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19th, 20th & 21st Century Fine Prints
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The Apology by James David Smillie
The Apology
James David Smillie
Title
The Apology
Artist
James David Smillie
1833 - 1909 (biography)Year
1881
Technique
etching in brown-black ink
Image Size
7 1/2 x 5 3/8" platemark
Signature
pencil initialed, lower left
Edition Size
not stated
Annotations
inscribed in plate along lower edge: "June 1881 / No. 18"; pencil annotated "K & V" (for printers Kimmel & Voigt) in lower right
Reference
NYPL 18; JDS21; W21 (illus. p. 107)
Paper
heavy cream laid
State
published
Publisher
James R. Osgood Co., Boston
Inventory ID
BC076
Price
SOLD
Description
This image of a pensive man seated beside a stream, flower in hand, was commissioned by James R. Osgood Co. for the periodical, Poets and Etchers, to illustrate Ralph Waldo Emerson's "The Apology", along with two other vignettes. Despite the despondant mood of the piece, it is beautifully executed and was printed in a rich black ink with a touch of mahogany, softening the image against the cream paper.
Withoff notes in the catalogue raisonne: "Smillie designed these illustrations at the happiest time of his life. He and his bride [Annie] were spending a month in Montrose, Pa., and Annie assisted him by gathering flowers for his drawings and posing for female figures."