Antique Print-ARMORIAL-BEARING-HERALDRY-GEELVINCK-Lairesse-1677

The crowned coat of arms of the Geelvinck family, inscribed with the text “Aan de Heeren Geelvinken toege?igend” (Appropriated to the Lords Geelvinken), is surrounded by allegorical figures. To the left above the coat of arms is the celebrated personification of poetry. She hands Melpomene, muse of tragedy, a roll of paper. Above Melpomene, Thalia, muse of comedy, also hands the enthroned Poetry a rolled-up paper. To the right of the family crest, the blindfolded Frenzy lashes out with a burning torch and Envy is keeled down with snakes in her hands. In the foreground, a young and old satyr are holding a piece of paper together.

Made by Gerard de Lairesse after own design.

Medium: Etching on hand laid (verge) paper.

Sheet size: 16.6 x 21.6 cm (6.54 x 8.5 inch). Image size: 12.5 x 18 cm. (4.92 x 7.09 inch).

Condition: good, given age. General age-related toning and/or occasional minor defects from handling. Please study scan carefully.

ARMORIAL-BEARING-HERALDRY-MUSES-MELPOMENE-THALIA-FURY | PCO-C44-18

BACKGROUND INFORMATION

Title page for: Pels, Andries. “Q. Horatius Flaccus, Dichtkunst, op onze tijden en zeden gepast.” [Poetry, appropriate to our times and mores.] This may be the first edition from 1677.

Reference: Hollstein Dutch 112 (states not mentioned in Hollstein); Roy G. 99 (this state is not mentioned by Roy); Collection Rijksmuseum-2(3) (3 known states, based on literature and prints in the Rijksmuseum collection).

Biography engraver: Gerard or G?rard (de) Lairesse (1641-1711) was a Dutch Golden Age painter and art theorist. His broad range of skills included music, poetry, and theatre. De Lairesse was influenced by the Perugian Cesare Ripa and French classicist painters such as Charles le Brun, Simon Vouet and authors such as Pierre Corneille and Jean Racine. His importance grew in the period following the death of Rembrandt. His treatises on painting and drawing, Grondlegginge Ter Teekenkonst (1701), based on geometry and Groot Schilderboek (1707), were highly influential on 18th-century painters.