Gerard de Lairesse (1640 or 1641-1711): Adam & Eve in Paradise with Laughing Snake - Intaglio Print 1680

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Rembrandt's Portrait of the Artist Gerard de Lairesse (circa 1665-67)(above)

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The Garard de Lairesse print arrived this afternoon. The post office, as usual, managed to beat the heck out of the package yet the print survived the exterior damage intact. I am just glad the seller left a wide margin of cardboard around the print to protect it otherwise it would have been a worthless piece of 1680 paper. The paper is nice and thick and the impression looks like it was printed last week, which as my luck goes lately, it probably was (just kidding - the German seller is quite reliable). I scanned it for this post. The print is slightly wider than the scanner bed and the writing in Latin at the bottom of the print is missing but the detail of the print itself is captured well. (below). That Latin phrase "Omnibus hoc vitium est" translates "Everyone has this flaw" and comes from one of Horace's Satires (Latin for miscellaneous poems), warning us that we should be lenient when judging other people's flaws, especially in the case of friends. You never know when a rock might come flying through the walls of your own glass house, I guess. From the looks of Eve's biceps, it looks like she could take Adam in an arm-wrestling match, that is if she can catch him.

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