References: Hollstein 19, second state
of two with the artist’s inscription and date
A fine impression with thread margins all
round. Remains of window-mounting and hinges on the verso, pale even
discolouration, a tiny abrasion upper left corner, otherwise in very good
condition. 123 x 155 mm
Jan Verkolje was a painter who trained under Jan Lievens. He was also important for making a small body of mezzotint engravings during the first decades after the invention of the technique around 1642, possibly under the influence of Abraham Blooteling. It is not certain whether Verkolje spent some years in England as many of the early Dutch mezzotinters did, greatly popularizing the medium there. Walpole cited him among the engravers published by A. Browne. As a painter he was not an animalier, but spaniels appear repeatedly in his indoor settings, as well as in a hunting portrait. Besides the leaping spaniel, he also engraved in mezzotint a Sleeping Spaniel and a Spaniel crouching to the right, neither dated but presumed to be within the same time span. These prints, incunabula of mezzotint, are of the utmost rarity.
