Federico Barocci (Italian, 1528–1612). The Stigmatization of Saint Francis, c. 1575. Etching, engraving, and drypoint. Sheet (trimmed to platemark): 228 x 145 mm. Achenbach Foundation for Graphic Arts, Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco.

Federico Barocci (Italian, 1528–1612). The Annunciation, c. 1585. Etching and engraving. Sheet (trimmed within platemark): 17 3/8 × 12 5/16 in. (441 × 312 mm.). Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York.

Pieter van der Heyden (Netherlandish, c. 1525–1569), after Pieter Brueghel the Elder (Netherlandish, 1526/30–1569). Big Fish East Little Fish, 1557. Engraving. Sheet (trimmed to platemark): 9 x 11 5/8 in. (22.9 x 29.6 cm.). Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York.

Martin Schongauer (German, c. 1435/50–1491). Saint Anthony Tormented by Demons, c. 1470–75. Engraving. Sheet: 30 x 21.8 cm (11 13/16 x 8 9/16 in). Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York.

Hieronymus Bosch (Netherlandish, 1450–1516). The Garden of Earthly Delights, 1490–1500. Oil on wood (triptych). Overall: 328.2 x 185.8 cm. Museo del Prado, Madrid.

Philips Galle (Netherlandish, 1537–1612), after Pieter Brueghel the Elder (Netherlandish, 1526/30–1569). Justice, from the series The Seven Virtues, 1559–60. Engraving. Sheet: 10 1/4 x 13 3/16 in. (26 x 33.5 cm); plate: 8 7/8 x 11 7/16 in. (22.5 x 29 cm). Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York.

Pieter van der Heyden (Netherlandish, c. 1525–1569), after Pieter Brueghel the Elder (Netherlandish, 1526/30–1569). Lust, from the series The Seven Deadly Sins, 1558. Engraving. Sheet (trimmed to platemark): 8 7/8 x 11 11/16 in. (22.6 x 29.7 cm.). National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.

Titian (Venetian, 1488/1490–1576). The Submersion of Pharaoh’s Army in the Red Sea, 1514–15, printed 1549. Twelve woodcuts joined. 40 x 55 cm (15 3/4 x 21 5/8 in.). Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland.

Cornelis Cort (Netherlandish, c. 1533–1578), after Titian (Italian, c. 1485/90–1576). Martyrdom of St. Lawrence, 1571. Engraving. Sheet: 19 13/16 x 13 3/4 in. (50.3 x 34.9 cm.). Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York.

Hendrick Goltzius (Dutch, 1558–1617), after Cornelis Cornelisz van Haarlem (Netherlandish, 1562–1638). Ixion, from the series The Four Disgracers, 1588. Engraving. Sheet: 13 5/8 x 13 7/16 in. (34.6 x 34.1 cm). Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York.

Hendrick Goltzius (Dutch, 1558–1617), after Cornelis Cornelisz van Haarlem (Netherlandish, 1562–1638). Icarus, from the series The Four Disgracers, 1588. Engraving. Sheet: 13 7/16 x 13 1/4 in. (34.2 x 33.7 cm). Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York.

Hendrick Goltzius (Dutch, 1558–1617), after Cornelis Cornelisz van Haarlem (Netherlandish, 1562–1638). Phaeton, from the series The Four Disgracers, 1588. Engraving. Sheet: 335 x 335 mm (13 3/16 x 13 3/16 in.). Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York.

Hendrick Goltzius (Dutch, 1558–1617), after Cornelis Cornelisz van Haarlem (Netherlandish, 1562–1638). Tantalus, from the series The Four Disgracers, 1588. Engraving. Sheet: 13 1/4 x 13 1/4 in. (33.6 x 33.6 cm). Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York.

Hendrick Goltzius (Dutch, 1558–1617). Farnese Hercules, 1617. Engraving. Sheet (trimmed to platemark): 16 9/16 x 11 15/16 in. (421 x 304 mm.). Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York.

Hendrick Goltzius (Dutch, 1558–1617). The Great Hercules, 1589. Engraving. Sheet (trimmed to platemark): 21 7/8 x 15 7/8 in. (555 x 404 mm.). Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York.

Hendrick Goltzius (Dutch, 1558–1617). The Circumcision, from the series The Birth and Early Life of Christ, 1594. Engraving. Plate: 18 1/4 x 13 13/16 in. (464 x 351 mm.). Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York.

Albrecht Dürer (German, 1471–1528). The Circumcision, from the series The Life of the Virgin, c. 1504. Woodcut. Sheet: 17 3/16 x 11 15/16 in. (437 x 303 mm.); image: 11 11/16 x 8 1/8 in. (297 x 206 mm.). Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York.

Hendrick Goltzius (Dutch, 1558–1617). Pietà, 1596. Engraving. Sheet: 7 1/8 x 5 3/16 in. (181 x 131 mm.). Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York.

Michelangelo (Italian, 1475–1564). Pietà, 1498–99. Marble. 174 × 195 cm (68.5 × 76.8 in). St. Peter’s Basilica, Vatican City.

Albrecht Dürer (German, 1471–1528). The Virgin with the Swaddled Child, 1520. Engraving. 14.2 × 9.6 cm. (5 9/16 × 3 ¾ in.). Yale University Art Gallery, New Haven.

Hendrick Goltzius (Dutch, 1558–1617), after Bartholomaeus Spranger (Netherlandish, 1546–1611). Judith with the Head of Holofernes, c. 1585. Engraving. Tondo: 6 11/16 in. Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York.

Aegidius Sadeler II (Netherlandish, 1568–1629) after Adriaen de Vries (Netherlandish, c. 1545–1629). Portrait of Emperor Rudolph II on Horseback, 1586–1629. Engraving. Sheet: 19 15/16 × 15 1/2 in. (50.7 × 39.3 cm.); plate: 19 3/8 × 15 in. (49.2 × 38.1 cm.). Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York.

Aegidius Sadeler II (Netherlandish, 1568–1629), after Bartholomaeus Spranger (Netherlandish, 1546–1611). Portrait of Bartholomeus Spranger with an Allegory on the Death of his Wife, Christina Muller, 1600. Engraving. Sheet: 11 3/4 x 16 9/16 in. (29.9 x 42.1 cm). Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York.

Hendrick Goltzius (Dutch, 1558–1617), after Bartholomaeus Spranger (Netherlandish, 1546–1611). The Feast of the Gods at the Marriage of Cupid and Psyche, 1587. Engraving from three plates. Sheet: 16 15/16 x 33 5/8in. (43 x 85.4 cm.). Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York.

Peter Paul Rubens (Flemish, 1577–1640). The Descent from the Cross, 1612–14. Oil on panel. 420.5 × 320 cm. (165.6 × 130 in.). Cathedral of Our Lady, Antwerp.

Gian Lorenzo Bernini (Italian, 1598–1680). The Ecstasy of Saint Teresa, 1647-52.  White marble set in an elevated aedicule in the Cornaro Chapel, Santa Maria della Vittoria, Rome.

Peter Paul Rubens (Flemish, 1577–1640). The Honeysuckle Bower, c. 1609. Oil on canvas. 178 x 136.5 cm. (70 x 54 in.). Alte Pinakothek, Munich.

Peter Paul Rubens (Flemish, 1577–1640). Saint Catherine in the Clouds, c. 1625–30. Etching and engraving. Sheet: 298 x 199 mm. (11 3/4 x 7 13/16 in.). Baltimore Museum of Art, Baltimore.

Peter Paul Rubens (Flemish, 1577–1640). The Elevation of the Cross, 1610–11. Oil on wood. 462 x 341 cm. (182 x 134 in.). Cathedral of Our Lady, Antwerp.

Sir Anthony van Dyck (Flemish, 1599–1641). Lucas Vorsterman, from the series Iconography, 1628–32. Etching and engraving. Sheet (trimmed to platemark): 9 5/8 × 6 3/16 in. (24.4 × 15.7 cm). Museum of Fine Arts, Houston.

Sir Anthony van Dyck (Flemish, 1599–1641). Self-Portrait, from the series Iconography, 1628/41. Etching and engraving. Plate: 9 5/8 × 6 3/16 in. (24.4 × 15.7 cm). National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.

https://www.artic.edu/artworks/24255/title-page-from-the-iconography

Lucas Vorsterman I (Flemish, 1595–1675), after Peter Paul Rubens (Flemish, 1577–1640). The Descent from the Cross, 1620. Engraving. 567 x 430 mm. Victoria and Albert Museum, London.

Peter Paul Rubens (Flemish, 1577–1640). The Garden of Love, 1630–35. Oil on canvas. 199 x 286 cm. Museo del Prado, Madrid.

Christoffel Jegher (Flemish, 1596–1652/53), after Peter Paul Rubens (Flemish, 1577–1640). The Garden of Love (left half), 1630s. Woodcut. Sheet: 18 1/4 x 23 3/4 in. (46.4 x 60.3 cm.). Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York.  

Christoffel Jegher (Flemish, 1596–1652/53) after Peter Paul Rubens (Flemish, 1577–1640). The Garden of Love (right half), 1630s. Woodcut. Sheet: Sheet: 18 1/8 x 21 1/16 in. (46 x 53.5 cm.). Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York. 

Christoffel Jegher (Flemish, 1596–1652/53) after Peter Paul Rubens (Flemish, 1577–1640). Hercules Triumphant over Discord, 1633–34. Woodcut. Sheet: 23 3/4 x 14 7/16 in. (60.33 x 36.67 cm.). Minneapolis Institute of Art, Minneapolis.

Rembrandt (Dutch, 1606–1669). The Descent from the Cross, 1633. Etching. Sheet: 20 9/16 x 15 1/16 in. (52.2 x 38.3 cm.). Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York.

Selected Bibliography

Linda Hults. The Print in the Western World: An Introductory History. Madison, WI: University of Wisconsin Press, 1996.

Rebecca Zorach and Elizabeth Rodini, editors. Paper Museums: The Reproductive Print in Europe, 1500–1800. Chicago: Smart Museum of Art, University of Chicago, 2005.

Antony Griffiths. The Print Before Photography: An Introduction to European Printmaking 1550–1820. London: British Museum, 2016.

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