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.

Hubert von Herkomer’s etching with drypoint, “The Babes in the Wood”, 1880

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

“The Babes in the Wood”, 1880, published in Vienna by Gesellschaft für vervielfältigende Kunst (Society for Reproducing Art) (fl.1871–1933) in “Die Vervielfältigende Kunst der Gegenwart” (The multiplying art of the present), issue XXXIII (1893).

The Curator of the British Museum offers the following insights about this print: “The print appeared in 'The Art Journal' in January 1881, opposite p.26 and was lettered 'Drawn and etched by Hubert Herkomer'. The print received this commentary; 'The artist's children, playing at a game which is better known in Germany than here, pursue their way through a forest (represented by the old familiar wooden tree on the table) infested with lions, dragons, and other beasts of prey. The affected terror on their faces is delightfully rendered' ('Our illustrations', 'The Art Journal', January 1881, p.28)” (BM inv. no. 1881,0312.124).

Etching and drypoint printed in brown ink on cream chine collé on heavy wove paper.

Size: (sheet) 38.8 x 29.5 cm; (plate) 32.3 x 24.9 cm; (chine collé) 31 x 23.8 cm; (image borderline) 26.3 x 19.9 cm.

Inscribed in plate within the image borderline: (lower centre) “H H 80”.

Lettered in plate below the image borderline: (centre) “ORIGINAL RADIRUNG VON HUBERT HERKOMER./ THE BABES IN THE WOOD./ Druck der Gesellschaft f. vervielf. Kunst in Wien.”

The British Museum offers the following description of this print: “Babes in the Wood; two young children, looking upwards to left, frightened, the girl clasping her hands together, the boy with his arms around her neck, protectively, a small dragon hanging on a string by their heads to left and a statuette of a lion and a baton on a table in front to right” (https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/object/P_1881-0312-124).

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

I am selling this visually arresting etching showing the artist’s two children (Elsa Herkomer [1877–1938] and Siegfried Herkomer [1874–1939]) re-enacting the tradition story of two children abandoned in an enchanted forest, “The Babies in the Wood”, first published in 1595 by Thomas Millington (fl.1591–1603), for AU$198 in total (currently US$137.74/EUR130.31/GBP111.66 at the time of posting 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 graphically strong and superbly executed etching (with drypoint), I will send you a PayPal invoice to make the payment easy.

Norman Hirst's herkomergravure, "Daphne", 1895

Norman Hirst (1862–1956)

“Daphne”, 1895, after the painting by Sir Hubert von Herkomer (1849–1914), published by Archibald Ramsden (fl.c.1900) in London in 1895.

Mixed method engraving (see descriptive note below) on cream chine collé (China) on heavy wove paper, hand coloured with watercolour with wide margins as published.

Regarding the engraving technique employed in this print developed in collaboration with Hubert von Herkomer —what Herkomer termed “Herkomergravure”—the Victorian Web offers the following description (extracted I understand from The Maas Gallery. Exhibition catalogue. London, 2008. Catalogue no. 49): “He would ink by hand and with swabs of cloth on a lithographic stone, take a monotype from it, and photo-engrave the result onto a copper plate. This gave a very free and soft effect. In ‘Daphne’, he used it to create the drapery and some of the skin tone. But then, on the copper plate, mezzotint has been applied by Hirst to build the skin contours of the face and shoulders, and etching has been used to give the hair and leaves form. This combination of methods, giving 'soft' and 'hard' effects, make this engraving extremely striking.”

(http://www.victorianweb.org/painting/herkomer/graphics/2.html)

Size: (sheet) 80 x 50.4 cm; (plate) 63.1 x 42.9 cm; (chine collé) 61.6 x 41 cm; (image borderline) 56.8 x 37.7 cm.

Lettered on plate below the image borderline: (left) “PAINTED BY HUBERT HERKOMER. R.A.”; (centre) “London published 24^th May 1895. By Archibald Ramsden. the Proprietor. / 103. New Bond Street. W. Entered according to Act of Congress in the year 1895 in the Office of the Librarian of Congress at Washington./  Daphne.”; (right) “ENGRAVED BY NORMAN HIRST.”

Condition: near faultless impression in excellent condition (i.e. there are no tears, holes, abrasions, significant stains or foxing) with wide margins as published.

I am selling this huge and magnificent masterpiece of engraving executed in an amazing assortment of techniques—termed “Herkomergravure” (see descriptive note)—for AU$600 in total (currently US$404.64/EUR368.55/GBP331.49 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 ravishingly beautiful, gigantic engraving—the length of a leopard’s tail!—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