Hubert von Herkomer’s etching with drypoint, “The Swing”, 1878

Hubert von Herkomer (aka Sir Hubert von Herkomer) (1849–1914)

“The Swing” (aka “Femme se Balançant”), 1878, printed and published in Paris by Goupil & Cie (fl.1827–1919).

Etching and drypoint with plate tone printed on laid paper (“Van Gelder” watermark) with wide margins.

Size (sheet) 64.7 cm: (plate) 38 x 30.5 cm; (image borderline) 37 x 29.5 cm.

Inscribed in plate below the image borderline (please be mindful that there may be errors in my reading of the inscription): (lower left corner) “The Swing/ Imprimé et publié par Goupil et C^ie Paris// H.H. 78/ Op:16”.

Henri Beraldi (1889) in “Les Graveurs du XIX Siecle: GUÉRIN – LACOSTE” (Paris, Librairie L. Conquet, vol. 8) lists this print as one of Von Herkomer’s eleven important etchings (p. 109).

Hubert von Herkomer offers the following description of this print: “Also a portrait. The figure is burin work (with the feeling of a wood-draughtsman), and the rest is all ‘‘chance work”—relying on the accidents of biting in with acids through imperfect grounds” (Hubert von Herkomer’s (1882), “Descriptive catalogue of the portraits, etchings and engravings by Hubert von Herkomer”, exh. cat. [Nov. 25, 1882], New York, M. Knoedler's Gallery, p.11, cat. no. 9; see https://archive.org/details/frick-31072000213902/page/n13/mode/2up).

Condition: a richly inked and well-printed (near faultless) impression with generously wide margins in near pristine condition with no tears, holes, folds, abrasions, stains, foxing or signs of handling.

I am selling this large etching and drypoint of a young woman on a swing—a subject famously explored in Pierre-Auguste Renoir’s painting, “La Balançoire”, executed two years before this print—for a total cost of AU$283 (currently US$189.16/EUR171.15/GBP150.66 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 extraordinarily fine etching exemplifying what the artist describes as the “etching fever” that took hold of him in the Spring of 1878 (see Herkomer’s catalogue [1882] entry for cat. no. 1, p. 10), please contact me (oz_jim@printsandprinciples.com) and I will send you a PayPal invoice to make the payment easy.