Home » Antique Engravings & Prints » People & Portraits Antique Prints
Wonderful, detailed steel engraving from the picture by Frederick Goodall.
A summary of the delightful, interesting people in this picture:
Inside the "office" is the postmaster delivering letters to sundry applicants; by the doorway is the post-boy, who has brought the bag across country from the nearest post-town; his horn, with which he wakes up the various rustic communities as he hurries past their dwellings, is under his arm. In front of the door is a group of "village politicians," foremost among whom is the barber, whose business it is to gain the earliest intelligence of news, that he may retail it to his customers: he holds in his hand a copy of the Times, and is reading some war tidings of importance, for the word "victory" appears on the broad sheet; the brawny figure with the bare arms, is the blacksmith, owner of the wicked looking bull terrier by his side. Nearer to the spectator is the "boots" of the village inn, who probably acts also as an occasional ostler; the youth in a velveteen jacket is from the mansion, and is come for the squire's letters; and a boy with a board filled with fine fish completes the group. On the other side of the picture are two figures to whom that stolid, round-faced post-boy has brought anything but good tidings, a woman and her boy, now in all probability, the widow and the fatherless; an open letter with a black seal lies before them; it tells them the "victory" has made them desolate; at least it may be presumed this is the artist's intention, for the drum at the boy's side may be taken to signify that he is a soldier's son. In advance of these is another woman reading a letter to an old Chelsea pensioner and his wife: there is no sad intelligence in her epistleóher child may continue its gambol with the kitten unchecked by its mother, whose hour of tribulation has not yet come; perhaps her husband has not gone to the wars.
In front of the door is a group of "village politicians," foremost among whom is the barber, whose business it is to gain the earliest intelligence of news, that he may retail it to his customers: he holds in his hand a copy of the Times, and is reading some war tidings of importance, for the word "victory" appears on the broad sheet; the brawny figure with the bare arms, is the blacksmith, owner of the wicked looking bull terrier by his side. Nearer to the spectator is the "boots" of the village inn, who probably acts also as an occasional ostler; the youth in a velveteen jacket is from the mansion, and is come for the squire's letters; and a boy with a board filled with fine fish completes the group.
On the other side of the picture are two figures to whom that stolid, round-faced post-boy has brought anything but good tidings, a woman and her boy, now in all probability, the widow and the fatherless; an open letter with a black seal lies before them; it tells them the "victory" has made them desolate; at least it may be presumed this is the artist's intention, for the drum at the boy's side may be taken to signify that he is a soldier's son. In advance of these is another woman reading a letter to an old Chelsea pensioner and his wife: there is no sad intelligence in her epistleóher child may continue its gambol with the kitten unchecked by its mother, whose hour of tribulation has not yet come; perhaps her husband has not gone to the wars.
Printed on heavyweight ivory/cream stock. Reverse side is blank.
Title (printed below image): The Post Office
Publication: The Art Journal
Publication Year: 1862
Publisher: London: Virtue & Co., Ltd.
Approximate Page Size (in inches): 12.75 x 9
Approximate Image Size (in inches): 9.75 x 7
Condition: Excellent.
Library blind stamp* in margin goes ever-so-slightly into image area, but does not detract from the beauty of this print.
*blind stamp: A colorless impression that is embossed on paper.
« Previous | Next »
Home | Site Map | Contact/About | Policies © 2010-2025 Atticpaper.com. All Rights Reserved.
