STRADA, Vespasiano
(1582-1622/24):

The Mystic Marriage of St. Catherine

Etching, before 1613, the death date of Nicolas van Aelst. Bartsch XVII, 309, 16

A fine, early impression still with polish marks and unfiled edges visible on two sides. Trimmed mostly on the platemark. A very small hole in front of the Christ child, a fox-mark in the doorway, otherwise in very good condition. (The artist’s fingerprint has been bitten into the plate upper right.) 174 x 126mm.
$1,600

This subject is one of the “sei quarti de Vespasiano”, ie. six prints in quarto size, mentioned in the will of Nicolaes van Aelst who published the plate (see Lorrizo, Loredana in Print Quarterly XXXI, March 2014, 3-20). Only one other impression of this charming small subject has appeared at auction in the past 25 years.