Do you want any Matches?Marchande d'Allumettes, achetè mes bonnes allumettes. Cries of London Plate 4th.
Painted by F. Wheatly R.A. Engraved by A. Cardon.
London Pub as the Act Directs July 1794 by Colnaghi & Co, no. 132 Pall Mall.
Stipple, printed in sepia. Sheet 410 x 320mm (16 x 12½"). Trimmed to plate, repaired tear top left.
A young woman holding matches in her hand, with a small boy, who also carries matches, standing in the street; carriage in the background. This is one of thirteen plates in Wheatley’s ‘Cries of London’, the most famous version of a popular theme in English printmaking. The shouts and songs of the street traders advertising their wares were a part of city life and inspired a number of artists of different styles, from these idealised scenes to the more raucous caricatures drawn by Rowlandson. Francis Wheatley (1747-1801) exhibited fourteen painted ‘Cries’ at the Royal Academy between 1792-5, with enough success for Colnaghi to commission some of the best engravers in England, including brothers Luigi and Niccolo Schiavonetti, Giovanni Vendramini & Thomas Gaugain to reproduce thirteen of the series in stipple. These were available as separate prints or as a set and were a great success (even abroad, as denoted by the French version of the titles), and have remained popular to this day.
[Ref: 28144] £260.00
London Pub as the Act Directs July 1794 by Colnaghi & Co, no. 132 Pall Mall.
Stipple, printed in sepia. Sheet 410 x 320mm (16 x 12½"). Trimmed to plate, repaired tear top left.
A young woman holding matches in her hand, with a small boy, who also carries matches, standing in the street; carriage in the background. This is one of thirteen plates in Wheatley’s ‘Cries of London’, the most famous version of a popular theme in English printmaking. The shouts and songs of the street traders advertising their wares were a part of city life and inspired a number of artists of different styles, from these idealised scenes to the more raucous caricatures drawn by Rowlandson. Francis Wheatley (1747-1801) exhibited fourteen painted ‘Cries’ at the Royal Academy between 1792-5, with enough success for Colnaghi to commission some of the best engravers in England, including brothers Luigi and Niccolo Schiavonetti, Giovanni Vendramini & Thomas Gaugain to reproduce thirteen of the series in stipple. These were available as separate prints or as a set and were a great success (even abroad, as denoted by the French version of the titles), and have remained popular to this day.
[Ref: 28144] £260.00