ANONYMOUS, AFTER JEAN COUSIN THE ELDER (CIRCA 1490 - 1560)

Both the subject and attribution of this very rare print remain unresolved. Tentatively attributed to Jean Cousin in 1865 by Robert-Dumesnil, it was more firmly assigned to Cousin by Firmin-Didot in his monograph of 1872, on the basis of its style and 'seriousness'. Current scholarship is divided as to whether Cousin engraved any prints himself; although the present engraving is now generally believed to be after a design by Cousin by an unknown artist. Surviving examples are of the greatest rarity: Firmin-Didot knew of only two impressions, one in the Bibliothèque impériale, Paris (now Bibliothèque nationale de France), and another in the collection of M. de Baudicour, the whereabouts of which are not known.