Old Cedars, Coast of Maine

 

James David Smillie

  1833 - 1909 (biography)

1880  

etching 

5 x 6 7/8" platemark 

unsigned proof 

proof from unstated edition 

"4.F." in image, pencil, lower left corner; "Museum", pencil, in lower right margin 

W17 illus. p. 99; JDS17 

fine antique laid paper 

proof 

American Art Review, Vol. 1, No. 12, facing p. 509 

BC075 

$350.00 

So popular was James D. Smillie's "Old Cedars, Coast of Maine" that noted German etcher H.F.E. von Schnennis copied it and attempted to pass it off as his own. However, correspondance and other documents recording the process of "Old Cedars..." proved to the public that not only was it Smillie's design, but that its execution was also superior. The two prints were shown side by side at the New York Etching Club exhibition of 1885. (Withoff, p. 98)