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Is it important that a bookplate is signed by the artist?
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Nowadays it is a common use that the graphic artist signs his prints.
Bookplates printed in a small edition are mostly signed in pencil by the artist. Prints that are signed by hand are considered (sometimes much) more valuable than the unsigned ones. For larger editions, the artist's name, his initials or his logo is often applied to the plate. It can be written clearly or be hidden in the drawing. Sometimes it is even barely visible to the naked eye. Nevertheless it still happens on modern bookplates that there is not any trace of the artist's name. You can find some of them on the page 'unidentified artists'. Sometimes the style of the drawing might suggest who the artist was. |
Unidentified (Hungarian?) artist.
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However, signing a print was not customary before the 18th century. So we often do not know who the artist was. Even in illustrated books the name of the artist was not always mentioned.
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For example the splendid interpretation of 'Leda and the Swan' alongside, is one of the more than 450 copper engravings from the scarce book 'Metamorphoses d'Ovide en Rondeaux', published in Amsterdam by Abraham Wolfgang in 1679.
The artist's name is neither mentioned on the plates nor in the book work. Moreover, for realizing such a huge assignment it was not unusual to appeal to several artists and/or engravers. |
