Antique Print-LIFE-DEATH-MIRROR-SKELETON-OUROBOROS-van Veen-Daret-1646

Engraving on hand laid (verge) paper. on paper.

Size in cm: The overall size is ca. 20.5 x 32.5 cm. The image size is ca. 14.3 x 17.6 cm. Size in inch: The overall size is ca. 8.1 x 12.8 inch. The image size is ca. 5.6 x 6.9 inch.

Antique print, titled: ‘Vivons sans craindre la mort.’ – (‘Live without fear of death’). A man stands indoors, looking into a mirror. A female figure standing behind him holds a skeleton (death) and an old man outside. Three linked Ouroboros (the top one winged, the second one with antlers, the third one winged again) hang over the man’s head. From: ‘La Doctrine des Moeurs […]’ printed by Louys Sevestre for Pierre Daret, Paris, 1646. First edition. Author: Marin le Roy de Gomberville. Made by order of Mazarin for the instruction of the young Louis XIV. The plates are copies in reverse after Otto van Veen’s emblems in ‘Q. Horatii Flacci Emblemata.’ Ref: Brunet II 1658.Artists and Engravers: Made by ‘P. Daret’ after ‘Otto Vaenius’. Otto van Veen, also known by his Latinized name Otto Venius or Octavius Vaenius, (c.1556-1629) was a painter, draughtsman, and humanist active primarily in Antwerp and Brussels in the late sixteenth and early seventeenth century.

Condition: Good, given age. Small stains in the lower left margin, not affecting image. A manuscript ink annotaion on the verso (slightly showing on front). General age-related toning and/or occasional minor defects from handling. Please study scan carefully.

Keywords: ANTIQUE PRINT-LIFE-DEATH-MIRROR-SKELETON-OUROBOROS-VAN VEEN-DARET

(PCO) A331-33