STEEL ENGRAVING – “ELIJAH, AHAB, AND JEZEBEL IN NABOTH’S VINEYARD” from the original painting by T.M. Rooke, engraved by T. Sherratt, published in 1880.  this engraving is in excellent condition.  The picture measures 7 3/8” x 9 3/8”, and is matted to 11” x 14” for easy framing.

    The year 1875 was remarkable in the annals of the British Royal Academy as having a larger number of meritorious works submitted for competition by the students than had ever previously been known. The subject given for the historical picture was ‘Elijah, Ahab, and Jezebel in the Garden of Naboth,’ and so admirable were the composition that extra rewards were given, besides the usual gold and silver medals, to several of those who so justly deserved them. One of those was granted to Mr. T. M. Rooke for the picture which is here engraved. As the work of so young an artist, is evinces considerable power of conception and richness of treatment. This is one of the many striking episodes related in the Scripture narrative, which is full of pictorial suggestiveness. Mr. Rooke has made good use of his grand subject. The covetous and selfish King of Israel and his yet more guilty and cruel queen have just taken possession of the beautiful vineyard, with its bounteous clusters of fruit, of the murdered Naboth; they are suddenly arrested by the well-known and dreaded voice of the great Prophet of Carmel, who brings from his Divine Master the retributive message, which tells that with what measure they had meted “it shall be measured to them again.” The attitude of Elijah is full of denunciatory energy against the “troubler of Israel,” and his fixed, angry, and fearless look fills the startled sovereign with alarm - the King making a pretence of attack by grasping his sword hilt, and the Queen, with clenched hands and hurried step, preparing to fly from the place. The gorgeous costumes remind us of the vanity of the woman who “painted her face and tired her head” in the hope of ingratiating herself with her husband’s successor to the throne, and of the effeminacy of the man who disguised himself when he went into the battle side by side with his neighbour-king, in the hope that the treachery he feared might be averted from himself to the kindly but mistaken monarch who fought with him against his enemies - vanity and stratagem which availed nothing to reverse the words the prophet had uttered.

IMPORTANT TO NOTE

Antique prints, etchings, 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, lithographs, ect., 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 in the auction, thus giving the buyer an idea of its age.

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