Etching and drypoint, 1636. 132x200 mm; 5 1/4x7 7/8 inches, thread margins. Fourth state (a) (of 6). A brilliant, early impression of this extremely scarce etching, with all the subtle tonal nuances and details distinct and with no sign of wear, consistent with the earliest impressions of this subject.
We have found fewer than 10 other lifetime impressions like the current work at auction in the past 30 years.
This is among the most celebrated of Claude's (1600-1682) forty-five total etchings, most of which parallel paintings and drawings from throughout the artist's career (the current etching is closest to a painting now in the collection of the Alte Pinokothek, Munich). Francis Seymour Haden, the 19th century printmaker, and brother-in-law of James A. M. Whistler, noted of Le Bouvier, "In quality it is surprising, and in touch, magical—one never tires of wondering at it. Though highly finished it has the true ring of an etching." Mannocci 18.
