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, Johann Jacob Lotter, 1709.

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

Modern half calf with decorated paper sides.

          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 copy offered here is the third edition and final edition. All three German editions were published by Johann Ulrich Kraus. The first two editions were printed in 1687 and 1690 in Augsburg by Jacob Koppmayer and the present third edition was printed in Augsburg for Kraus by Johann Jacob Lotter in 1709.

In this third edition, the emblem plates are clearly in a second state, with German text added. They also appear to have been reworked, resulting in notably deep impressions. The large tapestry plates, by contrast, seem to remain unchanged. On the first frontispiece, the inscription “Johan Ulrich Kraus fecit” appears at lower left; this area is blank in the corresponding frontispiece of the first 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:
Minor rubbing to front board. Paper generally slightly toned. Fine impressions throughout. In very good condition.

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.