Nicolas BEATRIZET (1507/15 - c. 1565): Cain Killing his Brother Abel - 1540
VENDU
Engraving, 231 x 156 mm. Bartsch 8, 1st state (of 2) (vol. XV, p. 243); Bianchi 1, 1st state (of 2).
Very rare impression of the 1st state, prior to the addition of ‘Ant. sal. exc.’ in the lower right-hand corner.
A very fine impression printed on laid paper with a watermark (an anchor within a double circle).
Minor pinholes in the subject, small remnants of mounting paper on the reverse. Inscription at the bottom of the reverse: A. B. vol. 15 fol. 243 n. 8 (reference to Adam Bartsch).
Cain killing his brother Abel, engraved in 1540, is the earliest dated print by Béatrizet. He does not mention the artist of the drawing. According to Robert-Dumesnil, it is Raphael. Silvia Bianchi observes that the upper part of the figure of Cain resembles that of the central figure in a preparatory study by Raphael for a group of nudes in his fresco The School of Athens.
Reference: Silvia Bianchi: Catalogo dell'opera incisa di Nicola Beatrizet, in Grafica d'Arte no. 54, 2003.