The Cypress Grove 1880/83 |
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Original etching by Samuel Palmer, completed by his son.
Signed by Samuel Palmer in the plate.
Ref: Lister E15 ii/iv
S 214 x 312 mm; P 133 x 189 mm; I 100 x 152 mm
£375
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Beautiful, strong impression, as issued for An English Version of the Eclogues of Virgil in 1883.
Samuel Palmer had planned a series of ten etched illustrations to accompany the publication of his translation of An English Version of the Eclogues of Virgil as his last major project. However, by the time of his death in 1881, only one etching had been completed.
Of the four plates which Samuel Palmer left in an advanced state upon his death, The Cypress Grove is thought to have been the most complete – indeed, it may well have been ready for publication, as Samuel Palmer had already signed the plate with his etched signature and proofs signed in pencil by him are said to exist. Any final details which may have been required prior to its publication were completed by A.H. Palmer according to his father’s instructions. In F.J. Mather’s opinion The Cypress Grove is “from the purely decorative point of view, the finest print Samuel Palmer ever made” (P.C.Q., 1937, p.257).
This etching was inspired by the following lines from Virgil:
Untimely lost, and by a cruel death,
The Nymphs their Daphnis mourn’d with faltering breath.
O bowers of hazel, waters murmuring hoarse,
Ye heard that mother’s cry: she, the dear corse
Embracing in a long, a last caress,
Planets and gods rebuked as pitiless.
On cream laid paper with full margins and deckle edge, as issued. Excellent original condition. |
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