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May Day : Le Premier de Mai

Printing Plate
mid 18th century (engraved)
Artist/Maker
Hayman, Francis (RA) (painter (artist))
Truchy, L. (engraver)
Place of origin
London (engraved)

'May Day : Le Premier de Mai'. From the painting by Francis Hayman. An engraved copperplate depicting three women dancing to the music of a violin player, behind them stands a man carrying various pots and dishes on his head. To the right of the plate, there are three young boys by a water fountain which has a lion head design. Stamped into the verso of the plate, a mark resembling the face of an owl (approx 0.5cm).


Object details

Categories
Prints
Music
Printmaking Techniques
Object type
Printing Plate
TitleMay Day : Le Premier de Mai
Materials and techniques
engraved copperplate
Copper
Engraving
Brief description
Etched and engraved copper plate. Engraved by Truchy from a painting by Francis Hayman. May Day : Le Premier de Mai. Printed for Robert Sayer, London, mid 18th century.
Physical description
'May Day : Le Premier de Mai'. From the painting by Francis Hayman. An engraved copperplate depicting three women dancing to the music of a violin player, behind them stands a man carrying various pots and dishes on his head. To the right of the plate, there are three young boys by a water fountain which has a lion head design. Stamped into the verso of the plate, a mark resembling the face of an owl (approx 0.5cm).
Dimensions
  • Height: 26.2cm
  • Width: 37.2cm
  • Plate thickness depth: 1mm (approx)
Measued by DH 01/07/2010
Marks and inscriptions
  • Stamp impression resembling the face of an owl (approx 0.5cm). (Centre, verso of plate.)
  • F. Hayman pinxt. (Below bottom-right corner of image (in reverse).)
  • Truchy Sculpt. (Below bottom-left corner of image (in reverse).)
  • London. Printed for Robt Sayer, Map & Printseller at No. 53 in Fleet Street (Centre, directly below the image (in reverse).)
  • May Day. I Le Premier de Mai (Directly below the text above (in reverse).)
  • From the Original Painting in Vauxhall Garden. (Centre, along the bottom of the plate (in reverse).)
  • II (Top-left corner of plate, outside the frame of the image.)
Subjects depicted
Dancing
Music
Women
Men
Dancing
Fountain
Tree
Buildings
Violin
Violinists
May Day
Associated objects
Bibliographic reference
Victoria and Albert Museum, Department of Prints and Drawings and Department of Paintings, Accessions 1949, London: HMSO, 1961.
Collection
Prints, Drawings & Paintings Collection
Accession number
E.249-1949

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Record createdJune 30, 2009
Record URL
https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O597959/may-day--le-premier-printing-plate-hayman-francis-ra/
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