Bearded Gentleman, Engraving by R. Leemann, Printed by H. Felsing, circa 1860
€ 145
Original antique · The actual sheet photographed · Certificate of authenticity on request · Sold unframed · Worldwide shipping from € 15 (rates)
Date
circa 1860
Mapmaker / artist
R. Leemann (engraver), H. Felsing (printer)
Publisher
H. Felsing (printer)
Technique
Engraving
Coloring
Uncolored
Sheet size
31 × 23 cm (12.2 × 9.1 in)
Condition
Good
Reference
BG-14343-40
What the condition grades mean
Excellent
Bright and clean, with no faults worth mentioning.
Very good
Only light signs of age, such as faint toning.
Good
Normal signs of age for a sheet of this period: toning, some foxing, small marks or neat old repairs.
Fair
Clear faults such as staining, tears or repairs, priced to match.
Every fault we see is written in the condition note, and the whole sheet is shown uncropped in the photos.
Condition
Good condition for its age. Plate mark visible. Scattered foxing throughout the margins with light toning and faint soiling at the edges. The image is clean. Please review the images for further condition details.
About this sheet
This finely engraved portrait shows a bearded man at half length, turned slightly to his right and looking steadily out at the viewer. He has thick dark hair brushed back over his ears, heavy brows and a full dark beard and mustache, and wears a dark frock coat with wide lapels over a buttoned waistcoat, a white shirt with a turned down collar and a broad black bow tie. The plain background is worked in a dense mesh of fine lines that gives the image the soft, even tone of a painted portrait, and the light falls cleanly across the forehead and the left side of the face.
The plate is lettered in small type beneath the image, "R. Leemann sc." at left for the engraver and "H. Fels. imp." at right for the printer. Between them is the sitter's facsimile signature, which begins with the initials J. W. and the particle v., followed by a flourished surname and a second line. The image is printed within a wide plate mark on a generous sheet.
The printer's credit points to the Berlin copperplate printing house of H. Felsing, one of the leading firms of its kind in nineteenth century Germany, which printed plates for many of the best engravers and art publishers of the period. R. Leemann engraved portraits for German and Swiss publications in the same years. Portraits of this type, a single sitter with a facsimile signature on a large sheet, were often issued to accompany biographical works or as presentation prints honoring scholars, officials and public figures.
The quality of the engraving is high, with a subtle range of tone in the face and beard and a crisp rendering of the cloth, and the generous margins suit framing with a wide mat. It is an elegant example of the mid nineteenth century German engraved portrait.
This is an original antique print, not a modern reproduction. This item is sold unframed. Any framed or interior images are shown for presentation and inspiration only, unless the listing explicitly states that the item is sold framed.
