Herbert Thomas Dicksee’s drypoint with aquatint, “The Challenge”, c1910

Herbert Thomas Dicksee (1862–1942)

“The Challenge”, c1910, portraying the then elderly lion called “Punch” at London's Zoological Gardens (Regent Park)—a lion that Dicksee had made many previous studies (see, for example, the etching: https://www.worthpoint.com/worthopedia/herbert-dicksee-original-19th-etching-1854584699)—gazing into the sky while standing in a romantic lake-edge setting.

Note: after Dicksee died in 1942, most of the artist’s printing plates were destroyed following instructions of his will.

For those unfamiliar with Dicksee's prints, Nicholas Price and The Park Gallery offer a superb PDF booklet, “Herbert Dicksee (1862–1942): The Big Cat Etchings”: http://www.pricefineart.com/wp-content/uploads/Dicksee-catalogue-Big-Cats-.pdf. 

Drypoint with aquatint printed with a cool black ink on cream wove paper.

Size: (sheet) 24.9 x 35.5 cm; (plate) 17.8 x 25.3 cm; (image borderline) 16.2 x 24 cm.

Inscribed on plate within the image borderline: (lower left) “HD” (artist’s monogram).

Lettered on plate below the image borderline: (left) “H Dicksee pinx & sc.”; (centre) “The Challenge.”

Condition: well-printed, velvety impression with full margins (as published?). Beyond a pencil notation at lower right (recto) and verso, the sheet is in near pristine condition.

I am selling this small in size, but grand in scale, etching by Dicksee—compare it to the enormous etching by the same artist that I listed earlier: https://www.printsandprinciples.com/2019/09/herbert-dicksees-etching-maternal-care.html—for the total cost of AU$279 (currently US$199.84/EUR169.36/GBP152.66 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 very poetic drypoint of a lion contemplating a world bigger than what it can see, please contact me (oz_jim@printsandprinciples.com) and I will send you a PayPal invoice to make the payment easy.