Paul Decker

18th Century Engravings of Fish by Marcus Bloch, A pair, circa 1780. A fine pair of prints of fish by Marcus Bloch with decoupage frame. Dimensions: 13 3/4 inches x 20 inches wide....

Pair of hand colored engravings by Jacques Grasset de Sainte-Sauveur, 1797 Paris publication, 'Costumes de Different Pays', (Costumes of Different Countries). This pair depicting two...

Pair of depicting 'Homme and Femme de la Frise' or 'Frisian Man and Woman', people of the Frisian Islands off the coast of the Netherlands. The first showing the man in a wonderful n...

A stunning set of four antique French prints from the late 18th century. Depicting scenes from the interior of Notre Dame, the royal palace at Ver...

Antique print titled 'France XVIIIth Cent - France XVIIIe, Siecle - Frankreich XVIIItes Jahr'. Chromolithograph of French 18th Century Women's Hats...

Superb pair of 18th century English engravings.

Set of four antique copperplate engravings with hand coloring. "Britannia Illustrata," the publication in which these prints originally appeared, was one of the most important topogr...

George Edwards engravings of a bird, Woodpecker, Picus Bengalensis, #82, 1745 A George Edwards hand-colored engraving of a Woodpecker in a d...

Framed copperplate engravings of sea shells, Niccolo` Gualtieri (editor). Giuseppe Menabuoni (1708-after 1745) (after). Plates 30 and 31 from Index testarum conchyliorum quae ad...

"Arch dedicated to Hercules" and "Arch dedicated to Bellerophon" Splendid and very rare etchings belonging to a suite of subjects executed for the preparations of the "Celebrations for the entry into Antwerp of the Cardinal-Infante Ferdinando of Habsburg-Spain on 17 April 1635". The sketches for the decorations were all drawn by Sir Peter Paul Rubens and the execution of the etchings was entrusted to Van Thulden. Bottom left: P.P. Rubens. Bottom right: G. Gervatius (who was commissioned to bring together the illustrations of the arches in a special volume) and Van Thulden. Laid paper with watermark - copper imprint - margins - excellent condition. At the end of 1634 Peter Paul Rubens (1577-1640) was invited to make a series of drawings to decorate the city of Antwerp on the occasion of the solemn entry of the infant cardinal Ferdinand of Habsburg (1609-1641) who, after his death of Archduchess Isabella Clara Eugenia (1633), Spanish governor of the southern Netherlands, had been elected as his successor. Generally in these circumstances, the itinerary was articulated through a series of stations and the city - in its main urban hubs - was adorned with decorations and ephemeral apparatuses which, without solution of continuity, covered the facades of the palaces, churches and convents facing the parade axis of the celebratory itinerary, testifying to the participatory role of the various public and private institutions that took part in the feast1. As had happened for the entrances of Charles V in 1520, of Philip II in 1549 and of the archdukes Albert and Isabella in 1599, also in this case, on 17 April 1635, the most important streets and squares of Antwerp were enriched with arrangements: temporary altars, four scenarios, a portico and large triumphal arches built in wood, over twenty meters height, decorated with paintings, sculptures and allegorical scenes. The references to the ancient alluded in this case to the greatness of the Habsburgs and to the merits of Ferdinand for the victory obtained over the Protestant armies of Sweden and their German allies. The choice to use the triumphal arch has its roots in the "city of the popes" and must be read as a connection with the triumphal and modern arches, with Rome and with the "possession" ceremony, placing the emphasis on its centuries-old use . In the elaboration of the drawings and sketches Rubens proved to be a true connoisseur of architecture, but what is most surprising about the artist is the casual use of architectural language and fidelity to sixteenth-century Roman models. In order for the memory of these works to be perpetuated over time, some artists were commissioned to etch the ephemeral apparatuses and, under the guidance of the painter Theodor van Thulden...

Complete set of ten paper hand-colored illustrations from Premiere Centurie de Planches Enluminees et Non Enluminees (Decade 6 Regne Mineral) by Pierre Joseph Buchoz, Paris and Amste...

A pair of 18th century Italian spolvero patterns printed onto canvas and adorned with 18th century Italian fragments and red fanthom quarts points. Spolvero is an early method us...