Old Woman in a Head Wrap, Bust in Profile, Antique Etching, circa 1850
€ 230
Original antique · The actual sheet photographed · Certificate of authenticity on request · Sold unframed · Worldwide shipping from € 15 (rates)
Date
circa 1850
Mapmaker / artist
Unsigned etching
Publisher
Not named on the sheet
Technique
Etching
Coloring
Uncolored
Sheet size
28 × 22 cm (11.0 × 8.7 in)
Condition
Good
Reference
BG-14343-69
What the condition grades mean
Excellent
Bright and clean, with no faults worth mentioning.
Very good
Only light signs of age, such as faint toning.
Good
Normal signs of age for a sheet of this period: toning, some foxing, small marks or neat old repairs.
Fair
Clear faults such as staining, tears or repairs, priced to match.
Every fault we see is written in the condition note, and the whole sheet is shown uncropped in the photos.
Condition
Good condition for its age. Trimmed close to the image, without margins; faint small mark in the background at left; light wear at the edges. Please review the images for further condition details.
About this sheet
An original etching of an old woman shown bust length in strict profile to the left, worked with engraved line in the manner of the great reproductive printmakers. The sheet is trimmed to the edge of the image, and no title, artist's name or imprint survives.
She wears a soft cloth wrapped high around her head and tied in a knot at the top, with wisps of white hair escaping at the temple, and a pale kerchief folded at her neck above a dark garment. The face is the heart of the print: the long nose, the sunken mouth, the deep lines of the cheek and neck and the slightly hooded eye are all built up in fine crosshatching and flicked dots, so that the skin seems to move with the light. The background is laid in loose horizontal strokes, lighter above the head and darker below, which throws the profile forward.
Character heads of the elderly, studied with this kind of unsparing tenderness, were a favorite subject of painters and printmakers from the time of Rembrandt and Balthasar Denner onward, and reproductive etchers of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries returned to them again and again. The mixture of etched and engraved line here, with its regular lozenge hatching and dotted modeling, shows the training of a professional engraver.
Etching allows the artist to draw freely with a needle through a wax ground before the plate is bitten with acid, and when combined with the burin it can render both the softness of old skin and the weight of cloth. This sheet is a striking study of age and character, and it frames handsomely in a simple dark frame with a wide mat.
This is an original antique print, not a modern reproduction. This item is sold unframed. Any framed or interior images are shown for presentation and inspiration only, unless the listing explicitly states that the item is sold framed.
