5647 - Visscher, Claes Jansz.

Visscher, Claes Jansz. The Good Samaritan. 4 copperplate engravings after Paul Bril, Hans Bol, and Pieter Bruegel the Elder. Each approx. 21.8 x 27.5 cm. See Hollstein (Aegidius Sadeler) 210 and 218, (Johannes Sadeler I) 579, (Raphael Sadeler I) 218; see also Mielke (New Hollstein, Bol) 44, 46–48. Markings indistinct. The series published by Visscher impressively illustrates the marketing and sales strategies of the publishing industry in the 17th century. The sheets combine landscape motifs based on works by Paul Bril and Pieter Bruegel—which were already familiar from copperplate engravings by the Sadeler brothers in reverse orientation—with groups of figures from a suite titled “The Good Samaritan,” engraved by Crispijn de Passe after Hans Bol, comprising six sheets. This creates a new series featuring motifs that were well-known and popular with the public. All are excellent to very excellent, uniform prints with margins, featuring a fine serrated edge at the top. Slightly browned at the outer margins; vertical center fold with traces of old album binding, partly torn and repaired; sheet 3 has a small rust spot with a hole in the upper right corner; sheet 4 has a small missing area on the left and closed marginal tears at the bottom; otherwise uniform and very beautiful. - Please ask for condition reports for individual 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.