16th Century Johann Theodor de Bry Engraving

I took another trip down to Cincinnati last weekend to take some more artwork to auction. This time I did some antiquing in Dayton. I found this engraving at an antique mall for $15. I believe it comes from a group of prints that Theodor de Bry and his son Johann Theodor worked on together. The set of prints was called Portraits of Illustrious Persons. I think it is possibly 16th century, but may be 17th. The image is Danae the princess from Greek mythology. I did a little translation of the writing, at top it talks about chastity and beauty, at the bottom a bedroom or chamber. The writing seems to follow the mythology. It is in very good condition, I suspect it has been trimmed a bit. I was wondering if this set of prints was ever assembled into a book and if there was a way to date it. I am guessing that the designation on the label on the back is referring to a page number? I based the attribution to Johann Theodor on the style and other examples that I could find.

 

Fascinating the framer's still in business and has been since 1924. Perhaps someone there will still have knowledge of their old gallery codes.

Debora

 

https://www.lookandlearn.com/history-images/YR0386105/Portrait-of-the-sultane-Manto?t=2&q=Manto

Possibly from a book. Here are other images in the same style (all on Alamy):

 

Interesting that they're not identical.

Debora

 

So it was originally an illustration to 'Vitae et icones Sultanorum turcicorum' by Jean-Jacques Boissard. Frankfurt, 1596.

https://www.rct.uk/collection/80930...urcicorum-principum-persarum-ad-mahmonetem-ii

Debora

 

Debora,

Thank you for finding that. In the book description it talks about Theodor de Bry, the father, working in collaboration with Boissard. So it appears that the engraving was originally 16th century, however mine is missing the inner circle of text. While I was working with the translating program, one the results I got was something to do with a Persian Queen or princess. I got very different results depending on how I typed it in and some of the words it wouldn't translate. Do you know if there is someone on the forum that is versed in Latin? Also in the lower right hand corner of the first example you posted there is a pencil notation with a word and 231, I suspect possibly a designation from a catalog raisonne.

 

www.hollstein.com

There was a print deal dealer named Friedrich Wilhelm Hollstein (1888-1957). His research was published into several volumes. I suspect the notation relates to an entry in one of those volumes.

 

I put a line of text into Google Translate and got what seemed to be a decent translation. If you're not already using it as a resource, you might want to give it a try.

Debora