Serious buyers only. Please note that we are not a gallery, open for perusal or casual viewing. Our pieces listed for sale are currently in storage at a facility several miles from our home, and we can't afford the time or gasoline to drive back and forth merely to show them. Please read the entire posting, and if you definitely want to arrange for purchase and pick-up, don't hesitate to message us beforehand with any further questions or concerns you may have.
Exquisitely hand tinted original engraving by Robert Wallis after the original painting by A. W. Callcott. Signed on the plate, as shown. Professionally triple-matted and framed. 16" x 18". In very good condition. PLEASE NOTE THAT "DUTCH" IS ACTUALLY MISSPELLED "DUTCK" ON THE ORIGINAL PLATE, AS SHOWN. Cash only. Local pick-up is at the Dollar General parking lot, just off I-95, GA exit 7.
Robert Wallis born in London, the son of Thomas Wallis, who was an assistant of Charles Heath (1785–1848) and died in 1839. He was taught by his father, and became one of the ablest of the group of supremely skillful landscape-engravers who flourished during the second quarter of the nineteenth century, particularly excelling in the interpretation of the work of Joseph Mallord William Turner. He engraved illustrations for Turner's "Picturesque Views on the Southern Coast of England" (with George Cooke), Turner's "England and Wales" and "Rivers of France", Charles Heath's "Picturesque Annual", Robert Jennings's ‘Landscape Annual’, the fine editions of the works of Walter Scott, Thomas Campbell, and Samuel Rogers, the "Keepsake", the "Amulet", the "Literary Souvenir", and many other beautiful publications. On a larger scale he engraved various plates for "The Art Journal" from pictures by Turner, Callcott, Stanfield, Fripp, and others, and many for the "Turner Gallery". Wallis's finest productions are the large plates after Turner, "Lake of Nemi" and "Approach to Venice"; a proof of the latter was exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1859, and on its completion he retired from the profession. The remainder of his life was passed at Brighton, where he died on 23 November 1878.
Augustus Wall Callcott was born at Kensington Gravel Pits, a village on the western edge of London, in the area now known as Notting Hill Gate. His first study was music and he sang for several years in the choir of Westminster Abbey. But at the age of twenty he had determined to give up music, became a student of the Royal Academy, and began his artistic career as a painter of portraits under the tuition of John Hoppner. The first picture he exhibited was a portrait of Miss Roberts, and its success at the Royal Academy in 1799 is said to have led to his final choice of painting as a profession. His preference for landscape, including river and coast scenery, soon showed itself, and after 1804 he exhibited nothing but landscapes for many years. The skill of his execution, the elegance of his design, and the charming tone of his works caused his reputation to rise steadily. In 1806 he was elected an associate of the Royal Academy, and in 1810 a full Academician. The care which he bestowed upon his pictures restricted their number. From 1805 to 1810 he exhibited about four pictures a year, in 1811 ten pictures, and in 1812, six. From that year to 1822 he exhibited only seven works in all, but among these were some of his best and largest, such as The Entrance to the Pool of London (1816), The Mouth of the Tyne (1818), and A Dead Calm on the Medway (1820). Another important picture was Rochester (1824). Though his subjects down to this time were generally taken from the scenery of his own country, he had visited France and the Netherlands and had painted some Dutch and Flemish scenes before 1827, the year he married and went to Italy for the first time. His wife, Maria Graham, the widow of Captain Graham, R.N., had already attained considerable literary reputation. On their return from Italy they took up their residence at Kensington Gravel Pits, where he lived until his death, enjoying great popularity. In 1830 he began to exhibit Italian compositions, and after this year the subjects of his pictures were generally foreign. Though to the last his works were marked by charm of composition and sweetness of execution, those produced before 1827 are now held in most esteem. On the accession of Queen Victoria in 1837, Callcott received the honor of knighthood. In that year he departed from his usual class of subjects, and exhibited a picture of Raffaelle and the Fornarina, with life-size figures, finished with great care, which was engraved by Lumb Stocks for the Art Union of London in 1843. This and Milton dictating to his Daughters, exhibited in 1840, were the most important of his figure paintings, of which rare class of his work the South Kensington Museum (Sheepshanks Collection) (now the Victoria and Albert Museum) contains two specimens, Anne Page and Slender and Falstaff and Simple. The museum also possesses several landscapes in oil and sketches in watercolor, etc. In 1843 Callcott succeeded William Seguier as Surveyor of the Queen's Pictures. He died on 25 November 1844 and was buried in Kensal Green cemetery. There are qualities in Callcott's work which gained the admiration of J. M. W. Turner and Thomas Stothard in his day. He was generous in his patronage of younger artists.
This piece is from our large art collection, assembled over a more than 50-year time span. The collection consists of original paintings lithographs, photographs, drawings, etchings, and other types of prints, as well as some mixed media pieces, all of which we'll eventually be listing on Craigslist Marketplace. As our main concern is finding new, appreciative homes for the pieces, we're pricing them to sell, at prices well below fair market value. Thank you for visiting our listings, and please don't hesitate to message us if we may be of further help.