Joseph adoring the Child while two Angels sing, from: The Flight into Egypt

Details

GIOVANNI DOMENICO TIEPOLO (1727-1804)
Joseph adoring the Child while two Angels sing, from: The Flight into Egypt
etching, 1752, on laid paper, watermark Three Magi, a very fine, early proof impression of the first state (of two), before the plate number, printing with a rich, unevenly wiped plate tone, with various pentimenti along the left side of Joseph still distinct, the subject along the right sheet edge partially uninked, with thread margins or trimmed on the platemark, in very good condition
Plate 188 x 249 mm.
Sheet 190 x 250 mm.

Literature

de Vesme 19; Rizzi 85
F. Reuße, Giandomenico Tiepolo: Die Flucht nach Ägypten - Radierungen, exhibition catalogue, Augustinermuseum Freiburg, Freiburg im Breisgau, 2007.

Special notice

This lot has been imported from outside of the UK for sale and placed under the Temporary Admission regime. Import VAT is payable at 5% on the hammer price. VAT at 20% will be added to the buyer’s premium but will not be shown separately on our invoice.

Conditions of sale

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Lot Essay

For another fine impression before the plate number but without platetone, see Reuße, no. 19.19*.
According to Reuße, this impression is not a proof but an impression from the earliest edition, printed before the plate numbers were added. True proof impressions from the series tend to be printed with an unevenly wiped plate tone and some show small differences in the composition compared to the prints from the edition. (For an example of a tonal proof from the Flight into Egypt, see Reuße 19.6; for a comparison between a proof and an early editioned print, see 19.11 and 19.11*.)
The present impression is clearly an early proof, irregularly wiped and somewhat hapharzardly inked along the right sheet edge. Compositional differences to later impressions do not seem to exist, although there are some pentimenti visible in the present impressions, along the outline of Joseph's left shoulder and back, behind his left elbow and lower back, with disappear soon after and are only partially or very faintly visible in Reuße, no. 19.19*.

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