Eugene Aram 1865 |
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Original etching.
Signed in pencil.
S 280 x 402 mm; P 178 x 255 mm; I 160 x 245 mm
SOLD
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Rare pencil signed proof impression on large paper, as released in the special proof edition of the very scarce 1879 Etching Club portfolio. An unusually strong impression with exceptional clarity.
One of Richard Redgrave’s only four exhibited etchings – the artist chose an impression of this etching as one of his four exhibits at the Royal Academy exhibition for 1866.
This image shows the school teacher who is the central character of both Thomas Hood’s and Bulwer Lytton’s different versions of this story. Wracked by guilt, he has returned to the body of the murdered man to find, to his horror, that the leaves with which he had covered it have been blown aside by the wind, exposing the corpse. During the nineteenth century, the genre of the horror story took root firmly in England and the tale of Eugene Aram, with its macabre theme, appealed enormously to the Victorians.
On soft Japan-style paper with full margins. Some creasing to sheet, otherwise very fine condition. |
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