Léon Gaucherel, The Wooden Bridge, 1875, Etching

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A rough timber footbridge on angled wooden struts crosses a quiet river in this pastoral English landscape. A white horse, … Read more A rough timber footbridge on angled wooden struts crosses a quiet river in this pastoral English landscape. A white horse, with a darker animal behind it, crosses the bridge toward the right, while on the near bank a figure walks beside a covered wagon that stands beside a weatherboarded barn half hidden under a great mass of trees. In the foreground a figure sits in a moored rowing boat among the reeds, a woman holding a child stands at the water's edge by a small fence, and a few ducks paddle out on the water at the right. Beyond the bridge the river opens to a flat distance with a faint town on the horizon, and a tall white cloud rises into a wide, windswept sky. The composition is after "The Wooden Bridge" by Sir Augustus Wall Callcott, the English landscape painter whose calm river and coastal scenes were very popular in the first half of the nineteenth century. The etcher's name, "Leon Gaucherel," is lettered in script at lower left. Léon Gaucherel was a French etcher and draftsman who made many plates after paintings for the art periodicals of the 1870s. This is an etching, and Gaucherel gives the scene a lively surface: dense, scribbled strokes in the foliage, crisp outlines on the bridge, and long horizontal lines for the still water and its reflections, all set off by the open, lightly hatched sky. It would be at home in a country house, a riverside cottage or an office that wants a calm view, framed in natural wood with a cream mat. Condition: Light wear to the top left corner. Age toning, darker at the edges; handling soiling along the edges and scattered foxing in the margins. Printed image clean. This is an original antique print, not a modern reproduction. This item is sold unframed. Any framed or interior images are shown for presentation and inspiration only, unless the listing explicitly states that the item is sold framed. See less