Jacob van der DOES: Group of five sheep - 1650

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Etching, 120 x 145 mm. Bartsch vol. IV, p. 195 (only print described), Hollstein 1, 2nd state (of 2).

Very fine impression of the 2nd state (of 2) with the further work and the borderline, printed on laid watermarked paper, trimmed on or 1 mm outside the platemark. Generally in very fine condition. Verso: collections marks and annotation in pencil: Coll.L and written in ink by Francis Seymour Haden: his only etching and extremely rare. This impression quoted by Hollstein.

Provenance: collection William Esdaile (1758-1837) (Lugt 2617), Saint John Dent († ca. 1884) (Lugt 2373), Francis Seymour Haden (1818-1910) (Lugt 1227), Paul Davidsohn (1839-1924 ?) (Lugt 654), Thomas Graf (1878-1951) (Lugt 1092 a). Arsène Bonafous-Murat, June 1993 catalogue no. 7.

This impression was sold in the Paul Davidsohn’s collection sale. Its number in the catalogue was 1303: « Gruppe von fünf Schafen. B. 1. Vorzüglicher früher Abdruck. Aus den Sammlungen Esdaile, Dent und Haden. Selten. » (Group of five sheep. B. 1. Superb early impression. From the Esdaile, Dent and Haden collections. Scarce.) (C.G. Boerner, Sammlung Paul Davidsohn, Kupferstiche alter Meister, 1st part, Leipzig, 3. - 8 May 1920).

Adam Bartsch writes about this etching: ‘Van der Does only ever made one etching representing a group of five sheep, and it deserves a place next to the most beautiful pictures ever painted in this genre. This beautiful engraving is of such extreme rarity that it is still missing from most collections, even the richest and the best arranged. One would look for it in vain in the sales catalogues of the most reputed cabinets, the Marcus, the van der Dussen, the Nyman, Maarseveen, Ploos van Amstel, etc. This is the only reason why it has been ignored by authors who wrote notices on engravers and their works: Basan is the only one to mention it, albeit mistakenly; he attributes to Van der Does various small landscapes featuring animals, thereby revealing that he regards as belonging to a series of several pieces an etching that has only ever existed as a single, standalone piece.’

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