Robert Sargent Austin print, Hero's Widow, 1945 line engraving, signed, framed

Size:  Frame 32 x 40 cm,  sheet 289 x 226 mm; print to platemark 161 x 115 mm, image 131 x 105 mm.

Condition: Excellent condition. New mount and oak frame with gilt slip, which is probably a little older than the print itself.  The frame has some minor loss and slight stains but overall is good.

Provenance: acquired from the private collection of the painter and printmaker William Palmer Robins (1882-1959) by descent.

Original line engraving, signed and dated in pencil by the artist. Robert Austin's typical initials are also engraved in the plate.

This superb engraving was made after the publication of Campbell Dodgson’s catalogue on the engraved works of Robert Sargent Austin.  It was issued by the Print Collectors' Club* under the title Hero's Widow. All signed copies of this print, the final state, are dated 1945. There is a tiny PC monogram (for Print Collectors Club) to the left of the larger log quarter of the way up the left hand side.  There is an example of a first state, under the title Widow, in Aberystwyth University without this monogram, and with some other details missing, dated 1944.

Robert Sargent Austin RA PPRWS PPRE (23 June 1895 – 18 September 1973) was a noted artist, illustrator, engraver and currency designer and widely considered to be one of Britain's leading mid-twentieth century printmakers.

*The Print Collectors Club is governed by the Royal Society of Painter-Printmakers (RE) and was founded in 1926. Each year, it offered selected prints to its members, in limited editions typical of those usually created by the artist. The Club still exists today and each give gives one copy of each print issued to the V & A Museum.