Lot 287: HERKOMER, Sir HUBERT von (1849-1914, painter and etcher, R.A., R.W.S.)

SELF-PORTRAIT, etching, head and shoulders, with his children Siegfried and Elsa below half-length as a vignette, signed ('HH') and dated '79 on the plate, lettered 'Published London April 1st 1880 by The British and Foreign Artists Association', 'Entered according to act of Congress in the year 1880 by Knoedler & Co in the office of the Librarian of Congress at Washington', framed and glazed, size of image 14½ x 8¼ inches (37 x 21 cm), overall size 25 x 18¼ inches (66 x 47 cm), 1880

Herkomer regarded this as his best etching. He himself described the circumstances of the production of it when on a camping trip to Wales in 1879. 'As I knew the painting of one landscape would not give me sufficient occupation for so many weeks, I took with me all the paraphernalia of the etcher - plates, grounds, dishes, acids, and a small printing press (an invention of Mr Hamerton's). This wretched little contrivance proved utterly inadequate for my work. In order to get a decent impression we tightened the rollers to their last gasp, and then we dragged the whole machine around the tent in the vain attempt to turn the toy handles. Still, it was under these circumstances that I did - what I consider my best etching - a portrait of (the handy model) myself, with my two children in the lower corner of the plate.'

Herkomer moved from genre painting to portraiture partly in response to the demand by newly successful entrepreneurs to record themselves for posterity and partly because the rise of 'art for art's sake' and an integrated aesthetic environment in houses reduced the requirement for genre paintings. He also took a significant and early interest in photography, film making, stage-craft and motoring (Hubert von Herkomer, The Herkomers, 2 volumes, 1910).