Omer Talon Paris, early 1650s Engraving Mount: 55.7 x 40.5 cm This portrait is based on Philippe de Champaigne’s full-length painting of Omer Talon (1595-1652) produced in 1649. Champaigne was a founder of the French Academy in the mid 17th century and is best known for his portraits of royalty and important political figures. Talon’s … Read more
The Crowing with Thorns Italian, mid 1600s Engraving on laid handmade paper 52.5 x 35 cm Purchased 2000 (No. 2000.2)
Le Négligé Paris, 1741 Engraving Paper: 38.6 x 27.4 cm; mount: 63 x 51.5 cm Lebas’ print reproduces ‘The Morning Toilette’, painted by Chardin (1669-1779) in 1741. Many of Chardin’s pictures were of domestic interiors, scenes of childhood and maternal love, all of which were fashionable with 18th-century French audiences. Here, a young girl glances … Read more
Night (from the sequence ‘The Four Times of the Day’) London, 1738 Etching and graving, black ink on paper Paper: 48.6 x 40.2 cm; mount: 80.8 x 40.2 cm Disorder and chaos rule in this side-street of taverns and brothels near Charing Cross. Children sleep under a table while a drunken Freemason is escorted home … Read more
Evening (third in the sequence from ‘The Four Times of the Day’) London, 1738 Etching and engraving with red ink Paper: 48.5 x 40.6; mount: 80.8 x 60.5 cm Clenched fists and furrowed brows indicate an oncoming tantrum as this brother and sister quarrel over a gingerbread man. The contrast between the children’s elegant clothing … Read more
Noon (second in sequence from ‘The Four Times of the Day’) London, 1738 Etching and engraving, black ink on paper Paper: 49 x 41 cm; mount: 80.8 x 60.5 cm Dour-faced worshippers shuffle into the bright midday light from the Protestant French Huguenot church at St Giles’s-in-the-Field, London. Across the street, the rowdy patrons of … Read more
Morning (first in the sequence from ‘The Four Times of the Day’) London, 1738 Etching and engraving, black ink on paper Paper: 48.8 x 39.7 cm; mount: 80.8 x 60.5 cm A wealthy spinster crosses Covent Garden Piazza on a freezing morning. The spinster’s attention is riveted on two embracing couples, causing her to ignore … Read more
St Christopher Nuremberg, 1521 Engraving Paper: 11.7 x 74 cm; mount: 55.7 x 40.5 cm This print represents St Christopher, a third century martyr who served others by carrying them safely across a dangerous river. Christopher means ‘Christ-bearer’ and here he is shown bowing under the weight of a child who later revealed himself to … Read more
La Gaité, Montparnasse Montparnasse, about 1919 Etching and engraving Plate 14.1 x 10.7 cm; mount 15.8 x 11.9 cm Purchased 2016 (No. 2016.6) Bequeathed by Charles Branchini through the Art Fund
Henricus I (Henry the Fowler) Augsburg, 1745-50 Engraving 572 x 762 mm Klauber, a successful print maker and publisher in Augsburg, was greatly influenced by nature and medieval history. This richly detailed scene is one of thirteen he created featuring birds and hunts. A 10th-century German king, Henry I is generally considered to be the … Read more
The companions of Cadmus devoured by the dragon Haarlem, 1588 Engraving 253 X 318 MM Goltzius worked with the artist, Cornelius van Haarlem, at the ‘Academy’ of Harlem, who made the painting (now at the National Gallery London) from which this engraving derives. Ripping claws, fangs gouging deep into flesh, scattered heads and shredded bodies … Read more
