$1,500.00
A proof state with alternative lettering to the published state of this famous scene of the death of Cook
Artist: Claude Fessard (1740?-1803?) after John Webber (1751-1793)
Title: Mort tragique du Capitaine Cook
Date: circa 1784
School: French, French XVIIIth-century
Medium: etching and engraving
Dimensions: 292 x 338mm (plate), 320 x 380mm (support)
Watermark: none visible
Inscriptions/marks: lettered in the plate lower border <<Mort Tragique du CAPITAINE COOK .. le 15 Janvier, 1779/Sur la côte d’Owhy-bec l’une des Isles découvertes par le Navigateur Sandwich>>, scratched in the plate lower left <<J Webber..>>, scratched in the plate lower right <<Fessard sc>>, both names barely visible
Condition: good condition, currently stuck down on all four edges on a secondary support
Description: Based on John Webber’s drawing and Byrne and Bartolozzi’s engraving of the death of Captain Cook. A French copy in the same orientation with partial alternative lettering and scratched artists’ name but before the addition of the full lettering and publisher’s details and dedication to Bougainville. A proof state before the date of Cooks’ death was changed to 15 February and other wording altered.
Reference: IFF, 18e siècle, t. IX, Fessard, 145. Describes a state with scratched and barely legible artists’ names but with a slightly different lettering. See BM 1877,0609.1999 and 1892,0714.758 for the published state and an unfinished state of the print.
Provenance: Dunbar Sloane, Wellington, Rare Book Auction 11 August 2022, lot 319
