Vanilla Plant Plate 25

Article description

Original antique counter proof. Finely hand colored counter proof of the copper engraving in reverse, published in the famous series 'Over de Voortteeling en Wonderbaerlyke veranderingen der Surinaemsche Insecten'. Technique: A counter proof is the technique of taking an impression in reverse from a freshly printed, mostly uncolored image, that just has been removed from the printing press, before the ink has been allowed to dry. Maria Sybilla Merian used this technique for her series 'the Insects of Surinam' and as well for her second series 'the European Insects'. In this way she received soft and lightly lines in ink on the paper in the background, which made it very suitable for her in coloring these counter proofs, with the result of producing easily prints, looking like water colors. Compared to the hand colored engravings, this technique was more complicated and time consuming, she only produced a few deluxe or special editions in this technique. The literature says that all of the counter proofs were hand colored by herself or by her daughter.

Plate 25