“This punchbowl, which was produced for export to England, is decorated with four scenes of musicians playing their instruments. The larger scenes depict European musicians while the smaller ones on the sides show Chinese musicians in concert. A print by … Continue reading Give me a print, I will turn it into a bowl
The detail in the picture is taken from a small impression included in an illustrated Bible from 1642. The signature reads: “MHem.In. / CVS” and something. These inscription indicates that Maarten van Heemskerck (1498 – 1574) invented the composition … Continue reading Printer’s tool(s).
Recently we sold a print rarely seen in collections, the “Christ and his disciples on the way to Emmaus”, engraved by Domenico Vito, monaco Vallombrosano (fl. 1574-1578). This composition is a mirrored smaller copy from another engraving made by Philips … Continue reading A recently sold print.
Besides facing the legendary Gioconda in Paris at the Louvre, the Marriage at Cana by Veronese (1528-1588) – way more funny to behold, and definitely much bigger – served as iconographic source for many musical companies from thereafter. The iconic … Continue reading Veronese docet.
Here is a selection of images from the online database of the Morgan Library and Museum . The works on paper date from the 17th century. Enjoy. Continue reading Music Iconography at the Morgan
Frontispieces are prints facing the title-page of books (with exceptions, of course) . As plates, they usually illustrate the content of the book with more or less complex iconographies, but in many occasions the plate shows a portrait. This can … Continue reading Please, DO disturb
Ah, social media! What a source of interesting information you are! Yesterday Prof. Steve Gillam shared on his Facebook profile the amazing video I am posting here as a link: https://www.facebook.com/steve.gilliam.75/videos/10156987128758689/. 100% worth watching. Continue reading Baroque Scene Change
A selection of works of art with auctioned at Bonhams throughtout the late years. The images are drawn from their online catalogues. This gallery will be … Continue reading MI at Bonhams’auctions – a selection
In 1594 Hendrick Goltzius (1558-1617) engraved a set of large plates with the Stories of the Virgin, also called “The Masterpiece”. The plates, 6 in total, are really big and in each of them the engraver explicitly imitates the graphic language … Continue reading Goltzius’ Self-portrait
Anna Bianco 