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Framed and on the wall
Frame and rooms are illustrations of how the print could look, drawn to its real size; it is sold unframed unless the description says otherwise.
Saints and Devotion
Pope Pius IX, Wood Engraved Portrait, Dittmarsch, Stuttgart, circa 1850
Anno Domini MDCCCLcirca 1850
£115
$150 · €135
Original print, not a reproduction
Ships worldwide from the Netherlands, flat, insured and tracked. 14-day returns.
- Date
- circa 1850
- Technique
- Wood engraving
- Coloring
- Uncolored
- Condition
- Good. Good condition for its age. Light toning with scattered foxing and a faint stain to the margins; a faint crease at the upper right corner. The image is clean. Please review the images for further condition details.
- Faith
- Christianity
- Collection
- Saints and Devotion
- Era
- 1850 and after, Chromolithographs and devotional prints
- Stock no.
- BG-14343-32
What the condition grades mean
- Excellent
- Bright and clean, with no faults worth mentioning.
- Very good
- Only light signs of age, such as faint toning.
- Good
- Normal signs of age for a sheet of this period: toning, some foxing, small marks or neat old repairs.
- Fair
- Clear faults such as staining, tears or repairs, priced to match.
Every fault we see is written in the condition note, and the whole sheet is shown uncropped in the photos.
A portrait of Pope Pius IX lettered in German "Papst Pius IX." (Pope Pius IX), with the line "Stich und Verlag von C. Dittmarsch's Kunstanstalt in Stuttgart." (engraved and published by C. Dittmarsch's art establishment in Stuttgart). The pope is shown as he looked in the first years of his reign: a full, clean shaven face, short hair beneath the white zucchetto, seated half length in a carved armchair and raising his right hand in blessing. Over his fur trimmed mozzetta he wears an embroidered stole decorated with crosses and scrolling ornament, tied at the chest with a cord and tassels.
The portrait is cut in wood, in the bold black line manner that German publishing houses used for popular portraits and illustrated papers, and it is printed with a letterpress caption on a large sheet without a plate mark. The directness of the line gives the face a strong, graphic presence on the wall.
Giovanni Maria Mastai Ferretti (1792 to 1878) was elected pope in 1846 and reigned for almost thirty two years, the longest pontificate after that of Saint Peter. His early reforms in the Papal States made him a popular hero across Europe in 1846 and 1847, and portraits of the new pope were issued in great numbers in Germany as in Italy and France. The revolutions of 1848 ended that brief liberal season. He went on to proclaim the dogma of the Immaculate Conception in 1854, to convene the First Vatican Council in 1869, which defined papal infallibility, and to see the end of the Papal States with the taking of Rome in 1870. He was beatified in 2000.
The youthful likeness, made before the heavier features of his later portraits, places the print around 1850.
An interesting document of the fame of Pius IX in the German speaking world, suited to a collection of papal portraits, Catholic history or nineteenth century popular prints.
Condition: Good condition for its age. Light toning with scattered foxing and a faint stain to the margins; a faint crease at the upper right corner. The image is clean. Please review the images for further condition details.
This is an original antique print, not a modern reproduction. This item is sold unframed. Any framed or interior images are shown for presentation and inspiration only, unless the listing explicitly states that the item is sold framed.
