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).
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
Here is the pdf fair catalogue of Antiquariaat Arine van der Steur. Amsterdam_6-7Oct The fair will take place in Amsterdam at Mariott Hotel the 6th and 7th of October 2018. For more please visit https://amsterdambookfair.net/home/. Free entrace. Continue reading Amsterdam International Antiquarian Book Fair 2018 – Catalogue
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
It takes very little time to fall in love with Berlin. Although my visit was very short (one and a half day) I managed to walk around the city a bit and behold its charm. I lodged in Kreuzberg, the … Continue reading Quick jump to Berlin
Oh yes, former Haarlem major and book publisher Jan van Suren (1517-1591), masterfully engraved in a very intense portrait by Hendrick Glotzius (1558-1617), a few years later appeared in a collection of Saints designed by Crispijn de Passe I (1564-1637), … Continue reading And the printer became Judas
Latest blog post on Antiquariaat Arine van der Steur concerning the art of printmaking. Literally. http://antiquariaatvandersteur.blogspot.nl/2018/02/from-sketch-to-press-on-print-making.html Continue reading From sketch to press: On printmaking
Countless are the ways music and visual arts meet. Here is the short account of what was recently discovered behind a painting on copper.* This tale begins at the beginning of last summer, in June, on my trip back from … Continue reading The plate and the painter: on a little discovery in late 2017
Anna Bianco 