Richard Corbould

Original Richard Corbould pen lithograph.

Excellent impression, of this very rare original pen lithograph by Richard Corbould. A particularly fine early printing on J Whatman 1810 paper.

Only two original pen lithographs are recorded to have been produced by Richard Corbould between the years 1801 and 1810 and one of these was never published. This very rare original work, dating from 1811, is Richard Corbould’s only other known work in the medium and it too appears to have remained unpublished.

During the years between the closure of Vollweiler’s lithographic firm in 1807 and the publication across Europe of Senefelder’s account of his process A Complete Course of Lithography in 1818-19, the use of polyautography as a commercial art form fell into abeyance. This was partly due to the financial failure of the earliest publications and partly as a result of the ongoing Napoelonic Wars. This elaborate hand-drawn polyautograph by Richard Corbould is one of the few isolated examples of the use of the process as a creative medium during this barren period.

This impression is clearly an early proof printing, printed on a rough sheet of J Whatman 1810 paper. The sheet is untrimmed with full margins and uneven deckle edges. Some natural defects to sheet, but generally good condition for a proof of this nature.