STEEL ENGRAVING – “RUSTIC CIVILITY” from the painting by William Collins, engraved by C. Cousen, printed in 1884.  This engraving is in very good condition.  The engraving measures 7 ½” x 9 ¾”, and is matted to 12” x 16” for easy framing.

    “Rustic Civility” was exhibited at the British Royal Academy in 1852, William Collins being then in his forty-fifth year; adequately characteristic of his method, it may be ranked high among his rural scenes.  His thoughts were very, very often of the quite secluded village, and the green lanes deep sunk amid high banks with overhanging oaks, and quivering ash, and thick-leaved elm, and dark green ivy, and prickly brambles; which wild convolvulus and creeping woodbine, and perfumed honeysuckle “forcing sweet life through all;” such a spot, in fact, as we see in this picture, and which is to be found in England.  The road is not a thoroughfare: it leads, in all probability, to some substantial farmhouse, or, perhaps, to the squire's mansion; there is a group of rustic children, the eldest of whom has laid down a bundle of gathered sticks, and flung open the rustic gate on the approach of a horseman, whose shadow is clearly defined in the sunlight on the foreground.  How truthful is the attitude and the action of the children! The eldest, a bright-faced ragged urchin, stands with his back against the gate to keep it open, and his hand to his forehead, in anticipation of the halfpenny as payment for his civility.  By his side is a wee child, who would fain conceal itself, through timidity, behind the other; on the other side of the gate is an older girl peering through the bars at the approaching horseman.

      Collins, at a comparatively early period of life, when his prospects were not very encouraging, and his purse was very light, remarked that, notwithstanding the unfavorableness of his position, he had still an "unshaken determination to become a great painter."  Whether he succeeded in arriving at such a distinction some critics would be inclined to question; yet none can refuse him the award due to an artist whose pictures of English landscape are characterized by true feeling, exquisite taste, and love of the beautiful in nature.  It is, to say the least of it, a remarkable coincidence that while William Collins should have made his mark so entirely by means of a faithful following of nature, his son, Mr. Wilkie Collins, the celebrated novelist, should be conspicuous for the width and subtlety of his imagination; an enormous gulf seems to yawn between the painter of such a picture as "Rustic Civility" and the author of such a book as "The Moonstone;" it is a knotty problem for those who occupy themselves in measuring the strength of hereditary tendencies.

IMPORTANT TO NOTE

Antique prints, engravings, and lithographs are printing processes, which use steel, copper, stone or wood blocks or plates to produce a picture on paper.

Most antique prints and engravings, which are seen on the internet today, are bookplates.  Because they are pages from a book, there are multiple copies in existence.  This does not, however, mean that they are "reproductions" that have been printed recently.  Because they were, at some point, part of books, some have been preserved in excellent condition, while others show signs of age, as yellow spots or darkness on the edge of the page from being handled.

Engravings, and lithographs are high quality pieces of art, as it took a highly trained artist many hours of work to produce one.  Although there may be multiple copies still in existence, the date of the item should be stated, thus giving the buyer an idea of its age.

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