Samuel Palmer, “The Willow”, 1850

Samuel Palmer (1805–81)

“The Willow”, 1850, executed on the artist’s admission to the Etching Club in 1850 and published in London by Seeley & Co in 1892 on page 2 of “The Life and Letters of Samuel Palmer”, written by the son of Samuel Palmer, Alfred Herbert Palmer (1853-1932).

Etching on wove paper with full margins as published.

Size: (sheet) 22.7 x 15 cm; (plate) 11.5 x 7.8 cm; (image) 9 x 6.7 cm

Inscribed in the plate (lower left): “S. Palmer 1850”.

The British Museum offer the following description of this print from the later 1926 edition of 75 impressions: “Tree on the edge of a stream in which two cows stand. 1850 Etching” (https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/object/P_1926-0903-10).

State ii (of iii) before the addition of “a small engraved triangle below the lower left-hand corner of the frame line” (Lister 1969, p. 99).

Lister 1.ii (Raymond Lister 1969, “Samuel Palmer and his Etchings”, New York, Watson-Guptill publications, p. 99, cat. no. 1 [state ii]).

Condition: a richly inked and well-printed (near faultless) impression with full margins as published. There is an area of thinness to the lower margin of the sheet (visible when held to the light), otherwise the print is in a near pristine condition with no tears, holes, folds, stains or signs of handling.

I am selling this original Samuel Palmer etching for the total cost of AU$710 (approximately US$474.12, EUR €399.92, or GBP £347.52). This price includes worldwide express shipping. Please note that any applicable import duties are the buyer’s responsibility.

If you are interested in purchasing this print by one of Britain’s most famous artists, please contact me (oz_jim@printsandprinciples.com) and I will send you a PayPal invoice to make the payment easy.

This is the second copy of this print I have listed. The previous copy has been sold.

Note that currently mail services from Australia to the USA have been suspended. Consequently, at the moment I am unable to accept purchases needing shipping to the United States.

Samuel Palmer’s etching, “The herdsman's cottage”, 1850

Samuel Palmer (1805–1881)

“The herdsman's cottage” (aka “Sunset”; “Sunrise”), 1850, published in “The Portfolio” (November 1872) under the title “Sunrise” and later published by PG Hamerton (1875) in “Examples of Modern Etching” and again by PG Hamerton (1880 third edition) in “Etching and Etchers.”

Size: (sheet) 30.8 x 22 cm; (indistinct platemark) 12? x 10? cm; (image borderline) 9.7 x 7.7 cm

Etching on buff coloured laid paper with full margins as published.

Inscribed on the plate below the image borderline at lower left margin: “SP”

State ii (of ii) with the addition of the artist’s initials

Lister 1969/1988 E.3.II (Raymond Lister 1969, “Samuel Palmer and his Etchings”, Watson-Guptill, p. 100; Raymond Lister 1988, “Catalogue Raisonné of the Works of Samuel Palmer”, Cambridge)

The British Museum offers the following description of this print:

“Man and dog herding cattle in a wood by a cottage in the sunset. 1850 Etching”

(http://www.britishmuseum.org/research/collection_online/collection_object_details.aspx?objectId=1416906&partId=1&searchText=Samuel+Palmer&page=1)

Condition: richly inked, well-printed, virtually faultless copy in near pristine condition despite its age. .... oops! when I was posting the details I discovered the tiniest of a tiny hole that I had overlooked

I am selling this superb impression in museum-quality condition by one of the most famous of the British printmakers for AU$711 (currently US$542.13/EUR457.28/GBP407.91 at the time of posting this listing) including postage and handling to anywhere in the world.

If you are interested in purchasing this print which the artist, arts writer and publisher, Philip Gilbert Hamerton, describes as being “like a pearl or diamond without flaw” (cited by Elixabeth Harvey-Lee: http://www.elizabethharvey-lee.com/exhibitions/palmer/palmer03_herdsman.htm) 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

Although the size of this print is very small—it’s about the size of one’s palm (presuming that everyone’s palm is around 9.7 x 7.7 cm)—the image is like a glimmering ember of a fiery light illuminating darkness. I may sound a tad poetic in how I see this tiny image but for me it captures perfectly the startling effect of what could best be described as a blast of radiating light from either a setting or rising sun filtering through a forest. No wonder that the herdsman shown in the lower-right corner looks up to contemplate the visual blast.

Samuel Palmer’s etching, “The Early Ploughman”

 

Samuel Palmer (1805–81)

“The Early Ploughman”, or, “The Morning Spread Upon the Mountains”, 1858–60, from the first published state, as issued by Hamerton in “Etching & Etchers,” 1868.

Etching on cream wove paper, printed within the platemark (or trimmed) for publication in “Etching & Etchers”.

Size: (sheet) 16.8 x 25 cm; (image) 13.1 19.8 cm

The British Museum offers the following description of this print:

“Ploughman drives his team of four oxen towards the fields as the sun rises. 1858/60 Etching (http://www.britishmuseum.org/research/collection_online/collection_object_details.aspx?objectId=1417049&partId=1&searchText=palmer+Early+Ploughman&page=1) Lister 1988 E.9.v/ix (Lister, Raymond, “Catalogue raisonné of the works of Samuel Palmer”, Cambridge, 1988); Alexander 9 iv/viii

Condition: crisp impression with red edges to the sheet as published in “Etching & Etchers”, 1968. There are a few light spots on the upper margin (recto) and a few pale touches of foxing visible verso; otherwise the sheet is in very good condition.

I am selling this extremely rare, original Samuel Palmer etching for the total cost of AU$698 (currently US$520.99/EUR475.06/GBP397.58 at the time of posting this print) including postage and handling to anywhere in the world.

If you are interested in purchasing a print by one of Britain’s most famous artists, 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

 

An interesting feature of this deeply romantic image—and a feature that my eyes keep returning to—is the portrayed standing woman with a pitcher resting on her head. From what I understand about this curious figure is that her pose is likely to have its origin in William Blake, Edward Calvert and Palmer’s fascination with antique carved gems and coins. Blake, for instance, is known to have copied poses for his figures from Roman bas-reliefs and this particular pose may be found in his watercolour, “Jacob’s Ladder”. Similarly, Calvert’s interest in such a classic pose may be seen in his wood engraving, “The Brook.” Regarding Palmer's interest in antique carvings, he had a plaster cast collection of them and offered one of his students, Miss Wilkinson, the following advice in a letter dated 29 May 1862:

“Mr Newman made me eight or ten of his cedar colour-boxes without partitions, and a little deeper than usual, in which I possess a fine sculpture-gallery, having filled them with casts from the finest antique gems. These are most useful for reference, when working out lines caught from nature. …I would advise you to collect casts from the best antique gems whenever you can get them” (Cf Hardie, Martin, 1928, “Samuel Palmer”, London, p. 13).

 

 

Samuel Palmer’s etching, “The Willow”

Samuel Palmer (1805–81)

“The Willow”, 1850, from “The Life and Letters of Samuel Palmer”, by A. H. Palmer, 1892, probably printed by F. Goulding.

Etching on cream wove paper

Size: (sheet) 22.5 x 14.5 cm; (plate) 12 x 8.1 cm; (image) 9 x 6.8 cm

Signed and dated in the plate (lower left): “Samuel Palmer 1850”.

State ii (of iii)

(Note:  Following the edition published by AH Palmer, of which this impression is a part, there is a second edition of 75 printed by Frank Short and others in 1926. After this final edition the plate was cancelled. To distinguish the first state from the second state, according to the V&A, “In the first state, there is a white streak across the sky, running from the edge of the plate to the tree, 2 mm. above the cumulus cloud on the left.)

The British Museum offer the following description of this print:

“Tree on the edge of a stream in which two cows stand. 1850 Etching” (http://www.britishmuseum.org/research/collection_online/collection_object_details.aspx?objectId=1416923&partId=1&searchText=samuel+palmer+the+willow&page=1)

Lister 1988 E.1.II (Lister, Raymond, “|Catalogue raisonné of the works of Samuel Palmer”, Cambridge, 1988)

Condition: crisp and well-inked impression with generous margins in very good condition. There are pencil notations from previous collectors and remnants of mounting tape at the edges of the sheet (recto) and collector’s stamps verso.

I am selling this original Samuel Palmer etching for the total cost of AU$678 (currently US$517.14/EUR466.19/GBP391 at the time of posting this print) including postage and handling to anywhere in the world.

If you are interested in purchasing a print by one of Britain’s most famous artists, 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

This etching was executed by Palmer on his admission to the Etching Club, 1850.

The V&A offer the following interesting insight by AH Palmer:

“It should be noted that the tree in this etching was practically copied from a careful water-colour study made from nature, and of a much larger size. Such a proceeding was very rare in any of Palmer's work. In this case, it may have been due, partly to a feeling of timidity in a new process, or, partly to a prudent wish not to endanger his election by anything too characteristic or ambitious.”

(Taken from: Catalogue of an Exhibition of Drawings, Etchings & Woodcuts by Samuel Palmer and other Disciples of William Blake October 20 - December 31, 1926. London : Published under the authority of the Board of Education, 1926. Publication No. 178 E.I.D. p.56) (http://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O827230/the-willow-print-palmer-samuel/)