(Family gathering wood - after T. Gainsborough)

 

John Laporte

 

1802  

soft-ground etching 

9 7/8 x 7 9/16" image size; 12-1/2 x 9-13/16" platemark 

names of both artists engraved below image 

n/a 

publisher's info and date engraved in bottom center; unidentifiable collector's stamp on verso 

British Museum ob. no. 1852,0705.264 

heavy cream wove 

published 

Laporte and William Frederick Wells, "English Scenery" (ref: Prints and Drawings, British Museum, obj. no. 165.b.12) 

JEJA200 

$400.00 

From: A Collection of Prints, Illustrative of the English Scenery, from the drawings of Gainsborough, 1801-1805. These 71 soft-ground etchings were published by W. F. Wells and J. Laporte, who etched them between March 1, 1802 and January 1, 1805: 31 prints in 1802; 28 in 1803; 9 in 1804 and 3 in 1805. Some of the copies were tinted by hand in one or more colors. There was a projected printing of 1000. There was a Boydell reissue in 1819 of 60 plates. 72 soft-ground etched plates, some with wash, some with scraped highlights. Published by Wells and LaPorte. One of 31 prints done in 1802. This print is probably a proof from before the addition of the engraved script "From the Collection of Dr. Munro" below the image. This is one of the plates etched in soft-ground for A Collection of Prints, Illustrative of English Scenery / From the Drawings and Sketches of Gainsborough, a book of reproductions of Thomas Gainsborough's sketches, published in 1802. The original publication included 72 engraved plates, 25 of which were hand tinted.