"The Hooka-Badar", by Sir David Wilkie [1785-1841]; engraved by Charles Cousen [1819-1889]; genuine engraving on steel, printed on high quality heavy stock paper; published by Hess, NY in 1888; signed in plate "Sketched by Sir David Wilkie. R.A." and "C. Cousen. Sculpt."A reused steel plate engraved by Cousen for the "Wilkie Gallery" previously published by Virtue in 1850. This plate was praised as the "capital example of C. Clousen's virtuosity." [Art Journal, 1850, vol.XXII,68].

Design c.6.1/4" x 8.3/8" [158mm x 211mm], the entire plate including blank margins is 9.1/8" x 12.1/8 [231mm x 304mm]; very good condition.

Reference:
Another copy of this engraving is located in Harvard Art Museum [object number R10013]

"The Hooka-Bader / Hooka-bearer " was exhibited at the Royal Academy Exhibition of 1840. It was Wilkie's last exhibition. It is one of the most completed sketches created at the India House, London, where Wilkie created sketches of characters and costumes for his paintings. The majority of guests there were soldiers of the India regiment. [Virtue, 1850].

"The portrait by Wilkie is that of a personage who is not without a due sense of the importance of his office. The soft dusky skin and the delicate nervous organization of the Hindu are here given with admirable feeling and skill, while the costume has that airy and gossamer flow which leaves nothing to be desired." [Adam Lind Simpson, 1884, 133-34]

Sir David Wilkie (1785-1841), was a Scottish painter. Wilkie's eminent success in art had been rewarded by professional honours. In November 1809 he was elected an associate of the Royal Academy, when he had hardly attained the age prescribed by its laws, and in February 1811 he became a full Academician. In 1812 he opened an exhibition of his collected works in Pall Mall. In the beginning of 1830 Wilkie was appointed to succeed Sir Thomas Lawrence as painter in ordinary to the king, and in 1836 he received the honor of knighthood.

Charles Cousen (Bradford, c.1819-1889, London); was a British line engraver and etcher. Born in Yorkshire, he was a pupil of William and Edward Finden and his elder brother John. He engraved after a large number of contemporary landscape paintings but is known primarily for over 50 plates engraved for 'The Art Journal' between 1850 and 1858. The majority of his book illustration was done after William Henry Bartlett, frequently as attractive vignettes that appeared in many of the same volumes as his brother's work. Dr William Beattie's 'Switzerland Illustrated' (London, 1836), 'Scotland Illustrated' (London, 1838) and 'The Waldenses' (London, 1838) contain his earliest work; they were followed by plates in Nathaniel Parker Willis's 'American Scenery' (London, 1840) and 'Canadian Scenery' (London, 1842), Julia Pardoe's 'Beauties of the Bosphorus (London, 1840), Henry Stebbing's 'Christian in Palestine' (London, [1847]) and Bartlett's own books between 1844 and 1854. Fifty-nine plates appeared in the 'Art Journal' between 1850 and 1888. He painted in his younger days and exhibited at the Society of British Artists in London in 1848.

The main characteristic of a steel engraving is that it has a very sharp, hard-edged, precise image. The computer scan can only give a very general impression of the detail. During the printing process, the steel plate does not need so much pressure as the copper plate, therefore, the steel plates do not leave a deep impressed area in the paper like the copper plates do.

Artwork will be mailed unframed.

US: Priority (c 4-10 days) ----------- $22.50
Canada: 1st Class (c 2-6 weeks) -- $32.50
World: 1st Class (c 2-8 weeks) --- $42.50