Johanna Sibylla Küsel-Kraus (ca. 1650–1717); Johann Ulrich Kraus (1655–1719).

Tapisseries du Roy, ou sont representez les quatre elemens et les quatre saisons. Avec les devices qui les accompagnent et leur explication. Königliche Französische Tapezereijen, oder überaus schöne Sinn-Bilder in welchen die vier Element samt den vier Jahr-Zeiten […] vorgestellet werden.

Augsburg, Jacob Koppmayer for Johann Ulrich Krauss, 1687.

Folio (36 x 23 cm). [8], 129 pp. With 8 large etched plates showing tapestries (7 folding, 1 double-page), 32 emblematic illustrations within the text and 3 frontispieces.

Modern calf with two gold-tooled spine labels, sprinkled edges.

When Johanna Sibylla Küsel-Kraus and Johann Ulrich Kraus took over the Küsel workshop in the mid-1680s, the first major publication they issued was this magnificent reproduction of Louis XIV’s Gobelins tapestries after Charles Le Brun. The first four large plates, depicting the Elements tapestries, are signed exclusively with Johanna Sibylla’s name — “Johanna Sübijlla Krausen, eine gebohrne Küslen fecit” — while Johann Ulrich’s name does not appear beneath any of the prints in the book. In the preface he nevertheless referred to the “subtile Hand” of his wife, a fitting description in the context of these etchings, whose rendering of woven fabrics and textile surfaces was crucial. The work is justly regarded as Johanna Sibylla’s principal achievement as an etcher.

Based on the official Paris edition of 1670 containing André Félibien’s descriptions and verses by Charles Perrault and others, this Augsburg publication is the first bilingual French-German edition. The etchings are based on Sébastien Le Clerc’s models after Le Brun, though the compositions are here restored to the correct orientation of the original tapestries and reworked within elaborate Baroque ornamental frameworks characteristic of Augsburg print culture.

Born into the Küsel-Merian-de Bry family of engravers and publishers, Johanna Sibylla played a central role within the Küsel-Kraus workshop, which became an important vehicle for the transmission of French decorative models into the German-speaking world.

Condition:
Superb impressions throughout. Minor spotting to title-page; very minor worming to blank lower margin of pp. 105–111; small closed tear to blank lower margin of final leaf; one folding plate with tiny marginal waterstaining. Overall a fresh, clean, and well-preserved copy.

Further reading:
Ulrike Seeger, “Die ‘Tapisseries du roy’ des Verlags Johann Ulrich Kraus von 1687 – Ein Beitrag zum französischen Nachstichwesen in Augsburg vor 1700,” Münchner Jahrbuch der bildenden Kunst, 61 (2010), pp. 69–90.

Hollstein German XIX, nos. 314-346 (erroneously as 33 prints instead of 40).