Hubert von Herkomer "Entranced, or The Lady In Black", Antique Proof On Vellum

Description

Title: An American Lady - also known as Entranced, The Lady In Black or Entranced in Some Diviner Mood of Self-Oblivious Solitude
Artist: Sir Hubert von Herkomer CVO RA
Medium: Etching on vellum, proof, with a remarque head, produced by the artist from the original oils on canvas work
Date: 1888 (original work 1886)
Features: Signed in pencil by the artist, with a sketch in the margin left of the signature; a publisher's label on the back is possibly unique
Framing: Wood with gold-coloured inlay and corn-coloured mounting boards; behind glass
Frame Dimensions: 74 x 90cm (29 x 35.5 inches)
Print Dimensions: 49 x 62cm (19.25 x 24.4 inches)
Image Dimensions: 41.5 x 53cm (16.4 x 20.75 inches)

An antique proof print on vellum, of excellent quality, produced by Robert Dunthorne (Print Publisher) of 28 Castle Street in Liverpool, circa 1888, with a tiny inscription above the image revealing that this is a version published in London by Thomas McLean during the same year. The original work (see the final photo) was painted in oils on canvas two years earlier by the noted Bavarian-born British artist Hubert von Herkomer, and it is believed that he was also responsible for the etching from which the print was made.

It is known as "Entranced" or "The Lady In Black" and depicts a young society woman dressed in a fine gown, perhaps taking a moment from the hustle and bustle of a fashionable party. Her identity is not known - however, this copy, perhaps uniquely, retains the print publisher's label from which we learn that it once had another name: "An American Lady," so while we don't know who she was, we do know where she was from. She is stylish and sophisticated, and her eyes are bright, a little melancholic and intelligent, suggesting that it's not her that is entranced but the artist - for she is very, very beautiful.

Von Herkomer, then 39 years old and at the height of his artistic career, has signed it in pencil at the lower right corner. In the lower left corner, we find another unusual feature - a tiny sketch portrait, possibly the same woman, which does not appear on any of the small number of other surviving examples of the print pictured online but is also seen in the example found in the collection of the Victoria & Albert Museum (E.116-1971).

It is displayed in a wooden frame, set into mounting boards behind glass. The frame is of some age but probably not as old as the print; it's of reasonable quality but somewhat battered - it could be restored, but a better match for the image could be found. It has not been kept in the best conditions, but the print itself seems to have mercifully escaped serious damage - on very close inspection there may be some small marks, but it does not suffer from the discoloured patches caused by moisture and it has at least been displayed out of direct sunlight and so there is no discernible fading. There are a large number of dead thrips inside, but these do not eat or otherwise damage artworks and can be removed easily if the frame is opened.

The only other example of this rare and historic print currently for sale is priced at £795. It is in better condition than this one but lacks the margin sketch and publisher's label; however, this one does not have the pinkish discolouration next to the sketch seen in the Victoria & Albert copy and is therefore arguably in better condition than that.

Hubert von Herkomer - a brief biography

Born into a poor family on the 26th of May 1849 in what was then still the Kingdom of Bavaria, Hubert Herkomer emigrated to Cleveland in Ohio with his parents when he was two years old where they hoped a better living. It was not to be - after only six years they decided to return to Europe but, rather than going home to Bavaria, settled first in Southampton where they remained for 17 years and then Watford.

Hubert's education was shockingly meagre - an interview with Chums magazine in 1896 recorded that he had attended school for "only a month or two" before falling ill. His ailment does not seem to be known but, whatever it was, it was serious enough that he never went back. Fortunately, he was a natural artist, perhaps no surprise as his father, though never able to command a healthy salary, was a woodcarver of considerable note and his mother a music teacher. Hubert might well have followed his father into woodcarving, having made himself popular with his childhood contemporaries by making little mechanical toys from wood (he was also known to make excellent kites), but by the age of twelve he had produced a number of promising watercolours and within a few years his painting skills were sufficient to earn him a place at the Southampton School of Art. Later, when his father came into some money courtesy of a wealthier uncle's commission for a carving, father and son travelled to Munich to attend another art school there. Once back in England Hubert gained a place at the highly prestigious South Kensington Schools, which in 1896 became known as the Royal College of Art.

Now equipped with his innate ability and the educational criteria he needed to open doors, Herkomer began to get noticed - and that he was immediately recognised as a artist of considerable merit is made evident by the fact that his very first exhibition was at the Royal Academy of Arts, where he also sold his first painting. He found commercial work too, a job as illustrator for the popular London magazine The Graphic bringing in enough money to support his more academic work. In 1872, aged 22, he swore an oath of allegiance to the Queen and became a naturalised British citizen; two years later he was able to buy two cottages and a studio in Hertfordshire and sold a painting for £500 - equivalent to some £72,338 today and an enormous sum for a young, living artist. In the 1880s, he travelled back to the USA to paint a portrait of the architect Henry Hobson Richardson who in return designed a house for him - a vast, four-storey structure resembling a Germanic castle with turrets and a grand masonry arch. Herkomer had it built in Hertfordshire, named Lululaund after his second wife and sadly demolished in 1939 when anti-German sentiment got in the way of good sense - a Bavarian castle somehow transported to Bushey, and he lived there until his death in 1914.

Though by then a British subject for more than a quarter of a century, Herkomer was ennobled by King Otto of Bavaria in 1899 and thus became Hubert von Herkomer. Two years later, he produced the official portrait of Queen Victoria on her deathbed; six years after that he was knighted by her son and successor King Edward VII. His first wife was Anna Caroline Ada Weise, a German, but his next two wives - Eliza Louisa "Lulu" Griffiths and then, after her death during childbirth, her sister Maggie Griffiths - were both Welsh. Though he never lived there permanently, he felt a strong affection for Wales and especially adored Snowdonia where he painted numerous landscapes. He designed some regalia and Grand Sword of the Gorsedd of Bards, for which reason he is remembered during the Eisteddford to this day, and there are two roads named in his honour in Llandudno.

Due to the nature of this item it is not always possible for us to identify any missing parts.
For this reason we ask that you please check the pictures carefully, as these show everything that is included.

Further Details & Enquiries

This item has been very kindly donated to the Arthur Rank Hospice Charity.

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