An Arabian Horse with Groom, Brodtmann Lithograph of 1816
€ 890
Original antique · The actual sheet photographed · Certificate of authenticity on request · Sold unframed · Worldwide shipping from € 15 (rates)
Date
1816
Mapmaker / artist
Carl Joseph Brodtmann
Publisher
Carl Joseph Brodtmann, Lindau
Technique
Lithograph
Coloring
Original hand color
Sheet size
44 × 54 cm (17.3 × 21.3 in)
Condition
Good
Reference
BG-14460-1
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
Even age toning. Scattered light foxing in the margin. All four corners complete. Minor edge wear, shallow nicks along the bottom.
About this sheet
This original antique hand colored lithograph, An Arabian Horse with Groom, was printed at Lindau in 1816 for Carl Joseph Brodtmann's Naturhistorische Bilder-Gallerie aus dem Thierreiche, one of the earliest illustrated natural histories produced in the medium. The sheet shows a gray Arabian stallion rearing against the hand of its groom, the mane and the plaited tail flying, the turbaned groom in a green robe braced against the pull of the rein and the pair set on open sand under a plain sky.
The plate comes from Naturhistorische Bilder-Gallerie aus dem Thierreiche, published at Lindau in 1816 by Carl Joseph Brodtmann. Alois Senefelder had invented lithography barely twenty years earlier, and a hand colored lithograph of this size and date is among the earliest commercial work in the medium, which is why the trade describes sheets from this book as incunabula of lithography.
This is one of the earliest commercial lithographs of any subject. Alois Senefelder had invented the process barely twenty years before, and sheets of this date and size are collected as incunabula of lithography in their own right, quite apart from the animal. The technique is lithography, drawn with a greasy crayon directly onto the stone and printed without any engraved or etched line, then finished by hand in watercolor. The softness in the modeling of the hide and the coat is characteristic of the crayon on stone and is the reason lithography took over natural history illustration so quickly. A large animal plate of this kind holds a wall on its own and frames handsomely in a plain dark molding with a wide mount. It suits a study, a library, a hallway or a child's room that is meant to last, and it sits well beside other early natural history material.
Even age toning. Scattered light foxing in the margin. All four corners complete. Minor edge wear, shallow nicks along the bottom.
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.
