John Crome original antique first issue 1812 etching, rare and framed

Size: Frame 31.5 x 26.5 cm, print image 218 x 168 mm

Condition:  Print very good condition, not laid down, slight toning and very slight wrinkling to top right corner. Good used frame and mount.  Print trimmed to image, no margins below mount.

This rare print was published by Crome's widow in 1834, after his death, in a folio of 31 prints, all of Crome's output, in an edition of 60.  Crome himself never published his prints, although he did make impressions of  two earlier states, during his lifetime.  He finished this engraving, as the third state, in 1812 and even issued a prospectus to publish it and other prints, but this never came to fruition.  The Mrs Crome publication was on thin India paper, which accords to this print.  The British Museum, for comparison, has copies of all four states of the print.

In Theobald* the print is entitled The Hall Moor Road near Hingham and it is print 16 in his catalogue.  A fourth state was produced and published in 1838 but significantly changed, so this print is Crome's true work.

John Crome (1768 – 1821) was an English landscape painter of the Romantic era, one of the principal artists and founding members of the Norwich School of painters, which also included John Sell Cotman. He lived in the English city of Norwich for all his life. Most of his works are of Norfolk landscapes.  His quiet, consistent work is often regarded as the epitome of Norwich School output.

* Henry Studdy Theobald, Crome's Etchings, A Catalogue and an Appreciation, with some account of his paintings, Macmillan 1906.