Nicolaes DE BRUYN (Antwerp 1571 - Rotterdam 1656) "The Golden Age" Original burin etching signed in the plate in the lower center "Nicola de Bruin Sculptor" and dated in the cartouche on the left 1604, from a subject by Abraham Bloemaert. Exemplary in the first state, with the date and without the address of Van Der Bruggen, printed on a portion of laid paper bearing the filigree “Arme con tre Corone”, Briquet 1190, referring to paper production in Maëstricht of the early 17th century , trimmed to the impression of the slab without leaks, slightly burnished and with various restored tears, the trace of a central vertical crease and some slight abrasions visible on the verso but overall in a good state of conservation considering the size and rarity. Mariette defines this print as "... une des plus belles choses que l'on ait gravé d'après Bloemaert". Bloemaert's original drawing dated 1603 is kept at the Stadelsches Kunstinstitut in Frankfurt. Bolten in his study of Bloemaert's drawings reproduces a specimen in all the same as ours at table 483 °. Bibliography: Bolten "Abraham Bloemaert The Drawings" Leiden 2007 n ° 483. Briquet "Les Filigranes" Mansfield 2000 No. 1190. Hollstein "Dutch and Flemish Etchings ....." Amsterdam 1949 vol.IV n ° 129. LeBlanc "Manuel de l'Amateur d'Estampes" Paris 1854 vol.1 pag.538 n ° 100. Roethlisberger "Abraham Bloemaert and his sons" Ghent 1993 n ° 70. Wurzbach "Niederlandisches Kunstler Lexicon" Leipzig 1906 - 1911 vol.1 pag.218. Measurements in mm: 443ca x 683ca (the sheet)