This is one of a series of four 18th-century etchings and engravings that I have on offer in my store. This one is entitled The Feast of the Diana (Goddess of Fertility, the Moon and Wild Creatures and the Hunt).
Sold with a new window mount. UNFRAMED so you can check the paper and fine condition of the sheet.
The four etchings were made by the celebrated French artist Claude Gillot and published in Paris (but not dated). This set of etchings was called: Les Bacchanales; Quatres Festes. The series depicts woodland bacchanals - a/ Bacchus b/ Pan c/ the Goddess Diana and d / Faunus
It is engraved: lower left "Invente'peint et grave' par C. Gillot' and with 12 lines of poetry by Dubruit below the title. And published "a Paris chez Basan".
The series was originally published by Pierre Rochefort (French, c. 1673–c. 1740) and later republished (as are my ones) by Pierre François Basan (French, 1723–1797).
This print probably dates to 1762 and is a plate from the publication "Collection of one hundred various prints, subjects and landscapes, engraved after the paintings and drawings of the greatest Italian, Flemish, Dutch and French painters". The volume is Vol. III and it was published by François Basan or under his direction.
This print shows a gathering of frolicking handmaidens and nymphs celebrating Diana, goddess of the forest and animals. The Goddess is shown as a bust on top of a tall plinth in a stone niche. She can be identified by the crescent moon on her head. The sparsely clad ladies are startled by the appearance of leering satyrs to the left and right of the composition. Gillot has depicted all participants taking part in the celebrations in great detail.
This is a lovely clean impression - and it has never been on display or framed. I bought it over 20 years ago at an auction and it has been kept flat in my plan chest. I have recently had all four mounted with a new fresh window mount - so that you can examine the sheet the etching is printed on and assure yourself there are no nasty marks on the wove paper. Impressions do not come up for sale that often - so certainly a fair price for this lovely, rare work. This will look good hanging in a classical-inspired interior.
Please note there is a single spot of foxing to the lower left border - I have photographed this for your inspection.
Another Basan impression of this etching is in the collection of the Metropolitan Museum, New York. Another is in the collection of the National Gallery of Art in Washington.
UK Recorded Postage will be £10 and applied to your order at the checkout.