Featured AQUA (Water) copper engraving by Nicolaes de Bruyn

Recently I bought a framed copper engraving, that was advertised as a 19th century print. I immediately saw this was probably quite bit older (late 16th or early 17th century).

This is how the print looked in it's frame.




Luckily the engraving is signed so I could quite easily figure out who the makers were:

Maerten de Vos - inv(entor), designer
Nicolaes de Bruyn - f(ecit), engraver
Assuerus van Londerseel - excudit, publisher



This is the complete print, I really love all the details! It is the depiction of the element Water (aqua).




This copper engraving is a part of a series of 4 elements:




I did not find any of these prints for sale, but different museums have this in their collection.


British Museum London

Rijksmuseum Amsterdam

Rijksmuseum Amsterdam

Herzog Anton Ulrich Museum Braunschweig

Albertina Museum Vienna

None of the museums issues an exact date of the prints. They must have been printed somewhere between 1580 and 1650.

I noticed some differences between the few examples I found in the museums and some mentioned a state. Some of the prints have a text under de engraving and the name of the publisher seem te have been erased.

The text (not on my copy).




They have ceased to dwell in bright waters, the wave of ships and ships speeding through the sky, driving the kingdoms of the heavens.

As a complete amateur in old prints I tried to reconstruct a story of the different states:



Is there anyone here on the forum that could confirm my thinking process on the different states? Is this logical anyway? This is the first time I tried to dig down so deep into a single print.

Thank you for your help .

BTW: this print is marked a not suited for children (by Reddit for example - NSFW). If it is against the forum rules, please remove this thread.

 

we here are not children, and this is pretty tame for us... so . no worries !!

Interesting find !!

 

I like your thought process but have questions based on what I am seeing. Do you have an explantion for the white paper seen with your copy? I would expect some toning from a print this old. Is the paper laid? Any watermarks? Is the plate-mark real? Assuming the plate mark real, I am wondering if this might be a fairly contemporary reprint from an old plate. Other wise, it could be a photo-mechanial reproduction of some kind.

 

I think my iPhone makes the colors a bit better than the actual ones. The paper is 100% from the 17th century. I think it is real.

 

This is the print with backlight, no watermarks.

 

Do you have a picture of the full sheet? Is there a plate mark?

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O.K. I'm seeing it. Not reading enough. Looks to be in line with the Rijksmuseum b example.

I think that might not be an "F" but rather an "S" for Sculpt.

 

You are 100% right, thanks!

 

Actually it can be both a “s” or an “f” according to this list:

A.P.: Artist's proof
B.A.T.:, Bon á tirer: Proof print approved by artist and ready to be handled over to the master printer
Cael., caelavit: Engraved by
Cum privilegio: Privilege to publish from some authority
Del., delt., delin., delineavit: Drawn by
Disig., designavit: Designed by
Divulg., divulgavit: Published by
Eng., engd.: Engraved by
Exc., excud., excudit: Printed by or published by
F., fac., fec., fect., fecit, faciebat: Made by
H.C., Hors Commerce: Not for commercial sale
Imp., Impressit: Printed by
Inc,. incidit, incidebat: Incised or engraved by
Inv., invenit, inventor: Designed by or originally drawn by
Lith., litho., lithog.: Lithographed by
Pins., pinxit: Painted by
Scrip., scripsit: Text engraved by
Sc., sculp., sculpt., sculpsit: Image engraved by


source: https://www.princeton.edu/~graphicarts/2009/02/printmakers_abbreviations.html

 

Your reply triggered me to make a scan of the engraving and compare it next to the pic I took with the iPhone. The difference is quite noticeable. Apparently the iPhone makes quite some changes.

 

Beautiful, Ex, great find. Love those water creatures.
So now you'll be on the hunt for the other three.

Just an amateur observation: The horizontal cross line (don't know the name) goes all the way from left to right, wouldn't that mean it is an F? The cross line of the S, which you see in some Fraktur fonts, is only on the left of the letter.

 

I love the detail on this and really appreciated reading your research on it.

 

New pics convince me the paper looks right. Can you confirm a real plate mark?

 

Do you mean by “plate mark” the visible structure of the copper wires of the mould? Yes, I can see that, altough it is a bit more vague than most of my other old paper. I have paper from around 1430 to 1800 in my collection, but most in the form of book(pages).

 

Thank you! I really like to share my little researches. We all can learn a lot!

 

So true. The internet is a terrible place to try and research now that every search engine and site is just an ad machine. I love reading deep dives. The ones I do are only of interest to myself usually, but the husband is kind enough to let me tell him at least.

 

The plate mark is the indent to the paper seen around the edges. It is caused by the pressure of the plate as the print is being produced. Photomechanical reproductions will produce a facsimile of the plate mark without any actual indent to the paper. I have put an arrow pointing to the plate mark at the corner of your print.

 

Yes that is the first mark I check on an old print. That is 100% correct here. The only doubt I have it could be a much later one, like this engraving from my collection. It looks 17th century , but it is actually printed in the 19th century (with the original plates) by the Louvre museum as some souvenir.


Without this paper seal, it is almost impossible to recognize it is not the real thing.

 

I have no idea how Joannes ate, but that is a simply luxurious mustache. The hatching on that is masterfully done. Makes me want to go ink.

 

I think the paper gives it away on this one. Your print looks completely correct as far as I can tell.

 

Antoon van Dyck wouldn't have picked just anyone to engrave his work. The way the fabric of the sleeve is expressed is stunning.