Samuel Palmer’s etching, “The herdsman's cottage”, 1850

Samuel Palmer (1805–1881)

“The herdsman's cottage” (aka “Sunset”; “Sunrise”), 1850, published in “The Portfolio” (November 1872) under the title “Sunrise” and later published by PG Hamerton (1875) in “Examples of Modern Etching” and again by PG Hamerton (1880 third edition) in “Etching and Etchers.”

Size: (sheet) 30.8 x 22 cm; (indistinct platemark) 12? x 10? cm; (image borderline) 9.7 x 7.7 cm

Etching on buff coloured laid paper with full margins as published.

Inscribed on the plate below the image borderline at lower left margin: “SP”

State ii (of ii) with the addition of the artist’s initials

Lister 1969/1988 E.3.II (Raymond Lister 1969, “Samuel Palmer and his Etchings”, Watson-Guptill, p. 100; Raymond Lister 1988, “Catalogue Raisonné of the Works of Samuel Palmer”, Cambridge)

The British Museum offers the following description of this print:

“Man and dog herding cattle in a wood by a cottage in the sunset. 1850 Etching”

(http://www.britishmuseum.org/research/collection_online/collection_object_details.aspx?objectId=1416906&partId=1&searchText=Samuel+Palmer&page=1)

Condition: richly inked, well-printed, virtually faultless copy in near pristine condition despite its age. .... oops! when I was posting the details I discovered the tiniest of a tiny hole that I had overlooked

I am selling this superb impression in museum-quality condition by one of the most famous of the British printmakers for AU$711 (currently US$542.13/EUR457.28/GBP407.91 at the time of posting this listing) including postage and handling to anywhere in the world.

If you are interested in purchasing this print which the artist, arts writer and publisher, Philip Gilbert Hamerton, describes as being “like a pearl or diamond without flaw” (cited by Elixabeth Harvey-Lee: http://www.elizabethharvey-lee.com/exhibitions/palmer/palmer03_herdsman.htm) please contact me (oz_jim@printsandprinciples.com) and I will send you a PayPal invoice to make the payment easy.

This print has been sold

Although the size of this print is very small—it’s about the size of one’s palm (presuming that everyone’s palm is around 9.7 x 7.7 cm)—the image is like a glimmering ember of a fiery light illuminating darkness. I may sound a tad poetic in how I see this tiny image but for me it captures perfectly the startling effect of what could best be described as a blast of radiating light from either a setting or rising sun filtering through a forest. No wonder that the herdsman shown in the lower-right corner looks up to contemplate the visual blast.