Study For Rumpelstilskin
Study For Rumpelstilskin
Signed Print
David Hockney
£1,600-£2,400
$3,200-$4,850 Value Indicator
$2,900-$4,300 Value Indicator
¥14,500-¥22,000 Value Indicator
€1,950-€2,900 Value Indicator
$16,000-$23,000 Value Indicator
¥320,000-¥470,000 Value Indicator
$2,000-$3,000 Value Indicator
AAGR (5 years) This estimate blends recent public auction records with our own private sale data and network demand.
There aren't enough data points on this work for a comprehensive result. Please speak to a specialist by making an enquiry.
Medium: Intaglio
Edition size: 15
Year: 1961
Size: H 32cm x W 56cm
Signed: Yes
Format: Signed Print
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Auction Results
| Auction Date | Auction House | Location | Hammer Price | Return to Seller | Buyer Paid |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| November 2023 | Sotheby's Online | United Kingdom | |||
| March 2018 | Christie's London | United Kingdom | |||
| April 2017 | Sotheby's Online | United Kingdom | |||
| June 2016 | Bonhams New Bond Street | United Kingdom | |||
| December 2014 | AAG: Arts & Antiques Group | Netherlands | |||
| June 2014 | Bonhams Knightsbridge | United Kingdom | |||
| February 2012 | Christie's London | United Kingdom |
Meaning & Analysis
Published in 1961, this etching by David Hockney was made eight years before his celebrated series Illustrations For Six Fairy Tales From The Brothers Grimm. Depicting four scenes from the famous fairy tale of Rumpelstiltskin, it is vastly different in style from the latter work, recalling instead other prints from this period including Myself and My Heroes with its inclusion of text such as ‘gold’, ‘prince’ and ‘princess’. Read from left to right the scenes do not appear in the chronological order of the story; Hockney begins with an image of the imp pointing at a pile of gold, explaining to the princess how she must give him her first born child (the prince etched on her swollen belly) if she wants to continue to be able to give the king his gold. The second scene shows the king raising his arms in glee at a pile of gold that was previously straw, the third shows Rumpelstiltskin in the act of spinning the straw into gold while humming a tune to himself, and the final section of the print shows the imp being subsumed by flames and laughing, perhaps in the moment before he famously stamps through the floor and falls to his death. Shown side by side the scenes make up a kind of predella of the kind found in medieval and Renaissance altarpieces.
