Melior est Fructus meus auro et Lapide pretiso. Pro. C. 8. (My fruit is better than gold and precious stones)
Claudine Bouzonnet Stella French
After: Jacques Stella French
Resting within an idyllic landscape, the Christ child balances atop Saint Joseph’s lap while offering an apple to the Virgin Mary, seated regally at far left. Bouzonnet Stella probably engraved this wholesome representation of the Holy Family before she began creating the prints after Nicolas Poussin for which she is best known. A previous state of the print contains the phrase "J. Stella in." inscribed below Mary’s right arm, confirming that Bouzonnet Stella had based it on her uncle Jacques Stella’s invention. A later owner of the copperplate, however, likely sought to enhance the print’s market value by effacing Stella’s name and adding a more recognizable one below—"Poussin pinxit" (Poussin painted this)—now detectable in this second state.
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