Gerard de Lairesse (1640 or 1641 -1711): Adam & Eve in Paradise with Laughing Snake - Intaglio Print 1680

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Rembrandt's Portrait of the Artist Gerard de Lairesse(Above)(1665-7)

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This morning when I went on eBay Austria I paid a visit to one of my favorite gallery sellers and I bought this beautiful 17th century intaglio print (directly below) by the Dutch painter and art theorist Gerard de Lairesse (1640*41*-1711). I just could not resist owning this beautiful print. I have trained as a painter but I have always been in love with printmaking ever since I bought my first Thomas Hart Benton lithograph in a second hand shop in NYC decades ago and took my first printmaking class at University. If you have been following this blog for any length of time you know how dear the subject of "Adam & Eve" is to my artistic heart. The subject gives an artist the opportunity to depict both the male and female nude in one composition and this one is really superb in its execution (no fig leaves for one thing).

Gerard de Lairesse was active during the Golden Age of Dutch Painting. Graphic arts and painting endeavors were not his only talents. His talents also included music, poetry, and theater. He was probably the most celebrated Dutch painter in the years following the death of Rembrandt. His academic treatises on painting and drawing were highly influential on later 18th century painters. He studied art under his father, Renier Lairesse, and Bertholet Flemalle. Gerard de Lairesse was a disciplined intellectual fiercely believing that only correct theory could produce good artistic results.

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Here is a small sampling of his mature works:

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