5253 - Lasinio, Carlo

Lasinio, Carlo Portrait of Édouard Gautier-Dagoty. Color engraving from four plates after Johann Ernst Heinsius, with hand-painted retouching and white highlights. 48.3 x 39.6 cm. Nagler 3, Le Blanc 149, Singer (Four-Color Printing in the Circle of Jacob Christoffel Le Blon) 444 I (of II), Not included in the exhibition catalog Carlo Lasinio Incisioni, Florence 2004. Marked with a large coat-of-arms cartouche bearing the inscription “Colle in Toscana.” Carlo Lasinio may be considered one of the last artists to have applied and mastered the artistic technique of four-color printing developed by Jakob Christoph Le Blon at the beginning of the 18th century. Whereas, until then, hand-inking the printing plates had been the only way to create tonal, painterly effects through printmaking, Le Blon’s revolutionary process consisted of first printing three, then four engraved plates—each inked with the three primary colors and later black—in transparent layers on top of one another. His student and later greatest rival in this field was Jacques-Fabien Gautier-Dagoty, the father of Édouard, who is portrayed here. After Le Blon’s death in 1741, his family gained a veritable monopoly on the production of multicolored prints, and it is therefore hardly surprising that Édouard was regarded as the inventor of this brilliant technique when he introduced it in Italy. Lasinio also learned the technique from him in 1783; in this portrait, he effusively immortalizes his teacher as the “inventeur de la gravure en couleurs.” Lasinio’s homage is also one of his masterpieces and undoubtedly represents, both technically and artistically, a pinnacle of this virtuoso engraving technique. The sought-after print is presented here in a truly magnificent, unusually richly colored, and wonderfully painterly impression; the rich color scheme, achieved through the virtuoso gradation of blue and reddish tones, beautifully highlights the flesh tones and the iridescent fabric in particular. The hand-painted details, such as the blue closure ribbon on the portfolio or the irises in the eyes, lend the print a unique character. Partially showing traces of the plate edge at the bottom; otherwise trimmed up to 1.5 cm within the plate edge. Slightly rubbed and with a few superficial scratch marks, such as on the left hand and the hat; a diagonal crease to the right of the brushes; a faint, vertical stain along the right margin (watermark?); blind-printed hairline marks on the crown and along the lower edge of the sleeve, likely originally retouched; a short horizontal retouch along the upper margin; two small foxing spots in the collar; additional foxing spots on the reverse; other minimal signs of wear; otherwise, a magnificent specimen overall. A rarissimum of inimitable color splendor. Provenance: 1892 C. G. Boerner (inscription on the reverse), collection of Adalbert Freiherr von Lanna (Lugt 2773), whose auction at R. Lepke, Berlin, May 22, 1911, Lot 1201 (with illustration, “Magnificent and extremely rare print”), sold for 2,900 Mk. - Please ask for condition reports for the lots, as the condition is usually not mentioned in the catalog. - Please ask for condition reports for individual lots, as the condition is usually not mentioned in the catalog.