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拍品专文
In this anonymous French woodcut, the Money Devil stands on a treasure chest, surrounded by religious and institutional representatives trying to shoot him down with cannons, muskets and other weapons. The Money Devil, a popular subject of French vernacular culture, has its roots in the 16th century. According to Maurice de Meyer, the earliest representation of the subject can be found in a hand-coloured woodcut in the Rijksmuseum (RP-P-1950-412), a satirical broadsheet of Reformation propaganda. This print, dating circa 1560-1574, and the present impression share many common traits, including the composition and the poem divided into three tablets. In the example in the Rijksmuseum, however, the central figure of the devil is reversed and the print lacks the landscape in the background. Furthermore, the poem is printed in letterpress text, while in our copy, the inscriptions are xylographic. Above all, in the present impression the cutting of the image is superior to the Amsterdam version, more intricate and detailed, suggesting the influence of the German woodcut tradition.
The Amsterdam version bears the address of Jacques Boussy (1533 - before 1587), a print-seller based in the Rue Montorgueil, where several print-sellers and publishers were established between circa 1540 and 1650, among them the Boussy Family, François Desprez and Hoyau & Mathurin. The latter published a woodcut of a similar, more complex, composition with a figure of Death instead of the Devil, with a similar border to our impression (Lepape no. 277). Jacques Boussy, the publisher of the Amsterdam version, was the son of Jean Boussy I (d. 1547), the first publisher to settle in Rue Montorgueil. It seems plausible that the more primitive and recent Amsterdam version is based on an earlier woodcut from the rue Montorgueil, possibly the present one.
We are grateful to Vanessa Selbach of the Bibliothèque nationale de France for her help in cataloguing this lot.
The Amsterdam version bears the address of Jacques Boussy (1533 - before 1587), a print-seller based in the Rue Montorgueil, where several print-sellers and publishers were established between circa 1540 and 1650, among them the Boussy Family, François Desprez and Hoyau & Mathurin. The latter published a woodcut of a similar, more complex, composition with a figure of Death instead of the Devil, with a similar border to our impression (Lepape no. 277). Jacques Boussy, the publisher of the Amsterdam version, was the son of Jean Boussy I (d. 1547), the first publisher to settle in Rue Montorgueil. It seems plausible that the more primitive and recent Amsterdam version is based on an earlier woodcut from the rue Montorgueil, possibly the present one.
We are grateful to Vanessa Selbach of the Bibliothèque nationale de France for her help in cataloguing this lot.