catalogue text.indd - Sanders of Oxford

Durand’s red stamp on verso.
[30122]
£300
6. [Saint Jerome in his Study]
Héliogravure
Charles Amand-Durand after Albrecht Dürer
c.1870
Image 186 x 244 mm, 199 x 256 mm
unmounted
Saint Jerome in the Study, originally engraved in 1514,
is one of Albrecht Dürer’s most celebrated images. It
depicts the hallow as he works upon ‘The Vulgate’; a
fourth-century Latinate version of the Bible that Pope
Damascus I had commissioned. The iconography of the
cardinals hat and the docile lion identify the Saint, whilst
other images of Vanitas litter the scene. A skull rests on
the windowsill; a crucifix resides on the desk, and an
hourglass adorns the wall.
Charles Amand-Durand’s reproduction of Dürer’s engraving
constitutes an interesting example of prints after
the Old Master. Like others before him, Armand-Durand
attempted to democratise the art industry by reproducing
the works of famed artists which were hidden in the
repositories of the French National Library, or in the
ownership of private collectors. His main series of facsimiles
after Old Master prints began in 1869. They were
usually published in portfolios, with accompanying text
by Georges Duplessis. A high quality photograph would
have been taken of Dürer’s original work. The negative
was then exposed onto a gelatin covered copper plate, and
etched with acid. At this point, the photogravure would
have been mechanically printed, but the technique of the
héliogravure differs in that Amand-Durand continued to
etch parts of the plate himself, and printed the works by
hand. Somewhat paradoxically, Amand-Durand’s works
have become as esoteric as the artists that he sought to
democratise.
Condition: Slight toning to the sheet. Contains Amand-
7. [The Cornfield]
Mezzotint
David Lucas after John Constable
London: Republished Feb.y 15, 1853, by Thomas Boys
(of the late Firm of Moon, Boyd & Greaves,) Printseller
to the Royal Family, 467, Oxford Street - Paris.
E.Gambart & C. 9 Rue d’Orleans au Marais,-Depose.
Originally Published July 1.1834.
Image 487 x 565 mm, Plate 515 x 683 mm, Sheet 606 x
736 mm
framed
First exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1826, Constable’s
‘The Cornfield’ became one of the artist’s
most celebrated works. It was reproduced in mezzotint
by David Lucas in 1834, and sold by J. McLean and
Hodgson, Boys and Graves, and Rudolph Ackermann.
This print, however, derives from a posthumous collection
of Constable’s works entitled ‘English Landscape
Scenery,’edited by H.G. Bohn and published by Thomas
Boys in 1853. The series consisted of forty mezzotint
engravings on steel plates; all of which were produced by
Lucas.
The Cornfield depicts Fen lane as it leads from East
Bergholt towards Dedham; a village in the borough of
Colchester. A flock of sheep are followed by a dog as the
path winds towards figures active in a cornfield. A boy,
prone and with his face on the surface of a stream, slakes
his thirst. The church in the distance is thought to have
been an invention on Constable’s part.
Inscription content: ‘Painted by John Constable. En-