Lot 1639
EDWARD CALVERT (1799-1883)
THE PLOUGHMAN (Lister 6C)
Wood engraving, 1827, as published in the Memoir edition, 1893, on pale cream India paper with margins
8 x 12.5cm.
The following lots are from the first formal edition of Edward Calvert's printed work, entitled `A Memoir of Edward Calvert, Artist; by his Third Son`, published by Messrs Sampson, Low, Marston & Co in a folio edition of 350 in 1893. They are derived from prints made during the artist's most inspired period after the death of William Blake in 1827. The subjects address Calvert's visionary approach to Christian and pagan themes when he was associated with Samuel Palmer and the `Ancients` at Shoreham. Each print was executed with meticulous attention to detail and Calvert was his own harshest critic, ruthlessly destroying any impressions that fell short of his exacting standards. As a result, lifetime proofs are exceedingly scarce and there were rigid directions about how the surviving plates and blocks could be used. Those blocks are preserved at the British Museum with strict instructions that no further editions after the Carfax Portfolio (1904) were ever to be issued.
