Date of Printing: 1848 • Medium: Mezzotint • Subject Category: Social & Historical Settings • Signed: Unsigned • Period Created: Romantic (1800 - 1899) • Plate Size HxWxD cm: 21.5 x 16.2 • Leaf Paper Size HxW cm: 35.5 x 25.5 • Style: Original Vintage • Print on Verso: Blank on verso • Condition: Good, with slight foxing • Edition Type: Limited Edition • Paper Type: Unbleached Cotton Rag • Framed: Print only
This is an exceptionally beautiful, in good condition mezzotint print revealing lush blacks and textures distinctive to this print technique. This portrays the Hooka-Badar, as sketched by Sir David Wilkie, and engraved by C. Cousen. This is a beautiful example of "orientalism" in art, and the west's fascination with the oriental mystique. Printed on heavy cotton rag, this print is a exemplary of the mezzotint style. There is moderate age foxing around the corners, at the edges. Some age spotting on lower, right and top sides (see photo).
From "The Wilkie gallery : a selection of the best pictures of the late Sir David Wilkie, R.A."
Wilkie, David, Sir, 1785-1841, creator; Virtue, George, 1793?-1868, publisher; Clay, Richard, 1789-1877, printer; Holl, Francis, 1815-1884
Published 1848
PLEASE NOTE: The stripped banding you see in the background of this print is not in the actual print itself. It is a digital artefact known as “moiré”, and this happens when lines are drawn closely together, creating digital artefacts and colouring which are not in the original, but only in the photograph. Every attempt has been made to remove this from the photograph of the print, but unfortunately not all of this is possible. This is especially prevalent in photographs of mezzoforte prints, due to the technique of creating lines closely together in the original printing plate, which are transferred to paper. This results in a pattern forming in the digital sensor of the camera, which is then apparent in the photograph (but again, not in the original print).