Joseph Pennell’s etching, “St Paul's Seen from the River”, 1905

Joseph Pennell (1857–1926)

“St Paul's Seen from the River” (aka “St. Paul’s over Temple Stairs”; “Le débarcadère du Temple à Londres”), 1905, a strong impression from the reduced plate published in “La Gazette des Beaux-Arts”, vol. 36, 1^st July, 1906, between pages 60 and 61 as an illustration to Paul Jamot’s article, “Les Salons de 1906” (pp. 45–69). Archive.org offers and online view of this print in its context in the publication: https://archive.org/details/gazette-des-beaux-arts_1906_36/page/60/mode/2up.

Etching with plate-tone printed in a brown ink on wove paper, trimmed with a small margin around the platemark and backed with a support sheet providing wide margins.

Size: (sheet) 17.9 x 21.4 cm; (plate) 16 x 20.5 cm.

State ii (of ii) with the plate reduced for publication.

Wuerth 380 (Louis A. Wuerth 1988, “Catalogue of the Etchings of Joseph Pennell”, San Francisco, Alan Wofsy Fine Arts, p. 131, cat. no. 380).

The Rijksmuseum offers the following description of this print: (Transl.) “St Paul's seen from the river, with steps leading down to the water” (http://hdl.handle.net/10934/RM0001.COLLECT.214387).

Condition: a richly inked and well-printed impression with vignette-like darkening in the wiping of the plate towards the edges and use of retroussage—a technique employed when wiping the etching plate—to soften/blur the lines. The sheet is trimmed with a small margin around the plate mark and laid onto a support of archival (millennium quality) washi paper providing wide margins. The sheet is in a very good condition with no tears, holes, folds, abrasions or significant stains.

I am selling this freely drawn etching showing a view of London at the turn of the twentieth century with St Paul’s Cathedral in the distance and the River Thames in the foreground, for the total cost of AU$252 (currently US$168.47/EUR154.76/GBP130.45 at the time of posting this listing) including Express Mail (EMS) postage and handling to anywhere in the world, but not (of course) any import duties/taxes imposed by some countries. Note that payment is in Australian dollars (AU$252) as this is my currency.

If you are interested in purchasing this wonderfully atmospheric etching by one of the great supporters of James McNeill Whistler, please contact me (oz_jim@printsandprinciples.com) and I will send you a PayPal invoice to make the payment easy.

Joseph Pennell’s etching, “St Martin’s Bridge, Toledo,” 1904

Joseph Pennell (1857–1926) (Note: Pennell gave the date of his birth as 1860 but his true birth date is 7 April 1857.)

“St Martin’s Bridge, Toledo” (aka “Puente de San Martin, Toledo”), 1904, artist’s proof, hand-signed in pencil by the artist before later publication in “The Studio” (see description of this print at The Morgan Library and Museum: https://www.themorgan.org/prints/item/380589), possibly in an unsigned edition of 30 according to Wuerth’s (1928) catalogue raisonné for Pennell (p. 107; see also Davison Art Centre: http://dac-collection.wesleyan.edu/Obj10590).

Etching with aquatint printed in brown ink on Japanese vellum, artist’s proof hand-signed in pencil, with small margins.

Size: (sheet) 23 x 29.3 cm; (plate) 19.8 x 25 cm.

Hand-signed artist’s proof before publication in an unsigned edition of 30 impressions. Wuerth (1928) advises that the printing plate has been destroyed (see p. 107).

Wuerth 312 (Louis August Wuerth 1928, “Catalogue of the etchings of Joseph Pennell,” Boston, Little, Brown and Company, p. 107, cat. no. 312; https://archive.org/details/catalogueofetchi00penn/page/106/mode/2up).

Condition: a marvellous, richly inked artist’s proof pencil signed by the artist, with small margins and in excellent condition (i.e. there are no tears, holes, losses, abrasions, stains, foxing or significant signs of use—there are pencil notations recto and verso and the lower right margin is lightly bumped).

I am selling this exceptionally rare hand-signed proof-state impression—printed before the published edition of only 30 unsigned impressions before the printing plate was destroyed—executed by one of the most famous artists and writers of the late 19^th and early 20^th centuries for AU$338 (currently US$242.94/EUR204.94/GBP185.27 at the time of posting this print) including Express Mail (EMS) 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 small masterwork showcasing the printmaker’s skill to use the technique of retroussage where the printmaker lightly touches the freshly inked plate with a soft rag to “drag” ink out of the etched lines to create velvety marks giving tactile substance to the landscape features, 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