Forum Rare Books | Rare Books

< Back

A gorgeous early seventeenth-century print-series illustrating Ovid's Metamorphoses

PASSE, Crispijn de. - OVID.
P. Ovid. Nasonis XV. Metamorphoseon librorum figurae elegantissime a Cr[i]spiano Passaeo laminis æneis incisae. Quibus subiuncta sunt epigrammata latine ac germanice conscripta ... autore Guilhelmo Salsmanno.

Engraved title-page (152 x 123 mm) and two unnumbered and 132 numbered engravings (ca. 83 x 134 mm) by Crispijn de Passe I.

(Cologne & Arnhem), Crispijn de Passe I & Jan Jansz., 1607. 4to. Contemporary vellum. Engraved title-page (152 x 123 mm) and two unnumbered and 132 numbered engravings (ca. 83 x 134 mm) by Crispijn de Passe I. 136 lvs.

First and only edition of this print series by Crispijn de Passe I (1564-1637) illustrating the Metamorphoses of Ovid, published as a book together with explanatory texts in letterpress verses in Latin and German by Willem Salsman (fl. 1607-1629), one of De Passe's main contributing poets in Cologne, summarizing the content of the prints. The book was published by Jan Jansz. (Johannes Janssonius) in Arnhem, after the copperplates had been printed on the pages in De Passe's workshop in Cologne.
The plates had already been published as a print series by De Passe in Cologne in 1602 (=1604) with the title: Metamorphoseoon Ovidianarum typi aliquot artificiosissime delineati. One plate (nr. 46) is dated '1602', but another (nr. 4) is from '1604', so it seems that the work on the series took some years. The engraving of the plates apparently did not follow the chronology of the 15 books of the Metamorphoses. Maarten de Vos supplied several designs (plate nr. 17, 33, 35, 41, 70, 93 and 95) and the plan may have been for him to make more designs for the series, before his death intervened in 1603.
The prints are unnumbered, with the exception of (now) the third (Aetas Aurea), which is marked '1' at lower right. Probably De Passe's original plan was to begin with the four ages described by Ovid. The Latin verses - two elegiac couplets - which are engraved underneath these prints, as well as on 38 other prints are engraved in a calligraphic hand, characteristic of Matthias Quad. These prints have usually also the name of the designer (Maarten de Vos or Crispijn de Passe). In October 1604, though, Quad had to leave Cologne, and the remainder of the series was probably engraved after his departure, including the first two unnumbered plates: the untangling of Chaos and the creation of the four elements (Chaos) and Prometheus creating man (Homo), which have poems engraved underneath in a less elegant hand.
As well as taking most of his compositions from existing print series illustrating the Metamorphoses, such as the woodcut series published by Bernard Salomon in 1557, the engraved plates by Virgil Solis (1563) and the series of 150 etchings by Antonio Tempesta and Hendrik Goltzius (1589-90), De Passe also lifted many of the poems to be engraved underneath the plates. He copied 58 written by Johannes Posthius for an edition of Ovid with woodcuts by Virgil Solis (1563) and many verses by Franciscus Estius for Goltzius's Ovid prints. Despite the fact that De Passe, like his predecessors, followed the established visual tradition he did have original ideas of his own and a number of plates are his new inventions. His illustration of Ovid's text makes for a lively, harmonious and instructive visual narrative. De Passe's figures have volume and three-dimensionality, and he took trouble over the settings. His Gods and humans are realistic beings who surrender to their passions and go to their fates in naturalistic landscapes. It is startling to find 74 of the original designs for the Ovid prints, as well as three by Maarten Vos, bound into two albums now in the collection of Windsor castle; two more in the Rijksprentenkabinet in Amsterdam.
For our edition of the print series as a book with explanatory texts, De Passe designed a new title-page to fit the vertical format of the book. Below the title is a chronogram "aVrea MeDIoCrItas"(The golden mean, or '1607'). Flanking the title are Venus, with Cupid, and Mercury, personifying love and eloquence. In pride of place at the top is the laurelled Ovid in a roundel. At the bottom is a four-lined verse by B(altasar) P(egand), who wrote several poems for De Passe in Cologne. After the title follows the rhymed foreword by Salsmann in Latin and German in which he explains that the illustrations are intended for all lovers of art, and also for painters, goldsmiths, glass-painters and engravers. So these prints could become an important source of inspiration for the applied arts.

Good copy with the prints in very good and sharp impressions. With the bookplate of Bob Luza (Auction cat. Amsterdam, Van Gendt, 15-16 Dec. 1981, lot 70).- (Some marginal waterstaining, not affecting the plates, little tears in some plates (repaired), some thumbing throughout; hinges weak).

Veldman, Profit and pleasure. Print books by Crispijn de Passe (2001), Chapt. V, p.73-84, and figs. XXVIII-XXIX and 116-249; Hollstein XV, 852; Franken 1338.

Related Subjects: 17th Century Classical Antiquity Dutch Print Series

Add to Shopping cart

€ 9.500,00

Prices in EUROS (€), shipping and BTW/VAT extra.

< Back

Terms of sale

All items are offered subject to prior sale. Prices are nett and in (€) EURO. VAT/BTW, postage, and insurance are not included.

Free shipping for orders over € 2,500. EU customers: if applicable, please quote your VAT number when placing orders.

Preferred mode of payment: by credit card through our secure online payment service, which is facilitated by Ogone. If you wish to make other arrangements, please contact us. Terms of sale

E-mail this to a friend

Antiquariaat FORUM B.V.
Tuurdijk 16
3997 MS t Goy-Houten,
The Netherlands

Phone: (+31) (0)30 601 1955
Fax: (+31) (0)30 601 1813
E-mail: info@forumrarebooks.com
Web: http://www.forumrarebooks.com