Zhang Xiaogang

Big Family No. 1, from Bloodline Series

2006

"Approach to the Fortress of Ibrim, Nubia" is a 19th century folio sized hand-colored lithograph from the Egypt and Nubia volume of David Roberts’ large folio edition, published in London by F. G. Moon in 1847. The lithographs were prepared by Louis Haghe (1806-1885) from drawings and paintings by Roberts. The resultant large folio editions of 'The Holy Land' and 'Egypt & Nubia' are considered the greatest lithographically illustrated works issued in the 19th century. The print is presented in a gold-colored wood frame with a decorative inner trim, with a cream-colored double mat. It is in excellent condition. The lithograph depicts the Fortress of Ibrim in Nubia in the background, which had been a Roman and an Egyptian fortification for centuries due to its strategic elevation, allowing a view of large portions of the surrounding desert. Men are securing the boat in the foreground for the night, taking down its sails. A herd of cattle drinks and cools themselves in the water on the left. There are four additional listings of David Roberts engravings of Egypt...

This artwork titled "Bell Inn, Waltham St Lawrence" is a chromolithograph by noted British artist Cecil Charles Windsor Aldin, 1870-1935. It is hand signed at the lower left corner by the artist. With the blindstamp of the Fine Art Trade Gulid, published and printed by Eyre and Spottiswoode ltd, London. The image size is 15 x 13 inches, sheet size is 17.5 x 14.25 inches. it is in excellent condition. About the artist: Cecil Charles Windsor Aldin RBA (28 April 1870 - 6 January 1935) was a British artist and illustrator best known for his paintings and sketches of animals, sports, and rural life. Born in Slough, he was educated at Eastbourne College and Solihull Grammar School. He studied anatomy at South Kensington and animal painting under William Frank Calderon. He lived at The Abbots, Sulhamstead Abbots from 1913 to 1914 and was church warden of St Mary's church. Early influences included Randolph Caldecott and John Leech. His drawings first made their way into print in The Building News of 12 September 1890, and began to appear throughout many popular journals and magazines; his work was published in The Graphic in 1891. His illustrations include two of the original 1894 magazine publications of stories from Rudyard Kipling's The Second Jungle Book, the 1910 edition of Charles Dickens' The Pickwick Papers and The Bunch Book (1932, about Bunch, a Sealyham Terrier) by James Douglas. He also published a short series of fully illustrated books in 1923, Old Manor Houses and Old Inns. His village scenes and rural buildings were executed in chalk, pencil and wash sketching was used for country scenes. Aldin was an enthusiastic sportsman and a Master of Fox Hounds and many of his pictures illustrated hunting. An early work on a tiger in a zoo was studied from life, but found to be a copyright of the ideas in a photograph by Gambier Bolton. A popular book by Aldin was Sleeping Partners, a sequence of pastel drawings of his dogs on a couch. It included his Irish Wolfhound Micky and his favorite model, Cracker, a Bull Terrier with a dark patch over one eye. He also did some work for Cadburys advertising. Born 28 April 1870. He was educated at Eastbourne College then Solihull Grammar School. Cecil Aldin's father was a keen amateur artist so Cecil started drawing at a very young age. He studied art at the studio of Albert Moore and then the National Art Training School which later became The Royal College of Art. After this he spent a summer with the fine animal painter and teacher, Frank Calderon. In 1892 he bombarded the illustrated periodicals with his illustrations and thereby started a long association with The Illustrated London News. He was commissioned by The Pall Mall Budget in 1894 to illustrate "The Jungle Book" by Rudyard Kipling. At the invitation of the fine genre painter, Walter Dendy Sadler...