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3 results found
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 DUNKARTON, Richard & William WARD, after William Redmore BIGG
The Soldier's Widow: or, school boys' collection... De jeunes ecolliers font une souscription en faveur de la Veuve d'un Soldat; The Sailor's Orphans; or, the young ladies subscription... De jeunes pensionnaires se cotisent pour assister les Enfans Orphelins d'un Matelot
London: Published by William Redmore Bigg, 2 August 1800, and 1 June 1800. A pair of mezzotints. (The Soldier's Widow) engraved by Richard Dunkarton, and (The Sailor's Orphans) engraved by William Ward. Both in good condition with the exception of small marginal tears. (The Soldier's Widow) has a skillfully repaired upper right corner. Image size (including text): 18 x 23 3/8 inches. Sheet size: 21 3/4 x 26 3/4 inches.
A pair of beautiful mezzotints after the sentimental genre paintings of William Redmore Bigg
William Redmore Bigg was an excellent genre painter and extremely popular in his day. In subject and style Bigg echoed the work of his master Edward Penny, who also specialized in painting genre scenes with moral overtones. He was a regular exhibitor at the Royal Academy and the British Institution, and was a continued source of inspiration for contemporary engravers. His most successful scenes involve acts of charity and children.
In the first image, nine schoolboys have gathered round a soldier's widow and child, older boys to one side and younger to the other. They have interrupted their cricket and kite flying, and having examined the soldier's sword are now in somber mood as they thoughtfully make a collection to give to the destitute family.
In the second, a mother has brought her daughters and a group of their friends on a mission of mercy to the cottage of the sailor's mother and his three orphaned children. With tentative looks of compassion, they offer their gifts to the grieving family.
#6507 $2,500.00  
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 WARD, William after William Redmore BIGG
Morning after the Storm. The husband's return... Le Matin devenu Calme. Le retour du mari
London: Published by William Redmore Bigg, March 1798. Colour printed mezzotint with additional hand-colouring. In good condition with the exception of some neat repairs to the plate mark. Image size (including text): 17 3/4 x 23 3/4 inches. Sheet size: 18 x 23 5/8 inches.
A lovely genre picture after the celebrated artist William Redmore Bigg which demonstrates familial love.
In this excellent colour mezzotint, William Ward's fine engraving conveys the charm of Bigg's painting, and illustrates a sensibility and concern for familial warmth that has, to a definite degree, since been lost. Bigg's early Romantic narratives anticipate the "good" people in Dickens' novels for whom familial affection and constancy are ultimate values, unattainable to those in whom personal greed and envy predominates.
Bigg has selected his moment well, The fisherman's family has endured hours of imagining and not knowing his fate, listening to the storm rage outside. Now he is safely home and all is well. The family gathers happily but quietly around him, his wife and eldest son help him remove his sea-drenched top-coat. Another son kneels at his feet with a boot-jack. Two more children warm some dry clothes over the fire. The youngest daughter watches the baby whilst her father's needs are dealt with. With skill and beauty Bigg's expresses this happy release from anxiety.
#6497$850.00
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 WARD, William after William Redmore BIGG
The Birth of an Heir, La Naissance d'un Heritier
London: Published by William Ward, 1 March 1799. Colour printed mezzotint with added hand colour. In good condition with the exception of some light creasing, and some small repaired tears one of which extends into the image. Image size (including text): 17 3/4 x 23 3/4 inches. Sheet size: 19 11/16 x 24 3/4 inches.
A fine colour printed mezzotint, by the master engraver William Ward showing the birth of the first male heir.
William Ward is remembered as one of the most accomplished engravers of his day. He produced some of the most beautiful prints of the period, and his delicate engravings epitomize the style and sentiment of the age. Ward was primarily a mezzotint engraver but he also worked in stipple, executing hauntingly delicate prints that capture the soul and character of their subject. He studied under John Raphael Smith and quickly became one of his most distinguished pupils, incorporating his masters' delicate technique into his own distinctive style. Along with his brother James, William was a regular exhibitor at the Royal Academy and soon earned the privilege of becoming mezzotint engraver to the prince regent. For any print connoisseur the work of William Ward epitomizes the best of English printmaking, his fine technical skill and inspired artistic imagination combine to create enduring images that speak of the taste and beauty of the age. This happy domestic scene showcases Ward talents as an engraver and demonstrates the simple beauty of English genre painting.
#6495$950.00
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Copyright © 2002-2011 Donald A. Heald
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