Samuel Palmer 1805-81
The Early Ploughman
Etching Begun before 1861
177x250mm [Framed 420x475]
Ref: Alexander 9 state viii/viii; Lister 9 state ix/ix
A fine impression from the edition of 75 printed by F. L. Griggs and published by A. J. Finberg's Cotswold Gallery in 1926. Initialled beneath the image by Sir Frank Short, Martin Hardie and F. L. Griggs who had been jointly responsible for the printing of the final edition of five of the artist's plates. On heavy wove paper with wide margins.
Griggs wrote of this edition, "I had none of the original proofs by me for guidance, having decided to be quite free in interpreting, for the printing of this final State, what I had come to think Samuel Palmer's intentions were. In the result, a comparison with the originals revealed my proofs as rather stronger and clearer, and perhaps they gain something in the sentiment of early morning freshness which Samuel Palmer so loved."