A personification of Philosophy sitting on clouds with her feet resting on a globe, two putti at right holding a tablet.
Engraver and publisher: Charles Amand-Durand (1831-1905).
Artist: after Marcantonio Raimondi (Italian, ca. 1480–before 1534).
Media: heliogravure by master engraver Amand Durand. Original etching was created circa 1490, 2nd state. This impression is well more than 130 years old.
Production date: 1875.
Image size: 14,7x18 cms.
Sheet size: 39x45 cms.
Condition: good.
Amand-Durand was a master of the heliogravure etching by which an image was transferred through a photomechanical means onto a specially prepared copper plate, etched in acid, and then printed on damp paper on a hand press in limited quantities just as an etching would be.
It is a process that allowed for very detailed reproductions with all the gradations of tones found in the originals. He worked from actual fine quality prints of the original etchings, and his 19th century prints are often indistinguishable from the original artist etchings.