Charles Keene (aka Charles Samuel Keene) (1823–1891)
“Lady Reading a Book”
(aka “Lady in 1860 Reading a Book"; “Girl with a Book” [Lumsden title]),
1860, from the 1903 edition of 21 of Keene’s etchings printed in an edition of
150 copies before the plates were cancelled and illustrated in E.S Lumsden's (1962)
"The Art of Etching” (New York, Dover, p. 270; illus. p. 271). This is one
of Keene’s most famous etchings and Lumsden (1962) proposes that the “rich
blacks, the luminosity and the poise of the delicate head are beyond praise” (ibid).
The British Museum
offers the following information about the 1903 edition:
“Twenty-one Etchings by
Charles S. Keene. Printed by F. Goulding. Introduction and Notes by M. H.
Spielmann" (London, The Astolat Press) 1903; a portfolio of 21
individually mounted prints depicting various figurative and landscape
subjects, including Mrs Heseltine knitting, a woman reading, Mme. Zambaco
drawing, a man playing the cello, an old man by a stove, men and women in
historical costume, and other character studies, views of buildings, interiors,
and scenes on canals and coasts. With letterpress titlepage, introduction and
notes on the etchings in four separate fascicles. Held in a blue paper wrapper
kept within original red cloth portfolio” (https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/object/P_1935-0422-1-1-21).
Etching with pale plate
tone on fine Japanese paper attached to a support sheet (as published).
Size: (sheet) 20.2 x
16.2 cm; (plate) 15.9 x 12.7 cm.
Signed on plate with
ligature monogram at lower left: “CK”.
Inscribed on plate at left
with the etched biting times for the printing plate: “1st Bite 20 M[ins]/
2nd [bite] 15”. Interestingly, based on the biting times for the
plate, Lumsden (1962) proposes that Keene’s “acid cannot have been as strong as
half-and-half nitric” (ibid).
Pennell & Chesson 9
(Joseph Pennell & Wilfrid Hugh Chesson 1897, “The work of Charles Keene;
with an introduction & comments on the drawings illustrating the artist's
methods”, New York, R.H. Russell, p. 271, cat. no. 9; see this publication online
at archive.org: https://archive.org/details/workofcharleskee00penn_0/page/270/mode/2up).
For those interested in
the splendid gown worn by the young lady portrayed and the identity of
the sitter, Pennell & Chesson (1897) offer the following description:
“Wears crinoline and
Montero hat with two white feathers and a chignon. … Mrs. A.J. Hipkins was told
it was a portrait of the artist's sister” (p. 271).
Condition: richly linked,
strong impression with margins and attached to a support sheet (as published?) along the upper edge.
The sheet is in near pristine condition with no tears, holes, folds, losses,
abrasions, stains, foxing or signs of handling.
I am selling this famous
etching possibly created after being spurred on by the artist’s friendship with
James Whistler, for the total cost of AU$364 (currently US$256/EUR219.98/GBP200.87
at the time of this listing) including Express Mail (EMS) 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 rare etching by one of the major 19th
century graphic artists known for his illustrations in Punch magazine, 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
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