Portrait of a Gentleman with Facsimile Signature, Etching, circa 1880

About this sheet

An original late nineteenth century etched portrait of an elderly gentleman, printed in a sharp plate mark on a large sheet of wove paper. The sitter is shown half length, turned slightly to the left and looking up and away, with thick gray hair swept back, a clipped gray mustache and a firm, heavy jaw. He wears a dark coat buttoned high over a white shirt with a wing collar and a broad black bow tie.

Beneath the bust is a facsimile signature in a bold, looping hand, reproduced on the plate so that the portrait carries the sitter's own autograph. It is not legible with certainty, and the sitter is therefore not named here. Below it, in small capitals, the plate is lettered "H. Feh impr.", the credit of the printer, and there is no further title or publisher's line.

The etching is freely drawn. The face is modeled with fine, closely laid lines and dots, the hair with quick curling strokes, and the coat with dense cross hatching that dissolves at the edges into open zigzag work, so that the figure seems to emerge from the paper. The dress and the manner place the plate around 1880, when etched portraits with facsimile signatures were popular in German and Austrian illustrated books and portfolios honoring public men.

The broad margins frame the small plate well, and the sheet would suit a study or library wall, or a group of nineteenth century portraits hung together. Portraits like this one are collected for the force of the face and the quality of the etched line.

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.