Edward Calvert. 'The Chamber Idyll', 1827-8, printed 1904.

Proof print on India paper

Attribution note: From a portfolio: The Early Engravings of Edward Calvert. Eleven proofs on India paper from the original copper plates, wood blocks, and lithographic stones. Published by Messrs. Carfax & Co., Ltd., 1904. (The original lettered inscription on the wood blocks have been removed.) The issue was limited to thirty copies. The two copper engravings and seven wood-engravings were printed from the original plates and blocks, now in the British Museum. Of the two lithographs, the impressions included in this issue were part of a remainder, numbering only thirty-five, of those printed under the artist's own supervision in 1829. (After printing, the stones were cleaned, and in the memoir by Calvert's third son, these subjects were reproduced by means of photo-process blocks.)

The Chamber Idyll is unique in English art of the period for its mood of explicit eroticism. It is the last of Calvert's prints and is generally thought to be the finest. Calvert was a friend and associate of the artist Samuel Palmer for more than fifty years, and Palmer treasured a portfolio of Calvert's prints. He described The Chamber Idyll as 'doubly condensed poetry'.

E.511-1926