Bertuch, Two Snakes with Open Jaws, 1805, Print

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This antique snake print shows two serpents, one with its jaws wide open to show the teeth and forked tongue, … Read more This antique snake print shows two serpents, one with its jaws wide open to show the teeth and forked tongue, on an original hand coloured plate from the Vienna edition of Bertuch's Bilderbuch headed Amphibien VII. The upper snake, in brown with greenish scales, twists into a large figure of eight while it gapes at the viewer, and the lower snake, almost black, raises its head with a red forked tongue. Bertuch's text names the species on each plate; these have not yet been confirmed for this sheet, but the dramatic poses make it one of the more striking reptile plates of the early volumes. The plate comes from the Vienna edition of Bertuch's Bilderbuch, published in Vienna under the title Bilderbuch zum Nutzen und Vergnuegen der Jugend. Its source is the celebrated Bilderbuch fuer Kinder, the picture book for children conceived and edited by Friedrich Justin Bertuch in Weimar, whose plates were engraved afresh by Viennese engravers for this edition. Most plates carry their subject class and number in German, Latin and French across the top, so that the work could teach languages as well as natural history. Here the heading belongs to the series of amphibians, a class in which Bertuch, following the naturalists of his day, grouped snakes, lizards, crocodiles, frogs and even seals. The small engraved mark IV.B.28 places the sheet in volume 4 of the Vienna edition, one of the volumes issued in Vienna in the first years of the nineteenth century. It is a copperplate engraving, coloured by hand with watercolour in the manner of the Weimar original. The plate is signed by Jacob Xaver Schmuzer, one of the Viennese engravers who worked on this edition. Bertuch drew his images from the best natural history books of his time, and the result is a lively, accessible record of how the natural world was understood around 1800. Single plates from the Bilderbuch are popular with collectors of antique natural history prints, and a group of related plates makes a handsome display in a study, library or hallway. The sheet is in good condition for its age, with light toning, a few spots and a small chip at the lower edge well clear of the image, which remains clean and strong. This is an original antique print, not a modern reproduction. This item is sold unframed. Any framed or interior images are shown for presentation and inspiration only, unless the listing explicitly states that the item is sold framed. See less