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Framed and on the wall
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Stunning Hand-Colored Antique Print of the Atlantic Wolffish or Devil Fish, 1842
€780 ($875, £660, €780)
Period original, not a reproduction.
Shipped from the Netherlands, flat, insured and tracked, worldwide. Returns accepted within 14 days.
- Date
- 1842
- Size
- 12.6 × 21.3 in (32 × 54 cm)
- Condition
- Good. Condition report: Excellent impression with strong original hand coloring. Wide margins with some scattered foxing and mild toning, primarily in the background, not affecting the image. Plate mark visible.
- Period
- Early 19th century
- Section
- Fish and shells
- Reference
- f_26778622
L'Anarrhique Loup (Anarhichas lupus), the Atlantic wolffish, an original hand-colored lithograph of 1842 from Paul Gaimard's Voyage en Islande et au Groenland. The caption reads "L'Anarrhique Loup, (Anarhichas lupus Linn.), (Islande)", with the running heading "Zoologie" and a plate number at the top.
The fish is drawn in full profile, with a broad head, heavy jaws and prominent canine teeth. Its body, a green and olive color, is crossed by darker vertical bands that fade toward the tail, and a long, brown dorsal fin runs along nearly the whole back. Below the fish at the center is a separate study of the jaws and teeth, set at an angle, and at the left is an outlined oval of the fish's cross section.
The plate belongs to the zoology volumes of the French expedition to Iceland and Greenland that Gaimard led in 1835 and 1836 on La Recherche, which began as a search for the lost vessel of Jean de Blosseville. The artist is credited as Bévalet and the lithographer as Bernard. The wolffish lives in the cold North Atlantic and feeds on shellfish and sea urchins, which its teeth are suited to crush.
