After the original publication, many other engravers produced editions of their own, and the prints here were made by Edward Jackson Stodart (1879-1934), the son of the artist Edward William Stodart, a prolific engraver of prints derived from original pictures, including Fragonard’s ‘Girl on a Swing’. As the labels indicate, Stodart’s edition was issued by the ‘Museum Galleries’ and appear to be in their original frames which look to date to around 1900. The four paintings reproduced, whose titles can be found on the reverse, are (1) ‘Primroses, Two Bunches A Penny’ (2) ‘Strawberries Scarlet Strawberries’ (3) ‘Round and Sound, Five Pence a Pound, Duke Cherries’ (4) ‘Turnips and Carrots, Ho!’. Some see resemblances in the faces of the lady sellers who may have been modelled on the artist’s wife.

The mezzotint technique required the imposition of thousands of little dots, using a tool known as a rocker, onto a metal plate which was then covered in paint and wiped off leaving a residue in the dots which could then be applied to a paper surface. It allowed the production of prints with a high quality of richness and tone and was especially suited to the full size reproduction of paintings. Highly popular in Victorian England it eventually gave way to lithography and other techniques which were less demanding but it still has its proponents even today.

CONDITION REPORT

(1) Small amount of loss to frame gilt gesso, bottom right

(2) Various losses to frame gilt gesso

(3) Loss to frame gilt gesso, bottom edge; Damage to corner moulding, bottom left

(4) Slight loss to frame gilt gesso, bottom edge; damage to corner moulding, top left; damage to corner moulding bottom right with frame split and mount stained