Collections

Stefano della Bella (1610-1664)

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Stefano della Bella Les cinqs morts – Death on horseback Italy, 1648 Etching with engraving 191 x 151 mm Here, the horse charges out of the picture frame, representing the inevitable coming of death. Breaking away from traditional equestrian portraits of rulers and generals, the horse and rider are not a unified partnership. Instead, their … Read more

Adriaen van Ostade (1610-1685)

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Adriaen van Ostade The child and the doll 1679 Etching 104 x 93 mm A child sits on its mother’s lap and reaches for a doll while the parents fondly observe. Dolls were particularly associated with girls as they were thought to gravitate naturally towards their calling as mother and housewife even in early play. … Read more

John Raphael Smith (1752-1812)

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John Raphael Smith Dr Richard Robinson, D. D. 1775 Mezzotint 510 x 357 mm This print was made after the painting by Reynolds, which is also in the Barber’s collection. The Englishman Richard Robinson (1709-1794) was made Archbishop of Armagh in 1765, so when this portrait was painted he was Primate of Ireland. He is … Read more

John Leech (1817-1864)

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John Leech Mr Briggs contemplates a day’s fishing Coloured etching 240 x 299 mm Fishing was seen as a means of escaping urban congestion, offering the working man relaxation. Mr Briggs’s front-room construction of this contemplative sport is rather more frenetic, as his line knocks candlesticks, picture frames and vases from the mantel piece. Briggs’s … Read more

Philip William (Phil) May (1864-1903)

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Philip William (Phil) May Johnny Toole, the Actor Pen with traces of pencil on card 110 x 61 mm Johnny Toole (1830-1906) was a popular comic actor. He was drawn by May several times including in a large watercolour portrait. May was a portrait and caricature artist who arrived in London in 1883 and went … Read more

Rembrandt Harmensz. van Rijn (1606-1669)

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Rembrandt Harmensz. van Rijn Christ and the Woman of Samaria 1658 Etching with drypoint 126 x 156 mm The subject is from ‘John’, iv: 7-26. Three later paintings of the theme are in the Gemaldegalerie, Berlin, the Metropolitan Museum, New York, and the Hermitage, St Petersburg. Rembrandt also made two etchings of the subject, one … Read more

Alfred George Stevens (1817-1875)

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Alfred George Stevens Study of a Nude Figure London, About 1847 Red chalk on buff paper 165 x 164 mm This nude study is one of numerous preparatory studies for decorative frieze (now in the Walker Art Gallery) which was commissioned by the Blundell family for Deysbrook House, near Liverpool. The drawing is probably part … Read more

Follower of Rembrandt Harmensz. van Rijn (1606-1669), perhaps Willem Drost (1633-1659)

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Follower of Rembrandt, perhaps Willem Drost Christ and the Woman of Samaria Amsterdam, late 1640s Pen and brown ink 210 x 190 mm At Sychar in the West Bank, Christ meets the Samaritan Woman at a well. Christ uses the well’s water as an analogy for Christian salvation and the sacrament of the Eucharist. The … Read more