Nicolas-Henri JACOB: Head of an Amazon - 1819
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Lithography, 265 x 170 mm.
Very rare and perhaps unique impression reversing black and white, printed on wove paper and annotated most probably by Nicolas-Henri Jacob: Le moyen d'encrage a été inversé [The way the stone is inked has been reversed] and Étude faite avec Sénéfelder dans mon atelier rue de l'Abbaye N°4 [Experiment made with Senefelder in my workshop rue de l'Abbaye No.4].
A small 15 mm tear on the left border of the sheet and a few marginal foxmarks, otherwise in very good condition. Good margins (sheet: c. 290 x 220 mm).
Aloys Senefelder invented lithography in 1796 in Munich. In 1819, he printed in Paris the French translation of the treatiseThe Art of Lithography (Vollstandiges Lehrbuch der Steindruckerei) published the previous year in Munich and Vienna. The same year, the work was enriched by a collection of twenty lithographic plates: Collection de plusieurs essais en dessins et gravures pour servir de Supplément à l'Instruction pratique de la Lithographie by Aloys Senefelder. These are examples, some executed by Senefelder himself, of lithographs reproducing pencil or pen drawings, etchings or woodcuts or musical scores. The Head of an Amazon in its usual versiont is plate XIV of this Collection.
This study bears witness to the extensive technical research carried out by Aloys Senefelder and the pioneers of lithography to perfect this still nascent art.
