The Curfew, Rye
Print
Identifier:
180.A.15
Description
Strange, E.F #75 Plate XI. Signed 1889.
In the foreground, to left, three timbers piles with their supports; on the bank, across the river, lies a boat; further off, against an evening sky, shed and distant trees.
Note from bottom of piece: "A few proofs of the etched state were printed. The work was done from nature, and sand-paper was afterwards used to cause fouling, in order to suggest the broken quality of the old timbers.
For the Aquatint State 'a fine resin spirit-ground was laid, and bitten in five gradations with the same acid (1/3 nitric to 2/3 water): one bubbling being sufficient for the first, and the time increased for each successive biting. A gradation was obtained in the water by dipping the plate in edgeways.' (Technical note supplied F.S the artist for 'The Art of Etching' by E.S. Lumsden, 1925)
'When I was doing plates, for the Firm of Seeley, in 'The Portfolio', I showed this plate to Richmond Seeley, who wanted an original plate, and he said: 'Why, its a photogravure'. I said no. 'But', he said, 'that is a brush mark.' I said, of course it was, being stopping-out varnish laid on with the side of a brush. He was not convinced; and I had not got with me the working proofs, which would have been proof positive. My friend, H. Watson Smith, suggested the title, from Milton's poem'. F.S."
