February 2020

The Instruction of Mary, copper engraving, coloured, with fabric applications

Technische Informationsbibliothek (TIB), Slg. Albrecht Haupt, kl D GR 46

In the sheet depicting Saint Anne teaching her daughter Mary to read, a special variant of the use of printed works is manifested, in which the depicted garments are cut out and replaced by real fabric. Typical for such works called "estampes habillées" is also the rich colouring of the printed areas such as incarnate parts, architectural motifs, attributes and ornaments. The object of the extensive adornment in this case was a copperplate engraving based on a model engraved by Abraham Christian Wilhelm and published by Martin Engelbrecht in Augsburg before 1756. It is not clear from the work itself who was responsible for the alteration and when it took place. The fact that Martin Engelbrecht's publishing house had numerous cut-out sheets on the one hand, but also costume series, which were also often "dressed", on the other, could be an indication that the adornment was also done in the environment of the publishing house in Augsburg.

The Haupt Collection contains three further estampes habillées, two of which point to Augsburg as the place of origin due to the underlying prints (again Engelbrecht and Johann Lorenz Rugendas).

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