1660 Kasper Merian Engraving Paris Port

I took a little trip down to West Lafayette this weekend to visit some friends and do some antiquing. On the way home I stopped at a LaPorte antique shop and bought this engraving by Kasper Merian for $8.00. The image is 6 1/4" by 4 3/4", the plate mark slightly larger. The paper looks to me like handmade laid paper. If you do a google search on " Prosp. de la Porte Conference a Paris " you will find an example of the engraving as well as the book it came from. Doing some searching I was not able to find any evidence that restrikes were made of this print. I did find reproductions of a different size and print technique. I would welcome any thoughts on whether people think is original or not, I would recommend comparing it to the example and looking at the various unique marks made by the plate. It pains me to think that someone hacked up that beautiful book.

 

I would suggest that the framing is modern, so there's no reason not to remove it for a closer look.

 

Late 1950s/early 1960s framing. Open it up and mystery likely to be solved.

Debora

 

Or contact the Gallery. They did sell art early on.

https://www.facebook.com/HeritageGalleryChicago/

Debora

 

And the mount and backing could be acidic... but you would know better, having it in hand. Another reason to remove it from the frame and to reframe.

 

Good suggestion above.

Debora

 

I tried your search, with the quotation marks, and realized that the quoted part should be " Prosp. de la Porte Conference a Paris "-- Fun coincidence that you bought this in LaPorte, Indiana! It says that right on the print, but I was not looking at that when copying/pasting.

 

Thanks, I fixed my original post.

 

Looks good, appears to have been removed from a book. Unfortunately it has been dry mounted to mat board, but still a nice engraving.

 

I like it very much.

 

I have twice separated prints from backings by soaking them. It's fairly simple if the glue used is water soluble, a bigger issue if not. The thing to remember is to remove the backing from the print, not the other way round. This might be a good trial piece, if you want to try it, but the risk is there of destroying the print completely.

The first time I did it was with a lithograph: Rieuse, by Armand Berton, 1897, the sheet size a bit more than 18" by 14".


The print was laminated to mount board that had warped considerably. I tried pressing it (for months), but the warp returned in short order.



Removing the backing was something I wanted to try anyhow, so I gave it a shot. I have a large photographic processing tray (left over from the old days) and used filtered tap water. I was working on the premise that the backing was essentially 3 layers: a relatively thick layer that was little more than pulp laminated on either face with a sheet of paper, all this separate from the print itself. I immersed the print for about two hours and, working in the tray, worried the top layer of the backing away. It wasn't too difficult as the glue holding everything together was water soluble. Removing that layer exposed the pulp core to the water and I left it to soak for an additional hour. When I went back, I expected to be worrying away at that paper, but to my surprise it lifted off almost like a soggy felt blanket. That was the bulk of the backing gone, but the question remained, what was left? Was it the print adhered to another piece of paper, or was it just the print? I left it to soak for another hour and when I went back, I tickled a corner and found there was another sheet that I was able to ease off, leaving only the print. I left it soaking a while longer and used a paint brush to gently wipe away any remaining glue. I removed the print from the bath, patted it with paper towel and then pressed it between sheets of blotting paper for a day. It worked out well, but this description will probably have any trained conservator tearing their hair out.

But then there was the second print which I handled even more roughly, and it's a pretty good print: The Mill of Ruysdael, Jean Jacques de Boissieu, 1774, after Jacob van Ruisdael, print sheet aout 10 1/2" by 14 1/2".


This was laminated to a simple sheet of paper.




I approached as I had the previous one. But in this instance, the glue was not water solvent. There was one corner of the print not properly adhered, and a couple bubbles showing other places where there was also lack of adhesion. I concentrated on these. The outer border of the backing sheet peeled away revealing the edges of the print, but the vast majority of the backing remained solidly adhered. Since that paper was soft from its immersion, I used my fingernails to scrape away at it. It took a couple hours and I essentially reduced that sheet to pulp scraping it away from the print, but I was not convinced that the job was complete. The paper, where it had bubbled, came way differently than the rest, leaving the print looking much more translucent than elsewhere. I removed the print from the bath, changed the water, re-immersed it and left it to soak. When I went back, I tried my fingers in those most translucent areas, wondering if they were clear of the backing, or if I had actually scraped away some of the paper of the print itself. Those areas felt greasy, which I took to be remaining glue. I figured that the water might not be removing the glue but it was softening it and causing it to swell (the danger of watching Baumgartner videos). I scraped gently at it and could feel my fingernails removing something, so I carefully worked over the entire surface of the print, gently scraping, looking for that greasy feel. The appearance of the paper became increasingly translucent as I continued until I could feel no more greasy patches and the translucency was of an even value over the entire surface. Then, as before, I removed it from the bath, patted off excess moisture and pressed it between blotting sheets. Once it was dry, I could clearly see that the print was on laid paper, even has a watermark (that I cannot read).

Both these prints have other issues that I have yet to deal with.

And there is a third print: Le Maitre D’Ecole by Edme Bovinet, 1809(?), after Adriaen van Ostade.


For some unaccountable reason, this print has been laminated to a piece of foamcore. I have removed the backing sheet and the foam, but have not gone further. I'm certain the adhesive is not water soluble and am concerned that the remaining backing paper is plasticized and water immersion ain't gonna help.

But you know I'll give it a try eventually.

 

If you haven't already found this: (It can be run through Google Translate if need be.)

https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Porte_de_la_Conférence

Debora

 

Thanks, looks like they turned out ok. I have used conservators a few times, expensive.

 

Interesting, thanks. It seems like it was a popular subject for prints, I have seen views from several angles.

 

https://www.auction.fr/_fr/lot/meri...lli-aelig-amsterdam-joost-broersz-et-16690254