Hopfer, Daniel.

Franciscvs [King of France]

[Augsburg], D. Hopfer [1515-1520].

SINGLE-SHEET IRON-ETCHED LEFT PROFILE BUST PORTRAIT OF FRANÇOIS Ier framed in a window at the start of his reign (186 x 131 mm., platemark 135 x 85 mm.). He wears a ribboned split-rim velvet hat, his hair chin length and a modest mustache. The French royal arms hang above him to the right. The sill bears the artist’s initials and FRANCISCVS.

Bound after:  Epitome Gestorvm LVIII. Regvm Franciae…Epitome des Gestes des cinquante huict roys de France.  Lyon, B. Arnoullet 1546. 8vo (186 x 131 mm.). 159, [1]p. Facing italic and roman type for Latin and French respectively, fifty-eight etched medallion portraits of french kings signed cc (?Claude Corneille; 62 x 53 mm.).
            ORIGINAL GERMAN ORANGE-TINTED STIFF VELLUM WRAPPER LACED ON RED LEATHER THONGS (spine faded), contemporary manuscript-lettered spine title Gesta Lviii Regum Fr., early shelfmark 245 in red ink below and manuscript fore-edge shelfmark 34, evidence of four red linen ties.

Ad I-II: HOPFER IS CONSIDERED THE FIRST ARTIST TO USE ETCHING TO MAKE PRINTS. His image (I; first state; facing the letterpress colophon) presents François I^er (1494-1547) in his youth, when he sought the imperial throne and sympathized with the Reformers. The Epitome (II) presents the king at the end of his rule, familiarly broad shouldered, full-beard and feathered hat, when he persecuted Protestants and implacably opposed Emperor Charles V. This biographical work is “THE EARLIEST FRENCH BOOK IN WHICH THE ENGRAVINGS ARE PRINTED ON THE SAME PAGE AS THE TEXT” (Mortimer, French 208).
            Ad I: Hopfer apparently based this likeness on a medal executed by G.M. Pomedelli. Both Heinrich Vogtherr and Erhard Schön relied on Hopfer’s version. I have not located an impression outside of Europe.
¶Hollstein, German Engravings, Etchings and Woodcuts XV: 114,90; Metzger, Daniel Hopfer: Ein Augsburger Meister der Renaissance 96 (later state); Petey-Girard & Vène, edd., François I^er: pouvoir et image illus. 25 (later state).
            Ad II: FIRST EDITION OF THIS BEAUTIFUL CHILDREN'S BOOK, the international issue, titled in Latin and in French (the other issue has only the French title). THIS COPY’S GERMAN BINDING AND INSERTED IMAGE MAKE EXPLICIT WHAT THE TITLE PROMISES. The anonymous compiler aims to impart French royal genealogy and help readers use the vernacular text to learn Latin. This luxury production proved popular. Most of its many descendants employed woodcuts to entertain and instruct impecunious buyers. No complete copy west of the Mississippi in an American library.
            In original condition (one blank marginal paper flaw, occasional ink smudges, scattered spots), two contemporary manuscript text corrections. Nine pairs of conjugate leaves bear horizontal ink lines consistently 35-40 mm. from the lower edge — from printing the intaglio illustrations in the rolling press? Early title inscription of ?Curholt, bookplates of Christoph Wentzel, Graf von Nostitz (1648-1712) and Sylvain Brunschwig (1891-1952, Bibliothèque (29.III.1955) 406), German bookseller’s inventory number L[ager] B[ücher] XVII 286097, from the collection of Pierre Berès (1913-2008, 5^eme Vente (13.XII.06) 429).
¶Leutrat, “L’Epitome des roys de France (Lyon, 1546): un nouveau mode d’illustration” in Histoire de l’art 45 (1999) 25-34; Hind, A History of Engraving & Etching 102; Gültlingen, Bibliographie des livres imprimés à Lyon au 16^e siècle IX: 109-10,34; Lyon15-16 13821; Cioranesco 11203.1.

Item #12589

Price: $22,500.00