View of a blacksmith's yard at Etang

Date1876

Artist Philip Gilbert Hamerton (British artist and critic, 1834–1894)

MediumEtching

Dimensionsplate: 7 3/8 × 10 1/2 in. (18.7 × 26.7 cm)
sheet: 10 3/16 × 14 1/4 in. (25.9 × 36.2 cm)

Credit LineGift of Dr. Charles Lee Reese, 1940

Object number1940-11.197

On View

Not on view

ClassificationsPRINT

Label TextHamerton was born in England but spent most of his working life in France. Although trained as an artist, he is best known for his art criticism. Beginning around 1863, he took up etching, an interest which resulted in Etching and Etchers (1868), dedicated to his colleague Seymour Haden. Hamerton's book played a significant part in bringing the technical aspects of this outmoded method of printmaking back to public attention. He wrote, "It is a popular error to imagine that because a man can paint cleverly he must also be able to etch." The domestic farmyard scene depicted in this print is almost surely set in France, where he lived from 1861. (msf)