ALKEN, After Henry Thomas (1785-1851)
Cock Shooting [and] Pheasant Shooting. [A pair of sporting prints]
London: 1817, the first plate watermarked '1816'. Aquatints, coloured by hand, by T. Sutherland. (First print with skillfully repaired tear). Sheet sizes: 14 7/8 x 18 1/8 inches and 15 x 18 1/4 inches.
A lovely pair of sporting prints.
Henry Thomas Alken was born into what became an artistic dynasty. He studied under the miniature painter J.T. Barber and exhibited his first picture (a miniature portrait) at the Royal Academy when he was sixteen. From about 1816 onwards he "produced an unending stream of paintings, drawings and engravings of every type of field and other sporting activity. He is best remembered for his hunting prints, many of which he engraved himself until the late 1830s ... To many, sporting art is 'Alken', and to describe his work or ability is quite unnecessary" (Charles Lane British Racing Prints pp.75-76).
Siltzer, p. 57; Snelgrove Alken 46.
Item #22663
Price: $4,500.00