“The Skylark” by Samuel Palmer, RWS 1805-81

The Skylark

Samuel Palmer, RWS 1805-81

1850

Engraving, printed in black ink on chine appliqué, the backing sheet with wide margins

4 ⅝ x 3 ⅝ inches (11.9 x 9.7 cm); sheet 13 ¼ x 10 ⅛ inches (33.7 x 26.3 cm)

One of only five impressions recorded

See commentary below

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Commentary by Gordon Cooke

This was Palmer’s first real etching, and he selected a motif which he had already painted in a sepia of the 1830s (Lister 140), exhibited at The Fine Art Society in the 1881 Memorial Exhibition [5], and an oil of circa 143 (Lister 375, now in the collection of the National Museum of Wales, Cardiff). There is a preparatory study for the etching in the Cleveland Museum of Art, Mr and Mrs Lewis B. Williams Collection (Lister 497); the subject was inspired by Milton’s poem “L’Allegro” (II, lines 41–44):

To hear the Lark begin his flight,
And singing startle the dull night,
From his watch-towre in the skies,
Till the dappled dawn doth rise …

Palmer referred to this work as ‘Dawn’ until it was published in 1857, and it is this time of day, as the sun rises to illuminate the landscape and the skylark above, in which his sense of a re-awakened vision may be felt. It is a work both small in scale but intense in detail, showing great technical skill.

In The Portfolio, 1872, F.G. Stephens wrote:

The refined spirit of this little gem of art and poetry baffle words of description. Ineffable is the way in which the rays of the sun interpose between us and the ribbed clouds of fugitive night, giving an idea of palpitation in perfect accord with the outpouring of the voice of the bird, and the awakening landscape.

Reference

Cooke, Gordon. Samuel Palmer, His Friends, and Followers.Exhibition Catalogue. London: The Fine Art Society, 2012. No. 2.

Lister, Raymond. Catalogue Raisonné of the Works of Samuel Palmer. Cambridge, 1988. pp. 239, no.E2 vii/VIII.

Last modified 26 May 2014