STEEL ENGRAVING – “EVENING IN ITALY” from the painting by T. M. Richardson, engraved by E. Goodall, printed in 1884.  This engraving is in very good condition.  The engraving measures 6 3/8” x 10 1/8”, and is matted to 12” x 16” for easy framing.

What title can be more suggestive of a scene of picturesque beauty than “Evening in Italy?”  The imagination instantly conjures up a vision of lake and verdant mountain, palaces, ancient ruins, vineyards and forests, which, though the eye sees them not, the mind arranges in the order of its own fancy, and paints with the glowing colors of its own penciling.  With what true poetic feeling does Byron express his recollection of one of these scenes in the fourth canto of Childe Harold: - 

                                    “The moon is up, and yet it is not night –

                                    Sunset divides the sky with her; a sea

                                    Of glory streams along the Alpine height

                                    Of blue Friali’s Mountains;” Ect.

Mr. Richardson’s picture, entitled “Evening in Italy,” is a composition, but it has all the character of a reality; the scene is very beautiful, and the subject is painted with exceeding delicacy, yet with a remarkably firm pencil: in color it is rich and glowing.  Behind the red and purple hills in the distance, golden clouds “float through the air,” the whole being thrown far back by a line of deep purple shadow stretching across that part of the landscape where the ancient villa is a prominent object.  The mass of trees which come down almost to the edge of the lake is of a warm subdued green; this is repeated in the water till it imperceptibly blends with the reflection of the sky tints, which are cool towards the base.  The foreground is warm, but shows no positive color that obtrudes on the eye.  The figures are capitally placed and well drawn.

The drawing was purchased by the Prince Consort in 1852, from the London Gallery of the Painters in Water Color, of which the artist was a member and a valuable contributor to its annual exhibitions.

IMPORTANT TO NOTE

Antique prints, engravings, and lithographs are printing processes, which use steel, copper, stone or wood blocks or plates to produce a picture on paper.

Most antique prints and engravings, which are seen on the internet today, are bookplates.  Because they are pages from a book, there are multiple copies in existence.  This does not, however, mean that they are "reproductions" that have been printed recently.  Because they were, at some point, part of books, some have been preserved in excellent condition, while others show signs of age, as yellow spots or darkness on the edge of the page from being handled.

Engravings, and lithographs are high quality pieces of art, as it took a highly trained artist many hours of work to produce one.  Although there may be multiple copies still in existence, the date of the item should be stated, thus giving the buyer an idea of its age.