Publisher/Manufacturer: Gwasg Gregynog (Gregynog Press) Series title: The Romance of Parzival and the Holy Grail (plate 10)
1936 Wood engraving in black on white wove paper
299 x 250 mm. Loan: Gregynog, Davies sisters 1989
Proof taken from the original wood block at Gregynog in 1936. From a set of twelve illustrations for Wolfram von Eschenbach's (d. c.1230) narrative poem 'Parzival'. The blocks for the illustrations were engraved by Mrozewski between September 1933 and June 1934 whilst living in Amsterdam. They were never published in his lifetime. In 1990 Gwasg Gregynog published 'The Romance of Parzival and the Holy Grail', designed by David Esslemont and with an introduction by Carl Lofmark. This proof was reproduced - by offset lithography at Westerham Press, Kent - for one of the illustrations. The volume was published in an edition of 210 at £240. Ten of these had a special binding by James Brockman. Eschenbach's poem was the inspiration behind Richard Wagner's 'Parsival'. Energy and movement are successfully expressed through multiple swords and the way in which horses appear to dance around each other. The violence is emphasised by a secondary battle that occurs beneath Parzival and Gawan between their squires
Book illustration for the Arthurian legend 'Parzival'; foreground, on the left, two attendants? fighting with spears one of whom wears only chain mail pants and socks, on the right, the bodies of two dead soldiers and a cabbage-like plant; middleground, the medieval knights Gawan and Parzival, wearing armour, helmets, a cape, and chainmail, fight on horseback with swords and shields; background, a castle, hills and soldiers fighting. Engraved in fine detail in a symbolist / fantasy style with gravers of varied widths