COPPERPLATE ENGRAVING – “QUOS EGO” from the original painting by Peter Paul Rubens, and engraved by Schultheis, and published in the mid 1800’s.  The means by which a copperplate is engraved gives it more detail and depth to the picture.  Copperplate engravings are seen as the most perfect means of reproducing a painting or other forms of visual art, thus giving it the most artistic value of any form of engraving.  This engraving is in very good condition.  The actual engraving measures 6 ¾ x 8”, and is matted to 16” x 20” for easy framing. 

      Peter Paul Rubens designed the decoration of a triumphal edifice, erected on the occasion of the solemn entrance of Cardinal Ferdinand, Infant of Spain, into Antwerp. The sketches, from which the pictures were executed by Ruben’s pupils, under his superintendence, form part of a collection of copperplates illustrated by Theodor von Thulden, the explanation of which are written by Rubens himself.  The picture, known by the name of ‘Quos Ego’ was painted on one of the side-panels of the edifice, the entrance of the Cardinal Ferdinand being represented on the panel in the centre, and his meeting with Ferdinand III, after the battle of Nordlingen on the other side-panel.  The first of these three pictures, bought for the Dresden Gallery by Count Bruhl, refers to the voyage of the Infant, going as an ambassador of Italy, where he was to negotiate a peace, between the Duke of Savoy and the republic of Genoa.  In this voyage, crossing from Spain to Italy, he was sorely harassed by gales and rough weather.  In the foreground of the picture, on the right, Poseidon, the old ‘Earth-shaker’, as Homer calls him, is seen rising wrathful from his watery dominion, standing on his car, which is drawn by sea - horses, impetuously striding across the agitated waves.  Threatening the winds with his mighty trident, and driving away the thickening storm clouds, he is calming the sea for the Cardinal’s ships, which are seen in the distance, unmolested by the storm.  The subject of the picture was suggested by a passage in the Aeneid of Virgil, and especially by the verse: ‘Quos ego - sed praestat motos componere fluctus’ in which Poseidon is introduced addressing the winds.  Hence also the name of the picture: ‘Quos Ego’ (I’ll teach ye).  Rubens often indulges in allegories of this kind, influenced as he was by the Dutch painters of the sixteenth century, and especially by his master, Otto Venius; a trait, peculiar also to all creative minds, distinguished by works of plastic art embodying, as they do, the overflowing exuberance of their ideas in the form of Allegory.  Rubens is too much influenced, it is true, by the bad taste of his time, in employing Allegory, and in mixing mythological and historical elements; but his allegorical representations, distinguished by their animated conceptions and features of great individuality, are far superior to the cold, rigid, and forced imagery of other artists, showing at the same time the artist’s intimate knowledge and appreciation of ancient mythology and of antiquity, to which he is indebted for many ideas and subjects for his pictures.  Nowhere is his creative mind more independent or original than in treating subjects of this kind, and his power and vividness, displayed in his pictures belonging to his class, have never since been equaled by any other painter, excepting Cornelius. It is surprising that the artist, appreciating the antique as he did, should have copied nature and reality so closely in the forms and outlines of his pictures; but it only shows, how anxious Rubens was to be true to himself, how conscious in adopting this style of his own, and how determined in his undisguised opposition to the cold symmetry of the plastic line of beauty, merely for the sake of preserving his individuality and his picturesque style of painting.  There are but few painters that had such clear insight into the laws of art, as Rubens had; and some treatises of his, written by himself, especially his letters, give evidence, how well the artist understood the nature and the laws of his art.  Rubens, one of the noblest and most amiable characters, was not only the best educated and most intelligent artist, but also one of the best educated gentlemen of his time.

                                                                                    By Carl Clauss

IMPORTANT TO NOTE

Antique prints, engravings, and lithographs are printing processes, which use steel, copper, stone or wood blocks or plates to produce a picture on paper.

Most antique prints and engravings, which are seen on the internet today, are bookplates.  Because they are pages from a book, there are multiple copies in existence.  This does not, however, mean that they are "reproductions" that have been printed recently.  Because they were, at some point, part of books, some have been preserved in excellent condition, while others show signs of age, as yellow spots or darkness on the edge of the page from being handled.

Engravings, and lithographs are high quality pieces of art, as it took a highly trained artist many hours of work to produce one.  Although there may be multiple copies still in existence, the date of the item should be stated in the auction, thus giving the buyer an idea of its age.