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LAKE SUPERIOR
Offset litho of the original steel engraving by Charles Mottram, published by M. Knoedler & Co. New York, Goupil & Co, Paris & London. 1873, this lithograph Ottawa 2004.
After the painting by Frances Anne Hopkins ‘Canoes in a fog, Lake Superior ‘ 1869.
The image depicts three canoes travelling in a diagonal line away from the viewer, the slight wake and ripples suggest movement through the glassy stillness of the fog shrouded water of Lake Superior, the farthest canoe being swallowed into that indefinable space between water & sky, fleetingly reflected upon the still water. Fog is common along the north and east shores of Lake Superior in summer, slowly dissipating in the morning sunlight, or rolling in swiftly, obscuring the shoreline; it can be cold, impenetrable and eerie. Frances Anne Hopkins faithfully captured that ethereal, timeless quality. Characteristically, she has included herself a seated passenger alongside her husband in the center of the nearest canoe, she has chosen as her viewpoint the whole canoe, as if she was travelling in another along side it.
Frances Anne Hopkins. ?1838 - 5 March 1919. Was the granddaughter Sir William Beechey (1753 - 1839), a renown portrait painter who was able to include royalty among his clients. Her father Rear Admiral Frederick William Beechey (1796 - 1856 ) artist, explorer, author. Frances Anne arrived at Lachine, Canada at age 20 following her marriage to Edward Martin Hopkins, HBC. chief factor of the Montreal Department of the Hudson’s Bay Company (HBC.). Frances, accompanied her husband on his tour of inspection to Fort William 1864, possibly by way of diversion following the death of her son. This was one of at least three long canoe trips they made together. The Hopkins’s remained in Canada 12 years with some trips to England & Europe, during which she exhibited in London. Canoes in a Fog, Lake Superior was accepted for exhibition at the Royal Academy, in May 1869. In 1923 the public Archives of Canada purchased her four ‘Voyager paintings’, and her work did provide an impetus for younger painters of the Dominion to portray their own country and the many facets of its way of life.
20 x 30" (55.7 x 76.2 inc. letters
Click for more information on the printing
technique.
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THE EPITOME OF BRITISH EQUESTERIAN ART
Click here for enlargement of above image
CECIL CHARLES WINDSOR
ALDIN RBA.
HORSE TYPE SERIES: HUNTER AND FOX HOUNDS. [‘Brains’]
POLO PONY AND STICKS. [‘Activity’]
THOROUGHBRED AND GROOM. [‘Quality’]
Three Scarce colour Photolithographs each laid onto backing sheets as issued, each signed in graphite on backing sheet, from the set of Four Horse Types.
Published by Welbeck Publishing Co. Ltd. London. 1932
Each mounted within a period French line and panel matt, and set into their original decorated
gilt - lip mahogany frames.
These three very scarce images were issued as a limited edition, (of which these are number 38), by the Welbeck Publishing Co. 1932 (some sources say 1920’s) after the original pastel drawings of four ‘Horse Types’ by Cecil Aldin (the Shire Horse – ‘Strength’ completes the series). Each is signed by the artist in graphite below left on the original backing sheet as issued, a printed signature also appears in the image.
The images are considered to be among the finest examples of British equestrian art.
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Cecil Charles Windsor Aldin (1870-1935) was born in Slough, in 1870, and lived near Reading, England. His artistic talent for portraying animals and rural life developed at an early age. He left school at the age of sixteen and, encouraged by his father, a builder by profession but himself a skilled amateur artist, Aldin enrolled in the Royal College of Art. Cecil was later influenced by British sporting artist William Frank Calderon (1865-1943), an artist and teacher who founded The School of Animal Painting in Sussex in 1894 and who was later to teach Sir Alfred Munnings (1878-1959) and Lionel Edwards (1878-1966), two famous British sporting artists also at work in the early twentieth century.
Image size each 15 1/2 x 27 1/4" Frame size each 27 x 31 1/4”
A prolific painter, Aldin is known in particular for his sporting art, sensitive depictions of dogs, horses, and hunting scenes in the English countryside. He was successful and admired in his own time, as a writer and illustrator of books and magazines, his images becoming more popular with the passage of time. “Cecil Aldin can justly be described as one of the leading spirits in the renaissance of British sporting art” (Alan Horne, The Dictionary of 20th Century British Book Illustrators, p. 67).
But as a painter of renown, he became one of the most popular and successful of all British sporting artists. Aldin is best known for his large prints of hunts, coaching and races. His sporting art featured one of his lifelong passions, hunting. He became famous for his watercolours and humorous prints showing foxhunting scenes in the English countryside, as well as his ability to portray the dogs, horses, and animals that were the protagonists of these scenes. In particular, his special talent in sketching and painting dogs. In a funny pose, the tilt of a head or a cocked ear, Aldin captured the individual character of the many dogs and breeds he worked with. His art shows the camaraderie he felt with his canine friends and models, though his work is never overly cute or sweet.
His serious and exacting portrayal of scenes of hunting, racing and horse portraiture is among the finest in British Sporting Art. Aldin was the Master South Berkshire Hunt. He was elected a member of the Royal Society of British Artists in 1898.
The rarity of these original limited edition prints will only increase, as the metal printing plates originally used to produce these prints were destroyed in World War II. Accordingly, no new editions of Aldin's prints pulled from these original plates can ever be issued.
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TWO GREAT SPORTING IMAGES
Doncaster Races - Race for the great St Leger Stakes, 1836
Plate 2: Approbation - off in good style
Original hand coloured aquatint, engraved by J. Harris after James Pollard. Published Ackermann, London 1837. Laid to card, foxing, 4 1/2 ” tear thorough middle left, right border partially replaced, some fading.
Depicts a field of 14 runners at full gallop with crowds of spectators both on the ground and on the stands in the background. This series is now extremely hard to find. Despite their condition and selling w.a.f. these are still desirable aquatints by one of the great masters of the medium. They could certainly be restored and condition improved, making them a good buy at this price for the racing enthusiast.
177/8 x 273/8" plate size.
Doncaster Races - Race for the great St Leger Stakes, 1836
Plate 3: Anticipation - who is the winner
Original hand coloured aquatint, engraved by J. Harris after James Pollard. Published Ackermann, London 1837. Laid to card, foxing, 4 ” tear thorough middle right border, some fading.
The fourteen runners approach the finish line under the scrutiny of the mounted race marshal and officials seen with their crowd control batons as they line the racecourse. The large crowd of spectators is seen behind the fences, many of the wealthier atop carriages. The large towering grandstand, seen in the left of the picture, which had been erected at a cost of £2,637 by the architect John Carr, is similarly thronged with enthusiastic race goers. In the foreground, the elegant starter’s box with its bell.
In 1776 a group of sportsmen subscribed to a new sweepstakes which two years later gained its name from the popular Lt-General Anthony St. Leger. The same year the venue moved to the new course on the town moor. By the 1800’s the race was recognized as a Classic.
This series is now extremely hard to find. Despite their condition and selling w.a.f., these are still desirable aquatints by one of the great masters of the medium. They could certainly be restored and condition improved, making them a good buy at this price for the racing enthusiast.
18 x 271/2" plate size.
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James Pollard (1792-1867) studied and learnt the art of painting horses under his father, Robert, and by Thomas Berwick the art of engraving. He became a very successful and widely published painter of coaching scenes and between 1830-40 sporting, racing and steeplechase subjects. He excelled at background and his work was much sought after by both dealers and private patrons. Today he is appreciated for the historical accuracy and contemporary detail of his coaching and sporting scenes, together with his mastery of the aquatint process. Following the death of his wife and daughter his work declined. In all he engraved 146 of the 343 plates made after his paintings. |
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