STEEL ENGRAVING – “ULYSSES PLOUGHING THE SEA SHORE” from the painting by H. Hardy, engraved by C. Cousen, published in 1876.  This engraving is in very good condition.  The engraving measures 5 5/8” x 10 ¼”, and is matted to 11” x 14” for easy framing.

It is quite a relief to the general monotony of subject-matter which usually prevails in the pictures of the day, excellent as they may be regarding them only as works of Art, when one meets with a canvas that shows the painter has moved out of the beaten track; has set his mind, as well as, his hands, to work, and gives to the world something that is not only novel in subject, but of manifest pictorial interest: such was the impression Mr. Hardy’s ‘Ulysses Ploughing the Seashore’ made on us when it hung in the British Academy in 1874. The story related of him is that very soon after his marriage with Penelope he was summoned with the rest of the Grecian princes to take part in the Trojan war: unwilling to leave his young wife, he pretended to be insane, and yoking a bull and a horse together he ploughed the seashore, sowing therein salt instead of corn. The dissimulation, however, was soon detected by Palamedes, a Greek chieftain sent to bring Ulysses to the camp, who contrived to get possession of Telemachus, the infant son of the latter, and placed him in the track of the ploughshare. The sanity of the father was proved to the satisfaction of the Greek leaders by his turning the plough aside to avoid injuring the child. This is the point of Mr. Hardy’s capital picture: by the exercise of considerable strength, apparently, he has managed to turn the animals from the course they were taking, as evidenced by the ridges of turned-up sand, on the edge of which the boy lies asleep on a leopard’s skin. Near the waterside stands Palamedes with a companion watching the effect of their stratagem. The composition is very spirited, and the drawing both of the figures - Ulysses and his child - and the animals is excellent. The picture, when exhibited, received, as it deserved, marked attention as well from the critics as from the public, and this was due no less to the novelty of the subject than to the truly artistic manner in which it is carried out.

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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