Nicola Billy

Artist: Lambrecht Hopfer (German, Active c. 1525-1550) Title: "The Crucifixion (Christ on the Cross)" Portfolio: (after) The Engraved Passion *Issued unsigned, though monogram signed by Hopfer in the plate (printed signature) lower right Circa: 1530, (published c. 1690, second state of three) Medium: Original Etching on laid paper Limited edition: Unknown Printer: The Hopfer family, Augsburg, Germany; (David Funck, Nuremberg, Germany) Publisher: The Hopfer family, Augsburg, Germany; (David Funck, Nuremberg, Germany) Framing: Recently framed, the sheet is floated over, and top-matted with a 100% cotton fabric rag mat from Holland in a wood moulding and Museum glass Framed size: 14.88" x 13.88" Sheet size: 5.5" x 3.63" Reference: Bartsch No. VIII.527.12; Hollstein No. 12.II Condition: Trimmed to platemark. A few tiny professional repairs: at elbow of Jesus's right arm and the inside thigh of Jesus. Some light skinning upper right corner and lower right area. It is otherwise a strong impression in good condition Very rare Notes: Provenance: private collection - Green Bay, WI; acquired from Sotheby's, New York, NY in c. 2015. The artist Lambrecht Hopfer's printed monogram signature "LH" lower right. The printer/publisher David Funck's (plate) number "182" lower right. This etching is after Albrecht Dürer’s 1511 engraving "The Crucifixion (Christ on the Cross)", ("Dürer-Katalog" - Meder No. 13, page 73). Printed in black from an iron plate. The image depicts Christ on the cross at center, the Virgin at left, two Maries behind her, St. John standing at right, a Roman solider behind him. It is after the eleventh plate of Dürer's sixteen plates from his 1507-1513 "The Engraved Passion" series, ("Dürer-Katalog" - Meder No. 3-18, page 70-74). "The print was originally designed without the number engraved in the lower margin (First state: Lambrecht Hopfer, c. 1530). The Hopfers' descendant David Funck (Nuremberg, 1642–1705) acquired over two hundred of their original iron plates, engraved numbers into them, and re-printed them around 1686-1700. The "182" indicates that "The Crucifixion" was the 182nd print in Funck’s series (Second state: David Funck, c. 1686-1700). About a century later, 92 of these plates were acquired by Carl Wilhelm Silberberg in Frankfurt and printed for the third and final time in the book "Opera Hopferiana", of which "The Crucifixion" was the 90th print (Third state: Carl Wilhelm Silberberg for "Opera Hopferiana", 1802)". - Elizabeth Upper, Cambridge University Library, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK Biography: Lambrecht (Lambert) Hopfer (Active c. 1525-1550) was a German Old Masters printmaker. He was the brother of Hieronymus Hopfer (Active c. 1520-1530) and son of Daniel Hopfer...

Leonor Fini - Cats - Original Engraving Mme.Helvetius' Cats Original etching created in 1985, Printed Signature (LF). Conditions: excellent Edition: 100 Support: Arches paper. Dimensions: Paper dimensions: 44 x 28 cm Editions: Moret, Paris. Leonor Fini is considered one of the most important women artists of the mid-twentieth century, along with Leonora Carrington, Frida Kahlo, Meret Oppenheim, Remedios Varo, and Dorothea Tanning – most of whom Fini knew well. Her career, which spanned some six decades, included painting, graphic design, book illustration, product design (the renowned torso-shaped perfume bottle for Schiaparelli’s Shocking), and set and costume design for theatre, ballet, opera, and film. In this compellingly readable, exhaustively researched account, author Peter Webb brings Fini’s provocative art and unconventional personal life, as well as the vibrant avant-garde world in which she revolved, vividly in life. Born in Buenos Aires in 1907 (August 30 – January 18, 1996, Paris) to Italian and Argentine parents, Leonor grew up in Trieste, Italy, raised by her strong-willed, independent mother, Malvina. She was a virtually self-taught artist, learing anatomy directly from studying cadavers in the local morgue and absorbing composition and technique from the Old Masters through books and visits to museums. Fini’s fledging attempts at painting in Trieste let her to Milan, where she participated in her first group exhibition in 1929, and then to Paris in 1931. Her vivacious personality and flamboyant attire instantly garnered her a spotlight in the Parisian art world and she soon developed close relationships with the leading surrealist writers and painters, including Paul Eluard, Salvador Dali, Man Ray, and Max Ernst, who became her lover for a time. The only surrealist she could not abide because of his misogyny was André Breton. Although she repeatedly exhibited with them, she never considered herself a surrealist. The American dealer Julien Levy, very much impressed by Fini’s painting and smitten by her eccentric charms, invited her to New York in 1936, where she took part in a joint gallery exhibition with Max Ernst and met many American surrealists, including Joseph Cornell and Pavel Tchelitchew. Her work was included in MoMA’s pivotal Fantastic Art, Dada and Surrealism exhibition, along with De Chirico, Dali, Ernst, and Yves Tanguy. In 1939 in Paris she curated an exhibition of surrealist furniture for her childhood friend Leo Castelli for the opening of his first gallery. Introductions to her exhibition catalogues were written by De Chirico, Ernst, and Jean Cocteau. A predominant theme of Fini’s art is the complex relationship between the sexes, primarily the interplay between the dominant female and the passive, androgynous male. In many of her most powerful works, the female takes the form of a sphinx, often with the face of the artist. Fini was also an accomplished portraitist; among her subjects were Stanislao Lepri...

"Combat Equestre" is an original lithograph by Claude Weisbuch. The artist signed the piece lower right and wrote the edition number (24/100) in the lower left. This piece depicts mu...

A magnificent forest scene with lush, vast foliage along a brook by a master of the Dutch Golden Age. Amsterdam: c1650. Etching on cream laid paper, 5 1/8 x 5 3/4 inches (130 x 147 ...

Artist: Rembrandt Van Rijn (Dutch, 1606-1669) Title: Bust of a Man Wearing a High Cap, The Artist's Father Year: 1630 Medium: Etching Paper: Verge paper Image (plate mark) size: ...

Etching on handmade cream laid paper with a deckle edge, and an elaborate and large watermark of a crowned figure with a harp, and letters A S, 11 3/4 x 8 inches (298 x 204 mm); shee...

The Strolling Muscians Etching, c. 1635 Unsigned (as issued) A posthumous impression in very good condition. From a very early Basan Recueil, printed on heavy laid paper withouot wa...

Georges Braque L'Oiseau multicolore, circa 1950 Signed and numbered "30/200" in pencil Aquatint in colors on BFK Rives wove paper Image 10 1/4 x 19 1/4 inches Sheet 17 5/8 x 24 5/8 i...

Corralled Horse is a rare WPA-era modernist etching by acclaimed American artist Ethel Magafan, created in the 1940s. This artist’s proof depicts a lone dark horse within a wooden co...

A Fierce Bull. 1911. Drypoint. Hardie 108. 5 3/8 x 8 (sheet 8 5/16 x 11 7/8). Edition 8. An exceptional impression with rich drypoint burr printed on antique laid paper. A proof of t...

A well-inked impression of Ruisdael's finest Haarlem-period etching. Amsterdam: Franz van Wyngaerde, 1649. Etching on buff cream laid paper, 5 1/8 x 6 inches (130 x 153 mm), the ful...

Artist: Marc Chagall (Russian, 1887-1985) Title: l'Ivrogne et sa Femme Year: 1927 Medium: Original etching Edition: fom the unumbered edition of 200 Paper: Montval Laid paper Image ...