Giovanni Boccaccio, Author of the Decameron, Engraved Portrait, circa 1870
€ 135
Original antique · The actual sheet photographed · Certificate of authenticity on request · Sold unframed · Worldwide shipping from € 15 (rates)
Date
circa 1870
Mapmaker / artist
C. Van Dalen (painter), R. Woodman (engraver)
Publisher
William Mackenzie, London, Edinburgh and Glasgow
Technique
Steel engraving
Coloring
Uncolored
Sheet size
27 × 18 cm (10.6 × 7.1 in)
Condition
Good
Reference
BG-14343-11
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. A few small spots of foxing to the margins; faint pencil numbering in the lower left margin. Please review the images for further condition details.
About this sheet
A finely engraved half length portrait of Giovanni Boccaccio, the Florentine author of the Decameron, lettered in open capitals "Giovanni Boccaccio." beneath the image. The credit line reads "Engraved by R. Woodman, from a Painting by C. Van Dalen", and the foot of the sheet carries the imprint "William Mackenzie, London, Edinburgh & Glasgow".
Boccaccio (1313 to 1375) was, with Dante and Petrarch, one of the three founders of Italian literature. His Decameron, a frame tale of one hundred stories told by ten young people who have fled plague stricken Florence, became one of the most influential books of the European Renaissance, and his Latin works on famous women and on the genealogy of the pagan gods were read for centuries. He spent his last years at Certaldo in Tuscany, where he died in 1375.
The sitter is shown turned to the right with his eyes raised, his hair falling to the shoulders and a slight mustache on the upper lip. He wears a dark gown with a deep fur collar over a pleated white shirt, and his left hand holds a pair of small clasped books on a table before him. The engraver builds the image in close, even line, with a ruled background of fine gray tone, a wide range of textures in the fur and drapery and a carefully modeled face.
William Mackenzie of Glasgow was one of the most active Victorian publishers of illustrated subscription works, issued in parts and furnished with full page steel engraved portraits on their own leaves. The plate is printed on a generous sheet with wide margins, and it is a handsome choice for a library, for a collector of literary portraits or for anyone devoted to Italian letters. It would frame well with portraits of Dante and Petrarch.
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.
