STEEL ENGRAVING – “THE COOPER’S FAMILY” from the painting by E. Frere, engraved by G.C. Finden, printed in 1886.  This engraving is in very good condition.  The engraving measures 9 1/4” x 6 ¾”, and is matted to 11” x 14” for easy framing.

              In personal appearance M. Edouard Frere, the French artist, much resembles Mr. S. J. Guy, the American painter, and the subjects of these two artists are similar, although Mr. Guy spends more time in the details of his work, particularly in his gradation of light and shade, than does his French contemporary.  Edouard Frere is as well known in this country as any other Frenchman; and since the year 1843 has been represented at the Salon by works that have never failed in popularity, though slightly weak in sentiment and color.  He has a strong feeling for the domestic life of the French peasants, especially that of the French peasant children, who appeal to his warm side, and have been studied by him as faithfully and lovingly as if they were his own offspring.  The very titles of his pictures – “The Orphan’s First Prayer,” “ Going to School,” “Preparing for Church,” “The Little Gourmands,” “An Interior of Ecouen,” and “The Little Curious One”—indicate the quality of their subjects; and the artlessness with which he conceives his boys and girls, the naturalness of their attitudes, acts, and expressions, are not only praise, but are finely in harmony with the current realistic tendency of pictorial art.  His friends may truly say of him that his influence, like Dickens’s, has been in the direction of making the rich acquainted with the poor, and thus of stimulating the charitable instincts of both.  A painter who sees life in this unity, and who performers the mission, is true benefactor of his race, and deserves well of it.  The three children in the picture are eating their breakfast of bread and milk while seated on a barrow in the workshop of their father, a country cooper. One of them has stopped to look toward his sister, as if asking for more.  Frere was born in Paris in 1819, was a pupil of Delaroche, and is Chevalier of the Legion of Honor.

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.