1895 Original Pre-raphaelite Woodcut John Dickson Batten, Eve And The Serpent

  
Published in "The Studio" 1896 as a Special Supplement. The work was produced directly from the artwork submitted to the Editor, for publication to showcase his work and to show the magazine's awareness of, and affinity with, the latest trends in graphic art both in UK and further afield. Unsigned, but the attribution to Batten is cast-iron solid. Wonderful colours, carefully blended, to produce bright yet subtle muted tones without looking garish. The natural age-toning of the off-white paper adds to the effect.

Graphic art at its very best. Size: Main image area is 11 x 22.5 centimetres. Good wide margins beyond, to give a total sheet size of roughly A4 dimensions. (see photo) It's a fascinating read, and shows how Batten was very much in tune with Japanese woodblock techniques.

Victoria & Albert Museum CIRC. British Museum: has the item in various states of prodution, and is essential reference. See 1920,1009.23 as the starting point.

About the artist: Batten was born in Plymouth. As a student at the Slade School of Fine Arts under Alphonse Legros he exhibited until 1887 at the Grosvenor Gallery with Sir Edward Burne-Jones, and may well have worked with EB-J as a studio assistant. He mainly painted mythological and allegorical themes. Among Batten's paintings are The Garden of Adonis: Amoretta and Time, The Family, Mother and Child, Sleeping Beauty: The Princess Pricks Her Finger, Snow White and the Seven Dwarves, and Atalanta and Melanion. The source : Published by "The Studio" Magazine 1897.

The Studio was a lavishly-produced, prestigious monthly celebration of art, to which leading and promising artists offered examples of their work. Some were commissions from the editor, too.

Whistler, Beardsley, Waterhouse, Vallotton are just a few of the artists whose original graphic work was featured. The publication took lithography to new heights in the 1890s, producing superb quality images.

It was a vital showcase for the work of graphic artists, who had very little opportunity to display their work in the mainstream exhibitions which were dominated by oil painters. Marketwatch : See my final photo for an idea of how other sellers price it.