FURTHER WORD ON GOTTLIEB MARSTALLER, THE WARSAW ENGRAVER

Gottlieb Jacob Marstaller was a professional engraver employed on a permanent basis at the court of Stanislaus Augustus in 1765 to 1785 who specialised in book illustration (title headpiece, tailpiece vignettes), as well as text illustrations. Not all his works are signed, which is why the list of potentially attributable pictures remains open to revision. As a result investigation into 18th-century old prints housed in the collections of Warsaw's National Library, almost ten new works have been attributed to Marstaller, each being an unsigned copperplate etching combined with watercolours.The copperplates most recently attributed to Marstaller confirm his high reputation in Warsaw in the second half of the 18th century; nor is it the first time that researchers wonder at how it possibly came to pass that they know virtually nothing about the life of this 'better-than-average' artist; even basic information such as where and when he was born and died.