Nature Printing in Many and Diverse Ways by R. C. Lucas Sculptor. Natus 1800. Fecit 1878
Lucas, Richard Cockle
Chilworth. c.1878
Sold
An exceptional album of original material by Richard Cockle Lucas including a large number of his outstanding nature prints.
Richard Cockle Lucas (1800 - 1883) was a noted Victorian sculptor, photographer, illustrator, architect, conversationalist and painter, an innovative maker of nature prints and etchings and a remarkable example of the Victorian eccentric. This original album, assembled by Lucas in the 1870s for his grandson Albert Richard Henry Lucas (born in 1870 and son of Albert Durer Lucas, 1828 - 1918), comprises a large number of Lucas' colour nature prints, hand-coloured examples of his engravings, a hand-coloured photograph as well as original drawings.
A full list of the contents of the album is available on request, but, in brief, the album contains the following: 36 colour nature prints, 22 engravings with hand-colouring, 18 engravings printed in sepia or black and a hand-coloured albumen print as well as additional notes by Lucas in magenta ink; many of the engravings - which include a wide selection from Lucas' oeuvre - have so much additional colouring by hand that they appear to be original drawings. Also included are a number of original documents relating to the album and the Lucas family including a number of photographs (a copy of a photograph of Lucas' sculpted portrait of Palmerston is included), details of the present album and a copy of the birth certificate for Lucas' grandson Albert.
'Much more interesting and accomplished were the prints made ... by the artist Richard Cockle Lucas (1800-83). Lucas was primarily a sculptor ... but also an etcher of considerable skill. He was also an early experimenter with photography ... His son, Albert Durer Lucas ... was a flower painting who started exhibiting in the late 1850s, and it may be that Richard Cockle Lucas was inspired to experiment with nature printing because of his son's work. His technique is at first sight fairly simple and unsophisticated, but Lucas's skill in composition helped him produce prints which were visually very effective ... Lucas approached nature printing from the viewpoint of an artist, not a botanist, and appears to have inked leaves using a range of oil colours which he thought would best represent the hues of the originals, and then making further painterly adjustments to the shading and colouring ... '. (Roderick Cave).
Material by Lucas is of considerable scarcity in the market and the only similar albums we can trace are those in the British Library (who also hold an album of photographs by Lucas purchased in 1859 directly from the artist) and a further album (described as representing much of Lucas' engraved work and possibly some nature prints) at Denison University, Ohio.
[see 'Impressions of Nature: A History of Nature Printing' by Roderick Cave, London, 2010].
Richard Cockle Lucas (1800 - 1883) was a noted Victorian sculptor, photographer, illustrator, architect, conversationalist and painter, an innovative maker of nature prints and etchings and a remarkable example of the Victorian eccentric. This original album, assembled by Lucas in the 1870s for his grandson Albert Richard Henry Lucas (born in 1870 and son of Albert Durer Lucas, 1828 - 1918), comprises a large number of Lucas' colour nature prints, hand-coloured examples of his engravings, a hand-coloured photograph as well as original drawings.
A full list of the contents of the album is available on request, but, in brief, the album contains the following: 36 colour nature prints, 22 engravings with hand-colouring, 18 engravings printed in sepia or black and a hand-coloured albumen print as well as additional notes by Lucas in magenta ink; many of the engravings - which include a wide selection from Lucas' oeuvre - have so much additional colouring by hand that they appear to be original drawings. Also included are a number of original documents relating to the album and the Lucas family including a number of photographs (a copy of a photograph of Lucas' sculpted portrait of Palmerston is included), details of the present album and a copy of the birth certificate for Lucas' grandson Albert.
'Much more interesting and accomplished were the prints made ... by the artist Richard Cockle Lucas (1800-83). Lucas was primarily a sculptor ... but also an etcher of considerable skill. He was also an early experimenter with photography ... His son, Albert Durer Lucas ... was a flower painting who started exhibiting in the late 1850s, and it may be that Richard Cockle Lucas was inspired to experiment with nature printing because of his son's work. His technique is at first sight fairly simple and unsophisticated, but Lucas's skill in composition helped him produce prints which were visually very effective ... Lucas approached nature printing from the viewpoint of an artist, not a botanist, and appears to have inked leaves using a range of oil colours which he thought would best represent the hues of the originals, and then making further painterly adjustments to the shading and colouring ... '. (Roderick Cave).
Material by Lucas is of considerable scarcity in the market and the only similar albums we can trace are those in the British Library (who also hold an album of photographs by Lucas purchased in 1859 directly from the artist) and a further album (described as representing much of Lucas' engraved work and possibly some nature prints) at Denison University, Ohio.
[see 'Impressions of Nature: A History of Nature Printing' by Roderick Cave, London, 2010].
[46 leaves; manuscript page numbers at outer corner at head of leaves by Lucas in magenta ink]. Folio. (415 x 305 mm). Sheet with manuscript title pasted to inner front board and a large number of hand-coloured engravings, colour nature prints and an original albumen print photograph on paper, each mounted to leaf of thick white paper recto and verso throughout (see below); sheet size: 380 x 280 mm. Contemporary burgundy velvet-covered boards.
#44667
