William Lee Hankey’s drypoint, "Madeleine”, c1917

William Lee Hankey (1869–1952)

"Madeleine”, c1917, drypoint on cream coloured wove (Japan) paper backed with a support sheet, inscribed with the artist’s monogram on plate and with the artist’s drystamp below the platemark and pencil signed by the artist.

Size: (sheet) 44.8 x 30.8 cm; (plate) 25.2 x 20.3 cm; (image) 24.7 x 19.8 cm.

Inscribed on plate with the artist’s monogram with copyright mark drawn beneath.

Drystamped with the artist’s monogram (Lugt Suppl. 2637a) below the plate mark at left of centre and pencil signed by the artist’s hand followed by hand written publication details: “W Lee-Hankey inv. et del.”

Condition: faultless early impression with richly inked burr in the drypoint lines, fully signed (i.e. monogramed on plate, drystamped monogram and hand-signed by the artist in pencil) and laid upon an archival support sheet of millennium quality washi paper. There is a chipped lower-left corner and there is minor age-toning (darkening) towards the edges of the sheet, otherwise the sheet is in excellent condition (i.e. there are no tears, holes, folds, abrasions, stains, foxing or significant signs of use).

I am selling this exceptionally rare etching—based on my lack of success in finding an impression of this print in any of the major museum repositories, nevertheless, to see other prints by this artist I recommend looking at the collection held by Campbell Fine Arts (http://www.campbell-fine-art.com/items.php?id=674)—for the total cost of AU$340 (currently US$239.71/EUR213.8/GBP183.46 at the time of this listing) including postage and handling to anywhere in the world (but not, of course, any import duties/taxes imposed by some countries).

If you are interested in purchasing this strong drypoint portrait by one of the influential printmakers at the beginning of the 20^th century—especially for his breath of handling and avoidance of affectation—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

The execution of this print by Hankey and the printing process involved is available in rare footage published on YouTube by British Pathé on Apr 13, 2014 with the title “The Art Of Engraving (1923)” (of course the process is drypoint and not engraving): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sm9CX3EBcWo