Historical Print, Civil War
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Research by Anne Matthews
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Acc No 121
Artist Charles Cattermole Artist dates 1832-1900 Medium engraving Size 34.3 x 52.1 cm (13.5 x 20.5 in) Date engraved Donor Miss Mary Alberta Briggs Date donated 28 October 1946 Also donated by Miss Briggs William Hogarth, 1697-1764, very early edition wood engravings An Election Entertainment The Polling Chairing the Member Miss Briggs donated 5 engravings, two of which are presently unlocated. One is the Cattermole above, and it is possible that the other may be Canvassing for Votes, which would complete the series. |
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THE ARTIST
Charles Cattermole was born in 1832, nephew of renowned artist, George Cattermole (1800-1868), a successful watercolourist and illustrator of Walter Scott, who specialised in historical genre. Despite the narrow focus of his art, Cattermole's brush encompassed various distant eras in British history, his subjects ranging from the monastic and military life of the Middle Ages to swashbuckling incidents from the Civil War. His antiquarian bent enabled him to recreate the backdrop of historical anecdote with accuracy. Cattermole exhibited mainly at the New Watercolour Society and the Royal Society of British Artists but also exhibited at the Royal Academy and British Institution. He came an associate of the New Watercolour Society in 1863 and a full member in 1870. When he first exhibited there in 1864, The Art Journal said 'he possesses qualities which will, before many years, win for him honour and reward …. action, character, and composition, excellencies wherein this artist bids to be preeminent.' |
REFERENCES
Stephen Sartin Catalogue (2001) www.artgallery.nsw.gov.au/collection Victorian Watercolours, Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney 2017 R K Engen, Dictionary of Victorian Engravers, Print Publishers and Their Works, 1979 www.britishmuseum.org/research/ |
