Spanish Musician Playing the Mandolin
Life-Size Lithograph in Contemporary Color

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[WENTZEL, Jean Frédéric? ].

[Spanish musician in matador costume playing the mandolin].

Wissembourg (France), F.C. Wentzel & C. Burckardt, [ca. 1880s].

Chromolithographed broadside (165 x 68.5 cm). Printed on three attached sheets, untitled, number “151” at bottom, with cipher of printer “CBN. W” (i.e., C. Burckardt Nachfolger, Wissembourg) at bottom right corner. Light toning, some horizontal folds, otherwise very good.

Large, life-size chromolithographed broadside depicting a young man, in typical Spanish matador costume, strumming on a mandolin. It was printed by the firm originally established by the prolific Alsatian printer, Jean Frédéric Wentzel (1807-1869), a pioneering figure in the world of lithography. Born in Wissembourg, France, he initially trained as a bookbinder before founding his own lithographic workshop in 1831. Initially focusing on religious imagery, the workshop quickly expanded to include a diverse range of products, such as books, prints, picture books, and toys. 

At its peak, the printing house employed 60 individuals and produced over 2 million images annually using eighteen lithographic presses. The firm’s output now encompassed a wide range of subjects, including religious, humorous, and decorative themes. By 1869, it had surpassed the renowned Imagerie d’Epinal, establishing Wissembourg as one of Europe’s leading centers for popular image production.

After Jean Frédériic Wentzel’s death in 1869, his sons, Charles-Frédéric and Frédéric-Charles, continued the family business. However, the Franco-Prussian War of 1870 disrupted the workshop’s growth and led to its decline. Following the death of Frédéric-Charles in 1877, the firm joined forces with the printer Georg Friedrich Camille Burckardt, and it was renamed F.C. Wentzel – C. Burckardt Nachfolger. The small cipher at the lower right-hand corner of the present broadside (“CBN. W”, i.e. C. Burckardt Nachfolger, Wissembourg) suggests that it was printed by Burckardt and thus most likely issued in the late 1870s or 1880s.

* D. Lerch, L’Imagerie Wentzel de Wissembourg au XIX e siècle (Strasbourg, Istra, 1982).

Price: $1,850.00