ATTRIBUTED TO FRANCESCO PRIMATICCIO (1504-1570)

Two Women in Roman Dress

Details

ATTRIBUTED TO FRANCESCO PRIMATICCIO (1504-1570)
Two Women in Roman Dress
etching, circa 1550-60, on laid paper, without watermark, a fine, rich and strong impression of this extremely rare print, trimmed on or just inside the platemark, with thread margins in places, a pale brown stain on the woman at left, a few tiny nicks at the sheet edges, generally in very good condition
Plate & Sheet 215 x 115 mm.

Provenance

Richard Arthur Ledward (1857–1890) and Mary Jane Ledward, née Wood (1860-1942), London.
Gilbert Ledward RA (1888-1960), London; by descent from the above; then by descent to the present owner.

Literature

Bartsch XVI. 306. 1; Zerner 1
Primatice- Maître de Fontainebleau, Musée du Louvre, Paris (exh. cat.), 2004-5, p. 477-8, no. 267 (the Paris impression illustrated).

Lot Essay

The attribution of this print to Primaticcio has been much debated. Henri Zerner thought it to be sufficiently similar in style to Primaticcio's drawings to attribute it tentatively to the artist himself, in which case it would be the artist's only known etching. It is extremely rare. The present, previously unrecorded impression is a remarkable discovery: as far as we are aware, no other complete example with the blank border is known. In printing quality it is equal to the impression in the British Museum and superior to the impression in the Louvre (collection Edmond de Rothschild).

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