Johnson Manuscript page - flyleaf with collectors' book plates (recto)
Etching of Johnson's bookplate (verso)

by-nc

Maker

(printmaker)
(printmaker)
1700-1799

Title

Johnson Manuscript page - flyleaf with collectors' book plates (recto)
Etching of Johnson's bookplate (verso)

Date of Production

1735, 1897 and 1930

Medium

black ink printed on paper

Dimensions

Height: 19.9 cm (whole page)
Width: 15.7 cm (whole page)

Object Number

MS.1978.PG.1.1

Mode of Acquisition

Count Antoine Seilern, bequest, 1978

Credit

Courtauld Gallery, London (Samuel Courtauld Trust)

Inscriptions

Watermark: Watermarks: Recto (the manuscript page), left centre edge: fragment of a Pro Patria. Verso (the etching sheet): left centre edge: lower portion of a Strasburg lily.

Inscription: printed in black: Greek writing at lower left and right on plinths; lower right, initial of etcher: "G. Sc."; on banderole below coats-of-arms: "EXCITENT"; lower centre edge: "M Johnson J. Hon Soc. I. Templi & Antiq Lond S. &c Gen Spaldg Infl & Secr. 1735.".

Bookplate: Recto: adhered to lower centre of page: printed in black: "CHRISTOPHER / ALEXANDER / MARSDEN / MCMXXX".

Bookplate: Recto: adhered to upper centre of page: printed in black: "W.A. MARSDEN / University College Oxford / 1897".

Provenance

possibly Albert Rubens (1614-1657); bought by Captain Maurice Johnson, 1742/44 for his father, Maurice Johnson Sr., Spalding (1688-1755); by descent in Johnson and Marsden families; W.A. Marsden (book-plate, 1897); Christopher Marsden (bookplate, 1930); his sale, Sotheby's (London), 23-24 March, 1970, lot 179; purchased there via Maggs Bros. (London) by Count Antoine Seilern, London (1901-1978) (£2,600); Princes Gate Bequest 1978

Exhibition History

Rubens. The Power of Transformation, Kunsthistoriches Museum, Vienna, 17/10/2017-21/01/2018; Stadel Museum, Frankfurt, 08/02/2018-03/06/2018

Literature

Rubens. The Power of Transformation, Kunsthistoriches Museum, Vienna, 2017-18
cat. no. 28
Jaffé, Michael, Van Dyck's Antwerp Sketchbook, London 1966
vol. I, p. 78n3

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