A GROUP OF BRITISH MUSEUM DUPLICATES FROM THE COLLECTION OF AN ENGLISH CONNOISSEUR

JEAN MIGNON (ACTIVE 1535-1555) AFTER LUCA PENNI (CIRCA 1500-1577)

Adoration of the Magi in an Ornamental Frame

Details

JEAN MIGNON (ACTIVE 1535-1555) AFTER LUCA PENNI (CIRCA 1500-1577)
Adoration of the Magi in an Ornamental Frame
etching, circa 1543-45, on laid paper, watermark Small Flower (see Jenkins, fig. 4.13), a very fine, early impression of this rare and large etching, printing very strongly and clearly, with pronounced, dark accents and depth, printing with a light tone and plate impurities, with small margins
Plate 356 x 507 mm.
Sheet 365 x 514 mm.

Provenance

British Museum, London (Lugt 301); with their duplicate stamp (Lugt 305), initialled by John Kendall Rowlands, Keeper of Prints & Drawings, 1981-91.
Acquired in exchange from the above by the present owner.

Literature

Bartsch 15; Zerner 49
S. Boorsch, in K. Jacobson, The French Renaissance in Prints, Los Angeles 1994, cat. no. 58., p. 271-273 (another impression illustrated).
C. Jenkins, Prints at the Court of Fontainebleau c. 1542-47, Ouderkerk aan den IJssel, 2017, cat. no. JM 49, p. 320-321 (another impression illustrated).

Conditions of sale

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Lot Essay

Like many of Jean Mignon's etchings, the present Adoration of the Magi is based on a design by Luca Penni, although the preparatory drawing does not seem to have survided. The original purpose of the design is unknown, but the opulent ornamental border with strapwork, fruit, vegetables and angels playing music suggests it may have been intended for a tapesty.
The scene itself, set in an open landscaped but anchored by a architectural capriccio of ruins, is highly exoticised, with fantastic costumes and camels, and one of the Magi prostrated before the Christ Child and the Virgin.
Another Adoration of the Magi by Mignon, also after Penni, is far more modest and conventional, with the Magus kneeling in front of the Virgin and Child group (see Jenkins JM 39).
According to Jenkins (2017), the Flower watermark present in this sheet appears only on the earliest prints produced at Fontainebleau.

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