PRINCE RUPERT, COUNT PALATINE (after Ribera, circle of) Head of an Executioner.
Mezzotint, 1658. 134x163 mm; 5 1/4x6 1/2 inches, small margins. A superb, dark and evenly-printed impression of this extremely scarce, early print.
Prince Rupert (1619-1682), also known as Rupert of the Rhine, and the artist Ludwig von Siegen (1609-circa 1680) are generally credited with the invention of mezzotint around the middle of the 17th century. This is one of the earliest mezzotints ever created.
The print reproduces a detail from a painting long considered to be by Jusepe de Ribera, The Executioner with the Head of Saint John the Baptist, in the Alte Pinakothek, Munich, but now thought to be by an artist in his circle. Hollstein 7.
