From the Greatest of the Augsburg Schools
Rugendas I, Georg Philipp (1666 Augsburg 1742). Leads the horseman right … . Open riding place on the back of the stables with manifold actions. Mezzotint. Inscribed: Georg Philipp Rugendas invent. del. fec. et excudit, otherwise as before and below. 48.5 x 65.5 cm.
Teuscher 68 + ills. (by printer’s error 40.5 cm, without number); Stillfried 347. – Plate 1 of the 8-sheet riding school T. 68-75 + Nagler 44, here in a supposedly later state with the number 1 in small half circle at the lower picture edge, as the copy of the Swiss Institute of Technology Zurich, too. – Watermark Great Crown with typographic pendant and WANGEN word mark. – With subtext in German:
Leads the horseman right body , leg , heel , hand ,
Then a noble horse soon becomes methodical and versatile ;
And brought by pains , art , sternness , delight for ornament to that ,
That it raises high in front and makes fine curbettes.
With surrounding margins of 1-1.7 cm. – Harmonious impression with fine chiaroscuro though from the overall somewhat used plate as quite acceptable for mezzotints allowing – so the contemporary expert Sandrart – just about 50-60 really good impressions. – Box pleat from print reaching diagonally 9 cm into the sky part. Pinhead-small hole above the tail of the horse on the outer left. Slight creases recognizable on the back.
Extremely rare, the leaves of this set are missing, i. a., within the c. 27,600 lots of Weigel’s Art Stock Catalogue, parts I-XXVIII, 1838-1857, the Bibliotheca Hippologica I. H. Anderhub with rarities like Ridinger’s Riding School in imperial oblong dissolved in 1963, and the Sarasin Collection (1999). The copy here
after decades in the generous ambience on the wall of a connoisseur
now on the market again for the first time .
Who conceded the wonderful leaves of this set with their marvellous horses the place which already a hundred years ago Wilhelm Schmidt summing up in the Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie assigned to Rugendas:
“ Doubtless, set into better circumstances, e.g. living in the Netherlands about 1650, he would have become an artist who
would have surpassed all his horse and battle competitors . ”
Offer no. 28,160 / EUR 1380. / export price EUR 1311. (c. US$ 1829.) + shipping
Also see plate 2 of this set
and plates 5, 7 + 8 of the dressages Teuscher 118-129.
“ Thank you Mr. Niemeyer, The prints (you are delivered two weeks ago) are being framed right now. My framer is very particular (works for the National Gallery … ) and I am having a perfect frame made for the large Ridinger (the imperial stag hunt Th. 67). Best regards ”
(Mr. J. R. L., November 19, 2003)