Catherine Maria Fanshawe

Original Catherine Fanshawe etching.

Excellent impression, inscribed in pencil in a contemporary hand with the artist’s name. Rare.

Catherine Fanshawe’s favourite subject-matter was children. This tender image of a father teaching his daughter how to read, their dog seated beside them, is by far the largest and most elaborate of any of her etchings in this vein. The sole text concerning her work, Memorials of C.M. Fanshawe (published privately in 1865), states that her etchings “are not many and the copies of them never passed beyond the circle of her friends”. Despite this very limited circulation of her rare prints, her work as an etcher is extremely able and she is known to have mastered both normal etching techniques and those of soft ground etching.

On warm white wove paper with margins. Generally very fine condition.