The complete set of her final and most ambitious print series

Claudine Bouzonnet-Stella (1636-1697); Michel de Masso; Jacques Stella (1596-1657); Nicolas Poussin (1594-1665).

Life and Passion of Christ.

[Lyon], [Michel de Masso], [1700].

13 engravings with etching on thick fibrous paper without watermark. All ca. 45,5 x 35 cm. (sheet). Signed on the plate N. Poussin in et pinx.; Claudia Stella sculp. Only on the Last Supper plate: Cum Privil. Regis.

Bound together in late 19th century black cloth.

Complete set of 13 very good impressions of one of the few print series by female 17th-century printmaker Claudine Stella. Claudine’s last name was Bouzonnet, but as her artist’s name, she took the last name of her famous uncle Jacques, who had trained her. Following Jacques Stella’s death in 1657, she became the head of the workshop and was granted exclusive rights by the king to publish prints after Stella’s designs. The impressive large plates of the series we offer here were her last project and arguably her most ambitious and esteemed works. Moreover, the story of their publication is an interesting family affair ending in fraud:
As stated in her will, Claudine had owned a series of thirty paintings by Jacques depicting the Life and Passion of Christ. She had made plates after these paintings: the ones we offer here. Upon her death, these were inherited by her cousin Michel de Masso, along with the explicit task to engrave or to commission the engraving of the remaining plates. Eventually, a series of 13 prints was published by De Masso in the year 1700 in Lyon, so he added 3 to Claudine’s 10 plates. The controversial part of the story starts when De Masso took the liberty to change the name of the painter of the originals from Jacques Stella to Nicolas Poussin, obviously to make them sell better resulting in a well-documented case of fraud (see Blunt).

Provenance: all plates with circular stamp on verso reading: "Seine colportage" (not in Lugt).

Condition: trimmed at the plate line, some slightly short at the foot. Paper slightly browned (as all copies we have seen). Bound between 2 stubs, occasionally covering approx. 1-2 mm. of image.

Literature:

Anthony Blunt, 'Jacques Stella, the De Masso family and falsifications of Poussin', The Burlington Magazine, CXVI (December 1974): 744-749

R.A. Weigert, Inventaire du fonds français, graveurs du XVIIe siècle, Bibliothèque nationale, Département des estampes, vol. II, Paris 1951, p. 82 (as published by Michel de Masso of Lyon).