STEEL ENGRAVING – “A DREAM OF THE FUTURE” from the painting by Frith, Creswick, and Ansdell, engraved by J Cousen, published in 1877.  This engraving is in very good condition. The engraving measures 9 ½” x 7 ½”, and is matted to 12” x 16” for easy framing.

London was to the British rustic what California was to adventurous Americans during the time of the gold fever.  It was their El Dorado, where fortunes were to be made rapidly, and where success was sure to await the humblest adventurer.  To have lived in the great metropolis, or even to have visited it, was a distinction not to be forgotten, and which henceforward marked the person as one of superior knowledge and experience.  Railroads have in a great measure done away with this illusion; but small as England appears to American eyes, there are still to be found isolated districts, where the people know nothing of an outside world, and to whom London is still the far-off boundary of ambitious hopes.

At the time, however, which this picture seems to represent, railroads were unknown, and rustic England yet beheld London through a golden haze of imaginary splendor.  A young girl is on her way to seek her fortune in the great city, and for the first time beholds the goal of her ambition in the valley at her feet.  Towering above the mist she sees the tall steeples of countless churches, while above all rises the majestic dome of St. Paul’s Cathedral.  Before continuing her journey she has rested on the stile, to look and wonder, and dream over the possibilities of the future.  A bundle contains all her worldly possessions, and her only companion is the dog, which now stands waiting for his mistress to continue her journey.  Below her a wagon is slowly toiling along the dusty road in the same direction in which she is going, while with every breeze there comes across the valley a busy hum from the toiling multitude in the city beyond.

The work is the joint production of three artists, each of whom contributed the part most suited to his talents.  Mr. Frith painted the figures of the girl, Mr. Creswick the landscape, and Mr. Ansdell the dog, the result of their united efforts being a very charming picture.  The landscape, and the trees and foliage in the foreground are skilful in composition and exceedingly careful in execution.  The dog, though least in size, is a capital study of dog-life, and its introduction is very suggestive; while the attitude of the girl corresponds in the most natural manner with the expression of her face, as she stands musing over the future.  The painting was exhibited at the British Royal Academy in 1856.